Countless Nineteens

Nineteen.

Nineteen rabbits running towards Gunrage.

Jimin ran inside and shouted.

“Wake up! Attack!”

Rei and Derrick’s eyes shot open. Without a word, they leapt off the top bunks, already sprinting out into the open.

Voidborn stared at the rabbits.

They hopped over Teeth, but the traps did not snap shut. Tears’ barrels whirred and locked on to the rabbits, yet no beams fired.

Not hostile.

The rabbits ran past all the traps and hopped inside Gunrage.

“Situation?” Derrick asked, looking at the rabbits with confused eyes. He stopped beside Voidborn, who already had his invisible sword brandished, ready to strike.

“I don't know. All twenty of my noose traps were triggered. All rabbits.”

“Then it's an ambush,” Rei said, standing behind the two with her tome already summoned. “Be ready.”

Jimin rushed out moments later, having hastily changed into fresh clothes. She wore a black a sleek black dress that had subtle floral patterns adorned around her neckline. In her trembling hands was the dagger she had taken from the Yoo Family vault.

The bushes in front of Gunrage rustled.

Every head snapped towards it.

Every single sentry’s barrel aimed at it.

A Teeth trap lay underneath the bush, but it did not trigger.

“Another rabbit?” Jimin whispered.

“I don't think—”

Derrick's reply was cut off.

A hand emerged from the dense bush and clawed at the grass. Pulling itself forward, a bloodied figure slowly crawled out on all fours, moving with weak, trembling motions. Dark crimson blood stained her top that had been ripped and smeared across her arms and chest.

“S-save me…”

Tears streamed out of her eyes as she dragged her body forward, conveying the tortuous pain that was equally flowing out of the deep gashes in her chest. Her shins were bent at unnatural angles, while arrows protruded from the back of her thighs.

Derrick and Voidborn walked forward cautiously, approaching the woman who painted the ground behind her in a trail of red.

“State your identity,” Derrick ordered.

Voidborn pointed the tip of his blade at the woman’s throat.

“E-Empire Suppression Squad C—please—it hurts—”

Derrick examined the insignia on the woman’s chest. Claw marks tore across it, but he could still make the Empire’s seal out.

He nodded to Voidborn.

“Cover us,” he called to Rei.

Voidborn crouched beside the woman while Derrick hooked his arms beneath her shoulders. He stood to the woman’s side, sliding his arms under her waist.

“One, two, three—”

They lifted the woman and carried her back to Gunrage.

“What happened?” Jimin asked, pouring a potion into the woman’s mouth she had taken out.

“G-Goblins—there were—lots of them—” the woman wheezed, breathing in ragged gasps as cold sweat beaded from her forehead.

“Argh—fuck—”

She growled in pain as the potion worked its effect, wounds closing slowly, her twisted legs snapping back into place with a sickening crunch.

“You used a high grade potion?” Derrick asked.

“Yes?” Jimin frowned. “Was I not supposed to? She was dying!”

“Yes, but… never mind.”

He turned his attention back to the woman. Her injuries were no longer life-threatening, but her face was still pale, broken legs still mending.

“What's your name? And where’s the rest of your team?”

“Chaewon,” she said, forcing herself upright. “T-the rest…”

For a moment, she lifted her head and stared at where she came from, eyes wide with terror and desperation.

“Captured or dead. The goblins, they… they move differently… and there's countless of them.”

“Where?”

“B-behind me!”

Right as she said that, Rei’s voice cut through the air.

“Guys. Get ready.”

Their gaze glued to the darkness around.