The Ambush
Eighteen survivors from hell raced across the snow-covered road. Two captains, four soldiers, and twelve civilians consisting of three men, five women, three children, and one newborn baby. There was nothing but pure despair in their eyes. They had no idea what the future held or what kind of thing was hunting them down; their only choice was to keep moving forward.
The group halted at a narrow pass. The sound of snapping branches echoed behind them. Suddenly, five tall, hideous figures leaped from the shadows, crashing into the rear of the line. Before anyone could scream, the monsters dragged three villagers into its darkness, woman and children scream. The four remaining soldiers tried to form a perimeter to protect the rest of the civilians, but they were cut off from the main path. The group of eighteen was split: thirdteen were trapped at the pass, while Bunny and Wolf remained on their horses.
Bunny yanked his reins, his horse rearing back in terror. He sat paralyzed, staring into the dark brush where the screams had just vanished. The suddenness of the ambush, after losing most of his men, finally broke his composure. He sat motionless in the saddle, his eyes wide and hollow, but then he drew his sword, preparing for a truly bloody battle.
Wolf kicked his horse forward and grabbed Bunny's arm, his grip nearly pulling Bunny out of the saddle. "We leave them," Wolf said coldly. "The civilians, the wounded. There are only two of us and we can't move fast enough. If we ditch them and ride now, we make it back to the main camp. We can fortify there and wait until tomorrow."
Bunny ripped his arm away. "Nine out of ten of our men are dead. They died holding the line so we could get these people out. You want to tell their families their sacrifice was for nothing?"
"I want us to stay alive!" Wolf snapped. "You're a prideful idiot. Look at them!! They are walking corpses. You're choosing a dozen peasants and nameless soldiers over your own life!"
"Then shut up!! You coward, I'm bringing them back," Bunny replied in a rage, turning toward the treeline. "Go back and tell Kasow that you ran while I stayed. Tell him you're the only 'smart' one left."
Wolf stared at Bunny's back from his saddle. He spat on the ground and drew his sword. "Fine. You really are a moron," Wolf muttered, kicking his horse forward to align with Bunny.
"I am no coward, Bunny!" Wolf yelled.
"I hope the two of us can take those five down," Wolf thought to himself. "If we're careful and use the civilians as bait, we might just live a little longer."
The Battle
As the shadows stepped into the moonlight, their true, sickening forms were finally revealed. They were massive, built like giant hounds but with spines twisted into jagged, hunched humps. Most unsettling were their faces beneath matted clumps of long and short, human-like hair on their heads, they bared rows of flat, hauntingly white human teeth that ground together in the dark.
And the scene caused by them was horrific. Women were screaming while the men desperately tried to hold the monsters back. Of the soldiers, two of the soldiers were torn apart before they could draw their swords
Bunny did not hesitate. He kicked his horse into a desperate gallop, his blade gleaming under the pale moonlight. With a roar of rage, he leaned out of the saddle and swung with all his might. His blade caught the first monster clean through the neck, sending its hideous head spinning into the red-stained snow.
Wolf followed, but his movements were cold and calculated. He slid off his horse before it even stopped, his boots hitting the frozen ground with a heavy thud. Two monsters were hunched over, tearing into the chest of a fallen man. Wolf didn't shout; he simply drove his blade through the spine of the first and spun, decapitating the second mid-snarl. He moved like a butcher, efficient and heartless.
"Wolf! Check the survivors! Get the wounded to cover!" Bunny yelled, his chest heaving as he parried a claw from another beast.
Wolf didn't even look back. He stepped over a dying villager and moved toward the next shadow. "They're dead weight, Bunny! Focus on the things that are still trying to kill us!"
The battle became a blur of steel and gore. It wasn't just five monsters; the loud screams had attracted an entire pack. Now, their path was completely blocked. The snow was no longer white; it was a slush of mud and black blood. Steel clashed against bone. The survivors screamed, scrambled, and died. Bunny fought like a hero, throwing himself into every gap to protect a fleeing women or a terrified child. Wolf fought like a survivor, letting the monsters thin the crowd so he could strike them when they were distracted by their prey.
Finally, silence returned, heavy and suffocating. Wolf stood alone in the middle of the pass, surrounded by a carpet of corpses. His armor was shattered, and his breath came in ragged gasps. "I think my leg is broken," he muttered to the cold air.
He looked around, no one was moving. Not the soldiers, not the villagers. Then, a faint, muffled sound came from beneath a pile of bodies. Wolf pushed aside the cooling corpse of a woman and found a newborn baby, untouched and shivering, shielded by its mother's final act.
Wolf looked at the child, then at the body lying a few feet away. It was Bunny. His best friend, the "idiot" who refused to run, lay broken in the snow. The price of this single life was the extinction of two entire squads and a village.
Wolf felt a sharp pain in his chest - a weight far heavier than his armor. He picked up the infant, wrapped it in a bloodied cloak, and began the long, silent journey back to the fortress.