We only got a few meters down the road when I spotted trouble. We were walking back along the road we entered the zone from. To my left, there was an overgrown field with tall grass that looked sickly. The fence along the road had several gaps in it from where the wires snapped. All the posts had been knocked over. What was the cause of this damage? I did not know. What drew my eye to this field was the two odd gaps in the grass that I could just make out, even with the fog.

I was unsure, but I didn’t think they had been there before. The feeling of being watched had increased steadily over the last few minutes and I was getting more nervous. This could be my mind playing tricks on me, but somehow in my gut, I knew there was danger.

We were wide open walking along the road. I looked to my right at a hedgerow and saw no possible danger from there that I could discern. The field however was causing me great worry as it was a perfect place to hit us.

I looked behind me at the others and motioned to the field, quickly drawing their attention to the possible danger. Smith and Hills were calm; Edwardson, however, was starting to worry and looking around in a more panicked manner.

“What’s wrong?” He exclaimed. His voice was loud in the quiet that we found ourselves in. We all turned and looked at him, shocked at what he had just done.

“Quiet!” Hills turned and hissed at him.

Looking back at the field, I realised that the grass was moving. His face was pale and his eyes were large; it was clear he was on the verge of panicking. Unfortunately, we had no time to get him focused and calm down.

“Incoming!” I called out to alert the others.

Within seconds fast-moving shapes erupted from the grass. Two of the tigers I’ve seen in Rome ran toward us at speed. Smith and I were the apparent targets as we were the closest to them.

We both had time to brace as they collided with us and we were soon fighting. The shock of impact rocked through my body. My shield had blocked the initial attack and the beast’s claws were clinging to the sides as it was trying to pull down the shield to bite me. The creature was standing on its hind legs and leaning against me. Grave chill swept through my mind and body again.

It was heavier than it looked and I was forced to lean into it to counter its body weight against me. As it was so close now, my axe would not be as effective and I dropped it quickly, drawing my gladius. I angled my blade and thrust forward, coming in from my left. I cut into the beast but did not penetrate the body as I had hoped.

It snarled in pain and leapt back. It quickly began to pace in a rough circle, its eyes on me, looking for another opening. Glancing around quickly, I realised that there were more attacking Hills and Edwardson, but I could not help them at the moment. I could not see Smith, but I still heard the sounds of him fighting.

Where the fuck had the other two come from?

It used my brief glances to attack again, but I was ready for it. My gladius was positioned tight next to my shield point facing it. It sprang forward using its powerful legs to quickly both the distance in a single leap. As it leapt, I pushed forward my arm, holding my gladius. This caused it to become impaled upon the blade, driving it deep into its body, its weight, however, continued to push forward and I was knocked back as it impacted my shield. I lost hold of my sword as it was dragged from a hand stuck in the creature’s body as it collapsed.

I saw no other movement from the beast; behind me, I heard screaming. Looking around to find Edwardson was in trouble. Spinning around, risking that the beast wasn’t dead, I saw Edwardson being mauled on the floor. I quickly looked down, found my axe and retrieved it; there was only a few short steps to where Edwardson was being attacked. As I charged forward, I swung down a heavy overarm swing.

The creature was so engrossed in its attacks that it did not realise that I was behind it until it was too late. My axe hit its head from behind and drove deeply into its skull. It howled in pain and started thrashing, ripping the axe handle from my hand. But the injury was fatal and they soon collapsed. As it died, black blood had been flung around from the wound.

Looking at Smith and Hills, I could tell they were holding their own but were not getting in the blows he needed to win the fight. But I do onto the creature’s back. I pulled with an effort the axe from its head.

Hills was the closest I moved to help her, Edwardson was bleeding on the ground, badly injured, but we had to win this first before we could treat his injuries. I quickly ran over a short distance and joined in the fight. Between the two of us, we quickly brought down the creature and then rotated to Smith. The one attacking him also fell to us in short order as it threatened one but not three of us.

Hills ran over to the wounded Edwardson as soon as the creature fell. Smith and I were breathing hard and scanning the area we could see for additional dangers.

“Hold still, Edwardson!” She told him sternly as he tried to see the extent of his injuries and began to treat them. “I need your medical kits!”

Smith and I quickly retrieved our medical kits and gave them to Hills; as a hand in mine to her, I looked over Edwardson’s injuries and realised they were much worse than I thought at first. His right arm had been mauled and his chest arm was also shredded. Claw and bite marks were all over the rest of his body as well and his shield was badly raked with claw marks.

“Movement in the fog!” Smith reported.

I quickly looked up and saw Smith was pointing. In the distance, at the edge of our sight, I could see things moving.

“Fuck! How many do you think?” I asked Smith.

“Three, maybe four. It’s hard to tell. All humanoid, I think.”

“Okay. No matter what, this is a situation. We need to get Edwardson out of here.”

“Red flare then?”

That was what I’d been thinking, calling on the support team and getting out here. We were not too far from the zone edge and they would get here quite quickly. The team was much larger than average, with Grey in charge as usual. But what was out there? That was the question and from what we have seen, this could be an ambush bigger than we realise.

Being in charge sucks! Because the call was mine, I made it.

“No. We don’t know what’s out there. Calling the support team could only make things worse.” It was clear by his reaction that he was surprised by what I said but quickly grasped my logic.

“Hills, can Edwardson move?” I asked over my shoulder.

“Yes, but he is in a bad way.” Instead focused on him, doing the best she could with what she had. That was what I thought from the injuries I had seen; this made my decision a little easier.

“Smith. Hills, get Edwardson out and I will cover your withdrawal; we’re going to fire a double red.” I told them. Firing a double red flare means that the situation is desperate, but not for the supporting team to come in as we were pulling back under extensive threat. I expected more of an argument, but they seemed to be following my lead without any issues, which I found extremely surprising.

Both Smith and I withdrew flare guns and checked the cartridges loading in red flares. We looked at each other but nodded when we checked the weapons. I put mine into the sky and fired off the flare. It went off with a wash and soon, a red glare filtered through the fog, causing everything around to take on a red tinge. Smith lifted up his gun and then fired off the second. We were now committed.

“Hills, can you carry Edwardson?” I asked her.

“It’s best if I carried him.” Smith answered instead.

“That’s the plan, then. Smith carries Edwardson and Hills covers both of you. I will wait here and delay what I can as long as I can.” As I tell them this, I walk over to the Tiger creature that had attacked me first and rolled its body over, putting my boot on his chest. With an audible grunt, I managed to pull my gladius from his chest. I noticed the blood was black, which was different from the first time I encountered these things. The rest seemed the same, with no changes. I wipe the blade on the body and put it back in its sheath.

“You need to report to command about this zone and the fact it seems that everything in it is projecting grave chill.”

“Understood.” Smith said to me. Hills was clearly too busy to respond.

Smith and Hills had this time getting organised. Smith had discarded his shield and now lifted Edwardson up in a fireman’s carry position. Hills was doing her best to keep an eye on Edwardson’s injuries, but they both knew they had to get out fast, so they were moving as quickly as possible. Edwardson was crying in pain as he was moved, but there’s nothing we can do about that at the moment. None of us carried powerful painkillers and his injuries needed them.

I was looking at the fog and could see there were now more figures at the edge of our site was impossible to make out, but I knew they were there. With a strange certainty, I knew that something was coming, something coming from me.

The grave chill was sitting in my head and on my body, but the chills travelled up and down my spine with something else. In response, my angle slowly began to build on my chest, yet somehow; I was still thinking clearly.

“We are going.” I heard Hills say. I turned to see that they were ready.

“See you soon.” I say to them and nod. Neither says anything but nods back and quickly turn to head down the road to safety. I turned around to look into the fog, knowing that whatever was out there was close now. I would be here soon.

I took the opportunity to look over myself. My armour is pretty much okay. My shield has got quite a few claw marks damaging the surface. All my weapons are present and I’d reloaded my flare gun as a habit. Equipment wise I am ready.

Physically I’m tired and sporting some injuries. The zone and grave chill were affecting me in the usual ways. Yet today, at this time, I found the effects to be not as noticeable as normal. Overall, my anger was simmering in my chest, but I was strangely calm, all things considered.

I turned my attention back to the figures in the fog; it was odd that they were not attacked yet because I knew that they knew where I was. It seemed that they, too, were waiting for something. But for what I cannot tell.

So, I stood on the road facing them with nothing better to do.

Waiting.