Note:this chapter contains a lot of gore. Please read with caution if you’re sensitive to brutality. And this chapter is long. And also note that the next update will be on the 16-20. This is because I’m preparing for an exam that’s coming up next week.
Enjoy!
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How did they find him? How did the cadavers locate the ship in the middle of the sea?! If they were to see him, will they kill him?! Kimi’s mind was being tossed about by these questions as he followed the rest up the metallic stairs. Sweat made his shorts cling to his body, his heart running a marathon within his ribcage.
Their feet made loud resounding thumps against the metal as they rushed up onto the deck. When they got there, Tobe was waiting for them; Zee was stood beside him, the wind ruffling her hair. They both looked over their shoulders at their approaching figures.
Tobe raised an eyebrow when he saw Kimi and noticed how he stood out of place. “Who brought Mikaelis?”
Dae-yang shrugged rigidly. “I thought he could be of help.”
He sighed and shook his head. “Ketsueki you’re with him. Make sure he doesn’t get hurt.”
Rin nodded and stood a little closer to a shaken up and disoriented Kimi.
“What have we got Zee?” Tobe asked calmly.
“Fifty, at least,” she answered as she rolled up the sleeves of her black shirt, her jacket nowhere to be seen.
“Fuck,” Raja whispered when he heard her words. He raised his fist and outstretched it towards Rin. “Rock, paper, scissors that this isn’t going to end well.” They played, and Raja played a rock against Rin’s scissors. “Fuck.”
The ship groaned and the water tossed around like something was whipping it in distress, the darkness of the night keeping their fears blanketed within itself. Kimi jerked a little and wrapped his arms tighter around himself, his eyes wide in fear.
“Ready?” Zee asked, her voice barely audible.
“Ready,” Dae-yang and Raja replied.
Dae-yang unsheathed the sword in her hands. It’s slim blade reflected the lights of the full moon, and it was slightly curved at the tip.
“Please,” she whispered breathily, her voice cracked by fear, her fists tightening around the long hilt of the sword. “Everything please work.”
Kimi wanted to run back to his room, but the sight of everyone’s readied and tensed battle stance made him simply stare wildly at the sky, fidgeting in his skin.
They all went silent and listened with bated breaths for when the underwaters will tremble dangerously. Everything stilled and the second seemed to stretch, until a sharp hiss filled the night.
“Stay aler—”
Zee’s words were cut short as a figure shot out of the water with a screech and barrelled into one of the many windows leading into the ship, shattering the window with a loud bang. Several others followed suit with raspy screeches that pierced the silence of the night.
Her eyes widened in fear. “They’re going for the sleeping humans.” She rushed towards the stairs that led back below the deck, her step so swift that she seemed like breeze to the naked eyes.
The ship shook and careened as more of them flew into windows, shattering them and filling the night with irritating sounds.
“Raja follow Zee. Dae-yang stay here,” Tobe ordered before he seemed to glitch in and out of focus as he ran towards the railings of the boat and jumped overboard.
Raja did as told and ran towards the stairs, his breaths coming out heavy and loud.
Kimi’s breath was shallow and strained, his heart beating so fast that he could hear it drum against his ears. He held a hand to his pounding chest. He lost focus of everything and was thrown into a dark world of fear and confusion. The others spared him worried looks.
Rin and Dae-yang watched as one of the monsters jumped onto the deck. Its face was scaly white and it was decorated with various, sickly cracks, black, inky substance gushing past its bared fangs. Another followed suit, its curved, pin-like, black claws glistening in the night.
Rin held an arm out to protect Kimi and Dae-yang tightened her grip on the sword in her hands. She steadied her stance and lunged at the monster, her sword raised. She pounced off her feet like a cat and slashed her sword at the creature’s neck.
It screeched as its head rolled off and the area sizzled. The amputated head still hissed at her and she booted it away. This caused the other half of its body to seize its jerking and it dropped to the floor with a thump.
The other bared its teeth at Dae-yang and clawed at her. She ducked and cut off its leg with a flick of her wrists. She rolled away as the creature dropped to its dangling knee, gore spilling onto everywhere. As it hissed in pain, she tightened her hold and sliced off its head, black blood jetting everywhere like a bloody geyser. When the head fell off, she swiftly picked it by its gooey hair, passed her sword through it and threw it over the boat. At that, the body froze and stumbled to the floor.
The display of blood made Kimi feel nauseous. Bile rushed up his throat and he pinched his thigh in order to control his fear. He started wheezing noisily and Rin gave him a worried look.
Dae-yang stood firmly and the three of them watched as the other creature’s head rolled back to it and reconnected with its body with a sick snap. “Damn it.”
The creature stood up with a pricked posture and its head sewed itself in place before it hissed at her and flashed towards her with supernatural speed.
Dae-yang gritted her teeth and strengthened her stance when the creature came into view and slashed at her. She blocked its attack, and the next one, and the one after that.
Soon enough Dae-yang and the creature were like dancers—the sound of the impact of her sword with its claws being their song—as she struggled to block its never-ending attacks. When she finally got an opening and dug her sword into its throat, she moved her hand, chopped off its head, kicked away the body with an agonizing battle cry and halved its head.
Kimi froze at the sight of the brutality and watched as Dae-yang walked towards the railings and tossed the head into the quaking waters.
The sickening sound of its innards falling into the water made the bile fly out his mouth without control. He dropped to his shaky knees and vomited with all the strength and fear he kept bottled up within. Rin grimaced at the sight and the smell that tingled his senses.
Dae-yang looked over her shoulder at the sound of his retching. “Kimi?” She turned to walk to him but quickened her steps when she saw two figures flash into the air over Rin and Kimi. She reached out a hand. “Watch—” Another ran into her with a hiss and she tumbled to the other side, it running after her on clawed hands and legs.
Rin spun around and drove his fist into the creature’s skull and gripped the other’s neck. Swiftly, like a flickering lightbulb, he bent over and drove the creature into the floor, his fist driving through its skull and the metallic decks like a bullet, and he crushed the other’s neck and broke its head off its body.
The heads screeched at him and he smashed them against each other, their bodies freezing every motion. The other one’s body fell against Kimi and the frightened boy scurried away with a scream, his body stinging where the body had made contact, the feeling as cold as ice.
Rin reached out a bloodied hand towards him. “Kim—”
“GET AWAY! GET AWAY! GET AWAY!” He clawed the air before him with his fingernails and Rin gave him a worried look. “STAY AWAY!” he screamed gutturally.
Dae-yang kicked the head of the creature off her sword and batted it over the boat. She rolled onto her feet and looked towards Kimi’s spooked form. She rushed to him, her face sweaty, her breath bated.
When she got to him, she dropped on her knees before him and laid her sword beside her. “Kimi,” she said softly, her eyes filled with concern and sympathy for the boy.
Kimi looked up at the call of his name, his eyes stretched wide in fear. At the sight of Dae-yang’s bloodied sword, skin and cloth, he slapped her away with a feral scream.
“FUCKING GET THAT BLOOD AWAY FROM—!”
A symphony of wild screeches raided the air and the trio raised their heads with worried expressions. They all watched as multiple creatures rained down on them with bared fangs and extended claws, their eyes like two black beads on their sickly faces.
Without thinking up another solution, Rin swiftly wrapped both arms around Dae-yang and Kimi’s waists and dragged them out of the spot with vampiric speed, moving towards the stairs that led underdeck.
“We need to burn them!” Dae-yang exclaimed after Rin had dropped them onto their feet.
She looked over her shoulder and watched the creatures rush towards them with unified hisses. Rin banged the door shut on their faces, and the impact impaled the creatures, their faces forming a mould against the metallic door.
Rin groaned and pressed his body against the door when the monsters started hammering against it, their claws visible through the doorcheek. “But... the only person who can do that... right now is Silver... And.... And he’s not feeling okay!” he groaned through gritted teeth, his muscles clenching, his veins stretched against his biceps and temple.
Kimi just sat against a wall with an erratic breath, his fingers fiddling themselves. His wide, trembling eyes darted around as he murmured, “blood... help... death... monsters... vampire... help... Aurum... help... fear... I...”
Dae-yang tossed her sword to the floor and it clanged against the metallic floor. The sound scared Kimi and he shrieked, earning an apologetic look from Dae-yang.
“What do we do?!” she yelled repeatedly, her nasally accented voice coming out breathy, her hands swimming through her ruffled hair in distress. She dropped her weight against the wall and slid to the floor. “What do we do?” she said, this time her voice barely audible, her chubby cheeks flushed in tiredness.
The banging of the door became louder and more terrible with each passing second. Rin struggled to keep the door shut, his teeth tightly clenched.
“Can’t we get help?” She carefully sat up. “What about Mrs. Yin Fen?”
“Watching over Principal Aardvark,” he groaned out painfully. “Aunt Lydia... is already... in Ashville.”
Her shoulders slouched. She looked to the side and sighed, “and Qharis can’t help us because she’s protecting the twins so that they don’t loose their hold on the humans.” She slowly hugged her legs to her chest. “If only we had another burner,” she mumbled and pressed her cheek against her knee.
This caught Kimi’s attention and his trembling slowly eased up. The mention of a burner suddenly made him feel the pocketed lighter jutting against his butt as he was pressed against the wall. He wrapped his hand around his neck and swallowed small breaths.
Kimi slowly stood off the wall and put his hand in the back pocket of his shorts. When the tips of his fingers grazed the metal lighter, he stopped, wondering why he wanted to help. Of course he was wary of them, knowing that if he did this, he was doing exactly what his mother had told him not to do.
He peered slowly at Rin and watched as he struggled to keep the door shut, protecting them. Protecting him. And then he shifted his narrowed gaze to Dae-yang, her tired look a testimony to her fight against cadavers. He then weighed out his situation in his mind: Helping them was helping himself. Then if he doesn’t help them, they’ll die, and he’ll die with them. He wanted to live, even if it meant living in his own fear, it was worth something.
Kimi dragged out a frustrated sigh and pulled out the lighter. He held it up and croaked, “I have a burner.”
Dae-yang snapped her head up, her brown, doe eyes wide in sheer surprise. “What?! How—”
“It doesn’t matter Dae-yang,” Rin forced out. He looked at the burner, a deep and pained frown on his face, his hair sticking to his sweat-filled forehead. “Now the problem is”—he looked at Dae-yang—“how do we use it to burn them?”
Dae-yang’s shoulder slumped at that and she looked at the lighter that Kimi was still holding up with a shaky hand. What could a little flicker of light do against an army of cadavers? She was confused, tired and stressed, but she couldn’t just let her tiredness rein her. She raked her mind, pulling at strings of solutions. And then she snapped her fingers when she suddenly got an idea, her face slowly brightening up.
“I’ve got an idea,” Dae-yang said and rushed to her feet, dragging her sword with her.
“Yes?” Rin breathed as he pressed his back against the shaking door.
She looked at the lighter, a small but weak smile curling her lips. “What if we get Qharis to manipulate the flame from the lighter,” she started, sureness in her voice. “And she expands it so it destroys all off them.”
“H-How do we do th-that,” Rin groaned, pain laced in his voice. “She can’t just leave the twin—Hold on! Yes she can.”
Kimi looked from Dae-yang to Rin, the lighter pressed against his chest, his tight hold on it not loosening up. His insides churned at the situation he was in, his body jerking at the thought of aiding them, his hatred for cadavers seeping through his fear. But then he realized again that helping them was saving himself, a bitter truth. Even if he was to aid them, he wasn’t their ally. They were his enemies.
“How?!” Dae-yang asked, her voice trembling in panicked excitement.
“If you can get Coach Tobe to come and keep this door in place...then maybe... maybe we can start there!” he said, hissing as one of the feral creature’s claws dug into his flesh.
Dae-yang nodded and rushed down the hallways, sweat coating her forehead.
It didn’t take up to a minute and Tobe suddenly appeared before them with a whoosh, a deep frown on his face, his cloths housings uneven tears that looked like slash marks, blood dripping from the tears in his cloths.
Kimi grimaced at the smell and sight of more blood and turned to face the wall, a shaking hand cupped over his trembling lips.
“Hold on for a minute,” Tobe said and slapped his hands together.
Seconds slowly ticked away as Tobe’s frown deepened, a heavy force gathering around him. His brows trembled as the ship suddenly started vibrating, shaking from side to side like an angry earthquake. Some invisible force swam out of him and slammed the door in place, clipping off the hands and fingers of the creatures that were stuck in the doorjam.
“Thank y—” Rin couldn’t finish his words or catch his breath as he was slammed against the door as the ship tipped with a loud groan.
Kimi was thrown to the side and jammed into the stairs with a pained hiss as Tobe seemed to push the air before him with his open palms.
“What the fuck is happening?!” Kimi growled as the hissing sound of the creatures seemed to shift away from the other side of the door. He looked up at Tobe and froze at the sight of Tobe’s amber eyes glowing lustrously. And then he remembered. “He’s one of them,” he whispered frighteningly.
“Coach Tobe?” Rin asked as his whole body pressed into the door.
Tobe raised his arms and leaned it to the side, the sound of moaning metal following after his motion. “Just making a way for whatever plan it is you kids have.”
And then everything stilled as he dropped his arms, a tired sigh rushing past his parted lips.
Kimi watched as Rin swiftly straightened himself, his body still glued to the wall. He also stood up, but stayed very close to the wall.
Tobe shut his eyes and released easing breaths. When he reopened his eyes their colour were their normal dull amber. “Now, how do we get Qharis to manipulate the fire?” His eyes flickered to the lighter in Kimi’s tight grip. “I suggest you be quick about that.”
Rin massaged his aching arms, his eyebrows pressed together. “I guessed that since most burners have limited burns and flames,” he breathly started. “I suggest that we light it once, and then she takes just that single flame and spread it to all of them.”
“And the twins?”
“I’ll take her place.” He dropped his gaze and slowly walked down the stairs. “But the problem is how do we get the fire to burn all of them, plus the ones underdeck.”
“Hunter’s blood,” Tobe nonchalantly said and looked into Kimi’s wide eyes. “Mikaelis’ blood.”
Rin’s eyebrows twitched at that and he worriedly glanced at Kimi, knowing very well how Kimi fears cadavers after experiencing his breakdown.
Kimi stiffened, his heartbeat swiftly speeding in line with his uprising panic. “My... blood?”
Tobe nodded and said, “yes your blood. Your blood is extremely addictive to cadavers, but it’s also deadly to them.” He shrugged. “That’s why we need your blood to weaken them.”
“My... b-b-blood?” He pressed the lighter to his pounding chest, his eyes wide in confusion.
Asking him to give his blood to a cadaver was like asking him to give his life to them. The truth itself was disgusting to him. But what that confused him the most was what Tobe had said about his blood being dangerous to cadavers, and he raised an eyebrow at that.
He looked up at Tobe. “How is my blood deadly to cadavers?” he asked quietly.
Tobe raised a brow. “Are you seriously ask—”
The ship trembled and it became filled with angry hisses. When a series of faraway hisses came from the other aide of the door, the three of them snapped their heads towards the door and stared worriedly at it.
“Guess I better get going,” Rin said and moved to run, but Tobe held onto his arm and he stopped to questionably look at him.
“But before going to her tell Dae-yang to come here. She’s with Zee and Raja on the second floor,” he said.
Rin nodded and sped down the hallway.
Tobe sighed, walked to the door and placed his palms against it. “Mikaelis I suggest that you stay alert and try not die,” he said and pushed at the door.
Kimi slowly moved away from it and watched as Tobe pushed the door forward and off its hinges. He gasped as Tobe held onto the side of the door and squeezed it into a spear-like shape, as if the thick, metallic door was nothing.
Tobe moulded the object with his hands until it smoothened out and had sharp edges. He stepped out onto the deck and smirked wildly at the dozens of sickly cadavers that stood in front of the ship’s railings, their poor attires soaking wet.
He twirled the spear in his hands and said, “come at me you sack of hungry idiots!”
They screeched at him and sped towards him with vampiric speed, a wet trail following after them.
Kimi stood against the wall and heard in disgust as Tobe slashed and tore the creatures into pieces. He grimaced at the memory of Dae-yang fighting them and he gripped his throat. He looked up at the sound of pounding footsteps.
“Where’s the burner?!” Qharis rushed out as she skidded to a stop beside him. She looked up to the stairs at the sound of loud hisses before turning to Kimi. “The... burner?” she slowly asked, her pale blue eyes wide.
Kimi swallowed as he looked at her eyes, afraid that they would bring back painful memories. He turned his head to the side and downcasted his gaze. “Here it is,” he mumbled and raised it.
Qharis cocked an eyebrow at him and collected the lighter from him. Her fingers slowly rubbed against the lighter before she opened it and tried several times to create a fire but it wouldn’t.
“Come on. Come on,” she growled through gritted teeth and looked up as Tobe hissed loudly in pain. “Come on!”
A flame sparked to life after another attempt and she sighed in satisfaction. She carefully cupped her hand around it and Kimi watched in surprise as the tongue of flame slowly moved from the tip of the lighter and sat in the heart of her palm without making any direct contact.
Kimi’s breath hitched in fear and amazement at what that had happened. “Y-You—”
“Yes,” Qharis calmly started as she flicked the lighter shut and raised it to him. “I can control fire.”
He swallowed thickly and retrieved the lighter with shaky fingers. “Y-You... can control f-fire?”
Qharis nodded slowly and brought up her hand that held the tongue of flame. “Yes I can.”
Kimi looked down at the silver flame and became slightly amazed at its soft colour and cold glow.
Qharis looked down at the flame and said, “it’s strange isn’t it?” And she raised her head again and looked into his dull, grey eyes.
“Um...”
“...get paid for doing this! I don’t get paid for doing this! I don’t get paid for doing this!” Dae-yang said as she rushed towards them, covered in sweat and gore.
Qharis looked up at her, a small, amused smile on her face. “It’s not your fault.”
“It’s nobody’s fault,” she wheezed as she bent over, her palms on her knees. She looked to the side, then raised her head to gaze at Kimi. “Oh, hi Kimi. Still the sa—”
“Fight now! Chit chat later!” came Tobe’s exhausted voice.
Qharis snorted and walked up the stairs, the tiny flame cupped in her hands.
Dae-yang swallowed a big breath and slowly stood up. “Time to end this,” she whispered and followed after Qharis.
Kimi quietly watched her leave. He shuffled from one foot to another as the tumbling and hissing became louder. He rubbed his hands together, trying to calm his nerves, his breath slowly balancing.
As a tiny hiss rang throughout the hallway, Kimi flinched and looked sideways, only to spot three fast approaching cadavers as they ran towards the stairs with inhuman speed.
Kimi shrieked when they suddenly stopped and hissed angrily at him, their nose raised. He turned and hysterically ran up the stairs, the cadavers hot on his tail. As he got onto the deck, he slipped on spilled guts and blood and tumbled forward. Blood splashed onto his face as he slammed against the metallic deck and it seeped into his cloth like the way fear had seeped into his body.
Kimi exhaled spastically, his breath puffing out of his open mouth and rattling his heaving chest. He swiftly looked behind and watched as the cadavers surprisingly jumped over him, their lust drawn by another thing.
Kimi looked at them as they ran towards the group of cadavers that had gathered around Qharis and Dae-yang who were stood back to back.
He placed a hand forward and shrieked as he realized he was covered in blood. He leapt to his feet and painfully tugged off his hoodie and threw it to the floor. But blood was still on his shorts and he was disgusted. He grimaced and his fingers itched to pull them off.
The sound of screaming metal bled into the night and Kimi looked up and watched as Qharis pounced out of their constraint, her free arm holding onto Dae-yang’s waist. As soon as they landed on their feet, they quickly shuffled away from the cadavers as Tobe manipulated the metallic railings.
Kimi’s eyes popped out of his head as Tobe plucked the railings off the boat with the same invisible force from before and used them to wrap the cadavers together.
Tobe squeezed his hands into tight fists and the cadavers were all tied together, snarling in hunger, their only strain of thought glued to the blood that was dripping from the tip of Dae-yang’s sword.
“Dae-yang now!” Tobe yelled and tightened his fists even more.
Dae-yang yelled and ran towards the bundled cadavers. She raised her sword and the cadavers followed it like hypnotized dogs, their attention stuck on the blood that ran down the blade. Dae-yang turned and twisted, and chopped and cut and sliced, ridding the cadavers of their heads.
While Dae-yang worked, Qharis immediately swung into action and spread her arms wide. The wider her arms became, the more the fire grew. It grew and grew and grew, until it floated above her like a newborn sun.
“Now!” Qharis said weakly, her arms shaking, the cold glow of the flame hilighting her silver-coloured hair.
Tobe packed up the screeching heads and tossed them into the flame, and it grew with a crackle, eating up the heads until they turned into nothing.
“Done,” Dae-yang said silently after cutting off the last head, and she tiredly dropped to her knees.
The moment that the last head was thrown into the flame, the bundled cadavers tilted and dropped to the floor with a loud bang.
“Anymore?!” Qharis asked and Tobe ran towards the stairs, his form a disarray.
As he flashed past Kimi, a cool breeze followed after him and it softly slapped Kimi’s cheek. It didn’t take long before Tobe ran past, a couple of screeching dismembered heads in his arms. He tossed them into the fire and it greedily consumed them.
“That’s the last,” Tobe said silently, rubbing off the blood on hands on his dirty trousers.
Qharis grunted in exhaustion and ache as she slowly drew her hands together, the flame dwindling slowly until it totally quenched after she slapped her hands together.
“Ugh!” Qharis moaned and dropped to her knees, her arms falling limply onto the floor.
Tobe watched her as she slowly flexed her fingers, trying to ease the pain in them. He looked at Dae-yang as she slowly stood up, her sword guiding her. He then looked at Kimi, but raised an eyebrow as Kimi’s face squeezed painfully in anger, his teeth clenched tightly.
“Mikae—”
“WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED?!” Kimi thundered in anguish, his shoulders shaking badly with each breath that he stiffly swallowed.
“Uh-oh,” Dae-yang quietly said. “He’s mad. Very mad.”
Author’s Note: thanks for reading. How was this chapter? Was the fight written properly or dully? Leave your thoughts in the comment section. Please vote and share. Thank you all! (^.^)