Chapter 113 - Rising from the Rubble

  The first thing I felt, coming back to myself, was pain. Sharp, intense pain that seemed to be coming from everywhere. My head throbbed. My ribs screamed. My legs felt like they'd been put through a meat grinder. But I was alive. Somehow, impossibly, I was still alive.

  When I’d passed out, I’d been terrified that this would be it, that the werewolves would just come after me and finish me off. That would make sense, right? A helpless target was certainly easier for them to handle. For whatever reason, they hadn’t done that, yet.

  The second thing I became aware of was the weight pressing down on me. I couldn't move my arms or expand my chest enough to take a full breath. A heaping pile of stone and wood pinned me in place. I was buried under what had to be half a collapsed building.

  That probably explained why I was still alive. If I’d been unconscious out in the open, I figured the werewolves would have made short work of me. But when Cerberus tossed me through the wall, he dropped a couple of tons of debris on top of me, and that was more digging than I was worth, apparently, because they’d moved on rather than exhuming me to finish the job.

  How long had I been out? Minutes? Hours? I needed to get back out there and rejoin the fight, if I could…

  A scraping sound cut through my foggy thoughts. Something was moving the rubble above me. Whatever it was shifted stones aside, tossing chunks of debris away. I heard a low growl. One of the werewolves, then. The pack might not have felt like unearthing me was worth their time, but this one had decided differently.

  My eyes snapped open, but I couldn’t see much. Darkness, mostly, with the faintest trickle of moonlight filtering through a gap in the rubble. A shadow moved above me, and I heard werewolf claws scraping against stone. The crushing weight above me lessened as pieces were removed, one by one. It was digging me out, which was ironically gonna work in my favor. But I had a hunch it wasn’t trying to save me, so I’d have to time my escape carefully.

  I tried to move, but my body wouldn't cooperate. My Regeneration was working as fast as it could. My wounds were slowly knitting closed, my injured bones gradually mending, but I was still too broken to fight and far too damaged to defend myself. I needed more healing before I was going to be able to keep this thing from killing me, once it dug down the rest of the way.

  The werewolf tossed aside a large chunk of masonry, and suddenly I could see it through a gap in the pile. It had brown fur, a scarred muzzle, and bright yellow eyes gleaming with hunger. I couldn’t tell for sure, but I had a feeling this was the same one I'd kicked in the face earlier, come back for revenge.

  It tossed away another chunk of stone, then lifted away a massive wooden beam like it was a toy. That was a good reminder of just how strong these things were. Weak as I was, if it got its hands on me, I was going to be in trouble.

  The werewolf tossed aside one more chunk of rubble, clearing most of my upper body. With a toothy smile, it reached down toward me, claws extended, jaws opening wide.

  I was still in agony from the damage I’d taken, and pinned down enough I could barely move, so I did the only thing I could.

  I cast Drain Life.

  The black beam erupted from my palm and slammed into the creature’s chest. The werewolf howled in shock and pain as the spell impacted, and I felt its life force flowing into me. That familiar rush of dark vitality washed through my battered body. Broken bones knitted together faster. Torn muscles repaired themselves. The fog in my head cleared.

  The werewolf staggered backward, suddenly weakened, and that gave me just the opening I needed.

  I surged upward, throwing off the remaining rubble with a burst of desperate strength. Stone and wood exploded outward as I burst free from my tomb. The werewolf tried to retreat, to escape. It was digging in hopes of easy prey, not something that could fight back. But I wasn’t going to let it escape. I was on it before it could take two steps.

  My fist caught it square in the chest. I felt ribs shatter under the impact. The werewolf flew backward, crashed into a wall, and slumped to the floor. It tried to get up, whimpering, claws scrabbling at the ground.

  I didn't give it a chance to recover. I crossed the distance in two strides and delivered a devastating kick to its skull. The crack echoed through the ruined building. The werewolf went limp, its body twitching once before going completely still.

  Dead. I'd killed it.

  I waited for the guilt to hit, for the horror of taking a human life, even a transformed one, to overwhelm me, but it didn't come. Maybe I was too angry and focused on survival? Or maybe I'd finally accepted the brutal truth, that I couldn't afford to pull my punches anymore. Not against Cerberus. Not against any of them.

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  It was possible these things were actually worse than the Karabos had been. The lobster folk were trying to kill and eat everyone. It was gross and horrible, but I could understand it from a ‘circle of life’ perspective. We used to eat them. They wanted to turn the tables. Not that I was going to lie down and let them cook me up! But it made a certain sort of sense.

  These werewolves were different. They weren’t trying to kill us; they were a contagion, a plague that would turn everyone I knew into monsters, unless they were stopped. If I held back and kept trying to subdue them gently, people wouldn’t die. They’d be turned into monsters themselves. I couldn't let that happen.

  I activated Flight and shot upward through the hole I'd made in the building, bursting into the night sky. My body still ached. Regeneration and Drain Life had healed the worst of it, but I was far from one hundred percent. It was going to have to be enough, though. I was functional, therefore I could fight.

  I oriented myself quickly, looking for the battle. The werewolves had moved on from the plaza where I’d fought Cerberus, and I had a good idea where they’d gone. I flew toward Harvard Yard, where the sounds of combat were coming from inside the walls now. I rose higher, getting a better view, and felt my stomach drop.

  The north wall had fallen completely. Werewolves battled inside the Yard, now. They’d overwhelmed the nearest defenders and pushed deeper into the compound. People ran screaming, trying desperately to reach shelter, and bodies littered the ground.

  In the center of it all, that golden-furred monster Cerberus was cutting a swath through anyone who tried to stand against him.

  “Time for round two,” I muttered, streaking toward the fight.

  I was the one who was supposed to hold him off, to take on the toughest fight. I was supposed to keep him from reaching the Yard. I'd failed, and now people were dying because of it.

  Not anymore.

  I shot forward, anger burning away the last of my pain and exhaustion. I flew over the broken north wall, my hands already crackling with purple energy. The rear of the werewolf pack was below me, the creatures so focused on the slaughter ahead that they didn't notice me coming.

  That was a huge mistake. I unleashed Lightning Bolt after Lightning Bolt into their ranks. The first one took down two werewolves who'd been clustered together. The second caught two more as they turned to see what was happening. The third scattered a group of five, leaving them stunned and smoking.

  Now they knew I was here. They looked up, snarling, some of them breaking off from the main assault to deal with me. Good. Every werewolf focused on me was one fewer attacking the civilians. I descended rapidly, my fist already cocked back, and slammed a punch into a werewolf that had been trying to corner a fleeing woman. The impact pulverized its skull. I didn't wait to see if it was dead. It being out of the fight was good enough, for now. I just spun and caught another werewolf with a backhand that sent it flying into a third.

  Ahead, a tight unit of shields and spears had formed up, holding back the werewolf advance. I recognized some of them at once. Those were Alex's people from City Hall! They’d made it in time to help! And there, hovering above the line, was Alex himself, Lightning Bolts streaming from his hands in rapid succession.

  Relief flooded through me. Alex was alive. His team was here. We weren't alone.

  Then I saw Cerberus.

  The pack leader had broken away from the main battle and was stalking toward Alex's position. In his massive hands, he held a park bench. He’d somehow ripped the entire thing straight from the ground, metal frame, wooden slats, and all. He draw his arms back, preparing to hurl it like a spear directly at Alex, who was focused on the werewolves attacking his ground team and completely unaware of the threat.

  "ALEX!" I screamed, my voice cracking with the effort. “Incoming!”

  Alex's head snapped around just as Cerberus released the bench. It spun through the air like a ballista bolt, but Alex's Agility-boosted reflexes saved him. He twisted in mid-air, his Flight sending him sideways. The bench missed him by inches, sailing past to crash into a building behind him.

  "Cameron!" Alex shouted, relief and surprise mixing in his voice. "I thought you were—thank God you're alive!"

  "Thanks for the concern, but we can catch up later!" I called back, already stalking toward Cerberus. "We need to take that thing down now!"

  "Agreed!" Alex descended to fly beside me. "Any ideas?"

  "Hit him with everything we've got and hope it's enough?”

  "Not much of a plan,” Alex quipped.

  "You got a better one?"

  "Not really. Let’s do it.”

  Cerberus had spotted us both now. His lips pulled back in that horrible grin, showing all those dagger-like teeth. "Ah. Small one returns. Stubborn and tough. Ready to receive my gift, now?”

  “Hell no. I already told you, I’m not joining your pack!" I snarled.

  "Small one not understand. Soon, will beg to join."

  “Not likely, dude,” I replied. I turned toward my friend. “Ready?”

  “Let’s,” Alex replied.

  He unleashed a Lightning Bolt while Cerberus was focused on me. The purple energy slammed into the pack leader's side, making him stagger and snarl in pain. I followed up immediately, diving in close to land a devastating punch to his ribs.

  Cerberus recovered faster than he should have, lashing out at his nearest attacker—me! I dodged the first, ducking under the blow. The second one nearly took my head off, but I shook it off and came up with an uppercut that snapped Cerberus's head back.

  "You fight together," Cerberus said, blood dripping from his mouth. "Pack tactics. See? You already understand."

  "We're nothing like you,” Alex said, hitting Cerberus with another Lightning Bolt.

  I moved in for another strike, but our adversary was ready this time. He caught my fist in one massive paw, his claws digging into my hand and drawing blood even through my Natural Armor, but the pressure was incredible. He pulled me in close enough that I could smell the death on his breath.

  "You will join," he said quietly, almost gently. “You will gain power, help protect pack.”

  I looked him right in those glowing yellow peepers and gave him the best answer I could think of, in the form of a Drain Life spell cast directly into his chest at point-blank range.

  Cerberus roared and released me, staggering back as the black energy tore into him. I felt his life force flowing into me again, restoring my depleted reserves, healing the damage from our earlier fight.

  “Cerberus will break you,” he snarled, then lunged forward to strike.