Noctis Lupus

Deliver Hope

The Osprey landed on the snowy plains next to a small military outpost, its engines shutting down as the rear hatch slid open. The marines marched out, Abraham and the three wolves following behind as they moved outwards the central encampment.

They passed numerous groups of wounded soldiers, all moaning in pain at as their wounds got unsuccessfully treated.

"Out of my way!" screamed a medic as two soldiers carried a critically wounded third soldier, an arrow piercing the left side of his chest. They rushed past Abraham as they cleared a table and set the wounded man on it. "Grab that towel and keep pressure on the wound!"

The medic reached up and pushed two fingers to the neck, checking for any signs of life. "DAMN IT!" he screamed in frustration as he rested his hands on the table. "GOD FUCKING DAMN IT!! THIS IS NOT WHAT I SIGNED UP FOR!!"

Two soldiers came up and took the body. Abraham followed them until they reached a shallow grave with hundreds of bodies, many dismembered or badly mauled. He looked on as the soldiers put the body inside the grave, then gave a small, Spanish prayer for him.

"Cuidado," said one of the Spanish soldiers as he passed Abraham. "Estos lobos son locos. Te matan en un instante sin que tu lo sepas."

Abraham did not respond as he turned back and began to explore the rest of the encampment, his wolves following close behind. They eventually reached an extremely large, grey tent cramped with a large group of wolves, more than 200, that seemed to be getting a debriefing on how to use the weapons vests.

He stood watch from behind, fighting every fibre in his being to not turn into a wolf at that very moment.

"Alright wolves," began the soldier that stood towards the front of the group. "As I understand you have all been trained in the use of the weapon vests. But now I will introduce you to two new technologies."

The soldier turned his back and picked up a wolf vest, but it did not have any weapons on them. Abraham looked on as he noticed two turbines that seemed to protrude from the back area of the vest.

"This," said the soldier with small hints of pride in his words. "This is the Type-12 Back Flare Thruster Pack. You could just call it a jet pack if you like. This is a 200 million dollar piece of equipment capable of reaching speed up to 200 miles per hour with a cruising speed of 150 miles per hour. It works similar to the weapons vests in the fact that it is controlled via small muscle movements along the spinal area. Don't break it."

The soldier put the vest down before picking up a medium sized object, roughly cylindrical in shape with a key pad on it. "This is the 645-004 Personal Extreme Explosive Device.  It has a blast radius of 37 miles and is capable of leveling half a city if placed in the proper area. Placement is key."

"In exactly two hours, you will launch a massive joint final assault on the city along with human forces already in the area. The bomb has a five minute timer, so speed an agility is necessary for this operation to be successful. Beware, artillery teams will continue to fire on the area during to operation. Many of you will not make it back alive. If anyone would like to leave, now is your chance."

Abraham watched in amusement as none of the wolves moved a muscle. "Too much pride," he thought to himself as the soldier began to speak again.

"Get your squads suited up and be ready to move out in a two hours. Dismissed."

Abraham and his three wolves moved out of the way as the large group of wolves headed out to the barracks to get suited up in their weapons vests.

They all walked north, towards the front lines. Once outside of camp, Abraham dropped his gear and turned into his wolf form, his three wolves following close behind as they sprinted past the trees and rocks for minutes on end until they reached a large clearing, worn by the actions of battle.