“Got it!” Brody kicked the door so hard it flew open and bent the hinges. He then ripped April’s door open, while I pulled my gun from my shoulder holster, flicked the safety off, and racked it.
We were surrounded by warehouses of various sizes and materials. Our car had rammed into a wrought iron fence that went around one of the warehouse properties. Between damage from the fence and the truck, the car was totaled.
There were fewer streetlights in this section of town, but I could see fine with my night vision—April was the only one of us who would have a harder time with that.
Tetiana growled something in Ukrainian.
She couldn’t get her door open—the back was too busted from the truck ramming us—so she slithered out April’s side while Brody helped April stand.
I heard the roar of a car engine and turned to face the truck.
“April, block their view! Brody—take their windshield out!” I shouted before I raised my handgun. I couldn’t shoot yet; I needed the truck to get closer so my shots would be most accurate.
I heard the crackle of fire before April flung an enormous ball of blue flames at the truck. It smacked the windshield and spread across it, almost like a liquid.
Once the truck was within my range, I shot the front right tire using two bullets. I hit both times, but it would take more time for the wheel to deflate than we had to spare.
Brody, meanwhile, flung a rock the size of my fist at the still burning windshield. I heard the crackle of breaking glass, but it wasn’t until he flung another similar sized rock that the windshield shattered.
The truck swerved towards Brody and April.
Brody split away from us until April grabbed him by the sleeve of his uniform and hauled him towards us. “We can’t split up!” she yelled, before the screech of tires and crunching metal filled the air when the truck struck the same fence we’d hit.
April had a cut on her forehead that was bleeding. There’d been a side airbag, but she must have gotten hurt in the car wreck.
We have no idea if the truck has backup coming… what’s our best plan?
I flicked my handgun’s safety on and made a decision. “Run!” I shouted, leading the group north.
Tetiana fell in line after me, but Brody picked April up and flung her over his shoulders in a fireman’s carry before he ran after us.
I briefly slowed my pace so he could catch up. “Brody, how big do mercenary Packs get?” I asked.
Brody shook his head as we sprinted past a stop sign. “Depends; there’s a few with over fifty members.”
“If their objective is to break into Tutu’s, maybe they won’t send many after us?” Tetiana hopefully suggested, her breath coming in pants.
My slayer senses kicked in—I could feel another vampire nearby. I scanned the shadows looking for the potential threat.
We’re not in Considine’s territory yet… but if he hears the fight, I don’t think he could resist investigating.
Considine’s presence could be a good thing or a bad thing—but he’d been helpful lately, so I was wavering more towards it being good.
A wolf howled—not behind us, but in front of us.
“Sounds like we’re not that lucky,” April grumbled.
I fixed my grip on my gun and adjusted my stride so I could shoot easier. We were able to run another block up—putting us closer to downtown than I wanted. But standing on the westward road we needed to take was a team of three werewolves in their human form—wearing tactical armor and armed with guns—and six werewolves in their wolf form.
They rushed out of the intersection, heading straight for us.
“April, you and I need to take down the human forms. Tetiana, Brody, focus on defense and watch April,” I shouted before I flicked off my safety.
“Understood,” April said. Her tattoo was already glowing as Brody set her on her feet, and blue electricity flashed across her palms.
The human-form werewolves had handguns like me, which wouldn’t kill Tetiana or Brody, but if April or I took a hit from this range, it was going to hurt.
I just have to make sure they don’t get a chance to shoot.
I shot first at the tallest of the trio, nailing him in the chest.
His tactical armor meant my bullet didn’t tear a hole in him, but he still felt the force of the bullet hitting so he jolted in surprise. Also, the shot confirmed he was wearing soft armor as the fabric tore—good news for us as it meant the armor degraded. （Although I didn’t exactly have unlimited bullets to work with…）