Return of Victory

by Justin Sloan

  She wasn’t about to waste any time finding out.

  Might as well take her chances, staking her speed and skill against some douchebag’s aim. She ran straight for the guy, knowing Diego was approaching from a different angle. The man with the rocket launcher freaked, turning from one to the other before finally letting loose. The rocket hit a spot behind her and somewhere between the two. Bullets started flying too, and then she was on the guy, plowing into him so hard that he went flying. His head caved in as it impacted against the brick wall behind him.

  She had just turned, ready for more, when she saw a large wolf slam into Diego, and two more coming from the other side.

  Dammit, she was sick of killing Weres already.

  If she preferred Forsaken instead, she got her wish. As she made a move to intervene, the shooting stopped and a scent hit her from behind, in the building. Forsaken.

  She turned back toward them and entered the building, coming face to face with two women and a man. They came at her, eyes glowing red and sharp fangs bared.

  Now she was having fun, though it would have been more fun if she could be certain Diego was safe. He was scrappy, so she decided to trust that he was doing just fine.

  She blocked a strike and then saw a blade, so she moved around it and caught the woman’s arm, bringing the blade back up and into the other woman’s eye.

  The Forsaken stumbled back, screeching, then pulled the blade out and charged again, bits of eye still on the blade.

  “I don’t know who you are,” Valerie said as she kicked out the man’s knee, sidestepped the one-eyed woman’s charge, and brought her fist into the third one’s throat so that the woman went stumbling back before falling to her knees, “but if you don’t tell me what the hell’s going on soon, you’ll all die.”

  The Forsaken with the busted knee threw himself at her, trying to bite her calf, but she moved her leg aside and then brought her worn pumas down hard enough to crack his skull.

  One of the woman backed off with a horrified expression—the woman with only one eye. “Please, we didn’t…”

  Whatever she didn’t mean to say, Valerie wasn’t about to find out, because the other lunged for Valerie’s sword. That couldn’t be allowed, so Valerie stepped into the lunge, caught the woman by the wrist and pulled the arm around so that it snapped, bone sticking out through skin. Next she shoved the wrist up and into the woman’s neck, cutting it open with the woman’s own jagged bone.

  Done with this, she pulled her sword and made certain of those two by removing their heads. She turned to the third and held the sword to her throat, watching through the torn down walls and broken windows as Diego used his sharp teeth to tear out the last of the wolves’ throats.

  Several men and women with guns ran forward, though they all looked terrified by what they’d just seen.

  Good. Valerie could use that.

  “Tell them to surrender,” Valerie said, letting the tip of the blade pierce skin. “Hesitate, and I start by taking the other eye.”

  “Shit, shit, shit, everyone back off!” the woman shouted. To Valerie’s surprise, they did. She thought she’d have had to convince a few of them, at least.

  “You okay?” she asked Diego.

  He transformed back to his human form, then glanced around and picked up one of the rifles the Weres had dropped as they transformed.

  “I’m good,” he replied.

  “Good. Now, where were we?” She moved the sword away just enough to let the woman know she could live through this. “Where are the inhabitants of El Diablo? And please don’t pretend you are them.”

  The woman shook her head. “South. We saw them heading south in an airship.”

  “No shit?” Diego asked.

  “And what business did you have here?” Valerie asked. “You must’ve been nearby for a reason.”

  “Lady Woo’s put out the word to the network, everyone reports in for war,” the woman answered. “And extra payment for any that take out this town and one known as El Capitan north a ways. That one…already fell.”

  Valerie nodded, understanding. “Well, here’s what’s going to happen. You tell Lady Woo we’re coming for her, and that I personally am going to feed on her blood—drain her until there’s nothing left. Can you do me that favor if I let you live?”

  The woman nodded, her one good eye full of fright.

  “Good,” Valerie said, then walked out into the light. She glanced back with a taunting smile. “Well, what are you waiting for?”

  The woman just stared at her in shock now. “H-how…?”

  “You tell your master.”

  The Forsaken pulled back into the darkness of the building. Valerie turned to the small crowd of men and women, and saw that a couple of them had dropped their weapons.

  “Please,” one said, stepping forward. A wavy-haired man next to him looked like he was about to shoot the guy, but he paused, considering Valerie and Diego. “You just took down the most powerful creatures they’ve ever seen,” the man continued, “so if you tell these people to switch sides, they might.”

  “Shut your mouth,” the wavy-haired man said.

  “These people?” Valerie asked, stepping over to them. “You’re not one of them?”

  The first man shook his head again, and now that she looked, it was clear there were two groups here. This man was dark skinned and plainly clothed. Half of the others wore black cargo pants and shirts, including the wavy-haired man.

  “Let me guess,” she asked the dark-skinned man. “You’re from the other town that was taken over?”

  He nodded, cautiously glancing over at the others. “They forced us to join. How many others in this army of Lady Woo’s were forced, I wonder?”

  “That’s enough!” the wavy-haired man said, lifting his rifle to shoot. Valerie, naturally, couldn’t let that happen. In a flash she was at his side, moving the rifle so that when the man’s finger pulled the trigger, it was aimed into his mouth.

  He fell instantly.

  “There you go,” Valerie told the group. “Any of you want to follow this man’s lead, you’re welcome to it. Anyone on my side will hold down El Diablo for me and its inhabitants until you hear otherwise. Am I clear?”

  “And if we want to join her to return to Lady Woo?” another one of the cargo pants-wearers asked.

  Valerie laughed. “Diego, what do you think? Should we let some of these people run off to join our enemy in the assault on your home? On the very city where your pregnant wife waits for your return?”

  Diego didn’t even answer, simply shot the man three times—once in the head, twice in the chest.

  “I’ll take that as ‘no, we won’t allow that,’” Valerie said, nodding. She didn’t like playing the ruthless leader, but she was pretty sure this didn’t qualify as anything other than stopping bad people and protecting those she loved.

  “South?” she asked, glancing around again.

  The dark-skinned man nodded. “Just…look for a blimp. It wasn’t going very fast.”

  “Great. Now, can you point out everyone who was fully on Lady Woo’s side before my arrival?” She waited as the man did so, then addressed those he had pointed out. “Decision time, ladies and gentlemen. Surrender to these people, or see what happens next.”

  They all surrendered.

  “And the vampire?” the man asked.

  “She needs to deliver the message. If she tries to hurt anyone, feel free to shoot her and remove her head. Otherwise, when night comes, let her be on her way.” She paused, considering. “I’m guessing they came at night?”

  The man shook his head and motioned to long poles with cloths attached. “They make us carry that, on pain of death, while we’re on the move.”

  “You could just throw it down and they would die, right?”

  He shrugged, wincing at how easy that thought was. “Maybe, but they’d still kill us. The Weres, I mean.”

  “Sure. Just something to think about next time.”r />
  He gave her a hopeful smile. “It’s not common to say it was a pleasure to meet someone and actually mean it, but in this case I really do. It was a pleasure. Name’s Tony.”

  “Valerie,” she replied, and shook his hand. “Let’s ride, Diego.”

  Diego turned to her with an expression like she was crazy. “In what?”

  “We’ll get the Pod up, don’t worry.”

  “You all need help?” Tony asked.

  She nodded. “We’ve got it.”

  As they walked off, Diego asked, “Are you sure about this? They likely know where Woo is, right?”

  “First friends, then the enemy,” Valerie replied. “Because if a friend dies I could never live with it, but if an enemy lives one more day I can just kill her the next.”

  He chuckled. “I like your philosophy.”

  When they reached the Pod she got under the side and heaved, and it flipped back up with relative ease. Diego whistled and smiled in awe.

  “Stop standing there with your mouth open,” she told him, “and hop in so we can go get some more blood on our hands.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  The Badlands

  Cammie smelled the blood before the others; all but Royland. A glance showed him to be alert, eyeing the nearby hills as if expecting an ambush.

  “There,” Cammie whispered, pointing to a glimmer in the distance. As they approached, it became clear it was a car, completely rusted over and broken off in places. The glimmer was actually from a long knife stuck halfway into the ground next to one of the bodies.

  Micky whistled. “Your Army pal did a number here, that’s for sure.”

  “I thought you said these guys were badass,” Cammie commented. “They’re looking a bit less intimidating right now.”

  “Being dead will do that,” Arturo replied. “Plus, I’m thinking the term badass means something else entirely when someone’s up against you and your friends.”

  “To be clear,” Royland interjected, “Garcia isn’t a Were or a vampire. He just knows how to handle himself.”

  Micky nodded in acknowledgment, and they started moving in the direction of the arrow.

  “That Colonel Walton character Garcia always goes on about must really be something,” Micky stated after a few minutes of walking. “If every one of his fighters is anything like Garcia, I’d feel pretty damn sorry for any of his enemies.”

  “Last I’d heard, our pal Sandra had given the Colonel a call and some more of his troops might be heading over to help end all this. Right now, our enemy is his enemy.”

  “Well then, I feel glad I chose the right side.”

  Their journey brought them past an old strip mall that had somehow only fallen apart in a few places at the edges. It was clearly being occupied by some of the crazier inhabitants of the Badlands.

  “This isn’t our group,” Micky stated, nodding onward. “Best avoid them, if possible.”

  As they passed, the group stared at them, more coming out to join the first few until there were about twenty in all. One wore a headdress of straw and another had two umbrellas. He twirled one around, picking his mustache as he watched them pass.

  “When the fighting breaks out, where do they stand?” Royland asked.

  “They’re more like a pack of wild dogs than anything else,” Arturo replied. “If our enemy can get them out and point them in the right direction, they’ll fight us. But they’re just as likely to turn on Lady Woo before the fighting even starts.”

  “Someone needs to put them out of their misery,” Micky noted. “But we don’t want to risk the lives it might cost.”

  Cammie shook her head. “I used to run with groups like these. People thought I was crazy, but look at me now.”

  “You’re with me,” Royland stated. “You must be batshit insane.”

  She laughed. “Ain’t that the truth.”

  Arturo and Micky exchanged nervous looks, but kept on. They were glad to leave the wackos behind them, and soon were descending into a basin of dead grass and old torn-apart vehicles with a hill on the far side.

  “Look lively,” Royland warned, sniffing the air. “We have company.”

  “More of those crazies?” Micky asked, turning to the hill.

  “Doesn’t seem like it, no.”

  “That’s what I thought. Look there.” Micky gestured to the hill and an area where the old junk had been piled up. “Must be one of their regular haunts.”

  “And at this point, I imagine they’ve seen us.” Cammie unslung her rifle just in case, but then had a thought. The easiest way to get their attention was to lure them out. “I’m going in.”

  “They’ll slaughter you,” Arturo said, full of shock.

  “Not Cammie, they won’t,” Royland argued. “But still, I’m not sure I follow.”

  She smiled, enjoying being the one with the plan. “You all work your way around the sides; see if there’s any sign of Garcia. When I get up there, we’ll see what they do. They take a shot at me, I charge in and kill ‘em all. They make some other move, we all do the same. Hell, maybe we’ll get lucky and find out Garcia already took care of the situation.”

  “Right, that sounds like our kind of lucky,” Royland replied with a chuckle.

  “Well, based on what we’ve seen on the way over,” Micky stated, “I wouldn’t be so surprised.”

  “Where do you want me?” Royland asked.

  “As close as you can get without being seen,” she replied. “Ready to jump in should shit hit the fan.”

  She approached on foot alone, hands held up to show she was unarmed.

  She knew the others were sneaking around, so when the woman coming at her holding a rifle started shouting, her heartbeat barely increased at all.

  “You want a problem, keep approaching,” the lady shouted. “Who the fuck are you, and what do you want?”

  Cammie paused, hands out at her sides. “To hire you.”

  The woman wore the brown and gray clothes of the corpses they had found on the way over, so there was no doubt they were in the right place.

  With a tilt of her head, she lowered the rifle slightly and asked, “Who is it you want targeted?”

  It was impossible not to smile as Cammie replied, “Your group, actually. I want to hire you to walk back in there, kill the rest of them, and then wander out here for your payment.”

  “That’d have to be a mighty fine payment,” the woman said, lifting the rifle again to aim it.

  “Ohhh, I got confused, see? I was thinking of payback for what you did to Pops.”

  Now the woman’s eyes went wide and she started shooting. It was go time.

  Glad she had worn her stretchy clothes for this occasion, Cammie ran forward, transforming into wolf mode as she moved. There was no reason to hold back on these people. It wasn’t like the north, where she had hoped to win the enemy to her side. Here it was about teaching a lesson to others while crushing any evil remaining in this place.

  While she had once fought out here as a young woman intent on escaping to freedom and caring only about her own survival, those days were long gone.

  The woman with the rifle backed away, eyes wide as she screamed. More gunshots rang out, but no way was Cammie going to give them the satisfaction of hitting her. As she dodged using her full Were speed, a snarl sounded nearby, followed by a scream and then another.

  Royland had struck, and the surrounding gunshots were redirected toward him as she crushed the woman’s larynx with her powerful jaws. She kept moving, now aware of shooting from her right. It wasn’t at her, though. It was at the city. Micky and the others were on the move.

  ***

  “What the hell was that?” Fred asked, perking up at the sound of gunshots.

  Garcia listened, then moved up to the ledge and looked over, pulling back with a smile. “My friends are here.”

  They had been working their way around the hills to get at their target from the back, but now that seemed unnecessary.

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sp; “On me!” Garcia yelled as he stood and charged around the hill.

  The other two were close behind, though he was vaguely aware of Fred shouting at his son to stay back out of trouble.

  Each step seemed to slide down the gravely dirt; his knees wanted to buckle. He needed to get down there though, in part because it was his friends fighting and he saw it as his responsibility to never let any of his friends get hurt—not on his watch. But more than that, it was because he had gotten here first! This was his kill, dammit.

  He watched as more fighters streamed out of the blimp that had set down just out of firing range, many of them easily distinguishable by their large size and leather. It would have made him smile, if not for the urge to kill and the rush of adrenalin that pushed him forward with a battle cry on his lips.

  Gravel gave way to solid dirt as he reached the bottom. Springing around piles of crushed metal, he came face to face with one of the warriors who looked to have been sneaking around to catch Cammie and the others by surprise. Three shots took him down, and then two more appeared.

  These ones were quick, slicing at him and dodging his blows. Enough so that he started to understand where they had gotten their reputation. A dodge left met him with a kick to the face, and he’d only managed to back up in time to avoid a knife thrust because Fred had appeared and shouted, “Watch out!”

  One of the fighters moved to intercept Fred and his son, but Garcia couldn’t have that.

  He decided to try an old trick from his training days with the Colonel. As the next strike came he stepped into it, smacking the blade aside with his rifle and then headbutting his opponent. Honor in hand to hand had never been his thing—especially when lives were at stake—so he didn’t even let his opponent recover before blasting him full of holes.

  The other fighter and Fred were locked in combat, but a stone thrown by Eddie Jr. caused the fighter to pull back for a moment, and that was all Garcia needed. A shot to the leg and one more to the chest put him on the ground. Once the man was down, Fred grabbed his knife and finished the job.

  Garcia was about to move on when Eddie Jr. looked past him, pointing, and asked, “What’s that?”