The Big Waste (After-Skirmish Book 1)
Page 24
Clarissa instinctively rushed over to Iggy and pulled him away from Sil as she saw the werewolf begin to thrash around as if locked in combat with a horde of invisible enemies. With each swing, her limbs were becoming longer, and her neck was growing thicker. Sharp white hairs pushing themselves out Sil’s upper body seemed to glow in the all-enveloping darkness of the night. Clarissa, Mode, and Iggy both knew what was coming, but only the Vampire reacted.
“Crasher...your revolver, do you still have it?” Clarissa hushed urgently as Sil’s bone structure began to morph in front of her.
Iggy sighed before patting the inside of his jacket, finally turning to Clarissa.
“Must have fallen out when we jumped, probably around here somewhere...maybe…” Iggy mumbled with a hollow tone.
Clarissa’s eyes shifted between the sullen Iggy and the rapidly shifting Sil while palming around for her own weapon. Realizing that all of her possessions were probably back at the hideout along with her clothes, she sighed as she grabbed a fist-sized rock from the floor.
“Daaamage...Significant...I...MuST reB00T.” Mode blurted out before her eyes lost all glow and her eyelids shut.
Mode’s voice caused the heavily beast-like Sil to turn her focus back to the group, snarling deeply. Her face was almost completely wolf-like, with her new snout hosing a terrifying set of pointed fangs. The werewolf’s shoulders began to expand into a broad powerful frame, rapidly filled out with primal muscle and growing bones to accommodate. The sounds of her insides changing were loud and disturbing, like an organic factory going into overdrive. Sil stepped towards Clarissa with her clawed hands at the ready, the vampire held her rock high, ready to engage.
“Who is in control? Is it Sil or Fenrir?” Iggy asked in a low monotone, walking up behind her with a limp.
The monstrous humanoid spun on her heels to face the driver. His eyes were vacant and cold, and there was no fear in his expression. Sil’s stepped closer to him with a loud growl, her hot breath steaming on to his face like a dryer. But Iggy didn’t blink, and he didn’t move, he simply waited for an answer.
“FENREER HAS HOME, SIL DOES NOT.” the werewolf gnashed with a barbarous grunt.
Before Iggy or Clarissa could react, the half-transformed creature rushed off into the waste, at a speed that would put the late Blockgain to shame. There was nothing left but a high mist of dirt that was kicked up on-departure. Clarissa’s superhuman eyesight couldn’t track the Werewolf’s movement and Iggy didn’t even try. Once again, Sil was gone.
After nearly 30 minutes of pained silence and inactivity, Clarissa finally rose to her feet lifting Mode with her. The night time allowed Clarissa’s body to heal from it’s very worst injuries quickly, though she was still in moderate agony. Iggy’s body afforded him no such gifts, and he shivered with pain.
“Crasher...let’s get moving. We...I have to get to some sort of shelter before I’m burned alive by the morning.” she said, adjusting her fairly uncomfortable and mostly torn dress. “And I have no idea where we are. I can’t see anything.”
Iggy sat up, groaning as he clutched his wounded leg, and pulled Mode into a sitting position with him.
“You have a plan?” Iggy asked flatly.
“Yes, I’m going back to Folsom,” she said clenching her fists. “I’m going to settle this with Grady.”
“Wrong,” Iggy said coldly. “We are going to settle this with Grady, and we are going to take your Towers Back.”
A small smile crept across Clarissa’s face, surprised and slightly aroused by Iggy’s new demeanour.
“No, you’re wrong, we are all going to settle with Grady. We’ll find Sil, fix Mode, and take my Towers and the entire fucking Shell of Folsom!” Clarissa declared with a spirited tone.
Iggy’s sullen face slowly twisted into a smirk before grabbing Clarissa by both shoulders in for a deep kiss. Clarissa’s eyelid fluttered in surprise before clutching his face as she returned the gesture in full. Iggy pulled out of the kiss slowly and looked her deep in the eye with a determination she had never seen until now.
“And kill everyone associated with that fucking gang while we are there,” he confirmed.
Clarissa smiled as she rose to her feet, lifting a limping Iggy with her left arm and a motionless Mode over her right shoulder. Though cumbersome, it was no burden for the Vampire’s enhanced fortitude at night.
“Pick a direction Crasher,” Clarissa said before turning her head around the wide-open space, seemingly on high alert. “I don’t think we’re alone out here.”
To Be Continued...
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Which is ‘Book 0’ in the After-Skirmish series, serving as prequel anthology of the Big Waste.
C.W. Ashley
© 2019 C.W Ashley
All characters and entities appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, dead or alive, or other real-life entities is purely coincidental. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. Copyright law. Cover by Martin Sobr.