AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I lifted an eyebrow. “Meaning what?”
A bittersweet smile appeared on his face. “Meaning I am missing the professor’s absence more than ever.”
It was at that moment that a horrible scream interrupted us.
CHAPTERTWENTY-TWO
The hairson the back of my neck stood on end as I jumped against Ben. He stood firm, but his sharp eyes had a peculiar red tinge as they scanned the area.
The noise had come from one of the houses that was only partially standing. A woman in a ragged dress with a handkerchief over her head rushed out through the door. She waved her hands over her head and her face was a picture of terror.
“The man’s alive! He’s alive!” she shouted as she stumbled out into the street. Ben hurried over, and at the sight of him, she rushed up and latched on to the front of his coat. “He’s alive! By the Gods, he’s alive!”
Ben was forced to release the bag and my arms so he could grasp her trembling hands in his palms. “Why should he not be alive?”
She shook him so hard he flopped backward and forward. “Because he’s dead!”
It was at that moment the man in question made his appearance, and what an appearance. A half-rotten creature shambled out of the ruins of the house, looking far worse than the ramshackle building. Decayed bits of clothing hung from their skeletal form, and I wondered how they were held together as there wasn’t enough flesh to cover even half the body. The thing shuffled across the lawn and onto the street where their bony feet clacked loudly against the cobblestones.
“Saints help us!” the woman shrieked before she took off running down the road.
I hurried up to Ben’s side as the monster stopped. It swayed side to side as it turned its head from side to side, its empty sockets searching for something.
I grasped Ben’s sleeve in one trembling hand and swallowed the lump in my throat. “W-what the hell is that?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know.”
The creature stiffened a moment before it whipped its head around so it faced us. My heart dropped into my stomach as a deep, soft groan emanated from its throat. It began to shamble toward us, and the thing stretched out one bony hand in my direction. I couldn’t help but let out a tiny squeak of fright.
Ben stepped between us, and at the interruption the skeleton paused. It lifted its empty sockets to him and clacked its teeth together.
Ben scowled at the monster as he stretched out one hand so the palm faced the thing. “I pray thee, corrupted creature, return to your rest!”
The creature gave some garbled noise from its throat before it darted toward us. Ben whipped out a dagger and the blade sliced the air. The creature’s arm dropped to the ground and twitched. The rest of the monster stumbled back and a few glops of some hideous black substance oozed out of the wound. A putrid air washed over us and nearly made me puke.
I aimed my mouth toward the ground just in case and watched as the arm rolled itself over. It used its fingers to crawl toward us.
“Ben!” I shouted as I pointed at the stubborn limb.
“Get back!” he commanded me, and I only too happily stumbled back.
The ghoulish creature groaned again and shambled toward us with its arm like some sort of sick pet in the lead. Ben clenched his hand tightly over the dagger and darted forward. He swung his arm with great speed and sliced the blade across the creature’s neck before leaping back. The arm tried to grab his foot, but he swung the weapon downward and pinned the limb to the ground with the blade.
Ben took a few steps back and I hurried to his side. At the same time, the head of the creature rolled backward off the neck, revealing that he’d decapitated the thing. The monster dropped to its knees before falling face-that is, chest first onto the ground. The limb twitched a few times before its fingers went limp.
I looked up at Ben with confusion written across my face. “What happened to it?”
“Purification,” he told me.
“There it is, sir!” It was the screaming lady again, and she’d brought a friend with her in the form of a soldier.
The halberd-bearing man was attached to the frantic woman via his wrist around which she had a death grip. The woman yanked him over to us and stabbed a finger at the fallen fiend. “There! There it is, now do something about it!”
The soldier’s irritation turned to confusion as he studied the creature. “I don’t think that’ll be a problem, ma’am. It looks like it’s already dead.”
Her whole body trembled as she puffed out her chest. “Of course it’s already dead! That’s the problem!”
He shook his head. “No, I mean to say the monster has been vanquished. The soldier looked between Ben and me. “What killed it?”
