A flinch rips itself from me as black feathers ricochet against the village wall, infernal screeching disappearing into the night sky. Fear scratches against my chest as the Telia twins pierce the night sky with light, feverishly searching for the nevermore.
I hear Rebbecca racking the chain gun behind the twins, pointing the clunky mounted weapon towards the sky,
"Get ready for it to pass around!" she yells, her face contorted in a fierce scowl.
My knuckles, bone-white, desperately fumble some ammunition into my father's rifle. Slamming the bolt handle down I wait for any sign of the nevermore to appear. Tense moments of silence follow before a whistling sound approaches us.
"INCOMING FIRE" someone behind me screams as we see a wave of feathers, each easily the length of a man, come whistling towards us. I duck behind a tiny wall on the battlement, as I see Rebbeca send shrapnel in the air. I hear a screech and a thud, as I peek over my little wall and see the giant nevermore twitching at the base of the wall, black smoke leaking from both its wings.
"KILL IT BEFORE IT GETS UP" Graz, the math teacher, bellows out as he lets loose his shotgun, the precious ice dust-laden bullets peppering the creature back with blooms of ice, ripping a piercing shriek from the creature. My rifle barks as it joins the volley of my town, pelting the nevermore with arrows, spears, and bullets. Slowly the creature stills, but the volley doesn't stop until it begins to dissolve, even when there is no trace of the Nevermore left I look to my left and see Samantha emptying her magazine at the blackened mud where the Nevermore was. I rush over to her, "Samantha," I yell over the gunfire, "It's ok, it's dead now" She continues to fire, "STOP" I scream, as I firmly grab the gun, the heat of the barrel singing my metal greaves as the staccato of her rifle ceases as her impossibly wide eyes swing to me. For a moment, I fear that she'll turn her gun on me, before her eyes relax and she pulls the gun from my grip.
"Thanks" her eyes look down in embarrassment, "lost myself for a minute"
"Don't worry it's your first Grimm attack, nobody here will judge you"
"Thanks" she mumbles, as she leans against the wall and slides down. I sit down across from her and pull out a flask, I look at her, "my dad says that alcohol is reserved for happy moments, but I think he'll make an exception" I take a drink and offer her my flask. "No thanks Ray, I can't stand that stuff"
I quirk an eyebrow," religious reasons?",
"No, not really, I don't want to explain right now"
"It's alright, you don't owe me an explanation,"
The next couple of minutes we spent in silence, both of us recovering our energy and sanity from the fight. That is until Rebbeca, the de facto leader of the town's militia comes up.
"Sam, Ray, get up our scouts reported a pack of beowolves 5 miles out, we need you both on the west wall for guard duty."
Both Samantha and I nod, getting up and dusting ourselves off, "we'll be right there ma'am" I say, " C'mon Samantha, one more rotation and our shift is done, some sleep will do us both good". As we trek, the sun breaks over the horizon, chasing away the chill that set in my bones. As I feel that warmth suffuse my body, the memory of the nevermore washes away like a bad dream.
"It's good to live another day"