Chapter 4 - The encounterIt all happened so fast from that point.
As the men around him struggled to get their weapons ready, Thompson tried to make sense of what was happening. Machineguns in the dark woods surrounding the men were constantly hammering rounds upon rounds at them - Thompson wondered if anyone'd been hit yet, as he seemed to be in one piece... so far.
He had no idea who or what was firing at them, but it was definitely the time to act if they were to have any chance of making it out of the mess they were in. Thompson fired a grenade from the gun-mounted M203. The shell hit a tree a couple of metres from his position - the surrounding area lit up for a tenth of a second. Thompson would never forget the first time he laid eyes on them.
Clearly not human, the creatures stood on curved hind legs, their knees seemingly inverted. They were large, with skin as black as the woods stretched across their heavy bodies. Thompson couldn't make out what they were wearing, or with what they were firing at the team, but he vaguely recognized the sound coming from the guns. Long claws gripped the weapons they held.
One of the creatures had been wounded by the grenade, it tried to back away, but dropped down limp behind the trees.
The blast from the grenade had caused some confusion in the group of creatures surrounding the men - they roared, a sound louder than the gunfire, as they tried to make out what had happened.
Then, suddenly, a huge wall of fire exploded infront of the men, scorching some of the creatures. With loud screams, the creatures set off, away from the men, deeper into the woods, against the chemical plant...
The men tried to make out the source of the sudden blast.
- "'Ello, lads. What the hell's going on here then?", said a man's voice, with a thick british accent. A cigarette stuck inbetween his lips, the man eyed the men from face to face. In his hands, he held an old flamethrower.
As the men got to their feet and began to gather around, looking for hostiles, Simmons carefully walked closer to the remaining creature, lying lifeless on the ground, not far from them.
Thompson approached the man.
- "Who're you?", he asked, studying the man's face in the gloom of the flashlight.
- "Just a simple hunter out for a walk", the man replied.
Next up, The Hunter (I guess).
Hope it wasn't too bad.