Page 87 of Caelum

Another sound came on top of that.

Chatter.

“They’re here,” I whispered under my breath. “Coming from Onitsha as we expected.”

I heard the walkie-talkie, heard Stefan pass on the message, but my attention was on the boat that was coming our way.

Gouilleshad sensitive hearing and sensitive sight. We were the perfect guards. Seeing and hearing all.

It took me longer than I’d like because the river was loud, but I stated softly, “Three hundred incoming in four boats.”

The message was relayed.

“Five minutes until they dock,” I whispered, slipping out of the mindset mygouillerequired and finally getting my Pack ready.

From behind me, I heard the whisper-like movements as men appeared, ready to attack the grunts who were about to be offloaded onto the shore.

Lights flashed, and the arrogance of the Ghouls hit us as the boatsbegan to pull into the jetty not under the shield of darkness, but with spotlights blaring. They weren’t coming in in waves, but in one mass unloading.

I wasn’t sure if they were idiots or geniuses.

“Wait for them to offload,” Merinda’s voice was quiet as it came through on the walkie-talkie.

We froze, waiting for the boats to empty. A low hush overset the Ghouls as they waited on their orders.

Only when they set out, their intention to feed, did we slip out of our hiding places and move toward them.

At first, we stuck to the shadows, then as the wave of Ghouls surged forth, we mingled with them.

They looked just like us, after all.

There was no differentiating between a Ghoul, a creature, and a human.

Until you saw what they ate.

Armed with tasers that were set to Drive Stun, we stuck to the edges, knowing that was the best way to separate the ones we took down with the ever-moving flow of grunts.

Drive Stun was a pain compliance method in humans, but in our kind, it fucked with the muscles and made us pass out. Especially with the tasers that we jerry-rigged to work at a higher voltage.

Being hit in the neck was enough to knock a Ghoul out for an hour. After that, they’d awaken, and the mood they’d be in?

It was like setting a bull on a rampage on purpose.

Each minute was a ticking time bomb that put us in even more danger until finally, the time bomb detonated and we surged into action.

As we took out more and more of their numbers from the sidelines, they finally figured that someone was targeting them.

I used the tasers to pistol-whip most of my targets before stunning them and letting them drop where they fell. Now the news was out, there was no point in dragging the downed grunts to the side.

All around me, creatures worked to contain this particular threat to a city that had done nothing more than dare to get rich with their oil reserves.

No one deserved the fate the Ghouls promised. Not even my scumbag parents. And that was saying something.

Despite us being outnumbered, the grunts were stupid and easy to manage. The upper ranks of a nest were the ones that were hard to take out.

From a strategic standpoint, all we had to do here was waste time by taking out the masses, all so we could see when and if the generals were about to come out and play.

It was a marathon runner’s tactic. Long distance rather than short.

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