The Beast Within (Book One of the Changes Series)

-Killian’s POV-

Hiding in rotting body parts mixed with random trash and scraps was nowhere in the mission’s parameters. But when you have a half-ton brute on your ass, adjustment is mandatory. At its start, the plan was going off without a hitch. When out of the blue, as it usually did, sugar turned into shit.

Right before the jump, everyone came together for the good of the mission. Garvey even kept his thoughts to himself when I shared McPherson’s new role in the mission. We juiced up to shake the DTs, and the jump went seamlessly as we all glided in without detection.

We breached the outer gate and broke into our predetermined groups. Hernandez went it alone to set the outside explosives. It wasn’t until we reached the facility that everything fell apart.

My senses were on full alert as we stalked the empty halls. The first mishap happened with the blueprints. Nothing was where that fancy-ass satellite said it would be. The duct we should’ve been traveling in was AWOL, but eventually, we found what we thought to be the elusive passage.

Midway in, which took longer than expected to reach, the tunnel broke off in three directions when the plans only showed two. I decided to stick as close to the blues as possible. So Garvey and Davis went their way while McPherson and I went ours, leaving the middle route to remain untraveled.

McPherson and I should have been closing in on our exit when we quickly realized my choice was the wrong one, coming to a dead end. Before I could come up with my next move, sirens sounded. My first thought was that Garvey and Davis were compromised. Who knew where their tunnel ended? Whatever happened, it was evident that one of us had set the security off.

We doubled back, and in a split-second decision, I relieved McPherson of his materials and sent him to assist with Garvey and Davis’ extraction. I went to finish our part of the mission alone. The major wanted to make sure this building came down, so I was tasked to set explosives in the middle of the facility… if I could get there.

McPherson rapidly disappeared down the channel that should have led to the other half of the team. I took the uncharted tunnel, hoping for a lucky break. That wasn’t what I got, though. The tunnel seemed to go on forever. I was about to abort and go back to help with extraction when a foul smell caught my attention. It was faint at first, but before long, it was all-encompassing.

I had a good idea what the smell was, but my concentration was redirected to my six. Something was behind me in the tunnels, and I was positive it wasn’t anyone from my team. I heard a low growl travel the passage. It had to be one of the beasts, and it had me on my own.

My option of turning back had been taken away, so I continued down the endless shaft with renewed purpose. I was more than a little relieved when I came to a possible exit. That’s when the already bad situation got even worse. I couldn’t make out from what direction, but the faint sound of a single gunshot sounded, mingling with the surrounding noise.

I remembered sitting still for a moment, waiting for more gunfire to ring out. Nothing, but that gave me time to notice the metal grate that I happened to be standing on. Until the echoed scrape of clawed feet within the pipe stole my attention. I wasn’t sure if it knew of my presence or how fast it was traveling down the corridor, but I did know I had to get out fast.

I reached for my left cargo pants pocket. Besides having bullets filled with mercury, Anastasiya also gave us another defense to get us out of a rough spot. We were equipped with a few vials of potent acid. A slip-up with the acid posed a more immediate danger than the mercury, so she stressed it was to be used only in an emergency.

From what I could see, I was definitely in one of those cases. I knew a vial or two would cause some significant damage and give me time to put a bullet in its skull, but I didn’t know if its friends were right behind him.

I chose to douse each of the metal bolts on the screened portal.

Another nasty scrapping reached my ears. I only had enough time to put on my thick leather gloves, setting up my resending wire to a metal bar. I took a step back and put everything I had into a kick right in the middle of the thick metal grate. If it hadn’t given way, my story would have been over.

I quickly took hold of the wire and jumped, tightening my grip to slow my descent as the grate hit the cement below with a vulgar crash.

My feet touched the ground, and I released myself from the wire as I heard the beast dangerously close to the opening. Having no time to waste, I shed the backpack strapped to me and dove for cover.

And here I laid in the oozing bio-hazard that sheltered me from the monster.

I hadn’t seen it land, but now it was only feet away from where I hid. I hoped I was buried deep enough to silence my heartbeat from its ears. It seemed the heavy stench also worked to my advantage as I watched it take deep whiffs in, but it wasn’t locking in on me. I didn’t think I was fortunate enough for it to leave, but if I could distract it for a minute, I would be able to empty my clip into the ugly sack of shit. At least I had a plan.

Out of nowhere, it seemed the creature’s attention was pulled in another direction as I watched it dart off. I reached for my gun anyway when I heard a screaming voice over the ongoing alarms.

“Get the hell away from her!”

Guns shots rung out. It was now or never. I threw the debris off me and stood with my gun in hand. I quickly surveyed the area.

There were piles of waste throughout the large room, but the other piles only consisted of cardboard and paper. I hurried to the source of the gunshots. I found myself looking at a set of doors that, from their movement, I knew the beast had just left through. I didn’t like that I couldn’t see what I was about to come face to face with, but I had to make my move anyway. I took a deep breath, making my way through the doors.

A young woman in a filthy dress was standing over the colossal beast. She was still squeezing the trigger of the now empty gun. Obviously, she had shot her target, but she seemed oblivious to the beast’s regeneration. She was moments away from becoming abstract wall art.

“Move out of the way!” I demanded as I raised my gun.

The woman met my gaze, but she didn’t budge. It was clear that she was in a state of shock. I took the shot, putting three rounds in the creature’s head. The ring of the gunshots woke the woman out of her daze as I watched her run away. I quickly glanced at the shrinking monster’s form before following the strange woman.

My mind was swirling with questions. What was she doing down here? Was she one of them? I quickly let that last question slip out of my thoughts. If she was one of them, she wouldn’t have needed to shoot that monstrous fucker. Besides, she would’ve been hunting me instead of doing whatever the hell it was she was down here doing. No, she had to be human. Still, why was she down here?

“Hey wait! You shouldn’t be down here alone. There are probably more werewolves. Where are you going?” I asked as I lowered my gun but left my finger on the trigger.

My last inquiry was swiftly answered as I came around another bin of rubble. I went in close; she seemed to barely notice my presence. She was crouched down, holding onto what looked like the dead body of another woman.

Her breath quivered, “I’m here, I’m here Porsh. I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to get us out of here, I promise.”

“Ma’am, your friend’s no longer with us. We need to get you to safety. I’m sure she would’ve wanted that,” I stated with as much condolence as our current situation allowed.

The woman’s eyes shot up to meet mine, “She’s not dead, and I’m not leaving her!”

I’d seen denial like this more times than any one person should. I needed to gain her trust, or I would have no choice other than to leave her to the wolves, literally. She might have helpful information. Especially since I was sure that the intel the team had time to get their hands on from this botched mission would be weak at best. If they weren’t already dead.

I looked down at my watch. I only had fifteen minutes before Hernandez blew the explosives. We needed to be out of here before he did. I put my gun back in its holster, slowly bending down to show her I meant her no harm.

“Can I check your friend for a pulse?”

I didn’t move until I saw her move just enough for me to get close to the body. I barely had the woman’s wrist in my hand when I could feel her weakened pulse. I went through the motions, not wanting to let the woman in on my unique abilities. Shit, I guess the woman’s wishful thinking had granted a miracle, but I would still be shocked if ‘Porsh’ would make it.

“She’s alive,” The woman said matter of factually.

“Yes, she is. But I don’t think she will be for very long.”

The woman pushed me out of the way, retaking her place by her friend, “No! She’s going to live!”

I knew I should have left them there or knocked the healthy one unconscious and carried her out, but for reasons not fully known to me, I wanted to help her as she unknowingly had helped me.

I didn’t have time to find and plant the bomb in the center of the building and get us out of here. From the screwed-up blues I had, who knew where my mark was. This room would have to do.

I left the two women, swiftly retrieving the bag I had dropped. My guard and weapon were up as I walked through the dangerous surroundings. The hole I jumped out of was still silent with no new monsters in its entry.

I got what I needed and ran back to the waiting civilians. Wasting no time, I emptied the materials I needed. The nameless woman mumbled quietly to her friend as I worked.

“So, do you have a name?” I asked as I kept tinkering.

As if she had just noticed my presence, her eyes went from the device to me and back again.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“I’m activating a bomb. Then all three of us are going to get out of here.”

Her eyes were still somewhat glazed over as a slight smirk came over her face, “Sounds like a good plan.”

My eyebrows knitted together before turning my attention back to my work. What the hell was this woman put through down here?

“Yeah, here’s hoping it works. I can’t guarantee your friend will live through this. Shit, I can’t say we will make it either.”

“I know.”

“Okay, the disclaimer was given.”

“My name’s Danielle.”

I took a moment to look up from what I was doing to make brief eye contact.

“Nice to meet you, Danielle; the name’s Killian. Now let me get this done so we can get the hell out of here, okay?”

She released a huge breath, “Okay.”

When I had finished, the clock on the device automatically mirrored the timer of my watch; ten minutes left. I took out the gun in my ankle holster and gave it to Danielle.

“Take the safety off here, and if you see one of those bastards, point and shoot like you did earlier.”

She nodded, letting me know she understood. I kept hold of my 45mm as I scooped up Danielle’s friend, placing her over my shoulder. I wasn’t sure which way was the way out, and with only ten minutes, there wasn’t any room for error. I had to think on the go and hoped we didn’t run into any werewolves. That was a lot to hope for.

I started for the opening with Danielle at my side. “Do you know how to get out of here?” I questioned.

“No, but I know where not to go.”

A slight smile threatened to form. Danielle’s answer wasn’t exactly what I wanted to hear, but it was better than nothing. As we neared the door, I looked to her for the way not to go.

“Don’t go that way or straight,” she said, pointing in each direction.

“Alright, left it is.”

We picked up the pace down the hall, then up some stairs and down another corridor. I was sure Danielle had helped as much as she could with directions. Now we were hoping for a straight shot out of here, but of course, nothing could ever be that easy. It became apparent that we had to decide to make a right or a left up the hall. I stole a glance at Danielle. As I thought, her facial expression showed her uncertainty.

We kept our hurried stride. Maybe there would be a sign that said: ‘escape here.’ Before we could reach the bend, our worst fear was realized. We stopped dead in our tracks as the end of the hall was filled by a mammoth presence.

I couldn’t take aim as well as I would have been able to if I wasn’t holding Danielle’s friend, but with a target that massive, you’d have to be blind to miss. Before Danielle or I could pull the trigger, several shots sounded, and the beast collapsed. All of a sudden, the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. Without hesitation, I turned and fired in the direction we had just come. It took a moment to realize Danielle had done the same. The werewolf was only feet away from being on top of us when it dropped.

“Keep watch over my back!” I ordered.

I turned back around to see the quickly forming corpse of a man and the silhouette of a person standing over it. I had my gun trained on him, and he had his on me. He walked into the neck of the hall where we had better views of each other. Both of our guns went down to our sides.

“McPherson! What the hell is going on? Where’s the rest of the team?”

“They made it out of the building, sir. I came back for you.”

“That wasn’t part of the mission. You should be waiting for extraction!”

“Yes sir, it’s good to see you too, Killian.”

Even though my face didn’t show it, I was thrilled to see him as well. I looked back down at my watch; four minutes left. McPherson looked curiously at my companions but didn’t ask any questions.

“Are we close to the exit?” I asked

McPherson glanced at his watch as he spun his back to me. His stride turned into a jog. Danielle and I sped up to keep on his coattails. She would turn her head every so often to check our backs.

“The exit is just up to the right and down the hall. Were you able to successfully arm the bomb?”

“Yeah, that’s why less talking and more running.”

“No!” Danielle screamed out as she repeatedly squeezed the trigger.

I looked behind us to see at least three werewolves quickly covering ground toward us. It was like nothing I’d ever seen. They were on all-fours in a full gallop, somehow finding traction on the sides of the walls. Their teeth were bared, ready for contact.

“Run! McPherson, take her and her friend!” I ordered as I traded Porsh to McPherson for his assault rifle.

I quickly steadied myself and took aim, putting two bullets in one of the wolves, causing it to collide into the other two. Before turning to run, I noticed two more werewolves on their way. I knew I didn’t have time for anything besides escape. If they were going to get me, I decided it would be in mid-stride. I watched as the light at the end of the last hall became brighter, closer. A figure shadowed the opening.

“Move left!” McPherson shouted.

I checked left as I kept running. I could feel my heart working overtime as I pushed every LT4-filled cell onward. Two shots flew past me. A lurid growl let me know at least one of the rounds found its target. My goal was so close I could taste it. Only a few more feet and I would be out.

“Don’t look back. Just run, Killian!” McPherson barked as he turned to sprint.