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Chapter 18 - Paulus

I

        A scream sliced through the night with a sword’s fury.
        Paulus shot up. He became dizzy from both the sudden movement as well as the fever taking hold once more. His stomach wanted to empty, but he had enough strength to hold the acidic bile in.
        All was silent now. Maybe it had been his imagination. A nightmare...
        His blood froze – so cold that not even the fever could heat it. Another wail followed and lingered longer than the first. It was laced with both fear and pain. As the scream died out, a gale picked up in its wake causing the apartment’s shutters to rattle.
        His nether tingled and he hissed a swear. There was no way he wanted to get up to relive himself. Whatever was happening was bad. He knew it in his core. His chest twisting with fright as if his heart was ready to stop. Slowly, his need overwhelmed his fear and he never wished for a chamber pot more. In his distraction, after Aemilia was attacked, he had forgotten to get one from the hall’s keeper. Now that the town was locked down, he doubted he would have the chance. The hall had a common latrine that he could use – it was upstairs at the furthest end from the apartment.
        With a groan, he rolled his feet from the bed and stood. Even with his need’s urgency, he had to remain still to allow his head to catch up with his body. Again, it swam and spun. Soon his need overwhelmed the fever, and his weakness was somewhat dispelled. He regained some balance and with careful steps, he made for the door. His bladder screamed in protest now that he was moving, and his eyes watered in his fight. Whimpering, he opened the apartment door and raced along the balcony.

II

        It seemed Paulus was not the only one awoken by the screams. The hall’s few other residences tentatively milled around with subdued panic in their eyes. Paulus paid them no heed and shuffled to the latrine – doing his best to keep his distance from the other pale and sickly residences. He was about halfway to his destination when the hall’s door flung open. There was gravity to that event, and Paulus stopped his sojourn to view what was about to transpire as if in anticipation.
        A town’s guard rushed in and slammed the door behind him. He stumbled away from the hall’s entrance but, after a moment's thought, rushed back to lock its latch. He was drenched in blood, but Paulus could not till if any was his own. There was something wrong with how he moved. It was at once both strong and weak. For some reason, a rabbit ready spring away in flight came to mind. The guard’s hands trembled, and his sword wobbled in the grip, but its tip never wavered away from the door’s frame.
        The guard’s terrible shape cause Paulus to forget his own plight. Fear was growing ready to explode in his chest, and it held him frozen. All he could do was watch from the balcony and imagine pale skinned monsters crawling towards the hall’s doors, getting ready to claw their way in by sundering the barrier. Unfortunately, he felt his imagination was probably right.
        “What’s happening,” One onlooker asked sheepishly over the balcony.
        The guard did not reply. He just continued to back away from the door. His eyes never left the door, even as he stumbled into the unused chairs and tables in the common area. The atmosphere became hushed – it was as if no one dared to breathe.
        Paulus stood as still and mute as the other onlookers. The guard’s heavy exhalations were the only disturbance in the serenity needed to keep the present calm. With a thunderbolt’s fury, an elderly man – close to the latrine – coughed. If there had been any other noise, the cough would have gone unnoticed. Unfortunately, it signaled the coming storm.

III

        The door rocked on its frame. Dust puffed out from between the wood’s veins with the sudden assault’s violence. A splintering score sounded immediately after – a sound Paulus had heard Bantius’s claws make on the wood floors at his farm. Again, the door bulged and somehow remained upright, despite the snap that cut through the air. Cracks ran the door’s length as it settled back into its original shape with a groan. A hungry cry followed, similar to a hungry child’s frustrated wail but with an adult’s depth.
        Paulus felt his trousers grow warm and wet. The sensation flowed to his feet, and he did not readily realize the cause. At any other time, he would have been twisted with anger. He was a grown man and relieving oneself in their trousers was as foreign as a language never heard before. On this occasion, he did not care. His complete attention was on the failing door and its inability to shield the hall’s inhabitants.
        With a savage crack that seemed wholly impossible considering the damage already dealt, the door exploded with such force that the guard was taken from his feet. Adrenaline cleared the shock from Paulus’s mind, and he saw the sickly pale-white fleshed thing bent over the prone guard. He moved before anyone else knew what to do. Sprinting with more vigour than he should have been able to muster in his current state, he flew towards his apartment. From his eye’s periphery, he saw the guard’s blood spew across the floor. The thing twisted its maw clamped on the guard’s neck with ravenous abandon – sending more rich viscera across the room in violent sprays.
        Paulus slammed the apartment’s door just as more pale things snaked their way in. He latched it securely and raced to further bar the entrance with a chair. Screams reverberated through the walls as the other residents’ shock subsided enough to realize the horror in their midst. He pressed himself against the door, pushing against it with all his might. He could only guess at what the shouting and crashing that followed meant. For some reason, it felt distant – even though whatever was happening was just on the door’s other side. His complete focus and remaining strength were transferred to not letting anything in.

IV

        Silence reigned for a while. Paulus was not sure how long, but it was long enough for him to become comfortable with letting his weight free from the door. Sweat jumped from his brow and raced down his back, inducing a shiver. He addressed his mostly dry trousers and wash his chaffed thighs. A haze filled the room, and he could smell faint carbon in the air.
        Tentatively, he softly walked to the window and opened the shutters a sliver. Smoke rose from Lavici’s limits and was creeping inwards as if it had a sentient all-consuming mind. He stepped away from the shutters and was apathetic to it all. After everything, he finally ready to accept defeat. With a sigh, he turned on his unsteady feet and shuffled towards the bed, where Ameilia breathed shallowly and wheezed with ever exhale.
        He coughed and tasted bloody iron. He felt so weak and tired; more so than ever before. Just then, he caught his reflection. He did not recognize the pale and gaunt face looking back at him. He studied his arms and hands – astonished to see the malnourished muscles barely hiding his bones. The black veins had stretched well beyond his wrists, webbed up his arms, and across his entire frame. They were just beginning to sprout around his eyes.
        With a fear laden heart, he looked back towards Aemilia. She too bore little resemblance to the person he had fallen in love with. Glossy and pale corpse skin covered her frame, and she looked more like a skeleton than a woman. Her once voluminous blond hair was silver and thin. Strands littered her pillow and clumped on the floor. Only the black veins gave her any colour. They moved, and their throbbing had become urgent.
        Paulus knew this was the end. Whether from his own acceptance or intuition, he did not have the mind to know why. Maybe it was his own faded strength. He felt ready to give in and take his leave. He had fought and fought hard since he found Bantius in the woods. It all felt for not. Aemilia was going to die, and he was soon to follow. Worse yet, he knew she would transform as Bantius had. He did not know how he knew that, but he did. It was a certainty – like a blue-sky on a warm summer day or the ocean’s tides.
        He could not let it happen...
        With a sigh, he turned back to the window. The smoke was visible on the street now and was creeping ever closer to the hall. He caught something new standing at its perimeter and shuffled back to the window to get a closer look. It was covered in black armour and only bore a resemblance to a human. It was not, however. Its skeletal face grin was in full view despite the smoke and was on full detail despite how its dark aspect blended in with the night that touched it. It held two silver-white swords that seemed to glow with their own light and not that given to them from the few remaining lamps in the street.
        Paulus felt a fresh fear take his weakened heart. This new thing was something different from the creatures that destroyed Lavici and his farm. It was an anathema to them, but further down in darkness’s depths. The Gods sent a Demon to dispatch the abominations that had destroyed him, his wife, and all he had ever known.
        Smoke rolled around the Demonic figure, only barely disguising it. He could still make out its outline and the silhouettes of others in the grey forming around the first. They seemed to push the smoke before them like a shroud.

V

        Thick grey smoke rolled through the streets quicker than before as if it were a living thing, like a locus swarm seeking to consume everything within their path. An orange glow emanated from deep within the cloud at its heart and lit the sky red. The flames were now visible on night’s backdrop, and they dispelled the stars with their glow.
        The dark figures stalked through the haze. Screams announced their advance as they entered each building with a discipline that seemed inhuman. Fiery white light flashed with each swing their unholy lit swords made, and the shrill cries died as suddenly as they began. Their work was quick, it only took them minutes to clear a building before moving onwards to the next. It was as dispassionate as it was economical and efficient.
        Paulus watched the grey carbon wave wash over the hall’s lower levels and felt a lump rise in his throat. He coughed to clear it, knowing the smoke was not its cause. He knew what he had to do and just the thought ripped his heart from his chest. He was resolute.
        A figure approached from beyond the smoke – waiting for its peers. His eyes met its as it focused its gaze upon him.
        He guessed at what they sought and turned to his wife...

Thank you for reading! The end is coming of this first part is coming!

~Brett