Tamar was at the lip of the hole a second before her breath gave out. She'd know what the gas was the instant she'd seen the canister fall from above. Yet she'd thought they'd send the dogs down first, so it wasn't until spots had begun to form in her vision that she'd made the leap out of the hole.
Not out of the hole more than five seconds and her eyes fell upon the three dogs, her dogs. All three had been grown with her exact scent locked into the olfactory senses. They were moving faster than a human could track, but for her they might have been moving through thick mud.
To the common eye she moved in a blur, one instant she was standing there, the next she was gone. Sprinting towards a five story building that looked like it used to house a restaurant on the ground floor.
Leaping through the shattered front window, Tamar leapt again and landed behind what once was the front counter. The first canine to charge in after her wished it hadn't as she ripped the rusted cash register from the counter and heaved it into the massive fanged filled face.
The shrill whine of pain was cut short as the heavy register impacted the dogs skull at an odd angle. The whine was followed by a sharp crack and the dog hit the floor, its head at an unnatural angle to its body. With its momentum spent, the body slammed into the counter and with a hiss of satisfaction Tamar turned and flew up the steps to the second floor. The scrambling strides of the other two hounds were right behind her. She flew into a second story room just as another gas grenade flew in through the window. The tendrils of pinkish smoke caused her stomach to leap into her throat and she mindlessly barreled back into the hall, just as the two hounds made the second floor.
For an instant their eyes met, each knowing that the only way this encounter would end was with death. The one who died would be the weaker, the survivor the stronger.
"I will not be taken down by a bunch of frelling mutts." The words come out from between clenched teeth a split second before she turned and sprinted down the hall, the dogs in hot pursuit.
Reaching the halls end, she grabbed the top of the window frame and swung her body out. When her body was horizontal, she pivoted her hand which changed her direction of swing from out to in, a gentle flex of her arms did the rest. She shot back into the hall like a torpedo, striking the smaller of the two dogs in the lower jaw. Sinking in deep the claws on her toes latched onto the dogs jaw and with the two converging momentum combined it was the jaw that gave way.
Tamar peeled it back until the jaw laid against its throat with a sound of crunching bone and snapping sinew. Letting it go, she continued to slide until she went right between its front legs and put it out of its misery. All four of her limbs went to work and in a matter of seconds she had carved the dogs abdomen to shreds. With one last gurgling howl, it toppled onto its side, twitched once and fell silent.
Having no time to gloat, Tamar sprang to her feet and sprinted for the roof. She knew the last mutt could follow her anywhere, so she had to take the fight to a place where she had plenty of room to move. Bursting onto the roof, she slammed the door shut and sprinted for the far side.
Seconds later, the door shattered into a million splinters as the last dog plowed through it. Reaching the edge of the roof Tamar turned to face her tormentor, seconds later she realized her mistake as several bullets whizzed past her ears and she dove away from the edge.
"Here doggy doggy doggy." She hissed, coming to her feet within feet of the charging dog.
She saw the teeth, smelled the breath, and felt the saliva sprayed onto her face and closed her eye to the inevitable. Seconds later, she snapped her eyes open to watch the dog roll end over end and come to rest on the far side of the roof. Not knowing what happened, she wasn't one to object to heavens gifts.
As the dog found its feet, it also found a ninety pound human cat on its back. It died in seconds as Tamar grabbed either side of the massive head and wrenched. A snap and a thud, all three dogs were taken care of.
It was then that she heard four metallic clanks and the entire roof exploded in pink. A deep breath and she raced for the door off the roof, ten feet from it, and the air was filled with welt making non lethal rounds, and she was forced to retreat. The fire escape had long ago fallen from off the wall and a five story drop was a bit much even for her. So with her claws out she dove off the side, caught a third story ledge and took another deep breath before the fire from the ground forced her to clamber back onto the rooftop, and into the mist.
With her vision beginning to blur, she knew she had no choice. Looking towards the closest build to the one she was on, Tamar sprinted through a hail of non lethal rifle fire. Coiled springs of muscle launched her off the roof where she sailed in a graceful arc towards but not quite to the other building.
Her speed caused her to hit the wall with her shoulder where she bounced off and careened for the ground. Like a cat, she got her feet under her and braced for impact. She hit the asphalt with such speed and force her left leg couldn't take the strain. It buckled under the load with a sharp crack and screaming, she went down.
When she finally stopped rolling her hands, frantically searched her leg, when she pulled her hands away they were slick with blood, her blood. With a growl she shoved her hands back and with a hiss that crescendo into a scream she felt the jagged end of a bone that was not supposed to be there.
"Colonel, it's over here! It looks like it broke its leg when it jumped." Tamar heard a voice coming from her left and looked.
A medium built Asian man came trotting around the edge of one of the countless buildings. He'd never seen her before and must not have believed his commanding officer. He saw the broken leg, the blood gushing from the wound, and must have thought her harmless. It was the last thought the young man had. Tamar launched herself off the ground with her one good leg and landing on him before the startled soldier could get his rifle up to defend himself.
She tore into him with everything she still had, tearing his throat out, then wrenching his head from his shoulders in a fountain of blood. The torso she pounded on the ground, venting her angry and frustration until a rifle butt ended her tirade.
"I should end you right here and now bitch." The words were clipped and halting, as if prompted out of fear.
"Your General would end you as well if you did." She whispered, her head full of stars.
"Peters, what the hell are you doing? Just slap the cuffs on it and be done with it?"
"But Colonel, you haven't seen what this thing did to Thorton, there's barely enough to take back in a body bag."
"And that's because he was stupid Peters. I told all of you not to approach without back up, he did and paid for it." Colonel Halis stepped around a corner and began a slow approach to Six.
"The General is sure going to be happy to see you again." His voice was calm, but his tone was jubilant.
Peters gave Tamar a combat Boot to the temple before walking away to take station behind his Colonel.
"I'll let you do the honors Colonel." He said and handed him the specially designed hand cuffs.
Halis knelt down and grabbed one of Tamar's wrists and pulled it towards the other. Snapping one wrist into the cuffs he stopped as a shadow passed over head, blocking out the moon light for an instant.
"What the hell was that?" he asked, springing back to ramrod straight, rifle at the ready.
"Don't touch her again." The voice seemed to come from every direction at once, as if the buildings themselves were speaking.
The other four men ran in and the six of them formed a circle around their catch, all rifles pointing outward.
Halis watched as a shadow moved, it walked from right to left then stopped. It had the rough outline of a man yet like no man he'd ever seen before. When it at last stopped, it turned towards him moments before his world exploded the last thing he saw were two red glowing eyes.
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