Fortifications

Another gruesome scene welcomed Nathan. One of the elderlies died from a stab while 2 of the kids were slashed to death! The goblin appeared to be happy with its kill as it smiles while cutting the left ear of one of the dead children.

"NO!"

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

The old man wasn't able to hold his anger and thoroughly punished the disgusting, evil creature. He riddled the goblin's body with bullet holes almost emptying his magazine.

Nathan shivered at the sight. He lost his strength all over his body causing him to fall down to the bloodied floor. This time, Nathan cried like a child. Although he didn't personally know the people who're dead in front of him, they are still human and a kid, which in itself is worth grieving for.

One of the surviving elderly wasn't able to fend off the attack of a warrior goblin as he is too weak because of old age. The man who was defending the gate was too preoccupied to respond immediately. John was still injured and was still resting in one of the rooms. Nathan, Michael, and the old man were also preoccupied that they forgot to defend the most vulnerable people in their group.

This lack of proper thought that resulted in an irreversible tragedy will certainly impact their actions in the future. The only kid left has already stopped crying and looked like she already lost her will to live.

Seeing what happened to his group, the old man started to rethink his earlier decisions and was already thinking of ways to prevent any other incidents like this to occur.

The old man went back to his room without saying anything. He looked so devastated that his walk was devoid of enthusiasm and power with each step. A few seconds later, he brought out all of his guns and ammo to distribute it to the remaining member of the group.

"I should have given this to you earlier, but my stupid instincts said no. We wouldn't have suffered this much loss if it weren't for me"

The old man's voice was filled with regret, grief, and sadness as he stared at the guns and ammo laid out on the table next to the dead bodies. He gave the remaining 2 Glock 17 to Nathan and Michael while the gatekeeper was given the Remington shotgun.

"Nathan and Michael, help me clean this up. You, the gatekeeper, what's your name again?"

The gatekeeper was startled. He was also in deep thought. If he was just fast enough to respond and if he wasn't so preoccupied, he might have saved at least one life.

"Rick...The name's Rick"

The old man calmed down for a bit and regained his composure back. Just like he said earlier, now is not the time to wallow in fear and give up.

"Okay. Rick, you stay here and don't ever lose your sight on them, Got it?"

"Y...yes, sir!'

Nathan didn't even want to look and neither did he want to touch the body of a dead kid. It was too gruesome for him, all he can think of was to vomit his stomach contents. He still can't even stand up from the floor and his legs were still shaking violently.

"Stand up, Nathan! You have to keep yourself together! This will probably be not the last time you will encounter something like this! Man up, dammit!"

Nathan woke up from his stupor at the yells of the old man. He struggled for a bit, but he was able to stand up after a while. His legs were still shaking, though.

They wrapped the three dead bodies in a clean sheet of a blanket and carried them to the backyard. It took 3 hours to finish digging 3 graves for the bodies. They held a brief funeral before they began cleaning the house.

It was really hard to remove the sticky and dried blood on the floor, the rusty smell of the blood was also sticking on the wall and appliances and now lingered all over the house. Luckily, no goblin popped up when they were cleaning and until they finished. After an hour of cleaning, they are finally able to relax and cool off their minds. It was already 2 in the afternoon.

All of them were hungry but didn't have the appetite to eat anything because of what had just happened. They spend the next hours trying to contact their family through their phone, but there was still no signal.

Since they didn't have anything to do, the old man gave them another task to pass their time and make themselves forget what just happened, even just for a moment.

"Nathan and Rick, help me get the necessary tools in the shed. We're going to board up the windows and strengthen the doors"

"Okay!"

"Yes sir!"

The two nodded in unison with a clear firm expression on their faces. They obviously didn't want to make the same mistake twice. The goblins might not pop up inside the house, but if they were still to pop up inside the premises of the house, they will still pose a great threat to them.

"Michael, stay here and keep watch. Be vigilant"

Michael nodded with a resolute expression on his face. This time, he wouldn't be dragging other people's feet he thought. He still held guilt because he thinks that it was because of him Nathan and the old man wasn't able to save the others in time.

Armed with their guns, they went straight to the backdoor and reached the shed in no time. The old man said in a raspy voice.

"Nathan, find anything that can be nailed on the wall. Rick, prepare the nails and hammers. There should be plenty of that here"

The old man stood behind them as their bodyguard while they were looking for the things they needed. It only took a couple of minutes before they found everything they need. They went back inside the house and started fortifying their windows.

"Mister, when you contacted the rescuers, did they say anything about goblins?"

Nathan asked as he helped Rick nail a plank into the window. He couldn't help but think whether they're the only ones or at least their place was being invaded by goblins.

"That's actually one of the reasons why they won't be able to rescue us sooner. They said: 'When we started our rescue operations, we didn't take into account these little greenies. We weren't prepared! There were so many of those greenies, we lost some of our men'"

"So they were caught off guard too, huh. Wait, you said guns, are they military or police?"

Rick who was listening to the two spoke. He got curious when he heard the word 'guns' If the military or the police is on their way to rescue them, then that means they would have a huge chance of survival!

"Military. So, we just have to wait for them to arrive and try our best to survive"

The old man said in his usual raspy voice. His face looked serious the whole time while he was hammering the nail.

"Where were they when you contacted them earlier?"

Nathan asks with clear curiosity on his face.

"Manila. It just so happens that they were attending some military drills when the earthquake happened. So, they were readily available for rescue operations. Luckily for us, they spared some of their units to rescue us"

The old man finished hammering the last plank into the second window and proceeded to board up the third and last window.

"You must have great connections if you can directly contact the higher-ups in the military and request for rescue"

"I know a guy."

The old man answered Nathan in a placid tone while still hammering the planks on the last window. It didn't take too long to finish fortifying the house.

Each window had 3 wooden planks boarded up to it with enough gaps between each plank for them to shoot their guns from the inside without any hassle. They also added some locks on the two doors and nailed a couple more wooden planks to it for further protection.

All in all, they finished what they were doing in an hour. It was already 4 in the afternoon. The goblins outside were still trying to squeeze their bodies on the gate. The number of goblins outside worried them the most. Just how long until the goblins will have enough force to completely overpower the gate?

There were even some goblins that appeared in the front yard and the backyard every hour or so. But the thing that alarmed them the most was when another goblin appeared inside the house! Of course, they were more alert this time and were able to neutralize the goblin before it can even react.

After all this time, they were still unable to tell when and where the goblins would pop up. It appeared as though that it was completely random, so they concluded that it was no use predicting where they would pop up next.

Because of this nature of randomness, they can't completely relax and have to be constantly alert all the time. If someone wants to sleep, another has to stay up.

It was already 7:30 in the evening when the goblins outside the gates stopped trying to get in. The usual high pitched growls, snarls and screams of the goblins stopped. It was so eerily silent that it stressed them even more. All kinds of thoughts floated in their minds. What are the goblins up to? Are they planning something? Did they already give up?

Mixed pessimistic and optimistic thoughts ran wild on their minds. Well, they can't really help it. The stress took a large toll on their minds after fighting for their lives the whole day. The darkness also made them more agitated and nervous.

Luckily, the old man possesses a generator which made them sigh in relief. At least now they won't have to think about fighting in pitch-black darkness.

The generator made a loud noise the moment it started working. It actually alerted some of the goblins outside! But they expected this reaction from the goblins, it was a trade-off they are willing to make. Either they fight a surprise attack in the middle of the night and in pitch-black darkness or they attract the goblins' attention. At least in the latter option, they have more chances of survival!

The old man started preparing food for 7 people. Fortunately, the old man had stocked enough food for them to last a week without them needing to find food outside. Now, they just have to survive for at least another day until their rescuers arrive.

After eating their dinner, they all manned their positions as if they had been doing that particular job all their lives. They can sometimes see a pair of red orbs floating just outside the gate. These orbs stayed stationary before vanishing into thin air, of course, they knew that the orbs were the eyes of goblins.

It was almost 2 in the morning when a sudden situation had occurred.