Stalks of golden grain swayed gently in the light breeze, illuminated by the soft glow of two moonlights.
The stars were aplenty, each shining like silver against the sun.
Yet, they were in all the wrong places.
Klein walked a few paces ahead of the family, carrying his rifle.
When he made it to the barn, his eyebrows shot up slightly. He heard the sounds of wailing and the churning of flesh.
'I see...'
"Hmm... Hey hey! Is someone eating in there?" Klein raised his voice toward the barn, then turned back to the couple holding their kids.
"Seems like we disturbed someone's meal, maybe go back to your carri - car, I'll handle this" Klein gave the confused couple a reassuring smile.
"Is there..." Amelia began to ask, "Is there something inside?"
"Yeah, maybe a beast like the ones I fought earlier" Klein spoke, inspecting his rifle, ensuring that it was fully loaded.
The couple looked at each other, hesitant, but eventually decided that keeping a distance from the erratically behaving soldier was better than getting closer to him.
Klein walked forward, undaunted by the prospect of meeting the horror that lay within the barn. He politely knocked on the door before announcing his presence.
"I'm coming in!"
Creak.
The large double doors opened enough for Klein to step through without trouble.
He smiled as he walked through, "I hope I'm not disturbing your -"
He paused upon seeing what was inside.
"Well. As you were then. Don't mind me."
He lifted his rifle the way he had seen the army men do it, keeping the thing in front of him locked in his sights.
It was...
Well, Klein wasn't sure what it was. A twisting mass of flesh was the only appropriate description for the thing.
Human arms emerged from it at strange angles, and so did many other bits and pieces of beasts he was familiar with, and also those he was unfamiliar with.
The wing of a Vampire Bat, the antlers of a deer, and many other such appendages grew out of the monstrosity.
It was devouring a horse when he walked in on it, and it showed no sign of stopping.
The corpse of the stallion was rotting, producing a wisp of black miasma.
The whatever-it-was trained five eyes at him without so much as pausing its meal.
Those eyes blinked at him and rotated sporadically at odd angles.
Klein pondered for a moment before whispering a name he thought would befit the creature.
"Nystagmus..." He smiled at his brilliant naming sense, then clicked the safety of the rifle, and fired.
RATATAT!
The bullets found their mark, penetrating through the mass of flesh.
He fired again. Then once more until the magazine was empty.
Click. Click.
'This is the issue with these things' Klein thought. The switching out of the ammunition made one vulnerable for too long.
At least, too long for Klein's liking.
He looked back from his rifle toward the flesh-eating monstrosity named Nystagmus. Its flesh wriggled and twisted before slithering slowly towards him.
"..." Klein's smile faltered slightly, wondering what he was seeing. He glanced back at the half-eaten stallion from which tendrils of black miasma searched the air.
Exhale...
'Poison?'
Klein placed his rifle down, feeling lighter without its heft, and began to cast.
----
A moment earlier.
RATATAT!
Shots of gunfire pierced the quiet winds on the field. Harold looked towards the barn in the distance, having already made it back to their car. He then up at the two moons, then back to his wife.
They looked into each other's eyes, both beginning to internalize completely the absurdity and reality of their situation.
"Do..." Harold began in a quiet whisper, then continued, "Do you think there's actually something like a beast in there?"
Amelia stared at the barn. The gunfire had ceased.
She turned to her husband, responding, "Maybe..."
"In any case, we should just stay in the car. Waking up with neck stiffness and back pain is far better than..." Amelia did not finish her sentence, but the implication of her words was not lost on her detective husband.
Harold sighed, placing his daughter, Amanda, into the back seat, adjusting it as far back as it could go.
He retrieved their son, Harry, from his wife, and did the same.
The couple then sat at the front, eyes not leaving the barn far in the distance.
After a while, a long while, a figure appeared with a slight limp.
Upon seeing the couple still awake, searching in his direction, Klein waved at them with a smile.
The moment he approached the APC, he leaned on it slightly for support, panting and sweating.
Haaa. Haaa.
He slid down, then simply sat on the road, his back resting on one of its wheels.
"Right piece of work that was. Ha!" Klein chuckled, looking at the couple.
Amelia hesitated for a moment before reaching out to leave the car. Before she could do so, Harold held her tightly, his eyes advising her not to approach the soldier.
She looked back at him, and placed a palm on his outstretched arm, shaking her head, smiling.
The car was quiet, and eventually, the man loosened his grip with a sigh.
----
Klein's foot was poisoned.
He hadn't seen how it had happened, but a tendril of miasma had shot through his shield with incredible speed, beginning to wrap around his foot before he blinked away.
The creature itself was slow, but its attacks were fast and elusive.
Klein blinked away again as far back as he could, then observed his foot. It was quickly darkening, taking on a purple hue.
"Ha. That's something I very much need in the future you know!" His smile weakened and he spoke with less energy than before as sweat matted his brow.
'I shoulda just stayed in the APC. Not that I ever sleep much' He thought.
'Detoxify' he cast the only spell he knew for such situations.
It did little to lessen the pain and mobility.
'Detoxify', 'Detoxify' He cast the spell twice more, remaining vigilant towards his companion with the eye defect in the distance.
Nystagmus had already paused, seeming to have no intention of chasing him.
Klein retreated further.
'Detoxify' Some color returned to his foot as his mana bottomed out. He could now move it somewhat.
And then, much to his reluctance, he decided...
To run away.