It had been a further three days since Sniffer returned to the den. There had been no activity in or around the town. The snowfall had continued, and the whole town was covered in a pristine blanket. Little was being done around the town by most of the residents, mainly due to the weather. A couple of townsfolk would go out to the various paddocks around the outskirts and feed the Keefirs, but apart from that, they all stayed in the town centre or the shelter building that had been set up.
Guards were posted at the central junctions and roads leading towards the river side of town, and barrels burnt through the days and nights. Sniffer was thinking about speaking to Holland about moving on as there was nothing they could do unless there were signs of the Spylore, and with the weather as it was, he could not chance going out towards the den again. He was on his way to the Brickhouse after another night by the river when he heard a gunshot. It was the first gunshot he had heard in a very long time, and it reverberated off the empty buildings and it made him flinch. The town had been silent with the blanketed snow, and the streets were empty. Tiddles at the sound sprung to attention, and the pair ran towards the town centre where the sound had originated.
There was another crack of a rifle going off and then several more shots from a pistol. Tiddles flew ahead of Sniffer. He could hear shouting ahead and turned the corner to see a man dropping out of the sky. He plummeted freefall about sixty feet and crunched into the ground, the sound absorbed by the snow-covered street. He didn’t move. Sniffer looked up and saw the Angelore circling above the town. It made no sound even when it flapped its gigantic wings. Tiddles was growling and snarling, looking into the sky following its movements. Five guards were still in the street, one with a rifle and the other with a pistol, and the final three were carrying crude metal spears. The rifle cracked again as the man holding the rifle tried to hit the Angelore.
In what seemed like an instant, the Angelore moved sideways from where it had hovered and swooped again. Its diving speed was phenomenal as it streaked towards the guards on the street below. Cries of panic erupted, and they began to run as it reached its target and struck. Tiddles had started bounding towards it but was not near enough to the guards to be able to attack the Angelore. As it hit the man, Sniffer watched its talons puncture and tear into the man's back, picking the helpless guard up and soaring back into the air at an almost impossible angle, leaving crimson-red trails of blood on the snow where the guard’s blood had sprayed when struck. It had made no sound. The attack was silent, with the only realisation of what had happened being the witnesses who had watched the immaculate precision and ferocity of the Angelore.
It carried the man to around 100 feet and then released him. Again, there was no sound as he fell back to earth, already dead from the initial strike, with his heart probably skewered, considering where the talons had hit him. Sniffer snapped out of the frozen awe that had grabbed him and continued to run towards the centre. The guard with the pistol tried to shoot at the Angelore as it hovered above the street again.
“Get under cover,” he screamed as he ran towards the remaining group. The men could not hear him from this distance, and a second later, the beast swooped again. Tiddles was closer now, and as he saw the Angelore swoop, he leapt towards where the men stood. He landed howling at the beast as it swooped down and immediately tried turning to jump at it as it came past, trying to strike it with his paws and his jaws snapping closed on thin air; it passed him by like a bullet. He let out an almighty howl as the Angelore carried the pistol wielder into the air; this time, the man was screaming with the talons puncturing him through the top of his shoulder.
It was systematically picking them off individually and waiting for the opportune moment. That time, the man who was hit Sniffer had seen reloading his pistol. This creature was highly intelligent. Sniffer got closer and screamed again for them to take cover. Again, Sniffer called, “Get to cover, now.” Two of the remaining men reacted, turning and glancing in Sniffer’s direction, and began moving to the side of a building with an awning structure. The third remaining man aimed the rifle at the beast and fired again. The crack of the rifle went off, and as soon as he moved his arm to cock the bolt action rifle, it swooped again.
Tiddles leapt at the beast again as it came down, but it was too fast. Sniffer again, watching the claws pierce straight through the man’s chest and appear sticking out of his back. The rifle the man had been holding sent spinning off into the snow. Its momentum did not slow as, once again, it sailed into the air. Tiddles howled again, a demonic, angry howl. Sniffer could tell he was frustrated; nothing could outmanoeuvre him from the pounce. Sniffer had run sideways, moving under the awning, panting heavily as he reached the two men standing there. Both were still holding their metal spears and looked terrified; he was sure he did as well, to be fair to them. He had never seen such a precise and fast kill as those being performed by the Angelore.
The Angelore had swept back upwards and hovered above them with its latest victim still held on the end of its talons. It was looking directly at the men under the awning. Even though Tiddles was in the street, it paid him no attention. The Angelore began to swoop directly towards the three of them. The movement was so fast that it took them all by surprise. The two men with spears could only turn their spears in its direction. As it levelled out, it released the man's body from its talons and turned back to the sky at an impossible angle for its speed.
The man’s body came hurtling at them, striking the spear of one of the men, and it pierced through the body as though offering no resistance. The body collided with the man who held the spear with its full force. Sniffer watched as the man was flung backwards against the building wall. Sniffer heard a sickening crunch as his head smashed into the wall. The man crumpled to the ground without making a sound, and Sniffer watched a pool of blood appear where his head came to rest, now with a very flat look to it.
“Get inside now,” Sniffer screamed. The door under the awning was to a disused building and was locked. Sniffer could not work the handle. The Angelore had started to hover about eighty feet above them at an angle so it could see them. Tiddles was going insane. He was jumping, howling, and gnashing his jaws together in sheer anger, but he could do nothing against the flying beast.
The beast suddenly uttered a piercing cry, sounding like a screeching bird rather than the flying horror it was. Sniffer covered his ears. It was so shrill and loud. Even Tiddles silenced for a moment and ducked. Moments later, from a side road leading into the centre, two Spylores appeared. “They are working together,” Sniffer yelled. He had a choice. He could stay on the street and hope the beast could beat them or run for the main building, where the others were behind a solid door. “Come on quick,” he shouted to the surviving guard. He was fear-stricken and stood as if paralysed. Sniffer grabbed him by his jacket and dragged him, “RUN!”
It was about three hundred feet to the building from where they were standing, and Sniffer set off at a sprint. The Spylores were still half a block away, but he knew the speed at which they could move and catch up to them if they dared pause for another second, but he wasn’t even thinking about them. He was only concerned about that demonic angel in the sky above. He sprinted like there was no tomorrow, which there may not be at this rate. He glanced over his shoulder and saw the white beast had turned and lined up with the street they ran down. He was gasping for air as he approached the door.
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“Open up he yelled.” The man was just behind him, and the entrance to the building opened as he approached. A guard was standing, peering out of the door in wide-eyed terror. He was looking directly over Sniffer's head.
Sniffer dove for the doorway and knocked the guard flying. The man behind him was entering the door when he let out a scream as the Angelore pierced him in the side of his body, and he was carried away. The image in Sniffer's mind would be burned for the remainder of his life with the man’s arms outstretched as he was hit and taken away. Sniffer jumped up and moved to the doorway. He pulled his whistle from his pocket and blew as hard as possible. He glanced around the corner, and Tiddles was standing in the middle of the street, squaring off to the approaching Spylore’s. He hadn’t followed them. “Shit” shouted Sniffer.
Inside the building, children were screaming, and both men and women were crying from the horrific scenes they had just witnessed. Sniffer slammed the door closed. “Get away from the windows and get to the back now,” he yelled at them, gasping for breath.
The two Spylores had run out of the other road and had initially been running at the men until Tiddles had blocked their path. They had both slowed and were now circling him. ‘This should be fun’, he thought ‘, but where’s that flying bastard gone.’
He was seething. All the men were now dead. He had watched that horrible thing as it got that last man as he was about to enter the building. He had liked him; he had fed him some Keefir meat on more than one occasion. He had watched Sniffer enter the building and knew he was safe, but he would not let these Spylores near other townsfolk. He did not think he had ever felt as angry as he did now. This flying monstrosity had bettered him when he pounced and had not even tried to fight him. ‘Coward’, he thought. It’s a good job that Sniffer could not understand his howling properly, as he would not have been happy with the language he had been using.
He glanced up and could not see the Angelore. As he glanced upwards, the first Spylore went to pounce. He was ready and waiting for one of them, too, and he jumped sideways and swiped with his claws where he had stood a second earlier. His claws caught the side of the Spylore, and it howled in pain, landing and immediately turning back on him. As he landed, he noticed the second one coming in; again, he jumped, but this time back precisely where he came from and spun to face the new attacker. The creature landed where he had been standing a second ago, turned on him, and immediately pounced. He swiped at it with one of his monster-sized paws and caught its front outstretched legs, propelling huge razor-sharp claws at him. Hitting across its legs like that caused it to lose its balance and momentum, and it spun sideways, crashing down on its side and hissing before it climbed back to its feet.
They started to circle him again; Tiddles noticed one of them suddenly stop moving, and its head tilted slightly upwards. ‘Oh, shit’, he thought. Tiddles threw himself backwards, performing a somersault a gymnast would have been happy with. It was no mean feat for a beast his size, and the talons of the flying one swept down where he had been a fraction of a second earlier. ‘That was close’, he thought. He kept glancing into the sky, trying to watch for it while watching these two foul-smelling creatures circling him. The way the Spylores were behaving was not natural; they were normally much more aggressive and stupid with their attacks.
He decided he would play smarter than them. He wouldn't give them a circle if they wanted to encircle him. He backed up against the wall, keeping them both within his eye line. He had also seen what Sniffer had done getting under the awning of the building, so he started to work his way down the road to where there was one to try and prevent the Angelore from being able to attack.
The Spylore approached him but could not do their usual pouncing attacks with the building behind him, so they were trying to swipe at him from close range. He was fast and much stronger, so he batted their paws away each time. He tried to bite one of them, who overstretched slightly and missed. He wasn’t far from an awning area now. The other came lunging at him, so he moved away from the wall slightly and hit it across its face, raking it with his claws. The Spylore screeched in pain, pulling away from him.
The mistake Tiddles made was moving from the wall, and he felt a searing pain in his hind leg. His mass being dragged sideways, turning his head around, the flying one had attacked him as soon as he had moved from the wall and just before he had reached the awning. It was flapping its wings, and Tiddles could feel the force of the downdraft they had created as it tried to move and lift him. He was much heavier than most things due to being so solid, and I could only drag and not lift him, thankfully. His rear leg was off the ground, though, and he could not get purchase with it. There was a long single talon that had caught him at the top of his hind leg, piercing through his thick layers of skin and the pain he felt turned to rage.
The Angelore let out a screech as it beat its wings harder, trying to get a lift, and kept dragging him. He wasn’t going to let it. He let out an almighty howl and sunk his claws deep into the snow; they punctured through the frozen road surface underneath. He forced his claws into the earth as deep as he could, curling them as he would if climbing, gripping onto the surface. He stopped sliding, and the creature beat its wings, determined to pull him away. He wasn’t having it, though; there was no way this thing would drag him anywhere.
The Spylore started to approach him again, and he had no paws free to protect himself. He could feel his body getting hotter and hotter as blood pumped faster and faster.
“OI!” came a shout from behind them. Sniffer had opened the building door and stood shouting over towards the Spylore. They turned and looked in his direction, one moving towards him. The other Spylore turned back towards Tiddles and approached. The lead Spylore was within striking range when his rear leg was released. Tiddles felt the tearing sensation as the talon ripped free. The talon that had sunk into the top of his thigh had torn a large gash across his skin. He didn’t feel any pain now. He just felt anger.
He moved forward towards the Spylore, which took it by surprise and swung his paw at it with all his might. He caught it across the front half of its face, and it cried in pain, staggering sideways from the strength of his blow. Tiddles went berserk. He wasn’t playing anymore. He flew at the second one like a bullet-headed towards Sniffer, with his jaws open wide and letting out a growl only a beast could make. It managed to turn its head as Tiddles struck, sinking his massive, powerful jaws into its rear leg. Tiddles smashed his teeth together, biting a huge chunk right across the top of its leg, tearing through muscle, sinew and bone in one ferocious bite. He threw his head back and swallowed the lump of the creature whole. It screamed in pain, its leg not able to support it, and it staggered, falling to the street.
He spun on the other. Its face was bleeding heavily where he had swiped it, and blood dripped down from near its eye, falling onto the white snow. It pounced at him, opening its mouth wide, and its fangs shot out. Tiddles did not even move. He just opened his jaws again, and as the creature came for his face, he brought his jaws down with such force that his teeth shattered its lower fangs, and he bit straight through its lower jaw in one swift bite before it could snap its jaws closed. The creature stepped backwards; it couldn’t tell what had happened to it, and Tiddles saw its tongue hanging where its bottom jaw once was. He didn’t allow it to react and threw himself on, tearing into it with a wild frenzy of anger.
The Angelore had never fought a creature like that before and had never met something it could not lift. It was very strong. It hovered above the final stages of the fight below. It had almost gotten the Angelore when it had attacked. Nothing was supposed to be as fast as it was. It watched as the two Spylores got disabled by it and hovered, observing the macabre scene as it then tore into their bodies in a frenzy, devouring them. It would bring the remainder of the pack next time. It gave one last piercing cry and then turned, disappearing into the distance, heading back towards the den.