Prologue

A Chapter by Warlon

The soft pitter patter of rain was more often than not a sign of comfort, a gentle musical stream of sounds to lull the common person into sleep. Or the nutrients for plants, giving lifeblood to the green stalks to allow them to stand upright to greet the sun and cause the rays to reflect beautifully upon the droplets.

To Shanda it was nothing but a hindrance to her vision and grip of her feet upon the ground.

Her sprint through the once peaceful woods was only weighed down by the water on the ground, the backpack over her shoulder and the monsters currently chasing her. She dare not look behind her though the snarls and growls practically screamed for her to stop and fight them. Which she easily could, given her training and equipment, but for now she was running.

The main thing Shanda was hoping for was some kind of shelter, either to hold out against the monsters chasing her or to hide in and wait for them to lose interest.

“Please, Lord, let there be SOMETHING.” Shanda quietly prayed in between breaths.

As if He heard her prayer, it wasn’t long in her sprint before she came before a large house, the wind, rain and more than likely monsters had done a number on the once beautiful wooden architecture of the building, but it was enough to hide in.

Shanda dared a quick glance behind her and saw them. They were humanoid, if it could be called that, large bone like claws extended from different areas around their hands; mostly the knuckles and forearm. A large split came down from the bottom lip and stopped at the base of the neck, revealing a large triangular shaped mouth lined with razor sharp teeth. Their bright purple eyes glistened in the rain and sang one melody; hunger.

Shanda continued her sprint towards the house, leaping over the outer waist high fence and clearing the courtyard in two seconds, if anyone was timing her desperate run she would have set some records. As she neared the raised porch she leapt and cleared the three steps onto the platform in a single bound, and using her momentum crashed into the door shoulder first. The door burst open, almost coming off the hinges due to the ruined wood it was screwed to, and Shanda realized that she had broken the lock; there was no closing this door, at least not in the way it was intended. Daring to look back at the monsters she quietly thanked the Lord that they were as stupid as they were vicious, despite their horrifying appearance and strength they didn’t think to jump over the fence and instead rammed right into it, several of them impaling themselves on the sharper edges of the metal, others knocking themselves face first over the barrier. With the bought time, Shanda frantically looked around for something she could use as a barricade, and her eyes almost immediately located a large couch that looked to be comfortable at one point in time, but now was utterly ruined by the elements. She closed the door back as best she could and ran to the other side of the couch, pushing with all of her might she found it to be lighter than it looked, which was good for her back but bad for her predicament. She could only pray that it would be enough to hold the monsters back long enough for her to find a spot to hide or a window to burst through and run away. Within moments she had the couch firmly smooshed up against the door, now the only problems were the windows. What little glass remained wasn’t strong enough to block one of the monsters from coming in, and whatever harm they could inflict on a human would be worthless against them.

Daring a peek, the monsters were getting up and over the fence, their horrible intelligence only realizing just now “Hey, we can get over these”, Shanda turned her attention back to barricading. Upon further hurried inspection of the windows she now knew that God was looking out for her, nestled on either side were those old timey window shutters; the big wooden ones that you closed from the inside. She quickly slammed them shut and shoved the locks into place, grabbing some strong metal wire from her belt pouch and wrapping it around the center handles for good measure.

Shanda quietly backed away as she heard the monsters reach her point of entry, their horrible moans and growls could be heard below the sound of their hands, claws and faces bashing against the makeshift barricades. Within mere moments, however, the couch began to give way, and Shanda could barely see the faint purple glow of a pair of hungry eyes through the crack in the door. She tightened her lips in fear and anger as she quickly made her way to the side where she found a hallway. Several rooms lined the walls with closed doors and a staircase was at the far side. Figuring that she’d have a much better chance with higher ground on her side, Shanda sprinted up the stairs, her backpack beginning to weigh heavily on her shoulders. Through sheer determination, and strength from the Lord, she shrugged off the pain and fatigue, and continued up the staircase.

Reaching the top she was greeted by another hallway lined with rooms that lead to the balcony overseeing the area she was just in. At the far end was an uncovered window where she could see the wind and rain beginning to pick up in intensity. As quietly as she could she fast walked forward, crouching slightly as she heard the sound of the locks on the windows beginning to give way; the only thing holding them together now was the wire she had hastily tied around the handles. Further in to the house she was greeted by a rather large room to her right that looked to be just above the front door, attempts to turn the handle revealed that it was locked, prompting Shanda to hastily pull out her unlock kit.

“Come on, you can do this.” She muttered to herself as she gently jammed the tools into the handle and began to work at the lock.

The sound of clattering glass and thumps on the lower floor notified her that the monsters had made their way into the house. Shanda prayed that they hadn’t seen the direction she had run, hoping that it would give her enough time to open the lock.

When she finally managed to get the door unlocked she gently pushed it open to generate as little noise as possible, straining her ears she could hear the monsters making their way to the staircase. She hurried her pace, and much like a mother leaving her baby to sleep, slowly closed the door behind her and engaged the lock. She remained completely still, not daring to move lest she step on a loose floor board or kick some glass. Lightning flashing produced a small amount of light that peeked through a hole in the roof over the main foyer, showing the shadow of something moving past her door rather quickly.

Shanda let out a slow, shaky breath and thanked the Lord as the rain picked up it generated enough noise that she shouldn’t be heard provided she stayed as quiet as possible. She turned to survey the room and found a lone window at the far end that lead to a drop back to the courtyard, just above where the stairs begin. She supposed that if the creatures didn’t leave she could jump through and hopefully stick the landing to continue her sprint away, but for now she stayed put, hoping the monsters would eventually lose interest.

At the far left corner sat a bed, mostly untouched by the elements and only slightly reeked, though with those monsters around it reeked well enough. Other common household items were scattered around the room; overturned end tables, lamp posts with shattered bulbs and torn apart books.

Shanda quietly made her way to the bed and knelt down next to it, unbuckling the belt around her waist that kept the backpack steady to bring it around to rest gently on the mattress. Upon opening the flap covering the top, she was greeted by what was weighing her down; a baby girl, not even a year old. The sprint through the woods had awoken her from her nap, and thankfully she wasn’t crying about it, not yet anyways. Shanda gently lifted the baby girl from the backpack and peered at her through her mask. She imagined to the baby she appeared either frightening or funny looking, and was seriously hoping on the latter.

As if on cue, the baby began to make slightly quiet “uff” noises, the precursor to a rampaging storm of tears, snot and probably puke. Shanda’s mind raced for what to do, and only one thing came up that she knew comforted her in times of peril.

She began to hum a soft tune, low enough to not be heard from outside, but loud enough for the baby to hear. As the song finished its musical intro in her head that she hummed along to, she began with the words;

“I heard an old, old story…

How a savior came, from glory.

How He made the lame, to walk again…

And caused the blind…to see…

I heard about his groaning…

Of His precious blood’s atoning…”

For the life of her she couldn’t remember the words that came next, so skipped straight to the chorus.

“Oh victory, in Jesus…My savior forever…

He sought me, and He bought me…

With His redeeming blood…

He loved me ‘ere, I knew him…

And all my love, is due Him…

He plunged me…to victory, beneath the cleansing flood.”

The gentle but firm song was enough to lull the baby to sleep and calm Shanda’s nerves so her erratic hands would stop shaking the baby like an earthquake.

She let out a slow sigh, thankful that the baby wouldn’t reveal their position to the monsters outside. Now she could only hope that they hadn’t figured out how to unlock doors when she wasn’t looking.

Shanda very gently began to rock the baby back and forth in her arms, much like that of a cradle, humming the song still albeit mostly to herself. She sat down on the edge of the bed and could feel her legs beginning to ache, she had been running for, Lord knows how long. A small town was located to the west which was where she found the baby in the first place, her trip there was supposed to be a simple scavenge run; looking for any kind of supplies that could be useful. The town was infamous for being infested with the monsters; one of the few that was marked with a big red X on most owned maps, and considered too dangerous to scavenge in. Only those with a death wish or, in her case, the completely insane would dare to scavenge amidst those ruined houses and streets. When Shanda found the baby her backpack was mostly full of things like canned goods, a few water bottles and certain tools, but when she came across the little miscreant she dumped everything out to take the child to safety. She had no clue if the baby was left there intentionally or by accident, perhaps people were trying to flee and got cut off from the child, or someone decided they didn’t want the burden of taking care of her and decided it would be best if she simply were to die. Shanda couldn’t argue that it would be easier to have left the baby behind, after all; right after she grabbed the thing she started crying which was what lead to the merry chase through the woods in the first place. But she couldn’t leave her behind on good conscience, granted it was a kill or be killed world now, but she had sworn an oath, to God and herself to protect the innocent, and the gentle sleeping face of the very embodiment of innocence before her reminded her of that oath, and why she took it in the first place.

The sound of footsteps approaching the door came so suddenly Shanda almost dropped the baby onto the floor. She could hear the sound of the monster breathing on the other side of the door, it sounded like it was trying to sniff her out. She wasn’t entirely sure if the monsters could smell humans, but she wouldn’t be surprised if they could. A low growl came from the other side, prompting Shanda to set the baby down and slowly unsheathe her sword and dagger from her belt, she had hoped she could wait the monsters out, but that was most likely out of the question now. The growling became louder and a few seconds later she could hear and feel the monster banging on the door, desperately trying to get in. Of course, the baby was awoken and began to cry very loudly, causing the beating of the door to become faster and much more intense. After about ten seconds the wood in the middle of the door began to give way, and long razor sharp claws forced their way through the hole in the wooden barrier, tearing apart whatever it could get a hold of.

Shanda slowly walked forward and crouched low, her training and instincts beginning to kick in, she had killed plenty of these before and she could do the same here. Her only issue was keeping them away from the child, but she hoped that she looked more appetizing than her.

Finally, the wood tore away enough to reveal the disturbing image that she’d seen so many times; the face of the monster. Its horrendous mouth split open into a roar, notifying the others in the building that a meal had been located. Not even a moment after it roared Shanda was upon it, leaping up to the door and stabbing it in the face with her dagger. She quickly pulled the blade out lest she lose grip of it and black blood spilled everywhere as the monster breathed its last and crumpled to the floor. A second monster came sprinting around the corner and practically rammed into the door trying to get at the meal before it. Its jaws clasped repeatedly as it attempted to bite at Shanda, who replied with a quick stab to the forehead, killing it instantly. Not two seconds after the body fell to the floor another monster was in its place, this one continuing its bashing of the weak point in the door instead of trying to get to Shanda directly. With one strike it managed to break the wood enough to get its whole arm in, thrashing madly it simultaneously clawed at her while trying to get the rest of its body through the hole. Shanda took a step forward before using her sword to cut the arm completely off, while this didn’t exactly deter the monster it caused it to grunt in pain and immediately after the arm was off she lunged forward with the dagger and stabbed it in the face. The body slumped down and fell backwards revealing two others, one of them deciding to just ram into the door taking it completely off the hinges in a spray of splinters and screws. Shanda jumped back to avoid the tumbling monster, and as it stood to its feet to lunge at her she sliced its head completely off with her sword. No longer than a second after the first one was dead the other ran, no, sprinted full speed at Shanda. When it was upon her she used its momentum against itself, crouching and ramming her shoulder into the waist of the monster before lifting herself up, sending it careening behind her. She took notice of a monster climbing over the railing overlooking the foyer below before turning around and delivering the coup de grace in a split second. Turning back around she was greeted with the monster’s mouth practically in her face, she reacted and ducked hearing the sound of clasping jaws right above her head. Shanda pushed hard with her legs and launched herself forward, tackling the monster to the ground and delivering a quick head butt. The force of her head colliding with the monster’s was enough to stun it momentarily, and she took advantage of that moment to jam her dagger into its eye socket, killing it instantly.

Shanda was getting tired, her muscles screamed in pain and her lungs felt like they were on fire, but she forced herself to look up and saw one more monster limping towards her. This one’s left leg was horribly mangled and she was surprised it was even standing. As it tumbled face first over the bodies of its friends Shanda stalked forward and brought her sword behind her before delivering an overhead strike to end its life.

Breathing heavily and with beads of sweat pouring down her head, she stood motionless and crouched, straining her ears to listen. The baby’s crying continued, but she couldn’t hear anymore monsters. She took this moment to catch her breath and thank the Lord for giving her the strength to fight before turning her attention back to the child. The volume of the screams coming from this little boom box of danger was surprising; the shrill sound seeming to pierce the walls and Shanda hoped the sound of the rain was enough to cover it. Nevertheless, she started her seemingly impossible job of calming the child. Humming the tune didn’t seem to work anymore, so she settled with placing her hand over the child’s mouth, not enough to smother it but enough to turn the dial of the baby’s volume down a bit. After what seemed like hours she finally stopped crying enough for Shanda to pick her up and gently rock her to sleep.

Any sane person would clean up the bodies in the room before getting some shut eye, but Shanda was way too fatigued to do so. After placing the baby in a comfortable position on the bed, she settled with picking the ruined door back up and placing it somewhat in the frame. If anything it would need to be moved first before something could come in, and that would make a lot of noise.

With that, Shanda picked the baby back up and sat down, feeling her eyelids close within seconds.

It wasn’t very long before Shanda’s eyes snapped open to the sound of a new pair of footsteps approaching the house. Glancing out the window she saw that it was still dark, so she hadn’t slept very long, not like the log in her arms. She gently set the baby down on the bed and methodically placed one foot in front of the other slowly towards the window. Peering over the edge she saw not monsters, but regular people, dressed in hoods and jackets wielding weapons from guns and knives to pipes and boards. She counted three, and they were making their way up to the steps into the home.

Her heart began to race, she wasn’t familiar with these people but she knew their type and wanted to get as far away as possible. She couldn’t go out the window without them hearing her, and she didn’t want to chance the baby being hurt in the fall, so her only options were the door she came through or to hide. She quickly and gently placed the baby back into her backpack and fastened it around herself. As she neared the door she could hear the conversation between the three unknowns below.

“Are you sure there’s something here?” A gruff voice grumbled.

“You saw those footprints, they were moving fast and were spaced out like someone was sprinting and they lead to here.” Another voice, this one sounded like a drug addict; his voice was very slow and low, much like he was trying to sound impressive but failing miserably at it.

“Well, judging by the door, they tried to barricade themselves in and failed horribly.” The third voice, this one sounded like a person from the hood.

“Well, it’ll make em easier to rob then if they’re dead, man.” The drug addict responded.

‘Oh, you’ve got another thing coming.’ Shanda thought to herself and backed away from the door. These types of people made her sick, and whatever it was they were planning for her she wasn’t going to let them get away with it. She walked over to the other side of the bed and snatched the pillow from the mattress, placing it on the floor and taking the baby out. She gave a gentle hug before placing her onto the pillow and walking back to stand in front of the door, or at least what was left of it, about ten feet away from it.

It wasn’t long before the footsteps came to the room she was currently hiding in and the handle shook a little.

“Whoa, someone went on a rampage or something.” The hood chuckled and not even five seconds later they kicked in the door.

“Well, look what we have here.” The one who had kicked the door sounded like the drug addict she heard before.

“Is that a woman?” The hood half mumbled. “Oh hell yes, this day couldn’t get any better.”

“Well said, my friend.” The drug addict replied to his hood friend. As the trio slowly made their way into the room, Shanda’s eyes were immediately drawn to the leader’s belt; a silver handgun was nestled neatly in a holster on his left hip and looked to be loaded. The hoodlum was carrying a 2x4 with several rusty, bent and blunted nails on one end of the board while the other end had been crudely carved into a makeshift handle. The gruff man on the right was carrying a lead pipe that still had the valve attached, though the valve itself had seen better days considering its bent and destroyed nature.

“Got anything to say, sweetheart?” The leader said as he took a step forward. “I like to, you know, know the names of the girls I meet before I get ‘em.”

Shanda blinked once before replying. “I have no business with you, and no quarrel with you. Allow me to leave, please.”

The hoodlum laughed. “At least she’s polite about refusing you, man.”

The leader pursed his lips for a moment before continuing. “Well, it doesn’t matter to me whether you are willing or not; you will feel me inside of you, witch.”

“Place one hand on me and you will regret it.” Shanda replied.

The gruff man was the one to chuckle this time. “She’s tough, I like that. I call second once you’re finished with her.”

The leader snickered as he walked towards Shanda and reached his left hand out to grab her wrist. In a flash she had unsheathed her dagger from the back of her belt and sliced the addict’s hand off in one clean motion, so quickly in fact it took him a second to stop and realize the hand he most commonly used to touch himself was gone.

“What the-“ The addict was cut off by Shanda delivering a front kick to his chest, knocking the wind out of him and sending him flying backwards onto the floor. Before the hoodlum could react she had already unsheathed her short sword from her hip and was upon him, delivering a quick stab with her dagger to his thigh and finishing it off with a slice to the neck. The gruff man moved forward and raised the pipe high to club her over the head but she side stepped out of the way and hit the man in the back of the head with the hilt of her blade. It didn’t knock him out but it was enough to send him to the floor, and that was enough for her. Shanda bent over and tore off the man’s shoes; afterwards she took her dagger and sliced deep into the back of his feet.

The gruff man yelped in pain before asking. “What the hell are you doing?”

“All you deserve.” Shanda replied. As she stepped over him towards the addict, he had only just now begun to stand back to his feet and was promptly sent back down to the floor by Shanda’s roundhouse kick to the side of the man’s left shin. The satisfying crunching sound notified her that the bone was broken, and he wasn’t going to be running anywhere. The addict let out a cry of pain and as he went down Shanda’s quick hands yanked the firearm from his belt and was aiming it right at his head.

The addict looked up at her and chuckled. “It’s a lot different when they’re defenseless, eh, Paladin?”

Shanda blinked slowly. “You know what I am.”

The addict laughed. “You kidding me? With those lightning moves and your gear, you’d have to be an idiot to not realize what you are.”

“I guess that makes you an idiot then.” She replied. “If you’d known what I am you would have never tried anything.”

The addict chuckled a bit. “Yeah, I guess so.” He raised his good hand and pointed at her before letting it fall back down to his lap. “So, take me to prison or whatever.”

“Oh, I think I have something else in mind.” Shanda replied and delivered a quick kick to the side of his head knocking him out cold. She turned to the gruff man on the floor who was busy having an existential crisis about how he was never going to walk again due to his injuries. However, upon realizing that the woman in leather armor standing before him was a Paladin, he snapped out of it and turned to begging for his life.

“Please, I didn’t know! Don’t kill me!”

Shanda scoffed. “You’re going to wish that’s what I was going to do to you.”

A good kick to the head sent him into his dreams.

Shanda began her work by hefting the addict over her shoulder and making her way downstairs and to the courtyard where she meandered over to the fence. She dropped the addict in front of the metal bars and fetched her metal wire from her pouch, tying his one good hand to the fence and his feet together. She then went back inside and hefted the gruff man onto her shoulder, taking him outside and doing the same thing. She returned inside and to the room to find the baby still sleeping soundly on the makeshift bed she had prepared for her. She gently picked the little bundle of trouble up and placed her back in the backpack before making her way back to the courtyard. When she stepped out she found the two men were now awake and struggling against their bonds, only to stop suddenly when they realized she was heading towards them.

“So now what, huh? You gonna shoot us in the head like that’s all we deserve?” The addict grumbled.

“How many people have you raped and killed?” Shanda asked. “Answer truthfully, if you lie it will only make your punishment worse.”

The addict said nothing, prompting Shanda to walk closer and firmly grasp his broken leg. His shout of pain led to his confession. “We-we’ve killed dozens, raped plenty of women, I didn’t keep track, man!”

Shanda turned to the gruff man who nodded in agreement. “Very well.” She said as she stood up and pulled out the pistol chambering a round into the barrel.

“As a member of the Paladin Order, I have heard your confessions and hereby sentence you to death. You have killed without feeling and raped without remorse, and thus, are not deserving of the life that the Lord has graciously given you.”

The addict scoffed. “Don’t preach to me, woman.”

Shanda laughed. “Trust me, you wish that’s what I was doing.”

The gruff man was the next to speak. “Then get it over with then, bullet to the head, come on, I don’t have all day.”

Shanda cocked her head slightly at that. “Who said I was going to be the one to kill you?” With that, she aimed the gun into the air and fired off three rounds. The loud POW noises echoed for a few moments before the unholy screams of the monsters could be heard from deep in the woods, the sounds coming from where Shanda had been running from. The baby began to cry, but not as loudly as the men before her would be soon.

Both of the men, if you could call them that, began to look around frantically, fear was wild in their eyes and they began to beg for their lives.

“You can’t do this!”

“I thought you Paladins were all about mercy!”

Shanda walked away, ignoring their cries for relief and, within minutes, their cries of agony as the monsters descended upon them, ripping them apart limb by limb and feasting upon their tainted flesh. Their cries echoed throughout the woods until Shanda was well away from the building, her conscience clear and her course certain. What those monsters were doing to them was a massage compared to their end destination.

Justice had been served today.

next chapter

© 2017 Warlon

Author's Note

This is just the prologue. I will try to work on the book as much as possible but having to balance work, college and family life kinda cuts into play time. Let me know what you think about it so far.
EDIT: Changed a bit of the prologue.

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Ar-Pharazon

It's an intriguing introduction, and I enjoyed the suspense with the intro. There are a few nitpicks I have though. Firstly, the initial tension built up in the beginning with the creatures is deflated once the protagonist encounters the human villains. I feel that more could have been given to keep the tension alive throughout. I also felt that word choice was not very broad, but that may be personal preference.