People scattered across the gravel terrain, weaving between jagged stone spikes that rose like teeth from the earth.
"Agh!" A man cried out as sharp gravel tore through his flimsy flip-flops.
"THUD!" The stone giant's hand came down again.
Ten more lives vanished.
The ground beneath it was no longer gray, it was red.
Vance ran past the injured man, his eyes scanning the spikes 'Damn it…'
He glanced back.
The creature had lifted a massive boulder in its right hand.
'Damn it' Vance dove behind a nearby stone spike just as the boulder was hurled.
"THUD—BANG—CRACK!.." His eyes widened slightly.
The spike to his right shattered on impact along with the people hiding behind it.
Bodies burst like overripe fruit.
Vance's jaw tightened. His grip on the ledger hardened 'They better survive…'
He stayed still.
People rushed past him, screaming, stumbling, dying.
"THUD" The creature stepped forward.
Several bodies were crushed beneath its foot.
"THUD" Another step. More lives erased.
Man. Woman. Child.
It didn't matter.
It moved like they were insects.
The heat was suffocating.
Blood dried almost as quickly as it spilled.
"THUD!" Vance held his breath.
The creature's foot landed inches from him.
He slowly pressed his back against the stone spike behind him, making himself as small as possible.
The giant lifted its other foot.
Vance didn't move.
Didn't breathe.
The blood-soaked ground beneath it was warning enough.
Then
It stopped.
Its gaze shifted.
Vance's eyes widened.
Another one.
To his left stood a second stone figure its body lined with jagged spikes, unlike the first, which was formed from massive boulders.
It raised its arm.
"SNAP!" A spike broke free from its back.
With a violent motion, it hurled it into the air.
Vance froze.
The spike multiplied mid-flight
Splitting.
Spreading.
Covering the sky.
Then
They fell.
A storm of stone.
Screams didn't even last a second.
More than a hundred people were impaled instantly.
Vance's heart pounded.
If he moved, he died.
The creature's body shifted.
Gravel moved from the ground, crawling up its form like living matter, rebuilding the spike it had thrown.
Vance watched it happen.
Impossible.
The valley fell quiet.
The screams faded into silence.
The stone figures moved again.
Slowly.
Then
They crouched.
Blending into the environment.
Becoming indistinguishable from the surrounding spikes.
Vance narrowed his eyes, memorizing their positions.
A cluster near the broken spike…
One near the blood-stained ridge…
'What was that?' The thought returned.
Everything he had seen defied logic.
'Are they here?' His grip on the ledger tightened.
If his debtors had been caught in this…
The losses would be unacceptable 'I need to find them.'
Time passed.
The sun had begun to descend.
'I should move before nightfall' He turned slightly
"Hey…" a voice.
Vance didn't respond.
"Is anyone there?" Careful. Controlled.
No one dared scream anymore.
"Yes" a soft voice replied.
"I'm here" another added.
More followed.
Vance listened, counted 'fifteen survivors… excluding me.'
He stayed silent.
Watching.
Waiting.
'There might be more' he thought.
"I have a plan" the first voice said.
Immediately, the seventh asked "What is it?"
Silence followed.
Even the wind seemed to hold its breath.
"Does anyone know where those things are?" the first voice asked.
No one answered.
"I do" all heads turned.
"What number are you?" the second asked.
Silence.
"Let's call him Sixteen" another said.
"Fine" the first voice said. "Sixteen, where are they?"
Vance's gaze remained fixed on the hidden stone figures.
Then he spoke.
"What are you willing to pay?"
For a moment no one understood.
Then his ledger glowed slightly with a golden hue.