"This has to stop." Maddie spoke up after an unbearably long silence, "No more." Her voice was shaky, much quieter than her usual bright tone. Everyone in the vehicle felt the weight that night carried. So much death, so much pain, so much loss.

"What are we going to do?" Adam questioned quietly, "We can't even hurt this thing, much less kill it. Bullets don't even work, they just piss her off. What else is there?"

"Fire?" Shel suggested.

"A nuke?" Sam added.

"Starve her." Drake spoke up. The others fell silent in confusion.

"Colby brought up the idea earlier. I mean, think about it. What's the one thing she's been doing all night?" Drake finished his thought.

"Killing everything that moves." Maddie answered.

"And going all vampire." Drake continued, "Jess even said the suit head absorbed Ian's blood right before it went psycho supernatural. So, what if blood is like food or something for her?"

"So...we trap her? Starve her?" Adam started to follow his train of thought.

"Starve her." Drake echoed, solidifying his solution. The vehicle went quiet as everyone pondered the idea. The more thought they put into it, the more it started to make sense.

Suddenly bright flashing lights appeared behind them. A police cruiser had pulled out from the station they passed and had begun following them, flashing its lights and siren. Adam pulled the vehicle to a stop, the cruiser pulling up behind them. The lights and siren switched off as an officer stepped out of the cruiser and approached the truck.

"Evening officer..." Adam mumbled as he rolled the window down to speak to her.

"Where do I begin?" she responded, looking over the ruined state of the vehicle, "Mind explaining what happened here?"

"Honestly...we could try...But you probably wouldn't believe what we have to say." Sam replied. The officer understandably looked confused, somewhat skeptical. The radio hooked to her belt chirped lightly before a voice came from the speaker.

"Hey Chelsea, you catch up to that truck?" they questioned. The officer turned from the window to respond, "Just a couple college kids, James. Looks like they've had a rough night."

"You gonna bring them in? That truck looks like it's about to fall apart." James responded.

"Probably should. I'll be right there, stand by." she replied.

"Copy copy." James signed off as Chelsea released the button and turned back to face them. She started to speak, hesitating as her eye caught movement behind the truck.

She tried to focus her sight on the thing, when out of nowhere vicious jaws lunged through the broken window of the truck and latched onto Drake. The Sergal's massive jaws completely encased Drake's head as she violently yanked him from the vehicle.

With only a moment of hesitation from the shock of what had just happened, Adam floored the accelerator. The truck jolted into motion, Syth lashing her long arms out and stabbed her claws through the roof of the vehicle.

She bellowed in effort and pulled against the truck, tipping the vehicle over as it accelerated forward. Everyone braced as the truck flipped to its side and skidded a short distance. Chelsea, now face to face with the beast as her cover had unexpectedly moved, quickly drew her weapon and fired on the Sergal.

Syth snarled and slashed her claws across the officer's chest to knock her to the ground. She watched as her victim desperately pulled herself along the road in a feeble attempt at an escape.

Adam pushed his door open, boosting Maddie through the opening before he and Sam helped Shel climb out of the vehicle. Maddie watched as Syth stamped down on Chelsea's back, holding her in place as she reached down and took hold of the officer's shoulder.

As everyone dropped to the road from the turned vehicle, Adam herded them towards the police station. The Sergal growled in twisted delight, one swift pull forcing her victim to fold backwards until a brutal crack shot through the night air.

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She let the officer get out a prolonged scream of gut-wrenching agony before slicing her throat open with her claws and dropping her. She then turned her attention to the four fleeing her once more, letting out a sharp howl and starting after them.

Shel reached the station first, just as a second officer had exited. Adam turned back briefly to fire a few shots at the Sergal as she quickly caught up to them.

"You're fucking joking..." James muttered to himself upon seeing the creature. He shook off his disbelief, quickly making a dash to a nearby parked cruiser. Syth was gaining on Adam fast as he fired backwards at her once more.

The Sergal lashed out, her claws raking across his back. The sudden force was just enough to trip him up as he stumbled to the ground, rolling to face her and immediately firing the last two shots into her torso as the gun clicked empty.

With little more than a faint flinch, Syth approached Adam with an arm raised to strike. Adam pulled himself backwards as the beast neared him. Out of nowhere, the cruiser plowed into the Sergal as James steered it backwards into her.

Though caught off guard, she caught the vehicle and quickly steadied herself from the staggering impact, pushing back against the cruiser.

James jammed on the accelerator, the beast beginning to slide as she was overpowered. Thinking fast, she changed up her grip and lifted the back end of the vehicle off the ground, stopping its advancement.

The officer bailed from the vehicle as Syth heaved the back end to the side, spinning the cruiser as it bounced to the ground. James scrambled to his feet and bolted back towards the station, passing by a pair of parked cruisers.

Syth lurched forward, driving all her momentum into one of the vehicles. The cruiser was forced forwards, pinning the officer to the side of the building as he yelled out in pain. He struggled to pull himself free, the vehicle pressing against his waist to keep him in place.

The Sergal leapt atop the vehicle, caving in its roof and causing the whole vehicle to jolt sharply. James yelped as another surge of pain rocket through his body, gazing up at the beast that crawled down to the hood of the car, crouching down to look him in the eye.

With the last remaining bit of strength he had, he raised his sidearm and fired an upward shot directly into the Sergal's chin. Syth snarled lightly, lunging forward and snapping her jaws around the man's face.

Inside the station, Adam ushered Sam and Shel to a hallway that led deeper into the building, Maddie stopping and rushing over to the desks and searching the drawers frantically.

She found what she was after, a ring of keys, and hurried after Adam just before Syth pushed her way through the glass door of the building. A short distance down the hall, Maddie started stopping to check each room they passed.

"What are you doing?" Adam questioned.

"Armory." she responded, opening the correct door and finding the room in question and using the keys on the locked gate. After a few tries she found the right one, whipping the gate open and looking around the weapons array before her.

Adam slid the empty revolver into one of his pockets, picking up one of the sidearms and sliding in a fresh magazine. A predatory growl turned both of their attentions to the hallway as Syth appeared. She hunched to fit through the door, Sam and Shel backing into the far corner.

Maddie quickly grabbed a shotgun and loaded a single bullet before jumping in front of Adam and shooting the Sergal point blank. Syth screamed in surprise, fumbling backward as the buck shot tore into her torso and shoulder.

Adam passed Maddie a second shell, which she loaded as Syth started to recover. Maddie stepped closer to the beast, firing directly into her face. Syth howled in pain and collapsed to the floor, crawling away from Maddie in an unexpected display of desperation.

Maddie hesitated for a second but reached back and signaled Adam. He handed her two more shells, which she loaded and fired into the beast one by one as tears welled in her eyes.

The Sergal writhed in pain, inching to a corner of the room and filling the air with drawn out screeching and moaning. Her wounds weren't healing like usual, instead festering and bleeding profusely.

Maddie and Adam watched the creature skeptically as she weakly swiped at them a few times, less as a means of attack and more a means of defense, trying to keep them at a distance. Syth moaned softly, growing quieter and quieter as she slowly curled up on the floor.

Her sounds became more human, gentle cries of pain and fear gradually fading to a final quiet exhale. The beast lay there, motionless, unblinking. Lifeless. Maddie dropped the shotgun, exhaling heavily as she finally had a moment to relax. It was over. The Sergal was dead.

Maddie turned and pulled Adam into a tight hug, sighing shakily. The relief of removing the threat was clouded by remorse, the awful memory of the night's events. So many friends had been taken from her, so many times her life had come dangerously close to ending. But it was finally over with.

"Is...Is it dead?" Shel questioned softly, looking over the lifeless Sergal before them.

"Did we just win?" Sam added, reluctant to let excitement set in.

"...We should go..." Maddie replied simply, slowly breaking the hug and wiping tears from her eyes. She led the way out to the hallway with the others following close. A soft clattering halted them after only a few steps down the hall.

Maddie turned and watched the doorway they had just left from, all four of them backing away slowly. Shel turned and ran back to the main room, finding a radio as Sam joined her.

Adam stood beside Maddie protectively, aiming the pistol towards the doorway. Light shuffling came from the room, followed by a very different sound. Crying. Soft, heavy sobs.

"...Maddie...?" a voice called out gently. Maddie perked up, recognizing the voice right away. She couldn't believe it at first, maybe it was her mind tricking her, feeding into a hopeless wish.

"...I'm so sorry..." the voice continued, a hand gripping the door frame. A young woman stepped out from the armory, leaning on the wall for support. Maddie froze, overwhelmed by what she was seeing.

It was Abby.