"THEY'RE COMING!"
Shu Li's voice echoed with urgency throughout the makeshift encampment, reaching the ears of each and every person inside causing them to react.
Many jumped up and stood taut like a string as they processed what was happening, and as the realisation quickly set into their minds they were sent dashing to prepare.
"EVERYONE TAKE YOUR POSITIONS!" Another man yelled out as he begun handing pieces of equipment to those getting ready.
"TAKE UP YOUR WEAPONS"
"FIGHT!"
A sense of dread had long since sunk into the minds of everyone here, yet fighting it back was a fire lit by the desire to protect their families and homes, the breathing of the men preparing quickly sped up as they rose from the rest, their eyes lit up as they took whatever weapon they could hold and stood near the barricade, staring out into the abyss of darkness that surrounded them.
And it wasn't just men, there were women that filled in the gaps where they were short, they wouldn't let their lesser physiques stop them from helping and defending all the same; as for the rest of the villagers, the frail, old and children hid away in the largest building, only coming out to help at request or necessity.
The barricade surrounding the village wasn't the strongest they could have built, but they went for simplicity and strength over complexity, it was made of wooden logs tied together with multiple thick logs, with gaps large enough for spears to fit through, and on the outside there was a row of two sharpened thinner wood poles acting as a makeshift spiked fence to deter charging.
They had no idea whether this could hold back a tide of hundreds of beasts, but they didn't even question whether it would, why would they?
This was their best, if it failed they would be dead, why even bother thinking about failure!
After 5 minutes had passed, everyone was already in position, the upper residential area was based around a crossroads with the well in the middle and tightly packed housing on all sides of the road, while the barricade surrounded the entire area most men were focused on the choke points at the end of each road, others took positions on the top of buildings with spears or pitchforks to attack any beasts that attempted to climb the barricade.
And not just that, although they weren't many there were a good handful equipped with bows with a box of arrows near them, they didn't have many in the village, but they had pulled out everything they could use, even if they weren't skilled with a bow, it was better than nothing.
Soon, twilight was upon them, and the heavy and laboured breathing was all that could be heard echoing among the village as they waited with terror filled anticipation, their eyes shrunk to pinholes as they stared through the gaps in the fence, looking everywhere in an attempt to find movement.
"Shu Li, where are they?!" someone yelled, unable to take the pressure causing everyone to jump from fright, looking in anger at the owner of the voice.
And yet they all stared at the tallest building, at the figure standing atop with his large bow in hand.
Shu Li didn't answer, instead he bent down picking up an arrow with its head tied in cloth, soaked in some liquid, the held the head over the brazier next to him, setting it alight and knocking it on his bow, drawing it back fully.
*Pssssh*
It flew, lighting up in the midnight sky like a lone star guiding people through hell.
At this moment everyone watching realised what was happening already, their gaze locked on to the flying light as it shot through the air into the distance, and it wasn't long before it landed with a *Ptew*, however it wasn't just that.
"KREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE" It was followed with an ear-splitting screech from something in the darkness causing goosebumps to rise up the backs of all who listened.
"EAST!" Shu Li shouted.
Those who were standing guard at the eastern road gazed out into the distance, looking closely at a flickering light in the distance.
They could see it, flashing in and out of the darkness as the flame drenched arrow that had embedded itself in its flesh flickered in and out of existence, scorching the meat it contacted.
Chills went down the spines of all who watched, the creature was definitely something they'd seen before, a 'Great Hill Boar', a large boar that was known for being carnivorous, thick hide and large tusks.
However, something simply wasn't right with what they were seeing, its well-known thick hide was stripped almost bare, its bones threatening to protrude out of its pale skin, its tusks broken and fragmented, yet its eyes filled with a murderous rage as if it didn't seem starved to death.
Soon the flame went out and their vision was plunged into darkness once more, however they were all the more unsettled.
"…Beasts? Those aren't beasts! Demons!" Someone muttered under their breaths, mirroring the thought of many others.
The mere sight of that 'beast' didn't match their expectations, the unsettling visage they witnessed made them feel even more fear than before.
And that was only the beginning.
The moon began to shine from behind the clouded sky, shining blue light on the fields and village that surrounded them, until it finally reached 'them'.
The light shone upon the approaching tide, revealing their unholy visage as a whole, it wasn't just the boar, every single one of the beasts resembled a mangled depiction of their original form as if they'd undergone torture from hell.
Boars, bears, deer, wolves, mountain lions, all forms of large animals from the surrounding areas were included, they marched steadily but directly towards the town, their footsteps slowly becoming audible.
One man's grip on his spear loosened as he spoke "Can we really win?..."
"Tighten that grip! The moment you think about giving up it's already over! We're here because we got paid but this is far more than we were told, so you bastards we're helping better not drop before us!" A mercenary near him shouted as he smacked his back.
Shu Li stared at the approaching pack, they were barely over half a kilometre a way; they'll be upon their home soon, they had already begun skulking their way through the outskirts of their village, yet they completely ignored the buildings, just trampling their way directly to them.
'This isn't right' He thought, looking around in all directions.
'There's nowhere near 500 beasts here, barely a 100 at most; where are the rest?!'
"The beasts will be attacking soon! Keep your guard up this isn't all of them!" He shouted to alert everyone else.
He then took some arrows in hand and began knocking one, taking a steady stance he took aim and waited.
Ten seconds…
Thirty…
Sixty…
And suddenly, his arrow was loosed, barrelling straight for the boar he had hit before, it hit it square I the head causing it to stop and convulse, a mere 100 meters or so away from the barricade.
Surprise and joy filled the hearts of those defending the wall.
"Don't be afraid, their appearance doesn't matter; they're mere beasts, if you stab them they die!"
And just a few tens of seconds after that.
The beasts attacked the barricade.
*BANG* *BANG* *BANG*
"GRAAAAAAAAA" "RAAAAAAAAA" "KREEEEEEEEEEEEE" "AAAAAAAAAAAA"
Their guttural grows and howls sounded out with pain and anger as the entire wall shook heavily as their bodies smacked against the wood, they had plunged straight into the spikes near the bottom with reckless abandon, impaling themselves and causing their blood and guts to spill and leak through the gaps on to the people behind.
For a single moment, there was silence as the people stared at the leaking viscera.
"ATTACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Many yelled, they looked through the gaps and without hesitation they stabbed their spears through the gaps, piercing the skin and fur of whatever beast was in the way, their metal tipped spears easily went through dying them red, causing whatever beast that was there to begin convulsing and thrashing.
And so, everything began.
The 100 or so beasts that attacked from the east all steadily poured on to the barricade wall, as they piled forward the first few impaled themselves on the spikes, making them useless against further beasts as their bodied formed a fleshy platform that the others used to avoid them and attack the wooden fence, other beasts however began to spread out as there were too many they couldn't all attack one area, the beasts kept bashing their heads and using their claws on every piece of wall they could reach.
"THEY'RE CLIMING THE WALL!" Someone's scream echoed from the top of one of the buildings, a younger man holding a spear was backing away as he pointed it over the top of the wall, a claw reached over and began to pull its body up.
It was one of the mountain lions, they were unfortunately capable of climbing the wooden wall, the only fortunate thing was that they only made up a small portion of the tide.
As its head came up the young man stabbed with his spear, sinking it in the head of the lion that climbed up.
He shook with panic as he felt the impact of his spear, he watched the lion's body turn limp and fall, catching its paw in the gap causing its dead body to hang on the outside, dripping with blood from its forehead.
He took a step back and breathed with relief, however he didn't realise that it wasn't over yet.
"Watch out, there's another!" A voice shouted to him.
His heart almost stopped as he saw a lion only a few meters away from him, already halfway to pulling itself over, he quickly ran over and stabbed with all his might towards the neck-
*Thwack*
However, he failed, the lion had seen it coming, smacking the tip of the spear with its paw causing him to drop the entire thing hurting his wrist in the process and knocking him to the side.
"Ah- Aaaaaaah!" He screamed as he witnessed the mountain lion quickly close in on him, staring at him, his flesh with a starving desire.
Fortunately, before he was eaten alive, an arrow pierced the side of its head.
He sat dumbfounded for a second, before realising he was fine, he didn't know what saved him, but he didn't care.
He looked for his spear, running over and grabbing it ignoring the pain in his wrist.
He still had to fight!
There were scenes like this happening all over, many people losing their weapons, becoming injured through misuse or such, in the end they were still untrained villagers, it was inevitable.
And it was at this moment Shu Li's voice sounded out again.
"THERE'S MORE COMING FROM THE NORTH-WEST AND SOUTH-WEST!"
The other men that had barely seen any action realised quickly that it was their turn, they were about to be attacked from all sides!
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH" A scream sounded out shortly after the announcement.
A man had become distracted with worry after the announcement and overextended with his spear, a beast had gripped his hand and arm in their jaw and began pulling him through the gap, one which wasn't big enough for a man to fit through.
Normally.
"HELP HIM!" The surrounding men grabbed his shoulders and tried to pull him away, but clawed paws managed to grip on to his torso and head, starting to pull him.
"HE-HELP HELP HELP HE-" He screamed as the pain from the claws piercing his body and the maw pulling on his arm clouded his consciousness, and then he went through, his body and bones broke as it twisted and contorted through the large gap, the strength of the ravenous beasts was too much.
The others watched as his body disappeared through the gap into the dark abyss beyond, followed by the sound of tearing and crunching of bones.
The first casualty had appeared.