The creature hissed at the both of them. Pierre swallowed and sized the creature up. It was small but armed with claws and fangs. If he did survive at all trying to fight it, he would not come out unscathed.
He looked around him, searching for something that could be used as a weapon. Then he noticed that Clementine was no longer beside him. He heard her heels and her ragged breathing. The horrified woman ran back towards the building, glancing at him with a look that questioned why he wasn't running with her.
The spawn, as the floating screen called it, went into action. It bolted in the direction of the running woman, most likely, figuring out she was the weaker prey due to the display of fear.
Pierre saw a metal pole, lying on the raised bed of bushes, not too far away. A rusty piece, forgotten, probably cut from a larger pole, when new signages were made in the campus last week.
He could make a run for it while the demon was distracted. Pierre was far from athletic, but he was certain that with the pole he could kill the thing. The only problem was that the spawn was fast like a dog, and would soon catch up with Clementine who was further slowed by her heels.
There was no time to get the pole. That was if he was not willing to sacrifice the lady. Basic human decency aside, he would not be able to see a friend get mauled to death, much more someone he fancied.
But Pierre froze. Even if he was willing to fight it bare-handed, he would not be able to catch up to it, before it catches up to Clementine. He did not know what next to do, and that horrified him more than when he saw the hole in the sky.
Then Clementine tripped and fell. "Pierre!" she screamed as the demon advanced dangerously close.
Just as he was about to jump into motion, to run in her direction in a desperate and doomed attempt to reach her before she got injured, he felt the familiar coldness of metal in his curled hand. He remembered the interface and the supposed relic.
Quickly he opened his hand and found the coin. It seemed to glimmer brighter now, and he could feel it throb. And if he looked close enough, he could see the air around it, distort against an invisible energy field. There was power within the coin, but how could he wield it, and was it power that could help him in his current predicament?
Pierre did not have a second to entertain the question. The spawn now, was within a single yard of her wildly kicking feet.
The next moment found his body moving on its own. The movement did not feel foreign and strange. It felt natural, like an instinctive jerk.
He fingered the coin to roll in between his middle and index finger. Then he flicked it, with an intent to kill, aiming at the running little demon.
The coin took flight in the air. Its image was reduced to a blur as it took the speed of a baseball squarely hit. With a wet squelch, it punctured through the body of the demon and came out the other side. The spawn crashed on the pavement, the lifeless body dragged by the momentum of the charge, just inches away from Clementine's feet.
[You have killed a Spawn]
[You have gained Experience]
Pierre shook his head when the blue screen popped up again, to confirm the gamified nature of the so-called Divine Interface. Just like in the RPGs he played, he got popping windows in the form of floating screens, and as it turned out, also the ability to get stronger by killing monsters. It seemed all too juvenile, especially in the light of the serious situation of demons coming out of the hole in the sky to kill humans.
But it also meant, that using the relic would be familiar ground. He had played enough video games in his youth to get an idea of what was happening. If he killed more demons, he would probably get an upgrade or a level-up, making him more powerful. That meant an increased chance of survival. And for survival's sake, he'll play the childish game.
"What was that? I did not see a gun in your hand." Clementine asked as he helped him up her feet.
"It's… it's hard to explain." He replied.
She groaned when she took her first step. "I think I sprained my ankle."
He looked at her feet and saw redness and swelling in the right foot. It was a hard fall after all. It would take too much time, if he only lent her, his shoulders as she hobbled towards the car.
She let out a surprised gasp as he swept her off her feet, carrying her in his arms. She was heavier than he calculated or he was weaker than he thought because it took all his strength and all his breath trying to jog towards the car.
"I am so sorry, Pierre. I am dead-weight." Clementine mumbled.
Pierre only smiled. Not that he had nothing to say, he would have wanted to jokingly tell her he wanted a dinner date in return. But if he spoke, he might drop her, worse crap himself. He was starting to regret he did not work out more.
"Pierre, to our right!" she warned.
What luck! It would seem that the spawn he killed weren't alone. Three… no, four more spawns came into view. And unlike the one earlier, these were emboldened by their numbers, and came charging, as soon as the demons saw them.
Pierre exerted even more strength in an attempt to go faster. But he reached his limits and his arms, unwillingly, albeit gently released Clementine.
"Okay…" he said in between breaths, hands on his knees. "I am not… I am not abandoning you. But we need to take care of these guys first."
"What do you mean, Pierre?" Clementine asked with a trembling voice and teary eyes, "We can't take them on."
She pulled on the shirt by his arm. "You can leave me. The two of us don't have to die here. Tell my mama and papa, I love them."
Pierre chuckled. Clementine looked cute when crying, a sight he had not seen since their childhood days.
"No thank you. I am not leaving you here."