Wolf and Red: Monster Hunters
Twelve.
Poor John Bishop had been killed early. He ran out of ammo trying to be a cowboy, then the critters just overwhelmed him. Throat was ripped out...
"The rest of us got a service door open, then holed up in there," Chris Davies, the (sort of) third in command reported.
There were only three survivors of the six man team. Chris, Hank Hall, and Dolores Clark, the only lady in the group. All of them were beat up as hell, though thankfully there were no serious injuries. They were low on ammo, and wanted just to get the fuck out of there...
"I never wanna see a sea mammal again," Hank shuddered visibly.
Dolores just sighed.
"We've cleared this far," Red passed Chris a tablet with the digital map, "if you stick to the marked areas, you should be safe."
"Well, safe-ish," Wolf noted.
"You're not going to escort us out?" Chris asked.
Wolf and Red both gave him a LOOK. "You're all fucking HUNTERS," Red said to him dryly, "You can manage."
"She's right," Dolores agreed. She looked at red, "We could use some ammo, though. We're all totally dry."
"Can't spare much...," Wolf nodded to Red, who reluctantly passed some over.
"Any idea what the hell caused this?" Red asked.
"Bishop claimed it was a crazed Shaman," Chris supplied, "not sure he had anything backing that other than racism."
"Huh," Wolf nodded dubiously. She then said, "Okay, we'll head out, you head to the surface."
"Good luck!" Hank added as they split up.
"Think they'll make it out?" Red asked.
"Fifty fifty," Wolf shrugged casually. She added wryly, "If another mob of seals runs into them? They're fucked."
They walked for a bit, listening.
"Have I said I fucking HATE sewers?" Red noted as something caught on her leg.
"Not in the last five minutes," Wolf used a stick to get Red uncaught.
"This is so disgusting," Red sighed.
They slogged along the tunnel a bit, faintly surprised nothing else had jumped them.
"We lost?" Wolf asked.
"According to the map we're heading east, away from the coast. Assuming we're where we think we are," Red answered.
Off in the distance, they heard scraping noises. They started softly, but got louder.
"Aww, fuck," Red muttered, hefting her shotgun.
"Shit," Wolf agreed as the next horde of mice and rats charged them.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Mimi was standing guard by the enterance to the sewers, along with a team of Mounties. So far, she wasn't very impressed with the cops... they were visibly squeamish, didn't want to wait with weapons ready and had no high powered weapons.
'If these guys were Hunters, they'd be dead in a week,' Mimi mused.
"Incoming," Mimi barked as she saw movement in the tunnel.
"Who goes there?" one cop called dumbly.
Mimi gave him a 'WTF' look. "You just made yourself a target, if they were a enemy and armed," she told him.
Thankfully, three humans staggered out of the tunnels. "Don't shoot!" Hank called.
"Hall, Davies, Clark," Mimi nodded, lowering her gun. Conversationally she continued, "I see you lived. Bishop?"
"He's dead," Dolores answered her flatly. Tiredly she added,"And he also got Wilson and Hammond killed too."
The cops looked visibly green at how casually the Hunters were discussing all this.
"Wolf and Red were both fine," Chris reported a bit resentfully. "They didn't help us out or anything."
Dolores calmly clouted him.
"Ow!" Chris yelped.
"We're HUNTERS. We should be able to take care our ourselves," Dolores spat, "not be RESCUED by two women! Jackass."
Hank and Chris both looked sullen.
"I like her," Mimi noted.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"God damn it I HATE shooting racoons!" Wolf yelled as she fired off controlled bursts.
"It feels like we're in a Disney Horror film," Red agreed. "They're too cute... when they're not trying to kill us."
"At least it's not coyotes again," Wolf added.
(Interestingly, in real life there have actually been nearly 40 Coyote attacks in Vancouver's Stanley Park, usually after sunset. Possibly due to increased population and less people visiting the area due to Covid.
On with the story... )
"We're running low on ammo," Red noted. She scowled, "I KNEW we shouldn't have given the others some of ours."
"Yeah, yeah," Wolf agreed as the surviving racoons turned on the wounded and ate them.
"Oh ick," Red sighed.
The two trudged on, not really noticing the usual sewer filth going away. It was when the tunnel floor became rough, crudely made stone blocks that they noticed.
"This is an older tunnel the sewers plugged into?" Wolf realized.
"Aww fuck," Red cursed, "cities should KNOW not to do that! It never ends well!"
It was actually surprisingly common to find ancient ruins under major cities. Most cities were at places where, historically, other races and people might colonize. But it was almost always better to leave such ruins alone, and not plug your sewer system into them...
"So, ancient magic?" Wolf guessed.
"Probably," Red agreed \as they continued down the now mostly dry tunnel.
They eventually turned a corner, and up ahead of them they saw a glowing, eldrich light. As quietly as possible they advanced, eventually seeing a stone archway leading to a large chamber.
"Buried temple. Bet on it," Red muttered.
They peered around the corner, into the room. It was roughly built, but there were remains of brightly colored decorations. In the center of the room was a statue of a woodland type goddess, which was glowing brightly enough to light up the room.
"Called it," Red muttered.
"Yeah, yeah... so what do we DO?" Wolf asked.
Red shrugged, "When in doubt, C-4?"
"That's... actually an okay idea. Chuck grenades in there, blow the statue up?" Wolf mused, digging in her pack.
Wolf usually carried any explosives they needed. She was much more durable, so if something went really wrong they had a chance of surviving. Each took a grenade, pulling the pin. They counted down, then chucked the explosives inside.
There was a pause, then a loud boom.
"Think the roof will hold up?" Red wondered.
"WHY did you bring that up after the boom?" Wolf yelped.
Thankfully the roof didn't come down on them. Both headed into the chamber, discovering the busted statue, no more glow and no longer any oppressive supernstural vibe.
"Think that stopped everything?" Wolf wondered.
"Hopefully," Red sighed.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Occult statue?" Smith asked later.
"Looks like it," Red said as the debriefed at the guard post. Wolf was scarfing down some takeout Mimi had gotten for her.
"But we don't know for sure," Smith added disagreeably.
"We had no animal attacks on the way out," Wolf told him flatly.
Smith visibly flinched at her tone.
"Until we're sure," Dolores said, "warn sewer workers and city staff to be careful. We could also do a periodic patrol."
"We?" Red asked.
"Hunters. We sure as hell can't ask cops to do it," Dolores noted.
"Agreed," Mimi sighed.
"Hey," the one cop protested, but weakly.
To be continued...
Notes: I actually got the 'Animals Attack' idea from the actual Coyote attacks going on in Vancouver.