That one quick glance almost cost me.
The Sanguir jumped toward me, from further away than I would have thought possible, its trajectory straight toward my face. I scrambled sideways, narrowly avoiding a direct collision with the leech. I lashed out with my knife, stabbing it down onto its head as it landed. Squeamishness overpowered by survival instinct, I kicked down on its back as I yanked the knife free.
Without warning, the smoking edge of the miasma began to bubble and undulate.
Well that didn't bode well.
I ran, away from the deceased Sanguir’s body which was already being surrounded by other cannibalistic leeches.
I sighted another near the hole in the outer perimeter's wall, which was thankfully rapidly shrinking. Sprinting toward it, I used my momentum to carry me forward, knife sharp side out. The Sanguir let out a sickening gurgle as it died, blood spurting out. Wrenching my knife free again, it revealed this Sanguir had been feasting on the body of one of its own. The stench was beyond offensive.
Nausea threatened to bring breakfast back up.
There wasn't much shoreline left near the perimeter gap that wasn't covered in more Sanguirs or steaming pools of miasma. More Sanguirs were making their way out of the miasma even as I watched.
And I'd only killed three so far.
Looking around, my eyes were drawn to Zevrial as he fought. His movements were precise and swift. He killed several more feeding Sanguirs in a matter of seconds. He caught me looking, and his eyebrows pinched together as his gaze slid to myside. Following his line of sight, four more Sanguirs were moving toward me.
I was outnumbered and cornered against the perimeter and miasma.
Before I could panic, they changed course toward Zevrial.
A fresh red blemish stained his pant leg. It was too clean, there was no trace of Sanguir slime around it.
He’d injured himself on purpose with his second blade to distract the Sanguirs from swarming me. There was no time to dwell on it, not when they were still surrounding the others.
Rosa was a few yards away, retreating from ten leeches. She was dripping with blood, and I couldn't tell whether it was her own. More importantly, she was isolated, and outnumbered worse than I had been. I navigated my way carefully around the carcasses littering the sandbank toward her as fast as I could.
One of the Sanguirs lunged for her, and she cut it down in midair.
Another three hesitated in their pursuit of her, turning toward me as I ran toward her.
Gripping the knife in both hands, I held tight so that it didn't slip from all the blood already on it. I went after the leech closest to the perimeter first, plunging the dagger into it before it could leap at me. The second one was already airborne as I wrested the knife free. I didn't have enough time to get back up. Remembering my training, I twisted my torso to get a better angle and held the knife directly in its flight path. The blade struck true, embedding itself deeply into the lower jaw of the creature.
As it fell, I realized too late that the weight of the Sanguir was pinning the knife into its body. I kicked out with one foot, trying to pull the weapon free again to no avail. The Sanguir bodies were tough, and the knife was jammed all the way to the hilt.
The third Sanguir wasn't waiting for me to arm myself. Its body curled on itself, readying to lunge at me.
Rosa screamed, a high and shrill note that I hoped to never hear again.
Something moved in front of me, too fast for my eyes to track. The Sanguir's body fell in two dissected heaps onto the ground, blood pooling around it. Zevrial stood above it, not even breathing heavily. “Get up,” he ordered, grabbing my upper arm and yanking me to my feet. “And get her out of here,” he pointed toward Rosa.
I turned toward where I'd last seen her, and almost wished I hadn't.
There was a line of Sanguir corpses between me and her, and several more living monsters were creeping up toward those bodies from the miasma's edges. Rosa was on the ground, screaming as she stabbed blindly at a Sanguir that was attached to her face.
“Go!” he demanded, snapping me out of the stupefying horror that had taken hold. He tipped his head toward a door not too far beyond where she was at. “Get her to the Outpost.”
I clamored to my feet and ran toward her. The newest wave of monsters coming ashore was too distracted by the piles of fresh meat to notice me.
Rosa was inconsolable by the time I reached her, flailing and tearing off fleshy chunks of the Sanguir still adhered to her face. It had a series of gashes down its body, and wasn’t moving. Blood from its body was pooling underneath her head, sticking to her peanut-brown hair and turning it maroon.
“Rosa!” I yelled, raising my voice to be heard over her screaming. “Hold still and I’ll get it off you!”
She sobbed, shuddering as she stopped flailing.
I grabbed the tail end of the creature, pulling hard as I peeled it off her face and tossing it toward the miasma.
