Darkness Rising by William S. Frisbee Jr

Author:William S. Frisbee Jr. [Frisbee Jr., William S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Theogony Books
Published: 2022-08-22T16:00:00+00:00

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Chapter Thirty-Six: Hunter and Hunted

Gunnery Sergeant Wolf Mathison, USMC

The screech in his ears was quickly cut off.

“We are receiving some kind of interference,” Freya reported. “It’s interfering with network access and the Aesir link.”

“That hurt,” Mathison said, shaking his head.

“It was point two seconds, get over it.”

Mathison heard a growl from up ahead.

“Growling. Gunny,” Stathis said. “I heard growling.”

“Thank you, Recondo Stathis. I hear it, too.”

“Just checking. People lose their hearing when they get old, Gunny.”

The lighting was weak, but there was no mistaking the figure that came around the corner. There was no mistaking the red eyes or the glistening teeth. The muscular arms were longer than normal, and for a split second Mathison felt like he was back on the SOG station but this thing’s face was more dog like and less human.

“I hear the calling,” the creature said.

“What?” Mathison trained his weapon on the creature’s face as a chill ran down his spine. It looked nothing like the pictures of Burdin.

“The masters are coming.”

“Who are you?” Mathison asked.

“We are those left behind,” the creature said. It crouched like a wolf about to charge. Mathison watched the muscles tense under the tatters of the jumpsuit. “We are you. We were unbound.”

“What do you mean?” Mathison said.

“The masters have been betrayed,” the creature said with a low, angry growl. “They are not forgiving.”

“What—” Mathison began, but the creature charged.

Small wires from three wire guns slammed into it. Chunks of flesh and bone flew off in a spray as the wires eviscerated the creature’s head and chest.

It slammed into the ground two meters from Mathison. The body twitched and then stopped moving.

Mathison put two extra wires into the base of the skull for good measure.

“I don’t know about you,” Winters said, “but I’m having a hard time believing it did not come from the SOG station.”

“That’s a freaking werewolf, Gunny,” Stathis said. Mathison wished Stathis hadn’t said that.

Mathison neared it. One arm hung off the body, attached only by some sinew and skin. The bone had been sliced clean through.

“It reached this station before we escaped our cells,” Mathison said.

“What did it mean ‘masters,’ Gunny?” Stathis asked. “Something about calling it?”

Roars caught them all by surprise and their weapons came back up as more creatures rounded the corner.

The zzip! of wire guns filled the air as Mathison knelt and started firing. Stathis came up beside him and fired rapid, well-aimed shots. Mathison heard a roar behind him, but he didn’t have time to look as more creatures came around the corner. Flesh and bone and blood flew into the air as Mathison and Stathis shot anything that moved.

He watched his ammunition counter drop. None of them had come ready for an extended fight.

The counter dropped further as more monsters appeared.

“Should we save a shot for ourselves?” Levin asked over the cacophony, but nobody answered.

Finally, nothing moved in front of Mathison and it was quiet behind him.

His ammunition counter was almost zero.

“Mathison brown,” Mathison said, then quickly reloaded.

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