by Justin Sloan
"Children?" Valerie asked, hating where this was going. But she had to ask. "Do they kill innocent children?"
"Kill, enslave, and worse."
"But you, I saw back there, one of yours, a young girl…?" Valerie tensed, waiting to see how he’d handle his contradiction.
"She lost her parents and her little brother," he said, hanging his head. "Killed by the one they call the Alligator. She had nowhere else to go, and insisted on being one of the ones to attack today."
Valerie sheathed her sword, said, "Well, shit," and then startled at the sound of shooting a couple of floors below them.
"Valerie?" Mecha’s voice sounded, distant but distinct. "We’re coming for you!"
With a quick glance at Jackson, she shook her head and said, "I’m going to regret this," then she bent down, grabbing Jackson and slung him over her shoulder. "If I don’t get you out of here and hidden, they are going to kill you."
He squirmed, clearly not liking being slung over her shoulder like this. "So it’s safe to assume that’s no longer your intention?"
"It’s safe to assume that, for now."
And then she turned and left the building.
The Fallen Lands
Diego’s legs were actually starting to get tired, all four of them. He hadn’t run this far ever, and couldn’t imagine how Cammie was doing it without complaint.
Of course, he was damn sure not about to admit that a wolf could outrun a puma. No way in hell.
It had been an interesting run, at least. The weather seemed to go from hot to cold and back again without much warning, and the lack of clean water had been incredibly frustrating. They’d stopped twice at pools of water to drink, and Cammie reminded him that, as Weres, their stomachs would be able to heal from any nastiness consuming contaminated water would bring with it.
That didn’t mean he wouldn’t feel the pain when his stomach revolted for the few minutes before healing itself, and he certainly did. He even had to stop for a moment, and breathe heavy a few times to stop himself from vomiting.
Then it was over, and he had some catching up to do. Cammie stood on the horizon in wolf form, staring back at him as the sun lowered in the distance. Tall, almost golden grass swayed in the breeze around her, casting a warm glow upon her fur.
He pushed himself on, and when he caught up with her, she nodded for him to have a look.
Somehow he’d missed it—the golden gleam of the city below, if you could call it a city. After his eyes adjusted, he could see that it was the sun reflecting off of a whole shit-load of sheet metal, which, if you knew where to look, appeared to be hiding movement beneath it. His enhanced smelling ability picked up chicken roasting and when he listened, he could hear the bustle of people.
This was it, he realized. The Golden City.
When he looked back to Cammie, she was already buttoning her black shirt, stolen boots and trousers already in place.
"Hurry up," she said. "They don’t like outsiders approaching in animal form. They take it as a sign of aggression.
He transformed, staying at a kneel as he dressed, in case anyone was watching the skyline.
Cammie scoffed. "Little buddy, they know we’re coming. They would’ve known for the last half-mile or so."
"Then why not just come out and confront us?" he said, glancing around to see if there were scouts about. Not noticing any, he turned to continue on when--
--A wolf leaped out from the golden grass, transforming as it landed. A man stood before them.
"Maybe to wait until you’re well within our grasp," the man said.
Cammie and Diego exchanged a look that on his part said, Oh shit, but on hers was a simple, I knew it.
More appeared, men and women, all nude, all prepared to switch back and attack, if necessary.
"They like to listen, see if we’re friend or foe," Cammie said, then nodded to the man. "Bradley, I’d ask how it’s hanging, but as we can all see, it’s still clearly to the left."
The man, Bradley, grunted and then smiled a nasty smile that revealed red, stained teeth. "I’d ask what was worth coming back to finally receive your death sentence, but I really don’t care. Watching you squirm as Adrien tears you limb from limb will be a beautiful sight."
Diego glanced back at her, wondering what she’d done that could mean a death sentence here, and desperately wanting to know why she hadn’t divulged that little bit of obviously important information before now.
"It doesn’t matter," she said to him, then waved off Bradley. "What we’ve come for is bigger than any squabbles, and I’m sure Adrien would agree."
One of the women, dark skinned and slender, stood behind Cammie and nodded for her to get walking. "We’ll just have to take you to him and see if that’s true."
The other woman in the group took her place at Cammie’s other shoulder. The men stood at Diego’s sides, and they led them forward. It was odd, walking in the daylight of late afternoon surrounded by nude men and women, and Diego found himself trying to concentrate on the sheet metal ahead to keep himself from gawking.
They reached the edge of the sheet metal, and from here Diego could see into the city. It was sunken into the ground, a decline leading down an opening in the metal, and yet it wasn’t dark, not completely—areas of the sheet metal above were left open and more was used below to reflect the light through the city, giving it all an otherworldly, golden hue.
Once in, the escorting Weres stopped at old lockers, where they found clothes and dressed. The dark skinned woman caught him glancing over, as she bent to pull on her pants, and he quickly averted his eyes, only to see one of the men at an angle that left him very impressed and slightly insecure. The man smiled and winked, tucked himself in and zipped up his pants, all in a quick motion before Diego had time to realize that now both of these Weres thought he’d been checking them out!
A glance over to Cammie showed she’d at least noticed the second, and was looking at him like she’d found out his darkest secret.
"I had no idea," Cammie said. "Is there something about Sandra we should know? Or rather, does she have something we should know about?"
He rolled his eyes, "Can you cut me just one freaking break?" Diego turned in exasperation to look out at the city, its hovels and the milling Weres. Many of them turned to see the newcomers, and Cammie leaned over and put an arm around him.
His voice, monotone, asked her, "What’re you doing?"
"Just, it’s kind of fun to know you play for both teams," she said with a laugh. "I feel so much closer to you now."
"It wasn’t like that, and if it had been, so what?" He glanced back to see the Weres were about ready to continue on. "Besides," he lowered his voice, "you see a python, you look. That beast was scarily impressive."
Cammie smirked at that. "Fucking A it was."
He shrugged her arm off and ran his fingers through his hair. "How about this city, huh?"
"A tactful change of subject? Accepted." She folded her arms, the smile fading as she looked out at the city. "Not sure you can call it that, actually, and honestly, I’d rather be just about anywhere else but here."
"What’d you do to piss off the Alpha?"
She looked at him, considering, then shook her head. "Another time."
Bradley and the others took their places and led them on again. It was like a hidden gem down here, hidden from the view of passing Weres and vampires, or humans with nefarious plans.
Not that people did much passing by here, Diego suspected. Unless it was a random movement by a nomad tribe.
"You’ll be frisked at the door," the man who’d winked at Diego said when they stopped at a large house cut into the rock. "Shouldn’t take more than a minute or so."
Diego frowned and turned to see one of the women frisking Cammie, so he didn’t say anything as the man bent down to search his ankles. Those hands were huge, he noted as they moved around his legs like a butcher handling sausages.
And then they moved up, and the
metaphor become a bit of a reality.
"Hey," Diego said, glaring first down and then looking around for help.
Bradley just chuckled, and the dark skinned woman had just finished frisking the underside of Cammie’s breasts, so no sympathy there.
"Got to be thorough in our check." The guy winked again.
"Something tells me not that thorough," Diego said. "And stop winking at me."
The guy shrugged and chuckled to himself, and then motioned for Diego to go on. The lady found Cammie’s pistol and knife, and handed them to the others for safe-keeping.
"I’m getting those back," Cammie said, not a question.
"Dead Weres have no need of weapons," the woman replied as she tucked the pistol into the waist of her pants.
Cammie let out an annoyed grunt and then led the way, without being shown or told she could, through the ornate doors and into the strange, carved house. When Diego followed her in, he saw it wasn’t a house at all, but a large, dark room—so dark that you couldn’t even see to the other side.
She appeared to be shaking, and more than ever Diego felt the tension. As much as he knew they all needed to work together, he was suddenly overcome with doubt, and felt himself starting to deal with the shakes, too.
Enforcer HQ
Sandra turned with a start, surprised to see Royland burst into Valerie’s office. His eyes went wide with surprise when he saw her perched up on the desk which had been pushed over to the window. It was the only way she’d been able to figure how to shoot at the base of the building, where the fighting was happening.
"Where’s Valerie?" he said. "The other vampires?"
"Val went after the attackers," Sandra said. "The other vampires…" She craned her neck, then spotted the building opposite, not the one she’d assumed Valerie had gone into, but the other. Suddenly, a man went flying through a window and nearly landed on someone below. "I think that’ll be them."
Royland shook his head in disbelief. "Curse this inability of mine to go out in the day."
"The other leaders?" Sandra asked.
"Half of them ran to join the fighting," Royland said. "I coulda stopped them, but Valerie didn’t give orders to use force, so…"
"Good call, most likely." She took aim and saw that two of the attackers were waving for another group to move back. They had them on the run.
"Keep the building secure," she said, slinging her rifle over her shoulder.
"Where are you going?" He stared at her incredulously. "Valerie’s out there, and so are Yuko and Akio. I think they’ll be fine."
"As powerful as they are, I'm not leaving this to chance." She ran for the door, but paused momentarily, turning back to Royland and holding out the sniper rifle. "Know how to use one of these?"
He nodded.
"Good, cover me, if you can." She tossed him the rifle and then made her way to the elevator. Once she reached the lobby, she grabbed an Enforcer assault rifle from the small armory room off to the side, motioned for Wallace, Ella, and Peterson—who had been defending the lobby with a squad of others—to follow her, and charged out into the waning light.
"I’ve saved Valerie one too many times to just hope she’ll make it back," Sandra explained, leading them to the building on the left. "She went into that one."
They darted across the open area, but half-way across a straggler opened fire on them. A second later, a sniper’s shot rang out from above, and Sandra glanced back to see Royland give her a wave. She was going to have to ensure he got his own sniper rifle—judging by that shot. The two of them could do some major damage if given the chance.
They leapt up and sprinted for cover at the edge of the building.
"You realize this city’s worse off than before Valerie took over?" Ella said, squatting to look around the corner.
Suddenly the wall next to them exploded outward, followed by a body that fell to the ground at their feet.
Akio kicked down the rest of the wall, and then strode out. He gave them a quizzical look.
"Have you seen Valerie?" Sandra asked.
"Yuko went to check the other building," he said.
"Up here!" Yuko said, and they all turned to see her looking out from a window. "Only bodies in this one, but it looks like she took off that way." Yuko pointed past them, away from Enforcer HQ. "I’ll search high, you search low."
Sandra nodded, but hesitated. "We can’t leave Headquarters unguarded."
"Isn’t the place full of Weres and vampires?" Akio said.
"He has a good point," Wallace agreed.
But Sandra shook her head. "Vampires that can’t come out in the daylight. Though that won’t be a problem much longer, it’ll be dark soon. But we could use one of you back there in case anything worse than this hits us."
Akio frowned, but nodded. "I got this. Go."
Sandra nodded and motioned the others to stay close, while above Yuko disappeared into the building. A moment later, they saw a shadow leap from one rooftop to another, and they figured it was her.
At the next building over, Sandra glanced back to see Wallace reach over and squeeze Ella’s hand.
"Hope I didn’t interrupt one of your makeout sessions," Sandra said.
"Can we not discuss my sister’s love life while I’m here?" Peterson said, slamming another clip into his pistol.
Ella glared at Sandra, but blushed. "For your information, we’ve been a bit too busy to get down since your friend came along."
"You seem a little bitter about the whole thing," Sandra said, then dashed across the street and waited for others to follow.
When Ella was half-way there, someone shot at them, but Wallace was quick to put a bullet in the man’s head, then Peterson followed up with two more to the chest.
Ella joined them, chest heaving, and said, "I’m bitter because your little battle cost the lives of a lot of my friends."
"Seeing as they were on the side of evil, along with yourself, I’d be a little more grateful about keeping your head."
With a scoff, Ella asked, "You’re one to talk, running around out here like you have nine lives. What’s your story?"
"Being trained by vampires on how to fight will give a girl confidence."
Ella’s expression changed when she heard that—but it wasn’t clear if it was respect or disgust, or maybe a little of each.
A figure leapt down from above, landing lightly on the ground giving them all a start. But it was just Yuko.
"Anything yet?" Sandra asked, glad to have the distraction from the way the conversation was going. Part of her wondered how dedicated Ella really was, and every time she confronted her about it, she got a little more worried.
"Not a sign," Yuko said. "But she was chosen by Michael, so she must be able to handle herself. I think we should head back. She might already be back."
"You all can, but not me," Sandra said. "I want to make sure."
"The vamp lady makes a good point," Ella said, and Sandra figured she was looking for any excuse to get away from her.
Sandra glared as she watched Ella and Wallace walk off with Yuko. They turned a corner, but just when they were out of sight, a scream sounded.
Sandra and Peterson rushed over to see what it was. Ella was kneeling over a corpse—not Wallace or Yuko, but one with its head nearly blown off from a gunshot.
At first it felt like just another death, but then Sandra saw the nametag on the uniform.
"Peterson?" Sandra asked, wondering why the name tag had the same name as the Peterson standing next to her.
"It’s our last name," Peterson said, his jaw locked out and eyes furious. "He was our cousin."
"Shit…" Sandra said.
"But this isn't a completely fresh kill." Yuko knelt to examine the body, then glanced down the side street and saw more, and dried blood. "Whatever happened here… it wasn’t natural. It wasn’t just another one of your fighters."
"You’re saying what, then?" Peterson asked. "That this was the work of Weres or vam
pires?"
Yuko seemed to be concentrating on choosing her next words wisely, but then she just bowed her head and said, "Gomenasai, I’m sorry for your loss."
Peterson stood and kicked the wall.
"Let’s finish this shit," Ella said, checking her rifle.
"You’re not going back then?" Sandra asked.
"I want answers, and the way I figure, Valerie would only be missing if something powerful got to her. The same something that did this." Ella paused, then said, with a hint of hesitation, "That, or Valerie did it. In which case, she has some explaining to do."
Ella led the way now, away from HQ, with her brother and Wallace following.
Yuko touched Sandra’s arm, and gave her a look that said to wait. Then she leaned in close and said, "By the looks of it, judging by what happened and when you said he was here…"
"Michael’s handiwork?" Sandra asked, guessing where she was going with this.
Yuko nodded.
"Well merde, merde, merde," Sandra said, turning her eyes to the backs of Ella and the other two. This information could certainly cause some issues with the team. "Best we can do now is hope they don’t find out then."
The Golden City
Cammie walked tall, head high and eyes unblinking. She was the only female Alpha she knew of, and dammit, she wasn’t about to show fear simply because she’d returned to confront her past.
Especially not in front of Diego.
"Cammie, Cammie, Cammie…" A voice said, one she recognized all too well.
Cammie bowed her head in recognition. "Greetings, Adrien." She looked up. "It's been too long."
Adrien leaned forward, hand holding a stick with a rock attached to the end, one she imagined he used to beat people he wasn’t pleased with. The carved rock chair he sat in gave him a kingly look, though the way his shaggy hair hung, matted around his shoulders and his hairlip gave him a less than kingly disposition.
"You abandoned us, and now you come back." He laughed, a scratchy laugh that echoed in the dark chamber. "Knowing full well your punishment would be death, you returned to us. Why?"
