He paused for a moment, mind racing through reasons why his sense hadn’t allowed him to predict this outcome. Bastards ran home to dad! He reasoned while snatching several loaded thirty round magazines, stuffing them into any pocket he could find. He did a quick mag swap, frowning as he glanced at the sixty round mag that was mostly empty. No time to reload, shit!
The pack was still about two-hundred meters down the road, sniffing and poking at different objects. The alpha, as he was referring to it, was pushing up to a rather large modern Ford pickup truck that was parked on the side of the road. He scowled as it easily shoved the rear end over several feet before tilting its head back and sniffing the air.
Without too much consideration he climbed into the truck bed and took up a supported firing position from within, using the side to brace his weapon against. His mind was racing with scenarios where what he was about to do next would end in his violent death. While the pack was still sniffing around and strolling casually down the street, confident in their numerical superiority, he took one last look around his area. Moonlight glinted off something grasped in the kids’ hand, and a less crazy, while albeit still very dangerous, plan began to form.
“Fuck it.” He took a deep breath, sighted in on the lead monster, and pulled the trigger three quick times. He didn’t wait to gauge the effect of his shots before lining up on the next monster and dumping another three rounds. He managed to drop two more of the freaky bastards in this manner before they gathered their senses, spread out, and began a mad charge for his position. He dumped the remaining 19 rounds randomly in the pack’s direction.
He took a quick moment to gauge the carnage he’d just unleashed while conducting a lightning quick stress reload. At least six of the pack were lying dead on the ground, while another pair were limping for cover. The Alpha released another tooth rattling roar that somehow filtered past his ear protection. Gritting his teeth through the grating feeling in his bones he released the charging handle on his rifle with a loud *schnikt* and began rapidly sweeping rounds across the lead monsters.
They made it to within nearly a hundred meters from his position before realizing staying in the open was a bad idea. The Alpha began to trundle forward at a light trot, smashing a small hatchback out of its way. He noticed by the trickle of green blood down its front left leg that at least one round in his previous fusillade had struck the monster. At least three more from the pack were bleeding out in jerking spams in the middle of the road. The Alpha didn’t bother going around them as it built up speed, simply crushing them under its much more massive paws.
“Time to move!” He hissed to himself while dropping the currently spent magazine and fumbling through his cargo pocket for a full one. He slapped the new magazine into his weapon just as his feet hit the ground. He took three long strides towards the kids’ body, deftly snatching the keys to the family’s expensive SUV as he ran past. Pressing the unlock button he swung the door open. His sense flared lightly causing him to stop with one foot in the door, twisting to send a trio of rounds into a monster that had made it within fifty meters of his position. It squealed in pain as he dropped into the driver's seat, starting the SUV up.
He tossed his weapon into the passenger seat, practically dropping it into reverse at the same time the engine kicked over. He spun the wheel to the right, accelerating wildly. The front end swung around just as the Alpha reached the point where the pack had originally split up. He bounced across the rocky landscape creating distance, while narrowly missing the rear bumper of his own truck. Feeling the rocky terrain give over to smooth asphalt, he snatched up his weapon, propping it on the dash and pulled the trigger as rapidly as he could manage while steering the vehicle backwards.
“SHIT!” He cursed as the front windshield shattered, barely having time to crack before the mass of copper and lead punched clean through. The Alpha reared up before twisting around, tucking its head behind one shoulder and slowing its advance by digging massive claws into the road surface. While the bullets hurt it, they weren’t doing enough damage to kill it. It might have bled out, given enough time, but Andy knew he didn’t have that time.
Just before reaching the end of the road, where he’d driven in originally, he slammed on the brakes and dropped it into Drive. Before he could get on the gas again his sense flared a moment before a monster landed on the hood, all drool and green blood dripping from its singular orifice. He smiled at the sight that he’d already hit it, then pulled the trigger to silence. SHIT! The creature paused before attempting to scramble through the now missing windshield.
Before it could squeeze its head through, he snatched his pistol from his hip and dumped several rounds point blank down its throat. It tumbled off the hood in a shriek, leaving several jagged rents in the metal. A hundred meters away the Alpha was regaining its feet, the fur on its back bristling like the quills of a hedgehog. It hunched low and released a challenging roar that Andy accepted by pressing the gas pedal to the floor.
The tires spun for a second, ejecting small wisps of smoke before finding traction with a sharp lurch. As the engine roared to life, the Alpha launched forward as well. Andy glared down at the gargantuan beast for the two seconds it took to cover the distance between them. It was just before the pair collided that he realized he hadn’t buckled in. Despite that realization, he didn’t let up, he simply braced as the pair collided in a deafening conflagration of tearing flesh and screeching metal.
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For a brief moment, the SUV seemed like it would force itself right through the oversized Alpha. Then the front end crumpled in a spray of plastic and metal. Its rearend lifted slightly, spinning the tires before they settled to catch again and lurch the vehicle forward. Instead of plowing through the Alpha, the front end seemed to be stuck against the monster. The rearend slid to the side before torsional forces caused the SUV to suddenly hop into the air and start a slow, lazy, sideways roll to the right.
It clipped the monster's shoulder on the way through, causing it to begin a violently quick flat spin. The rear end swung around to smash the Alpha sideways, breaking ribs as it passed in a chaotic arc that found the vehicle landing nose up on the Alpha’s hindquarters with a sickening crack. The Alpha wailed and twitched, shifting enough that the SUV toppled sideways, coming to rest in the street behind the pack leader.
Andy stirred just to the right of the SUV and Alpha where’d he’d seemingly been tossed from the truck. He lay in a twisted heap of broken bones and bleeding cuts. Every breath was labored, if he wasn’t fighting to remain conscious through the worst migraine he’d ever experienced, he’d reason he had several broken ribs. Through a single swollen eye, he noted he was once again leaking blood all over the road. Son of a bitch, shoulda’ buckled in. He turned his single open eye towards the SUV and changed his mind. Or not.
As he took stock of his injuries, waiting for the rest of the pack to come tear his broken form to pieces, the telltale shimmer of life energy swirled in the air to his left where a handful of the monsters he killed before partaking in his ill thought strategy to take out the Alpha lie in the road. His last thought before more energy than he’d absorbed to date rushed for his prone form was, Oh. Shit.
Just as it entered his body and began forcefully going through the process of not so tenderly setting bones and knitting cuts, he passed out.
When he finally woke, uncertain of how long he’d been out, he was relieved to find that none of the pack had decided to make him a meal. That’s strange, they certainly had me dead to rights. A noise to his left caused him to jerk stiffly in alarm.
The Alpha kicked a broken leg that banged against the equally broken SUV next to him. Adrenaline focused his actions, causing him to quickly crawl to his hands and knees. With a stiff lurch, he came to a low crouch and stared at the broken beast next to him. He could see several large gashes in its side where the SUV had slammed into it as it spun. He noted that at least two of its legs were broken, the hind leg the worst off where the SUV had landed on it, and at least a couple claws on its front legs had been broken clean off. Its head twitched through labored breathing, green blood leaking from its mouth as it seemingly mewled in pain.
Damn, tough bastard, survived a header with 5000 pounds of German SUV. Might as well finish it off. Unfortunately, his last thought brought him to the realization he had no clue where his rifle was, and doubted very much his 9mm would be able to punch through the creature's thick hide, despite its weakened state. This was the moment he became very aware that several of the pack were currently circling him at a distance amongst the surrounding houses.
Despite the obvious attention, his sense was only letting out a low hum in his brain that could have simply been mistaken for the dredges of his brief migraine.
Andy risked a glance around his position, not finding his rifle in sight. His truck, with the rest of his arsenal, was sitting quietly a few hundred meters back the way he’d come. He seriously doubted the pack, subdued as they were now, would allow him to make the run back. In fact, he was almost certain they would pounce the moment he ran.
Before his decision could be made, movement to his left made him alarmingly aware that once again another monster had somehow snuck past his sense. The first he knew of its position was the sound of claws clacking on cement, just on the other side of the dying Alpha. Then a low, almost sub-vocalized clicking started up as it appeared. The Alpha twitched, coughing blood at the much smaller pack member, though seemed to lack the strength to do anything in its defense.
Andy already had his pistol drawn, though he refrained from firing at the monster when it stopped just next to the Alpha’s exposed neck and looked at him. Or at least it turned its weird head in his direction, lifting up on its forelegs slightly and paused. It barked a deep burping noise in his direction, then turned its head back at the Alpha, then back to him again.
“You want the kill?” He asked out loud, only getting a twisted head look in response. Without further confirmation he slowly backed away towards his truck, pistol at the ready. He waved his free hand in the direction of the dying Alpha, “Have at it, fuckers.”
Clicking noises rose from the monster's throat that made him slow his retreat, then movement amongst the houses to his left and right made him freeze. A pair of the monsters slinked by him, claws clacking on the cement, to join the first one without a care in the world. He held his breath as they passed, before slowly releasing it and backing away with more haste than probably looked dignified. When he’d made it about thirty meters back, the entire pack had gathered around the Alpha’s body.
The First, as he was referring to it in his mind now, chuffed loudly as other members of the pack would move like they were going to make the kill, warning them off. It spun its head around as if doing a headcount, ensuring they had all arrived, then with a loud gurgling roar, it slashed out across the Alpha’s neck with a single clawed hand, practically ripping the huge monsters throat out. All the others flinched back, then tore into whatever part of the behemoth was closest.
Andy watched the monsters last moments in morbid fascination as they tore it to pieces. When it was all done, the pack, covered in the Alphas green blood stood around the remains of its body, visibly vibrating in anticipation. Just as what had happened with all of his previous kills, rushed up in a fountain of rioting color, small tendrils diving into the gathered monsters. As one they all braced against the seemingly endless influx of energy, only to drop exhausted to the ground as the infusion abruptly ended.
As with all the previous kills he’d made, he too was flooded with energy. More energy than he’d gathered from all of his previous kills to this moment. With nary a thought of escaping the onrushing energy he did the only thing he could, he braced for it just like all the monsters before him did.