Vixen & The Viper - Baby It's On The Cold Outside [a specterverse xmas novella]

Chapter Seven : Dancing Bears & Smoking Dragons

Mishka Ivanov

The nightmare never stops and I can't seem to wake up.. My body becomes stiff and paralysed, worsening with each passing moment.. I lose all sense of time, squatting down behind the wood stack.. The only thing I am certain of it's that it has been too long since Venom disappeared..

I sit in place for an eon, just waiting for the sound of a footstep or a twig snap, any kind of sign that I am not alone.. But there is so little to be heard over the wind..

The shooting has long stopped and the silence is now deadening.. Still, my blood surges on high alert, pumping through my veins at a million miles an hour..

He's been gone for way too long!
What if something happened to Venom?
I don't want him to get hurt..

That one thought alone is enough to release me from my catatonic state.. Unfurling from my cocoon, wobbling and swaying, I fight for command of my body.. Moving up into a crouch, I poke my head out to peer around the darkened yard, squinting into the velveteen abyss..

For the most part all I can see is white snow and black night...

As my eyes adjust, a frantic movement jerks my attention sideways and out of nowhere the shadowy shape of an aggressor runs at me.. Dressed in black thermals and hidden behind a mask, the spectre holds his arms outstretched, clasped within his hands is something metallic and black..

An assault rifle.. A really big one..

Oh my god..

I open my mouth to scream but before I can make a sound Venom barrels into my attacker, sacking him sideways with the force of a full body tackle and sending them both sprawling in the snow..

Grappling on the ground the two men fight with primal abandon, reduced to animals, battling to survive.. The upper hand passes swiftly between the two trained fighters, evenly matched in skill and ability.. Through the frenzy all I can hear are the visceral sounds of dampened thuds from swinging wild fists as they land heavy and hard.. Blood is sent spattering as the two trade various blows and choke holds and I lose track of who is bleeding from where..

Feliks runs into the fray, biting down on the ankle of the masked marauder.. The assailant howls in pain as he turns his blind rage on the dog, trying to wrestle himself free from savage canines..

Everything unfolds so quickly, yet somehow moves at a slow motion pace.. But I stand by, too transfixed to move..

The intruder kicks the dog hard and Feliks darts aside with a yelp.. "Arf!"