The scream pierced through the air like a knife. Before Lira realised it, Daries had moved forward, standing between her and where the scream came from. He kept his eyes forward and placed a firm and unyielding hand to brace her behind him.
His body angled instinctively and his shoulders squared towards the sound.
"Stay." he said quietly.
The way he placed his body towards her and not the town, along with that word lit a fire in her belly. Was he prioritising her over the people in the town? Were they going to run away and leave them?
"I'm not going to fucking stay." Lira spat and stepped forward, standing beside him.
Daries sharply turned his head to face her and Lira could see exasperation creeping into his gray eyes.
"Red, please." Daries started. "I don't know what you're thinking but that creature is dangerous. How about you go to inn and barricade the door, I'll take care of the zombie wolf. Is that okay?"
Lira straightened. "We're not running away?"
Daries frowned, "You want to?"
"Of course not. Let's go." Lira walked forward.
"You can handle yourself?" Daries asked.
Lira nodded and they walked out of the woods.
As they walked closer the screams got louder. They weren't screams of pain, just confused panic. They were random and erratic, just like their movements.
The town wasn't crowded, most people had gone home after the pack meeting but some shops still stayed open. These were the people scrambling to get home.
Daries saw them and couldn't help but curl his lips in derision. So many people were losing their heads over one zombie wolf. If his people were in this situation, they would have killed it swiftly and efficiently.
But he wasn't going to blame the members of Silverstone, they didn't live the kind of life where you had to be a killing machine to survive.
Lira suddenly gripped Daries' arm.
"Daries." She whispered. Her voice was weird.
Daries looked down and saw her covering her nose with her hand. Her eyes were watering and her face was twisted in disgust.
"It's close." Lira choked out.
Daries frowned. He could barely smell it. He then noticed a burn on her left hand.What could have happened? He tried to focus and pick out an irregular scent but he couldn't concentrate.
If he got distracted and the zombie wolf attacked,it could cost him his life…and Lira's life too.
The foul rotten smell hung thick in Lira's throat and nearly choked her. No smell had ever overwhelmed her like this before.
She rubbed at her eyes, then it happened. The zombie wolf came from above and pounced on Daries. Daries was on top of if trying to hold it down. It threw Daries off then lunged at Lira.
In an instant, Daries returned and gave it a resounding kick to the side that sent it skidding away. The screams of the pack members from their houses and hiding spots became louder.
"The guards!" One cried out as he ran away.
"Red, do you need your knife with you?" Daries yelled.
"No it's not here."
"Shit." Daries cussed as he swept his hair away from his eyes. The dead fucker was strong. It's body trunk was so firm, Daries thought that he would dislocated his knee.
It was already getting up.
Daries couldn't shift here, there were too many people around.
"There's a butchers shop around here." Daries raised his voice to carry over the noise. "Can you get me a knife?"
"Where?" Lira shouted back.
"Over by the-" The zombie wolf jumped on Daries. He grunted as his back slammed into the ground.
There was no time to look for a knife. Lira had to act at that moment. She raised her hand to blast it off Daries but then she froze. What if it became a large blast that killed not only Daries but the people behind him? Her hands shook infront of her.
Suddenly, a brown wolf launched at the zombie wolf pushing it off Daries. They tumbled away but the zombie wolf got up first and clawed at the brown wolf's face.
He howled in pain and stumbled backwards, crashing through a wooden stall.
He slowly shifted back into his human form. Lira watched in fear as the zombie wolf stalked over to him, drooling at the sight of the blood pouring out of his cheek and neck. He was going to die.
Lira straightened and ran to it, determined to kill it before he killed the boy.
She brought out her hand to blast it away and felt energy rushing to her fingertips, igniting every vein on its path. And then…it stopped. It flickered out at her hands and dimly sputtered, barely even there.
"What? Again? No." Lira whispered.
She steadied herself to blast it away but she couldn't even feel anything in her fingers. She gasped shakily as she slowly realised that she couldn't use her powers anymore. She caught a glimpse of the burn scar on the back of her left hand and winced.
The zombie wolf turned to Lira and she shivered as it's normally unfocused eyes locked on her in a predatory gaze. The drool poured out of its mouth as it stared at her. It stepped forward.
Lira was close, so close she could touch it in a few steps.
In a flash, Daries was infront of her, shoving the zombie wolf backwards with a sickening squelch. It snarled and snapped at Daries wildly. Then it stopped.
Lira heard a faint buzzing in the air before the zombie wolf was propelled backwards, smashing into another shop. There was a knife lodged in its side with smoke coming out of the injury.
Lira squinted at the injury, it looked almost like a burn. Daries was infront of her, breathing heavily.
Just then, the sound of heavy footsteps pounded behind her. Lira turned and it was Alpha Luca and a few guards.
"Sister Lianne!" Alpha Luca's eyes were so wide, Lira thought they would pop right out of his head. "It's too dangerous here, please leave."
"Someone's hurt." She pointed at the boy from earlier.
"It's Thomas." Daries said.