CHAPTER 16

The ghoul that came for Lola had open sores along its body that were crusted over with dried pus. The tattered strips of cloth it wore as clothing were stained in dozens of spots. Just looking at the creature disgusted both of them. Russel’s first reaction was to intervene, but he forced himself to stop that impulse. She was right. If she didn’t take care of it herself, she would never know how strong she was or how capable. She would always live her life running and scared. Stepping in now would only hurt her. But he told himself he would rip the ghoul’s head off if it so much as scratched her. Lola, however, quickly proved to be a much better fighter than the ghoul and within a few minutes, she had opened up over a dozen deep gashes all along its body. Black, sludge-like blood oozed out of the wounds and its hissing got louder. Its narrow, black eyes were focused entirely on her. It hissed, spittle flying out of its mouth. Further back, still hidden by the woods, Lola and Russel could see the darting forms of the other ghouls. She couldn’t tell for sure, but she was positive they were watching everything with avid intensity. Lola was rapidly gaining more confidence with each strike. The ghoul was fast but all the training she went through with Russel had an enormous impact on her speed, strength, agility, and dexterity. With the rash, impulsive nature of the ghoul’s attacks, she was able to easily predict where it was going to strike and take the offensive. It dashed in again, so quickly she would have certainly been killed if she had been the same person she had been just weeks ago. Now, however, she telegraphed the attack, slipped out and away from its outstretched talon-claw, and struck a powerful slice through its skin, muscle, and even bone. When it was all said and done, one of its arms lay flopping and jerking on the ground. “Impressive,” Russel said. The compliment boosted her confidence even more but she didn’t let it get to her head. She still kept a careful eye on the creature. It was far from being out of the fight. She kept an ever-present eye on the other ghouls too, just to make sure they were still staying out of the fight after she lopped off their comrade’s arm. As far as she could tell, they weren’t coming any closer. If they did and decided to converge on her all at once, she knew she would be in trouble. She let that fear slip past her though and trusted that Russel would be there to protect her if that happened. He was one werewolf against a bunch of ghouls but she knew he was strong. He could take them. Hopefully anyway. The ghoul came back in for one last attack. Its dark eyes gleamed as it did, its remaining talon-claw held up as if it were going to impale her on it. The hissing snarl coming out of it was something she had gotten used to now. It didn’t scare her at all anymore. The rancid, overwhelming smell of decay and rot wafting out toward her, however, was another matter entirely. She tried hard not to let the smell overpower her. It made her stomach want to heave out all its contents and was dangerously close to making her eyes water. She couldn’t afford that. It would blur her vision and make it harder for her to see the thing. Lola forced control over those reactions, kept her breathing still and even, and then struck with her blade in a swift, decisive, whirling arc that landed right at the base of the ghoul’s neck. Her sword went through with the ease of a knife slicing through a block of cheese. There was a strained, gurgling sound that came from it and then its head slid off its body and thunked to the ground. It rolled across the leaves and forest detritus and came to a stop with the creature’s eyes open and staring up at the sky. “Get ready!” Russel shouted. “The rest are making their move.” Lola tore her gaze from the decapitated head on the ground and whirled to face the other ghouls. Shrieks, hissing, and clicking growls erupted from seemingly everywhere at once as the monsters came for them. Lola took three or four quick steps backward to give herself some space and as soon as she did, that chilling, icy sensation erupted across her back again. It was so intense, so vivid, she couldn’t ignore it. Without thinking, she thrust her sword directly behind her as hard as she could. She immediately felt it sink into something soft but also unyielding. The hilt started to twist in her hands as whatever she just stabbed tried to keep moving. She glanced over her shoulder and wasn’t at all surprised to find a ghoul, its jaws clicking and its teeth gnashing as it tried to bite at her. Then it raised its talon-claws to swipe them at her, hoping to wound her. She let out a screaming cry, gripped the hilt even tighter, and then twisted as savagely as she could. The ghoul shrieked loudly in her ear as its guts were ripped apart. Lola yanked the blade back out in a sharp jerk, spun around, and then stabbed the thing right in the head. Its eyes widened in shock and its shrieking abruptly cut off. She slid her blade out of its skull and turned back around quickly to address the other two ghouls coming for her. Faintly, she heard its body fall to the ground and realized in the back of her mind that she had just ended a life. The life of a monster, true, but still a life. She wasn’t quite sure how to feel about that and she didn’t have time to really consider its ramifications anyway. The other ghouls came at her at the same time, talon-claws slashing across the air. She danced out of the way or deflected each strike easily. There was no real effort on either ghoul’s part to actually come at her with some sort of thinking process other than brute force. Within minutes, it became abundantly clear that wouldn’t be enough. She cut them both down in short order, but not before taking a cut to one of her shoulders and the upper thigh of her right leg. She wasn’t too worried about them though. Both stung painfully but she was pretty sure they were shallow and would heal on their own. She stared at the bodies of the ghouls she killed for a second, taking in all that death she caused, and then turned to see if Russel needed help. Three ghouls were on him. One had sunk its talon-claw into his upper back and hung on like a man clinging to a bucking bull. It slashed continuously at Russel but it couldn't get a good enough hold to do any fatal damage. Another one kept trying to race inside his guard to open his stomach with a wide slash. The last one was currently being held aloft by the throat. Its sludgey, black blood oozed out between Russel’s fingers. There was a grimace of pain on his face but the anger flashing in his eyes overrode whatever pain he felt. “Russel!” she shouted. He jerked toward her and a look of confusion crossed his face when he glanced down and saw the dead ghouls. That was quickly followed by a look of relief. As soon as he realized she was fine, his body started to change again. More wolf-like features emerged. His muscles swelled. Fangs popped out of his mouth. His claws lengthened even more. With a howl, he crushed the throat of the ghoul he held on to and then slammed it unforgivingly into the ground. Bones popped and cracked with the force of the impact. The ghoul didn’t get back up and, from what Lola could tell, stopped breathing too. Then Russel reached behind him, snagged the ghoul on his back by the top of its head, and repeated the process, slamming that one into the ground as well. Its head was simply crushed to pulp. The talon-claw it had impaled into Russel’s back snapped off toward the tip when it was yanked off. The last one, realizing that it was now alone, decided that its best course of action was to run away. It slipped out of Russel’s grasp and ran as fast as it could back into the deeper forest. Russel reached over his shoulder, grabbed hold of the broken off bit of talon-claw, and yanked it out. Then he took careful aim and threw the piece as fast as he could. It tumbled end over end through the air until it slammed into the back of the ghoul’s head. It fell to the ground in a lifeless heap. He gave a satisfied nod of his head as Lola came up to him. “Nicely d…” he tried to say. Before he could get it all the way out, his body went weak and he fell to the ground. His eyes rolled up into the back of his head and everything went dark.