Blutbad Chapter 21 – Little Pig, Little Pig Let Me In

When his father had quickly spun back round, Kevin had instinctually put himself in front of Edd, protecting him from whatever the man had planned. This had left only one target open to dispose of that had annoyed him, the Chairwoman. As the shot was fired that sent her tumbling from the battlements to the ground below, the steady and quick thinking First Sargent order the attack, "Fire."

The enemy was quick upon their feet, for a moving target is harder to hit after all, and they quickly found shelter behind a some of the ruins of the old town that was in the process of being demolished. Richard looks over at Trevor, "Call the attack," then peaks around the corner to return fire with what little ammo he had left.

Kevin spins round and pulls Edd down to hide behind the wall, "Run, go ta the garrison, ya'll be safe there." He was second guessing his earlier choice to allow Edd to stay by his side, though his stomach was filled with anxiety, the prospect of them getting into the wall and not knowing if he was truly safe frightened him.

"I'm not going anywhere," his expression was desperate, he knew his family was safe for the time being, but if he left Kevin's side he would be unable to be sure of his wellbeing. Surely his father wouldn't kill him, but if the past was any indication of the man's cruelty, his parental values wouldn't stop him from severely hurting him.

Hunched behind the remnants of that small brick wall Trevor shifts into his wolf form, ripping his clothes off with his clawed hands. Rearing back his head as he took in a deep breath he lets loose a deep howl that was soon joined by others. Those on the wall stopped their attacks as they began to realize that the howls that were coming from the forest surrounded the town on all sides. A well of fear filled the pits of their stomachs as they could not be sure of the enemy's true numbers, as the sound was bouncing off the surrounding hills. This is why it had taken Richard three days to get here after their last encounter, he had spent his time rallying his troops, build up his forces to take the siege worthy town.

"Edd please," he pleaded with not only his words but with his eyes, "Would ya do it fa me?"

"What are you going to do?"

Kevin smirked, a confident expression upon his face, "I'm gonna kick his ass." The alarm at the northeastern gate sounded signaling trouble as the roar of a diesel engine was heard in that direction, "Now hurry, go find ya parents." He gives him a gentle shove on the shoulder and Edd hesitated for just a second longer before doing as he was asked, rushing off to the garrison and to his family.

At the northeast gate a modified snowplow was barreling toward the entry point, it's cab shielded from bullets by a plate of metal with a thin slit for the driver to see where they were going. On top of the truck, ready to pounce, were four war beasts guarded from incoming fire by a small wall of metal. As the truck collided with the gate the four beasts used the extra height from their perch, plus the inertia from the truck and their enhanced strength to bound to the top of the wall and to the battlements above. One was shot down in midair sending their corpse tumbling to the ground below, the other three struck with their claws as they made their landing, killing three of the guards that stood in their way.

Richard smiled from his hiding place as he watched most of the guards who had been paying attention to his small group run off to the greater threat, only leaving behind a small contingent to guard this side of the wall. "Should we bring up," Trevor asked but was cut off.

"No, we wait, let 'em wear themselves out a little." He sees Kevin standing upon the wall staring at him with contempt in his eyes, his son flipping him the bird before running off to join the others, "Finally gonna fight back are we?"

The northeastern gate had survived the initial hit because it was made of thick logs that had been braced with a pair of logs buried into the ground at one end. The snowplow slowly backs up to begin another run, it really didn't need to smash open the gates to be successful, it just needed to punch a hole into the structure to allow them to enter. On top of the wall the remaining guards who were gaining reinforcements fought off the three wolves who were trying to gain the upper hand. The truck stops to ready itself for another go, allowing four more wolves to take their place on its roof, they made their jump to the top of the wall as the truck slammed against the weakening gate.

The battering ram of a truck begins to back up again, as Kevin and the First Sargent along with a fair amount of reinforcements arrive on the scene. The Sargent looks to Kevin, "How's your throwing arm?"

"Fair to middling," he replied as the First Sargent pulls out a grenade.

"Do you think you can get this over there?"

Kevin smirked, "No problem," he pulls the pin and brings back his arm, chucking the explosive toward the truck, the handle releasing as he lets go arming the device. 5, 4, it lands on the back of the plow, 3 one of the wolves sees it, 2 picks it up, 1 and readies to throw it, boom, killing all the wolves on the back only doing moderate damage to the truck.

"Again," the First Sargent hollers out, tossing him another grenade then continues to fire his weapon at the seven wolves upon the wall. Kevin obliges him, chucking the device at the plow as it started its approach again, the explosive landing and falling into the crevice between the cab and the back, exploding it destroys the axel, cab and catches the gas tanks ablaze. It skids to a stop only a few feet away from the gate before the gas tank explodes, sending fire and debris scattering in all directions, catching the gate ablaze.

"Do you need help," Plank yells up as he climbs the steps.

"It would be appreciated if you could push them back so we can douse the fire," the First Sargent replies.

"Then please try not to kill us," he said then looks over at Kevin, "Let's go," he rips off his shirt as he begins to change into his war beast form, Kevin following his lead.

"Take careful aim boys," the First Sargent ordered, "let's not kill our friends." Two more friendly wolves jump from the roof of a nearby house to land on the battlement on the opposite side of Kevin and Plank, flanking the enemy, slashing one of their throats as they land. Kevin and Plank advance, fiercely defending their home, pushing the enemy backwards as the other two slashed their way forward in a pincer like maneuver. They might have had the upper hand with their numbers, but they were outclassed in skill, Plank was a beast in hand to hand combat and had trained the wolves of the town in how to defend themselves. Kevin was a rank amateur in comparison to his skill, but his help was none the less useful to the man as they decimated the few who had breached the wall. Tossing the invaders corpses over the wall and into the blazing wreckage of the plow as they howled out a warning to any others who would like to try and take this place.

Seeing the billowing smoke and hearing the howls Richard pinched the bridge of his nose, "Well fuck, they took care of that quicker than I thought they could." Scratching the side of his head in frustration he thought for a moment, "Send all siege ladders ta that point, keep 'em pinned down there."

Trevor rushes off to carry out his orders and direct the ladders to form a line to begin their assault. The ladders were perched on the back of trucks, the cabs and ladders were shielded from incoming fire by metal welded upon them. In pairs the vehicles drove up to the wall, as they were struck by a barraged of bullets seeking a weak point in their defenses, hoping to kill the driver. Once both the makeshift shielded vantage points were parked at the base of the wall side by side the wolves began to climb. This gave the enemy enough height to jump to the top of the wall fairly easily while being guarded from attack.

As Kevin and Plank fought off the new wave of invaders, they both had the same thoughts about Richard's strategy. Why would he park both vehicles side by side? It would just ensure their simultaneous destruction if the First Sargent lobbed a grenade at them. Also, why were none of the wolves guarding the entry point? To Kevin they seemed to be fighting to try and get way from it as quickly as they could. Kevin kills his current adversary and looks back toward the ladders and it suddenly all made sense with this chain of events. There stood the First Sargent grenade in hand as two wolves jumped from the ladders while he pulls the pin, in a panic Kevin rushes towards him ready to fight off the wolves to save the man's life. But as they landed he noticed that they had barely looked in the First Sargent's direction, but instead darted off to put some distance between them. "No, it's a trap," Kevin yelled out but in his current form all the Sargent could hear was a deep growl as Kevin rushed toward him.

Plank and the others hear what Kevin says, and notice that as the grenade was tossed the enemy disengages, dropping the pretense of defending the ladders, and begin to run for cover to save their own skin. Quickly realizing the ruse Plank calls the other wolves to retreat, snatching up as many as they could they jump from the battlements to the ground, Kevin grabbing the Sargent to do the same.

Inside the bed of the trucks, tucked under the ladders were several cases of explosives surrounded by barrels of accelerant. The resulting explosion shattered the base of the wall and bounced the trucks into the air, one tumbling rear over front into the weakened wall. The splintered logs at the base strained under the weight of the impact, groaning with the stress, breaking and tumbling to the ground in a heap of fiery debris. Kevin and the others looked back as the dust settled, seeing the wreckage of logs that had crushed a home as they fell, and the enemy with their savage maws peering through the breach.