Behind the Wall

The southern patrol was quick to regroup north, behind the Wall. With coming night the dangers of patrol increased and it was wise to stay with the base camp. As the moon hit high and illuminated in full the jeep rolled into the camp set up just on the northern side of the Wall, which separated the State from the Wild Lands to the south. The men removed their scouting gear from the back of the jeep and hauled it into the equipment tent.

On night like these, with the moon in full and a cold breeze coming from the South it was commonly believed that the myths of the Wild Lands would come true. Laying quietly in their bunks the border guard not on nightshift were oblivious to the night’s current situation, probably for the best. Morale was low in base camp; three nights in a row men had gone missing, bloody trails leading out of the dormitories. The captain had phoned for help the night before, but there was still no word back from the State.

As they stepped from the equipment tent the patrol regretted the long walk from the tent to the dorms. They walked in weary silence, no longer weighed down by heavy equipment, but by exhaustion. No one noticed the first man’s disappearance. He had been in the back, walking as silently as his fellows. When the shadows devoured him he was too tired to scream.

Halfway to the dormitories they heard a snap, as of a bone breaking, but when they looked back they saw nothing. One of them noticed the missing man and when he pointed it out the patrol began to walk faster. They closer they got to the dormitories the more frequently they heard the sound of snapping bones. Quivering so hard they could barely walk the patrol was easy prey for whatever was out there.

Standing in the open doorway of the dormitory a shadowy human form awaited them. They halted and the snapping sounds ceased. The patrol quickly came together in a circle with a man on each primary direction. Shadows leaped from the figure in the doorway and grabbed the two men nearest the dorms. The shadows pulled the men into the dorms and there was no more to be said of them. Jumping from its spot in the dormitory doorway the figure flew through the air and landed on one of the remaining men. A gunshot shattered the air and whatever it was that had attacked them slumped over the man and stopped moving.

Standing over the figure was a man with a smoking revolver and beside him a similar man. The two looked up at the rest of the patrol, “Move…” and the horrified men scattered as fast they could to their dorms. Alone in the base camp the two men in long black coats began to circle each other, looking over the other’s shoulder. “Five?” the one with the gun asked. “Six.” The other replied. Pulling his coat open the other man retrieved a gleaming short sword from its sheath at his side and they both rolled up their sleeves. On their arms were large half circles tattooed into their skin.

Looking at each other they were clearly weary to proceed, “Siegfried…” the one with the gun said to the other. “Constantine…” the one with the sword replied. They placed their forearms together and the half circle tattoos completed each other. Light burst from within the completed circle and cast both in front of and behind the two men. As the light touched the campgrounds more figures similar to that of the creature from the dorm were revealed. The light cast away the shadowy layer over them and revealed them as men of the Wild Lands.

Their bones were revealed in certain areas and their faces were wrapped entirely in black cloth. Siegfried was quick to slash a small dart out of the air that flew towards him from the left. Apparently the holes in their flesh could shoot shards of their own bone through the air. Constantine circled around Siegfried and fired a shot of his revolver into the black shrouded head of one of the Wild Men.

The two split up and headed towards either side of the camp. Siegfried took cover behind one of the large supply crates while Constantine began to climb the guard tower. Bone needles clattered all around the metal work of the tower as he climbed. Siegfried followed the trajectory of the needles to discover the assailants’ location. Drawing a second short sword from the depths of his coat. Siegfried ran up behind them and brought his blades together in a scissor cut on the Wild Man’s legs. The other man turned to stop him, but Siegfried uppercut him to the face and brought his second blade into the man’s gut.

Constantine had reached the top of the tower and was attaching a barrel and stock to his revolver, followed by a scope. With the scope to his eye he followed a Wild Man sneaking up behind Siegfried and fired into the man’s head. As the Wild Man spiraled to the ground, Sigfried charged forward, ducking under several done needles and rising up to impale one of the remaining men. The last Wild Man attempted to flee, but a revolver bullet tore off his leg and a second ripped through his head before he hit the ground.

The two regrouped at the base of the tower as the patrol officers were finally peeking their heads out of the dormitories. Siegfried and Constantine were talking amongst themselves when the Captain came out to them, “Who the hell are you boys?”

“Knights of the State…look lively, the evil here is not yet through…”