Callum gulped as he stared at the hideous creature with its grey skin. 'Is that really skin? It looks more like stone.' That alone made him wonder if they could even harm the damned thing! The beast turned its attention to the trio as a low growl escaped its throat. It swung its thick arms to its sides a few times before hunching over and fixing its gaze upon them.
A moment later, the ground shook beneath Callum's feet as it charged directly at him! 'Oh crap! If I dodge, it will get Amy!' Callum took a deep breath as two will counters were consumed to activate Slow! The beast moved in slow motion as Rachael hurried to help Amy to her feet.
However, Amy could only watch in awe as Callum ducked under the creature's outstretched arm and swung his hammer! At that moment, a shock ran up Callum's arm as the hammer collided with the grey skin. The beast barely registered the strike as its features twisted slowly into a somewhat amused expression!
"Rachael! Get up to the tower and find us a way across the river!" Callum shouted, unaffected by his own ability.
He knew their best hope now was to get what they came for and escape. 'If we can't kill it, I can only stall it!'
Rachael vanished as she used Dash so as not to waste any time. However, Amy was left standing there without a clue as to what to do. Callum took his time to avoid the creature's attacks and counterattack, desperate to find a weak spot. 'I can't even go for its eyes! This damn thing is too tall!' The black orbs swivelled in their sockets, making it impossible for him to tell who they were looking at.
"Don't!" Callum shouted when he saw Amy moving closer to help him out. "You'll be affected the same way this thing is!"
Amy gulped at that thought. The creature was unlike anything she had ever seen, and the distinct aroma of death lurked around it. At that moment, Callum struck behind the creature's knees. Hoping that he could force it to kneel down. However, even this had no effect!
Meanwhile, Rachael leapt up the stairs two at a time as her heart pounded in her chest. 'What is that thing downstairs? We've only ever seen gobs!' She jumped over a gap where the stairs had collapsed and groaned as her knee banged against the corner of a step. 'Damn! Cal and Amy should be able to hold it off, but how are we meant to get away from it?'
'If Amy turns into smoke and I use Dash, we'll be fine, but it'd mean leaving Cal behind! That thing can just keep chasing him whenever it falls outside of Slow's area of effect. There's no way he can keep that up all the way back to camp!'
She grit her teeth as she stumbled on a step. The staircase to the peak of the tower was a mess with litter and masonry that had collapsed onto it. At parts, the metal handrail had fallen, meaning that one wrong move could send her free-falling all the way back to the ground!
Adrenaline pounded in her veins as she rushed ever higher. Only a minute had passed since Callum started his fight with the monster, but each second felt too long for Rachael. 'Wait, there are gob droppings here!' A pit formed in Rachael's stomach when she spotted them. 'Are there gobs waiting at the top? What's the relationship between them and the thing downstairs?'
Unfortunately, it left her with more questions than answers. Her eyes went wide as she reached the top of the tower. 'Oh god, don't tell me they answer to that creature!' Suddenly, their situation seemed much worse in her mind! 'I've got to find a way out of here!'
Rachael moved carefully towards the archways that looked out over the city. Her gaze peered into the fog as she searched for a solution to their problem. Cold sweat appeared on her back as she found what she was looking for.
At that same moment, Callum grunted as he pounded at the creature's flesh with a fury he had never known before. However, all of his efforts were in vain. A deep frown appeared on his face, as he almost felt like the monster was chuckling at his attempts. However, he chalked it up to everything about it being slowed down playing tricks on his mind with the noises it was making.
'This damn thing is tough!' His eyes wandered to Amy briefly, who was standing with her knife at the ready just outside of the area of Slow. 'Maybe attacking its insides will help.' A couple of minutes later, Rachael reappeared next to Amy.
"Let's go! I've found a way out!" Amy screamed, clearly shaken by something.
"What about this thing?" Amy replied as she pointed her knife towards the dance that Callum and the monster were performing.
"Forget it! The horde is coming!"
Rachael froze as the monster turned its head. She could almost swear it had understood what she had said and was now glaring at her for revealing what she knew.
Callum swung his hammer one last time, before rolling under the creature's fist and darting for the hole in the wall. As the trio sped over the rubble, with Callum making sure not to get them caught up in Slow, Callum felt that something was wrong. The monster was definitely outside of his area of effect. Yet he could no longer smell the creature.
A glance over his shoulder as they dashed across the grass with Rachael in the lead made his eyebrows shoot up. 'What the heck?'
The monster was standing at the top of the rubble, watching them intently as they raced across the road. Callum gulped at that sight. He did not know why, but it made the hair on his neck stand on end. That was when he heard it. The furious squeaking of numerous gobs coming from somewhere on the other side of the church!
'If Rachael hadn't warned us, they would have surrounded the building before we could do anything.' A sigh of relief escaped his throat as he turned his gaze to stare at Rachael's back. Before long, the church disappeared into the eerie green fog as the group ducked into an alleyway.
"There's a bridge just a few streets ahead in this direction," Rachael said as she avoided running into an overflowing garbage can. "I recognised the collapsed building on the other side of it. It's not far from camp!"
"Why didn't you know about it before?" Callum replied as he struggled to keep pace. His lungs felt like liquid fire was attempting to drown him!
"We never bothered with anything near that building," Amy said as she glanced back at him. "Tom decided it was too dangerous to explore there since there was a risk the building could fall on top of us."
"What do you mean?" Callum cocked an eyebrow at her comment, receiving a sigh in return.
"The building has fallen over, but it's still propped up by another. If anything changes between the two of them, well, you get the idea." Amy said as she turned her attention back to the front.
'Pancakes! That's what'll happen to us! From their concern and what Rachael said, we probably have to pass underneath it!' Callum groaned at the thought.
"What was that thing back there, anyway?" Callum said to no one in particular.
"Who knows? I've seen nothing like it!" Amy said as she panted heavily.
Rachael slowed down, giving them a chance to catch their breath. "I don't know either. But there were signs that gobs had been living in the church as well."
Amy's eyes went wide as the group slowed to a walking pace. "What does that mean?"
"No clue. But have you noticed the creature didn't chase us, nor can we hear the horde anymore?"
This time it was Callum's eyes that went wide as his voice almost broke. "You don't think that monster controls them… Do you?"
"I don't know," Rachael replied as she chewed on her lip. "All we can do is talk it over with Old Tom when we get back. Maybe he can make some sense of it."
"Seriously, what are we meant to do if that thing attacks the library and brings the gobs with it?" Amy asked as she glanced around nervously. "Cal here couldn't hurt it. And I doubt our knives will do any better."
"I wondered if its insides would be vulnerable since its skin was so hard," Callum said, drawing the attention of both women.
"It's not a bad idea." Amy hummed as she tapped her chin. "We could try my smoke, and if that fails, there's always Tom."
"Is Tom really that strong?" Callum asked as curiosity got the better of him.
"Sure he is," Rachael said with a smile dancing on her lips. "Why do you think everyone always looks to him to lead us? Even when Adam and the others were with us, nobody was confident they could take him on alone."
"I see." Callum frowned as he digested that information. 'They have a lot of faith in that old man. It'd be best to be near him if that thing from the church attacks our camp.'
Before he knew it, they stepped onto the street with the modern bridge that Rachael had mentioned. In the distance, despite the fog, Callum could make out the shadow of a tall building leaning against another.
'No wonder they were worried about it falling down! That building is enormous!' He had not expected it to be so massive. From the earlier conversation, he thought it would definitely be smaller. The trio gasped as the green hue of the fog retreated in the church's direction!
"Um, what does that mean?" Callum stammered as he nervously glanced back.
"You don't think it has something to do with the monster, do you?" Amy voiced her own concern as a flash of concern invaded her expression.
"There's no point in discussing it." Rachael sighed. "We thought we already had this place mostly figured out. But we've learned so much more today."
The trio meandered around the abandoned, rusty vehicles on the bridge in silence for a while. Each of them was lost in their own thoughts. 'I wonder if the group that broke off from Rachael's has discovered anything new. There's a chance they understand the situation even better than us since they've surely explored more of this world.'
'Or maybe they're already dead. Maybe they didn't predict the existence of anything other than gobs out there if that's all they've ever known. But say they are alive. Would they come back and share information if they found something important? Or would they just leave Tom's group to their fate?'
From what Callum knew of Adam's group, he was inclined to believe that they would not come back. 'At some point, we'll definitely have to explore beyond what Tom's group already has. We can't just hole up, blind to whatever other dangers are out there. But it doesn't look like this wasteland can be survived alone.' His mind wandered to the ATM and its wares. 'I definitely need to get more cards!'
At that moment, Callum was dragged back to reality as he stepped into the colossal shadow of the building overhead. He gulped as he looked up at the behemoth that could flatten them at any moment! The further into its shadow the trio stepped, the more they heard some disturbing sounds. The building groaned under its own weight as debris and dust fell from the broken windows! Callum shivered at the thought of being flattened after everything they had just survived.
The trio remained deathly silent as each said their own version of a prayer as they passed under it…