Death Wish

Chapter 4

Ray's getting worse by the minute. I have to leave him.

I curse more under my breath, deciding it's best to take high ground until it's safe. 

The only problem is the monsters that still surround us. They come in closer until I can make out more than their glowing eyes.

They're like wild dogs; hunched shoulders, thick dark coats, overgrown claws, and chewed up tails and ears. Their foul smelling, pitch black fur expels the smoke we're surrounded by. I've never seen these things before, but I have a strong feeling I need to shoot them.

In most situations in Death, I tend to mistrust my instinct. But this time, I can't possibly doubt it and make it out alive. 

I point Auctor Vitae and start unloading her translucent bullets on the beasts.

They're incredibly faster than I anticipated; unlike the first one, they avoid getting shot. They all whip around me and Ray, jumping to the side and landing on their claws only to push themselves back off the ground and lunge at us.

I drop and roll before I even register the idea to. Unfortunately, I drop Auctor Vitae, and she skids across the floor away from me.

I snap my head up, still on the dirty warehouse floor. "ShIT!" I yowl, scrambling for it.

As I get to my feet I'm taken right back down. I gasp as I'm slammed to the wood floor and winded. I choke and my lungs burn right before talons smack into the back of my head.

My face rams into the floor, scratching it up in the process. Everything in me is throbbing in pain and I'm anticipating the worst when something else happens.

The heavy weight on me is suddenly thrown off. I raise my head to see a smaller, mangly, brown wolf tackling the black beast to the ground. "Damn, Ray." My eyes are wide as I witness the smaller of the two repeatedly jab and bite. Eventually, he tears him out into the smoke to disappear from sight.

This is my chance. I roll to my aching feet and grab Auctor Vitae again. I turn on my heel just in time to see the smoking dogs come at me. I shoot them all down, entire body threatening to stop supporting itself at any moment, but still carrying on.

There's a single one left with two broken front legs, still trying to scrape itself towards me. I shoot at it over and over in the face, "I know you're already dead -" Bang! "-But give it -" Bang! "A rest!"

Finally, it drops. I sigh with relief and hang my hands at my side. Phew. Now I can get Ray and thank him for saving my ass. I look around as the smoke starts to thin out.

"Ray?" I call as I squint into the black, "Ray, did ya get that other one or do I need to reload?"

Ray finally comes into view, practically untouched from the fight. I relax, "Oh, good, you're alright. I was worried for a second back there, I thought you wouldn't have any control."

Ray stands there for a moment, head lowered and ears pulled back. I pause. "Um. Ray." I say. A growl rumbles in his throat and he curls his lips.

"Oh." I start stepping away. Okay, maybe he didn't do that back there to be nice. I raise my gun up again - I aim for his feet, not wanting to hurt him if he really means to hurt me.

Ray takes a few steps forward before breaking into a sprint to come for me. My shaking hands tighten around Auctor Vitae and I tug on the trigger.

Auctor Vitae just clicks empty. Shit. I skip straight to Plan B: running.

I pump my arms back and forth - much to their sore discontent - as I dash across the warehouse. Looking wildly around, I try to spot a place I could maybe fit.

Oh! Or climb. My eyes dart to a half dependable ladder propped up against a disconnected second story. I fly up the creaky ladder panicking for my life.

Ray is right behind me, practically snapping at my ankles. He jumps up to rock the ladder as I scale it.

I stop and cling to the ladder for stability as it shakes around. Being on a single step of the old ladder for so long, it snaps underfoot. My heart nearly stops as I drop half a foot down and get dangerously close to Ray's snapping jaws.

I can't keep moving with this ladder being flung all over the place, and there's no way I'm staying here, so I do what any smooth, clever badass would in this situation.

I snatch Auctor Vitae from my belt and chuck it at Ray's snout. He yelps, briefly stopping to recover. With my new chance, I claw the rest of the way up the ladder and get to the second story.

Ray looks up to witness my escape to higher ground. Getting even more angry, he tries to come up the ladder, but it breaks under his massive weight.

I scoot back from the edge and catch my breath. "Holy crap, what is up your ass today, Ray?"

I end up sleeping up on the second story for the night. I don't really mean to fall asleep, I just do. I swear I watched the lower level all night waiting for Ray to turn back, but . . . I just fell asleep before anything happened.

I guess I needed the sleep too, as I wake up to an early afternoon. I blink, shielding my eyes. Ack, that's bright. The sun is way too bright.

"Gerard?"

I manage to adjust my eyes and look below. Ray stands there, adjusting his ruined shirt to fit him again. "How'd you get up there?"

"There was a ladder . . . before you sat on it." I say.

Ray moves to see the pile of broken wood a few feet away. "Oh. Well did anyone get hurt last night?"

"Just a lot of those dogs." I say.

Ray takes a look around the room. "Well I guess they got away, anyways."

I sit up more to see for myself. I just realized the smoke has completely cleared, and now apparently the bodies are gone. I frown. How the hell did those things get away? "What were those?"

"Probably Ännwn." He scratches the back of his head and thinks hard. "I . . . don't remember a lot, let alone what they looked like."

"Do you remember what they are?"

"Well yeah, I've heard about them, but nobody really knows they're actually real. Anybody who's seen one dies immediately after." Ray says. "They're practically hellhounds for the Fallen Angels, they eat whoever steals from them or is just in their way."

I draw my brows together. Fallen Angels . . . pretty much the leaders of Death. I had no idea they had backup. That's when the thought occurs to me.

"Wait." I say, "If they're close by, maybe those angels are . . . and we can go to them and see if they know anything about Mikey."

Ray looks me over uncertainly. "They aren't the helpful type, Gerard."

"Well maybe we can just look through their records, they have to keep some sort of list of who's damned and who's not." I say, scooting to the edge and jumping off.

Ray hesitates before giving in. "Alright, but don't forget this." He says, tossing me Auctor Vitae right as I land.

I smile and take a moment to reload. Man, I'm glad this thing is one of the few weapons that can kill anything in Death.

Wait, you didn't know that either. Y'know what, let's close this up for another time.