Tomás went inside the hardware store and picked back up his backpack and machine gun and started moving with Silva. He didn’t drop the axe, now brandishing it as his primary weapon since his machine gun was almost out of ammo. On the way, they picked up a shocked Gustavo. The boy had his mouth open, attempting to speak.

  “You alright Gus?” asked Tomás, pulling the boy up.

  “That-That was incredible!!!” Gustavo spoke, grabbing Tomás by his shirt. “How did you know that that axe could cut that thing?!”

  “That’s the thing. I didn’t. Now let’s go find Jonas.”

  The three started calling out Jonas’ name, with Tomás also calling Olivia’s.

  “Over here!!” came Olivia’s response. They found her in one of the many alleyways that connected street to street in the massive favela. But at her side, Jonas lifeless body laid, a thin line of blood flowing frow his mouth being the only blood seen. His body was contorted, with his ribs twisted in an unnatural manner, like he simply stopped breathing when his lungs where empty. Having training to be a field medic, Tomás knew this was a result from an enormous blunt impact that caused internal damage.

  Olivia was crying, sobbing while she tried to speak. “He d-did as you too planned. He waited for his chance and went in when the Drake broke the roof. He- He-” she was struggling to speak.

  “Calm down lass, no one is here to get you” said Silva, putting a comforting hand on the girl shoulder. “Why don’t you breathe in and tell us what happened slowly?”

  Olivia did as Silva suggested, breathing slowly. It a minute for her to finally regain her composure.

  “He- He went in when the Drake broke the roof of the building Tomás was at. He glued the grenades to that monster belly and pulled the pins all at once. He started to run and when he was just there-” she stopped and pointed at just outside the entrance of the alleyway they were at the moment “-the things tail came from the side and hit him. He crashed at this wall really hard and- and-”

  Again, Olivia started to tremble “- and he died. Just- Just like that.”

  “Aww man…,” said Gustavo.

  “Unfortunate. He seemed like a decent fellow,” said Silva.

  “And a brave one” Tomás said, being all he could say at the moment. He didn’t know Jonas all that well, but he knew the man was at least honest and loyal, having accompanied him in this suicide mission.

  The men stood there, not saying a thing for at least a full minute. Finally, Tomás crouched down and started striping Jonas of his gear. While at it he found his dog tags. He left one with the body and took the other, handing it to Silva. When he finished, he closed Jonas’ eyes.

  When he stood up, he handed Jonas’ gear to Olivia. “Here, take it,” he said” You are with us now.”

  "What!?" She said, incredulous. "You can do that?"

  "Yes, you are Private Olivia now, by the article 5°, paragraph 3°, of the law n° 1187 of 1939. Welcome to the XX° Light Infantry Brigade," said Sergeant Silva.

  "Gus, help me with her here," Tomás said. Gustavo had a snicker on his face while he helped the Corporal put the bulletproof vest and helmet on the girl. "You will be transferred to a female unit once we get to the base. Until then, you're stuck with us."

  The girl had a dumbfounded face. "... okay."

  "It is 'sir, yes, sir' but I will cut you some slack," said Silva. "We will not actively put you on danger, so rest assured. Think of this as your field training."

  "Sir, yes, sir!" said Olivia, fighting back some tears.

  "Gus, show her how to use a rifle, but don’t fire any shots, we need to conserve ammo. She should help us by keeping herself to the back right now. Tomás, come with me," Silva said. "We need to talk."

  They stepped a little away from the other two. Tomás knew the content of the conversation. "The other guys deserted, right?" he said.

  "Yes. I was doing some prep talk on Gus, helping him get a hold on his nerves. When i turned to look for them they were gone." Silva said, his voice heavy.

  "You know the penalty, right?" Tomás said, the unspoken 'death' hanging from his words.

  "Yes, I know," the old Sergeant said. "But they are just boys, afraid of what is happening."

  "Some of them are not boys anymore. I think it was that Carlos guy idea," Tomás said. Carlos, a forty-year-old pulled to service as the conscription from the city's population grew, didn't like his position one bit. Tomás suspected him from the moment he laid his eyes on him. He knew he would try something like this, not that he would drag the rest of the entire unit with him.

  "Me too. But that doesn't explain the entire unit going with him. There must be some others," said Silva. "While we go back to the detachment, I will try to get some sense back on them." Silva said, grabbing his radio piece.

  It was almost dusk now, the walking to get there taking more of the time. Tomás was eager to find a place to sleep and pass the night, now being too late to go back to base or to regroup with the main unit. He now planned to rest, so he thought about one of the many abandoned residences close to them, looking to the more defensible so they could pass the hours. When he was satisfied with one, he turned to the Sergeant.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  "You do that while-" a shuffling sound cut Tomás short of what he was saying. The sound came from where the Drake body lay dead. Tomás had a bad feeling about this. He stuck his axe on the side of his backpack. He looked at Silva and both raised their weapons. Tomás knew that he had very low ammo, but he didn't plan on saving it.

  They started slowly walking towards the sound. Both men hoped that it was not the Drake coming back from the dead because, for all Tomás knew, the thing's healing factor closed even the most grievous wounds.

  They turned the street and hugged the wall, Tomás in front, taking a peek over the corner. He stuck out his head to see. What laid ahead was a group of small green humanoids that were feasting on the Drake's carcass, happily tearing morsels of the beats and chewing it. They drank the blood like it was a thick watermelon juice, licking their fingers as to not waste anything. Tomás remembered the taste of the Drake's blood in his mouth again. He also remembered the strength it brought him. He did not want to think on what it was doing on those things.

  Tomás turned to Silva and spoke in a hushed tone "It is those things who attacked Olivia. They are eating the Drake."

  "Let's kill them then," said Silva, bringing his rifle up.

  "Not a good idea. That thing's blood makes you stronger. They must be crazy strong right now for the quantity they ate."

  "How do you know that?" asked the dumbfounded Sergeant.

  "Some of it fell on my mouth when you guys hit it earlier. It healed my burned arm and I felt a rush of power. They must be on this effect right now," confessed Tomás, feeling the urge calling to him again. "It is a bad idea to fight them."

  "Okay...," said the Sergeant. "Let's go back to those two."

  When they turned, one of the monsters was looking at them. They stopped dead.

  The monster, a green humanoid, was barely one meter tall. It had no hair, with elongated ears and nose. Its eyes were of a deep black with no sclera, hinting at its nocturnal habits. Its clothing was composed of some kind of sack with holes for the arms, adorned with bones and some trinkets. He brandished a crude knife made of rusted metal. Its appearance was very similar to the others that were eating the carcass.

  Tomás acted quickly, advancing rapidly to the thing. Instead of shooting, he was going to hit the monster with the butt of his machine gun. But it was too late. The thing screeched, a piercing sound that made Tomás flinch. Them it came to Tomás, raising its knife and rushing him. The soldier abandoned his plan and shot the thing in the middle of the head. It fell dead on the spot.

  Tomás turned to Silva. "Run," he simply said.

  Both men started retreating. They ran, Tomás giving some distance to the aged Silva. He covered the corner of the street. When the first of the monsters appeared, he opened fire, hitting the thing square in the chest, stopping it on its tracks. But more appeared. Tomás dropped another five before his machine gun clinked empty. Swinging it to his back, he reached for his axe.

  By now, Silva was some twenty meters away. He stopped and turned, assuming a firing position to cover Tomás. The Corporal ran, covering quickly the distance between him and the Sergeant. When he reached him, Tomás watched as Silva shot methodically and precisely at the monsters. But the things took two shots to fall, if not hit on the vitals. Silva dropped another seven, but his magazine was going dry. Tomás dragged him up and guided him while he shot at the advancing monsters. When he dropped another three, his gun clinked empty. He resumed fleeing while reloading.

  As this was happening, Gustavo and Olivia became aware of the firefight. They noticed the monsters advancing towards Tomás and Silva.

  “Shit, let’s cover them.” Gustavo moved in, pointing Olivia to a firing position. He drew his rifle and yelled “Yo, you guys, fall back!!”

  Olivia, covering behind a car, was trembling. She noticed the sheer amount of the green things that attacked her moving in. She wanted to run, but she knew that if they passed the three soldiers, she was done for. For now, she decided not to shoot her rifle as to not hit either Silva or Tomás, but she had her finger on the trigger.

  Tomás, seeing the Olivia and Gustavo mounting a firing position, pushed Silva on. He dropped his backpack on the ground (again) and brandished his axe. The thing was clumsy, with no balance to be used in an actual fight, but Tomás didn’t care. He readied himself as the closest of the monsters got to him.

  He cut it downwards, like he would do if he was chopping wood. The monster’s cranium opened like a ripe melon. He quickly retracted the weapon, getting ready to strike the next in line. This time, with a horizontal cut to the left, he decapitated one of the Goblins. ‘Yes. In those fantasy games, these things are called Goblins,’ Tomás recalled, remembering the J-RPG’s he played as a child.

  Tomás, with his weapon now stolen by the inertia of the attack, simply punched the next Goblin that came at him, sending the monster face first to the ground. Although buffed by the Drake’s blood, the monsters were still fairly weak, using their numbers to their advantage. He regained control of his weapon, killing the downed Goblin with a strike from the blunt side of the axe, crushing the thing’s head. By now, more Goblins reached Tomás, making him step back.

  With five right ahead of him, Tomás pressed on. Again, he cut the first with a downwards slash, opening a wide valley on the thing’s shoulder. Getting used to the balance of his weapon, Tomás blocked one of the advancing Goblins by kicking it in the belly, making the thing drop its knife. Pulling the axe free from the wound of the first, Tomás cut in a low wide arc, amputating and breaking the third one’s legs. He then stomped the fallen one’s head, ending its life.

  The other two looked at each other. Unsure, one screamed, going at Tomás with its knife brandished high. Tomás simply struck it with the blunt side of the axe head in the belly, causing it to cower and gag what it had just ate. Tomás then cut it down with a strike to the back of the head. He looked up, searching for the other one, turning his head side to side looking for the Goblin.

  He then felt a searing pain in his back. The Goblin had tried to backstab him, but the knife got stuck on his vest. Tomás grabbed the green devil out of his back, throwing it hard on the ground. Sensing its danger, the Goblin squirmed out of Tomás’ grasp and landed nimbly on the ground. They looked at each other for a moment before Tomás, resuming his attack, struck again, aiming for the things head.

  The Goblin dodged, evading to the side and trying to stab Tomás’ arm. Tomás retracted his arm and brought the axe up sideways, aiming for the Goblin’s ribs. It connected, causing the Goblin to squirm in pain. Tomás then grabbed one of the thing’s legs as it gasped for air and raised the monster up, flaying it around like a bag of potatoes. Tomás struck the Goblin’s body on the surfaces around him, killing it almost instantly. He then tossed it to the ones still advancing on him, making them stop.

  Tomás was panting, having only killed eight Goblins, minus the ones he downed with the machine gun. He noticed the ones ahead of him, now unsure if they should advance or not, having met fierce resistance. He gripped his axe, now covered in the gore of the Goblins, and glared at them. One shrieked, and the others resumed their advance. This one, a slightly taller Goblin with tribal markings, appeared to be the leader. Tomás readied himself.

  Just as they were getting to Tomás, shots cut the things down. Silva, Gustavo and Olivia were shotting from the other side of the street as to not hit Tomás. Another seven died immediately. He grinned to himself as he watched the Goblins being cut down. At this point, the goblins numbers were cut in half, less than twenty-five remaining.

  Tomás gripped his axe and breathed deeply. He got more Goblins to kill.