War Dog

Chapter 79

Before I can explain any further I'm flying downstairs like a bullet, only to leap and collide with a snapping snarling bundle of fur. The collision sends us tumbling through the air and I wince as I feel my back collide harshly against the edge of the stairs. I can distantly hear Ghost cursing under his breath as shots fire out, echoing through the staircase. My earbuds instantly deafen the sound, leaving me completely deaf to anything else except what's immediately in front of me. Claws scrabble at my body and slobbering teeth manage to connect with my throat for the bare hint of a second before my feet come up underneath the body. My powerful legs launch the hybrid from my body, my hands connect with the snaps of my harness as my body explodes outwards, shifting and transforming in bare seconds. The harness now extended out to account for my larger form, still sat snug, almost too tight against my body.

I snarl, pleased that months of training had paid off. I sense the hybrid cower for a moment before it launches itself at me again. I can scent the fear emanating from its body, and the look in it's eyes tell me that it is completely feral. Just a mindless animal. The undercurrent of scent, something chemical under the scent of fear and aggression tells me it's likely been injected with something. My hand snaps out, my much larger and stronger form easily snatching the hybrid out of the air tightening around its throat. I feel bad for ending the creatures life. It's not its fault for it's predicament. My hand squeezes and twists, ending the hybrids miserable life before anything else can be done to it. 

Seconds have passed. Maybe a minute at most and I can sense Ghost has been backed up to higher ground. A brief look over tells me he's fine dealing with the couple of hybrids backing him up. I leap down the stairs only to be greeted by a pack of different species of hybrids. I see Canids, Felidae, Primates and others. I swallow hard, confronted by the possibility that some of these creatures may have strengths that outclass me. Especially while feral. We were up shit creek without a paddle. 

I launched myself into the middle of the group. Maybe not the brightest idea, and yet it seemed to work. My claws grabbed a hold of the biggest in the group. A man who had arms the size of tree trunks. His fur colouring suggested Silver back gorilla DNA. I'd gone for him under the impression out of the lot he'd be the strongest, and I'd need to take him down while I was still relatively fresh. Unfortunately for me, his arms wrapped around me and squeezed until I felt my ribs popping under his grip. I lunged for his throat, teeth snapping around thin air the first time. I dug my claws into his side, and the pain loosened his grip just enough that when I lunged the second time teeth slid home into skin. I forced my jaws to close around as much of his throat as I could manage to fit into my mouth. No matter how physically strong anyone is, the throat across species is typically a very weak point. I crushed the trachea, the oesophagus, the vocal cords, the muscles, ruptured arteries. Efficient. Effective. The grip around my body slowly fell away, leaving me heaving and in pain. 

Despite that I had no time to catch my breath as I felt something hit my back leaving me to go sprawling across the floor. I turned around, hands coming up defend my face from the jaws that snapped millimetres from my nose. I claw the hybrid across the eyes buying myself time as it leans away yelping in pain, head tossing and turning as it tries to clear the pain away. Only for another creature to leap on top of me, claws digging into my belly  as it lands. The wind is knocked out of me and I gasp for air as I struggle to overturn us and gain the upper-hand. 

I hear a gunshot which tells me my ear protection had turned back off leaving me to hear things again. The sudden silencing tells me I was once again deaf to the world. My more immediate problem however was the tiger hybrid that had attacked me collapsed on top of me. My hands shoved at the prone figure until I had enough room to slide out. I shuffled on my arse away from the creatures all distracted by Ghost who was shooting into the gathered creatures. They were advancing on Ghost, and despite the heavy scent of fear in the air, they never wavered even as more and more of them collapsed and died from accurate shots.