Ow.
First of all, let me assure you that this would have went much better if I had some proper goddamn weapons.
The snowstorm just kept on getting worse as I progressed further inland. Over the course of my life I've discovered a few key situations that you do not want to be caught in. That is one of them. Even if you don't consider the... unfortunate implications of a blizzard, wandering outside in the snow and wind for hours on end is not a good thing to do. I knew that if I didn't find some shelter soon that, well, I might die. A moment later I could see the outline of a multi-story building jutting out of the ice, the beginnings of an urban area.
My first thought? NOPE. I mean, c'mon, could they make the trap any more obvious? I wasn't gonna go inside, but then I realised something; I could either go inside the building and get out of the wind for a bit while expecting the trap or I can press onwards and not know when whatever is following me will pop up and greet me with a smile and a horrific mind-breaking death.
I was stood before the solid oak doors of the building. Then I went around the side, because going through the main entrance is a great way to get shot. With some gentle persuasion from the bottom of my boot the side door opened and I made my way inside.
Nothing jumped out at me, and given the life I've been leading for the past few months that was suspicious in itself. But tension was in the air, a raw, palpable thing. I was beginning to think that walking into a trap with only a knife might not be the greatest idea after all. But, well, I was already in the building. I was expecting it just to be offices or something, but when I got to the front desk it turned out that I was in a hotel. The name was... The name was... Fuck. Never mind. The important thing is that I knew that something was lurking upstairs. So I went upstairs, because apparently I am living anathema to good ideas. There was something up ahead. I knew it, I could feel it. The walls seemed to bear down on me as I progressed up the stairs. Second floor. Third floor. Fourth floor. Fifth floor. The strange, invisible, ever-present force was perpetually ahead of me, resistant to my attempts to catch up. But finally, outside door 152, I cornered the force. Stood in the hallway, hand on the handle, I was ready. I was gonna open the door. I was gonna get my knife out. I was gonna kick. Some. Ass.
That was when the fucking Rake hit me from behind.
If it wasn't for the fact that I was partly through the doorway I would be dead right now. As it stands, I got a nice set of claw marks on my back and the wind taken out from me as the creature tried to take me down. If it had got its way then I would have been underneath it, at which point I assume it would have torn my throat out. We both ended up sprawled out on the ground, facing each other. It went for me and I went for my knife but it was a split second faster. I remember gazing up as it as the beast raised its claw for the kill. Stupid thing was too slow, took too long to bring it down. By the time it struck my knife was out and ready to block the blow. Claw met knife and it was claw that recoiled, so before the thing could strike again I plunged my knife into its shoulder.
I'd like to talk about my knife for a minute here. My knife is a freaking work of art. It's a KA-BAR combat knife, fully-tined and taken pretty good care of. Seven inches of steel, smooth sides and sharp as all hell. Seven inches is more than enough to shove it deep inside skin and muscle, all the way down to bone. Maybe it was the bone that it got caught on, but regardless, I was pretty screwed. I tugged at it, but the knife was stuck in the creature's body. Lacking any other options, I punched the Rake in the face. Yeah, that's a thing that happened. Then a kick ended up pushing through the open doorway. It picked itself up, my blade still stuck within its skin and muscle, so I threw it through a window. Defenestration, despite being an absolutely amazing word, is sadly not the end-all cure to your eldritch abomination. By the time I got to the window, the thing was already gone.
Oh yeah, that thing can teleport, can't it?
I barely got to turn around before it lunged at me from behind again. This time, I didn't even hesitate. I ran like a little girl. Granted, as it had just proved, my foe could teleport, but I wasn't really thinking about that. What I was actually thinking was more along the lines of "OHSHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT" which isn't really much of a plan. I remember getting to the stairs. Fifth floor. Fourth floor. Third floor. Second floor. That was where it caught up to me, where we went barrelling through a door and into another room, practically identical to the last one apart from the fact that there was a FUCKING SWORD on the nightstand. I mean, that's not normal. Well, actually in our line of work it's probably an intelligent thing to do but for other people? I don't think so.
I knew that if I could get my grubby little hands on that sword then I might have a chance of getting out of there. Not a good chance, but still a chance. But first, I needed a distraction.
My knife was still in its skin. It would do. I reached for it as it went for my throat again, holding its body and thrashing mouth above me with one hand while gripping and twisting the knife with another. An inhuman scream later and I was out from underneath it, sword in my hand. It rose back up and my instincts took over. I swung the sword.
Guts spilled out all over the floor, blood and bile and other, more mysterious fluids. The smell was... It looked like... Jesus. I'm probably gonna be in therapy for the rest of my life. If there were still therapists. Or people. The Rake just lay there on the floor, its eyes accusing me, as if it were asking why I did it. It looked a little offended. A little sad. I yanked my knife out of that thing's corpse and I walked out of that room. Down those stairs. Out of the hotel. In the freezing streets, the blizzard had quieted down a little bit. Even if it hadn't, I was ready to press on, to move on from the awful sight upstairs. But then, as if my evening hadn't been fun enough, something came charging out of the mist. Something with sharp claws and white skin and black, soul-crushing eyes.
Oh yeah, that thing can regenerate, can't it?
Of course, sometimes the universe sees you and thinks that your life isn't confusing enough, so it throws in someone to screw your head even more. I stood there as the Rake charged me and I probably would have died there if it wasn't for the timely intervention of... well, I don't know who intervened. As the Rake charged me, something came completely out of left field and charged the Rake. The two toppled over and my saviour recovered first, shouting at me to run before doing so in the opposite direction. All I know is that it was a male voice. I ran like hell and I didn't look back.
I didn't stop until the middle of the night. I didn't awaken until just before dawn. I had got some sleep, I had a new weapon and nothing had succeeded in killing me yet. I thought I would be happy. I wasn't. On the mirror inside the car was one of those sticky note things. I still remember what it said.
"You owe me twice for saving you. Get to the chapel and make it worthwhile."
And then beneath that;
"Take care of my sword."
So not only do I have monsters from beyond the stars or whatever chasing me, now I have a guy who's such a stalker he knows where I'm gonna be before I do. Add that to the dead friends, complete destruction of the world I once knew and the fact that somebody created a blog for me even though we know blogs do nothing but fuck you over even worse and I'd say I'm screwed.
Honestly? I have no choice but to get to the chapel. That means getting through the pass, which was the original idea anyway, so what the hell. Least now I have a destination in mind.
