The soldiers were alert the moment they heard the wolf howls. Machine gunners mounted the towers, each covering a ninety-degree arc around the town. Grenadiers covered gaps and the medics stationed themselves in the center of the town, ready to respond to any call for aid. Mark called for a report as soon as they saw any movement and rushed over to the garage.

"Start it up," Mark yelled as he ran.

Naomi opened a hatch on the top of it and climbed inside, moments later, Mark crawled up to the top and through as well.

"Is it ready for combat?" Mark said once inside the cabin of the tank.

"Yes, but it needs some testing," Naomi replied, fiddling with several instruments in the driver's seat.

"It's gonna have to be battlefield tested 'cause the wolves are here."

"I heard. I'm finishing the startup. Two minutes and it's good to go."

"How many are needed to operate it?"

"It can be done with three, but really it needs five."

Mark stuck his head out of the top and yelled, "Give me three!"

He was hesitant to pull too many off the defensive line when Naomi was not confident in its combat effectiveness. He settled for asking Naomi to drive, with his soldiers manning the guns.

Naomi finished the startup sequence, and a hum filled the cabin.

"What is that?" Mark asked.

"Well we don't have fuel, and it's way too heavy to be powered by a battery, so I copied the power source from the town hall." Naomi said with a shrug.

"There's a nuclear reactor in this thing? Is that safe!?" Mark was shocked by Naomi's seeming disregard for safety.

"Not a nuclear reactor, that's not what's underneath the town hall. It's a matter/antimatter reactor, and before you say anything, it is safe. There's a failsafe to kill the reactor in case it gets damaged. And the upside is more than worth it." Naomi started to get out of the driver's seat, but Mark stopped her.

"Before you get out of there, can you drive today? If you don't feel comfortable being part of the battle that's fine, but I think you're the only one qualified to drive this thing right now."

"I can do that. I told people I am a pilot, might as well do some piloting." Naomi crawled her way out of the reclining driver seat, "Give me just a moment, gotta check the linkages to the main gnu." She pulled a panel out of the interior wall, showing Mark black, inch-thick cables that appeared to run from the bottom of the tank and into the front where the main gun was located.

"Sir!" one of the soldiers called out to Mark. "Wolves spotted on the west side. Two hundred yards in the woods. They haven't made any moves yet."

Mark poked his head out of the top hatch. "Understood. Return to the line." He looked down at Naomi. "We've gotta get this thing moving. Are we good to go?"

"Everything's green," Naomi said before climbing back into the driver's seat.

"Everyone in," Mark yelled to the waiting soldiers and they snapped into motion, climbing into the tank. Once they were in, the hum from the reactor increased to a dull roar and Naomi pulled out of the garage.

Outside, everyone was standing ready for the combat to come. The wolves were staying deep in the cover of trees making it hard to tell exactly how many were out there. Mark continuously surveyed the battlefield through a pane of reinforced glass, watching for any change to the wolves' posture.

The change came nearly thirty minutes later when three oversized wolves appeared within the ranks of the normal ones. As though at the order of an unspoken command, the wolves charged, finally bringing them into range.

Mark ordered the tank's weapons to fire, and the reactor roared to life again and thrum was felt through the vehicle ending in a dull pop as a bright blue projectile shot out of the main gun. The projectile landed between two wolves, vaporizing half of their bodies and leaving a blackened hole in the ground.

The turret on the top sprang to life half a second later, tearing through the ranks of the wolves, followed by the weapons of the soldiers in the watchtowers. The enemy was taking serious casualties, but the number that flowed from the trees seemed endless.

The soldiers were focusing on the front ranks, slowing the approach, but the wolves were making progress. In just thirty seconds, dozens of wolves lay dead, but they had made it within fifty yards of the wall and were closing fast.

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After another thirty seconds, the wolves were at the walls. The ones that made it through the hail of bullets collided with the walls in resounding thuds. Everywhere they hit, deep gashes from claws were made.

Mark could see they were about to break through. He popped out of the command hatch on the front of the tank and organized the soldiers not on the watchtower to be prepared for a breach.

The wall had finally taken enough punishment and gave out twenty yards to the left of Mark. The soldiers responded instantly, forming a half circle around the breach and firing into it. The hole turned into a chokepoint and the wolves were driven back from the breach under a hail of bullets, the bodies of the wolves plugging the hole.

Some of the stronger wolves made leaps at the watchtowers and the machine gunner inside was slashed to pieces by razor-sharp claws. The wolf that made the kill was quickly put down, but losing the machine gunner made a dent in the damage output. Mark saw two more holes about to open and called for the squad on the east side to help stop the inevitable breach.

Instead of the normal wolves, this time the breach was made by one of the oversized wolves. The four-man team that was assigned that section was torn to shreds in seconds. Mark pointed out the target and the tank's main gun launched a shot straight at it. The wolf was unprepared and caught the projectile in the face and its head was instantly vaporized.

The battle progressed for another fifteen minutes before another oversized wolf made an appearance. At this point, the wall was practically ribbons and all of Mark's soldiers were on the west side, doing everything they could to hold back the wolves. The large wolf easily made it past the remnant of the wall and tore through another team of soldiers before setting its sights on the tank.

The tank crew by this point not needing any direction fired straight at it. The wolf turned at the last moment and caught the shot on its flank. The bright blue projectile vaporized a chunk out of its side, but the wolf was not dead and charged straight at the tank.

In the five-second downtime between shots, the wolf crossed the twenty yards to its target and slashed through the barrel of the gun, completely cutting it off. Klaxons blared inside the tank and the turret on the top focused its fire on the wolf, drilling through its thick skull and finishing it off.

"The main gun's gone," Naomi yelled to Mark. "There's no way it works after that."

"Shit. Watch for that third one and keep the machine gun firing," Mark said before grabbing his rifle and jumping down off of the tank.

He then placed himself in the center of the defensive line, taking direct command of his soldiers. His outstanding marksmanship was on display as he picked off multiple of the stronger wolves. He ran up and down the battle line, encouraging soldiers and stopping advances where he could.

As he ran, he did a rough headcount and saw that he had lost another six soldiers to the wolves, with another three being treated by the medics. They were taking a serious toll on the wolves and it seemed they were thinning, then the last oversized wolf made its approach.

This one seemed to be another threat entirely. It casually strolled towards the defensive line, where every other wolf had charged with absolute speed. Mark paused for a second at the unnatural sight but was brought back into focus by the snapping maw of a wolf in front of him. He promptly kicked it away, instantly killing it.

He dropped back behind the line and let the gap close up. He ran over to the town hall and snagged a refill of ammo and looked back to the huge wolf.

For some reason, his soldiers had been ignoring it just twenty yards from the line of battle. It had stopped and seemed to be staring straight at him. The stare alone was enough to chill him to his bones, and then the mental assault started.

A splitting headache struck him as he dropped to his knees. It felt like two forces were struggling inside his head. The first was the mental force of the wolf; claws and fangs tearing into his mind. The second is his mental resilience putting up walls to try to stop the wolf. He felt like a passenger in his mind as his resistance was completely instinctive.

Finally, an equilibrium was reached, and he regained control of his body. There was still a pounding headache, but he could function. The wolf had not stopped staring at him. The only difference was now it had an almost perplexed expression if Mark was to humanize what he was seeing in the wolf.

Mark took a kneeling position not far from the defensive line as he looked through the sights of his rifle at the large beast. He calmed himself best he could and took aim at the right eye of the wolf and pulled the trigger.

The round struck the wolf, and the pain in Mark's head immediately ended, but the fight was not over. The wolf was not dead yet, though. It charged straight at the defensive line as Mark proceeded to fire the other twenty-nine rounds in his magazine into the wolf.

Every round connected, but was not enough to slay the beast. Mark sprinted straight for the tank to take control of the turret, as the wolf made it to the defensive line.

Mark saw the wolf's intent and had a decision to make. He could sacrifice some of his soldiers, and potentially some of the real people who had joined in the defense. Or, he could fight the thing head on, and try to defeat it with sheer strength. He had been in a similar position before and made the wrong choice. This time, he would make the right one.

He changed directions, reloading his weapon as he ran, firing as accurately as he could while running at top speed. His magazine empty, he discarded the gun and slammed into the wolf at full tilt.

The collision carried him and the wolf a few yards away from the soldiers of the defensive line. From there it turned into a flat-out brawl.

It was clearly not used to its prey running into it and lashed about wildly with claws that could pierce steel. Mark, in turn, knew what he was doing, and stayed inside of the claws, for the most part. He felt the claws tearing through the armor on his back as he threw punches into the torso of the wolf. Each punch resounded in a meaty crunch and blood splattered Mark, both his and that of the wolf.

He felt a sharp pain in his leg as he threw the last punch straight into the heart of the wolf, finally killing it. He rolled off the top of it and looked around as his men had finally driven the wolves back. A dozen wolves that were still alive were fleeing back into the woods, and a smile crossed his face as consciousness left him.