Chapter 7: Cats and demons (Part 1)

Brother Caldwell cowered inside the ruins of an old store and hastily checked his gun. The Stalkers must be close... He peered out of the window and withdrew his head immediately. There they were... they sniffed around... still following his trail. There was a sound of scraping claws just outside the window, but it seemed as if they were uncertain where he had gone. Suddenly there was a growl further down the street and it was answered just behind the wall Brother Caldwell was using for cover...

But the answering growl already became softer... Whatever it was that had recalled the Stalker, Brother Caldwell was thankful for it. He waited some minutes before he moved again, now he had to return to the station and write a report for this failed mission.

He and Brother Sullivan had been sent out to close one of the minor gates which had appeared a week ago, but as they arrived there was no minor gate anymore... it had become much bigger!

Worst of all were the number of demons. They had expected to find a nest of Stalker, maybe even a Carnagor or two – but there were almost two dozen Darkspawn preparing for a hunt in addition to the nest.

Sadly Brother Sullivan had been in charge of this mission, as he had been promoted to knight a few days before. The fool didn't want to go back for reinforcements, and so they had attacked. At first everything went well, and they manged to kill most of the Darkspawn, but then a Darkspawn Diabolist came through the gate and the Stalker joined the fight.

Brother Sullivan was killed by the leader of the pack, and Brother Caldwell had no chance but to run... at least the Diabolist won't be a problem anymore... he had thrown his sword with deadly accuracy and pinned the demon to a wall.

“I won't see this blade again... with all the Stalkers at my heels! But i have to report the increased activity here.“ he thought angrily “Too bad that there aren't many cats around... These litltle buggers seem to know exactly when there's a demon in the area...“

He carefully left the building through a breach in the back. He looked around for any suspicious movement before he crossed the street.

“Looks like i finally lost them!“ he smiled in his helmet.

But it vanished as he heard a growl from a shopwindow just ahead. Immediately he went some steps backwards and stumbled in the rubble. The crash of his landing provoked another growl and two Stalker jumped through the window.

Brother Caldwell went for his gun only to find an empty holster. He looked around, but the gun was just out of his reach. Meanwhile the first Stalker prepared for a jump, and he knew that he wouldn't get to his weapon before it was too late...

“No, you won't get him!“ a female voice said, then a submachinegun opened fire.