Chapter 8: the chains that bind us part 2
Nikolai had never been a religious man, but he now wondered if this was his purgatory. The realization that he probably couldn't die coupled with the fact he couldn't tell anybody soured his already foul mood. The walk to the village was rather quiet. Tensions were high and everyone was acting as bodyguard for the boy.
He felt pathetic, if God really existed he really didn't like him. His mood brightened a bit as he saw the familiar silhouette of the village coming into vision or town at this point.
The expansion of the village was going to be great. Although Roswall was less than thrilled with the amount of money he was needing to spend on Nikolai's pet project he relented.
The proposition of his weapons was too much. The bow and crossbow would be a thing of the past. He was also surprised at how shrewd Nikolai was when it came to business.
If you didn't want to get scammed stalkers needed to learn the art of business. Something Nikolai took great interest in. Considering he was rather close to Sidorovich he learned a lot about how to make money.
This village he had now named Kyiv was going to be the city of the future. He planned on making this an economical, cultural, intellectual, and military powerhouse.
But for now, making it a good town was enough. As they got closer they saw the wall were already done. The area around the village had been vastly expanded. Workers and villagers could be seen digging the ditch around the wall. When they saw Nikolai they waved smiling.
Nikolai waved back smiling. As they arrived at the gate they were greeted by the towns guard.
"Sir Nikolai! Welcome back!" Said one of the guards. She was a petite figure, she had green curly short hair, blue eyes, and a lot of freckles. Next to her stood a mountain of a man. While Nikolai was tall this man-made him look like a dwarf.
He had long blonde hair, a long messy beard and an eye patch. He carried around a large battle axe.
"Sasha, Thorkell good to see you," Nikolai said. "Anything to report?"
"Nope, some wolves did come close to the village but I took care of them" Thorkell said laughing.
"Good, keep up the good work," he said as he passed by them. As soon as they walked passed the gate Nikolai was tackled by a swarm of kids.
"Nikolai, Nikolai!" They said gleefully. Emilia and Rem looked at the curious scene as the man laughed on the ground.
"Oh no!!! I've been defeated!" He said dramatically as he stood up and picked up a few of them in his arms. "How are you all doing?" He said smiling.
These kids were a ray of sunshine to him. The one thing that could always brighten his mood. Their laughs, their smiles, they put Nikolai at ease.
"Great! The classroom is almost finished!" One of them said.
These kids didn't know what a classroom was. Hell, they didn't know any form of education. Nikolai looked to set this straight. Surprisingly a professor was the most expensive of the new workforce in the village.
Then again telling him to leave the capital to teach in a small expanding village required some sort of incentive.
"Is it now?" He asked dramatically. "That's great!" He said patting their heads. Nikolai quickly noticed the amused look on Emilia's and Rem's face. "What? Kids are my weak point. If I'm being honest I would like to have some of my own one day."
"Nikolai, Nikolai can you play with us today?" One of the kids, petra, asked.
"Sure thing short stuff. But we aren't alone today. We have with us Rem! Emilia! And Puck!" He said dramatically pointing at them.
"Kitty!" Some of the kids said gleefully as they started petting Puck who seemed to be enjoying the attention. The kids gathered around the girls. Rem knew them well so it was nothing new Emilia, on the other hand, seemed a bit overwhelmed.
"Emilia, Rem I'll be right back let me take off this armor off to stretch a bit. Hey Emilia maybe show them some magic!" He said as he walked away chuckling. Man were those kids a handful. He made his way to the forge. The forge was going to get an expansion after the defenses were ready. More blacksmiths would arrive and all work under Gunther. As soon as Gunther spotted Nikolai he walked towards him and gave him a big hug.
"Nikolai it is good to see you. Here to check on the progress?" He asked.
"Technically no, I'm taking a day off at the request of Emilia. But sure show me what you've got. He walked Nikolai to a table with multiple iron spikes. The seemed to be a meter in size. They were completely jagged, almost like sharp razor wire.
Nikolai had learned from Duty a rather simple but brutal trap. A punji stick trap from what he heard. He heard it was used in the Vietnam war and he had seen them in action and it was grisly. In his opinion, it was better to die instantly that be conscious after falling.
"Nice job," he said picking one of them up. "The other blacksmiths should arrive this week. I leave them under your care. Their pay will be taken care of by Roswal."
"Thank you, I don't know how the village will ever be able to repay you," Gunther said truthfully. A faint smile left Nikolai's mouth.
"Just seeing the kids smile is my pay."
"You're good with kids, do you have any?"
"Hah! I'm not that old Gunther. I'm only 19 even though I may not look like it." He said laughing. His scar didn't help and the growing beard was a problem. He really needed to shave.
"Sorry, didn't know"
"It's okay. Honestly, I want kids at some point who knows when that will be" he said jokingly. "Anyways can I leave the Exo here? I would prefer not having it on while resting."
"Of course! Go ahead!" He said. Nikolai quickly got it off. He was left with only his combat fatigues, he took off his jacket and tied it around his waist. Showing his white shirt.
He walked back and found a curious scene. Emilia and Puck were showing the kids some magic while Rem played with others. He chuckled softly and slowly sneaked behind Emilia.
"I told you Emilia was incredible," he said putting his hand on her shoulder. She yelped as she jumped. She turned to Nikolai and glared at him or at least an attempt at it.
"Anyways kids what do you want to play?" Nikolai asked. They were interrupted by the sounds of screams from the main gate. His blood turn cold as the screams got louder.
He saw a wounded Thorkell carrying Sasha, she was in worse shape. Something had bit her face. Nikolai quickly got in front of the kids to keep them from seeing.
"What the fuck is going on!?" Nikolai asked.
"Something in the woods" Thorkell muttered. The man was in shock, whatever he saw must have shaken him.
"The workers!?"
"T-they most of them died" Thorkell said. "We bought as much time as we could."
"The gates?"
"Closed they were going to get inside." Nikolai turned to the kids, they were shaking. Some of them crying, calling out for their parents.
"Kids it will be okay," he said kneeling down. "I will take care of this," he said coldly. His eyes grew dead his smile vanished as he stood up. "Rem, Emilia. Keep the kids safe."
"W-what are you going to do," Emilia asked.
"Take care of the problem." He ran without another word said. He ignored Gunther as he put the exo on. He grabbed a few sticks and put them in a bag.
Emilia and Rem appeared from the corner of his eye. He ignored them, it all was white noise at this point. As he walked towards the gate he heard a familiar clicking. One he hoped to never hear again.
As he walked past the injured he saw most of them were in bad shape. Deep cuts, some missing a piece of leg or arm. The smell of blood overpowering. He saw some of the guards sitting at the gate. Some shaking others mumbling. He heard something slam against the wall making it creak. The screams grew louder.
"Open the gate," Nikolai said calmly.
"What!?"
"Open the damn gate!"
"They will kill us all!"
"Lift it up once I'm out. Now you will open the gate or I will throw you over the damn wall!" He quickly nodded as he started lowering the bridge. Before it was all the way down something climbed on it.
Although camouflaged Nikolai recognized those empty eyes no matter where. Without a word, the creature lunged at him. Nikolai pulled out a stick and impaled the thing.
The inhuman shriek it let out was like nothing anyone had ever heard. Nikolai pinned him on the ground. Pulling another stick he began repeatedly stabbing the creature in the head until there was nothing left.
"Lower it again," Nikolai said. As soon as it was down he ran outside. Aiming his rifle, there was no creature in sight. He could only see the bodies. He calmly walked towards a particular spot with more bodies than usual. He saw a tunnel. Before he could do anything another creature tackled him.
Nikolai fought to get it off him as the tentacles wrapped around his neck and started pulling him closer. Before the thing could take a bite a familiar spiked ball took the head clean off. Nikolai quickly got up and saw Rem standing atop the wall. Emilia had also somehow gotten outside.
Her face showed sheer terror. The horrors she saw was too much. But the wasn't time as another of the creatures lunged at her. Puck used a barrage of ice shards to kill the creature.
"W-what is this?" Emilia asked.
"Bloodsuckers. God knows where they came from." Nikolai said. "Get inside I don't know how many there are." Then... More clicking. Too much clicking from all sides, and a large bang an explosion in the wall. He saw fire rising up from the back of the wall as gunshots could be heard.
Before he could process it a loud bang rang out from the trees. As he saw Rem's head shoot backward.
"REM!" Nikolai yelled as shooting came from the treeline. Nikolai tackles Emilia to the ditch. He started shooting over his head. The screams from the town grew louder.
Nikolai then saw it. Emilia had been shot in the arm. "Emilia are you okay!?" Nikolai asked worriedly.
"Yes," she whimpered.
"Puck keep her safe I'll try to take care of this," Nikolai said. He saw as a group of soldiers appeared from the trees. Nikolai took the shot killing two of them. He grabbed another stick and threw it full force impaling. The rest scattered as they took shots. Nikolai ran using the ditch as cover. He shot another one of the soldiers in the head. He ran towards cover next to a tree. He pulled out his sawed-off shotgun. One of the soldiers charged at him. Nikolai was able to put him in a hold. He pulled the trigger as he stumbled backward. His ears ringing, he quickly stood up. Before he could do anything he got shot in the arm. He quickly took cover again.
He quickly checked and saw the shot had gone through completely. "Stalker you are trying to stop our destiny!" He heard a Russian voice yell.
"Let me guess you're one of those Monoliths fanatics."
"This land was granted to us by the zone. It is ours to conquer by our God-given right!"
"The only right you have is having this stick forcefully rammed down your throat" Nikolai snarled.
"You should understand that the will of the zone is universal! Those who stand against us will perish. I'm sure the maid got the message."
Nikolai saw red, he felt anger that he hadn't felt in a long time. He would kill that man slowly. He used cover fire to get closer. He tackled the man to the ground. Putting his hands around his neck he started squeezing as hard as he could.
Five loud bangs could be heard. Nikolai felt a sharp pain in his stomach. Then he saw it. A smoking revolver... And blood dripping down his stomach.
He squeezed harder. As hard as he could as the man punched him. Slowly turning purple, the punches slowly grew weaker as his arms fell limp. Nikolai quickly snapped his neck.
Slowly he got off him and laid against a tree. He inspected the damage, whatever he was using it cut clean through. The damage was done. By this point, he was only running on adrenaline.
He coughed violently blood trickling down his mouth. As the screaming grew duller and the shots murkier he felt as it became harder to breathe. His vision got blurrier as he felt life leave him once again.
And cut, Monolith makes its move as Nikolai perishes once again. How did they find him? How were they able to use bloodsuckers to their advantage? You'll find out soon enough.Now onto more serious news. Well life has been hard and the lockdown has not helped. I really haven't been feeling well at all and my meds aren't working as well as they should so updates will be slow. I am truly sorry.Feedback is always welcomed! UltimateMetroMan out!