ALL NOVEL 9. The Second Night
"Ms. Suzuki, wake up," Clay whispered, gently shaking her shoulder. In response, Ms. Suzuki groaned slightly, showing signs of awakening. Clay withdrew his hands and waited.
"Hmm~? Clay~? Is it morning already?" Ms. Suzuki spoke groggily.
"No," Clay replied promptly, confusing Ms. Suzuki.
"Then what is it?" she asked.
"They're here," Clay stated with a deeper tone.
Ms. Suzuki's eyes widened in shock, panic, and disbelief.
"A-are you talking about... them?" she questioned, her voice faltering.
"Yes, the goblins. They're here," Clay confirmed. "But I'm not sure how many," he added.
Before Clay could explain further, a loud bang echoed through the staircase.
'They're here,' Clay noted silently, glancing at the small gap in the barricade.
Turning back to Ms. Suzuki, Clay spoke urgently, "Ms. Suzuki, do you remember our plan?"
There was no response. In the dim darkness, Ms. Suzuki trembled, her expression distant as if lost in a memory.
'Shit!' Clay cursed inwardly.
Her lack of response and panicked breathing showed that Ms. Suzuki would be of little help in the upcoming fight.
Clay's original plan involved using Ms. Suzuki as bait to draw the goblins' attention. He intended to let one goblin through the gap to engage her while he dealt with the others.
As for how Ms. Suzuki would deal with the first goblin, that was her problem. If she could take care of the goblin alone, that would be fantastic. However, given her current state, Clay was sure that Ms. Suzuki wouldn't put up much of a fight.
If that were the case, the scenario of Ms. Suzuki being toyed with like last night would happen again. The only difference is that Clay wouldn't provide any help until he was assured that no other goblins were crawling through the small gap.
'But then again, isn't this good also?' Clay thought to himself.
Either way, Ms. Suzuki would fulfill her role as bait. If the lore in games and books was accurate about the goblin's lustful nature. Ms. Suzuki's cries would serve as a potent drug, lowering their vigilance.
If the goblins were too busy trying to join in the fun of toying with Ms. Suzuki, then that would provide an open window for Clay to catch them off guard.
'Of course, this only applied to the logic that goblins were lustful and sadistic creatures in nature.' Clay reminded himself, followed by one more thought. 'Although it would suck to let Ms. Suzuki experience such trauma again. Not much we can do in this situation.' Clay reasons to himself.
With that in mind, Clay grabbed Ms. Suzuki's arm and dragged her over to a spot furthest from the barricade but still in complete view of the small gap. This meant that if the goblin were to look through the hole, they would see Ms. Suzuki's trembling figure quite clearly, even with the distance she was away from the barricade.
Ms. Suzuki, still in a daze, didn't even seem to register what was happening until Clay had sat her down.
"H-huh!? What's going on?" Ms. Suzuki panicked.
Hearing Ms. Suzuki's panicked cries, Clay knelt and placed his hand on her shoulder.
"Don't worry," Clay said calmly. "And be strong."
"Wait, don't leave me!" Ms. Suzuki pleaded, her hands outstretched, trying to grab Clay.
But Clay swiftly dodged her outstretched hand and ignored her as he got up and walked towards the ideal spot to ambush the goblins.
"As soon as Clay was in position, sounds of something smashing against the barricades were heard, followed by a sadistic-sounding cackle. Hearing that sadistic cackle, Clay tightened his grip on the metal pipe in his hand and slowed his breathing.
As for Ms. Suzuki, her response to the sound was a high-pitched shriek followed by a desperate plea for help. Her body, which had calmed earlier thanks to Clay, began trembling again.
Clay could see none of this in the dim darkness, but he understood the stress and panic coursing through Ms. Suzuki.
'Sorry, Ms. Suzuki,' Clay thought, 'but right now, what matters is getting rid of these goblins first.'
And just as that thought crossed Clay's mind, a dark silhouette appeared through the gaps in the barricade, crawling its way through.
"Kya~!" Ms. Suzuki shrieked as she tried backing away from the dark silhouette, but her body was frozen with fear, preventing her from fleeing or doing anything.
Hearing Ms. Suzuki's shriek, the dark silhouette released an ugly cackle as it crawled out of the barricade and dashed toward Ms. Suzuki with lightning speed.
Upon impact, Ms. Suzuki's entire body was thrown onto the ground with a dark silhouette on top of her. Clay's legs moved slightly as if on instinct to offer aid but stopped when he saw another dark silhouette popping its head out of the barricade's hole.
Without a second wasted. Clay stabbed his metal pipe into the dark silhouette's head, causing it to squirm on impact but stop immediately once the metal pipe had pierced it from one end to the other.
With slow and deliberate movement, Clay pulled the dark silhouette out of the barricade's hole and gently placed the dark silhouette behind him, careful not to make too much noise.
Patiently, Clay waited for another silhouette to appear, but after a few seconds, nothing emerged. Shifting his focus towards Ms. Suzuki, he could make out two dark masses squirming against each other in the dim moonlight.
With limited visibility, Clay couldn't be certain if Ms. Suzuki was in the upper or lower section of the dark masses. But that could be easily substituted with the use of his hearing.
Without a second wasted, Clay began planning his next move as he strained his ears to locate Ms. Suzuki. 'Her cries are coming from the bottom section,' he noted. 'If I aim my metal pipe at the upper section, I should be able to avoid hitting her. Alright, let's do that.'
Reacting swiftly, Clay swung his metal pipe toward the upper section of the two squirming dark masses. A loud, ringing sound echoed as the pipe made contact with flesh, followed by a low grunt of pain.
Moments later, Clay heard something tumbling on the ground. The tumbling ceased abruptly, replaced by Clay's hurried footsteps before the repeated sounds of metal striking flesh and painful grunts were heard again.
The barrage of strikes continued until the grunting ceased, leaving only eerie silence, occasionally broken by Ms. Suzuki's weeping.
Turning around, Clay approached the crying Ms. Suzuki, intending to calm her, but stopped. In front of Clay stood another dark silhouette over a more petite silhouette on the ground, crying.
"What happened?" A familiar voice cried out.
'Takashi.' Clay noticed the familiarity of the voice and immediately recognized who it was.
"Another attack," Clay responded.
"I'm not asking about that!" Takashi yelled furiously, "I'm asking what happened to Ms. Suzuki! Why is she like this?!" he demanded.
"I told you already, we were attacked." Clay nonchalantly states again.
"Do you mind helping Ms. Suzuki and bringing her to the nursing room? After such an event, I'm sure she needs rest." Clay asked Takashi.
Takashi had no reason to refuse and accepted Clay's request to help Ms. Suzuki. However, a strange event occurred when Takashi was about to grab Ms. Suzued.
"Don't touch me! Don't touch me! Get away! Get away from me!" Ms. Suzuki screamed as she scrambled to the wall furthest away from Takashi.
Both Takashi and Clay grew silent at the actions of Ms. Suzuki, who was now sobbing louder. Clay wasn't sure what to do in this situation, so he merely stood still, contemplating his next choice of action.
As for Takashi, he had already begun approaching Ms. Suzuki. Takashi's movements towards Ms. Suzuki were slow and careful.
"Ms. Suzuki, I'm not here to hurt you. I just want to help you. It's me, Takashi," Takashi spoke softly, "Don't worry, alright? I'm here now. Everything's going to be alright." he added.
However, Takashi's attempt to calm down Ms. Suzuki had the opposite effect. Ms. Suzuki started screaming again when Takashi was within three feet. Ms. Suzuki attempted another escape, not wanting to be caught.
But this time, Takashi swiftly caught her before she could escape, dragging her out of the staircase room. As he did, Takashi felt a sudden sharp pain in his left arm, causing him to yelp and let go of Ms. Suzuki. Rubbing over the area in which the pain radiated, Takashi felt a bite mark on his forearm.
Freed from Takashi's grasp, Ms. Suzuki bolted away. She ran recklessly, not paying attention to where she was going, and soon bumped into something, falling flat on her butt.
"Please! Don't touch me!" Ms. Suzuki begged, raising her hands to shield herself from whoever she had crashed into.
But nothing happened. Peeking through the gap of her eyelids, she saw another dark silhouette. Thinking it was another goblin, she flinched and cried, pleading for mercy.
As the seconds passed with no attack, Ms. Suzuki began to doubt whether the silhouette was a goblin or an object. She let out a small sigh of relief but stopped abruptly as the dark silhouette started to move.
Terrified, she teared up again and shielded her face and body with her frail arms, a vain attempt at protection.
But still, nothing happened. Confused, Ms. Suzuki slowly opened her eyes. Before her stood a towering dark silhouette, like a colossal monster ready to pounce.
"D-Don't," Ms. Suzuki stuttered while pleading. But in response to her pleading, an unexpected response came back.
"Go rest up. I'll handle the rest of the shift," Clay calmly spoke as if nothing had happened. Hearing Clay's calm words, a sense of relief washed over Ms. Suzuki, followed by drowsiness.
"Hm~" Ms. Suzuki hummed as exhaustion washed over her, leading to her falling out of commission for the night. Once Ms. Suzuki was out of commission, Clay stared at the dark silhouette across the room, Takashi.
"Alright, she should be calm now. You can take her to the nursing room," Clay said tiredly before walking to a secluded corner to rest. Clay was too mentally tired to do anything right now, although his body had plenty of strength left. His mental energy was completely drained. Although the fight barely lasted two minutes, it felt like he had been in that fight for over an hour. Right now, all he wanted was a nice, good nap.
'Actually, should I ask Takashi if he can take over the rest of the night shift?' Clay thought to himself as he picked up his tired eyes to scan the room.
But unfortunately, Takashi and Ms. Suzuki were no longer in the room, leaving Clay alone.
'Oh, they already left...' was Clay's last thought before exhaustion overtook him.