Ghouls!
Monday, June 22nd, 2009Dear Diary,
Something terrible happened, something really sad. I’m all broken up about it – it really is about the worst thing I ever seen.
We was riding out of the crater when we saw smoke in the distance, so we rode closer to see what was going on. We found a village full of people who looked they had been ripped up and chewed on by animals, though Mr Dutch couldn’t find any tracks. The only person still living was a boy who was standing in the middle of the square, holding out his arms like he was being put on a cross or something.
We came up and asked him what was up. He said he had been out with his flock and when he got back to the village everybody was dead. He was holding his arms up to keep the monsters from coming back, cause some voice told him that’s what he should do.
He looked like his arms was getting tired and he wasn’t going to be able to keep them up for long. So I had Dusty tell him that I’d hold up my arms for a while so he could rest. He reckoned that would be a good idea, so I put up my arms and he put down his.
But my arms weren’t good enough, because even though I had them up, as soon as he dropped his a bunch of strange creatures popped up out of nowhere. There was one big fellow holding a Nihonese sword, and two fellows that looked like they could do magic. And there were a bunch of things that looked like a cross between man and beast, with long claws and big drooling fangs but standing up like a man, though pale white and a little hunched in the back.
The fellow with the sword popped up right next to that poor boy and cut him down before anyone could do anything. After that things got ugly and confused. Dusty shot that sword fella with her shotgun, and I hit one of them beast-men and a wizard with a burst of machine gun bullets, and we both shot this other wizard who disappeared right after.
Dutch and Hank were having a bunch of troubles. One of the wizards, the one I later shot, pointed at Hank and a bolt of fire poured out of his hand. Hank dove under the flames, but that put him on the ground when some of them beast-men started taking an interest. But between his shooting and getting help from me and Geoffry, he got away with only one little scratch.
Mr Dutch wasn’t so lucky. When them villains popped in, he was standing a little aways from everybody. So when three beast-men appeared next to him, one of them a real big one, he was on his own. He managed to get a couple slugs into the big one, but it still gave him a good clawing. He was reeling, trying to fight them off with a hatchet, when Dorothy ran over to him and helped put them down.
About then, one of them big beast-men almost clawed me a good one. I had shot him once or twice, though it didn’t seem to do much more than get him riled. What was worse, Dorothy had done something to light him on fire, so he was just blazing away and smelling as rank as a slab of steak that had been carved off of a long-dead steer and tossed on the grill. But burning up didn’t keep him from fighting, and he swung at me fast as lightning. I tried to bend under his claw, but I could feel I wasn’t fast enough when suddenly a surge went through me and I whipped my body around faster than I ever done before. His paws raked the air where I had stood, and his claws sliced some buttons off my shirt, it was so close. But I came up and shoved my machine gun in his face and blew his head wide open.
I guess I owe the Goddess for the extra speed. Next time I’m near a temple, I’m making a special offer of thanks to Artemis. Her gift has helped me a lot now, and I sure do appreciate it.
My Geoffry was about the biggest hero of them all. He was perfectly calm, blasting away with his shotgun at one beast-man after another. He must have killed about a half-dozen of them all by himself. I was so proud of him, and just having him there fighting made me feel more safe.
Once the beast-men was dead and the wizards was fled, we checked on the boy. It was too late for him – not even Geoffry could help him after that swordsman cut him down. He was with his fellow villagers now: them wizards and beast-men had killed pretty much everybody. It was about the worst thing I ever seen, and the worst I ever hope to see – I keep thinking how it could have been my own hometown, with Momma and everybody I know killed and chewed over by monsters. I still shake, just thinking on it.
Dorothy said them beast-men was called ghouls, and that they’re disgusting creatures that eat the dead. But what was worse was that they was tame ghouls, controlled by them wizards, and so they was there for a purpose. We had no idea what they wanted, though Dorothy said she thought they was trying to get either the boy or Dusty or me. I sure do hope they weren’t out for one of us – I don’t ever want to see them again, and I hate to think they killed that village just to get at me. That would be really terrible!
We stayed there for a while, giving all them folks a decent burial. It took a lot of effort digging them graves, but it was the right thing to do. And besides, though I was crying all the time I was digging, the work made me feel a little better. At least I was doing something for all them poor people.
Though I don’t reckon I’ll ever forget that boy. I never even learned his name, and now I suppose I never will.