Imperious, Chapter 004 - Skeleton Champion (Patreon)

Anna slowly came to, an all encompassing ache permeating her body as her eyelids fluttered open. Her head swam and she had to struggle to remember what had happened to her. Everything felt fuzzy and she wondered for a moment if she’d had too much to drink. She shuddered, squinting at the far wall. Why was she sitting in front of her bedroom door? She tried to crane her neck to look over her shoulder and saw her wardrobe laying on its side. Huh? She thought groggily before looking down at her body. There was a t-shirt stuck to her chest and another tied so tightly around her wrist she could barely feel her hand.

Memory came next.

“It wasn’t a dream, son of a bitch…” She mumbled, reaching up with her good hand and wiping a bit of sweat from her face. Her skin felt clammy despite the summer heat and the utter lack of air conditioning. She leaned forward, How long was I out? She thought, crawling slowly to her feet and taking an unsteady step forward. Do I have a fever? She wondered, shaking her head and trying again to focus. She looked down at her bloodstained clothing and snorted. Of course I do, god damn it.

With an absent thought she willed the timer for the supervisor to show up again, glancing over at it with lazy eyes ringed with even darker spots beneath them. 

Supervisor ETA: 6 Hours, 55 Minutes, 27 Seconds

She’d been out for almost eight hours. She huffed out a breath and rubbed her neck with her good hand, I’m surprised I’m not dead. More would have come by now, right? She thought, crouching down to scoop up her gun and the nearly ruined remains of her bat. Several bony teeth were stuck in the metal now and the whole thing was twisted up. It still felt solid though, she’d use it till it broke. She frowned and looked down at herself again. First aid kit is downstairs. She mused. Should have brought it up with me.

With a bit of effort she climbed over her wardrobe and into the darkened upstairs hallway. There was barely any light shining into the house at this point, the sun starting to go down. That thought gave her a moment’s pause. “Huh, it’s past three,” She mumbled as she walked to the stairs and began to descend, “Happy Birthday to me.”

As soon as she said it, she hesitated on the stairs and looked down at her busted wrist and the bat held limply in her bloody hand. She felt a bit of heat burn behind her eyes and a tightness in her chest. A bunch of old people at a boring birthday party sounds pretty good right about now, she thought numbly, starting to descend again. I hope she’s okay.

Despite the increasing lack of light, it didn’t take long to find her mother’s first aid kit. She was thankful that the woman was often overprepared for everything she did, because the large kit was filled with everything: gause wraps, general antibiotics, pain killers, a small wound cleaning kit, and even liquid stitches. She set the kit aside and dug about beneath the sink for an old shopping bag and quickly filled it with bottled water and some safe foods to eat from the fridge to get her strength up.

After that, it was back upstairs. She didn’t eat right away, not wanting to get nauseous while she worked and started to haphazardly piece herself back together. The first item was her wrist which she’d been relieved to find had stopped bleeding. She cleaned, sterilized, and coated it in liquid stitches while going through the unsettling process of holding the skin closed to make sure it healed properly. She slowly went through the rest of her injuries, one after another, grim faced and nearly in a trance as she fixed herself up and bound her chest wounds.

Only when she was done did she feel a little faint and weary from the experience. Don’t you dare, stay awake. She grumbled inwardly and pushed the mess of bloody gauze, cloth, and shredded clothing to the side. After that, she forced herself to eat despite a growing nausea. She had to replenish what she’d lost and she was pretty sure the food was going to go bad within the next twenty-four hours. It was better to stuff her face now so she could survive a little bit longer, it wasn’t like she could save it.

Having eaten, cleaned herself up, and finally caught her breath, she checked the timer again.

Supervisor ETA: 3 Hours, 32 Minutes, 46 Seconds

It had taken way longer than she’d thought to patch herself back up. Everything was still sore and she knew that if she moved too much she’d open up a wound. She popped a few pills from the kit as well, checking the dosage carefully, last thing she wanted to do was mess that up after barely holding herself together. Having done what she could, she dragged herself over to her bed before glancing back at the large hole in her door the hound had come through. She sighed, I don’t have anything to cover it up, she thought and pat the gun in her pocket. At least anything poking its head in will be an easy shot. Speaking of which…

She hopped onto her bed and reloaded the gun, the magazine wasn’t completely empty but she wasn’t about to be caught out of shots. After that, she just wrapped herself in a blanket to try to get warm. Her body still ached from the mild fever. Three hours. She reminded herself. Three hours, then something has to give, right?

It was only ten minutes later that she heard a howl nearby, that longing, empty howl of a skeletal hound. She closed her eyes and sighed, pulling the blanket a bit more tightly around herself as the darkness grew deeper. Next came the sound of footsteps downstairs. Not just a hound, then, she thought and tried to concentrate. It wasn’t easy with how woozy she felt but at the very least she could manage to slip into that feeling again. She was so tired, so sick, and so fucking angry. She felt her injured hand tighten into a fist as she chewed on her lip, tearing at skin.

Why is this happening to me? Was it a glitch? Does it even matter? I swear to god I am going to strangle that fucking supervisor, I don’t give a shit. She snarled inwardly as movement drew her attention. She focused on the hole in the door just as a skeletal hound slipped its head inside. She met its gaze, feeling that sensation of her body locking up yet again. She clenched her teeth and returned its stare as her finger tightened on the trigger. It opened its jaws, ready to howl, Don’t you FUCKING dare.

It froze, the tiny flames it had for eyes shrinking a little. It shook its head and then, without any fanfare, stepped back and out of the door.

Anna just stared at its back as it slipped back down the hallway. What the fuck? Did I just scare it? She wondered, blinking rapidly and slipping off the bed. She crept towards the door and tried to angle herself so that she could peer outside. She watched the hound descend the stairs, its head dipped a little lower than normal. I fucking scared it! She nearly laughed but caught herself. The sound of boots leaving the house followed and a sigh of relief was building in her chest only to collapse into a gasp as a new sound met her ears.

“Human!” A hideous voice rasped out from downstairs. “Come out or I will burn your domicile!”

Anna froze, They can talk?!

“I will not call again, human! Present yourself before me or your home will be rendered down to ash and you along with it. Do not test my patience,” It was an order, clear and absolute. Yet the moment Anna started to move towards the opening to slip into the hallway she felt a tension in her guts and an intense unwillingness in the back of her mind. Her lips formed a thin line, Who the hell does this guy think he is? The thought pushed itself to the front of her mind, a new emotion joining her jumbled psyche.

Rage.

She was so sick of this shit. It wasn’t her fault she was stuck here. They attacked first. Why the hell were they coming after her? What did she do? Nothing, she was just trying to survive this madness. She ground her teeth and crawled out of the hole, the fire in her belly pushing off the intense disgust at the idea of doing what this thing told her to do. It was a choice between coming out and having the house burn down around her. He was forcing her hand and she did not appreciate it.

The resentment only built as she descended the steps, her clammy skin pale as a ghost in the near lack of light. She clenched the bat in one hand and her gun in the other as she arrived on the first floor. She turned to the door and saw a figure standing outside, staring back at her. She felt that sensation wash over her again, that icy chill that she hadn’t been able to recognize until just that moment. Somehow, those eyes fed their target with fear and caused their body to lock up, but she felt something far more intense right now.

She snarled and stomped towards the door, stopping just inside the doorframe. There, she saw a ring of skeletons carrying a variety of weapons, a pair of skeletal hounds, and at the center; a skeleton head and shoulders taller than the others. It wore heavy breastplate on its chest, gauntlets, and metal boots. In its hand was the most vicious looking axe she had ever seen in her life. It raised its head and looked down at her, its jaw opening but she was not about to let this asshole get the first word in. That fiery feeling in her blood goading her on.

“The fuck do you want?” She demanded. Overhead, thunder rumbled, Florida weather, typical.

The huge skeleton froze, its eyes flickering for a moment in a way that gave her the impression it was perplexed. “You do not fear me, human?” It demanded.

“Fuck no, you’re on my property, get lost,” She snarled, it felt pretty good to talk like that even as the chill tried to work against whatever was giving her the spine to face this thing.

“You destroyed my soldiers,” The skeleton said.

“Your point?” She asked, tilting her head and looking at him with disgust, “They came into my house, uninvited.”

“As is their right, I am lord of this territory and you are naught but a remnant of a fallen civilization, but confess that you intrigue me. Bend the knee now and I will allow you to live on as a slave within my growing dominion,” The skeleton commanded, extending a hand to beckon her close.

It was as if fireworks went off inside her head, her very blood felt like it was on fire and all the dizziness of her fever simply passed. Every cell in her body demanded that she put this uppity pile of bones down and dance on its powdered remains. The instinct was so intense that she didn’t even feel herself whip her arm forward and pull the trigger. She couldn’t even hear the gunshots go off as her heart pounded in her ears. 

The next moment the feeling faded and she blinked. The skeleton had stumbled backward and was holding the side of its head, a raspy howl of pain filling the neighborhood. When it pulled its hand away, a chunk of its skull was missing. Its beady luminous eyes blazed with fury and it bellowed at her, charging her with its axe held high. Her eyes went wide and she dove forward just as it swung at her. 

Fuck, shit, what the hell just happened? Am I going crazy? She panicked, stumbling forward and darting away only to slide to a stop as one of the skeletons forming a ring around them held its hand out. It didn’t attack, just stopped her progress. Are you kidding me? She thought wildly, glancing over her shoulder as the big guy came running again. Small, invisible, look right past me, I’m small, a nobody. She threw all her concentration into it even as the boiling in her blood demanded she face the thing in a straight up fight. Calm down! She urged herself.

The skeleton slid to a stop, “What?” It bellowed. “Where are you?” It roared, “Coward!”

She dove past it and it reacted, swinging its axe at where she’d been a moment before. She felt the breeze of the weapon nearly grazing her foot. It turned its head as she darted a few more steps before stopping and aiming her gun. It turned on its heel and scanned its surroundings, its eyes passing her by as it tried to locate her.

“Not invisible, your very presence is muted, fascinating. You are even more valuable than I thought,” It snarled, “A pity you are willful I-”

She cut it off with a shot to the leg, the bullet pinging off the front of its boot. Shit, too low! It turned its head to look at her and its eyes seemed to focus. It charged again and she dove out of the way only to feel something hard crack into her side. She let out a cry of pain, her ribs trembling under the impact. Fuck, what happened? Her mind worked a mile a minute as she replayed the last few seconds. Whatever it was stopped when I attacked. She realized and took a few more breaths, her chest hurt as she crawled on the ground for a moment, the fire in her veins the only thing keeping her conscious. Invisible, I’m invisible.

“Gone again,” It growled, “A troublesome skill. High rank, I imagine.”

The hell is a skill? She thought numbly. She crept towards it, there was no running. Even if she darted into the house the hounds would follow her. Rain began to fall, more thunder muting her steps. The massive skeleton turned in a circle, trying to find her, its head tilted in an effort to hear her rather than see her. Okay, maybe the rain isn’t so bad. She thought as it dripped down her face. She stopped behind it and slid here gun into her pocket for a moment, gripping her bat with both hands. With a mental snarl she swung with all her might and drove the weapon against the back of its knee.

CRRRACK!

The bone shattered beneath the blow, the skeleton letting out a roar of confusion and pain. It threw its body around and drove the back side of its axe against her shoulder. 

CRRACK!

Her bones bent and shattered in her good arm, her body skipping across the ground several feet before sliding to a stop. She let out a groan of pain followed by a few choked sobs as the agony burned into her brain. She forced herself to sit up, blood dripping from her nose as she used her recently treated hand to push herself to her feet. She swayed, her vision swimming, and forced herself to walk. One step at a time. She spotted her bat, it was bent completely in half and ruined beyond repair. She pulled out her gun, her wrist aching. The huge skeleton was trying to rise but simply couldn't find purchase with only one leg.

She stood over it, glaring. It looked up at her, hate in its eyes.

Her lip twitched into a bloodthirsty smile, “My land now,” She hissed and emptied the magazine into its head. Only when she was out of bullets, the skeleton unmoving, did she drop the weapon and let out a roar of triumph. She howled at the sky, a challenge to the rain and thunder above. In her fervor, she didn’t see the skeletons around her shudder and collapse.