Ravage

by MacCraw

  A loud clank was heard from the door. A second, louder bang struck a second after the first, and the loud banging and smashing became more frenzied. The reinforced metal door began to warp slightly, and the bar preventing the door from opening was beginning to bend and creak, indicating that it couldn’t hold together much longer. The bar finally gave in, snapping in half with a large crack that sounded like a .50 gunshot, and the door almost instantly fell apart following the bar that kept it from opening. There were three seconds of silence before the dog soldiers began charging in, and Hannah, Riley, Pack and Logan began firing upon them. When a wolf was in range, and completely unsuspecting, Connor charged out with his club, smashing a wolf in the face with it and causing serious damage that made the beast shriek in pain. The wolf soldier beside it did not take too kindly to its partner getting clubbed in the face, and it made an uppercut swing to try and slash Connor apart, but Connor ducked and rolled. Before the wolf could make a second attempt, Kirkley unloaded on its face with a hailstorm of buckshot that struck the creature’s eyes, temporarily blinding it. Still, its high endurance, frenzied rage and supernatural regeneration kept the soldier in the battle, though it wasn’t as effective as its pack members.

  Due to the maelstrom of gunfire in the close quarters, Connor couldn’t fight with his club with the risk of getting nailed by friendly fire, so he was forced to fall back and hand out fresh magazines for his allies, who had been pouring lead into the wolf men with unrelenting force. Ammo was becoming a serious concern, because they were blazing through their ammunition like there was no tomorrow.

  “Fall back, we have to fall back!” Hannah roared, her voice barely audible above all of the gunshots. Riley dashed upstairs, nearly tripping up, but the boy kept on his feet and scampered up the staircase. Poet went next, followed by Kirkley, Connor, Pack, and Hannah. Logan, being the muscle of the group, went last, continuing to hose down the wolf men with his assault rifle. His magazine dry, Logan flung the depleted assault rifle at his attacker; further provoking it but buying himself a couple of seconds to escape. By the time he was upstairs, Pack and Connor were shuttling the beds out of the rooms and dumping them down the stairs in an attempt to slow or halt the attacking wolves. Everybody minus Riley was helping to use the beds as barriers in their last stand, but Hannah noticed that Riley wasn’t helping; he was just sitting by the window.

  “Riley, you little wanker!” hollered Hannah, “Pitch in and help us move the bloody beds, or shoot the fuckers! You’re the one with the machine gun!”

  “Because when things hit the fan, I’m divin’ out the window!” Riley yelled back, laughing at his own joke.

  “He’s… got a… point!” Kirkley groaned as he pushed back the wolf soldiers. “There’s no other way out!”

  “Captain Pack!” Logan shouted, “Do you still have the grappling gun?!”

  “Uh, negative!” Pack replied as he smashed a wolf’s wet, black nose with the stock of his battle rifle.

  “We’re out of options!” Hannah declared. “Riley, shit’s hit the fan. Dive out the goddamn window!”

  “Are you kidding me, dude?” Riley asked rhetorically, “I was just joking!”

  “You’re gonna be a joker if you don’t dive out that window!” Hannah snarled.

  Riley put the safety on his weapon and threw it out the window. “Geronim-o-o-o!” he hollered, plunging out the window and crash-landing on the ground below. Riley smacked to the ground like a fly getting whacked with a fly swatter, but he was relatively intact; as was his weapon.

  “Get out of there now! Jump!” Riley yelled. Hannah positioned herself to where she would duck and roll at the same time, turning her momentum into inertia, and cushioning her fall. Everybody else followed her lead, slinging their weapons and dropping down several feet without much harm. As soon as all 7 survivors were clear of the overrun army base, they ran for the tree line, trying to put as much ground between the wolves and themselves as they could before their attackers could catch up with them again. Their fortress had fallen, and the surprise attack had left them no time to pack up as much food and ammunition as they could, so they were left with a concerningly low amount of supplies.

  After sprinting for about five minutes, the weary and wounded survivors had put plenty of distance away from Fort William.

  “Any more casualties?” asked Hannah.

  “No, man, I’m alright”, Connor said, wiping off the blood-covered ball of his club with the leg of his ragged jeans.

  “Think I broke my fucking arm”, Riley groaned, rotating his arm and popping his neck.

  “Samantha…”, Kirkley moaned.

  “Kirkley”, Hannah said, placing her hand on his shoulder, “She betrayed us. You have to let her go, or she will continue to prey on your mind. I’d rather her prey on us, so we can give that toffee-nosed twatter the bullet-filled beating that it deserves.”

  “Alright, lads”, said Logan, “Do an ammo count. Check your loaded magazines, and the magazines in your bags. Divvy up any spare rounds to those who need ‘em.”

  “We’ve got three L85 rifles, with 5 full magazines, and one with 10 shots left”, Pack reported, tossing a full cartridge to Poet. “A couple of loose shotgun shells, two grenades, a flashbang, and 48 rounds on my weapon. The situation is dire, folks. Connor’s good to go, because he doesn’t really use a firearm. And as for Riley, well; sorry kiddo. Looks like that drum magazine’s the only one we have.”

  “Well this is top fucking bollocks”, Kirkley growled.

  “I guess now, our only option is to leg it to London”, Pack deduced.

  “Yes, looks like it is”, said Hannah. “We will have to move quickly. Those wolves are probably out hunting for us. And we can’t return to Fort William; it’s just too perilous.”

  “How many consumables do we have?” asked Connor.

  “Not many, I’m afraid. A few cans of food, mostly pasta or spaghetti, a pack of beef jerky, a half-empty bottle of water, and a thermos of coffee.”

  “Well, we’re gonna die”, Riley said, smacking his hands together. “If the wolves don’t eat us, we’ll run out of shit to eat ourselves.”

  “Don’t say that, kid”, replied Kirkley. “We’ll find a way to survive, like we always do. I say that we should start from wherever you, Captain Pack and Hannah, found the bus… …that Samantha destroyed. Pack, do you remember where the town was?”

  “Do those dogs know where Fort William is?” Riley chuckled.

  “Stop being sarcastic and answer me, Riley”, Kirkley said in an authoritative tone.

  “Yeah, I remember. You lot want to go a-hiking?”

  “Beats sitting around waiting for a bunch of 7-foot monsters to come and nibble on our skulls”, said Hannah. “Let’s get a-rockin’, before those bitches come a-knockin’.”

  …

  The march was ludicrous, and the weary heroes were about ready to tip over and sink like an overpopulated third-world island. The battle had already exhausted most, if not all of their energy, and a multi-mile walk was absolute agony. For Pack, Riley and Hannah, it was even worse; since half of their journey had been made by truck, making this seem like the highway to hell.

  Speaking of the truck, Kirkley and his allies noticed the truck. It was still there, capsized and roughed-up from ramming a dog soldier and subsequently crashing into a tree.

  “God-damn…” Kirkley remarked, “Who the hell was driving?”

  “Doesn’t matter who, man”, Logan added. “You totally trashed that truck and that wolf. Impressive. And you all managed to survive.”

  “Was there anything substantial in that town besides the bus?” asked Kirkley.

  “Indeed there was”, said Hannah. “Like you said before we cast off the first time, we couldn’t go on a dedicated supply run, since our backpacks were already loaded with survival essentials, fresh mags, and dog tags.”

  “You know, that could possibly serve as a new den for us”, said Pack. “Remember how we scaled the side
of the town hall? That place was spacious, and the stairs were virtually impossible to ascend, and probably very dangerous, so if we free-climb it, we can probably live up there.”

  The group was split in regard of what course of action to take. Connor, Kirkley and Logan were focused on pilfering the loot from the deserted town before pushing south, towards London and possibly to a larger force of human survivors, but Pack, Hannah and Riley were in favor of setting up shop somewhere where they knew they would be safe. Poet didn’t speak, but she stood beside Riley, essentially siding with the campers.

  Kirkley sighed. “Alright, we’ll make a compromise. If there are enough resources, then we’ll get settled and tucked in at this town of yours.”

  “First we’ve got to get there”, said Pack. “It shouldn’t be too much further. Just a few more miles.”

  “That’s reassuring”, Riley panted.

  Everybody in agreement, the team continued marching on, but the silence was deafening and dreadfully boring.

  “So does anybody know the story of how the dog soldiers came to be?” Riley asked.

  “You been living up your own ass?” Hannah snorted.

  “Eh, cut him some slack”, said Pack. “I’ll humor him. Have you heard of the spirits of Su and Sat? They were twins, but Su was good, and Sat was evil.”

  “Typical”, Riley said, unimpressed by what he viewed as a recurring cliché.

  “That’s how it is, kid”, Pack replied. “Everything in history is a battle of good versus evil. At no point in history was any warring faction officially recognized as the good guys and the other party as the villains. Even the Nazis, though sick and demented and clouded with poor perception, thought they were doing what they believed was second nature, and they viewed the Yanks as the baddies because they were intervening in the Nazis’ plans. Anyway, Su, who is usually represented as a fox due to its wit and intellect, and Sat, who most consider to be a wolf and a fearsome, barbaric being, were very intelligent, but they used their intelligence for different reasons. Su wanted to use it to give enlightenment and guidance to man, and Sat wanted to use man to achieve dominance and an unstoppable army, hence the name dog soldiers.”

  “That makes sense”, said Riley, who was following along with what Pack was explaining.

  “Both spirits each have a sacred shrine somewhere on Earth; that’s how they keep themselves cosmically tethered to us. If those shrines are destroyed, the respective sprit’s influence and power on the world is gone for good. It has been rumored that the shrine of Su provides immortality; no strings attached, but the shrine of Sat provides cursed immortality, and allows Sat to directly manipulate the world. Su is putting up a fight, though. See, because the sun represents the spirit of Su, and of Light; and the moon represents Sat, the Spirit of Fright, malice and evil; the eclipse represents the clash of the spirits. With every human that joins Sat’s army of wolf soldiers, it grows ever more powerful, and it makes it harder for Su to hold its ground and try and push back the darkness.”

  “So that’s just it, then”, Hannah said. “That’s how we eradicate these hairballs. We search for and destroy that shrine.”

  “But there lies the problem”, Connor remarked. “We not only lack the materials and firepower to destroy it, but we don’t know where the bloody thing is!”

  “Perhaps the solution supposedly being created in Italy might have some answers?” Riley commented.

  “Perhaps”, said Hannah.

  “Crossroad ahead, 100 meters”, Kirkley reported.

  “Good, good; we’re almost there”, said Hannah. “Just a few more miles. We should be there within the hour, if we keep this pace.”

  …

  The physically draining trek finally paid off, and the 7 weary survivors were now back in the town, though this time they were ready to pay close attention to detail. “Okay, does everybody see the tall spire?” Pack asked. Everybody nodded. “Alright, here’s what we’ll do. Three people will go to the town hall building, two to the police station, and two to scout out the rest of the town. Rendezvous at the town hall in an hour.”

  The team split up accordingly – Riley went with Poet to look around town for food and medical supplies, and Kirkley and Hannah went to go comb through the police station, primarily for ammunition. Pack took Logan and Connor to break and enter town hall. Without the grappling gun, it was going to be exponentially more difficult to get up, and scaling the side of the building would be impossible, so the only possible way would be to try and ascend through the elevator, but with the elevators offline, it would require some creative thinking.

  “Those seem like some pretty thick doors”, Logan remarked, “How do you suggest to wedge through them?”

  “Shit, I don’t really know”, Pack sighed, placing his hand on his forehead. “I’m a professional soldier, not an elevator mechanic.”

  Connor sheathed his war club, reached into his leg-mounted scabbard, and pulled out a crowbar. “I like to keep this handy”, he said, “For close encounters.”

  “It always works, brother”, Logan nodded.

  Logan and Pack took a few steps back to avoid the risk of getting struck in the face with a crowbar, and Connor made his strike. He yelled as he penetrated the elevator doors with the sharp tip of the crowbar. He strained, and his veins bulged, as he used all of his warrior might to pry the doors open, but right before the doors opened, the crowbar loudly cracked in half, and the rear end of it went blasting towards Pack, who narrowly avoided getting stabbed in the face with a projectile shard of metal. Although the crowbar had broken, Connor had wedged the door open ever so slightly, and the poor man was struggling to keep it open. Just when Connor thought his fingers were going to be compressed into a singularity, Logan stepped in, using his impressive strength to force the door open.

  The elevator itself was on the ground floor, but the power had been off for quite some time, and none of the flashy lights on the ceiling or on the buttons themselves were active. Still, the elevator itself was functionally useless, but the maintenance hatch itself was what they were after. Using his rifle’s stock, which still had a bit of dried dog blood on it, Pack broke open the hatch, and handed Connor his rifle. Pack hauled himself up onto the roof of the elevator car, and leaned inward to pull Connor up. Logan handed Pack his own rifle, then Pack’s, before leaping up and climbing up.

  “All of this climbing makes that whole Fort William escape seem like leisure time, sitting on the sofa watching telly”, Connor wheezed.

  “Oh come on, you big girl’s blouse”, Pack remarked.

  “I’m not just talking about climbing up just now”, Connor replied. “I mean when I had to practically use the Force to wedge that fucking door open. And I destroyed my crowbar in the process.”

  “Next step?” Logan asked.

  “I hope you’re a good climber”, said Pack, who pointed up to the dimly-lit maintenance ladder.

  It was another painful workout; first it was running from a bunch of ravenous wolf soldiers in a frantic escape, diving out the window and immediately sprinting for the tree line, then a long, multi-mile hike across the cold forest road, prying the seemingly-impregnable elevator door open, and now climbing a ladder.

  “When we get up this damned thing, and set up camp, I’m going to sleep for about a month”, Connor groaned, receiving laughter from Logan and Pack.

  Pack was at the top of the ladder, and nearly to the top of the building, but then he heard a low rumbling. Not from his or his allies’ stomachs, but from one of the rooms on the top floor. Pack held his fist up, and the two men following him stopped climbing and making noise. Pack carefully climbed up the ladder, and he heard a hissing noise. “This can’t be good”, he mumbled to himself.

  To his left, Pack noticed a very long, but thin drop of something pass by his head. Looking up slowly, and his knees beginning to quiver in terror, Pack’s green eyes crossed into the salivating maw and then to the soulless black eyes of a wolf man, who hissed and growled
at the human. The dog roared as it prepared to strike its prey, but Pack quickly snatched its exposed angle and violently tugged it into the elevator shaft. The beast was taken entirely by surprise, and with nothing to hold onto, the 300 pound monster went plummeting down, loudly smacking the cold steel below and receiving fatal damage. Pack grabbed the ledge that his would-be assailant was previously standing upon, and climbed up. Logan and Connor immediately followed, and with a quick check, they confirmed that the room was safe.

  “Welcome to paradise”, Connor said, plunging down onto a bed which immediately broke, provoking even more laughter from Logan and Pack.

  …

  The wind whistled mournfully as Hannah and Kirkley walked through the graveyard town towards the police station. Even though Hannah’s heart was pretty cold and icy, emotions didn’t pass through her entirely, and she could still sense Kirkley’s disturbance.

  “Hey, can I ask you a question?” Hannah said.

  “…Let me guess: it’s about Samantha.”

  “Yes, actually”, Hannah replied. “So how well did you know her before she turned, both into a wolf and against us?”

  “We’d been through several battles against the wolves. I’ve known her definitely since this shit hit the fan, and through numerous flings of feces, we forged a strong working relationship and friendship. The more trouble we got ourselves into, the closer we became. The relationship became physical shortly after Terry’s death, and we made love in the farmhouse that you saved us from”, Kirkley explained. Hannah seemed rather cross upon hearing that Kirkley had had sex with Samantha, but she made sure to hide these feelings.