I knew why cops and soldiers always talked about 'Double-tapping'. This….was an impossibility, an anomaly, a phenomenon. I had felt that bastards eyes pop in my fucking fingers, I had saw his ear sliced off of his fucking head, his body lay there crumpled. So for him to be here, out in the open, attacking us! It was impossible.
And yet, there was a part of me that knew, that knew there was a possibility that he had lived. I thought he would bleed out, or his spirit would be so broken that he chose to die. But whether it be from fear, or from cowardice, I never checked the body, never stopped down to see if he had stopped breathing. And now I'm reaping the seeds of the shit I had sown.
So now I lay here with my face a mixture of fear, regret, and sadness, watching this goblin bastard swing his stick down in an arc towards Doctor Sheila's head. In the corner of my vision, I saw Zach frozen in fear while Hic nocked an arrow. Not fast enough.
I lay powerless as the world moved in slow motion. Doctor Sheila sat staring straight up, the stick slowly approaching the area right between her eyes. And suddenly, her face wasn't there.
The stick bounced off of the ground with a loud clatter. The goblin's face became a mixture of shock and anger. Doctor Sheila had pushed off of the ground with her knees, the force of which propelled her back onto her feet. She lightly took a few steps back, her flats making a light tapping sound on the hospital floor. She smoothly got into a stance that she looked like she had practiced a thousand times, her body moving with the fluidity and grace of someone who knew what they were doing.
The goblin remained hunched over, staring with its single bloodshot eye wavering in anger. It had landed on the left side of my body, the dirty toenails of its feet stabbing into the side of my stomach. It glanced down at me, its face cracking in a wide smile. The stench of its dirty teeth almost made me retch.
"You're an invalid right now, a cripple. So I'm going to make you watch while I destroy your friends over there, alright?" He stepped over my body, making sure to smack the side of my head lightly with his stick. He remained hunched over, his body heaving in and out with heavy breaths as he stared at the others. Zach clutched his hammer with a hint of fear, but he got into a stance, ready for the attack. Hic remained with an arrow nocked and ready to fire, his eyes boring a hole straight through the goblin. Doctor Sheila held herself in a loose stance, hands suspended in front of her, legs spread apart, and shoulders at an angle, making herself a smaller target.
I saw the muscles of the goblin's legs tense up, and with a blink of an eye, he dashed forward, his first target being Zach's legs. Zach jumped in surprise, attempting to raise his leg to avoid the strike. His move was too slow, however. The side of his knee was struck hard, and he toppled over from the strike. Hic brought his bow over, bringing the string back to shooting position.
Sparks emerged from the goblins hand and he swept his hand in a wide arc, spreading the line of fire in front of Hic, causing the shot to go wide. The goblin slashed forward with the clawed hand not holding the stick, a deep gash emerging in Hic's forearm. From his position on the floor, Zach tried to swing his hammer to hit the goblin's legs, but he had no leverage from his position, causing the swing to be slow and clumsy.
The goblin turned and struck downward with his stick, the hard piece of wood smashing into Zach's nose and causing it to burst in a shower of blood. He brought the stick upward again and tried to strike downward again, but Hic smacked the goblin across the back with his bow, a loud slapping sound echoing throughout the hallway. He immediately turned and blasted Hic straight in the face with a shower of flames, Hic retreating while throwing up his arms to protect himself.
The goblin spun around and proceeded to stomp down on Zach's body with his foot, causing Zach to shout and groan in pain. But just as he was about to do it again, this time to slam his foot down into Zach's face, a sword shot through its arm, causing the goblin to leap backward in pain and shock. He glanced at the now deep wound in his arm, his face becoming one of sheer rage. As one, everybody in the hallway looked up to see who the owner of the sword was.
Mino stood there, her sword held in front of her with both hands, the entire blade stained dark red. She looked furious, her face contorting in an amount of emotion I had yet to see from her.