The Brigade

Viva Las Vegas

Our joy was short lived as the piercing howls of the coyotes. There was a whole pack out there.

"How many are there Ty?" Vanessa asked taking her gloves off.

"So far I've heard 9 different howls," He said. Suddenly the first coyote came into view baring its fangs. I had thought that maybe after they saw that we weren't animals they would leave us alone. That did not look like the case. The coyote threw its head back, and howled. Eight more animals materialized out of the darkness. We were badly out numbered. Nine vicious coyotes against 4 mutants,and one possible traitor.

"Everybody circle around Alice," I said calmly not wanting to set off the coyotes. Slowly we formed a protective ring around Alice. Cautiously we all drew our weapons. The coyotes growled. I held a pistol, and a knife, Vanessa, Ty, and Agent Bond did the same. Alice drew only a knife. Bruce popped three Jolly Ranchers into his mouth. I saw his pupils widened. Suddenly the lead coyote sprang at Vanessa. Thank god for her freaky quickness. She slashed with a knife slicing a deep gash in it's leg. The electricity stunned it and the coyote dropped to the ground. Now the things were mad. All at once they lunged at our defensive line. Bang! I opened fire on one, hitting it square in the forehead. Agent Bond shot one down. Six more to go. Ty slammed his gun into the animal's head it whimpered, but then suddenly jumped, clearing Ty. It would have landed on Alice, but she buried her knife into it's chest. The next one snarled, and snapped at Bruce, he uppercutted, and his titanium knuckles smashed into the coyotes ribs it flew into a sand dune. Two more came at me cautiously, having seen their pack's fate. They seemed to communicate with one another, and then in unison they both sprang at me. Time slowed down. My jackal instincts took over. Over the years I had learned to trust my instincts, like a close friend. My arms moved automatically I shot the one on my right, and with a flick of my wrists I threw my knife. The knife was buried in the coyotes chest.

"Wow," I said under my breath. I momentarily forgot about the last coyote. I turned around to ask if everyone was okay when all of a sudden my jackal sense started tingling. Instinctively I shot an elbow backwards, and connected with the coyotes muzzle. I whined and staggered back. It thought about attacking but it's ears perked up, and it ran off. I had heard it too. There were more coyotes out there. I faced my family plus double Agent Bond and asked, "Is anybody hurt,"

"We're fine Daniel," Vanessa said. "But I think your jackal sense is getting stronger. I thought about it. She may have been right. When the two coyotes rushed me at once I had never reacted that quickly or felt time slow like that. Maybe my animal instinct was getting stronger. Was that good or bad. I felt sort of jumpy right now. Like the slightest change might set me off. I didn't like it. I noticed My heart rate was still high. I forced myself to calm down. It took some effort, but I managed. Yep my animal side was definitely getting stronger. I didn't know if I liked it though. Okay so just because I am really good a fighting doesn't mean I really enjoy it. I don't like to pick fights, and I don't like to fight just to fight. If I am going to engage someone it's usually for a good reason. Would my strengthened animal side affect that? Uh. More questions I couldn't answer. It seemed like every time I wanted an answer it just raised another question. Imagine if you were in school (Oh yeah one advantage to being trained to kill is that we didn't really have to worry about a whole lot of grammar, and math and stuff) anyways, if you were in school, and you asked your teacher a question. Instead of giving you an answer she responded b asking you something. Highly annoying. Anyways enough about that.

"I think you're right V," I said.

'But why are your abilities getting sharper and not ours?" Ty asked furrowing his eyebrows.

"Hey I'm no scientist," I said with a shrug. "Ask Dr. Miller."

"We should call him when we get to Vegas," Alice said as Agent Bond helped her to her feet.

"We need to get to Vegas tonight," I said. We're almost out of water, Alice really needs stitches, and there are more assassins, and coyotes out there," I said waving a hand behind me.

"I agree," Agent Bond said. With that we picked up our stuff, and set off along our little road. In an hour or so the road got a little bit bigger. We kept walking. Ty, and I supported Alice. The wind had picked up i could see flurries of sand swirling around. I put my sweat drenched shirt over my mouth. It didn't smell gould, but it kept me from inhaling sand. The others followed my example. Apparently Tarzan was a little laton the message because all of a sudden he had a violent coughing fit. Tears welled up in his eyes automatically. Not because he was sad, but because there was sand in his eye. We kept walking. Even at night the desert sucks the life at you. Every time I went over a sand dune I expected to see a city full of neon lights, and blinking aigns. Every time I was dissapointed. Then a thought crossed my mind. Agent Bond was leading the way. He could be taking us the wrong way. Our little road was hard to see with the wind blowing as hard as it was. It sort of felt like it was snowing sand. Now i've never seen snow but thats what I would suspect it feels like. I took out my compass. Good, we were still headed east. I wanted to belive Ty,that Agent Nond was loyal, but I realy couldn't shake the feeling that he was a traitor.

I was dog tired, and we were pretty much out of water. I didn't want to waste any. Even at night the dry air sucks the moisture out of your mouth like a paper towel. It leaves your mouth tasting like one too. I thought we were done for. We most likely wouldn't last another day. It was awful not knowing if and when I was ever going to get to Vegas. I trudged up a hill with my head down so I wouldn't be disappointed when there was nothing but more desert ahead. Suddenly I heard Vanessa gasp. No. It couldn't be. I managed to lift up my head. It felt like a bowling ball on my shoulders. I squinted through the sand, and finally I could see some lights. They came out of nowhere. One second it was desert the next was Las Vegas we all cheered. We were going to make it. Las Vegas was a desert rose to me ( I think that's a song). With renewed energy we surged forward. Cars zoomed in and out of the city. We got some odd looks, but people probably thought we had been camping or something. All of our guns were out of sight, so we really did fit the ticket. The massive Welcome to The Fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada sign nearly blinded me. Every color you could possibly Imagine was blinking on a neon sign. We were finally here. We had survived the Mojave Desert. Deep inside though I knew that the mission had barely begun. We were days behind schedule. The only way I knew that N.E.W. era hadn't launched the missiles was that I wasn't dead. They might be close though. we were running out of time. That being said I was greatly relived when I knew I would live to fight another day.

"Viva Las Vegas," Ty said as we stared at this neon oasis.