Chapter 2

Jade Pinkerton's pov

The thing trying to break down the door had wandered off so Monica and I relaxed a little and rummaged through the office with our phone flashlights.

“Were you still up drinking when this shit storm happened,” I asked her.

“Yeah, we had what felt like an earthquake, then all those balls of fire started hitting. I got some information from the Internet before the signal was lost. A huge comet broke up before the rest slammed into the earth,” she said softly.

“Why didn't the news tell us it was coming,” I commented to get her rolling her eyes at me.

“The government isn't going to tell us plebs shit and are probably in their underground bunkers drinking expensive wine and eating crackers with fish eggs,” Monica grumbled, causing me to laugh.

“Doesn't explain why mythical creatures are roaming around though,” she added in an odd whisper.

“Well, hopefully, they are like the storybooks and will be in hiding during the daytime. In the meantime, we need to get to the stocking area and try to find some weapons,’’ I commented.

“You're going to go all native on them and shoot them with arrows? Does that even work on vampires?”

“That was a little bit racist. You know that I am half Irish, you little red-headed stepchild,” I teased her.

Nodding her red-haired curly head, Monica laughed and stated, “Glad that I have you with me and your dad taught you how to hunt, but I need to find Bridget and make sure she is safe. After our parents died, she's all I have left. Have you heard anything from your mom?”

Shaking my head, I checked the time on my cell phone and saw it was still early, and the sunrise wasn't for another couple of hours.

“Should we go out and see if the coast is clear,” I offered, and Monica shrugged.

“What's the worst thing that could happen…we get sucked on, and our heads get ripped off.”

Laughing insanely, she gestured for me to pull off the metal chair.

Side-eyeing her, I asked, “You're still tipsy, huh?”

Nodding, she said Yeah, and I grinned slightly before telling her that she better stick close to me then.

Opening the door, a strong odor of musk mixed with blood filled my nostrils.

Glancing back at Monica, I sighed.

“Someone was killed here,” I mumbled softly, and she responded, “Hopefully that rude old prick.”

Looking at the door, I hissed, seeing the deep, long slash marks in the metal.

“We are going to have to find another office. This door is compromised,” I explained, and Monica's eyes grew wide at the damage.

“It's from that big black two-legged wolfman. It was directing the others. I saw it earlier, barking orders and waving their paws around, making the other creatures scurry,” she informed me.

“Then that's who we take out first. Cut off the head of the snake, and the rest will fall,” I muttered sourly, then added, “Let's get some weapons and search for your sister.”

We stayed close as we traversed the layout of the warehouse and entered the double doors to the storage area. Inside the huge room, several crates full of hunting items remained stored by the bankrupt company that was intended for shipment.

“Help me crack open the boxes on the pallets,” I muttered.

Monica shone her phone flashlight on one as I started peeling off the tape of a box marked as compound bows.

Ecstatic that a few bear bows remained, I quickly strung one and slipped it over my shoulder.

“We need arrows and a quiver! They should be in another box, so help me read the labels,” I demanded. She moved her phone to the other side of the room and said, “There's a pile of arrows with nice tips over there!”

Smiling, I quickly gathered a handful and scanned the area for a quiver. Getting one thrust into my face by Monica.

“Let's go find my sister! Draw your bow and get an arrow ready,” she asserted.

Nodding, I told her to go back the way we had come and she needed to lead with her flashlight while I kept my fingers on the arrow.

Shaking her arms out at her side to rid herself of her frazzled nerves, Monica laughed slightly and said, “I got it bestie. Follow me.”

As we continued toward the room where we had run from, I turned my ball cap around and raised my brow, hearing a disgusting sound of slurping in the locker room. Monica was leaning her back against the wall and pointing toward two shadows hunched over a body. I raised my aim and released. The whoosh of the arrow embedded itself squarely in the back of one of the dark creatures. The other turned its red eyes toward me and hissed. I pulled back the second arrow and watched it hit the bastard between the eyes.

Monice fist-pumped the air before centering her light onto the two piles of odd ashes.

“Weird, they turned to ash? I'll get the arrows since they're just lying on the ground,” she added, going over to the mess.

“Do you recognize the person they were feeding on?”

Bending over the corpse, she frowned and glanced at me.

“It is Ted from the grocery store,” she said softly.

“I think I hit the first one in the heart. I will focus on that area of them,” I muttered sourly and heard footsteps approaching.

“Monica! They took Bridget,” Steven said in a panic, and I cursed then saw the old gentleman following behind him.

“Of course, he lived,” Monica snapped and turned her concerned eyes to me.

Hearing the same low growling as before, I turned toward the sound and told the others to run away.

“Go to the feeding room,” I ordered in a hushed tone. Narrowing my eyes as the huge male wolf thing from before came from the hall behind me, I turned my aim on the huge beast.

As I released that my arrow It's bright blue eyes widened as it said an audible, “Fuck!”

“Did you just talk,” I asked in bewilderment while lowering my weapon.

The creature yanked the arrow out of his chest and growled.

“I got another one for you, bud,” I asserted and released another arrow into his left shoulder missing the heart a second time. I watched triumphantly as he jerked back sideways from the hit.

“Stop shooting me young man,” it growled sourly, snapping the arrow off as I shot another one into his thigh.

“Ha!” I laughed lightly while drawing another arrow back.

“ARE YOU A FEMALE?!” It roared at me with a creased brow and curled muzzle.

Releasing the arrow into his other thigh, my lip curled.

“Stop ripping up my townspeople, jerk,” I asserted and dashed off after the others down the dark hallway.

Hearing the wolfman howling angrily I hurried quickly as I chuckled.

“Big dumb stupid beast man! Just because I have small breasts, am wearing a hat, and shooting a bow doesn't mean I am a little boy,” I huffed bitterly as I jogged past the lockers and headed to the cafeteria assuming that's where Monica would have led them from my suggestion.

“Jade! Hurry over here,” Monica shouted out to me.

Seeing a bright actual flashlight I ran toward her and headed into the kitchen.

“I found an emergency flashlight. Hey, did you end that walking fur rug,” she questioned me as I passed her and closed the swinging door. Not seeing the others I gave her a raised brow.

“I told them to hide in the freezer room.

“Cool and no, I didn't kill it but wounded him well enough. Did you know that it talked? Fuckin strange as hell. I pissed it off too. It thinks that I'm a dude,’’ I muttered, and she pinched her lips back at me, fighting her chuckle.

"I think we should hide in the freezer and lie low until sunrise,” she suggested and I nodded, glancing back at hearing that thing shouting out for its men to return to Basecamp.

What in the hell was it and what did they want?

“Tomorrow I want to check on the bridge that leads out of here and see if we can go further to another town. That's if the sun comes,” I said softly.

“We're hundreds of miles away from any other populated areas,” Monica stated.

“I know, but here we are like sitting ducks waiting for slaughter,” I huffed, and she nodded.