Ravage

by MacCraw

  Samantha and the four wolves accompanying her in scouting through the building were able to easily walk through the building without stumbling around blindly. It wasn’t long before Samantha spotted something rather intriguing: a hatch. The aggressive female wolf soldier bent down and wrapped her massive, hairy fingers around the rusty handle. With a violent thunk and roar to match, the hatch flew off of its hinges and opened up a ladder down into an even more disgusting place – a sewer. Quite possibly the most horrifically vomit-inducing locations in any place they were present, these sewers were nothing but lumpy, chunky rivers of toxic runoff, rainwater, garbage, human fecal matter, the occasional dead animal, and numerous other nightmarishly disgusting elements that fly above and beyond the threshold of gross. As Samantha threw her head back and tried to block her sensitive nose with her muscular forearm, she realized that the sewers full of human waste ran into London, where the humans responsible for creating said waste were holed up. Despite the objections of her pack members, Samantha abrasively shoved them aside and dropped down into the sewers. Fearful of the consequences of disobeying their alpha, as well as craving the soft, wet, juicy, succulent taste of fresh human flesh, the other wolf soldiers followed Samantha into the sewer.

  …

  The armory raiders followed Darnell to the armory, which had been set up in an apartment building some 100 yards away from the main refugee camp. For what it was worth, Kirkley was already enjoying the benefits of having a soldier in the group, or just somebody who knew where the armory in the London outskirts was located.

  “So how do we get in?” asked Pack.

  Darnell motioned for his companions to stay put as he stood up, pulled out his key, and opened the door. Hannah began chuckling before finally collapsing into full-blown laughter. She howled like the dog soldiers as she struggled to control herself.

  “Oh yeah, that’s hilarious”, Pack scoffed.

  The group proceeded inside the building in search of armament, and within a few moments, they found the stockpile of ammo and weapons that dwarfed the one in Fort William. There was a plethora of guns with different origins: standard-issue firearms; imports; exports; civilian-owned weapons, and a number of other weapons. And of course, loaded magazines and boxes of spare rounds scattered the countertops.

  “Happy Holidays”, Darnell grinned to his newfound allies as he handed Kirkley a new handgun to replace the one he had given Hannah. Since everybody had satisfactory weaponry, the raid was more focused on collecting ammunition, though Pack spotted something that definitely pandered to him: a compact squad automatic weapon with a cropped barrel and a retractable stock. The weapon seemed to have just as much of a story as Pack himself – the heatshield covering the shortened barrel was scuffed up and mildly rusted. The very end of the carrying handle was cracked, and the handle itself wobbled slightly upon being held and lifted. The machine gun was a veteran of combat, just like the retired soldier himself. Pack removed his previous weapon’s accessories and ammunition to make room for his new best friend, but realized that he didn’t have a proper way of shuttling the belt magazines his weapon fed from.

  “Darnell, hand me that drop pouch”, Pack said as he mounted his reflex sight on top of the light machine gun. Darnell complied and handed him the pouch. The pouch, which was mounted on Pack’s waist, was a convenient way of reaching in to grab a new box of 5.56 rounds.

  “Look at you, all geared up”, Hannah remarked as Pack swiveled his new weapon around and tried to get accustomed to its heavy weight.

  “Thanks, Hannah. This thing’s pretty hard to hold onto. Weighs a metric tonne.”

  “I was talking to the gun. It’s more of a man than you are.”

  “Be nice, Hannah”, Kirkley admonished. “Grab as much ammo as… you… can… carry…”

  Hannah and the others slowly cocked their heads across the room to where their gaze landed upon a group of armed soldiers who clearly didn’t appreciate one of their own troops stealing precious resources from them, and also allowing civilians to rob government property. Well, if the remnants of a once powerful nation lead by a general constituted as a government.

  “Tisk, tisk, tisk”, the sergeant leading the squad snidely commented. “You all are under arrest.”

  “So where are the pigs?” Hannah growled in response; “Did the big, bad wolves blow down their houses and tear out their innards?”

  “No, but depending on what the General decides, that could be your fate. Watch that tongue or we’ll slice it out of your prissy little mouth”, the sergeant angrily replied.

  “Hannah, my dear, right now might be a good time to remain silent”, Kirkley insisted.

  “Fucking shit”, Hannah cursed as she and the others were forced to follow the soldiers to where they would face judgment and be thrown to the wolves… literally.

  …

  Upon entering what he presumed was the makeshift headquarters for the remaining British Army units holding their position in London, Kirkley locked his gaze on that of the intimidating general seated at the desk next to the large murky window, and the soldier angrily scuttling him into the room grabbed the closest chair, slammed it down onto the ground, and pushed Kirkley into it as the other soldiers did the same with Kirkley's squadmates.

  "So this man and his mates were the ones responsible for breaking into the armory", the sergeant reported to his commanding officer.

  "No shit. I can see that", the general groaned in irritation.

  "Sir, I can see you're like me when it comes to taking shit, so I'll cut to the chase. There's an impending invasion, and we need you to raise awareness of it to the population of the refugee camp", Kirkley urged.

  "That will not be necessary, my good sir", the general admonished. "The valiant troops of the 1st Battalion are more than capable of keeping these vile beasts away from the throats of the innocent."

  "Oh really?!" Hannah aggressively remarked, snorting snobbishly in the process, "Then what the fuck was all that gunfire we heard a while back? Huh?! Huh?!"

  "Control yourself, Hannah", Kirkley whispered into his partner's ear.

  "I know what happened out there, but I'm not at liberty to explain it", Darnell grumbled.

  "Not at liberty?" Hannah responded. "Doesn't the military worship liberty?"

  "Look, ma'am, there's such a thing as a white lie. The people think they're safe, so it's importantt to keep up the illusion. Take their guns, and keep them away from the civvies so they don't spread any more of their mass hysteria."

  "What is that gut-wrenching smell...?" one of the soldiers standing behind the general remarked as he tried to fan the sudden scent away from his nostrils.

  The scent wasn't a bodily function. It seemed to be seeping through the ceiling vents, and as everybody looked up, their anxieties were lowered upon realizing that there were no wolf soldiers were lurking above them. The lowered tensions then went skyrocketing back up when Kirkley looked down to see a dog facing the large window behind the general. Kirkley shouted in fright, flinging himself backwards to try and distance himself from his to-be attacker. By the time the general swung around to see what Kirkley, his friends, and the squad responsible for apprehending them was freaking out over, the giant canine had crashed through the window, completely indifferent to the broken glass embedded in its back, and completely ripping through the unarmed, defenseless general. In the four seconds it took for the monster to shred through its prey, nothing was left except the metal frame of the chair, the few scraps of leather attached to it, the shattered and gnawed bones of the general, and the pieces of meat attached to it.

  The house came down as the dog soldier continued to press its assault. The soldiers screamed in terror as their aim disgraced their family names, and Kirkley's group had to duck from stray gunfire just as often as wolf man claw swipes. Fortunately, the voracious canine seemed more interested in the incompetant soldiers than the weary survivors, and this was a window Kirkley was not about to close. He and Hannah took charg
e once more, hollering for their friends to move on as the two of them covered their retreat.

  "Kirkley!" Pack bellowed; "What 'bout Royce, Poet and Kylie-"

  A large brown wolf soldier appeared directly in front of Pack, and his eyes bulged in shock and disbelief when he realized who - or, in this case what - was standing before him.

  Samantha.

  "Hey, Sammy girl, you smell like a donkey's ass!" Pack cackled as he aggressively smacked her with the butt of his weapon. The Samantha wolf didn't take this too kindly, and with an angry snarl and one swift swipe, the gun went flying out of the ex-soldier's arms. Right when it seemed that Samantha was about to end the life of her former friend, an alien, but somewhat recognizable voice, made itself audible with a loud, ferocious shout full of rage and murderous excitement, and the speaker immediately pounced onto the Samantha wolf's back with a knife in their hand. To his disbelief, Kirkley recognized the voice as one of Samantha's other friends from the original group. Poet's anger and dedication to her family finally made itself known to the world as she laughed maniacally.

  "Go, you fuckers! Go!" Poet hollered over Samantha's agonized moaning.

  "Where's Royce?!"

  "He's... with... Kylie! Stay... still you... fucking... cunt!" Poet grunted as Samantha furiously tried to shake her attacker off.

  Eventually Poet was knocked off, and instead of fulfilling a personal desire to destroy or afflict her former lover, Samantha opted to demoralize him by killing one of his closest friends. But Poet was by no means a sore loser, and instantly sprung back up with her twin .45 handguns, mutually roaring at the wolf soldier as she rapidly spammed the triggers. As Samantha drew closer, Poet flung her right arm towards the large window behind her, and with a few shots, she weakened it, but then the unexpected happened. Instead of marching towards Poet, Samantha tackled her and sent herself and Poet hurdling down below.

  "NO!" Pack wailed, before his attention was diverted to fighting off another dog soldier.

  "Come on, haul ass!" Kirkley roared as he and Darnell valiantly held their ground against an unkillable horde of wolf men. Kirkley, Darnell, Pack and Hannah were forced to abandon Poet as they fought their way downstairs.

  "What's the plan now?!" Hannah hollered as she took aim and fired at a dog soldier coming from the room to her right. The creature howled and snarled in pain, but this time, it didn't just cowardly flee; it got back up and kept charging. Only when Pack turned around with his light machine gun did the creature get a lifetime supply of agony to the frequency of 725 rounds per minute.

  "We get to Kylie and Royce, grab our shit, and make a run for that goddamn boat!" Kirkley yelled as Pack and Hannah fired at the beast approaching from the side.

  "How do you plan to get us out of this mess?!" shouted Darnell.

  "The more rounds you spill into these things, the better!" Kirkley bellowed as he fired his SPAS-15 dry.

  "I'm running low!" Hannah announced as she dropped her empty magazine and slammed in a fresh new one.

  Sweat, blood and tears soaked the group as they fought what could potentially be their final stand. Dog soldiers were coming from upstairs and the side rooms, and it was highly debatable whether the creatures would pull off their attack. The warriors' most valuable asset was Pack wielding a light machine gun, and he had the soldiers to thank for that. Their short sightedness to merely threaten the intruders with their own weapons rather than confiscating them was an impractical move.

  With the blinding rate of fire that the machine gun provided, morale seemed slightly improved, but that's when the horrible misfortune made its debut. As the quartet of humans slowly backed towards the door, one wolf soldier made a lunge for Pack and successfully created a massive gash in his chest, but was furiously pummeled and blasted before it could make its kill.

  Pack shouted and moaned as he thrashed around in pain, and angrily swatted at Kirkley despite his attempts to assist his incapacitated brother.

  "Give Samantha my regards!" Pack wailed as he stared down at his bloody wound.

  "You trying to be a badass, Pack?!" Kirkley hollered with tears in his eyes.

  "Gonna kill... some dogs, Kirk! Get out of here! NOW!" Pack screamed.

  "Make it count, Packer", Hannah said as she tossed her downed comrade a fragmentation grenade she swiped from the armory.

  "For the boys in the Six-Pack!" Pack shrieked as he began blindly spraying at the mob of wolf men in front of him. Pack's gun thundered angrily as it spat out a hail of powerful bullets that ripped through the abdomens of the wolves. The dying soldier cackled maniacally as he spent his final moments in life protecting the lives of those he loved. While hip-firing with one hand, Pack yanked the pin out of the grenade given to him by Hannah, and mentally began a countdown, eagerly anticipating the detonation of the explosive that would save his soul from Sat, and hopefully bring some of the wolf soldiers down with him.

  ...

  Kirkley, Darnell and Hannah continued to flee, and a part of Kirkley's heart was broken forever when he heard - and felt - the detonation of the hand grenade that ended the life of one of the greatest men he'd ever met. The good news, which was also bad news in its own regard, is that the wolf pack had struck gold; more specifically, the human refugees who were totally unprepared and vulnerable. It must've been a barbaric slaughter too gruesome to picture, but Kirkley and his two present companions had more on their plate to deal with. It was only until they managed to ascend upwards onto the balcony of the apartment complex that they witnessed how brutal the scene was.

  One fragile line of soldiers standing shoulder to shoulder were attempting to hold off over at least 80 wolf men while double that amount of civilians desperately tried to escape. The soldiers' barricade was originally much larger, but they had been rapidly whittled down. Hannah took aim, but Kirkley denied her the shot.

  "We can't save them, honey", Kirkley sighed. "We need to save ourselves."

  Kirkley kicked in the door to the apartment, only to see that Royce and Kylie were packing up and were just about ready to fly the coop.

  "Where's Poet, and Pack?" Royce asked with concern.

  "They're gone!" Hannah shrieked.

  "And so are we! C'mon, let's get the fuck out of here!" Kirkley ordered.

  "Take the fire escape, on the side!" Kylie suggested as Royce helped her up.

  Heeding Kylie's idea, the team scrambled down the fire escape and made a sprint for the inner city.

  Their luck took a 180 when they stumbled across a stopped convoy of Army trucks and jeeps. One of the vehicles had wrecked, no doubt due to the wolf invasion, and with no other options the British soldiers were forced to dismount and combat their canine attackers while hauling their wounded into one of the trucks. Because the soldiers were focused on shooting the wolves, they failed to keep tabs on one of their jeeps, which was hijacked by the survivor party and driven onwards at maximum speed. Darnell took the wheel, since he knew the route to the cargo vessel.

  For once, a break in the action. And a perfect time to let out emotions.

  "They're... gone..." Hannah sniffled as she threw her head onto Kirkley's lap, narrowly avoiding impaling herself on the barrel of the shotgun propped between his legs.

  "I know", Kirkley sighed as he ran his dirty fingers through his soul mate's equally-scruffy hair.

  "I can't imagine how this must feel for you, dude", Kylie said sympathetically as she placed her hand on Kirkley's shoulder, only for a bump in the road to abrasively shrug it off.

  "The deaths of everybody I knew and lived with for all this time aren't something that can be imagined", Kirkley stoically responded. "And if you can, then you have a fucked imagination."

  "Well look, we're almost out of this mess", Royce added. "Once we board that boat we are home free."

  "And then what, huh?" Kirkley replied. "Where do we go? Kylie's home country is a pile of rubble, and the MEC Armed Forces down south will shoot anything that crosses their borders, man or dog soldier."
<
br />   "We'll go wherever the wind takes us, I suppose", said Hannah.

  "But where? Where is it going to take us, and will we be alive when we get there?"

  "Look, I know there's been bloodshed. Plenty o' lives lost", Royce said; "But soon, that sun up there will fully shine, and burn these motherfuckers to smoldering crisps and piles of ashes.”

  …

  The discussion went on throughout the majority of the ride to the seaport, but one single unexpected event and the accompanying exclamation turned things sideways – literally.

  “Heads up!” bellowed Darnell, as a wolf soldier pounced up and latched onto the hull of the car. Looking to his right, Darnell watched in fear as the salivating jaws of the wolf soldier moved past the window, each warm breath defogging the window. Everybody crammed in the back of the jeep could hear and feel the bulky monster climb up on top of the vehicle.

  “Good thing that metal’s too strong to-“

  The passengers forgot that there was a sunroof. A fragile, easily destroyable sunroof that the dog soldier punched clean through. Its large, muscular forearm began to swing around inside, desperately attempting to claw the frightened humans encased within. It also served as a disturbingly educational demonstration of the dog soldier anatomy – the hairy, bulky digits of the dogs had oversized, twin-forked talons perfect for puncturing the flesh of their prey. It essentially turned five claws into ten. And with each claw being as sharp as a knife, a mere tap of a finger was enough to break deep into the skin.

  “Shank it to the Preserve!” Kirkley screamed as Hannah unsheathed her knife and attempted to saw through the arm of their attacker, but with little to no success.