21

You round the corner out of the alley and come across a scene that you never expected to witness in Haven, even after what you saw back in the humans' stronghold.

A block ahead, three heavily armed soldiers are holding Tiva to the ground, grinding her muzzle into the cracked concrete as another soldier beats her mercilessly with a club.

"…will teach you a little respect, you fucking monster!" the soldier screams as he brings the club down on Tiva's head, eliciting a sharp howl of pain. "Tess was in the lab when you animals blew it up! You monsters killed my wife!"

Thwack, thwack, thwack, the club rains down cruel blows until Tiva pulls free, tripping one of the soldiers as she limps unsteadily away. Across the street several other wolves huddle together in fear, looking skittish and ready to bolt at any moment.

The soldier drops his club to the ground, and it rolls in a circle on the uneven asphalt before coming to a halt, leaving a diminishing crescent of dark red blood. Now that you're closer, you can see tears streaming down the man's face from puffy red eyes. "She was pregnant!" he yells, and his breath catches in his throat. "We were gonna start a family! Two more weeks. Two more weeks and we would have been away from you devils!"

A muscular woman with a long winding scar down the left side of her face wraps a hand around the soldier's arm and pulls him back. Your enhanced hearing barely picks up her words. "No more, Chris. I let you have that, but it can't happen again, understood? We do this clean. One example, maybe two."

Scar-face unlimbers an automatic rifle and walks toward the huddled mass of wolves. You're getting closer to her, almost close enough to act. You don't think the soldiers have seen you yet.

"Four hours ago, one of your kind set off an explosive device in our medical center, killing over fifteen people in cold blood. Until we find out which of you is responsible, Colonel Williams has declared martial law. Assaulting military personnel is a crime punishable by death."

The street goes silent, the only noise Tiva's grunts of pain as she limps and stumbles away. She's going to kill Tiva! your brain screams. You've got to do something and you've got to do it right now!

Throwing caution to the wind, you rush out between Tiva and the soldiers, towering over them in your werewolf form. The scar-faced woman can't help but recoil for a moment before her discipline kicks in and she firms up, staring you in the eyes with a forgery of calm.

"This isn't necessary," you say to the officer, making sure that you're blocking her line of sight to Tiva. "If one of us truly did what you claim, we'll discover them. There's no need to make examples of us."

"We have our orders," Scar-face says. "Now back away slowly or we'll be forced to make an example of you, too."

This isn't working, you think. There must be something I can say that will get through to her.

"Down!" comes a shout from behind, and you duck instinctively, rolling away from the soldier. Two shots rip through the air, loud enough to cause a ringing in your sensitive ears. It takes a few seconds for your vision to clear, but when it does, you see Tiva, standing over the corpse of the scar-faced officer, two gleaming handguns held at arm's length, one in each curled fist. Where did she get those? Your mind reels, trying to make sense of everything happening around you. She must have found the guns when we were exploring on the other side of the bridge!

The other three soldiers are backing up, brandishing their rifles as Tiva and the emboldened wolves come at them. You give yourself a shake and stalk toward them from another angle, leaving only one escape route: back to human territory.

Next

"Step back!" yells the soldier who beat Tiva. It's the officer, Chris. "You're outgunned!"

Tiva snarls. "You really think you can kill all of us before we get to you? Maybe you humans just don't value your lives. Run on home and tell your Colonel Williams that he can declare any nonsense he wants, just as long as you leave our pack alone."

"You should have thought of the consequences before killing our medical staff! You're not the only ones with a home and family!" Chris shouts back, his rifle trembling in tightly clenched hands.

"We didn't bomb your building," Tiva says with a snarl. "Where would we even get explosives out here? Get going! I'm losing patience with you."

The wolf who'd gotten hold of Scar-face's rifle chooses this moment to squeeze the trigger several times, sending round after round into the area surrounding the soldiers. You're not sure if the poor aim was on purpose, or if the wolf's just a really bad shot, but the assault has the result you're hoping for.

The soldiers turn tail and run, desperately retreating to seek shelter in the ruins along the way back to the bridge.

You turn toward Tiva to check her wounds, surprised to see her aiming a handgun carefully at the backs of the retreating soldiers.

She growls under her breath. "Think you can beat me half to death and get away with it? Fuck you, you piece of shit."

Her finger tenses on the trigger.

You stand to Tiva's side after briefly considering jumping in front of her gun. It wouldn't be worth it to risk getting shot, you think to yourself. "You can't do this, Tiva. They're retreating! They think we're savages. Monsters. Do you want to prove them right?"

Tiva's arm shakes and tears stream down from her unblinking eyes. "Your objection is noted, Elizar Evenwood."

"I can't let you shoot them, Tiva."

"Try to stop me."

Tiva's finger tenses on the trigger and she steadies her hand, firing at the back of the retreating soldier. The first shot goes wide, and the man looks back, almost tripping in his panic.

The next two shots don't miss, sending him careening face-first into the asphalt with a short gurgling scream. The other two soldiers, not wanting to be Tiva's next targets, take cover behind a concrete barrier and return fire. You pull Tiva to the ground as bullets whiz through the air where she was standing.

"We've got to get out of here," you say over the whipcracks of gunfire. "They have training and better weapons. Fear of the wolf put the scare into them, but they aren't just going to turn tail again after you shot at their backs."

Tiva spits and tries to rise. You pull her back down again in the nick of time. "I can't let them see me run," she says. "Not after what they did to me."

"You'll get your vengeance," you say, more calmly than you feel. "But if we stay here, we'll die for nothing. If the humans really mean to come down on us hard, we're going to need every fighter we can get. We need you."

She looks back in the direction of the soldiers, uncertainty in her eyes. Finally she winces and starts to crawl away toward cover, shooting blindly behind her to give you time to maneuver.

The other wolves have already scattered, taking the rifle, by the time you and Tiva finally reach the safety of the alley. You peek around the corner, but the humans don't appear to have followed you.

The two of you run toward home in silence. You want to tell her that everything will be all right. But you know that would be a lie.

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