Uthorrad, Inner City Residential Bloc 77G, continued...

 

    The wolf-like beasts advanced, spreading out. One angled for the men, while the other two made for the girl.
    The dark-haired man dropped to one knee at the bottom of the stairs, bringing his longarm up, sighting down the barrel. His shot dropped one of the wargs headed for the girl. The corporal kept running, firing from the hip, wounding the other wolf-like creature.
    Their lope stretched into a run, and the run to a lunge as they reached their prey.
    The wounded warg’s leap for the girl was ill-timed, and it’s growl fell into a whine as it landed on its bad leg, causing it to partially lose its footing.
    The corporal brought the longarm to bear too late to fire as the other warg leapt at him, but the creature’s fangs closed on metal instead of the soldier’s arm. He spun the weapon, the creature’s neck giving a sharp ‘crack’ and it fell limply away.
    The corporal turned, just in time to see the dark-haired man swinging his own longarm to bear, and the soldier threw himself flat.
    The dark-haired man fired, dropping the wounded warg before it could lunge for the girl a second time.

    “Hey!”
    The girl, her back mostly to the corporal, did not turn. In fact, she kept her gaze on the hazy gray sky visible beyond the inner city’s great dome.
    “Hey, what in the seven Hells is wrong with you, girl?”
    She only turned because of the corporal’s hand on her shoulder, but rather than looking at the man, she seemed to look through him.
    He gave her a shake. “You hear me?”
    She blinked, slowly, and her gaze focused on the corporal’s eyes. Then it went to the hand on her shoulder.
    “I asked you—”
    The sergeant’s hand closed over the corporal’s shoulder, spinning him around.
    “What in the seven Hells is wrong with you, boy?”
    Freed from the corporal’s grip, the girl took a step back, the corner of her pale lips quirked in the slightest hint of a smile.
    “I— she—”
    “Every pair of ears left in this place heard that racket, and chances are there aren’t many of them friendly to us left.”
    “We—”
    “We need to move!” the sergeant barked, and gave the corporal a shove. “Northeast, towards the garrison and armory!”
    The dark-haired man had slung his longarm, not breaking stride as he formed up behind the still-muttering corporal.
    The sergeant turned towards the girl as he took up the rearguard. He jerked a thumb towards the two departing men. “Fall in, if you’re coming with us.”