Abe Sapien and the Witch

Chapter 21

Chapter twenty-one

Abe bounded over a fallen warlock, dodging to the side as a blast of fire roared past his face towards Red. It hit him, but he just laughed and aimed the Samaritan at the offender, blasting them to the ground with one shot.

"Hurry, Red!" Abe shouted, kneeling and taking out another oncoming attacker with a careful round from his pistol. "I know, I know!" Red roared back at him, shaking his arm to dislodge one of the witch's hellhounds as its jaws clamped around his stony fingers.

Outside was pure mayhem, all the agents accompanying them were injured and small fires swept through the scene of the attack that gave the place a glow like the underworld as Abe and Red ran towards the truck, stopping just outside its closed doors to check their ammunition and formulate a plan of action.

"Tiny?" Red asked over the headphone, voice quiet and the two looked at each other with concern as no tapping sounds followed over the hollow sounding speaker. "I'll go first," Red said, "I can take any fire attacks which they seem to be pretty damn fond of, and then you can jump in after me and hit them with a surprise attack." Abe nodded, gun at the ready as Red pulled the backdoor off its hinges, throwing it to the side like a weightless piece of cardboard.

Both men were hunched up in a prepared stance, expecting an attack and looked at each other when nothing happened. It was quiet, and as Abe stepped up into the vehicle he could see why. The inside consoles had been completely thrashed, the books and materials burned beyond salvage and in the middle of the chaos she sat, her face pale as she looked towards them, not seeing them.

Her hands were tied to the leg of one of the metallic tables with a makeshift twine, and straight away Abe could see that her fingers had been broken, her hands were red, and her fingers sat at odd angles. "No..." he whispered, kneeling in front of her, lifting her chin to gaze into eyes that shock did not permit her to see him with.

Her face was bruised, clearly someone had hit her more than once and a thin line of blood had dried under one nostril, dark against skin which was a sickly pale shade. "Jeez..." Red whispered, kneeling next to them on one knee, keeping the Samaritan at the ready. "What the hell happened here?"

"I don't know, I can't...I can't feel anything when I touch her, Red. Look at her hands, who did this?" he asked, trying to pry the tight twine open with shaking fingers. "I don't know buddy, but it looks like somebody else might..." Red replied, turning to the entryway as a figure came into view.