Project Damien: Lord of Shadows

Chapter 5: Spider's tears

The wilderness seemed to reject our presence and hinder us at every step. Fortunately, the soldier pulled out an energonite machete from his backpack, which he used to cut the grass that towered over us by a head, as we waded through the forest in an attempt to find a safer place, especially as far as possible from the crashed hovercraft, we could hear the growling and screeching of the Wildlings, who were enjoying fresh meat. Otherwise, silence surrounded us and none of us tried to start a conversation. I was exhausted and the energonite rifle was weighing me down and I felt heavier and heavier with each step. I just watched a soldier with a heavy pack on his back, a gun strapped to his chest energetically and easily cut through the grass, and I couldn't help but admire the fact that he has stamina.

"We'll camp there. Help should arrive within a few hours."

That was all he said to me, pointing to some dilapidated building - something that may have once been a farmhouse years ago.

We walked on in silence when he motioned for me to be quiet and get ready. He put down the machete, picked up the energonite rifle, and I followed suit. My hands protested disapprovingly about the effort and I felt a slight tremor from the strain of carrying a heavy weapon for several miles.

We carefully walked towards the building, checking everything around before entering. Empty. The soldier breathed a sigh of relief and sat down on one of the chairs that was undamaged. I sat across from him and watched him.

He rummaged in his backpack for a while, pulled out something that he put in his helmet, which flashed faintly.

I forgot he needed to recycle the air because it was toxic to him and would poison him. He would turn into.. what his colleagues turned into. To the monster. They probably don't remember that much of their lives since they attacked us. It is a pity.

The soldier started tapping something on his forearm, probably signaling where we were.

For now, I am looking around and thinking.

So this is how it continues. From a definite future in the army, through the possibility of getting somewhere further as an "unusual phenomenon".. back to the army, surviving in the wilderness and hoping that reinforcements will come to save us before us..

"What was that?"

I asked, jumping to my feet and somewhat clumsily picking up the gun and aiming it at the corner of the room. The door leading to the basement was locked, but I still heard a rustling noise from there.

The soldier jumped to his feet as well and we both watched the door tensely, guns drawn and ready to fire.

The door shook.

It's coming...

I started to slowly back towards the exit, but the soldier shook his head.

"It's going to catch up with us. We have to barricade the door."

My palms were sweaty and my legs were shaking with nervousness as I headed for the door, intending to start shooting as soon as it got out, while he began placing cabinets, tables, anything he could find in front of the door.

"I hope it doesn't get out."

He said, but in response he received several wild blows to the door, causing the hastily created barricade to shake. I got nervous. What the hell is that?

The door shattered into pieces with a crash and the barricade flew apart. He went out of the door..

Spider. Huge, about as big as the hovercraft we arrived in.

We both started firing almost immediately, but the energonite rounds seemed to do nothing to him, only digging into his furry body and his eight eyes watching us with undisguised fury before he lunged towards us. I dropped my weapon and threw myself to the side, landing hard in the corner of the room while the soldier just pulled out an energonite blade and chopped off one of his legs with a bang, but the other hit him in the head and threw him to the side.

The spider turned and shot a web in my direction. I quickly rolled to the side, but she still caught my legs and they remained attached to the ground. I started to tear them with my hands but they were firm and refused to loosen. The soldier got up and started slashing at the spider with an energonite machete, cutting off the front legs until he got to the head and chopped it off sharply. The spider locked itself a few times and fell to the ground.

It was after the fight. The soldier turned to me and I only now noticed that the blow to the head broke his helmet.

It was Sam.

He quickly came to me and, with a simple cut, cut off the cobwebs that kept me tied to the ground. He put the machete aside and handed me a handheld energonite weapon.

"You know what to do, mate."

"No..it's not.."

But yes..

.

“You have to shoot me.. before I turn into a Wildling, it will get worse.

Kill him...

"Sam... I.. you all the time..."

Do it...

"Quick. I can't take it much longer. Here you go."

He unlocked the computer on his wrist.

"By this they will find you. Now do what you must."

He pressed his head against the barrel. I saw how his fingers slowly began to twitch and twist.

Sam. He was here the whole time, perhaps ready to protect me as a friend to a friend, a brother to a brother. He went with me not only as a soldier but as a friend.

The voice in my head kept whispering to me what to do.

Kill him...shoot him before he transforms. Save him the trouble.. Save us the trouble.. shoot him. Let's save ourselves..Do it.. Do it.. DO IT!

Long after a single shot rang out, my desperate scream echoed through the house and the countryside.