The Lure of the Pack (2 page)

The branches of the trees around Piper erupted into flame.
Diving to the ground he rolled as shards of timber exploded all around him, the
Eurocopter’s thirty millimetre cannon ripping everything in its path to shreds
as daylight seemingly erupted across the tree line. Flares, thought Piper,
they’ll illuminate the whole damned area and lead the bastards straight to me.
Then he heard it, a metallic voice over the raging din of the rotor blades, a
man’s voice, shouting to him. Piper threw off his NV goggles and gazed steadily
at the machine hovering in mid air, just ahead of him.

“HEY MISTER,” the metallic voice said, “DO YOU FANCY A GAME
OF CAT AND MOUSE?” There was laughter, stifling laughter coming from the
helicopter’s loudspeaker. Piper aimed the USP in a two handed grip and fired at
the cockpit, but to no avail. The Eurocopter roared overhead making a low sweep
across the treeline.

“HERE WE COME, GET RUNNING MISTER!” 

As he watched the cannon under the cockpit swing into
position, ready to fire, Ash Piper prepared to run for his life.

“HERE WE COME MISTER,” again the laughter echoed from the
loudspeaker as the cannon opened up, its red-hot tracer flying around Piper as
he ran zigzag through the treeline. He was panting heavily, his thoughts on
fire as branches smashed to the floor around him. With the whirring metallic
roar of the rotors drawing ever closer and the terrifying destruction of the
cannon’s high velocity rounds enveloping his senses, Piper leapt to the left
and rolled as the Eurocopter flew over the decimated tree line.

“HAVING FUN MISTER?” They attacked again, more crashing
branches, more red-hot lead and ear shattering sounds assaulting his lupine
senses as Piper ran, weaved and dodged through the broken tree line. The
bastards are forcing me to hold position he thought, wherever I run they can
cut me to pieces. Yet again, deftly, with precision, the Eurocopter circled
ready for another assault, the thumping from its rotors deafening Piper. “FUCK
YOU” he shouted, a torrent of anger now flowing through his lupine veins.

“We are approximately ten minutes from your position Tiger
One, keep him pinned down.”

“Don’t worry, we’ve got him boxed in, but hurry!”

The burly guard shouted to his men, “KEEP MOVING AND
REMEMBER, WE TAKE HIM ALIVE!”

“His heartbeat is dangerously high sir.”

The CEATA medic’s warning was all too clear, but there was
no heartfelt reply from Colonel Mann, only a whisper, “come on Red Haze, now’s
the time!” The CEATA team continued to watch the view from the overhead
satellite as Ash Piper continued to fight for his life.

With its cannon blazing yet again, the Eurocopter attacked.
With an almighty roar Piper leapt behind a section of tree line as all around
him ripped branches crashed down to the floor, the forest exploding with
another tumultuous cacophony of hot lead.

Then he felt it, the searing pain, his heart racing like
never before, his blood pounding through his veins, his perspiration pouring
from his raging body as his vision changed to red.

Deep red! He growled! The wolf spoke; it was time to fight
back! Piper leapt again as the helicopter roared overhead, but this time they
hadn’t fired. Yes you bastards he thought, you need to conserve your ammo,
don’t you! Piper quickly surveyed what was left of the decimated, forested area
around him. He needed to find cover and fast. 

The change was upon him, the wolf was ready to appear.

“He’s wondering what the fuck to do, ha!” The Eurocopter’s
navigator smiled, they had him trapped.

The pilot spoke, “we need to conserve the ammo, so be
careful.”

Franz laughed aloud as he continued monitoring his target
through the Tiger’s thermal imaging system. “Hey don’t worry, keep her hovering
for the moment, I’m watching him closely, he won’t…hey? Where the fuck…? WHAT
THE HELL!”

“What’s the matter?” The pilot sounded concerned, agitated.

“HE’S FUCKING VANISHED OUT OF SIGHT! QUICK, PEEL OFF TO THE
RIGHT AND HOVER.”

“Heartbeat irregular, blood pressure rising dramatically.”

Colonel Mann’s gaze quickly moved from the CEATA medic to
Commander Hertschell, “this is it, he’s hazing.”

There was no reply as Jeanette Descard looked worriedly at
both men.

With his lungs gasping for air, his body screaming in pain,
Piper ran through the forest, the ethereal sounds of the night assaulting every
nerve of his canine senses. Suddenly, he stopped and turned around. There it
was, once again, the Eurocopter now hovering, waiting for his next move. With
hateful rage cascading through his genes, Piper yelled back at the metal beast,
“ALRIGHT YOU BASTARDS! HOW ABOUT A GAME OF WOLF AND MOUSE.” With his eyes now
blood red, Piper’s jaws began to elongate. He growled at his hovering enemy,
his body’s DNA exploding inside him as the wolf’s snout erupted from his jaws,
his drop suit tearing at the seams as his ears, hands, legs and feet elongated,
his newly released tail becoming rigid, dominant. Piper screamed as his body
jerked in wild spasms of agony, for the beast was raging. Within seconds, the
wolf erupted from Ashley Piper’s human flesh.

The transformation complete, Piper fell on all fours and
howled into the night, his powerful canid form ready…for the hunt!

As he gazed in horror through his thermal imaging system,
the Eurocopter’s navigator began to panic, “FUCKING HELL, I DON’T BELIEVE WHAT
I’M SEEING!”

“Why, what the hell is going on?” A sense of dread began to
grip the pilot as he became acutely aware of the fear in his navigator’s voice.

The wolf stood on its hind legs, snarling, its blood red
eyes glaring defiantly, its canines and claws ready to strike back, to tear,
slash and maim its adversaries.

It was time for Ash Piper’s wild, aggressive, canid form to
take the offensive!

“My God,” said Jeanette Descard, “look how swiftly he’s
moving.” The CEATA team watched in stark amazement at the amazing, yet
disturbing satellite imagery on the screen.

“He’s going to attack the chopper,” said Nick, “look, he’s
on all fours, he’s heading for the tree line opposite them. OH SHIT, HE’S
CLIMBING THE TREES!”

“PEEL BACK, PEEL BACK!” The navigator was panic-stricken;
never in all his life had he witnessed anything like this. “IT’S UNDERNEATH US,
IN THE TREES, CLIMB FOR FUCK’S SAKE, CLIMB!”

“WHAT’S FUCKING UNDERNEATH US?”

“A FUCKING WO…”  The navigator’s words were suddenly cut
short as he heard a heavy thud on his left side, the Eurocopter tilting sideways,
its rotors straining in metallic agony as it seemingly spun out of control, the
fearful pilot wrestling with the stick.

“TRYING TO COMPENSATE! SHIT, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON OUT
THERE?” The navigator was speechless with terror! He had seen the wolf leap
from the trees and knew what was hanging on to the underneath of the Tiger, the
pilot continuing to struggle with the controls, his voice now a panic stricken
yell! “THIS IS TIGER ONE TO CENTRAL CONTROL, WE ARE UNDER ATTACK,” he shouted,
“REPEAT, WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!”

The security guard with the communications pack held out the
handset, “it looks like Tiger One’s in trouble.”

“What? Don’t be stupid.” The burly guard took the handset
from his colleague as away in the distance they listened to the sound of the
helicopter’s whining rotor blades. He placed the handset to his ear and
listened to the terrible yelling over the static, trying to make sense of the
distorted dialogue. “What the hell? Tiger One, do you copy, DO YOU COPY?” There
was no reply, only further screaming. “FUCKING SHIT,” he shouted to his men,
“C’MON, MOVE IT.”

Even in his wolf form, Ash Piper knew the Eurocopter’s
rotors could easily decapitate him. With his overly large canid body relishing
the thought of the hunt, his claws gripped the helicopter’s framework as he
hauled himself up to the navigator’s window.

As the sound of tortured rotors engulfed the cockpit, the
shocked navigator watched in horror as two piercing red eyes and a snarling
hairy snout, exposing razor-sharp incisors, appeared at the window. Without
hesitating he screamed as the wolf roared, drawing its right arm back, ready to
strike. With a terrifying growl the wolf punched through the canopy of the
cockpit, its huge, clawed hand gripping the hapless navigator’s throat,
dragging his helmeted face towards its saliva-ridden mouth. “HEEEEEEEEEEELP,”
he screamed.

With its rotors whining, the Eurocopter twisted sharply to
the right, the pilot trying desperately to throw the creature off, the
toughened perspex of the canopy continuing to disintegrate under the hideous
beast’s insidious assault. As a dark blanket of mind numbing fear wrapped
itself around the navigator, he let out his final scream, the beast’s canine
teeth biting deep into his helmet, tearing into the man’s face.

“GOOOOOOOOOD,” screamed the pilot, the crotch and legs of
his flying suit staining with urine as his bladder succumbed to gut-wrenching
fear.

Still the Eurocopter spun, the wolf continuing its ravaging
onslaught, but now it was tilting further over to the right, the pilot having
over compensated. With another gut wrenching snarl, the wolf released its
blood-drenched prey and prepared to jump.

“OH SHIT,” yelled the pilot, “THIS IS TIGER ONE, I’M GOING
DOWN, I REPEAT, I’M GOING DOWN.” With the sound of whining, straining rotors
echoing across the forest, the Eurocopter plunged downwards, the wolf swiftly
launching itself into the trees. The helicopter spiralled out of control,
crashing through branches and smashing into the ground, its rotors breaking off,
scything through the broken foliage like lethal elongated knives. The pilot
screamed again, not just in fear, but in agony as pain tore through his body,
the canopy of the cockpit completely disintegrating as the mangled wreck hit
the ground with an almighty crash.

Tiger One was down, but so too was the wolf, bloodied,
powerful…and craving for revenge.

“THE BASTARD’S BROUGHT THE CHOPPER DOWN!” Deep in the
forest, the guards were dumbstruck, their contact over the radio having ceased,
only the waspish buzzing of static now emitting over the airwaves. “TIGER ONE
DO YOU COPY? TIGER ONE…SHIT!” Under the silvery darkness of the full moon, the
burly guard glanced around at his men. “How the fuck can one man down a
helicopter? It doesn’t make sense.” They were all uneasy. Something was wrong.
Very wrong! “We need to get to the wreckage; the crew may still be alive.”

“What about the spy?” The guard who spoke was shaking, and
it wasn’t from the cold.

“We’ll find the fucking shit! SPREAD OUT, TWO IN A TEAM,
TWENTY METRE SPREADS! WE MOVE TOWARDS THE CHOPPER, LET’S GO!”

“Utterly incredible,” Maurice Hertschell sounded truly
amazed.

“He seems to be more powerful and quick witted than we
thought,” replied Colonel Mann, his eyes not leaving the satellite image of the
wrecked Eurocopter.

“So what now?” asked Jeanette Descard, her voice slicing
through the adrenaline soaked atmosphere in the CEATA Communications Room.

“Just wait a minute Jeanette…Nick?”

“Yes sir,”

“Give me an overhead view of where the guards are located
with reference to Piper’s position.”

“Yes sir.” Within a few seconds, utilising thermal imagery,
the field of view on the large screen showed an enlarged, detailed analysis of
Piper’s predicament.

“There they are,” said Nick, “they’ve spread out, obviously
expecting trouble.”

“I’ll bet they are,” Colonel Mann smiled with relish.

“They’re only minutes away from Red Haze Colonel, what do we
do?” Nick was once again seriously worried as Charles Mann deliberately ignored
his question.

“The pilot seems in a bad way,” said Jeanette “and there’s
no sign of movement from the navigator, I presume he’s dead.”

In a cloud of dirt and dust, the Eurocopter’s pilot quickly
unbuckled his safety belt, pulled out his handgun and slowly crawled out of the
mangled cockpit. He yelled in pain, his right leg broken, but he had to get
out, the chopper could explode at any time. He was frightened, incredibly
frightened. Where are the others he thought, where the hell are they?

“Look, there’s Ash! Oh shit, what’s he doing,” Nick’s fists
were clenched, the CEATA Command team continuing to watch, fascinated at the
man crawling out of the shattered cockpit, and the large wolf standing on its
hind legs…waiting in the shadows.

Within the realm of its blood red field of vision, the wolf
surveyed the wreckage and its prey, its greatly enhanced olfactory senses
savouring the pungent aroma of blood, urine and fear.

It was time to kill again!

With searing pain wracking his body, the pilot continued to
crawl away from the mangled wreckage. Could he risk shouting to his colleagues?
He glanced around! There was no sign of the thing that had attacked them.
Perhaps it had been injured? Yes, it must have been. Then he heard it…a low
rumbling growl, over to his left, behind the wreckage! Gritting his teeth as
agony swept over him the pilot crawled faster, painfully dragging his injured
leg, his helmeted, sweating, dirt encrusted face creased in pain, his eyes wide
with unbridled terror.

As the eerie light of the full moon continued to irradiate
the forest he saw the shadow-like form of the large dog-like creature behind
the wreckage. Then it appeared, moving slowly towards him, walking upright on
its hind legs, its growling increasing in intensity and ferocity. “Oh
God…please God, no…” he whimpered. With the pain from his broken leg forgotten,
the injured pilot crawled faster and faster, not daring to face the furred,
muscular, blood red eyed creature walking up behind him, its heavy breathing
seemingly snorting in the silence of the forest. “Please God help me…please,”
he whimpered. Then his whimper became a scream, “HELP
MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”