Hellspawn chapter 5

5

"up everyone up!" I'm shouting at my squad. I'm relieved to know they are still here but horrified that they might be facing the same nightmares I just encountered. I kick Derek in the gut and he jerks awake, I can see a fresh cut on his leg and a lot of blood soaking his arm.
I quickly run into the next room and look at a horrible pile of guts in one corner. I don't stop for a moment, I kick awake Mathers, who is sporting a wound on her back and a swollen eye. I reach James and wake him as a scratch appears on his neck. When I move towards Odis however I see a large pool of blood and I know I'm too late. Rodriguez too won't wake, although I see no visible wounds on him. I look in the other rooms for the other three missing people but there isn't even a bone left.
Five of my men died in a matter of hours.
"What the f**k just happened to me? Did you do this to me crazy!" Mathers screams at me, I turn and see Derek, James and Mathers all checking their wounds.
"no of course I didn't you idiot!"
"then what the f**k happened!"
"did you just have a dream of something? Any of you?" they all nod, then something clicks for they all share a face of shock and horror.
"what kind of place is this! We're getting out of here right now!" Private James shouts, he heads for the door but is cut off as Sergeant Joseph and Sims enters the small building, followed by their squads.
"what's going on? Is that-" Sims starts, but her voice is unheard over the shouts of the men behind her.
"that's Odis there!"
"what the f**k happened?"
"Is everyone else dead?"
"SHUT UP!"
everyone turns, looking to see who shouted. I'm appalled to see who it is.
It's private Cheing.
He pushes his way past the others into the middle of the room. By now no one is talking, dumbfounded at Cheing's loudness.
"I know what's going on here!" he shouts out to the crowd.
"what do you mean?" Sergeant Sims says to him, grabbing him by his collar. After a day of no sleep and stress I can tell she has no patience left.
"my people, the village I grew up in, they talked of this place."
"that's bullshit!" shouted someone in the crowd, but I couldn't see who.
"shut up, Thompson!" Sims shouts, she then looks back to Cheing for an explanation.
"they refer to this place as Pandora's village, or the Hellspawn. It was said in a time before time was known there was an demon. This demon used cunning and fear to destroy entire civilisations and species. When it came upon this village however an powerful man saw him for what he was, the man was not strong enough to destroy this demon, so he trapped him in a box. The box would whisper to the man, promising power if he would release him and it drove the man insane. He dug a large pit into the centre of the village, which some say reached the centre of the earth, just so he wouldn't hear the demon. But then the man had a son. The son was very greedy and wanted to become stronger then his father, he dug for weeks until he found the box and opened it. The demon encased itself into the boys soul, becoming more powerful then he was before. Now the man knew what his son had done, and he was too weak to encase the demon again, so instead he simply refilled the hole. He knew it wouldn't help the villagers if he simply left the hole unprotected, so he summoned the last of his energy and created this." and private Cheing held up his dreamcatcher for everyone to see. "the dreamcatcher would repel the demons and protect the village as the slept, but the power used to create it destroyed the man. He died weak and alone."
"so you think your little voodoo bits of string can help us? Your insane!" shouted Thompson again, but no one seemed to share his views. Everyone seemed to be eyeing the dreamcatcher eagerly. 
"are you sure this isn't just a story Private?" Sims asks him, still watching his dreamcatcher. 
"I'm positive Sergeant, there could be no other explanation for why this village is doing this to us."
"your all f*****g crazy!" Thompson shouts again. sergeant Joseph grabs him and drags him out of the room.
"ok, we have to test this somehow though." she says to the group.
"why don't we place it on someone who's sleeping?" someone shouts out. "I'd be willing to take a nap for the team!"
"but if it dosn't work you'd die." Sims points out to him, which shuts him up.
"what if we placed the dreamcatcher on the bonepit? Derek said. "that is where the box is supposed to isn't it?" a large mutter of agreement filled the room.
"well I only have one Sergeant, so we can't afford to be wrong." Cheing points out to her.
"I know, but it's our best bet. Pass it here private." he tosses her the dreamcatcher and she holds it firmly in her hands.
"Corporal Cooper, you and your squad will now be given the Lieutenant to watch."
"yes sergeant." I respond quickly. He is shunted forwards and Derek grabs hold of him.
"my squad, on me. I want to finish this now." Sims says to her squad, they eagerly follow her out, followed by Josephs squad next.
"do you want to go check it out?" Derek asks me, I shrug.
"well Sims and Josephs squad have still got to sleep. We should let them both sleep if we're sure this will work. So I guess we can watch."
I lead my group outside, the sun is starting to set. As we get closer I can see a large circle of men are, cheering loudly. I spot Joseph and approach him.
"Sergeant, you and Sergeant Sims can get some rest. My squad is more then willing to keep watch."
"got it, thanks Corporal." he then shouts to his squad. "my squad, bed!" to a large amount of applause and cheering. 
Sims seems to have spotted me and walks over.
"well, let's hope this works. You want me to stay out with you?" she says to me.
"we'll manage. Get to bed Sims." she nods and calls her squad over, they walk off and into a house.
"ok, Mathers, I want you on a building now. Yell if anythings wrong. James, I want you to watch the Lieutenant. Barnes, you and I are going to search the houses for supplies."
"why the hell do I have to watch the Lieutenant?" James mutters under his breath as he walks off with the Lieutenant. Mathers also walks off unhappily.
"You think we should be leaving them by themselves? If demons do pop outta the ground I don't think Mathers is much of a threat." Derek says to me as we walk off.
"she's supposed to be a sentry, Derek, not a one man army."
"I know, Marcus, I just don't trust her, or James. You know he's like his lapdog, he could easily untie him."
We enter a building and start searching it for any usable supplies. 
"he won't untie him, he knows how crazy the Lieutenant is now." we find some fruit in and water canteens in the first building. We quickly move to a second.
"he could be just as crazy though."
"I doubt it."
"I'm just saying-"
"Derek, he's fine."
We don't talk for nearly an hour after that. We searched every building thoroughly and found a good haul of food, blankets, and water canteens. We also found an old wheelbarrow that held all our supplies. We dumped the food and blankets and took the canteens to fill. On the way back to the village Derek pointed out a figure in the distance.
"that's a person Marcus." I squint and look at the figure.
"I think it's walking away." I whisper,
"it could be the Lieutenant!" 
"it could be anyone, but let's get back quickly."
We sprint back into the village. 
"Private Mathers!" I shout out, looking at the building I saw her scale. She dosent respond so I jump up.
She's unconscious.
"Derek! Wake up everyone! Someone took out Mathers!"
I Hear him run off and a loud amount of shouting comes from a building.
I run to the bone pit next, praying that the Dreamcatcher is still there. Of course I know before I even get there what I'll find.  The Dreamcatcher is of course gone.
“What did you wake us for Corporal?” Sims shouts as she walks outside with her squad.
“someone attacked Private Mathers! And the dreamcatchers gone!” I shout back at her. Everyone gasps, people start to eye each other suspiciously.
“We saw someone walk away too!” Derek adds  
“well everyones here.” Replies Sims, craning her neck to look around at her squad.  “We can check Joseph’s squad though.”
“no need.” Says Private Vegrent from the back.
“why not?” I ask him quickly.
“because by the looks of it the Lieutenants alone, and if he’s alone then that means-“
“That James left!” Shouted Derek, he turns to me and gives me an unforgiving look.
“Barnes! Get the Lieutenant!” Sims shouts at him, before he has any time to say anything to me. He angrily storms off and grabs the Lieutenant. He drags him back and throws him on the ground.
“Where’s Private James!” She screams at him, surprisingly enough he smiles. 
“Gone.” He says simply to her.
“GONE WHERE!”
“I don’t know, he just decided to leave.”
“You talked him into this, didn’t you!” I shout at him.
“Its not like he needed much convincing, he knew that you were all going to die anyways.”
“So you told him to run?” Derek shouts at him. By now I can see Joseph and his squad coming outside to see the commotion.
“no, I didn’t actually. I only told him to get rid of the Dreamcatcher.”
“YOU WHAT?” Sims screams, making Joseph jump.
“What’s going on here!” he shouts at her, in response she points a finger at the lieutenant.
“This idiot told Private James to take the Dreamcatcher and run away.”
“WHAT! Why would you do that!” he shouts at him.
“so I could be released of course.” He replies darkly.
“we are not letting you go!”
“no, you’re not. The box shall no longer hold me, I can leave this pathetic human body and bring forth my rage upon the world.” The Lieutenant stands up, he snaps his bindings with a quick movement and his muscles start to flex. “no longer shall you walk around in my village. This is my village.”
“What the f**k are you!” Derek shouts at him, the Lieutenant doesn’t answer though. His muscles are squirming and moving across his body, his arms expand and his legs grow. His muscles grow to twice its size. Two dark horns come out of his skull, where his ears were. His skin becomes a jet black and a dark glow comes off his body.
“I am Pandora! This is my village. This is my world!” The monster screams, Derek runs forward and hits him with his gun, attempting to knock him out. Pandora grabs him by his head and rips it clean off his body. Throwing it aside he screams, “Rise my minions! Reclaim the village from these simple beings!”