I whip my head around to look at where the group of people is standing.
They are all panicking. One of them is dead on the ground, an arrow sticking out of his chest. The rest are running in all directions, mostly towards the small group I’m with.
Along the treeline of about half the clearing, goblins are coming out of the forest, dozens of them. They are charging people with spears, just like before, as archers shoot from behind them.
I see a middle-aged man get run through by two goblins' spears and fall to the ground, screaming for help.
Fuck! We’re under attack! That group from earlier must have been a scouting party or something.
I grab my spear and get to my feet as fast as I can, the rest of the group joining me.
It’s complete chaos. Goblins are everywhere, stabbing whoever they can get to. Many people are just fleeing into the forest, trying as hard as they can to get away from their attackers.
I turn my head behind me, hearing the horrible screeching of goblins approaching.
A large group of goblins approaches us. Six small ones with spears, and three larger ones behind them.
The big ones are around five feet tall and have much more muscle than the small ones. They are also wielding real metal weapons, all swords that are very rusty but more than just the sharpened sticks of the other goblins. They scream and bark orders at the small ones from behind in their visceral language, pointing their weapons at us.
A loud bang echoes through the forest clearing as a bright flash appears for just a split second next to me.
One of the larger goblins' heads explodes, and he falls backwards, clearly dead from Daniel’s gunshot.
The rest of the spear-wielding goblins charge, not even looking back to their dead comrade. They jump a little from the noise and then start their sprint, straight for us.
I turn around quickly to check behind us, and more goblins are there, killing people trying to flee.
“What do we do? They’re everywhere.” I shout to the group, hoping someone has a plan.
“We need to kill the ones in front of us, and then we can flee into the forest with as many people as we can gather.” Daniel said while aiming his gun at another goblin.
My heart rate increases through the roof as I come to terms with what I must do. It’s probably going to hurt a lot, but we need to get past this group of goblins and make it to the forest.
I step forward, Jared joins me on my right, and a goblin starts trying to flank me on my left while another one advances straight toward me. I am readying my spear against the incoming goblins when another one of the big ones in the back is shot in the chest by Daniel. It falls to the ground, dead, right after.
I can’t let that goblin get behind me. It will kill me for sure if it gets the chance. I need to do something, fast.
“For Freedom!” Jared screams as he charges forward into the oncoming goblins, holding his stick like a one-handed club.
Another shot rings out as I decide on my plan, this one only injuring the last big goblin.
I shoot forward as fast as I possibly can toward the goblin charging me, ignoring my brain telling me to try and run. I have to fight here and now.
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I reach the goblin in just a few steps, spear reaching out in front of me. My spear connects with the goblin, center mass, and sinks nearly two feet into its chest.
The goblin never even tried to stop its charge, its momentum carrying it further onto my spear, nothing but anger and viciousness in its eyes. Right before my spear hits, it raises its own arm for an attack against me.
The goblin's spear punches into my shoulder, but I barely feel more than the hot blood running down my chest and arm.
Probably the adrenaline. I need to finish this fast.
The goblin bares its yellow-stained teeth at me, barely able to gasp for breath, but manages to keep a tight hold on the spear in my shoulder as I hear the screech of the goblin behind me approaching.
I lift up on my spear, raising the goblin nearly a foot off the ground with my action.
Tears fill my eyes as my shoulder wound flares in pain, but I fight through it. I will die if I give in now.
I pivot on my feet, rotating the goblin on a stick towards his charging ally. The spear bends in my grip, and right before impact, it snaps.
The impaled goblin is sent flying towards the other one, the collision knocking both of them to the ground.
The spear is ripped from my shoulder, causing even more pain as I drop what’s left of my stick and hold the wound.
What the fuck? What the fuck?
I wipe the tears from my eyes and look over to the two goblins on the ground in front of me. The impaled one is dead. I ignore the notification for now. The other one has lost its weapon and is starting to get up off the floor.
I need to kill that one too, as quickly as possible.
I push through the pain of my shoulder to run at the goblin, reaching him in just a few moments.
It lets out a surprised grunt as I tackle it to the floor, straddling it with my legs on either side.
My hands wrap around its throat, squeezing as hard as I can while keeping my arms fully extended. It tries to claw at my face, but my arms are too long for it to reach, so it claws at those instead.
I can see the rage and hatred in its eyes as it struggles for breath, desperately trying to free itself from my grip.
I don’t let up. Even as it rips through my hoodie sleeves and starts to dig into my arms, I squeeze tighter.
The goblin goes limp, and a few seconds later I ignore yet another notification.
I look up, trying to see the situation around me.
Everyone is in their own fight right now. Clark and Duncan are both hitting the same goblin with their bats, Jared is helping Stella, and Daniel is stabbing one in the chest with his knife. Several more dead goblins lay at their feet, and some of them are hurt, like me.
The larger goblin from earlier, the one still alive, is lying on the ground, on his back. It’s holding the left side of its body, probably where it got shot, and howling out in pain.
I stand up from the goblin I just killed and walk over to one of the nearby rusty swords on the ground. I pick it up in my blood-covered right hand and walk over to the last big one.
It doesn’t even notice my approach, too focused on the pain from the gunshot wound. It’s a horrible, ugly creature, now that I can get close up to it.
Its tusks are even bigger, and I can smell its breath from several feet away, vile and repulsive.
I walk over to stand over its head and plunge the rusty sword into its neck, not giving it any time to retaliate.
The sword stabs in, and I pull it out right away with a sharp yank and spray of blood.
Red blood squirts from the creature's neck as the light leaves its eyes, granting me another notification.
Daniel runs up to me, the rest of the group following him. There are only about eight people now.
“We need to run, now!” He yells as he takes off toward the forest.
We all follow him, running as fast as we can to the treeline, leaving those too far away to their own fate.
It sucks to leave people behind, but what am I supposed to do? Go save all of them? I could barely take out two small goblins. I need to save myself. Maybe it's horrible, but I value my life more than theirs, so it's the choice I make.
Duncan speaks up next, pointing to a part of the treeline.
“I think over there is clear of goblins. I can’t hear any movement from the forest there.”
Daniel doesn’t respond, just leads us in that direction.
I follow him, as there is no better option right now.
Just as we enter the forest, Duncan shouts something.
I never hear it, though, as something moving fast and hard slams into the side of my head, knocking me out cold.