In the fire: firefight

She’s there, on the balcony. There’s no mistaking it, this is the woman burned into my mind.

Before I can find a way to her, she is beaten, dragged off to who knows where.

Soon, guards surround me, guns cocked and pointed at my head.

I curse, looking around for anything to use as a weapon. I find a branch and bare my teeth at them, growling.

“Come on, either fight me or flee like the cowards you are!” they advance and I jump, running off into the night.

They catch me, of course. My body isn’t built for running, anymore than the human body is built for ripping flesh.

Fortunately, ripping is my strong suit.

I turn as a gunshot pierces the air, cracking my branch against a man’s skull. I leap, grabbing onto the window frame above me and swinging into the half-burnt barn.

Guards follow; I try to be as silent as possible as I floor one, grab his gun, and run.

Of course, he yells and grabs ahold of my tail. I fire one shot, into his head, and he goes limp…as does my tail. I’m certain that it’s broken, but that’s the least of my concerns.

The most of my concerns, at the moment, is a hulking guard, nearly taller than me. He shoots and I drop the gun reflexively; I reach for my branch and he shoots again, this time lodging a tranquilizer dart in my wrist.

I fight off the darkness that threatens to claim me for long enough to leap, sinking my fangs into his neck.

It isn’t long enough.

Two more shots, real shots, crack through the air, the bullets rending the flesh of my back. I howl, and let myself slip unconcious.