Loose Ends (The Hammer Commission Book 3) Read online

  Michael and Denise landed to either side of the car, and they both opened fire until their bolts locked open, then swapping over magazines they let Beth have another thirty rounds.

  As soon as the shooting stopped Beth screamed and looked up at them.

  "Holy shit!" Denise swore. "She's still alive after that?"

  Mark noticed the dead body sprawled in the passenger's seat.

  "Apparently she's been eating," Mark said.

  Beth screamed again, in incoherent rage and quickly ripped the seat belts off of her body. She then started to crawl out through the smashed windshield towards the man standing on the hood of her car. She'd eat him first, that bastard! How dare he!

  "Keep firing!" Mark said as he reversed his grip on his now empty machine gun and started to beat Beth over the head with it, moving back as he did to keep away from her touch.

  At first, it was like beating on a brick wall, the stock broke, and then the metal on the butt end of the gun started to bend. But he could see that Beth wasn't able to walk, both of her legs were broken, but they were healing now that she was out of the car, and healing fast.

  He jumped off the hood as she continued to come at him, hitting her again and again. When she finally got to her feet, he hit her in the side of the head with the gun, using it like a baseball bat. She might still be immune to the actual damage, but physics was physics, and with Mark's strength applied to her light body, she went a good five feet to the right. As Michael and Denise reloaded, Mark struck again. Beth lunged at him, and she was fast, but not as fast as he was, and again, she was light enough that when he hit her, she got knocked onto her side yet again.

  Denise and Michael each put another thirty rounds into her body, and she got to her feet a lot slower this time.

  "She's weakening!" Mark said.

  * * *

  Beth couldn't believe what was happening to her, they were shooting her! A woman, a lady! They were shooting her again and again and they wouldn't stop! She went after the bastard on the hood, but she was having trouble getting out of the car, her legs didn't feel right, and they hurt, oh how they hurt! And all the time that bastard was beating her with the rifle, hitting her on the head again and again and again!

  As soon as she got out of the car, the pain in her legs intensified for a moment, and then just like that, they felt fine. She jumped off the car hood, standing up to attack the bastard who was beating her with that rifle and he hit her in the side of the head with a surprisingly painful blow, and sent her flying! But at least the bullets had stopped.

  Getting up she almost growled as she jumped at him, but he smacked her again with that rifle, moving faster than any man had a right to move!

  The bullets started again, and if they had hurt before, they really hurt now! And she was hungry! Oh so hungry!

  "She's weakening!" she heard him yell, and the voices in her head started telling her to run, to flee, to get away from these monsters before they killed her!

  So turning, she sprinted off into the woods and off into the safety of the dark. She could hear them running after her, but after she ran past the trees on the edge of the road, she couldn't hear them any more. Except for the sound of her own labored breathing and the sounds of her own feet as she ran, she couldn't hear anything.

  Her night vision returned as she ran, making it easier for her to dodge the trees and run faster, the cold wind whipping past her face. When the ground started to climb, she realized that she had gone the wrong way, but right now that didn't matter so she turned to her left and started to run in that direction. Maybe in a couple of hours she could go back down hill and find the road again? Maybe find another car and another meal?

  The thought of eating made her suddenly feel rather ravenous. She still had power, she could feel it, but she didn't have the kind of power that she'd had just before those, those men had attacked her! How dare they! Didn't they know who she was? What she was? She was a goddess! She was their goddess, and it was their purpose in life to serve her needs!

  She'd have to find an animal or something soon, to feed off of, it wouldn't be as good as a man, but it would help. But for now, she had to keep moving and put more distance between her and those attackers. She still couldn't hear them behind her, and she didn't hear any thing flying overhead. But she wasn't going to stop just yet.

  She ran and ran until the shadows started to lighten, it was hard to judge time here in the mountains, the sun probably had risen by now, on the other side of the mountain, but it could be another hour before it really got bright out. Stopping in a small clearing she took stock of herself. Her jacket, the one she'd taken from Steven, was in tatters. It was nothing more than a bunch of rags! She looked down at her body as she pulled off the remains of the coat and saw that her top, the nice one she'd just bought had also been torn to shreds, along with her bra!

  Had they really shot her that many times? Enough to ruin her clothes? When that slut of Elksong's had shot her, she'd hurt and had to rest for hours before she could move on again. But she'd just been shot hundreds of times, and she'd been able to run off! She'd crashed a car, broken bones, been beat on with a club, and it hadn't stopped her at all!

  She laughed, oh how surprised they were all going to be after she got to Portland! Machine guns couldn't stop her! Nothing could stop her! She had power now! Real power! The kind of power that others, like her mother, had always feared and always shied away from. But not her! Not Beth! No, she was going to be someone they'd remember, always, they'd write stories about her, she'd become a legend!

  And in a few hours when she got to Portland, she'd have it all!

  Looking around she tried to get her bearings. Uphill was still on her right, down on her left. She tried listening for traffic on the road, but she couldn't hear any over the sound of the light breeze blowing through the trees. But the road should be downhill of her, so she started off, downhill, but at a slower pace now.

  She needed to find food, and while a couple of people in a car would be best, an animal would work just fine, so she started looking around, trying to find anything to sate the hunger she was now feeling.

  When she came across the small herd of deer, she smiled, and started carefully stalking closer to them. Halfway there, a loud snarl of some sort of cat spooked them however, and they all took off like a shot, heading away from her.

  Swearing loudly, she took off after them too, and when one dodged the wrong way around a tree she got her hands on it!

  Throwing it bodily down onto the ground, she put her hands on the sides of its head and just as she started to drain it, a shot rang out and the deer spasmed suddenly, and died.

  Screaming her rage, she jumped to her feet and looked around her, but there was nothing to see among the trees.

  Another shot rang out then, hitting her in the back! Without hesitation she started running again, running downhill, running for the road. Someone had managed to follow her, to find her. How she had no idea, but she knew she couldn't stand up to the kind of gunfire they'd hit her with before.

  She needed a car, and she needed food.

  And she needed it now.

  She saw it then suddenly as she came out of the trees into a small clearing, a house! A house meant people, meant food! She even heard a dog starting to bark, somewhere not too far away.

  And then she was hit from behind, something was on her back, grabbing at her neck, clawing at her!

  Falling from the surprise and weight of the attack, she rolled over, and managed to break the grip on her neck, coming face to face with a mountain lion! Reaching up she grabbed its head with her hands and tried to drain it. It seemed to resist just for a moment, and then someone shot her in the side of the head!

  Crying out in surprise at the unexpected pain, the mountain lion got away from her, and staggered away from her, shaking its head. She stumbled after it a moment and her body lit up in pain as someone shot her again, not once, but many times!

  Looking up, there was a n
aked man standing there, with a small gun of some kind, a machine gun. She turned and ran from him, straight for the house; it was close now, only a dozen yards or so.

  She got hit then from the side by a naked woman, who punched her in the face and then shot her point-blank a dozen or more times, until her gun stopped working. Beth backhanded her, and sent her flying, then started for the house, going for the window, screw looking for the door, there was food in there and she had to eat! Now!

  Diving for the window she crashed through, and grabbing the frame she started to pull herself inside when someone grabbed her legs and ripped her back out and threw her back, a good twenty feet, to hit the ground and slide across the cold ground.

  "You bastard!" she screamed at the naked man who was standing between her and the house. But he didn't have a gun in his hand anymore, just a machete.

  She smiled at him as she scrambled to her feet, this would be easy!

  Charging him, she hardened her fingers into claws once more, and attacked.

  * * *

  Mark readied himself as she charged. If she got inside that house, got to the people inside, he had no idea if he'd be able to stop her. Worse yet, if he wasn't quick about this, whoever was in there would see a man fighting a woman, using a blade, and would probably attack him as well.

  She was still fast, almost as fast as he was, and she fought like a devil, her fingers curled as she wielded them like claws. She hit him twice, as he started to hack at her with the machete, leaving shallow wounds, but not drawing any power from him. He wasn't sure if he was immune, or if it took time for her to drain her victims, and he wasn't going to take the time to find out. He just thanked the Lord for small favors and continued slicing and stabbing her as they fought.

  Denise joined him first, and attacked Beth from behind using her machete as well, but Mark wasn't even sure Beth felt it, as she continued to concentrate on Mark, trying to get around him, trying to get into the house. By the time Michael joined them as well, apparently having shaken off whatever it was she had done to him; Mark's healing was starting to slow down as Beth's attacks did more and more damage to him.

  Seeing his dilemma, Michael started to move towards him, allowing Mark to move to his right, putting Michael between the house and Beth, but Beth shifted, focusing solely on Mark now, as she snarled and cursed, the look in her eyes completely feral and insane.

  Mark started to back away, slowly, and Beth followed, as he slowly led her away from the house, his own fight becoming purely a defensive one, his arms and chest covered in his own blood as she pressed her attack.

  Both Michael and Denise took full advantage of her rage and her focus, hacking and stabbing at her with all of their might, causing her to stumble at times, from the shear force of it. Mark was starting to wonder just how much longer she could take this kind of abuse, when Beth finally started to bleed from their attacks.

  Seeing this, Denise came in low and attempted to hamstring Beth, but wasn't successful as Beth suddenly turned and kicked Denise in the face, knocking her backwards.

  Mark took advantage of her unprotected back and stabbed her, sinking his machete several inches into her left kidney as Beth screamed and turned back to face him once more, ripping the machete out of his grasp and forcing him to start blocking her attacks with his own arms now.

  Michael started slashing at her back, doing more and more damage, and Denise came back and tried to hamstring Beth a second time, only this time it worked and Beth collapsed down onto one knee.

  Michael stabbed her in the back then, running his blade right through her body as Mark staggered back, panting from all the damage he had taken.

  Beth screamed again, and Denise kicked her in the back of the head as Michael pulled his machete out and stabbed her a second time from behind, right through the heart. Beth collapsed face down on the ground then as he pulled his machete clear.

  They could see she wasn't dead yet, she was still gasping and was clawing at the ground, trying to get up. Putting a foot on her back, Michael pushed her flat to the ground and bringing his machete up, he swung down hard, decapitating her with a single stroke, and then quickly kicked her head away from her body.

  "Damn," Michael swore, panting now as well, "are they all this tough?"

  Mark went over and retrieved his machete from where it had fallen on the ground, bending over to pick it up it as his body slowly started to heal.

  "Some are worse," he said.

  "So, now what?" Denise asked, looking at the decapitated corpse and the head a good twenty feet away.

  "First we need to move her body and head back into the woods before somebody comes and investigates. Then, we need to burn the head and the body, but if we do it here, we'll probably have the forestry service on our ass," Mark sighed. "So, I guess you two will have to run back to where we dropped our clothes, find something we can put the head in and something else to put the body in, then we'll have to pack it all out of here."

  Mark looked around, then picked up Beth's body and started to drag it back into the cover of the trees.

  "We're off some sort of road, so that shouldn't be too hard. Look around and see if you can figure out a street name or something before you leave, then call Dave and the wonder twins once you get back to where we left our stuff. I'm sure they'll get here pretty quickly."

  "The wonder twins?" Michael asked, laughing.

  "Yeah, they hate that," Mark said with a grin.

  "You know," Denise said, "it's cold standing out here, buck naked."

  "Yup, which is why I'm putting my fur coat back on while you two go get our stuff. Did you get through to anyone before you caught up with us?" Mark asked Denise. He'd told her to call the guys in the car that had been following Beth and tell them to come up and clean up the crime scene when they'd briefly stopped to strip down before shifting.

  "Yeah, and from the sounds of things, the road's open again."

  "What about the house?" Michael asked, going over to retrieve Beth's head.

  "Either no one's home or they sleep like the dead," Mark said. "In either case, I'm more than happy to leave well enough alone. I'll make sure nothing disturbs the body, now go," Mark said and shifted back into his cougar self. It was pretty damn cold out and it felt a lot nicer to be covered in a thick coat of fur again instead of standing around in his birthday suit.

  19: Route Twenty-six, West of Mount Hood, Oregon

  Mark sighed and leaned back into the seat, Helena had shown up in her big ass extended cab Dodge Ram four-by-four truck about four hours after he'd sent Michael and Denise back. They'd brought some heavy duty plastic bags back for the remains, and Beth's body, along with Michael, Gail, and Jess who were cuddled up together, was back in the bed under the camper shell while Denise and Dave cuddled on the back seat, while Beth's head sat on the floor, also wrapped and sealed in several heavy duty plastic bags.

  "Here," Helena said and passed him a paper sack full of hamburgers.

  "Ah!" Mark said and took out a dozen and passed the sack back to Denise. "This is how I know you love me," he said and smiled at Helena, starting in on the first one.

  "Un-huh," Helena smiled. "I figured after all night running around in the mountains you'd be starving." She looked up in the mirror at Denise, "Don't forget to pass some back to Michael."

  Denise just nodded and handed the bag to Dave and let him open the pass-thru to the back. She already had one burger stuffed in her mouth and was working on the unwrapping a second.

  "So," Helena continued, "what do we have to do with your little friend in the plastic bag there?"

  "Burn it. We'll burn the head first, then the body."

  "Don't you need to bless it first, or any of that?" Helena asked, curious.

  "I don't think there's anything we can do for the likes of Beth at this point," Mark said and started in on another burger. "However," he said and swallowed, "I think I will have someone come out and bless the pile of ashes that are left, just in case."
/>   Helena nodded, "Dave?" She said.

  "Yes?"

  "You're on fire detail."

  "Yes, Mom," Dave said.

  "I thought Charity was your mom?" Denise asked between bites.

  "She is, it's just easier that way, plus they don't like being called 'aunt'," Dave said grinning, and then pulled his hand away as Denise quickly slapped it as he reached for one of her burgers.

  Mark snickered as he saw that, Denise was learning quickly.

  "So," Mark said looking over at Helena, "Why are you here? I was sort of expecting Hope to be the one to pick us up."

  "Hope went into heat late Wednesday night," Helena told him.

  "Oh!" Mark said.

  "And now it's Friday afternoon. If I'd let her come up here, the kids would be getting the kind of show I don't think any of them need," Helena said with a smirk. "Not to mention the fact that she's really unhappy that you're not home, seeing as you are on vacation and had dropped hints about wanting more cubs."

  Mark heard Denise snicker in the back of the truck.

  "Don't worry, Denise," Helena said with a grin, "your time will come!"

  Mark head Dave laugh and turned to see Denise hiding behind another burger as she blushed rather furiously.

  "Speaking about times coming," Mark said looking back to Helena as she drove, "when are you due?"

  Helena glanced at him and didn't say anything.

  "I'm waiting, Helena," Mark said with a bit of a growl, though he was smiling, Charity had told him what he was sure now Helena wouldn't.

  "Four's enough," Helena grumbled.