Bleeding Color

The sound of ghouls descending was everywhere. If we didn't hurry we would be surrounded and no longer just be bait for their hunger, but also the meal. The four of us scurried through the grass, right to the edge as close as we dared. It wouldn't be enough though. The ghouls would come for us over the fort.

I grabbed Honi's spear blade, slicing through my other palm. She gasped in surprise. However, I ignored it and her cries when I rushed toward the fort. I was still glad when Red and Blue shushed her though. It would keep away unwanted attention from both our behind and the fort. I raced to the side of the wall, eyes darting about for guards. My hands slapped the walls and I began smearing the blood everywhere. I dragged myself along the wall, forcing more and more of my being into the stone. I wanted the ghouls in a frenzy at it.

The humans found me before the ghouls. Bullets rained down straight at me from above. I shielded my head, knowing it would be worse to take the hits there. Some buried into my arms, but didn't pass through completely. My body more dense and durable than the average human. My arms felt like they were on fire from them ripping apart my muscles and nerves. Through the haze of pain I heard Honi screaming.

My head shot up. A mass of stumbling black and gray bulldozed through the field, the ghouls had arrived. I ran from the wall. My arms flopping beside me. I needed to get the bullets out, Red and Blue rushed to greet me. I stopped confused, when Red swept me up and headed back toward the fort and angry humans. I looked over her shoulder to see Honi clinging to Blue's back for faster movement. The two powerful Lamia's propelled forward with powerful strokes of their tails. We made it back to the fort in half the time it took me too run. The ghouls though move faster.

The stench of decay reached us, lingering on the ghouls from where they tended to bend down, cemeteries. It was a good source of food for them, even if they preferred the fresh kill. Red and Blue pressed themselves against the wall, trying to flatten for a more difficult target. It required the humans to hang out over the edge if they wanted to shoot down at us and more seemed worried about the impending ghouls. Fire changed direction from us to them.

Given the moment, I gestured at Red who placed a small dagger in my hand. It was more ornamental than practical, as expected, but it'd work. I made fast work of digging the bullets from my arms. It hurt like hell, but I couldn't risk healing around them. They could move then and potentially cause damage. That done, I turned to Honi.

"Where are they?"

She tilted her head and I copied her, trying to hear what she did. "They've mostly moved to this side for the ghouls. You were right." She smiled a huge grin of awe.

I hoped from Red's arms. The ghouls had been slowed by the bullets, but in their heightened state of hunger by the smell of blood it wouldn't be long. A few had already broken through the bullet line and were at the wall where I had put my blood, licking it with eager tongues. Ones eyes turned and shone upon landing on us. I took the dagger and flung it, burying through his eye and into his skull. I jerked my head, running toward where I escaped.

Red sighed, before following. "Tis such a shame. What a lovely piece to lose."

We reached the hole quickly, and like I had figured, they had attempted to fill it. With cement not readily available anymore, they had filled it with large rocks. I jumped on top and toss them like nothing. Red and Blue set about to helping me while Honi stood at the ready with her spear. Her snakes had begun a never ending stream of hisses, keeping her updated in the heat of battle. Blue and Red pulled away, slithering out of the hole with looks of horror and anger on their faces.

"How dare they." Blue seethed, her chest heaving with the indignation and her jewelry shaking about.

I paused and took a closer look back into the hole. We had removed a good deal of boulders and rocks to reveal something very familiar from the fort. Parts of the gate shone at me in the sun. It was my turn to get mad. I couldn't blast through gate material!