A predator preys on the weak and vulnerable. This is why when the black wolf, the fifth wolf, sees one of the workers split off and runs into one of the buildings, it follows. It stalks its prey.
Kaiden sees the black wolf going after Aliks into a building. Catrina is having an explosive battle with a giant brown wolf, Adalia is chasing a gray wolf, and Henry and Jeannie, not noticing the black wolf, are going after the patterned wolves.
He goes against the crowd to help his friend. On his way, he keeps an eye for something to use as a weapon. There's a large propane torch near the entrance of the building. The tank is as big as his leg and the torch itself is longer than his arm. It may not kill the wolf, but it should be enough to hurt and scare it off.
Aliks is standing at the front seat corner of the crowd when the wolves attack. The streets are so cramped and crowded in the heat of the moment they decide to run into a building. What they don't notice, until it's too late, is the building is a bank. There's no way out except the way in.
On the entrance door is the black wolf. It's crawling towards them with exaggerated movements. The arms extend before the hands extend before the fingers extend before the claws extend. It puts its claws down and hooks into the wooden floor. Only pulling itself forward after getting a good grip. It's toying with them.
There has to be an escape. There is a set of stairs going up. Would they risk potentially pushing themself further into a corner? There's no time to think. They run to and up the stairs.
The wolf doesn't bother chasing them. It keeps a steady pace.
They're on the second floor. There are rows of metal benches facing a long register. There are no windows. The wolf's shadow is already with them up the stairs. Where should they go? The stairs continue up and there are doors in the hall. Without thinking, Aliks chooses the stairs.
Seeing them going up, the wolf climbs the staircase.
The third floor is unfinished and exposed. The cold night wind blows the sand and dried leaves gathered there. The path ends here. Aliks walks over to the edge. There's nothing but a crowd of people and concrete underneath.
"Got anywhere else to go?" The black wolf asks. She has been moving with all her limbs, but now she stands. The tip of her ears brushes against the gray ceiling.
Aliks stares at her. Every surface of their skin numbs. The only things they feel are the cold and their own beating heart. They don't notice they're stepping back, only after their right heel goes off the edge. Aliks hugs the concrete pillar to their left. Looking back and forth between the wolf and below. Perhaps jumping would be better than whatever the wolf is going to do.
"I guess that's a no." The closer she steps, the more compressed the air between the two.
Should they jump? They can jump. Maybe. Will they survive? What if the fall kills them? The wolf is going to kill them anyway, probably. Jump. Is it really better to jump?
A burst of flame roars behind the wolf. The wolf turns her head. Kaiden smacks her snout with the gas tank. Aliks stares. Kaiden looks at them and points them to run back with his head.
Aliks circles around. "Thanks, Kai," they say as they run down the stairs.
"Ow, that, hurts," the wolf says calmly.
The torch is still lit. Kaiden fires at the wolf, covering her in flames, burning her. That's what he expects.
She's laughing. "That feels nice." She stands over her. her shoulders are well over his head.
The flames blow past her. Nothing's burning. Not even a patch of smoke forms. It's as if he's giving her a shower with colored water. She grabs the nozzle. The flame fades as she crushes it.
Kaiden drops the torch and runs. The wolf pounces. Her claws dig into his head, squeezing an excruciating scream out of him.
"Where are you going? I've yet to return the favor." Her veins start glowing crimson. Smoke blows out of her glowing mouth when she exhales. Her paws glow the brightest. Like molten iron. Kaiden continues to scream as the left side of his face is being seared.
With her other hand, the wolf makes a tunnel. A red-hot glowing steaming tunnel. She blows into the hole and fire blows out the other side.
Kaiden can't even open his mouth to scream as the heat is too painful. His hands are flailing, his legs are kicking, but the wolf is too heavy and too strong. His hair on that side burns away. His skin burns and numbs and burns as it carbonizes, hardens, and cracks, exposing the wet flesh underneath which burns too soon after. His left eye, slowly, becomes blind.
Footsteps are climbing the stairs. They're heavy. They are armed. There's a smell of nitroglycerin. They're agents. The backups have arrived.
The black wolf stops. She grabs Kaiden's limp body, who almost fainted from shock, and climbs onto the roof. She looks around the chaos for her compatriots. 2 dead. 2 are badly injured. She howls at the moon. Her voice rivals the loudness of the screaming masses.
Adalia is holding the large bite that's on the left side of her stomach. The lower part of her shirt is dyed red from her own blood.
The gray wolf's body is tied up with bleeding wounds. He's slower now after losing a few liters of blood. He's panting clouds. His expression changes when he hears the howling.
"Well, that's all the time I have for tonight. Let's meet again never, shall we?" He leaps away. Jumping from window to window, breaking glass every time.
2 new agents arrive at the scene. One has a pair of axes. He throws one at the gray wolf. It chops onto his back. The gray wolf hits the corner of a building, but is conscious enough to regain control and jumps into another window. He lands in the building and jumps out and away from the other side.
Adalia looks where the howling comes from. A black wolf stands on top of a roof holding someone in her arm. He's struggling and hitting the wolf, but the wolf gives back no response. It's difficult to tell who that is. Half of his face is burnt. The other half is, is, is that, "Kaiden?" Adalia mutters. She jumps and climbs the building, leaping her way to the howling wolf.
The black wolf stops howling. She jumps from roof to roof towards the wall. It's impossible to jump over it from the ground. From above the roof, however, she can barely just reach the top of the wall and climbs over. Adalia, however, can't jump high enough.
Catrina and the brown wolf are equally beaten up. Although, the brown wolf wins the competition with his right arm bent the other way from protecting his head. His upper body is naked, exposing his burnt and bruised torso.
The first and only hit Catrina took cracks every bone she has. Moving quick and agile, dodging every strike, and holding explosions at the end of a stick is very exhausting. She has never been tired since before her surgery. Both fighters have to take a knee. They can only give each other a hateful gaze.
The black wolf lands beside the brown wolf. She's talking to him. She has someone in her arm. Wait, that's, "Kaiden?"
"Catrina!"
"Kaiden!" Catrina uses her hammer to help her stand back up.
The black wolf looks at Catrina and back at Kaiden. She smiles at Catrina. "Hope you don't mind."
The gray wolf lands beside his companions. "Seriously, Dima, that's all we got?"
"I should be the one asking. Where are your hands?" Dima asks.
"That fucking demon. She smells like a wolf. She's quick and agile."
"More than a spring wolf?" The brown wolf asks.
"Of course not. I'm way faster than her."
"Then how did she take your hands?"
"Shut up! Both of you!"
"Whatever, let's just go back," says Dima.
"Hey! You let go of my brother!"
None respond to Catrina. They all go into the dark forest.
Adalia arrives. "Catrina! They got Kaiden!"
"I know!"
The A-types chase the D-types. The jungle is dark. If not for their enhanced sight, the agents would've lost their target as soon as they went in.
Catrina isn't going to lose her brother. One of her only family. The one who takes care of her through her childhood. The only one she has until she met Adalia. No. Never. Not happening. With broken bones, roaring heart, screaming muscles, and crying eyes, she speeds up. No matter how painful. She speeds up. Even if it kills her to go this fast then, oh so be it, she will die trying to save her brother. Catrina is so focused she doesn't realize Adalia is left far behind.
They're getting very far. The scenery is changing. They are running along the bottom of a huge cliff. With its angle and height, it's surprising how it hasn't fallen.
"Hey Tawbil, aren't you kinda slow?" Dima asks.
"Well, you won't be so fast if you're hurt as much as I am."
"But you're a spring wolf. Being fast is your whole thing. If you're not then what good are you?"
"Shut up! I don't wanna hea..."
Catrina hits him away with her hammer. It doesn't explode. She won't risk hurting Kaiden with her explosion. She kicks Dima, grabs her brother, and runs away.
"Cat... Trina." His voice is weak.
"Don't worry Kaiden, I got you. Don't worry. We'll get you to a hospital and everything will be fine." Kaiden feels lighter. A lot lighter. Too light. Even if Catrina has more adrenaline than blood right now, she shouldn't be this strong. Besides, where are Kaiden's legs?
Catrina stops to check him. Her eyes widen. Her adrenaline stops. A surge of cold sweat covers her whole body as her soul leaves. She only has one-half of her brother.
His intestines dangle out his guts. Leaving a blood trail on the ground leading to his lower half in the grasp of the gigantic brown wolf.
Catrina falls onto her knees. She puts Kaiden down, afraid she'll make it even worse. "Kaiden, Kaiden calm down, just calm down Kaiden. This is fine. You're still gonna be fine. People have survived this. Just calm down. Don't let the shock get to you..." Her hands move from her brother to her head, to her brother's face, to the back of her head, to Kaiden's shoulders, to her face, to his head, and to her head again. She's panicking. Why wouldn't she? There's a chance he'd survive, but it's terrible.
"Cat... It's fine..." Kaiden smiles. He brushes a finger along Catrina's right cheek. He doesn't want her to worry, despite his gruesome circumstance. Despite the fact that he had accepted his fate.
"Yes, It's fine. You're gonna be fine. You're gonna be fine Kaiden," She hugs him without lifting him. Her tears are wiped by his dirty shirt. No response. "Kaiden? Kaiden, please. Please, Kaiden! Stay. Stay with me. Please. Don't go. Fight it. Just stay calm and you'll be... Kaiden?"
His gaze starts to become empty. He's only looking up into the distance. Catrina tries and tries to get his attention, but there's no response. The light in his eyes is fading. Catrina's tears run down her face, fall off her chin, and onto her brother.
"No. No, no, please no. Kaiden." She holds him close. Wiping her eyes on his shoulder from time to time.
Meanwhile, Dima is arguing with the brown wolf. Tawbil sits down between them. He's too tired to even stand.
"Great job, idiot! Now he's dead!" Dima says to the brown wolf.
"Well, what am I supposed to do?"
"I don't know, grab both of them maybe? Hmm? Use that head and big hands of yours!"
"Try doing that with just one hand."
"Why do I need to do that? You still have both of yours."
"One of them looks like this!" He shoves his broken elbow at Dima.
Dima grabs his broken arm. With a powerful chop, she snaps his arm back in place. "Problem solved! You could've done it yourself."
"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU! ALL OF YOU!!!" Catrina leaps at them, carrying an over winded swing.
Dima and the brown wolf jump away in time. Tawbil is too tired to even notice.
"Oh, fuck," he mumbles before exploding into tiny chunks of gross bloody flesh.
"Careful, she's quick," says the brown wolf.
"Yeah, I can see that! Where the fuck is she?"
"Here," Catrina says behind them with an activated hammer.
Adalia arrives. She's looking for Catrina and finds her fighting 2 D-types. Where's the third? Adalia looks around and finds a furry lower body. Catrina must've killed him. Good. There's a second lower body near it though. Whose is it? She gasps after following the trail of blood and got her answer right in front of her.
Adalia covers her mouth. Be it because Kaiden is in such terrible shape, the gruesome scene itself, or the smell of flesh, guts, and blood attacking her nose. She has all the reasons to cover her mouth. Too late. She throws up a little onto herself. Staining her shirt with her puke on top of her own blood.
Adalia falls onto her knees. Her eyes are shaking. She can feel them shake. She can feel her cerebellum shake. She can feel her bowels shake. Her eyes are running with tears. Her mouth is holding back a waterfall of everything she consumed earlier. Horror, grief, disgust, a recipe to boil and vaporize her soul.
Kaiden still has a bit of life left. He puts his hand on Adalia's knee. She's looking at him. She can't bring herself to make a sound even if she knows what to say.
"Ada... lia... Take care of Catrina... You make her... happy. Look after her... for me... alright?" He's so quiet Adalia may not hear him if it isn't for her mutation.
She's frozen. She wants to respond in some way. Any way. Something's locking her to be a statue. All she can do is stare.
"Just fucking die!" Catrina blows up a tree trying to hit Dima. She jumps towards the brown wolf, attacks, and blows up a boulder. She dashes back to Dima and explodes the ground.
"Just kill her, Andar!" Dima is nervous.
"If it's so easy, why don't you do it yourself?"
"Oh, I'll do it. After I'm done with her, I'll burn you until your ashes burn into smaller ashes."
"Do it then!"
"GOT YOU!" Catrina screams as she throws a massive swing at the both of them.
The wolves jump out of the way. Catrina hits the cliff. It shakes and trembles. It crumbles down and breaks into a landslide.
Adalia is too weak to run. Too weak to even stand. She crawls away, as fast as she can.
Dima and Andar are running away. The gaps are shrinking. Falling sand becomes falling chunks of dirt and soon becomes falling boulders. She will kill them even if it means killing herself too. She's close, she's very close. Just a bit more.
Here it is. She screams and winds, swings, attacks, and hits a nurse. Her other arm swings and throws away the doctor. The 2 captains standing beside her bed grab her arms and hold her back.
"Agent, agent! Calm down!"
Catrina is confused. She looks around and finds herself on a bed in a building, The ceiling, the walls, the floors, all furniture, they are all white. There are plenty of people around her. The one holding her left arm wears a crow mask while the one holding her right wears a dog mask. They are agency captains. The one who speaks to her is an old gentleman. His white luxurious moustache, his suit, and his robot arm make it clear he is the...
"Colonel? Where am I?"
"You're in the agency hospital. We followed your tracker and found you buried far in the forest."
"Where's Adalia?"
The captains let go of her arms. The colonel pauses for a moment. "Your partner, she's missing. Her tracker must've been broken because the signal isn't as accurate as they are designed to be. However, we are certain that she is within a native territory. We'll be preparing a rescue mission with a clearance group."
"And Kaiden?"
The colonel takes a deep breath. He takes his time looking at every single person in the room. He looks at Catrina. He takes one last breath before telling her. "Your brother, Kaiden, he's dead. We've cremated him and placed him beside your parents."
Catrina froze. A single tear squeezes its way out of her eye. She looks down at herself, she's wearing a hospital gown, and covers her face. "Can... you guys leave me alone for a moment... Please?" She says behind her hands.
"Very well, we'll leave you alone. Come, people. Let's give her some time for herself." The colonel leaves first, followed by the captains. The nurses soon follow out and the doctor who holds the door leaves last.
As soon as she's alone Catrina screams and throws her bed onto the wall. She breaks into tears and curls into a ball in the corner of the bright cold room.