As they approached, Sauer could tell that there was little time before the soldiers were overrun. They had been caught by surprise, their attacks sloppy and inaccurate. The order to retreat from Bösch only added to the confusion, splitting their forces between a group holding off the monsters and the soldiers retreating to Dijon.

Something primal within Sauer regretted his decision, but he could not turn back now. He had a job to do.

Sauer studied the creatures as they moved between the shadows of the trees, heading towards the soldiers. Though Sauer could tell that they were not human, in the poor early morning light he could not determine an exact reason why; perhaps it was the way they moved, or the dark red skin that seemed to writhe as they moved. Every so often, small clumps of the creature’s skin fell slowly to the ground.

Though some of the creatures had been shot, they continued unperturbed. The creatures seemed to be coordinated, shambling behind a tree to hide in the shadows, allowing a different creature to exit a different tree’s shadow, moving in a different direction. The soldiers would shoot at a creature as it hid behind a tree, being forced to reload and allowing another creature to advance.

Sauer wrote notes in his journal, simultaneously wanting to retreat and fulfill his duty. “Do you see their skin?” he asked Gladisch, who stood next to him in front of the line of crates.

“Yes. It seems to be protecting them; when they are shot, a clump of their skin falls.”

Sauer watched as a bullet impacted the shoulder of one of the creatures, leaving behind a steaming, fist sized clump of its skin. He added that to his notes.

“Can these creatures be killed with guns? Can they even be killed?” Sauer asked himself, though he knew Gladisch would respond anyway.

“I do not know,” Gladisch replied.

The creatures continued towards the defences. Sauer presumed the crates would do little to deter them if guns had no effect. He glanced down the line of soldiers that had remained to fight the creatures. He could hear Captain Bösch somewhere among the soldiers, futilely attempting to keep order among the chaos. As he scanned the terrified faces of the soldiers, he recognized one.

The horrified face of Barnabas Schmidt looked around frantically as he reloaded his musket. When his eyes landed on Sauer, they held eye contact for a few moments before Schmidt said “Told you so,” then laughed nervously at himself.

Sauer was not in the mood for jokes.

Before he could reply, a soldier next to him yelled “God damn it Barry, this isn’t the time for tellin’ us you told us so! Or did you think you had to do it before we became a pile of corpses, because we’re getting dangerously close to becoming that!”

Another soldier added “If you don’t want to be part of a pile of corpses, I would get back to shooting those… things!”

The first soldier said “I sure don’t wanna die here! I haven’t kissed any French babes yet!”

Schmidt replied. “Shut the hell up, Rob! No one wants to hear about your failed love life! I could’ve finished reloading a while ago if you two hadn’t started complaining in the middle of a battle. We’re in a battle to the death and you start complaining about my jokes! What, are you guys children?”

“Well now would be an excellent time for your tide turning sacrifice, Barry!” Rob said as he shot at the creatures.

“Yeah, Barry, if you wait too long—”

“Don’t call me—”

“Boys,” Gladisch intervened. “Get back to shooting before you get us all killed.”

Schmidt, Rob, and the other soldier returned their attention to their guns. Sauer asked “Schmidt, do you know what those creatures are? Is there anything you know that could help us fight them?”

“He actually knows nothing,” the other soldier said. “He was just making everything—”

“Shut up, Jakob, I knew that something was going to attack us, and something did just that. That’s better than anyone else here!”

“And yet you know of nothing to help us fight—”

“Watch out, sir!” Rob shouted, jumping towards Sauer.

Beside Sauer on the other side of the defences, one of the creatures had approached undetected, lashing out towards him while he spoke with the soldiers. Before he saw the creature, he could smell it. It produced a sickly, sour stench, like rotting fruit. As he turned to face the threat, he noticed that the creature’s skin seemed more like a protective shell, and was made up of small, thumb sized orbs, each one surrounded by a small amount of sickly white liquid. The creature was humanoid, with two arms, two legs, and a distinct torso and head, though its face was completely flat. Despite the distance between them, Sauer could feel heat radiating from it.

The creature reared back, then lashed both arms towards Sauer over the crates. Rob knocked Sauer onto the ground just before the creature was able to grab them.

The creature reared back again, preparing to lash out at Jakob. Before it was able to attack, Gladisch punched it square in the chest, sending it sprawling backwards behind the crates. There was a sickly squelching sound as it hit the ground. “We should go,” she said, her voice laced with fear. “Now.”

“That was impressive, ma’am,” Rob said, helping Sauer to his feet.

“Not now, boy,” Gladisch said.

“Not now, Rob,” Schmidt said at the same time.

“Thank you, Gladisch,” Sauer said.

As Sauer got up, he glanced around the battlefield, noticing just how close the creatures had gotten to the defences. Most of the soldiers had already retreated towards Dijon. Captain Bösch remained, directing the remaining soldiers and attempting to rouse the soldiers that were frozen in fear. Rob noticed him and shouted “We have to help the captain! Those things’ll kill him!”

Gladisch replied. “We do not have time.”

Jakob added “They will overrun us if we stay.”

“But we can’t just leave Bösch,” Schmidt said.

“We will die if we do not retreat now,” Sauer replied.

Sauer watched as one of the creatures approached a middle aged French villager standing near the defences, frozen in fear. He blinked as the creature approached him, his terror jolting him back into reality. He turned to run, trying desperately to escape the creature that was now within two meters of him.

The villager kicked his own leg, knocking himself to the ground as the creature moved towards him.

He shuffled onto his back, but the creature was upon him in a second. “I’m sorry, Cateline!” he screamed in French as the creature forced his head against the ground, kneeling over his body to prevent his escape. From the creature’s neck, a clump of its shell began to fall slowly towards the soldier’s face.

The clump of shell did not separate from the creature, instead moving steadily towards the man’s mouth, as if it were growing a third arm from its neck. The man’s mouth was open wide in a continuous, terrified scream.

The clump of the creature’s shell entered his mouth.

The creature forced its shell deeper into the villager’s throat, suffocating him.

Sauer watched as the man’s screams were muffled, turning to desperate gasps as he lost the ability to breathe. The clump of shell separated itself from the creature’s neck as it began to get back up.

The villager, finally freed, clawed at his neck and mouth as though trying to remove the clump of the creature’s shell from his throat, writhing in pain on the ground as he suffocated.

It had taken less than thirty seconds for the creature to obstruct the soldier’s throat, condemning him to death by suffocation.

The creature turned toward Sauer, the blank slate where its face should have been boring into him.

It took a step towards him.

“Hey, sir!” Rob called from behind him.

“Thomas!” Gladisch shouted.

“Thomas, sir! If you don’t wanna die, you better hurry up!” The remaining soldiers, including Captain Bösch, were retreating towards the safety of Dijon, leaving the men still frozen in fear to die.

Sauer took one last glance toward the creature that killed the villager.

It had covered half of the distance between them.

Sauer turned and ran.