literature

The Lake: Judge Story 3

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I stared at my computer.

For a long time, Matthew said nothing.

I didn’t think much of it. I don’t deal in people anyway.

He finally said something out loud.

“So…I suppose you are wondering why I was after that Goblin by myself.”

I kept my gaze at the information running past my eyes on screen.

“No. Not really.”

Matthew fell silent again. Good.

Finally I came across something. Someone has encountered this goblin before. Except the location is in a town I had not heard of in Ohio, somewhere near the lakes. There is only one reason a goblin would make a regular trip out to the middle of nowhere. He has a superior, and that’s where to find it.

I stood from my chair and started to load up with as much as I could carry. Matthew looked around, and then reached for one of my guns.

“I wouldn’t touch that,” I said.

“I know you are going to find that Goblin, and I am coming with you.” He stood up straight, trying to appear brave. Once again he reached for a nearby weapon. I grabbed it from him and put it away.

“I work alone. You’ll get in the way, and then you’ll die.”

“I have killed more of these things than you think.” He quickly snatched a gun and loaded it. He then spun it around and holstered it.

“I wasn’t talking about them killing you…I was talking about me.” I could almost admire his stubbornness to kill the creatures, but he also seemed stupid enough to not care if he dies in the process. What a waste.

“Alright, load up. We have a long road ahead of us, and we won’t be taking transportation.” I couldn’t believe what I was saying. Then again, everyone needs bait.

I grabbed my two trusted Ruger pistols, a rifle, and a few flash grenades. Matt kept staring at a few of the assorted weapons.

“Fine…just take something. Those knives haven’t done you much good so far anyway.”

I led the way out the back of my safe house. I rapidly reset all the locks and quietly whispered the incantations to keep monsters out. Matthew looked at me strangely, but I ignored him.

We had made our way under the suburbs of Chicago before emerging from the pipe system. From there, we headed east.

We found a small back road that would keep us away from highly populated areas. The road was long, dark, and dipped through the valleys as we made our way to the small lake town.

After a few days of walking, I noticed things were watching us from the woods. The more we walked, the more things I thought I felt creep up on me. When we had stopped for a rest, I motioned for Matthew to lean in close.

“Something has been following us. I don’t know what its intention is, but it has friends.”

“So let’s take care of it. The both of us could handle a few monsters.” Matthew pulled a knife from his belt and held it up in front of him.

“No. We need to keep a low profile. We need to let them think we aren’t hunting anything…yet.” I motioned him to put away the knife. I stood and patted my leg to call Hellsing to my side. The dog loyally approached, but seemed nervous.

“I know,” I said softly.

We continued down the road for another day and a half. With each passing step, more and more fleeting shadows passed us by with no trace. I felt like they were almost at my neck, but I would turn and see nothing.

Finally, the city limits.

Lacarne.

Population…156.

I stop and turn to Matthew. “Watch it. We don’t know what we are going to find here.”

Matthew stared at me a moment with a look of slight confusion.

I leaned in closer and spoke softer. “This town is very out of the way. There is no telling what your goblin and his friends have done to the people here…if there are any.”

We walked on down the winding road. The first few buildings appeared from behind the tall thick trees. Darkness crept over them…no light peeked from any window or crack. From the arrangement of buildings, I made the assumption that this must have been the Main Street.

Matthew had his knives out, gripping them like his fingers were coiled vipers. “There’s no one here. He must have murdered this entire town…and I wasn’t here to stop him.”

I looked on, being vigilant and waiting for any sign of movement. “If he did, it was recent. There has been no public news of the town being abandoned yet.”

Abandoned…the media's blind way to explain the phenomena of 156 people going missing. Perhaps they will find a chemical leak or an infestation. The smarter monsters know how to leave a trail to cloud the public eye.

I lifted my foot and put my leg forward to take another step, but stopped before it touched the asphalt. My hand rose quickly at Matthew to not move or speak. The faint sound of movement came from the docks ahead.

I raised the scope of the rifle to my eye to get a better look.

I brought the scope into focus just along the lakeshore. Many of the ships barely looked seaworthy. I scanned the shore and beyond. A ship was preparing to dock. There seemed to be no one aboard at first, but then I saw them. Countless rots were just waiting for the ship to come to a halt so they can come onto the mainland.

I pointed the rifle down a moment, and without looking at Matt I said “He knows we have come”.

There must be something out on that water where it is hiding…and now it knows about us and has sent minions to destroy us…great.

We ran to the docks, Hellsing close at our heels, weapons drawn and ready to fire. As we came closer to the incoming vessel, I noticed the shipping containers on the docks seemed to be arranged. They created some sort of maze, and we were just passing the entrance. Matt took aim first at the rots and was able to fire a few rounds into the nearest walking dead. They fell from the ship into the deep water below.

That ought to keep them occupied.

I held them back briefly with my rifle, but I knew I needed something better suited for close range as the large ship slowly came to a halt. Just as I slung my rifle into its holster on my back, I heard the cracking sound of gunfire from behind me, and the whizzing of bullets past my face.

I snapped my head toward the sound as lightning pierced the sky. A dark silhouette bade us to follow in a deep mighty voice.

“This way!” he shouted.

We ran for the entrance to the maze of large metal containers.

“Follow me from down there!” the booming voice echoed.

I said nothing, but saw I had no other choice. I picked up Hellsing and entered the labyrinth of metal and mud.

Matt paused a moment at the entrance. “Why?” he shouted back at the dark silhouette figure.

The powerful voice rang in my ears. “Because if you do exactly as I tell you; you both will live, and I will still be able to take out all the rots.”

A realization came to me. Under my breath, I spoke plainly. “You’re using us as bait.”

The dark man retorted. “I would have been the one down there in your place but you two were the ones who set the trap off prematurely, now if there are no more problems you might want to move – the rots are getting fairly close”

He shot a rot that clawed at Matt fiercely as we ran through the elaborate design of containers.

We must have been reaching the end of this complicated set up, because the voice of the dark man shouted down at us once again.

“Stand on the metal plate at the far end.”

I could see him standing in an opening, but then a large shipping container dropped right in front of him and closed off the exit. Thinking we were abandoned, we fired on the undead. I backed up slowly as I fired, and my heels clanked on the metal surface. The metal plate began to lift into the air, and both Matt and I stepped on, still firing downward at the crowd of bodies.

“Stop wasting your ammo!” As the dark man spoke, a whip with a clawed end grappled the face of a rot trying to climb on our platform. The whip was yanked backward suddenly, and the undead’s face went with it.

“You left us!” Matt yelled as the platform came to a halt.

The large man retorted rudely. "For good reason, after this is finished I don’t want to have to hunt down any that managed to escape. Now if you will stand back I will show you what you almost ruined.”

He pulled a small transmitter from his pocket, flipped it on, and pressed the button…

The field of containers exploded in a giant fiery display.

“And now for the clean up,” the man pressed another button, and more explosions sent small bits of flesh flying about.

He laughed and looked Matt and me, “Shall we, I don’t really wish to be present when the police arrive. I have an escape route…and quite a few questions...”

The Judge looked at the large man covered in weapons and mud.

“You have no idea what you have done. There weren’t just rots in that lake. There was something more, and now we can’t do anything about it.”

Before the large man could respond, Judge looked directly at Matt. “I am going back to Chicago. You can stay with him if you like…it works better for me that way.”

I set down Hellsing and motioned for him to follow as I turned away from the lake and the two hunters left standing with the debris.
I finally wrote another story on the Judge.

I guess it was my forum website where we play Hunter RP that got me going again.

Anyway, this is a continuation of the previous two stories I have submitted.

By the way, if anyone is interested, you can read more stories like this one on my website [link]

Shameless plug :)
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