Return of Victory

by Justin Sloan

  “Great. Valerie’s there too and has a comm device, though she hasn’t been answering. Maybe you can try when you get close.”

  “Roger that. She’s probably in the thick of it, doesn’t want to give away her position.”

  “I don’t think she’d be too worried,” Sandra replied, imagining Valerie tearing through her enemies. “But yes, her being too busy makes sense. Just…bring her back safe.”

  “We’ll see you soon.”

  The comm device went to static and then turned off, leaving Sandra to stare at it for a moment. She almost wished she were out there kicking ass with them all. A child passed and looked up at her with a large smile, his eyes resting on her belly. She held it and said, “What’s your name?”

  “Kyle,” he replied. “I’m ready to fight too. Just let me know.”

  She smiled, trying not to seem like she was mocking him. “Thank you, Kyle. How old are you?”

  “Seven. But I’ve fought lots.”

  “We look forward to having you on our side then.” She gave him an encouraging nod. “Stay vigilant.”

  He stood proudly and walked back to his parents.

  Watching him and then joining the rest of them again, she smiled to herself. This was exactly where she belonged. She just hoped Espinoza and his team were getting close to Valerie and the others with her, and that the two groups didn’t accidentally fire on each other.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Outside New York

  For the tenth time, Valerie ignored the comm device as it signaled that someone was trying to get through. As much as she wanted to pick up and tell Sandra she and Diego were fine, she was a tad occupied.

  The first move had been to get everyone out of the airship. Since making it straight to the city was unrealistic, she had led them all over to the old train station, setting them up in defensible hiding spots.

  Although several small groups had run into the old railyard, they had been easy to take out. But now, as she watched the Pod open fire and zoom back toward them, she knew there was worse about to hit.

  The first volley of grenades and rockets hit the airship, blasting it to smithereens. Good thing they’d cleared out of there, but it was only a matter of time before the attackers directed that same firepower at the train station.

  On the one hand, it would be good to have them use up their explosives before the assault on New York. On the other, it could result in everyone’s deaths.

  “I’m moving up,” she told Diego. “You can come with me or not. Micky, we need someone strong to stay back here and hold up the defense, keep these people safe.”

  “Count on me,” Micky replied.

  “And you know I’m going with you,” Diego stated.

  She nodded. “I figured. I’m going dark, so keep out of my way.”

  He laughed. “And you mine.”

  “Deal.”

  Garcia cleared his throat. “You two know I’ve got to cover your asses. I’ll do my best to not cause trouble.”

  Valerie gave Diego a look that said she blamed him for this, but shrugged.

  “If you three don’t come back,” Micky started as he moved his grip on his rifle, “how’ll New York know we’re on the right side when we show up at their doorstep?”

  “If Lady Woo’s forces are powerful enough to take us out,” Valerie countered, “I wouldn’t worry about making it to New York.”

  “Well, thanks for that,” Micky grumbled.

  “You want me to lie and pull rainbows out of my ass, or tell you how it is? Point of fact, you can’t take on whatever they have that could actually kill us. Unless you have some magic you haven’t told me about?”

  Micky shook his head, not looking at her.

  “That’s what I thought. However, if all of this goes to hell but you somehow manage to make it to New York, just ask for Davies or Sandra and tell ‘em I sent you. They’ll treat you right.”

  She smiled in a way she hoped was encouraging and then, after pulling out her sword and her pistol, departed into the night. Diego’s scent followed, though he couldn’t keep up even when transformed. Somewhere back there Garcia was following too. She was pretty sure he could hold his own, but having a non-modified fighter out here amped up her worry level.

  Running along old train tracks and ducking behind overturned rusted rail cars, she had to wonder about the world before. A world where people used these and other modes of transportation to quickly move from city to city.

  Had it led to more peace, or less? Judging by the fact that the people of that time had been the ones to bring about the Great Collapse, she doubted very much that it had been a good thing. Bringing people together made sense, but when technology reached levels where complete idiots had their hands on massive weapons that could bring the world to its knees, something was wrong.

  A shot pinged off the door of a rail car she had passed moments ago and she knelt, eyes scanning the fallen boxcars and piles of garbage that occupied the grounds. Clouds were rolling in overhead, blocking out the moonlight. That meant she would have the advantage.

  Giving a push of fear, she heard a quick gasp from ahead past a turned-over shipping crate. A moment later the man popped up, rifle blasting randomly. He was scared, shooting in hopes of making a lucky hit, and then—with a growl, as Diego pounced—he was dead.

  Valerie darted forward, giving her friend a nod, and then aimed as two more shooters appeared. They were dead before they processed her arrival.

  To their right the airship was still in flames, casting deep shadows behind the surrounding shipping containers and rail cars. Smoke billowed over the railyard, so much now that its scent was blocking Valerie’s keen sense of smell.

  While losing olfactory and visual perception was annoying, she could still sense emotions of those nearby, which would help her locate anyone she couldn’t see or smell. Judging by the look of frustration on Diego’s cat-face when he came up behind her, he was more frustrated by the smoke issue.

  “Get to the far side and we’ll start picking them off before they realize where the others are,” Valerie whispered, then pointed to the place she was talking about.

  With a nod Diego moved out, his legs tense and ready to pounce should trouble present itself.

  Valerie followed, but then moved in an arc so she could approach from a different tangent.

  Her comm device vibrated, and she shook her head. Sword held out behind her, pistol up and at the ready, she charged forward. The men and women who had blasted the airship to bits were advancing in a line, weapons moving from right to left as they passed railcar after railcar looking for their prey.

  Valerie enjoyed lines. It was like they were all waiting for her to cut through them. As if they were begging for it.

  A man passed a shipping container and vanished, followed by a quick yelp.

  “Over here!” one of the men shouted, and the four closest followed suit. They leaped forward and fired, only to stop and stare in confusion. Then a growl sounded from behind them and Diego was pouncing again, taking them out.

  Valerie watched some of this and decided it was her turn. Eyes glowing red and feeling energy surge through her and pump her up, she ran for them, pistol blasting the first three before she was close enough to use her sword. That was when the slaughter began.

  Like a child kicking off the heads off dandelions, she ran through them, sword slashing and blood splattering. Heads fell, bowels were emptied, and guts spewed forth as more and more of them collapsed.

  When she had gone through half the line the others realized what was happening and broke, diving for cover. Screams followed as Diego tore into one and then another while shots were fired in Valerie’s direction.

  She dove to the side behind an old door hanging half off its hinges. Bullets pinged off it, giving her an idea. She leaped up and pulled the door free and then, holding the door by its handle, used it like a shield as she charged. She thrust it out and the door hit one man, sending him flying into an over
turned locomotive’s wheels behind him. She moved on as a barrage of automatic rifles spat at her.

  Some of the metal of the door had been chipped away and several bullets went right through, grazing her mostly, but one hit her in the gut.

  Pain. Horrible pain. She didn’t like pain.

  With a shout of anger, she pushed fear and threw the door at them. Half of them fell back in confusion and fright as the door took one in the head. By the time any of them processed what was happening she was on them, cutting them down as the hole in her belly healed.

  A quick worried growl came from Diego and Valerie turned in time to see a flamethrower being used nearby. While she was pretty damn powerful, she didn’t know if her body could heal fast enough to be okay with damage from a flamethrower.

  More shots accompanied it and she saw a flood of new fighters surging into the grounds.

  Then shots came from behind and some started to fall. She leaped out of the way of the flames, pulling her pistol.

  Again the comm device vibrated and she was about to hurl it at her opponents, but instead she picked it up in her moment of frustration and answered.

  “I’m a bit fucking busy!” she shouted into it, instantly regretting talking to Sandra like that.

  But it wasn’t Sandra’s voice that came through.

  “Someone called for an extermination crew?” a male voice said, chuckling. “You just sit back and keep on killing them from your end. We’ll do our thing over here.”

  “Who is this?” she said between shots, the most recent one hitting the flamethrower’s pack, which exploded and took out several nearby.

  “Nice shot!” he said.

  She spun, searching, and saw more shooting in both directions farther off.

  “Name’s Espinoza,” the voice said. “Colonel Walton sent us.”

  “Terry-Henry Walton?”

  “The same.”

  Valerie smiled, squinting to see if she could make them out in the distance. “Well, why didn’t you say so? Stop goofing off over there and come help me kill these assholes.”

  He laughed. “We’re working on it. Any chance you can clear a path and meet us in the middle?”

  “I’ll see you in five,” she replied.

  “Five minutes won’t be—”

  “Five seconds.” She darted out with a new level of excitement and shouted for Diego to try and keep up.

  A whimper sounded in response, but he came.

  Each second was marked by a slash of her sword, the swipe of her claws, and strikes that stole her enemies’ lives without mercy.

  “Four one-thousand,” she counted, driving the sword through a man’s body so hard that the force tore him in two. “Five one-thousand.” She spun, sword out, but stopped with the tip inches from a man’s throat.

  “That was precise,” he said, grimacing at the sword. “Do you mind?”

  “Confirmation?”

  “It’s me—Espinoza—sent by Colonel Walton.” Shots went off around them as his team, anxiously glancing at her, held their position.

  She lowered the sword and extended a hand, which he accepted. “Good, now let’s get these people out of here.”

  “This is it?” he asked, glancing over her shoulder at Diego.

  “They’re back there, by the—” Shots from the train station interrupted her. “Shit! Stay on my tail!”

  Anyone else would’ve made a joke right then, considering Diego’s rapid transformation and the fact that Colonel Walton was known to be romantically involved with a Were, but Espinoza just checked his rifle and signaled his men to follow. A testament to his military professionalism, she thought, though perhaps a tad boring.

  Valerie returned just in time to intercept a group of four men, two preparing a rocket launcher while another loaded a rifle. The man watching their backs had enough time to yelp at the sight of Valerie with her glowing red eyes before his head left his body. The others turned in shock, one pissing himself, while Valerie threw the man with the grenade back toward his own forces. Diego tore into the man with the rocket launcher, which he snatched out of the air before it fell.

  A glance backward showed a line of shooters, giving her an idea where the majority of the group was. Many were still advancing on New York.

  This could be fun, she thought as she prepared the rocket launcher. She had used one in training long ago under her brother’s supervision, but never like this, and never against people who actually deserved to die.

  With a blast of power it was off, the rocket screaming through the air, and then it hit and she wanted to laugh like a child at Christmas. Too bad she had friends to help right now.

  She turned to see a man running at her and hefted the rocket launcher like a baseball bat. BAM! His head went flying right back into the smoldering flames where the rocket had exploded.

  “Damn, no wonder the Colonel wants you to live through this,” Espinoza said with a whistle as he witnessed this. “I heard he’s starting a softball league.”

  “Oh, so the soldier actually does have a sense of humor.”

  He laughed. “When I see shit like that I’m torn between vomiting all over myself or making a joke. Guess which one I pick?”

  “Fair enough.” She dropped the rocket launcher and drew her sword again.

  They kept moving toward the train station, now behind the enemy. But as Espinoza’s team started picking them off, Valerie noticed a group moving toward the side of the building, otherwise unnoticed.

  “I’ll be right back,” she hissed in case anyone could hear her as she darted after them. Screams came from behind as Diego tore into more of the enemy, and shots flew all around.

  None of it fazed Valerie, though. She was in the zone. With so much fighting lately, this had become the new normal for her.

  “Hey, jackasses!” she shouted as she plowed through the group, taking the lead man with her. She leaped up onto a train with him before breaking him over her knee and dropping his squirming form to the ground for effect. “The last of you to be holding a gun dies the most painful death. If you surrender, I’ve been known to let defectors switch to our side. Your choice. Ten seconds.”

  To her surprise, one man dropped his rifle and stepped back. Unfortunately, the woman to his right lifted her pistol and shot him in the head before turning the weapon on Valerie.

  Or, at least, where Valerie had been a moment ago—now she was on the ground, sprinting to the woman’s side and driving her sword through the woman’s arm. She twisted and it popped off, leaving the woman to back away screaming.

  “Time’s almost up,” Valerie stated, stepping forward as she drove the sword into the woman’s foot, pinning her in place. “But I’ve changed my mind. This woman dies slowest. The rest of you? Let’s find out.”

  Five of them were left, two taking a step back and looking unsure, a third turning and making a run for it.

  That left two courageous idiots to try and kill her. She shook her head, let down. She had hoped they would be smart enough to all surrender or all attack at once—none of this half-assed teamwork.

  Oh well, they were probably the type she wouldn’t want on her side anyway, if that was their level of discipline.

  Since it sounded like the others had the assault under control, she decided to freshen up on her hand-to-hand combat. When the first man came at her swinging his rifle like he was going to butt-stroke her, she leaped aside like a lion pouncing, following the motion with a kick to the man’s leg that sent him to his knees. A one-two punch combo sent him to the ground, dead.

  The other wasn’t as much fun, running at her and screaming. All it took was a punch to the throat and it was over. Since one of her punches could obliterate a wall, it wasn’t surprising that it brought such carnage to a soft throat, but still, she had been looking forward to a fight.

  Judging by the sound of gunfire out there and the numbers she had seen, she would have her chance. Right now it was time to reconnect with Espinoza and the team and get ev
eryone to safety.

  ***

  Diego and Garcia had already met up with Cammie, Royland, and the others and just taken out the last of their attackers when a new round of shots sounded from the east side of the building.

  He paused, then held a hand up to stop Garcia from firing down the platform.

  “I think we’re good.”

  Garcia frowned. “Maybe your Were ears aren’t as good as I thought.”

  “We have reinforcements.”

  “Oh?”

  A final shot and then forms appeared, emerging from the platform exit. “Garcia, you old bull, the balls you’ve got coming out here without us!”

  Garcia frowned, then his eyes lit up. “No shit! Is that you, Espinoza?”

  A second later the two groups were running at each other. Garcia had embraced each of them in turn and was introducing them to Micky and the others.

  “These ol’ bastards served with me under Colonel Walton,” he explained. “Espinoza here’s one of the hardest men around, and I don’t just mean in the bedroom.”

  “The hell do you know about me in the bedroom?” Espinoza said, mock-punching him in the gut. “Your mom been telling stories again?”

  “Oh, hell no.” Garcia held out his rifle. “Someone take this before I shoot one of my best buddies.”

  “Boys,” came another welcome voice—Valerie’s, “do try to act like gentlemen when ladies are present.”

  “Hey, our ladies can dish it out as good as either of those two,” Micky countered, giving a nod to the redhead beside him. “Probably take ‘em in a fight, too.”

  “I was talking about me,” she replied with a grin. “And I know I could take them both, so let’s not start pissing in the wind and hoping it doesn’t come back to haunt us. Everyone ready?”

  “My apologies,” Espinoza stated.

  Espinoza and Garcia returned to their alert, battle-ready stances, the others moving to the areas where walls had once stood, weapons at the ready in case there was trouble. Cammie was at the edge of one of the broken walls, Royland at the other, using their keen sight as lookouts.