Shadow Seekers

Chapter 8

Colin slowly pushed himself over onto his back and winced as pain shot up his back. That was a bad idea he thought to himself. He should have known better than to roll directly onto where he had been stabbed by those things nails. He then leaned up onto his elbows to figure out why the thing had gotten off of his back and was slightly shocked when he saw it thrashing wildly while Serena clung on. The knife he had given her for her birthday last year, hilt deep into the things throat. He couldn’t help but give a small smile, That’s my girl. People always seemed to underestimate her, but Colin knew better.

That’s when he noticed the leader of the creatures coming up from behind Serena, and he instantly tried to get to his feet but the moment he stood up he felt a wave of dizziness hit him, which he normally could have still balanced himself except for he was stepping in his own slick blood that had dripped onto the floor while he had been lying on it. He felt his legs sliding out from underneath him, and turned to try and catch himself on the only thing he could, the big metal wall, but his hands betrayed him and slid down the wall causing him to hit the top of his head into the wall instead before he slid down the remainder of the wall until he hit the ground. Blood started to trickle into his vision from where he had hit his head, and he quickly wiped at his right eye to remove it from his eyesight. Today is really not my day. He thought and then remembered the reason he had tried standing up and scanned the room for Serena.

She lay on the ground with Daniel standing over her. He didn’t look like he was doing much better than he was. Daniel’s attention, though, was not on Serena and Colin followed the direction of where Daniel was looking to see what had him so distracted. Colin’s eyes grew big with shock as he saw Liza. Her once perfect braid now had hairs sticking out everywhere as it swung with her movements like a black whip through the air. He was surprised how fast she was and how her movements seemed so effortless and natural to her. The glint of a small knife caught his attention as she was thrusting it towards the creature that Daniel had been fighting with last he saw. He noticed it already had one injured eye as well as spewing blood coming from it’s sliced up chest. What the hell are these things?

His attention was then grabbed as he heard shots ring through the air, and he followed the noise. Daniel was still standing over Serena, but this time his attention was on the female creature who had started coming towards them. Colin then looked around for his own gun which he found was close to where he had landed. He leaned over on his left elbow and grasped it with his right hand. He once again pushed himself up and allowed the metal wall to hold his back up as he took aim. Six rapid shots were fired from his gun, each one hitting its intended target. Two in the creature’s right arm, one hit its throat while the final two went straight through the things head. The shots flung its body down to the ground where gravity rolled it onto its back.

Colin realized that he had been holding his breath when he released it a minute later after the thing hadn’t moved. “Damn.” Colin said, not entirely sure why. He just felt like the situation deserved an extra expletive. He allowed his arms to fall to his sides. Exhaustion hit him at that moment and as hard as he tried he couldn’t stop his eyes from closing. Just for a moment. He thought. It’s really all I can afford. But as soon as he closed his eyes, he noticed all the noises around him started sounding distant, as if he was walking away from the room until he couldn’t hear anything anymore. In his last comment to himself he noticed that he could no longer feel the floor beneath him. He felt almost like he was floating, but to where?

Daniel closed his eyes and allowed himself a deep breath to try and steady his heartbeat, the only thing he could hear at the moment. Before he could calm it fully though, he then opened his eyes and looked at the dead female creature on the ground less than ten feet from him and Serena. He thanked God or whatever there may be that Colin was able to get those shots off. The three remaining shots he had still in his gun after shooting the eye of the other creature were definitely not enough to have stopped the creature lying in front of him.

Daniel turned around to look at the creature whose eye was missing. It too laid lifeless on the floor. Daniel’s own dagger sticking out the top of its head. That was when he walked over and tore it from the top of the creature using his foot on its head to get leverage. He wasn’t sure if it was the movement of bending down and getting back up quickly or if it was due to how loud the sound was, but he suddenly was able to hear a loud angry sound flood the air. Daniel could tell that the sound had come from behind him so he turned himself quickly on his heels, but instantly regretted it as a wave of nausea and vertigo hit him and he had to grab onto his knees with his head down to keep himself from falling over.

After a few deep breaths, Daniel felt he could finally look up. Slowly. As he did so, the first thing he noticed was the leader of the creatures now laying on the ground with the long sword stuck straight into its chest. Next to it he could see Liza, also covered in blood from the creature or her own he wasn’t sure. She also lay motionless.

It was then that Daniel heard Serena shriek Colin’s name and instantly he turned to look at where he last had seen him. Colin laid propped up against the strange metal wall. He looked pale, as pale as his dark skin would allow, and was surrounded by blood. Daniel’s heart gave a jump. Colin was his oldest friend and he had come to rely on him for almost everything, he couldn’t lose him too. Daniel finally found his footing and strength and quickly ran towards Colin. The first thing he did was check for a pulse in his neck. It was faint, but it was there. He then turned towards Serena to yell at her to go and get help but found her curled into a ball, sobbing.

He knew his voice came out harsher than he meant it to, but he needed her help now! “Serena!” he yelled and continued once she had looked at him. “Crying won’t fix anything. I need you to run and get help for Colin.” When she still sat there for a moment, he yelled again at her, “Serena, now!”

No angry or hurt look. No remark, just a small determined nod came from her as she stood to her feet, wiping her eyes at the same time and took off towards the other end of the room. Daniel suddenly realized that the room had cleared of the weird mist. There wasn’t even a wisp of fog still in the room. He hadn’t exactly noticed when it had gone away, but it was pretty obvious to him that whatever had caused it had some link to the three creatures that now laid dead around the floor.

He turned his attention back to Colin. He needed to figure out where the bleeding was coming from to try and stop it. Daniel was strong, but he doubted that he could carry Colin out of here. Not only was he almost four inches taller then him, he was also broader than him thanks to all the exercising and weight lifting he did. Daniel could see a small cut on Colin’s forehead, and while head wounds could bleed a lot this one didn’t worry him. It wasn’t the reason Colin was unconscious. Daniel then checked the rest of the front of Colin and while he did see several punctures above Colin’s right collarbone, it seemed that the wounds had already stopped bleeding. He decided that the most serious of Colin’s wounds must be on the back of him. Trying to be as careful as he could, he grabbed behind Colin’s neck and slowly leaned him forward, using his other hand to make sure that Colin didn’t fall forward into his own lap but that Daniel was able to gently lower him so that he didn’t cause anymore damage.

It was then easy to see the area where blood was seeping out. On his lower back there were similar puncture marks as on the front, but these must go deeper because blood kept gushing out of them. Daniel wasn’t a doctor but he had required not only himself, but also Colin and Serena to take a basic medical class incase any of them got injured while seeking. He hoped that one of Colin’s lumbar arteries hadn’t been punctured. Daniel paid more attention to the blood coming out. It wasn’t bright red, closer to maroon and seemed to be continuous instead of coming out in time with Colin’s heartbeat. While this didn’t give him a definite answer it did help him lean more towards Colin’s arteries being intact.

Daniel started applying as much pressure as he could to the cut area, but was concerned that he wasn’t covering all of the wounds. Daniel started thinking of something he could tie around Colin’s back and decided that the only thing long enough that could be tied was his shirt. Colin’s was too shredded, so Daniel released his pressure on the wounds real quick as he slid his shirt over his head and wrapped it around Colin’s back. He was thankful that he had worn a long-sleeved shirt. He tended to when they were seeking, even on hot days so as to leave less skin exposed to any shadow creatures they tracked down.

After making sure his shirt covered where he needed it to, he used his should to push Colin back up against the wall so that he could tie his shirt in the front. He made sure he tightened it as much as possible, and adjusted Colin as best he could so that there would be additional pressure of his own body weight leaning against the wall. At this point, Daniel felt he had done everything he could for Colin at this time, at least until Serena got back with some additional help.

Daniel started looking around the room. Since the fog had gone he was now able to see the room clearly. The room was very large. He guessed it had to be around 1500 square feet alone. And what he thought was a metal wall actually turned out to be more of a very large floor to ceiling door that seemed to take up half of the one wall. All across it were the similar seeker markings etched into it. On the door they looked more ornamental than they normal did when he looked at them on any of his weapons. What is this door doing here? Daniel thought to himself, it seemed like a strange place for any door especially one covered in these types of symbols.

He was still sitting there contemplating the door when he heard a small cough from behind him and froze. Liza! How could he have completely forgot about her?

Serena ran as fast as she could. She didn’t dare to look back at Colin again, she needed to focus on getting help, not on the chances of Colin living through his injuries. Her feet finally hit carpet as she took her first steps out of the room. Looking down the hallway it seemed much longer now than it did when they first came down it. She didn’t allow it to pause her though as she continued to run. Colin had checked each door on their way to the room, but Serena didn’t have time to be that cautious. No door opened. No creatures came out of the shadows. The house remained silent as she ran and it wasn’t until her feet starting pounded on the steps as she ran down them that she heard any noise beyond her own breathing.

She had almost tripped over it before she noticed something was in her way halfway down the steps. She suddenly stopped in order to avoid whatever it was but didn’t even give it a second glance once she was passed it. Her hand reached out in front of her as she quickly got through the foyer and pulled on the front door handle, throwing it open and throwing herself through it out into the early morning light that surrounded her. Good. She thought to herself. Daylight meant that more people would be awake and finding assistance would be easier.

At the end of the yard she looked up and down the streets trying to see if anyone was already out, but upon not seeing anyone she just decided to start running down the street to the left of her. She didn’t know the area super well but she knew the couple that lived a couple of streets down, and she knew that they would be more than willing to help. She just hoped that they were home. She still continued to scan the streets as she headed towards her destination. The earlier she found someone, the better, but she knew that no one would open up their door to a stranger this early in the day. Especially not one covered in blood.

She had about three blocks left until the house of the couple she knew when she heard someone yell from behind her, “Serena?!?” bringing her up short. She turned around and let out a sigh of relief as she saw it was Dr. Simmons that had called out to her. She quickly changed course and ran back to him. “Dr. Simmons I can’t tell you how glad I am to see you. I need your help immediately!” She got out through gulps of air. It wasn’t until she had stopped running that she realized how out of breath she was. Dr. Simmons started patting her shoulders as if trying to calm her down, but Serena quickly pushed them off of her and took a step back. “You don’t understand.” She said to him in frustration, her breathing more normal at this point. “Colin is badly injured.” She paused as she felt tears start to enter her eyes, “He may be dying or dead.” Dr. Simmons face softened and you could see empathy enter his gaze. “Please.” She begged of him softly.

Dr. Simmons nodded, and turned to his assistant that Serena hadn’t even noticed was standing just being the doctor. “Get to the office and find someone to let our clients know that we were pulled out for an emergency today.” He then turned back to her and said, “Lead the way.”

Daniel couldn’t believe that he had completely forgot about her. He had seen her lying on the ground earlier too…

He shook his head to clear his mind and turned around and searched for her. He found her lying on the floor still by the leader of the creatures, he saw that she had a small amount of blood sliding down her cheek from her mouth. He looked down towards her body and noticed long scratches down her side and wondered if one of her lungs was punctured. He hurried over to her and bent down by her side. He did the same things as he had with the others, he first checked for a pulse in her throat and felt his heartbeat calm down as he felt it, pulsing strong. He then reached up his hand and wiped the blood by her mouth away from her face. She didn’t make any other noise or movement to give him a sign that she knew he was there, which had him worrying again.

He laid her head back on the floor and turned his attention to the scratches that ran down the length of her left side. Her dark clothing was soaked with blood and it had started to pool around her. He tore at one of the tears in her shirt to get a clearer look at her wounds. Just as with Colin’s he needed to figure out if there were any concerns of arteries being hit, but once again he felt pretty certain that wasn’t the case, however, the size of the wounds and the amount of the blood still coming from them erased any relief he would have felt. If he was honest with himself he thought it was a miracle she was still alive.

He started looking around him for something he could use to help stop the bleeding, and started getting frantic when he couldn’t think of anything that would help. He was wrenched from his worry though by another cough coming from Liza. This time he saw her eyes slowly open and a questioning look come across her face as she blinked her eyes, he assumed to clear her vision. He watched as she winced when she turned her head towards him. The questioning look on her face then became one of fear, and Daniel found himself instinctively reaching for her face and stroking her hair as he told her, “Liza, it’s Daniel. You’re safe.” The last part was a lie. He didn’t have high hopes of her surviving her injuries, especially since he didn’t have anything to help with the bleeding.

He watched as her expression relaxed. “Daniel.” Was all she said before she he saw her left hand find the wounds on her side and lightly glide over them as they tried to determine the extent of the injuries. She gave a dry laugh that turned into a cough. After her coughing subsided she gave a slight shake of her head, “Bastard got me good.” She said followed by her moving just her head around, searching for what, Daniel wasn’t sure.

“We need to stop the bleeding.” She said very matter of factly, no concern laced her voice. Daniel nodded his head but then realized she wasn’t looking at him, so he cleared his throat and responded, “That is what I was just looking for myself.”

No response come from her though and Daniel wasn’t sure if she had heard him. He was about to say something when she cut him off, “The sword.” She pointed towards the sword sticking in the leader’s chest, and without questioning her Daniel stood up and grabbed it for her. He still was unsure of what she was going to do with it, but she seemed lucid enough that he felt she must have something decent planned.

He knelt back down and tried to hand it to her, but she shook her head from side to side, so he sat back on his haunches and placed the sword in his own lap. “In my right side pocket, the one by my knee, you will find my fire starting kit.” Daniel’s eyes got wide as he realized what she meant to do. “That’s a bad idea.” He said, “Even if I could heat enough of the sword to cover the length of your wounds, the sword is definitely not sanitary. We could be closing the wounds just to have an infection kill you instead.”

“Bleeding out here on the floor will for sure kill me.” She said bluntly, “At least I have a fighting chance against an infection.” She stared at him, just like she had the first day he had met her. That look that dared him to do it. In this case, it dared him to defy her logic. Instead, Daniel just shook his head as he leaned forward and easily found the fire-starting kit where she had told him it would be. He had to admit that he was slightly impressed with the kit as he opened it. Not only did it have the means to easily start a fire but to also maintain it as there was also small pieces of wood and some fire lighting papers.

Daniel pulled out one of the pieces of wood and one of the fire lighting papers that he wrapped around the piece of wood before lighting them both on fire. He then reached into one of his own pockets and pulled out a pocket knife that he opened and started running the fire along the edge of the blade. He saw the Liza was about to remark, but this time he stopped her by saying, “I know this blade isn’t as long as the sword, but I think I will be able to keep the edge of the blade hotter for longer with it and it is probably cleaner than the sword.” Liza closed her mouth and just nodded her head as her acceptance of what he had said.

When he thought he had gotten the blade as hot as he could, he put the fire lighter down and was about ready to place it on the first wound, when he felt Liza’s blood soaked hand touch him while she said, “Can you hand me another piece of wood?” Daniel’s stomach turned a little as he realized the reason she was asking for it. Of course this was going to hurt, way beyond what she was feeling right now. He didn’t hesitate long though before he grabbed another piece of wood from her kit and handed it to her which she instantly transferred to her mouth and bit down on it before giving him a nod as her way of telling him to proceed.

Daniel once again leaned forward as he stuck the blazing hot blade into the first of her wounds.