Sinner

Part 14 Face-to-Face with the Berserker

"N...N...NOOO!" A loud high-pitch scream pierces the frigid air. The bloodcurdling shriek rends the quietude of the night and sends spine chilling cold coursing through me.

Keenan and I halt our steps and dash towards the origin of the scream. We have been tracking the Berserker since the sun set. The werewolves of the Chicago pack have been warned beforehand to stay indoors when we arrived. Before they go into hiding, they were ordered to clear and seal off the area where the Berserker was last seen and expected to appear.

When night fell, we are the only hunters out in the city. Or at least that's what I thought. Apparently the victim had different ideas from the rest of the populace and decided to wander into places he or she wasn't to be at in the first place.

Sighing mentally, I rush into the alley and steel myself against the confrontation with the monster which turned me into the creature I am now.

Turning into the mouth of the alley behind Keenan, I come face-to-face with the Berserker. I stare into the heart of the malevolent storm. Ominous glowing red eyes floating within a huge black formless mass pins its attention on me while its bloody razor sharp claws take another swipe at the unresisting dead corpse sprawled on the ground. Blood splatters against the dirty alley walls. Entrails slip out of the corpse's sliced abdomen. The air reeks of the smell of blood and violence.

Fear rolls off me in waves when a tsunami of dark intimidating menace and roiling hatred crash into me. Memories of frightened panic and despair threaten to pull me under. Unconsciously, I take a step backward.

Just as I start to lose focus, Keenan steps directly in front of me, blocking the sight of the Berserker from me. Not in its direct line of sight anymore, I recover my composure slightly. My hands are trembling badly and my knees threaten to give way.

"Back away slowly. We'll lure it out of the alley where we have more space to wield our weapons," Keenan orders calmly.

Retreating out of the alley, the Berserker lost interest in its dead victim and follows us out of the alley. Once we reach open space, Keenan leaps for its eyes and slashes swiftly with his silver knives. He stabs through the eyes before nimbly skipping back and away from the Berserker. Blinded, the Berserker howls in rage and hurt.

I run behind a far wall and set up my gun. Once I took my aim, I fire several silver bullets consecutively into the black mass. Wounded, the Berserker thrashes and slices its claws through the air randomly. The silver does its job and the Berserker black formless mass gradually begins to coalesce into the vague shape of a huge werewolf.

Not letting up, I quickly refill the chambers of my gun and take aim again for the Berserker. This time I empty more shots of silver bullets into its body and in the vicinity of its head and heart. The thick black mist surrounding the cursed werewolf starts to seep into its skin and a defined hulky looking werewolf finally replaces the black formless mass. Its body, oozing with dark viscous liquid, is wounded by my silver bullets and now is forced to take on the shape of a werewolf. It is now Keenan's turn.

During the barrage of my shoot-out, it has its arms raised and shielding its head as best as it could. By now, though injured, it has regained its sight. The Berserker growls fiercely as its menacing glowing eyes wildly searches for its targets.

Not giving it time to think, Keenan rushes it. As if prepared for Keenan's attack, the Berserker swiftly moves and instead of embedding his silver knives deep into the Berserker's heart, the knives graze the Berserker's arm.

I refill my bullets and take aim again. This time, the gun is aiming for its heart. When I fire the shot, the Berserker instinctively ducks and the bullet lodges itself into the Berserker's shoulder. It howls in rage, shattering the deceptive peace of the night.

Turning its attention to me, it seeks me out unerringly and sprints to my location. I fire more shots to halt its progress, but it successfully dodges them. Keenan bolts, following quickly behind it and leaps onto its back. He then instantly sinks both of his knives into its back. But like an enraged animal swatting a fly, the Berserker swipes Keenan off its back and continues to charge at me.

Out of options, I throw away my gun and pull my silver knives out. Taking a stance, I brace for the charging impact.

At the moment I expected contact, Keenan rams into the Berserker from its side, throwing it off-balance and sends it sprawling across the asphalt. I saw a maniacal gleam in its eye as it bides its time, pretending to clamber up slowly.

The next few seconds happen in slow motion like a train wreck slamming headlong towards me and I have no way of stopping it. I see Keenan running towards the Berserker with his knives poised to slice off its neck. At the last possible moment, the monster is on its feet in an instant, its claws reaching for Keenan's heart.

My body reacts before my head could. When I saw the monster raising its claws, I intuitively know it is aiming for Keenan, I ran for the monster.

Please Goddess. Please let me be in time. Let me be the one to die. Keenan needs to stay alive to kill the Berserker bastards. He's the only one who can slay them.

I reach the monster a few microseconds before Keenan does and my leg extends to kick away the claws aiming for Keenan's heart. I manage to kick the first set of claws away but its other claws are already in motion reaching for the same thing. Reflexively, I twist my body so that I'm in front of Keenan to shield him.

The Berserker's claws pierce through my back and out from my right breast. The berserker slides its claws under my ribcage and up into my lung, puncturing it. My eyes widen and I audibly gasp at the immense pain exploding through my chest. Blood gushes out and my blood splatters onto Keenan's shocked face.

I start falling to the ground as the Berserker withdraws its claws from my body.

My last vision as my mind blanks out is of a tight-faced Keenan brandishing his knives like an assassin and mercilessly cuts through the Berserker's neck like butter then instantaneously stabs his knives into its heart while its head is in the process of separating from the neck. Good, he managed to decapitate and pierce the heart with a silver knife at the same time.

Gathering the prone unconscious bleeding Kelly in his arms, Keenan carefully watch the thick black mist surrounding the cursed werewolf dissipate, leaving behind the body of the cursed werewolf. The body then starts to shrivel rapidly and smoke. Adjusting Kelly's position, Keenan douse the corpse in holy water then throws a matchstick onto the body. It lights up instantly, catching fire fast and burning up like dry tinder. An eerie black flame engulfs the body. In seconds, the body is gone, leaving behind a scorched spot.

Satisfiedthe danger is over; Keenan lifts Kelly in his arms and heads back to the pack.