“You want a little wager, Pork Pie Boy?”
Drake took offense, not at the inferred insult but at the fact that the best pork pies weren’t made in Yorkshire. “I’ll take that.”
“Me too,” Kenzie said.
“And me,” Alicia agreed.
Drake made ready, knowing the friendly bluster would only make them sharper. The first screams began as the creatures triggered several traps. Drake found it hard to tell with the shadows but thought he saw two ditches already uncovered and a man swinging by his leg. Another rope looked to have misfired and caught someone about the waist, but they’d take every fluke they could get.
“Do it,” he said through the comms.
Someone lit the touch-paper and columns of fire went up around the town — stakes covered in tar, rudimentary but enough to illuminate most of the town. With nowhere to run, nowhere to hide and sneak and slither, the creatures abandoned their pretensions and rose up on two legs, ripped off masks and took out bows and arrows. Drake took it all in before moving.
The comms crackled again. “Heads are up, guys,” Yorgi said. “I see two handguns out there.”
Drake moved, knowing the rest of the team would be fully invested now. He fired several shots from the rooftop, gesturing for the villagers to kneel up and use whatever projectiles they’d managed to gather together. The streets below were crawling with enemies. Drake saw one fall flat, shot through the leg; another ran for a house door, took a rock the size of a wing mirror to the temple, and collapsed without a sound. Arrows whizzed through the air, shooting up over the roof, most landing harmlessly behind them. A villager screamed as a bolt lodged through his bicep, then went down clutching the muscle. Their designated nurse rushed over, trying to help. Drake knew the older man would do all he could — they’d only had chance to train a handful in the basics of first aid, but natives living out in the wilds always had their own ways.
The villagers stayed atop the roof whilst Drake and Alicia rushed through a hatch and headed for the street below. They came out the back of the house, straight into a wandering attacker. Drake grabbed him by the waist and threw him to Alicia.
“One to help you along, old girl.”
Alicia took it, knocked him unconscious and tied his hand to a black railing. A gasp of horror escaped her when she saw the two-fingered hand before her.
“The downside of being a cannibal,” Drake said, “is when your boss fancies a snack.”
The man pulled hard at his bonds, making blood spill across his wrist. Drake saw sharpened teeth and a feral snarl. “What does it take to get from human to that?”
“Must be tricky for a stoner,” Alicia said. “I mean, if one night you just say: ‘let’s share a joint, dude.’” She weighed both hands. “What happens?”
The man showed no sign of understanding, no humanity at all. Drake intercepted another attack, doubled the man over and threw him up against the same railing. Snarling, the attacker came right back, blood flying from his skull and hand hanging at a ridiculous angle. Drake winced, but was forced to disable the man again. Even with a broken foot, arm, and blood blinding his eyes he attempted to rise and pounce again.
“They have to be on some kind of drug,” he said. “Hallucinatory? Listen,” he tapped the man on the knee, “if I promise to rustle you up a set of Swedish meatballs will you answer a few questions?”
The face shot forward, the jaws snapping an inch from his fingers. Drake cringed. “Guess not.”
They left both men tied up and moved into the street. Figures stood at every doorway, trying to gain entry. Frustration showed on all the faces they could see. Drake saw many hobbling and bleeding, and assumed the traps they’d fashioned were working just fine. He didn’t shoot anyone except when attacked, but every creature they saw turned and attempted to pounce.
They saw Kinimaka in the middle of the street, throwing smaller beings left and right. His victims struck walls and cracked doors and even went halfway through windows. The Hawaiian was beset with worry for Hayden and just wanted this attack to be over; wanted the morning to come so that they might get word. Drake was worried too, not over their boss’s prowess but over her recent behavior. The thing she was looking for might never show up — what then?
Out in the street and with all the torches still blazing he took in a good view of the village. Knots of villagers accompanied by Mai, Yorgi and Kenzie kept the attackers at bay. Curtis stood at the top of a narrow junction, shooting all who emerged. Desiree stood at his back, facing the other way. Together, the pair scared off more creatures than they shot. Drake grinned and gave them a thumbs up.
“That’s reet good!” he cried. “Watch out for that tosspot!”
Luckily, Curtis didn’t need a translation and noticed the attacker creeping up on them. Drake finally found Dahl, waving a lit torch in the face of three attackers. As he approached, a pair of goats clattered across the dirt road between them, adding more of an unreal sense to the scene. Dahl was standing his ground, but the creatures were on two feet, snarling, lunging at the fire, and pulling back at the last moment. Their faces were savage and barely human in the flames, eyes blazing and mouths drawn back in a hateful rictus.
“Which one of you is first?” The Swede sounded remarkably calm. “Because I assure you, I’m taking all of you down.”
Alicia yelled a warning as a fourth black-clad man leapt from the shadows. Dahl lunged aside, but not fast enough. The cannibal fastened on to Dahl’s leg… with his teeth.
Dahl yelled, striking down with the torch. That gave the three he’d been holding at bay chance to attack. Drake was already in motion, racing to his friend’s aid with Alicia a step ahead, but neither of them were truly fast enough.
Kenzie shot from the darkness like a ghostly avenger, face set as hard and grim as old stone. The katana flashed straight down and to the side, flames dancing down its silver blade, glinting along its edges. A creature fell, gurgling his last into the ground. Another flurry of fire, another body fell. Kenzie twisted and turned with grace, evading a clumsy lunge, ending up behind her enemy and running him through. He fell, still with the katana in his chest, wrenching it out of her hand.
“Poor form,” Alicia growled. “There goes your super samurai badge.”
Dahl lifted the fourth attacker, whom he now had gripped around the neck. “Bloody hell! I wanted them all alive.”
Kenzie reached down, stuck her foot on the dead man’s back and yanked her sword free. “Sometimes,” she said. “We don’t always get what we want. But we keep on living.”
Drake wondered about the double-meaning, if indeed there was one. Kenzie always played it close to the chest and Dahl knew her better than anyone. The Swede watched as Kenzie wiped her blade off.
“Thanks for the help.”
Drake surveyed the town. The creatures still came at the citizens in any way they could. From experience he now knew that when he left the area creatures would sneak in and try to steal the bodies of their slain. Not this time. The team rounded up the dead and tied them to nearby stakes or railings, anything they could, with bonds they’d fashioned earlier. If this brought the enemy out of their comfort zone, then the mistakes they made would be all the bigger.
Moving down Main Street, the four made more than a powerful image, they were a force of nature. Kenzie took lead, swinging her katana in epic fashion to left and right, cutting down a swathe of foes. Drake and Alicia came next, to the sides, using handguns to stop charging creatures in their tracks. Arrows whistled between them, passing dangerously close but parting nothing but air. The Mad Swede brought up the rear, tackling foes with a low shoulder, hefting them in the air and bringing them down hard on their spines or necks. Drake grew accustomed to the sight of bodies tumbling through the air and sprawling headlong close to his feet. He broke away quickly to deal with a black-clad individual that appeared to be getting the better of a villager, helped the local pierce the attacker with his own knife, then motioned for the villagers to join them.