Rise Of The Hunters - Chapter 79

Xun jumped as high as he could, swinging his sword at the next Slaver, who laughed, and moved faster than he could see, and appeared next to him. His sword fell to the ground, as he dangled from the Slaver’s outstretched arm. Pain was coursing through his arm, where the bone was sticking out. He had grabbed him so fast that it had snapped his arm.

Chuckling, in a deep voice, he leaned forward to sip from the spurting blood as Xun screamed in pain and rage. He swung his fist at the face of the monster, breaking his nose.

Some of his blood landed on his lips, and the Slaver’s eyes went wide. Dropping him in shock, Xun watched from the ground as he stumbled away. When he started shrieking in pain, it drew the attention of all of the other Slavers, and people. He was holding his arm, in intense pain, as the Slaver grabbed his face and ran. Smoke was rising from him, as if he was on fire, and blood began to drop to the ground as he ran.

People scrambled away from him, and Xun was surprised to see him stumble, and fall.

“Xun!” cried his father, running up to him and kneeling next to him.

“This will hurt!” He didn’t give Xun a chance to react, straightening his broken arm in one swift movement.

Xun screamed, then blacked out.

XXXX

He woke, perched on a rooftop, held by his dad. Looking out over the street below, he saw people still dying and the Slavers rounding them up. How much longer could they last? How long before they move on to the women and children?

“Dad, we have to do something,” he croaked. The pain in his arm was still intense, but it had faded to a dull throb.

“I know. But I was not going to leave you until you woke up. You are far more important to me than these people.” His dad gently set him down on the roof, and Xun leaned heavily against the fireplace. With his arm broken, he wasn’t joining the fight anytime soon.

“Go, dad. I know you want to.” He looked into his father’s eyes. The wolf was right there, fighting to join in the bloodshed.

Nodding, his father jumped off the roof. Xun’s breath caught in his throat, they were easily four stories up. Leaning forward, he looked down, and saw with relief, his father kneeling on the ground. Under him was a Slaver, still twitching despite having his head crushed in. In the blink of an eye, he was on the back of another, riding him to the ground and crushing his head between his hands. Even though the Slavers were dropping like flies, Xun watched with tears in his eyes. So many were dying. Could he kill them all before everyone was dead? Where had all these Slavers come from?

A noise interrupted his thoughts, and a chilling sight flew overhead. Everyone froze in mid action, many falling to the ground, as the helicopter hovered just above the street. A man jumped out, and it flew back into the air.

Xun recognized this man, even from this distance. He was Dr. Achak. Terror flew through his veins, and he knew he had to get off this roof. There was a huge difference from a group of Slavers and an actual vampire!

Everyone was fleeing from before the doctor. He walked through the streets, looking at those who cowered, too scared to move, and said nothing. Several Slavers came forward, and kneeled before him. Xun was too far away to hear what they said, but the doctor’s actions made it clear he wasn’t willing to listen. Their heads fell to the concrete, quickly followed by their bodies.

His dad showed up, and grabbed him.

“Wait! Dad!” Xun grabbed his sticky shirt, ignoring that it was covered in blood.

“That’s Dr. Achak. These people are doomed. We’re out of here.”

His dad refused to listen as he jumped to another rooftop, causing a cry of pain to erupt out of Xun as his arm was jostled.

“Dad! Put me down!”

He hesitated for a moment, then slowly put him on his feet. Xun’s legs threatened to buckle, but he forced them to stay straight.

“Listen to me for just a moment.”

“Only a minute.”

“Fine. That vampire was only attacking the Slavers. Why would he kill them if he was on their side?”

“No one can understand what goes on in that thing’s head! Maybe he was mad at them, does it matter?” His dad clearly wasn’t getting it. Xun had noticed something, and he needed his dad to see it too.

“You said that vampire was the one behind all of the experiments, right?”

“Yes,” he answered grudgingly.

“If people are being killed off by the Slavers, then there won’t be that many people left for him to experiment on, right?”

“You can’t seriously be thinking about trying to talk to him?” Even without fur, Xun could almost see his fur bristle.

“You said he had mom, how else are we going to find her?” That stopped his dad in his tracks. He opened his mouth and shut it several times, before he huffed in obvious annoyance.

Xun hated the anger and sorrow that passed in his father’s eyes as he looked at him. The pain in them was almost unbearable.

“You better have a good plan,” he finally said, then picked him up and jumped to the street below.

By the time they returned to the scene of the fight, all of the Slavers were dead, and Achak had just finished killing the last werewolf. Xun could see the people climbing out of the wagons, and gathering in a group, too afraid to try and flee. Shaking his head, he knew that their inability to run away, was the main reason why there were so few people left in the world.

Mary stepped out of a building across the street from him, and his eyes narrowed. She was surrounded by guards, who had probably stayed hidden when the people were being slaughtered. Xun’s blood boiled in hatred, but he kept it contained as he heard a voice.

Dr. Achak let the last werewolf fall from his hands, blood dripping from his fingers. He turned and licked them absentmindedly, looking around.

“Who’s the person in charge here?”

Xun stepped forward immediately, “I am.”

A hairsbreadth later, “Me,” came from Mary.

“How interesting.”