Tares City

96. A Hell Of A Ride

DEAN STRAKEN

"This is the place," Jackson announces as the group of them crouches low between the trailer containers. "This is where your uncle is hiding. Ready for the family reunion?"

"Yes," Arrow replies with a nod. "Let's do this quick so we can get to Rockwell."

"All teams, move in." Dalton begins rattling off into his walkie-talkie. Gunshots sound in the night as the teams carry out their orders–Breech and clear a path.

Clayton secured approximately twenty men for their cause, all willing to join a firefight of unknown outcomes for no gains to themselves. Dean wondered where he possibly found them, but didn't voice it. He was glad for the extra manpower. Next to him, Arrow rearranges the hold on her gun. All their weapons dipped in various concoctions of poisons. Nicholas and Clayton also had with them a backpack filled with poison needles, ready to be injected. It was Jackson's idea to flood his system with it in hopes of weakening him. It seemed slightly excessive to Dean, but Jackson was the one with previous experience here.

Jackson had told them to be prepared to face hell, and so they packed poison grenades, poison-dipped bullets, and poison-coated guns.

The entire moment felt surreal to Dean as if he were an actor waiting for the director to yell action.

"Let's go!". Dalton orders, leading the group of them. Staying low, they all move in their group following Dalton.

Entering the open door, they make their way through the hall, passing the bodies of Elmaan's fallen security. Dalton was leading them to the firefight, with no hesitation in his movements. "THE LEFT WING! SECOND ARGGHH!" Dean hears over the walkie-talkie.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THA-AHHH!" Another comes through.

"Pick up the pace!" Dalton orders, breaking into a jog–Everyone following suit. "GET your grenade ready. We're going in with a heavy assault!" He yells to them. Dean pulls out two of his.

Dean's heart pounded loudly in his chest, like a drum in a quiet room. His adrenaline was through the room, blood pumping wildly through his veins. He mentally readied himself for the monster that was once the miserable old man he knew–but nothing he imagined came close to what they came to face.

"Throw it! Throw it!" Dalton yells, breaking off to the side as he throws his grenades. Spreading out, they all do the same before grabbing a hold of their guns immediately after. Jackson and Dalton start firing first, both aiming at hitting the head.

Blood splattered with each bullet. Dean was amazed, shocked, and terrified. His body went into autopilot as his mind tried to comprehend what he saw. He knew he was looking at Elmaan Berlin, but what he was looking at wasn't something that existed in the world.

Ten feet tall by his guess, its limbs bulbous bloated limbs swollen as if they were overfilled water balloons. Elmaan 's skin had now taken on a pale translucent complexion, black veins seen underneath it from the distance. His stomach was thin, ribcage pushing against the thin transparent skin, his dark black organs visible. On his legs, and one of his arms, were patches of thin black fur. Elmaan's head was swollen and enlarged to match the size of his body. His eyes were completely white, teeth elongated into canines that reached outside his mouth. The nose was that of a Lycan as well as his ears, and Dean had to believe those were the only normal supernatural features on him. His claws had another set of claws atop them, pitch black and jagged.

His growls and roars sound like hundreds of nails scratching against a chalkboard. His blood was a thick sludge that trickled slowly out of his bullet wounds, none making any significant damage to his skin.