66 The thing that snarls in the dark tunnel (2/2)

- ”She had no parents to take care of her. Staying at home wouldn't be in her best interest wouldn't you say?”

- ”A hoonter must hoont, not save some distressed damsel or kid. Ye had to send her out and about… and tonight of all nights!” she shook her head as she finished her sentence.

- ”What's so special about tonight? Everyone seems to dread it. You seem to be a hunter too if my assumption is correct.” He asked, he had hoped that the woman wouldn't get frustrated at him and attack. Fighting Gascoigne was enough for a hunter versus hunter encounter.

-”We're both hoonters yes, although our prey differs. Prepare yerself for the worst. There are no humans left… You've sent a little girl by herself into the streets…” She shook her crow head again then walked by him and kept on her way, paying Surgit no mind.

Surgit kept looking at the strange looking woman as she disappeared in the horizon. ”What's wrong with all of you in here? Everyone speaks in riddles. Can't you just answer one question directly?!” He screamed at her and at all of Yharnam. He grew tired of the mysteries this city seemed to hold so dear, unwilling to share it with outsiders like him.

He made his way through the aqueducts and up towards the little girl's house. As he reached the window, his heart skipped a beat when he saw that the lights at the window were turned off. He knocked at the window and screamed for the little girl; no answer. He stood there, his mind racing with ideas and possibilities. What could have happened to her? Did she get lost and found herself in a different place? That wasn't actually possible as he knew Central Yharnam so well.

The only places he couldn't visit were due to the fact that huge metallic gates barred the way. And he couldn't think of a little girl forcing her way through them where he failed to do so. Then it hit him. The tunnel he decided not to explore on so many occasions because of that terrible noise. Could it be that the girl went through it anyways? He decided to head there and to explore it.

At the entrance he heard that noise again. It resembled grunts and snorts but more terrible. He walked slowly inside the tunnel and got ready for an attack at any moment. It was dark in there, even for his eyes and enhanced vision. He was walking on shallow water and he didn't like the fact that his steps were loud enough for any enemy to hear and be alerted to his presence. He saw a figure in the distance. It was gigantic and resembled some kind of animal. As he approached it, trying to muffle the sound of his steps as much as possible, he heard a terrible snarl. It resembled the sound of a pig being tortured.

The shape he had seen was actually a gigantic boar, and it was running his way at top speed. It rammed him and he felt his feet depart from the floor. As he landed on his back, he slid many paces away on the shallow water of the aqueduct. He was sent outside the tunnel by just one hit from that big abomination, and it was running towards him again. It was ten times bigger and larger than a normal boar. Its skin was gray and it looked decaying. Its muzzle exuded smoke and the thing looked furious.

Surgit stood up, the hit had stunned him a bit but it didn't damage him too much. As the beast charged at him again, he jumped high, attempting to land behind it in order to land a visceral attack. He miscalculated the length of the monster and found himself on its back. The beast started jumping around, like a mad horse, trying to knock Surgit out of its back. The latter jumped again and landed just behind the boar as it was jumping and kicking. A lucky hit caught Surgit right in the face and he felt blood rushing out of his nose and mouth as he stumbled back, gasping for breath.

The pig turned around and faced him. It let out another scream and Surgit felt suffocated as the beast graced him with its putrid breath. He had his doubt about it being poisonous but as his nose and mouth were already filled with blood, Surgit didn't really have time to think of the effect of the air he had just inhaled. He punched the beast as hard as he could in the head, sending its head wobbling to the left. Surgit immediately injected himself with a blood vial and felt his body rejuvenating.

He quickly stepped behind the beast and charged his attack. He hit the boar on the back as hard as he could. As it felt the hit, the pig stumbled on its knees and fell down on its stomach. Surgit used his beastly arm then and performed the most disgusting attack he ever had to perform. He inserted his arm through the boar's anus and crushed its intestines with his claws. The beast let out a terrible scream as it struggled to move, as if it would help with the pain or even stop it.

As Surgit pulled his arm out, he noticed that something was stuck in his hand. He was disgusted by it at first but as he saw what he had in his hand, he felt horrified. He was holding a bloodied ribbon. It was what used to be a white ribbon, identical to what the little girl wore on her head. 'So she took the tunnel after all…' He thought as sorrow gripped his heart.