Goblins Read online

  Hale stood and looked at the others, his face long. He told them what he saw.

  “Fucking animals,” Garnett said. “We need to stop these maniacs.”

  Patrone said something in Spanish, then “This is the devil’s work.”

  Hale was beginning to think so too. Only pure evil could live in such a place and do what they were doing.

  Keller wanted to take the next den. He looked pissed. Hell, they all did. If not a little frightened, too. Any thoughts of them leaving were gone, Hale knew.

  As Keller moved up to the den, Hale shone his light farther down the tunnel. Levy and Garnett were busy inspecting the cave Hale had left. He wanted to remind them of their duty, but allowed them to take a quick look. There were at least seven dens that he could see. Any one of them could house the killers. When Levy’s and Garnett’s curiosity was satisfied, they returned to duty, flashlights out, guns ready.

  Keller was crouched beside the next den, gun drawn. Seeing he was covered, he listened for sound, then peeked into the cave. A growl emanated from within.

  Hale glanced down and watched as the big man was yanked off his feet and pulled into the den.

  “Nooooo!” Levy yelled.

  “Holy shit,” Patrone said.

  Screams erupted from the room. Keller’s flashlight beam danced around and then was gone, along with the man’s screams. A sickening tearing sound filled their ears. A burst of blood shot out of the entranceway and colored the floor in a soupy crimson.

  Levy rushed forward. Hale grabbed her and wrapped her up in a bear hug. “He’s dead,” he told her. “He’s dead.”

  Garnett and Patrone moved in, guns pointing at the den’s opening.

  “Let me go,” Levy cried and struggled to break free.

  “He’s gone,” Hale said forcefully. He needed her head in the game. Needed all their heads in the game. If he let himself, he’d be sick. But he wouldn’t let his mind go there. Not now. Later. Now he was their leader. The person they looked to when the shit hit the fan, and it had definitely just done that.

  “No,” Levy said. “We have to go in there and get him.”

  “What the fuck was that?” Garnett asked.

  “The devil,” Patrone answered.

  “Cut that shit out, man,” Garnett said.

  Hale felt the word at the tip of his tongue—goblin. But he said nothing. Jed was a crazy old drunk.

  A shuffling sound came from up ahead.

  Hale released Levy, shoving her toward the others. He then shone his light down the tunnel and saw a creature almost identical to the one that had attacked him at the Whitmore house. Then another one came from another den a little farther down. They had stumbled upon the creatures’ bedrooms.

  “What is going on?” Garnett asked, the man still pointing his weapon at the den where Keller had been viciously murdered.

  Hale heard the sounds of chewing and ripping, human flesh being consumed.

  “Holy shit,” Patrone said, his light no longer on the den but shining down the tunnel alongside Hale’s. “There are more coming.”

  A few of the creatures were holding wicked-looking daggers, the blades twelve inches in length and a gleaming pearl-white. Hale didn’t know why they needed such things when their claws appeared good enough to get the job done. Then a worsening thought occurred to him. If they were using weapons, it meant they were more intelligent than he’d originally thought. More human than not.

  Gunshots erupted from behind Hale. He turned to see Levy sending lead into a creature coming from the den where Keller had been killed. Its horn-laden scalp was quickly turned into a pulpy, green mess as bullets tore into it. Hale’s ears rang as if church bells were going off, the gunshots’ reports deafening in the small space. He couldn’t help but think of the popular Schwarzenegger line from the movie Predator, a favorite of his: If it bleeds, we can kill it. He already knew the things could be killed; why his mind went there, he didn’t know.

  Levy’s gun was out of ammo before long, but she kept pulling the trigger, tears streaming down her face. Click, click, click.

  Hale wanted to tell her it was dead, that the nightmare was over, but it was far from so. Instead, he shook her and told her she needed to get herself together or they weren’t going to leave there alive. She wiped at her face and had a new magazine in her gun in seconds.

  Patrone fired down the tunnel. Hale’s eyes bulged at the sight. For the few seconds he’d turned his back, more creatures had come from the holes up ahead. Some held daggers or spiked clubs.

  Hale opened fire too. He and Patrone took the lead. Levy and Garnett were behind them. “We fire in twos,” Hale shouted. “Give us time to reload.” His ability to reason under the circumstances astounded him. He only hoped the others heard him.

  The few creatures he’d seen had quickly become ten, with more approaching from farther down the tunnel. They charged, their faces screwed into angry snarls. Claws and white daggers gleamed in the flashlights’ illumination. Holes appeared in a few of the lead creatures, the bullets doing their thing. But it did nothing to deter the horde from charging onward. Hale’s shots had been frantic and unmeasured. Realizing his mistake, the creatures’ hides tough, he aimed for heads and chests, hoping they had hearts to stop.

  One creature took a bullet to the forehead. Its brains exploded out the back and onto another’s face. The dead creature fell and was quickly trampled by the one behind it, its incredibly long tongue lapping up its fallen brother’s juices.

  “Aim for the vital areas,” Hale shouted. “Take measured shots. Conserve ammo.”

  Bullets tore into creatures, many getting cut down, but only to be replaced by others that were coming from the darkness ahead. The things seemed to be in never ending numbers, and they were drawing ever nearer despite the barrage of gunfire.

  When Patrone’s gun was empty, Levy took his place. Her jaw muscles bulged. Her shots were slower, but the hits more deadly. Creatures went down with only one or two blasts. Heads exploded, eyes ruptured and teeth were shattered as bullets did their thing.

  Hale’s gun clicked empty. He stepped back and Garnett took his place. Hale popped out his gun’s magazine and slid another one into the weapon. He wasn’t waiting for the others to empty their weapons. He crouched between the two officers and fired.

  The creatures didn’t care how many of their brethren fell, they kept coming. Hale had never seen such an act, equating it to a stampede of focused fury. No matter human or animal, no living thing threw themselves into death so willingly. They didn’t care if they lived or died and only wanted the intruders dead.

  With everyone taking measured shots—a collective intense calm having spread over the officers—the creatures were going down faster. Bullets to the upper chest and head proved best, otherwise the things just didn’t drop.

  They were also slowed when the lead creatures went down and tripped up the ones behind, the scene almost comical at times. It was the only benefit to the large numbers.

  Bullets continued to hit their mark, putting the attackers down or at least crippling them. Goblins that were hit in shoulders spun into others. Collisions ensued constantly, further slowing the semi-organized attack. Knees were blown out, causing the creatures to go down hard. The ones lucky enough to not get trampled to death crawled forward like zombies hell-bent on getting to human flesh. All in all, their numbers were somewhat working against them.

  The goblins’ ranks were dwindling, but they’d gotten closer, some of them mere feet away. The stench was at its worst. The wave of noxious death had completely washed over the officers. If it had been water, they’d all have drowned.

  The badge-wearing gun fighters kept changing places when it was time to reload. Hale didn’t know if they were going to make it. He didn’t want doubt seeping in, but the creatures kept coming. They were getting harder to hit as their numb
ers dwindled. Besides being tough to put down if the shot wasn’t perfect, they were darting around and moving in zigzag patterns.

  Hale was down to his last magazine and had just reloaded when a small group was mere feet away. One dashed from the pack as Patrone tossed his useless weapon at the charging creature. The gun bounced off its chest. The deputy pulled his knife and sank the blade into the thing’s right eye, but not before it swiped its claws across his abdomen. Patrone turned and faced Hale as Garnett shoved past him and began firing. Hale didn’t know if the deputy had seen his friend’s wounds. Patrone’s shirt had been sliced open, along with his stomach. He coughed up blood, and in doing so, his intestines burst from his gut. A smirk formed on his face, but his eyes were glazed over. He fell to his knees and collapsed against the wall.

  A creature skirted past Garnett and Levy and dove onto Patrone’s corpse. As it opened its mouth to take a bite, Hale pressed the end of his gun’s barrel against the thing’s head and sent a bullet through its brain.

  Hale faced the oncoming pack of monsters again. A creature half the size of the others, and with a head way too large for its body, darted forward and made it to Levy. Hale shouted for her to watch out, but her attention was focused on another creature barreling down on her. She blasted it in the face, stopping it cold. The thing at her feet raked its claws down her shin, giggling as it did so.

  Levy cried out, stepped back and shot the thing in the head.

  Hale came forward and joined in the melee, shooting an onrushing creature in its throat. It clutched at its neck as green blood seeped through its bony fingers. It fell to its knees, and as it headed to the floor, a creature behind it stepped onto its back and used it as a springboard. It came at Garnett, whose gun was empty. The man ducked low, pulled his Buck knife from its sheath on his belt and stabbed upward into the creature’s belly as it sailed over him. Green intestines and blood cascaded down upon him in a shower of gore.

  Levy continued to put down her attackers. Her pant leg was shredded where the creature had clawed her and a small pool of blood was forming around her foot. Hale didn’t like seeing so much blood and wondered how bad the wound was.

  He pulled the trigger on his Glock and shot a creature in its face as it was about to stab Garnett with its white dagger. Its jaw flew sideways and shattered against the wall. It crashed to the ground in front of the deputy who then stomped its head, turning it to pulp.

  Garnett nodded at Hale—a quick thank you—then turned back to take on another approaching creature when the little bastard threw his dagger. Garnett couldn’t get out of the way in time and the blade plunged into his right eye socket all the way up to the hilt. He turned toward Hale, his remaining eye open as wide as Hale had ever seen an eye open. The man’s mouth twitched, but amazingly Garnett didn’t go down. He simply stood there, his body trembling as if electric currents were running through him.

  Hale’s heart dropped into his stomach. He needed to scream. He’d fucked up. Led his people straight to the slaughterhouse.

  Levy yelled that she was out of ammo.

  Hale took up firing at the creatures heading her way.

  Another creature sprang from the herd, wielding a mace over its head. The weapon had a human head at the end of it, with bone shards for spikes. Hale saw that it was heading toward Garnett. He knew the man was already dead and did nothing. He needed to protect the living. The mace collided with the side of Garnett’s head and the skull gave way as if it were made of piecrust and filled with strawberry jam. Brain, skull and flesh splattered the cave wall.

  Levy’s gun was back in its holster. She was unarmed.

  There was no way Hale was going to be able to take on the remaining group of creatures by himself. He would be out of ammo with a few more pulls of his trigger.

  Levy glanced at the ground with her flashlight, scooped up one of the dropped white daggers and came up swinging as a chunky creature reached for her. The blade sliced through its arms and neck as if they were made of butter.

  Hale couldn’t believe what he had seen. Not that his officer wasn’t giving up, but how ferocious she seemed, the blade making easy work of the tough creature’s flesh.

  Catching another creature coming at him from along the wall, he shot it in the face and stopped it cold. Hale hadn’t forgotten about the mace-wielder, who was mauling Garnett’s head—which was nothing more than a jut of spine and pulverized flesh. He pointed his gun at the thing’s head and fired a bullet into its brain.

  Levy was swinging wildly and shouting like a crazy person, lopping off creatures’ arms, legs and heads. Her body was coated in green. The sight energized Hale. He lined up another creature in his gun sights, but when he pulled the trigger, nothing happened. He dropped the weapon, knowing he was out of ammo, and picked up a white dagger from amid the mess on the ground. The weapon was practically weightless, but felt impossibly strong. The entire thing was one piece, carved from a human femur. Holding it, Hale felt powerful and re-energized, as if he’d downed an entire pot of coffee.

  Levy met a creature head on. It held a white bone dagger. The two clashed weapons, sending red flames across the blades. It was then that Hale had no doubt about everything Jed had told him. Not only were these creatures goblins, but they were from another world. The bone daggers were imbued with some kind of magic, making them sharper than a scalpel and stronger than titanium. And they supplied the wielder with energy.

  Two goblins came at him, one muscular, the other no taller than a few feet. He targeted the one wielding its own bone dagger, the smaller one armed with only its claws. Hale swung wide, but the goblin leaped back and out of the blade’s reach. The smaller goblin collided with him and latched on to the lower part of his leg. Hale brought his knee up and clobbered the creature on the top of its head with the dagger’s hilt. Something gave and green fluid flowed from the creature’s head. But it was far from done and sank its teeth into his calf.

  The other goblin came at him, knife held high.

  Hale brought the blade up in time to block the blow. The goblin kicked out with its taloned foot and sliced the underneath of Hale’s forearm. He cried out and stepped back. Pain engulfed his leg as the small goblin continued to gnaw. Needing to take care of that first, knowing that if he lost the leg he’d be done for, he spun, twirled the blade around and then plunged it into the back of the small goblin. It screeched and then Hale felt its grip release as it slid to the floor.

  Taking out the goblin had cost him. The other one was coming in with a killing blow. There was no time to block the attack with his dagger. He blinked and prepared for the end when Levy spun, her blade out, and lopped off his attacker’s head. The headless goblin’s attack lost all power and the blow glanced harmlessly off Hale’s shoulder.

  The tunnel was then still.

  Hale shined his flashlight around and down the passageway, making sure no other goblins were approaching. Seeing all was clear, he thanked his savior.

  She nodded, but said nothing.

  “We need to leave,” he said. “There could be more goblins on the way here for all we know.” The tunnel extended far beyond their sight. Dens might too.

  Levy stared down the dark corridor. Her face was rigid, lips thin. Her chest heaved and her eyes blazed with fury. She looked ready to kill, smeared with her enemies’ green blood.

  Hale looked down at himself and saw that he was covered as well. He hoped it wasn’t toxic. They both had open wounds.

  “Officer Levy,” Hale said sternly.

  She looked at him.

  “We need to leave.”

  “What about…the bodies?” She moved the flashlight’s beam to Garnett’s corpse, then to Patrone’s. She stared at them, unblinking.

  Hale stepped in front of her. She blinked and looked up at him. “You don’t want that image burned into your head. We can’t do anything for them now, except honor their memor
ies. That means we need to make it out of here. We need to warn the town. There could be more goblins.”

  “Goblins?” Levy said, her eyebrows coming together. “You keep calling them that.”

  “It’s a long and unbelievable story that I’ll be happy to share with you once we’re out of here.”

  “You knew about these things?” Levy asked, her stare burning through him.

  Hale swallowed, feeling caught in the act. But he wasn’t going to beat himself up. “No, not exactly. Now let’s move.”

  Levy bent and plucked the badges from Patrone’s and Garnett’s corpses. She wiped them off before pocketing them. She turned around and headed toward the den where Keller had died.

  Hale stopped her. “I’ll get it, but then we leave.”

  She nodded.

  He didn’t want her crawling around and sifting through Keller’s blood and guts, let alone seeing the man’s body in such a state. She deserved to remember the man as he was when he was alive. The two had been close. Came up through the academy together. She was good friends with his wife. Godmother to their kids.

  Hale had known Keller since he took over as Manteo’s Chief of Police. Keller was a damn good cop and a better person. A gym rat without the attitude.

  Hale’s throat tightened and a tear made its way down his cheek. He wiped it away, smearing green goo across his face. About to head into the den, he hesitated. He tried to mentally prepare himself, but knew it was useless, then bent low and went inside.

  He looked around the hovel, hoping to see the glint of the man’s silver shield. He didn’t allow his eyes to settle on anything for too long, but it didn’t matter. The place was a bloodbath. Arms and legs lay about, torn from their sockets. The man’s head lay on its side, half of it gone. It looked like the goblin had taken a huge bite from it. The remaining eye stared accusingly at him. He couldn’t breathe. He felt his legs want to give out, despite having the weapon in his hand. The power it supplied was gone. It must only work when in battle.