Predator Code (Tales from Wildhearth #1)

Chapter 05 - It's Only Murder if Someone Knows

The figure furthest from them reared up wrathfully, face contorting with a low growl of surprise. A fully grown female, the enforcer was a head taller than Jett, her limbs long, sinewy and packed with hard muscle. Lush fur the colour of night covered her and a set of sleeveless body armour clung to her powerful frame from throat to ankle. A massive swooping plume of ink-black headfur cascaded back between her ears and down behind her head. Jett saw the shine of blood on her teeth, and on one paw a bladed gauntlet glinted in the light.

In front of her, slumped in a chair in a lake of crimson, was the felkin. His throat was a ruin, his face frozen in a rictus of pure terror, but Jett could see dozens of superficial wounds littering the felkin from head to toe. There was no question he'd suffered before he died. They had quite literally walked in on a torture chamber.

For a moment no-one moved, foxkin frozen in fear, wolfkin caught by surprise. But it didn't last. Like statues springing to life everyone exploded into motion, the wolfkin surging forward; Jett and Tyr scrambling away in a panic. At a bark from the female, the two male wolfkin bounded over the threshold teeth bared and claws outstretched.

Jett tried to leap clear, but the closer of the two got a hold of her backpack, wrenching her backwards with shocking force. She stumbled, a yelp of panic slipping from her lips. Instinct took over as she struggled wildly twisting her body and snapping at her attacker with bared teeth. Another paw clamped down on the back of her neck, claws digging into her skin and she screeched, kicking back hard at the wolfkin's groin. He grunted as the blow hit home, but it would take more than that to dislodge him.

Then Tyr slammed the heavy head of his wrench into the enforcer's jaw. The brawny foxkin stepped into the swing with both hands, his muscular frame driving the tool in a ferocious arc until metal struck bone with a sickening clunk. A cloud of blood and broken teeth exploded from the impact. Jett felt the grip around the scruff of her neck go slack, the enforcer falling back with a gurgling howl of agony.

Panting she scrambled clear as the second male stepped forward with an enraged snarl, powerful limbs coiled to spring.

"Jett, go!" Tyr bellowed as he stepped between them, keeping the wolfkin back with another violent swipe of his wrench.

She took a couple of steps, indecision ripping at her. Running away and letting him face the three wolfkin alone was as good as a death sentence. Jett halted, torn between her natural urge to run as fast as she could away from these predators and the impossibility of abandoning Tyr. She looked around, searching desperately for another option.

Her eyes lit up when she spotted a fat blue cross embedded in the wall a few meters behind them – tucked into an alcove. Emergency fire suppression.

Jett leapt towards it, wrapped one paw around the cross and twisted it violently to the right. A low alarm blared through the corridors and a sudden mist of water blasted out of ceiling-mounted nozzles, instantly drenching them all and filling the passage with a fog.

"C'mon!" She grabbed Tyr by his jacket and yanked him away from the wolves, forcing him into a run as they pelted off down the passage. The confusion she'd caused kept the wolfkin rooted to the spot for a precious instant before they gave chase.

Water cascaded down over them making the carpet slippery under paw. Doors opened on either side as baffled patrons tried to figure out what was going on. The smarter ones ducked back inside at the sight of the chase; the less fortunate got in the way. Tyr flattened a beaverkin who lurched into his path, halfway through an indignant tirade.

Jett glanced back, only to see the wolfkin trample the unfortunate individual as they charged onwards.

Then something hit her in the side.