Carrion (The Bren Watts Diaries #1)

Chapter 26

The vector crouched down, looking at the flashlight. From the back, it looked like a man in his late forties. He wore baggy gray overalls with the word JANITOR at the back. The problem was...he was a big guy. At least six-foot-five and large, probably around 250 pounds of meat and muscle. Our only advantage was that he didn't saw us first.

Luke, Yousef, Logan, and I surrounded him at least twelve paces behind. I looked behind me, and Bobby and Jonas were staying further back; their weapons raised. However, Natalie remained hiding underneath the table.

No one wanted to make the first strike. Logan stared at me, and I realized he was waiting for my signal, and so were the others. I sighed. I caught sight of Yousef's fire extinguisher again, and an idea popped up. I pointed at him and the fire extinguisher.

"Stun," I mouthed, miming to spray the contents onto the vector.

It took him a second, and Yousef paled. He pointed at the pin attached at the top.

I frowned. If Yousef took it out, the vector would hear it. I raised my shotgun. Luke and Logan did the same for their weapon. Yousef's shoulders slouched. He hesitated that much I could see, but then, he made a curt nod and slipped his finger into the pin's hole. He stared up at me, waiting for a signal again.

I raised one finger, then another. "One. Two. Three."

I swiftly pointed all three at the vector, and Yousef pulled the pin. A faint stinging ring resounded, and the vector's ears perked up. He quickly turned to Yousef's direction, and upon seeing him, he sneered menacingly.

He opened his mouth to shriek, but Yousef stepped forward, aimed the nozzle of the fire extinguisher, and blew a large amount of sodium bicarbonate right on the vector's face. The vector held his hands up to his face, blocking the onslaught, and the rest of us dashed for the offensive.

Luke got to him first. He raised the ax, aiming for the head, but the vector moved to the right. Luke drove the ax forward and hit the vector's back. Logan stepped in, but the vector suddenly stood up, towering over him as he tried to claw out the ax still attached to his flesh. Blind and wounded, the vector swiped against nothing, but it caught Logan square on the chest, sending him flying back against the wall. The vector continued swinging.

Natalie screamed.

I glanced back, ready to push her back in case she would recklessly step into Logan's side and within the vector's reach. Instead, she made a dash for one of the carts at the foot of the wheelchair ramp and pushed it up to the second floor.

In a split second, Bobby saw her, followed after, bringing the other cart with him.

Yousef kept on spraying the canister on the vector as Luke scrambled to look for a weapon. I dodged one of its swings, and I drove the butt of the shotgun right on his jaw.

It didn't even make him budge.

He grabbed the collar of my vest. I tried to pry his hands off. He pulled me close, and I lost the grip of my shotgun, trying to push him back. The vector slammed me against the floor and clamored on top of me, his mouth open and ready to take a bite. Suddenly, Jonas jumped on his back, wrapping his arms around his neck in a chokehold. The vector yelped, climbing back up on his feet as he tried to pull Jonas's arm off. I coughed up the air stuck in my throat when the vector slammed me against the floor, and I could hardly breathe.

Although Jonas held on, the vector was much stronger. He grabbed hold of Jonas's right arm, and with a slight turn of his head, and with hungry baring teeth, the vector clamped onto his wrist, sinking his teeth in.

Jonas screamed.

I roared, pulling any strength left inside me to pull me up to my feet, and ran through the vector. I tackled him to the ground, and all three of us scrambled on top of chairs and tables. The vector let go of Jonas's wrist. With the ax still impaled on his back, the vector landed on it, sinking it deeper right on his spine. The vector cried out.