by MacCraw
“Through the center, damnit!” shouted Royce.
Hannah changed her tactic and began to thrust the knife through the tough hide of the wolf soldier’s arm. It was damn near impossible for her to do along, and Kirkley quickly took note of his girlfriend’s straining efforts. He joined in and helped her force the knife in deeper while she wiggled it around in an attempt to slice through more flesh.
“You’re doing this all wrong!” Royce hollered. Royce reached for Kirkley’s shotgun and angled himself to where he could see the blacks of the creature’s eyes. With one shot, Royce fired and scored a tight spread on the dog man’s face, which caused it to fall forward. The arm it had been waving around lurched forward with it, and ended up slashing Hannah across the cheek. Kirkley shouted in despair as his lover fell backwards with a deep gash on her face.
“SHAKE THIS MOTHERFUCKER!” screamed Kirkley as fury boiled in his eyes.
Darnell began irrationally driving in an attempt to throw the wolf off, unintentionally shaking his passengers around as well. Eventually his reckless driving made things dangerous with a sharp turn that ultimately resulted in the vehicle tipping over and crashing. The whole experience was full of frightening noises: every single pane of glass exploding loudly; the tires blowing out and cracking, and the metal body of the jeep scraping along the asphalt road.
The vehicle came to a complete stop. Sideways. As everybody came to, all eyes focused on Hannah, who clearly was on the final stretch of her life.
“Kirkley, my-“ Hannah coughed; “-my love…”
“You’re gonna make it out. I won’t leave you”, Kirkley cried as he tightly clenched her hand.
“No… no… goddamnit”, Hannah sighed as the wound on her face began to heal itself through dark, supernatural healing processes in advance of a monstrous transformation, “I won’t. I’m dead, Kirkley, and you know it.”
“You’re still alive and speaking…”
“As far as I’m concerned, I’m dead. Now please… …kill me”, Hannah wept as she began to shake.
“Are you taking the piss?” Kirkley exclaimed as he frantically shook Hannah to keep her conscious.
“Do it, before I… oh fuck…” Hannah groaned as she felt the overwhelming pain surge through and corrupt her pure, human soul.
“Close your eyes, and I’ll close mine”, Kirkley croaked as he slowly raised his weapon and took aim at the woman he loved.
The two lovers closed their eyes shut, and with a loud clank and the sound of a shotgun shell hitting the ground, the deed was done.
Distraught over his actions, Kirkley dropped to his knees and howled in pain as he threw himself over Hannah’s lifeless body.
“Yo, uh, Kirkley”, Darnell said, knocking on the car like a door, “We’ve gotta split.”
“I’m gonna bring ‘em pain…” Kirkley ferociously growled in a tone that frightened Darnell even more than the wolves themselves.
“Time for the pain train to roll into the station!” Royce shouted as he opened fire on a particular brown wolf charging the downed jeep head-on.
Kirkley took one final look at Hannah’s lifeless body, and contemplated leaving his legendary SPAS-15 next to his legendary companion and lover. A perfect warrior resting alongside a perfect weapon, but this poetic intention was impractical, and as such he brought his weapon with him to open fire on the Samantha wolf, which suddenly stopped her attack and stood some 20 yards away, just breathing heavily and dripping with blood. Realizing this sudden change of behavior, the survivors reluctantly ceased fire.
“Go for the ship”, Kirkley ordered through firmly clenched teeth as he kept eye contact with Samantha.
“What?” Darnell quietly exclaimed in disapproval and disbelief.
“It’s me it wants. Get Kylie and Royce out of here. Now. Go behind the jeep and keep yourselves out of her line of sight.”
“Here, mutt”, Kirkley called, clapping his hands and whistling as he climbed atop the wreckage of the military jeep. Samantha followed Kirkley with her eyes as she took steps forward and contemplated whether to attack Kirkley or his group, and how to go about attacking. Samantha wasn’t the only contestant plotting her moves, however. Kirkley knew that this was the moment of reckoning, where either he or Samantha would be dead following this final encounter. But in order to come out victorious, a soldier must plan his moves accordingly.
The first step for Kirkley was trying to anticipate the enemy’s moves. Kirkley had positioned himself on the high ground, so he had an obvious advantage over Samantha, also provided the fact that he had a gun and she was reduced to her claws, paws and jaws. Second, devising a strategy to kill her. With only a couple of shells left, Kirkley was clearly unable to take down a near-immortal dog soldier with just a shotgun, but he then realized he was standing atop a powder keg. With a few good shots and maybe an explosive miracle, he could put an end to the menace haunting his friends and his sanity.
Samantha finally lost her patience, and commenced a blunt charge towards her prey. Once she was close enough, she briefly went down on all fours to launch herself upwards and at Kirkley, who narrowly dodged her attack and gave her a firm kick in the abdomen that broke her momentum and roughly slammed her onto the ground. Kirkley mockingly laughed, but Samantha was immediately prepared to retaliate and leapt up, this time successfully throwing Kirkley off of his high ground and onto her newly leveled playing field.
Now despite the fact that Samantha and her kind were powerful enough to decapitate a human with their mighty jaws, she decided to have fun with this one. Samantha began to angrily slap and punch her victim, who was merely smacked around with each blow until he finally mustered enough strength to duck and throw a few punches into her belly. Kirkley reached to his side to bring up his SPAS-15, but Samantha tightly clutched the barrel and attempted to turn it around. Kirkley fired a loud shot that made visible point-blank damage to the howling wolf soldier, but before he could squeeze the trigger again, she tore the weapon out of his hands, snapping the sling in the process, and then used it as a blunt weapon, clubbing Kirkley over the head with it once before furiously throwing it at him and knocking him back up against the jeep. Kirkley snarled in agony as his back painfully collided with the underside of the car. The impact happened to shake a miracle out in the form of a hand grenade that rolled out of the vehicle. Kirkley kept eye contact with Samantha while discretely shuffling the grenade behind him.
“Here, puppy puppy”, Kirkley mockingly called, much to the frustration of Samantha. Samantha roared loudly and began sprinting towards Kirkley at high speed. Kirkley’s heart was racing as he climbed over the vehicle, but he knew his plan would work. Once he was on top, he pulled the pin on the grenade and casually dropped it down into the wrecked vehicle. Samantha, being completely oblivious, climbed up and over the car, and by the time she towered over Kirkley, the man she formerly loved was standing 20 feet away with a huge smirk on his face.
The grenade went off, completely obliterating the car and everything in and on it. The gigantic female wolf was slammed to the ground with fire on her fur and pieces of debris impaled in her skin, and the body of the wolf that had caused the car accident in the first place was completely eradicated by the fiery inferno, being reduced to nothing but charred bones and the occasional sections of crispy flesh still attached and surviving the blast through means unknown. With Samantha now presumably dead, Kirkley took one last moment to acknowledge the death of Hannah, whose body had also been destroyed in the explosion, and as a final parting gift, he left his beloved shotgun at the wreckage as a monument to all he had lost: Hannah and Samantha; Pack and Poet; Connor and Logan; Riley and Terry, and every other life taken by the ruthless apex predators. The weapon was out of ammo and badly damaged, and in many ways reflected upon the current condition of its operator: out of energy, and with a will broken indefinitely due to so many heroic lives lost.
The lone survivor knew it was time to leave, to rejoin the last remnants of his own pack,
and took off for the docks. Without a full-sized weapon and complimentary equipment weighing him down, Kirkley moved rather swiftly, and within a 15 minute sprint, he had made his way to the docks. Initially he was concerned about the possibility of encountering soldiers guarding the final ship, but upon navigating the maze of shipping containers and viewing what was around the ramp, he felt less concerned about the possibility of hostile humans, and was more concerned about the whereabouts of the creature or creatures had butchered them all. Still, the lifeless bodies wouldn’t be needing their rifles, and Kirkley appropriated the same model as his old rifle, the L85; only this one had a grenade launcher attached through means of an extended handguard, which also had a flashlight mounted to a rail on the side of the handguard.
“Guess those twats actually used their brains, instead of their arses”, Kirkley snorted as he checked the magazine and opened the launcher’s tube to confirm that it was loaded.
…
An hour later, Kirkley had successfully boarded the ship and was sticking to the shadows lest he be shot by a paranoid soldier. Even though Kirkley was tired, hungry and cold, his only concern was for his friends, who he only hoped had gotten onto the ship safely and without being shot or torn to pieces.
After shivering and quivering for over an hour, Kirkley’s own survival instinct commandeered his concern for his friends, and he made his way down into the cargo hold of the ship. Although there was no guarantee of the others being in the same location, it was a possibility.
What worried Kirkley about being in the bowels of the colossal vessel was how dark it was. No light whatsoever. His flashlight gave him some light in a concentrated cone, but it also gave his position away to anything capable of spotting it.
Upon turning the corner, Kirkley immediately got clubbed in the back of the head, which didn’t knock him out, but knocked him down. Kirkley spun around to confront his assailant, only to find it was none other than Kylie.
“Boy am I happy to see you, Ms. Kerns”, Kirkley smiled as his friend pulled him back up onto his feet.
“Likewise, dude”, said Kylie.
“So did you nail Samantha?” asked Royce as he and Darnell appeared from the shadows like a bunch of thugs.
“She’s maggot food”, Kirkley smirked. “Any soldiers around?”
“Man or dog?” Royce asked for clarification.
“Or dog man?” Kylie snickered.
“Damnit, Kylie!”
“No to both of those”, answered Darnell. “Nothing to worry about.”
“That’s what scares me”, Kirkley murmured. “We aren’t alone on this boat, and whoever else is aboard is automatically a hostile.”
“Look, let’s just get some shuteye”, Kylie proposed. “We found one of the Army’s armored personnel carriers, which makes the perfect place to sleep. Tight and secure from anything and everything.”
“Except anti-tank rockets and landmines”, Darnell cracked.
“Oh ha, ha, ha, Action Man”, Kylie remarked.
…
Eight hours later, the quartet woke to lighting no different than it had been – being under the middle of a total eclipse that could potentially last until the end of time, light was scarce, and being down in the interior of a large cargo vessel didn’t exactly help with the visibility issue.
“Alright, let’s head topside”, Kirkley said after the group had finished their breakfast. Everybody then grabbed their weapons and proceeded to go up to the deck of the ship.
“Pretty quiet”, remarked Kylie, as she listened to the howling wind and the crashing waves of the sea.
“Yeah… I don’t like it”, Royce replied as he cocked his rifle and looked down the reflex sight.
The goosebumps began to rise on the survivors’ skins as they heard loud thumping – almost like something was stomping across the cargo containers. Everyone trained their weapons up to the sight of a horrifically deformed and damaged wolf soldier covered in scars and burns.
“Son of a bitch!” Kirkley exclaimed; “Why can’t you just die already?!”
Samantha roared as she broke into a sprint away from the gunfire closely pursuing her. The 30 rounds in the rifle magazines ran out in short order, and Samantha used the humans’ reloading procedure as her target window to rush in and attack. Her first target, the closest one, happened to be Darnell, and as she raised her muscular forearm to slash her prey, the soldier quickly used his rifle as a shield, but Samantha knocked it away from him with little to no effort. Kylie bravely charged Samantha from the side, but Samantha merely shoved her away. Kylie slid across the deck until crashing up against the rail, where she noticed the ship’s anchor and the rope attached to it.
“Kirkley! Royce! Help me out here! Darnell, keep it occupied!”
“Oh, thanks!” Darnell sarcastically hollered as he dodged Samantha’s strikes and swipes.
As Darnell served as a distraction, Kirkley, Royce and Kylie worked to lift the anchor up and over the side of the ship. It was particularly painful for Kylie, who was still suffering from the wound she had received from climbing over the barbed wire fencing. Having an oversized anchor putting strain on her shoulders and stomach wasn’t helpful to her current condition, either. Still, with enough effort, the trio managed to prop the anchor in a readied position to where it could be launched into the dark sea below.
“Any damn time now!”
“Kylie, Royce; grab her attention but stay away from the anchor!” shouted Kirkley as he ran off into the labyrinth of cargo containers. Kylie and Royce opened fire at Samantha, who lost her interest in Darnell and advanced towards the two humans firing upon her.
“I hope Kirkley knows what he’s doing!” Royce commented.
“Don’t doubt him!” Kylie yelled in response.
Kirkley made a wide circle around his former girlfriend, determined to keep the element of surprise. Once atop the container, Kirkley took aim at Samantha, flipping up the sighting for the L85’s grenade launcher.
“Hey Samantha!” Kirkley bellowed, delivering silence to the fight taking place and capturing the attention of human and wolf alike. “…Hope you’re a good little swimmer.”
Time slowed down for Royce and Kylie, who watched the 40 millimeter grenade flying towards Samantha; who also was captivated by the incoming projectile. Only Royce snapped out of the trance and ushered Kylie out of the way, moments before the grenade hit Samantha’s feet and exploded into a violent cloud of debris and shrapnel that knocked the target back and down and against the rail. Royce and Kylie, having narrowly dodged the blast, swooped in to finish off their enemy once and for all. The duo began to firmly tie the rope around the dog soldier’s ankle, and once the knot was locked down tighter than the borders of the Middle Eastern Coalition, they put all of their might into shoving the anchor overboard, bringing Samantha down for the ride.
By the time Kirkley arrived back down to his friends, he watched in relief as the most fearsome and twisted soul he had ever had the misfortune of facing had fear in its eyes for one brief moment as the dark depths of the North Sea claimed the life of a dangerous predator – this time, for good.
…
The sail across the vast sea was quite lengthy and full of uncertainties. Although the prevailing wind kept the majestic vessel on course, the question was what course it was on. The survivors, worn out from the tragic deaths of their comrades and the final confrontation with Samantha, were unaware of all but one thing.
They had escaped England, and all of the terrifying monsters running wild throughout a once beautiful and peaceful country.
Still, homesickness took effect, for the idea of being forced to leave their home was a very tragic and depressing concept, and even more so thinking about the people who weren’t lucky enough to board a ship and escape without being eaten.
Within a couple of days of being out at sea, land was spotted from afar, but the reception wasn’t positive.
Once more, Kirkley and his followers woke up to a dar
k, shaking world as the sea rocked the boat about; by this point they were used to it and made sure to hold their consumables tightly during meals. Kylie found out the hard way when she opened a can of spaghetti right as a large wave struck the ship, and then as a large mass of spaghetti struck her face.
A collision struck the boat with a deafening crack and a violent tremor that spooked the survivors and rattled them about inside of the military vehicle they were holed up in.
“What the fuckin’ ‘ell?!” Royce hollered.
“Did we hit a whale or an iceberg or something?” Kylie asked with concern.
“This isn’t Moby Dick or Titanic”, said Kirkley as he readied himself to go topside and observe the damages done by the presently-unknown force of nature or man.
Another booming shot burst the eardrums of the survivors, though this one was nearby and didn’t strike the ship.
“Fuck me, I think somebody’s firing at us!” Darnell exclaimed.
“Let’s get topside and onto one of the lifeboats! Move it!” shouted Kirkley as he shoved his companions forward to get them going quicker.
The four frightened warriors bolted up top as more shots cracked and blasted around them. Once they had reached the deck, Kirkley helped Kylie into one of the life boats as Royce and Darnell worked to lower the boat into the churning water below.
“Darnell, look out! Jump!” Royce wailed as he turned to spot an incoming projectile heading directly towards the ship. Royce and Darnell narrowly avoided being blown to smithereens as the artillery round struck and blew up the bridge of the ship in a tremendous explosion that rained pieces of smoking debris into the waters around the boat. Kirkley helped pull the two men into the boat, and once everybody was accounted for, the group began frantically rowing to shore, praying that the operators of the howitzers would be more focused on the sinking vessel than the tiny boat rowing away from it.
10 frenzied minutes of rapid rowing later, the boat came to a bumpy stop on the shoreline, and the survivors barreled out and sprung into the bushes that marked the border of the sandy beach and the grassy inland of wherever the hell they had been marooned.