39: A new encounter behind a secret door

“Now I am walking alone in a foreign land, talking to myself and fighting beasts. Who would have thought?” Surgit already reached the warehouse where a monster had ended his lucky streak. He took care of the dogs in and outside the kennels swiftly. He’d noticed a street which took the left from the kennels but he didn’t bother exploring it. He really wanted to track the source of the music he’d heard earlier.

Once he got inside the warehouse, he thought of clambering over the stacked boxes and reaching the hidden entrance. The concealed door, he remembered, led to the upper part of the building. A rasping sound brought him back to reality. He knew what it was and he was ready for it.

A tall monstrous creature was walking up the stairs while evidently struggling to breathe. Its face was covered in fur and had fangs protruding from its mouth. Its hair was curly and messy and that gave it a daunting appearance. Its eyes had a red glow to them and its arms were abnormally long. It reminded him of the man-beasts he encountered many times in the streets of Yharnam. Some of them had normal human-length arms, while others had one arm that extended far longer than normal.

The beast had both arms at that freakish length. The coats he saw snipers wearing served it as a half-sleeved jacket. Its chest was as hairy as a furry animal. Its legs had grown as well which transformed what was, possibly, a man once into a tall frightening beast. Perhaps the only thing that didn’t grow in size was its internal organs. Such a huge body needed big lungs in order to breathe and move about. If its lungs hadn’t grown, it would explain why it had difficulty drawing breath.

Then there was its back, arched with bones protruding out of it. They looked as sharp as the crosscut saw it was holding. The saw which normally took two grown men to handle was held by that monster in one hand. A normal saw which should have grown dull by now as it was used by a brute to cut down its enemies; a saw full of dried blood and other foreign matter. Just a small wound from that saw could cause infection and eventual death; a saw that was rapidly approaching Surgit’s face.

‘Shoot you idiot!’ the voices inside Surgit’s head whispered again. Without thinking twice, he quickly drew his weapon and shot the monster straight into its chest. The monster staggered and Surgit destroyed its small organs with his beastly arm. ‘Oh! Sweet, sweet blood!’ He didn’t know where these voices were coming from or what they wanted from him. All he knew was that they wanted blood. Killing monsters and shedding their blood shut them up and satisfied him.

Perhaps that was why he was talking aloud in the street by himself. He needed to hear a voice other than the ones in his head. He needed to get rid of those murmurs even if it meant going into endless monologues. “Well, maybe I am getting crazy.”

He was looking at the dead beast now. Its torch was on the ground and its internal organs were mingled inside its body. His beastly arm had created a hole big enough to fit his head. The powers he had gained after the blood ministration intrigued him. He wanted to know more about them. He had no mentor and the only person who knew about hunting was Gherman, the old man in the hunter’s dream.

“That old geezer is only good at snoring…” he sighed as he thought of how many times his questions were answered by snoring deeply. “I don’t even know how he can fall asleep so quickly,” he mumbled under his breath as he climbed over the stacked boxes. “Maybe if I drag his ass out here and show him what beasts really looked like…” he threw some crates aside as if they were made of cardboard and cleared the entryway, “he would provide me with some answers!” he threw the last crate as he finished the last word.

He crossed the door and found himself on the upper level of the warehouse. He could see two beasts beneath him. He felt his blood boiling at the sight of the beast that had “killed” him earlier. He had to exact his revenge and make that stupid brute pay. He was standing on a catwalk. Merchandize was stacked against walls and some boxes were scattered all around the area. In fact this floor was like a mezzanine for the warehouse where people used to stack unwanted goods. Only few boards survived the passing of time since it was built and all that remained of the floor were catwalks.

He scanned the warehouse carefully from above. He didn’t want to fall into the same mistake again. Carelessness had only led him to waste his time. This time, he wanted to avoid stupid mistakes. The beast carrying the torch was patrolling the right side of the warehouse while the grimier one was just standing idly by. It was holding a makeshift spear in both hands. He dreaded being impaled by that weapon. The crosscut saw had cut him into pieces. He was grateful that the pain from his broken back had made him forget how it felt to be cut open.

Behind one of the pillars on the far left corner, Surgit saw the extremities of a gun barrel. ‘Sniper! Again!’ He thought angrily. If he went below without noticing that gunman, he would have had more trouble getting rid of that spear wielding beast. He inspected the mezzanine again to find a good spot from which he could deliver a surprise attack.

He saw another door which led somewhere outside the mezzanine. “This place has so many hidden spots!” he exclaimed. The rasping below stopped and he could hear the beast below him move. He had to make himself scarce and quick. He didn’t want his enemies finding out about him so darted through the door and found himself outside. On a balcony that looked over the canals of the city, stood a person clad in black clothes.

The person was as dark as those crows he had encountered earlier. He or she even wore a cape which was made out of crow feathers. Surgit couldn’t make out their sex since the person was wearing a plague doctor mask. The mask slowly turned towards Surgit and from underneath it, a woman’s voice was heard: “Oh, a hunter, are ya?”