The Industrialist

Damian.

Gerald’s View, Axe Central City Borders

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’God. A level 3 Abominant,’ Damian thought, not uttering any word. The web-wrapped human had become its meal. Somewhat like an exoskeleton tube emerging from its mouth and buried into the human’s head, sucking its brains out. Transparent viscous liquid oozed out from that exoskeleton tube, dripping on the ground.

"What is that?" It was Cors who screamed still lying against the wall. He uttered the first sound.

The Abominant jumped from where it mounted and landed on a rattled comrade, immediately devouring his head instantly with the creature’s fangs. Beside him was Flint but had not moved a muscle, shocked with his mouth agape and eyes wide. All flashlight beams followed the Abominant spider, then Jefferson squeezed his rifle, and bullets hit the spider’s back, tearing its moth wings.

Damian shifted his flashlight to George who supposedly guarded their sleep. However, George lay unconscious on the floor, and two others, who had the same condition, that supposedly on guard duty. They were stone-cold unconscious, paled skin, and perceptible veins along their necks.

The spider squirmed as black blood oozed from its body. The creature growled in utter pain, waves of perceptible sounds emanated from its enormous mouth. The shrieks echoed within the confines of the dilapidated house, reaching the entirety of Gerald’s View.

Damian quickened his stance and changed his rifle mode to automatic. He squeezed the trigger too, but the spider escaped from the grasp of their flashlights, now cowering behind dark corners and its location concealed on the dark-mantled ceiling. Beams of flashlight randomly aiming at every dark corner, revealing possible hiding places of the Abominant.

There were occasional shrieks but its sharpness, reverberating against the walls, deceived them. Probably it was its special ability, hiding, and deceiving its enemy by its sharp shrieks.

"Damian, the poison bombs, quick!" Jefferson said. Suddenly, a string of webs caught Jefferson by his shin and immediately he was pulled upward melting into absolute darkness. Damian and the others followed Jefferson with the beams of their flashlights and was seen hanging upside down about by the ceiling, with the salivating creature a meter high from him. His rifle fell to the floor.

"Don’t shoot! You’ll hit him," Damian said to his comrades.

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The creature started to turn his prey to wrap Jefferson for his second victim, however, the rebel leader took out his knife and slashed the string of web that caught his shin and eventually, he fell a three-meter drop. His body collided with the concrete and made the rebel leader unconscious, his chest kissing the floor.

It was the opportune time for the others to squeeze the triggers of whatever weapon they held on.

All hitting their marks, black ooze raining from up above, bathing the unconscious body of their leader below it. The spider skittled away from their aims, its black body perfectly camouflaging with the dark environment. Then there was silence, but a faint wheezing of the wounded creature remained perceptible. Even its wheezing could mask its location.

Its voice had three layers of sound waves, if when it screamed or growled or shrieked, three simultaneous voices of obvious differentiation could be heard. With that skill, it could mask its location.

Damian started to activate the poison bomb with one click, another click would detonate it in five seconds. However, just by detonating it at the center of the ground probably won’t effectively kill the Abominant granting the room’s high ceiling, and vertical windows, causing the blue mist to escape.

He decided to wait. The creature’s noise won’t deceive him any longer. As for his comrades, they weren’t trigger-happy as Jefferson instructed. They had to conserve their ammo for tomorrow’s travel.

After a few moments of silence, Joe ran towards Cor’s body, trying for any form of revival, a syringe in his right hand. His footfalls were making a sound as he dashed.

"No, Joe!" Damian shouted. As expected, Joe would tend to the wounded and the sick, as his newfound passion emanated foolishly once again.

As Joe crossed the center of the room, the creature landed in front of him, obstructing his path toward Cors. Immediately, the creature’s forward legs purposefully staking Joe. Luckily, to Joe’s surprise and utter fear, he jumped on his side, rolling so ineptly, however, evading the fast-staking legs of the spider by a scant inch.

Others squeezed their trigger while Joe emaciated on the ground, his hands covering his ears. The grotesque face of the creature widened its mouth, showing its inner teeth and an exoskeleton tongue mounted for another meal. Its wings flapped hard, creating strong winds, heaving the space with foggy dust, and eventually deflecting the incoming bullets.

Some of the bullets ricocheted against the walls, nearly hitting Damian by a foot.

Before Joe became its second carcass, the poison bomb detonated just below the spider’s belly and blue mist invaded the space. As the use of guns presented danger, Damian decided to activate the poison bomb and rolled it below the creature.

The spider shrieked again as the powdered nectar burned its abominated flesh. Reactively, driving the creature to a mad escape, and nimbly ran outside through the eastside window. Then it flew, wings flapping evidently with painful effort.

The room filled with exasperated soldiers. Damian hauled himself up and went to Jefferson.

"Is it done?" Joe recuperated from his curling and searched for his flashlight, hands reaching outwardly. Assertively, he quickly crawled towards the bloodied comrade leaning against the wall right after his hand fell on the flashlight.

"No. No. Cors!" Joe cried as witnessing his comrade with the foreskin of his face removed, exposing bulging eyeballs, and a perfectly lined set of teeth. Blood bathed his neck and to his chest. He was done.

After his sobs, Joe recuperated himself, then shifted his attention towards George who lay unconscious still on the floor. "They’re alive!" Joe announced. "But I did not see Flint and Dudley."

"Look for them, Joe. One of them is hanging right above us and one of them was yet to be found." Damian said as he helped Jefferson to his feet.

"I think I found Dudley," the other rebel operative said as the beam of his flashlight fell on an amputated forearm still attached to its hand, but the rest of it was nowhere to be found.

"That fucker!" Jefferson said, angered by the thought of his dead comrades.

Although Damian had good memories with his comrades, Dudley, Flint, and Cors. They all had families waiting for them to where they settled next. They joined the rebel faction in the hope of reforming the city for fair governance. He remembered that Flint used to collect Rattus for Joe’s Zelkian farm and earned a decent living from it.

Dudley did not care if he was being bullied by other ex-soldiers for the way he talked. There was a reason Dudley was called by his family name, and not by his first name. The day won’t come to answer that mystery. Cors sometimes assisted him in Tyllrium hauling from the Axiom Trench, not consistently, because of the premise of earning extra money. Although, Cors hated the idea of facing Abominants.

It was best to suppress his negative emotions and help his alive comrades recover.

’I just wanna get outa here,’ He thought.

"How do you know it’s him?" Damian asked, groaning to settle Jefferson to a chair.

"The tattoo on his forearm." The rebel responded. "God, this is horrifying." Their comrade said as he found Dudley’s body remnants scattered all over the floor.

Damian checked his hologram watch.

0230 H

’So much for rest.’ He muttered in his thought.

"We can’t stay here. That Abominant will be back for sure," Damian said. Joe administered something via intramuscular injection to Jefferson and somehow, the latter recovered his senses.

"Thanks," Jefferson said to Joe. "What about George and the others?"

"I gave them Epipen for their allergic attacks."

"What happened to them?"

"Probably, the spider has a venom that gives the victim temporary paralysis. That’s what happened to them."

"That Abominant is a level 3, Blind Ungoliant. It has six eyes but they can’t see. They use their heightened hearing to devour their prey. Probably, George and the others made sounds that attracted the Ungoliant." Damian explained as he gathered the weapons from his dead comrades.

But before he collected their weapons and MREs in their backpacks, Damian whispered a message unto them, "See you in the next life, brother."

"Damian is right. We have to move. It will come back soon and we can’t defend ourselves by seven of us and three are in paralysis." Jefferson suggested, his voice still garbled by the fall.

"Off to prison then," Joe said.

They carried their unconscious comrades and went into their jeeps. Joe insisted to drive the other vehicle but it was immediately dismissed by Jefferson.

"You are in no condition!" Damian said.

"What do you think of me? A useless old man?" Jefferson hissed.