Howling Fury (Book 1) (Being Edited)

Chapter 3

After a lot of grunting and Yale complaining we manage to reach the position without too much difficulty. We are perched on the edge of one of the pipes above the unblocked entrance waiting for our prey. Beside me Yale is shaking with fear while making pathetic little whimpering noises every so often. "Will you stop making those noises? Those things are going to come in here and know exactly where we are. Then they're going to come up here and eat your snivelling little hide," I hiss at him quietly. He glares at me and I return it, baring my teeth slightly.

Our eyes lock and he refuses to look away in submission. A low growl escapes my throat and in that exact moment the queen crashes into the cavern with us, closely followed by dozens of ugly little ghouls. Yale pulls his eyes from mine and glances down, the colour draining from his face as he stares at the queen. He whimpers again and my finger to return to my lips. Luckily for him he doesn't return the glare. Clever human.

Below us the queen and her ghouls are searching around the ground, making disgusting little snorting sounds. I imaging that they have good eye sight but I never thought of their sense of smell. Hopefully they don't spot us (or smell us) before we act. 

They continue to snuffle around the ground without even looking up to inspect the pipes above their heads. Stupid ghouls. Of all the supernatural's, they are probably the most idiotic of them all. Don't get me wrong, they have the muscle. Just no brain. 

I hear snorts of confusion as they try to figure out where we have gone. There are even more of them in here now. The entire nest appears to have converged on this area, most likely to join the hunt. All I have to do is kill the queen and they'll all retreat like a bunch of cowardly mutts. Hopefully. Easier said than done. As soon as I attack the queen all the other ghouls will attack me, including the queen, who I'm trying to kill in the first place. The joy.

I stand slowly and remove my t-shirt and trousers. Yale gives me a weird look then raises his eyebrow when he sees my vest shirt and shorts I'm wearing. I shrug at him because I know there is a high probability that I will have to change during this battle. Plus, I really don't want him to see me naked. That would just be wrong.

He waves his hand in front of my face, snapping me from my thoughts. "What are you doing?" he mouths at me. I shrug again, handing him my clothes along with one of my knifes. Before I can even blink the knife is snatched out of my hand. Yale holds it to his chest as if it is a lifeline. He gives me a shy smile and a shrug of his own.

I roll my eyes at him and move to leap off the pipe. Feeling an hand grip my arm I turn back to Yale. "Where are you going?" he whispers. I point to the queen then make a motion of slitting my own throat. He gives me a sour look and shakes his head slowly. "Don't. Please don't leave me here. If you die, I don't know how to make it out of here," he whispers again. I snap my arm out of his grip and make the motion of pointing at the queen and slitting my throat again. He only looks at me in confusion.

Rolling my eyes again, I brace my legs and leap from our hiding spot. Behind me, Yale yelps in surprise; loud enough for the queen to hear. Great. She makes a sick sound, which I guess must be some sort of war-cry, before she looks up. When she does, her beady little eyes widen in surprise and she raises her arms to fend me off. Too late; my body collides with hers and I hear something crack. An almighty roar echoes through the cave as the queen tries to shake me off, one of her clawed hands rakes across my back.

I cling on desperately and drive my fist through her chest. My other knife still in hand, I drive the blade in deeper and cross my finger that I am able to skewer its heart. My balance wavers and I am unable to strike as accurately as I would have liked. I feel the knife hit something solid, bone I think, and I yank it out to re-aim.

A searing pain in my back and neck distracts me and I grunt. One of the ghouls from below me has latched onto my neck, digging its claws into the open wound on my back. I struggle desperately to remove the thing from my back but it clings on with a determination suitable for predators. The knife slips from my grip and I growl in frustration. 

Another ghoul jumps up and grips my leg. Another one follows and soon I am almost covered in the little buggers. I desperately try to keep my grip on the queen, who is thrashing around like a savage bull. Slowly, I begin to loose my grip on the queen until I'm falling backwards into the gnashing jaws of dozens on hungry monsters.