The Lure of the Pack Read Free Page B

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