G.H.O.S.T. Teams (Book 2) Shifters (23 page)

“Vlad, I’m gonna need my driving music.”

“Got it, boss,” he said.

A moment later “Highway to the Danger Zone” started blaring through his speakers. Vector was shouting out directions from the back, and I honestly didn’t care enough to remember which way we were going. A kid’s life was on the line, and I had to get there as fast as I could. Vlad turned on his lights, which flashed red and blue, and a siren to help get people out of our way. But even so, I was all over the road, finding any opening I could to move faster. More often than not, I was going the opposite direction of traffic.

“Left, through the park,” Vector screamed.

I didn’t question it. Driving up an entrance put in place for the groundskeeper’s vehicles, Vlad tore through a chain that was placed there to keep others out.

“You okay, pal?”

“All good, boss,” he replied.

“That way,” Vector pointed.

Sparks flew off of the front of Vlad as we jumped off the curb and back onto the road. A few more turns and we were bouncing down a poorly maintained street next to several older warehouses. There were enough trees behind them to make me think this location was very similar to the one earlier at the lycan bar. Vlad killed the lights and siren so we wouldn’t give away our approach.

Vector had his goggles on again and he was obviously looking at stuff while he directed me. I was suddenly very aware of how close we were to a battle and I couldn’t help but think about Danny following us in. A quick glance his direction told me that he was nervous.

“If you’re not ready for this, you can wait in Vlad.”

“No way,” he forced out. “I’m part of this team. I want to help.”

“Okay. You have your sidearm on you?”

“Yeah,” he nodded.

“Good. Now, we don’t know what we’re facing, so follow our leads and try not to get yourself killed.”

“Right,” he said.

“Just up on the left,” Vector said.

The warehouse came into the view and we could all see the tan SUV. It was an old Chevy Blazer, covered in dirt and various rust spots.  The warehouse itself was nothing special. It was a long, narrow building, sporadically covered in grey and white paint, which was peeling off everywhere. There were three large loading docks, where trucks could back up to unload, along the left side. The loading doors were large and metal and looked like they hadn’t been opened in years. There was a single entrance door on the right, towards the front, and a small window next to it. If I were to guess, I’d say it was some type of office or reception area.

I turned into the parking lot, the crunch of gravel loud as my foot on the gas kept Vlad’s wheels spinning. Time was an issue and I planned to make every second count. I headed for the front door, locking up Vlad’s breaks and turning the wheel hard just before he stopped. The doors had already rolled down and I used the momentum of the car stopping to hurl myself out of the driver’s seat. My hand reached back as I did and grabbed a sword I had attached to the back of my seat. The blade came out, the sheath stayed in the car.

Vector followed me, grabbing hold of my seat and side vaulting
himself out. Danny would be behind us at some point, but if he wanted to be in the field, it was his job to keep up. The door in front of us was an old rusted piece of metal. But even so, it looked fairly sturdy. Fortunately I knew my brother was smart enough to know what I needed.

“Vector!” was all I had to yell.

He fired three times just before my foot connected. Vector’s explosive rounds took out the hinges and the doorknob, making it easy for me to kick the door in. The office was small and empty, so we didn’t stop. There was a doorway, closed off with moldy strips of rubber, and we tore right through. In front of us was a large warehouse, broken crates and garbage strewn all about. And in the center, surrounded by ten angry looking werewolves, was a young girl. The wolves snarled, and then eight of them charged right at us.

Sunlight streaked into the warehouse through holes in the roof and broken skylights. Dust danced through the beams, and the air was permeated by a dank and musty smell. It was obvious this place had sat unused for quite some time. Large crates, boxes, and wooden slats were stacked up all around us. Some of those piles reached up almost as high as the thirty-foot ceiling. We followed the path through the garbage, occasionally losing sight of the girl and charging lycans as our route weaved left and right around obstacles. But, in the moments that we could see the wolves, it was very clear that something was off.

It took me a bit to put my finger on it, but I knew that these lycan were odd. We’d spent nearly three weeks fighting all manner of wolves, and there was
a certain uniqueness to each one. Sure, there were plenty of them with brown fur or black fur or whatever, but the patterns always felt a little different. Several of these wolves weren’t like that. 

The first four at least were doing their own thing. One was dark brown, another was tan, another had splotchy black and white fur, and the other was a dark grey. But the remaining six wolves were of only two varieties. Two of them with light brown fur, identical patches of white across their bellies. The last four however, those were the ones that really stood out as weird.

They were grey and white wolves and their patterns were identical. Their bellies and feet were predominately white, and I could only imagine the number of sock jokes that they heard from the other wolves. They each had a white left claw and, the real kicker, the moment where I knew they weren’t just related, was the circle around their left eyes. Each of them had the exact same size and shape white patch of fur around their left eye. It was like looking at four reflections of the same wolf. Super weird.

The dark brown and the tan lycans stayed behind, keeping the girl prisoner while the other eight bounded over boxes towards us. They were fast and using the cover to their advantage. Vector fired a couple shots, wounding one, but failing to lessen their numbers. The distance between us was closing quickly and soon they’d have nowhere to hide. We stopped just before they got to us, finding a nice open patch of floor from which to make our stand. I heard the slide of Danny’s gun behind me as he chambered a round, ready to fight. Vector had a thin smile on his face; both of his guns were trained forward, their aim lined up with the logical path of our charging foes. In my right hand I held my katana, a shorter blade, just over two feet, coated with silver. In my left were a few silvered shuriken that I planned to introduce to the first wolf dumb enough to jump my way. We were poised, ready, and feeling pretty good about our odds. That, of course, was when things turned a bit crappy.

I’d mentioned earlier that there were a few piles of crates and boxes stacked as high as the ceiling. Well, it turns out that those make a rather good distraction when they are pushed over towards you and your friends. The towers of wood came crashing down at us from both sides, Vector diving to safety to the left, me finding a clear path to the right, and Danny having to drop back. I heard him grunt and thanks to a partial view of him through the falling wood, I knew that several boxes had landed on top of his legs. Five more lycans, the ones responsible for the collapsing wood attack, charged in from the sides.

At this point I knew things weren’t looking good. This wasn’t a bar fight. The lives of my brother and my teammate were at risk. Not to mention, that innocent young girl whom they still held in their grasp. Plus, I could see savageness in the wolves that I’d never seen before. They were out for blood. I keep trying to move on from my past, but in this situation, it was going to save lives.

“Make ‘em count.”

It was all I hollered before the charging wolves arrived. Most of them were up front, with my brother. I wasn’t a huge fan of leaving him up there alone, especially with lycans coming at him from all angles, but I knew he could take care of himself. He was partially obscured from my view, but his opening move resembled some kind of gun spasm. Vector twisted, turned, and bent his body every which way, while firing in all directions, including over his shoulders. I smiled as the sound of several wolves yelping reached my ears. I’d have loved to stand there and watch him tear them apart, but there were other lives at risk.

The wolves wanted the girl alive, so I hoped we had enough time to thin the herd. Danny on the other hand, in addition to being fairly new to combat, was partially pinned down. I had to get there fast. There was a wolf bounding towards me from the front and two more coming from my right. Just to keep the difficulty level high, there was also a fourth wolf moving toward Danny.

The two wolves attacking from my right and the one going for Danny were all tan and the safe money said they were exact copies of the tan wolf still standing with the girl. The third wolf, charging from the front, was one of the earlier grey and white quintuplets. I decided naming these guys was going to be a pain. So, since many of them looked alike
; I fell back to the simplicity of the numbering system. That being settled, it seemed like the best way to get back to Danny was to allow GreyWhiteOne to help me.

He was flying through the air in the ever-popular werewolf claws and jaws attack. As I said before, while it looks scary and makes for good horror movies, it’s far from a sound tactic. The timing was going to be close, but I thought I could pull it off. Shifting to my left, I just got out of the way of GWOne’s claws, but stayed close enough to follow with a kick. My sidekick found his ribs, the force hitting him before his feet touched the ground. He was heavy and moving fast, but I put everything I had into the kick, and it was enough to redirect him into the other two wolves. TanOne and TanTwo were too close to move out of the way in time. I didn’t take any time to admire the comedy of the wolf tangle, instead vaulting over the crate behind me towards Danny.

TanThree was right on top of him, already slashing down with his claws. I hurled the shuriken in my left hand, hoping to get his attention. Unfortunately, he managed to slash Danny across the chest before my blades found their mark. The stars sunk deep into his back, the silver coating burning on contact. TanThree spun around, drool dripping from his gaping jaw as he snarled at me. See, silver shuriken are a great way to get a wolf’s attention. 

I knew the three wolves behind me wouldn’t be delayed for long, so I didn’t spend time messing around. TanThree swung his right claws at my head and I dipped underneath, my blade at the ready. I brought my sword up and through his arm, just in front of the elbow. The howl he made was
ear-piercing and I didn’t allow it to last long. Bringing my sword back, I made sure his protruding jaw was in the way, my blade taking his face off. It wasn’t a pretty picture, but if I wanted to keep Danny and the little girl alive, I knew now wasn’t the time to play nice. I spun around, keeping my body between my injured teammate and the three charging wolves.

TanOne and TanTwo had become the wingmen to GWOne, as the three of them flew through the air at us. I’d only managed a passing glance at Danny, but I could tell that the deep slash across his chest was not shallow. I heard him coughing and trying to speak, which I hoped was a good sign.

“Move right,” he coughed.

I shifted a bit to my right, preparing to meet GWOne, as I heard the gun go off. Danny fired several bullets at TanOne, catching the wolf in the shoulder, stomach, and thigh. The wolf yelped and crashed to the ground close by as his friends attacked. GWOne landed just in front of me and he immediately rushed forward. He was over seven feet of rage, claws, and muscle, and I didn’t like my chances of stopping his momentum. So, I used it.

A short slice with my sword dug the blade into his right forearm and pushed his arms to the side and out of my way. Then I grabbed his right triceps with my left hand and kicked his foot with my own. The result was a wonderful summersault through the air, sending GWOne crashing into some wooden crates behind us. Spinning around, I shifted back, just before TanTwo could slice my chest open. It was way too close, his claws actually ruining yet another of my wonderful polo shirts.

There was savageness to these wolves unlike our other fights. I’d seen wolves out of control before, but never quite like this. These were creatures of pure rage, no sign of humanity behind their eyes. If I didn’t know any better, I would have said that they were all wolf.

TanTwo slashed at my head with his right claws and I dipped out of the way. Stepping forward, I sliced the back of his arm and was rewarded with a yelp. He swung again and I used my sword to remove a few of his digits. The four fingers from his left hand fell toward the floor as he howled in pain. Before he could recover, I stepped forward and drove my sword up through his jaw and out of the top of his head. TanTwo went silent as blood poured down my blade.

Shoving the wolf to the ground, I put my foot on his chest and pushed, helping to draw my sword out of his head. I heard Danny cough again, before he exhaled heavily, and fired three more shots. His bullets caught TanOne in the chest, shoulder, and head, ending that fight. I saw Danny’s body sag in relief a moment before GWOne was about to land on top of him. What I did next isn’t something that I recommend trying at home. But, it was what I had at the time. Shifting all of my weight into the throw, I hurled my sword at the wolf.

I’m sure it goes without saying that a sword is not made for throwing. It’s not weighted or balanced properly. Heck, most of the sword wouldn’t even do much damage if it did hit. The flat of the blade, back of the blade, and handle are distractions at best. But, if you practice a lot and get a bit lucky, good things can happen. My sword hit blade first and bit deep into the wolf’s chest. Lycan muscle is tough and the force of my throw wasn’t enough to drive the metal clear through his body. But it was enough to stop the wolf in his tracks and buy me the two seconds I needed to get over there.

Flying jump kicks are another thing that should be used sparingly, if ever, in a fight. But, a sword in your opponent’s chest is often all the distraction you need to get away with it. Giving my best Bruce Lee impression, I flew through the air, my left foot connecting with GWOne’s jaw. He stumbled back, his flailing arms knocking my sword free from his chest and out of reach. I landed and continued forward, a strong front kick into his chest sending him back into a sturdy looking pile of wood. As my leg dropped back towards the ground, I grabbed the long silver dagger that I kept by my ankle. My other leg followed, kicking GWOne across the face, and providing me a chance to draw the other silver dagger.

I spun the blade in my right hand up, pointing towards the ceiling, while the dagger in my left was pointed towards the ground. There are advantages and disadvantages to both positions, which is why I enjoy splitting the difference if I’m holding a pair. GWOne spun towards me, roaring as he did. I had no intention of letting up. A quick swipe with my right put a cut across his thigh. He immediately replied with a claw swipe, which I ducked under, my left blade slicing across his forearm. It was a game of inches, me taking little cuts where I could find them, waiting for him to give me a better target. He swung two more times and I gave him slashes across his chest, shoulder, and face. But then, luck was not on my side. He tried to grab hold of me, that huge hand reaching for my face. I was happy to have the easy target, driving the dagger in my right hand through his palm. Unfortunately, he pulled his arm away too fast for me to retrieve my blade.

While losing a blade isn’t a huge deal, the fact that I held on a second too long was. He slashed across my forearm with his other claws and I barely managed to move in time to prevent serious damage. His cuts weren’t deep enough to cost me the use of my right hand, but they hurt like hell. I jumped back as he tried to press his advantage. Sadly for him, he didn’t have the advantage he thought he did. His right claws swung fast and sharp at my head. I rolled underneath the attack, feeling the claws just catch the back of my right shoulder. Spinning to my feet I drove the dagger in my left hand home, right into the center of his back. He instantly dropped to his knees, his arms reaching over his shoulders in an attempt to grab me. Because it was convenient, I snagged the handle to my dagger, which was still stuck through his hand, pulled it free, and introduced the blade to the back of his neck. His body stopped moving and fell lifeless to the ground.

I retrieved my daggers and gave Danny a quick look before I took off. He was clearly in a lot of pain and I didn’t really know how bad his wounds were. There were four claw marks across his chest, ending up the side of his neck. If he lived, those cuts would probably turn into very nasty scars. But I could still hear Vector’s guns firing in the distance, and I needed to get over there. Danny’s breathing was shallow and I knew there wasn’t much I could do for him right now anyway. So, I hoped he was strong enough to hang in there, while I rushed over the fallen debris towards my brother.

The scene was promising. Vector stood among seven wolf corpses, their bodies almost a perfect circle around him. He was pointing his guns in two different directions, and the sound of growling told me that there were two wolves left to deal with. They were using the debris for cover, and I was sure it was only a matter of time before Vector found the right angle. But, I didn’t know how much time Danny or the girl had, so I decided to speed things up.