Big Bad Wolfie

They're coming in so fast, and there are so many of them.

How in the hell is my little group of ragtag volunteers supposed to distract them without getting ourselves killed.

I looked up at the sky for answers.

And I actually got some.

The trees.

The roofs.

It's a long shot, but it could work.

"Follow me everyone!" I ran off towards Wolfie's above ground arsenals.

But first we need to get everyone else as strapped as I am.

We ran building to building, trying our best to keep from drawing the attention of the hybrids now running through our streets.

It occurred to me that the only reason I haven't been ripped to shreds by dozens of hybrids by now is because the group that I'm with is somewhat masking my scent.

The hybrids have no concern for the weaker scents of the pack, probably saving them for last.

I sent a quick thanks to the Moon goddess for my luck but felt a twinge of guilt in my chest. I need to hurry up and get into the fight. It's not fair that I'm just sitting pretty while my house and pack are fighting for their lives.

I tried to pick up my pace in anticipation but realized the others were having trouble keeping up.

I tried to take a deep breath in order to chill the f*ck out, but that didn't work at all.

I got a nose full of hybrids and blood.

At least nothing is burning yet.

I heard an explosion off in the distance.

Of course. Never mind then.

That seemed to light even more of a fire under everyone's tail.

As we moved, the smell of smoke grew stronger until you could see it polluting the air.

Fear grew in my chest.

The likelihood of them having targeted the closest above ground arsenal to us is growing every second.

Once we made it to the the clearing my heart dropped.

This didn't used to be a clearing.

It used to be a building full of weapons. Now it's just ash, rubble, and a single wall left standing.

I turned to the small group of wolves. "Stay here. I'm going to see if any of the weapons are salvageable," I ordered.

They all nodded, so I made quick work of sprinting over as sneakily as possible.

I ducked behind the only wall left standing, just in case whoever set off the explosion was still around.

That's when all h3ll broke lose.

I heard shots fire and screams, and my head whipped to that direction. I found hybrids ransacking a house with bullets flying out of it. Hybrids aren't huge fans of guns. They prefer making their kills by ripping flesh from bone with their poisonous knives, teeth and claws. F*cking monsters.

But that means there's probably a werewolf in that house.

I immediately started scrambling around the rubble to try and find something I could use against the hybrids.

Then the shots stopped coming and I heard the ripping of flesh and splatter of blood. The tortured yells of a man tore at my ears.

Tears sprung to my eyes as the screams of children and a woman came next as they fled out the side door of the house with a hybrid hot on their tails.

I grabbed the next thing my hand landed on. It was a lead pipe that I'm pretty sure was part of the fallen structure rather than a weapon it used to hold, but it's better than nothing.

I moved to pounce on the hybrid right on the heals of the small family but was tackled to the ground by a hybrid in wolf form.

Their nails dug into my shoulder as I shoved the lead pipe between their jaws to keep them from ripping my face off.

I was distracted by the hollar of the mother as one of her two children was ripped from her grasp by the hybrid.

She threw herself onto him with the same foolishness of any desperate mother, but he just swiped her away, giving her a gnarly chest wound in the process.

Her young daughter cried next to her as she struggled to get back up to retrieve her son.

The hybrid on top of me was also distracted by the scene. Most definitely by the blood flowing from the mother's chest and not the tragedy of it all, but it works for me either way.

I used the hybrid's weakened state to shove my feet into the sensitive skin of their stomach and rammed my sharpened nails into their throat. It screeched anomalistically above me and started trying to rip my face off again.

I swung my leg over its side to try and turn the tables and get some leverage.

I pushed my hips up and twisted, swinging the pipe out of their mouth and bringing it down on their head.

I heard a crack when it connected, and they fell on their side. A growl followed shortly after, so I knew I didn't have much time to get over to the other hybrid attacking the family, now also in wolf form.

I sprung up and found the woman sinking her fangs into the hybrid's neck from behind. The hybrid started bucking and growling violently.

That sight is when it clicked in my brain that this was no werewolf family.

They're vampires. They're from my house.

I have no idea what they're doing here, at Wolfie's pack. There are tons of reasons and jobs that could have placed them here, but my real question is if they were vulnerable and with children, why the h3ll weren't they in hiding with everyone else?

I can't think about that right now. Realizing they are one of my own sent a bolt of urgency through me.

I ran over to them, thinking about how this little family should have been quick work for any hybrid.

I guess it's lucky that hybrids like to play with their food.

The hybrid howled and ripped the women off his back with fangs of his own and threw her to the ground.

But this one is pissed.

The wind was knocked out of her as she struggled to get back up.

I was ready to tackle him before he could chomp down on her neck and end it all, but he did something that surprised both of us.

He left her there and went after her children that had run off, assumably after their mother had ordered them to.

My heart dropped as I tried to catch up with with him before he could get to them, but something caught my foot, making me fall on my face.

I let out a yell at the searing pain that spread up my leg. I looked back to find the hybrid I'd hit over the head in human form with his vampire fangs bared, and a knife lodged into my ankle.

I frantically looked back to the kids to see if they were still okay, but found the hybrid practically on top of them.

I gritted my teeth at the honestly unbearable pain as the hybrid smiled at me and dragged me closer by the leg.

I kicked them in the face and made their nose bleed but they didn't even flinch.

At this point, I'm just desperate to help my house members.

I kicked over and over and over. Not really aiming, just hitting everything I could find.

I doubt I did any damage.

I heard screams behind me and swiveled my head around in alarm to see what's going on.

I was able to see the hybrid snatch the little boy off the ground by his arm with his razor sharp teeth.

I swung back around, focusing on freeing myself again and not the mother screaming bloody murder for her child.

The hybrid above me tore the knife from my leg and winded up to bring it down on my heart. I used two hands to catch their wrist to keep my heart from becoming a shish kebab.

Once they were struggling to shove it closer I took a deep breath and made a move.

I used one hand to redirect the knife to the ground next to my torso, and the other to grab the hybrid's messy mop of hair.

I felt the knife and sting of poison graze my side, but ignored it. There's no time for pain right now.

Using the new grip and their own body weight, I rammed their head into the ground and drove the pipe through their eye.

It was a gruesome sight, and I'll probably have nightmares about it for a while, but that's war.

I ripped the knife from the ground and readied to pounce on the hybrid that was holding the child.

He slammed the boy down to the ground and opened his jaws near his head.

"NO!" I hollered at the same time his mother let out a heart wrenching scream.

While this was happening, I lifted my arm to throw the knife and released.

It connected and pierced through the side of the hybrid's skull.

But it was too late.

While the knife was flying through the air, the hybrid locked his fangs around the child's head and tore it from his shoulders.

His mother fell to the ground in sobs after the ordeal, clutching her screaming daughter that she retrieved after the hybrid snatched her son.

I fell to my knees after her. Partly from the pain spreading through my body from the poison, but mostly from the life and house member I just failed to save. That's my job. That's what I'm meant to do.

Now this family lost two of its members, a son and whoever was their last line of defense in the house before they had to flee, and I could have stopped it.

But I didn't.

The mother crawled closer to her

crawle

mangled son but stopped when his

sister followed. She ended up

settling where she was, feet away from her baby boy, crying into the empty sky with her daughter clutched tightly to her chest.

Her eyes met mine for a single moment and my heart broke further.

My voice was caught in my throat as I chocked up under her gaze. There's only one thing I can even think of saying.

"I'm so sorry," I cried and shook my head. "I'm so, so sorry."

The mother just continued sobbing into her daughter's hair.

I got another whiff of hybrids closing in and it made something click in my brain.

I can't just sit here and wallow in this pain any longer. I can't let this happen again.

I came here for a reason, and it was to find a way to distract the hybrids and give our troops a better chance of winning the war, so that no one will ever be hurt by them again.

I forced myself off the ground and ignored the throbbing and unbearable pain, once again.

I limped over to the small family with tears of sadness still streaming down my face, and cringed when the mother flinched as I touched her.

"We have to get you two to a safe place," I tried to tell her.

She shook her head and refused to leave the body if her child.

"Maria?" Someone yelled from behind me.

I turned to see who. It was one of our house warriors, Ocean, I think his name was.

"You're hurt," he looked around at the messy scene and down at me, concerned.

"Don't worry about me. We need to get them somewhere safe," I gestured at the distraught woman and her daughter.

"Of course," he nodded swiftly as he moved to help them up.

He faced some resistance, but with the both of us we managed to sway her.

Something dawned on me. "What are you doing all the way out here?" I asked.

All capable warriors are preparing to fight.

"Jason was getting worried that you

hadn't shown up at the front lines yet, so he sent me to find you," he explained "He didn't wanna radio you because he didn't want sound to alert the hybrids of your

location in case you were

Vulnerable."

A good move on his part. I was surrounded by vulnerable people, therefore making me vulnerable too.

I nodded.

"We've gotta get you three to safety," he said, walking the mother and her child in a new direction.

I shook my head. "I have a group waiting for me to help them slow these monsters down so you all have more time to prepare," I gestured at him.

He sighed. "We do need more time. We're still hoping allies to the west will respond to our last minute call for help."

I nodded along in acknowledgment.

"But Maria, you need a doctor," he protested.

"I'll get a doctor once this fight is over."

It was his turn to shake his head, "We both know that's not realistic, and you're no use to anyone weak from blood loss."

I gave him the side eye for his boldness.

I may not act like it half the time, but I do call the shots around here.

"Ma'am," he added on cheekily.

I rolled my eyes and sighed.

He's right.

"Alright, but someone still needs to buy the front line time." I looked to him.

He gave a swift nod, "If you give me

the coordinates of where you left your group and run me down on the plan, I'll take care of it. There's a barn I found that we've turned into a safe house slash clinic out of necessity. You three can go there."

The idea of so many vulnerable people holed up somewhere like a barn concerned me, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

I sighed. "Thank you," I told him.

Instead of bothering with the coordinates, I just pointed to the building I left the group in. I broke down the crappy plan and apologized to him for the lack of detail.

He told me he was a captain and that it was his job to refine crappy plans from higher up.

I probably would have been more offended if it wasn't true and we weren't in the middle of battle.

He gave me the coordinates of the barn and the three of us set out on our way there.

I limped beside the broken pair, and tried to keep a comforting arm around their backs without using them as a crutch.0000