Distant cries from the beasts echo through the trees all around you. Their high-pitched wailing pierces your ears, sending a shiver through you that makes the hairs on your back stand on end, yet you continue to stand defiantly to face them with the rest of your troop. The damned things have you all surrounded now and you feel a gnawing sense of helplessness as you're forced to wait for the creatures to make their next move. The village that you call home is a painfully small one surrounded by forests on the outskirts of the Cinderhallovian kingdom and its location means you do not get to enjoy the luxury of royal protection. That was the risk you willingly took when you urged your family to settle here. In your mind anything was better than forking over your riches to a monarch that prided themselves on isolation and poor communication. A complete joke of a system. The animals here were all honest and hardworking folks...much easier to live among than the pampered individuals within the kingdom's border. Yes, this has always been the best solution. You flinch as another screech fills the air. You distinctly remember the disapproving glance your wife shot you as you spoke to some of the locals to get an idea of the area and the perks of being "off the grid" as your two kids playfully described it. Perhaps when all of this was over you could recount that moment and laugh about it together. Your stomach clenches up and you let out a shaky breath you hadn't realized you'd been holding. You managed to hole your family up in the cottage on time; down in the cellar, just as you'd practiced many times before, but that didn't stop your mind from suddenly displaying their mangled corpses to you; tossed haphazardly among the dirt and spilling over with maggots. A bead of sweat rolls down your face. There is no use denying it. If your family is slaughtered tonight it would all be your fault.
The screeches sound off again, but much closer this time. They were taunting you at this point, they had to be. Realistically you knew you were all laughably under equipped to fend off any attackers, especially ones of this caliber, but you all reason that it's better to go out fighting than not try at all. Who knows? Maybe if you played your cards right you could even...kill one of them? The thought excites you. You hadn't even noticed that you'd begun to rock in place, full of nervous energy for what was to come. If you did die tonight, you only hope to be afforded a quick and painless death and for your family to be spared, but if your intuition serve you correctly these creatures were merciless ones who wouldn't be sated until every last one of you was wiped clean from the earth. You muster up the courage to take one last look at the animals around you. One of them has his head bowed and his mouth moves in what you can only guess to be a silent prayer. You can't remember the last time you stepped foot in a church. Another one clenches and unclenches her front paws constantly, slowly scoring a dip into the soil. You're positive the visual of all of you huddled together is a pitiful one, but you can't help but momentarily feel a sense of pride swell in your chest. Yes you aren't much, but against all odds you're readily risking your lives to protect the ones you love and this village you painstakingly built from the ground up. You're fighting to protect the history and the memories this area possesses and to ensure the culmination of many more. This is where your kids will grow up and potentially have children of their own. You can't let them erase you. You won't let them erase you.
You stand there for a few more minutes that stretch into what feels like an eternity before you realize that the screeching has stopped. The others around you tense up and perk their ears, showing signs that they've caught onto this fact as well. It is not characteristic of a predator to suddenly lose interest in its prey, especially prey that is outmatched and most likely outnumbered, so the quiet only serves to worsen your nerves. Letting your guard down now would be a death wish, so you instead opt to sniff out the air for any stray scents while suggesting for everyone else to do the same. Every ounce of your concentration is strained trying to figure out what the beasts are playing at until you catch something out of the corner of your eye. The ground had slowly began to bulge unnaturally near the foot of one of your comrades and you stand in a stupor while your brain works overtime to process what's going on. Suddenly, it hits you and your eyes widen. You had to give the demons some credit; they really go above and beyond for a chance to feed. As you open your mouth to yell a warning, the ground erupts and you hear a yelp of surprise turn into a choked scream as one of the creatures bursts from the ground and punctures the throat of the dog standing right next to you with blade-like claws. The rest of you whip around to face it in a blind panic, and it takes everything within you to not buckle over from horror when the dust settles.
