CHAPTER 109: A FIGHT AGAINST MUTATED WOLVES.

Before the attack came was a sound of steel dragging through the ground. Then, something lunged--long limbs, massive claws, spiked hide, dark eyes that didn’t blink as if they were fixed inside the socket with glue. It was once a wolf, now it was a monstrosity which was barely recognizable.

"Mutated wolf!" Sunshine roared, spraying fire from the dragonoid at it. The flames ate away at the hide of the wolf as it howled mournfully.

"Another one." Major Elio shouted, gun out firing bullets from the Nullfire gun in his hand. "More are coming."

"Must be a pack." Sunshine shouted. "Get your weapons, aim at the mist. Elio, you are our eyes."

Siegfried opened a hatch on top of the car and activated the upgraded version of the Nullfire M2 and fired into the mist randomly.

The dragonoid was a great gun but the trouble was that it took one minute to power up again after firing a round. Sunshine abandoned it in favor of her hammer.

Five wolves lunged out of the mist, fast and coordinated as if they had one mind. Sunshine roared and leaped forward, her hammer whistling through the air as it sent two wolves back with one swing. "Burn these bitches now!" She shouted.

A wolf leaped over the soldiers that had formed a defensive circle and slashed Philip Harg across the chest. He fell with a cry, blood spilling through the ripped weather absorbent under suit.

While Enzo pulled him back into the truck, O’Toole blasted it with fire from the dragonoid.

Sunshine and Nimo were taking on the last wolf meanwhile. She crushed its feet with her hammer while Nimo used a sword that Sunshine had given her to slice its neck.

Major Elio fired three bullets at it. One was lodged in the head and two in the eyes. The wolf convulsed, let out one last small howl and fell to the ground.

"Are there more?" Sunshine asked Elio.

"No." He replied.

"Then help me collect the bodies." She commanded the soldiers.

They looked nervous and scared, not that she could blame them. When she first encountered a mutated monster, she almost peed her pants. "There is no time for fear, move." She bellowed.

Major Elio and Nimo forged forward, and the others followed. It took twenty minutes to carry the bodies and dump them in a container that Sunshine had brought along for this exact purpose, to preserve the bodies of any mutated monsters.

Back in a truck, Private Kerri, one of the medics on the team was already treating Phillip. The gashes in his chest had been cleaned but they were still bleeding. She injected him with an anti-venom and a clotting catalyst.

Sunshine came around to the truck, worry heavy in her eyes. "How is he?"

"He will live. I see no signs of poisoning, but his skin was exposed to a few drops of acid rain, so he has a few burns." Private Kerri answered.

Phillip let out a laugh that sounded more like a cough. "Tell me someone caught that on video."

Kerri slapped his arm. "You almost died, and you scream like a little girl."

Phillip and the other soldiers laughed.

"Put him to sleep and place him in a decontamination pod for an hour." Sunshine told Kerri. "Let’s move before anything else comes looking for dinner."

Sunshine returned to the car and took a deep breath for a moment. That was not bad for her first fight in the apocalypse, but the soldiers needed to up their training.

Nimo climbed into the car and took a deep breath as well. "We are in deep shit." She said in a heavy voice. "If this is what all the animals have become, humanity is screwed. Between wolves with fangs the size of large cups and alien birds that are half as tall as buildings we don’t stand much of a chance."

The car at the front started so Nimo started their car as well. Hissing sounds came from their bodies as the detoxification steam cleansed the toxins from the acid rain that had fallen on them during the battle.

"We will survive." Sunshine said confidently as she raised her head.

The team continued on with their journey but with no jokes and no stories. They had all just received a massive wake up call. The outside world was not rosy or safe, it was deadly.

For five more hours, they drove without stopping or meeting any deadly creatures. Soon, light started to fade from the sky and late evening beckoned.

Siegfried’s voice came through the walkies-talkies. "It’s getting dark out here."

He was very worried. It was one thing to fight mutated animals during day and another at night. Who knew what nocturnal creatures were watching and ready to feast on them.

Sunshine was already aware of the dangers of lurking around in the dark, and there was no way they were going to make it beyond Wescott town.

"There are tourist cabins a few meters down the road, we can park and spend the night there." Sunshine suggested.

Nimo’s back straightened. "That sounds like a place where Alfred would take shelter. Maybe we will get lucky and find him there."

Sunshine did not remind her to dampen her hopes. She just handed her an energy drink so that she could keep her strength up.

When they reached the site, only devastation awaited. A large meteor now rested where the cabins once stood. Below it were fragments of stone and wood.

Using amplified vision, Major Elio spotted a church ahead and informed Sunshine.

"Is it in good shape?" Sunshine asked, there was no point in going there if there was no roof or if it was broken.

"Looks decent but we will not really know until we get there." Major Elio responded.

All the vehicles moved towards the church; it was small perhaps because it was in the village area where only a few people lived.

"This looks promising but wait." Sunshine ordered. One thing she had learnt from the old apocalypse was that in such shelters there were always owners, either animals or human. Her eyes stared at the small stone church nestled between scorched hills and skeletal trees. Unlike its surroundings, the church itself stood healthy and defiant. "Elio anything?"

Major Elio squinted and replied, "I see five people inside madam president including a baby." He reported.

O’Toole squinted his eyes too; he could not comprehend what the Major was talking about. "How are you able to see through the stone church?"

Major Elio swung the binoculars from side to side. "With these, they were made by those professors from the weapons lab, they gave me these odd eye contacts that activate them." The lies slipped smoothly from his lips.

"That’s not fair. How come the rest of us did not get them?" O’Toole mumbled.

"They are still under research." Elio lied. "I am a glorified test subject."

"Half of us will head inside and the others remain behind and guard the cars. If anything moves out here, shoot." Sunshine told the team.

The half headed inside with guns in their hands, moving tactfully. Nimo was among them because she needed to be present to identify her brother. There was no Alfred, all they saw were terrified people that were enveloped in confusion.

"Please this is the house of God, and we want no trouble." The priest told them.

He was young and handsome. A waste of good looks if you asked Nimo.

Sunshine and her group lowered their weapons. "We come in peace only seeking shelter for the night father, and we bring food and drinks."

The priest pursed his lips. They had guns and reeked of blood, but they came in peace!! He was a priest not a fool.