Disclaimer: I don't own anyone here, Sony Pictures Animation does. OCs are mine.

Chapter seven

Bump!

The back of the carrier shifted up.

"Whoever has the wheel up there, chill the fuck out!" Wally yelled from the seat of the back compartment. He was laid down and strapped up by Winnie, he grimaced as his bandaged arm crushed against the side wall.

"He'll be fine," Winnie waved him off.

Valerie heard her but didn't respond, she kept her attention on the shadowy road she was struggling to keep the ANAC on. Even with the low–beam lights on, the dust outside was still blinding as the particles reflected the beams of light.

The area outside the interior of the ANAC could best be described as a brown hell as the thunderstorm that lurked over the Transylvania now turned into a dust storm. Rain, dead topsoil, and radioactive particles pounded the exterior and mud was starting to build up on the windshield. The clock on the dashboard read 0:55, the visibility outside was close to zero.

"Dennis," Val started, trying to make out the main road. "Where are we heading?"

"Bistrita, the abandoned city west of here. Just stay on the main road until you see the tower." His voice rang out from the gun compartment. "We'll settle and lay low there until we can figure out what's happening."

If I can even see the tower. Val struggle to keep the vehicle on the road between the gusts of wind and mud, it was too late when she saw an object go under the hood.

Bump!

"God dammit!"

"Sorry! If these dead trees weren't on the road!" Val finally snapped at Wally.

"If you'd stop, I could clear the lane up." Jake suggested, flexing his muscles.

Winnie shook her head. "Too risky Jake, the rad meter's going off it's rocker." She referred to the radiation warning light blinking yellow, her ears twitching at the loud ticks.

"Plus I don't know if we're being followed or not," Dennis added.

Jake looked over his shoulder at the rear door to check for any headlights. He turned back when he didn't see anything, popping a sad glance at Wally. "Don't know anyone who'd follow us through this mess."

A flash of lightning nearly blinded the front seat passengers, the thunder rumbled through the interior. The ANAC swerved as Val regained control. "Dennis… you think we should stop and wait this storm out?"

"No, we stop, we're dead." Dennis panned around on the turret, the monitor in infrared blared out from the dust particles. "From the look of that message, that person hinted we were being hunted."

BAAM!

The ground on the side of the carrier erupted in a ear splitting explosion, the shockwave stunned everyone inside. The carrier fell back on it's wheels after being tilted. Winnie had her ears covered and crumbled next to her door while Valerie panicked to get the vehicle under control.

"Whaat waas thaaat!" A distorted Wally yelled, in pain and deafened by the blast.

Jake pulled himself up from the floor while Dennis put his hand up to his ear. He broke from the shock and scanned around on the turret for the unseen threat, he couldn't see anything but the dust clouds. A sparkle of sorts brought Dennis upward on the monitor and froze in horror at what he saw, a missile shooting right for the carrier. He knew it was too late by the speed of the projectile and could only turn his head and yell, "brace for impact!"

BAAM!

It hit right on the road behind the vehicle while the others were still recovering from the last blast. The rear of the carrier jumped up from the force then violently fell back down. "Shit!" Val freaked as the road took up the windshield, she struggled to keep the wheels straight.

It took a few seconds but Dennis managed to identify the aerial aggressor after a few seconds of scanning. His eyes followed a steady green light fading and reappearing between the storm clouds, He could faintly make out the black delta–winged aircraft cruising above. "Wraith Drone! Straight on top of us!"

Val immediately swerved and took the vehicle off-road, trying to keep west as much as she can. She drove in a zigzag motion in order to decrease their chances of being hit.

Wally struggled against the straps while Dennis tracked for the unmanned craft. He spotted the green nav light speeding up on top of them, the whole shape of the aircraft then dived from the clouds. Dennis assumed it was trying to get a better shot at them through the wind, which was why neither of the previous missiles managed to hit the mark.

Now locked onto the aircraft, Dennis was about to open fire when Wally came stumbling towards the cubby. He'd chewed off his restraints and fought through the pain. "Dennis stop!" He stumbled on the floor. "Those rounds won't penetrate, don't waste the bullets!"

"You serious!" Dennis yelled.

"Then what the hell do you expect us to do!? Get blown into the sand!?" Jake hollered as he made an attempt to keep a steady footing.

"The gun locker." Wally leaned against the interior and pointed to the small arms compartment on the opposite side from Dennis. "There's a grenade launcher in there, had High Explosives that'll take that thing out."

Jake turned to open it and stopped at the sight of the scanner lock. He hesitated before waving his brawny hand across the miniature black screen, a green laser flashed by his palm and immediately turned red. The screen lit up with text.

"Signature Invalid, Locking"

A click sound was heard on the side lock.

"Dammit!" Jake slammed his big fist on the locker door.

"Move Sherman," Wally grunted as he lightly shoved Jake, the latter moved over. "Reset."

The red text on the screen faded. Wally waved his paw and the laser flashed by, it went red again. The werewolf growled in annoyance, "really?" He remembered his military clearance signature expired a week ago.

"Well what now!?" Jake asked rhetorically.

Wally tried to dig his claws around the locker's edge, only to get pinched when it sealed itself. "Come pull on this."

Jake moved over and grabbed the top corner of the locker door and began to pull with his immense strength. He managed to pull the door back enough for a decent sized crevice. Wally fit his claws in and started to pry.

Dennis watched as the two worked on the armory, he then turned to face the monitor which now showed the drone closing it's elevation. He knew it wouldn't be long before it fired again and with the way the two were struggling, they wouldn't be able to get that launcher in time. He left the turret and made for the front seats, he had an idea but it was a crazy one.

Dennis noticed Winnie was huddled up on the edge of her seat against the door, ears covered, as if she was about to cower and jump out at any given moment. Knowing her, he wouldn't honestly blame her. She almost jumped out of her seat when he tapped her on the shoulder.

Winnie peered out of her elbow, eyes wide with crippling fear.

"Are there any flares on your side?" Dennis asked as patiently as he could.

"I… uh," she leaned over and dug around in the side of her door. "No… wait," she fished her paws under her seat and grabbed what felt like a stack of candles.

"Yes!" She pulled up a bundle of magnesium torches and presented them to her zing.

"Thanks Winnie," Dennis gave her an appreciative smile. He went to take the signal flares when Winnie jerked them back from his reach. Just one look in her eye told him she already had an idea of what he was about to do.

"Winnie, I need those."

She just stared at him, her face mixed with concern and anger. "What are you gonna do with these?"

Dennis exhaled and his head fell, her concern was appreciated but he didn't need it now. "Look, I need those so we don't die, kay?"

That last word seem to set something off in her, she bared her teeth and moved the flares behind her. Does he seriously think his life's a joke?

"Win, just give them to him." Val weakly told Winnie, trying to control the wheel.

"NO!" Winnie snapped at her request. She turned back to Dennis. "You may be the leader but under no circumstances are you going to throw your life away!"

"Give them, now!" Dennis demanded.

She bared her teeth again and started to growl. She lurched back when Dennis made a grab for the flares. Her show didn't intimidate him in the slightest as they had a few disagreements in their relationship in the past, it was just a show.

"Dennis stop!" She pulled against his grip on the flares. "Sto–!"

BAAM!

A terrified yelp escaped the werewolf as she fell back in her seat and dropped the flares as another missile barely missed. The torches separated and scattered all over the floor amidst the chaos. Dennis took advantage of it and grabbed two flares before taking off to the back of the carrier.

Winnie pushed her fear aside and scrambled up after him, "Dennis! No!"

Val's right hand immediately caught the werewolf's arm while swerving the wheel with the other. Winnie struggled against her grip. Val knew she probably wouldn't like her that much after this but this was for the best, even though she equally feared for her leader.

"Dennis…" Winnie froze as she saw him open one of the rear doors. He swapped into his bat form carrying the two flares with his feet, then zoom off into the muddy abyss. "NO!" She ran after him but it was too late.

Dennis felt like his small bat frame was being torn apart by the colliding currents of wind. The stinging of sand particles as they pelted him didn't help much either as he tried to get his bearings in the storm. He eventually found a technique to stop flapping and glide between the currents.

He spotted the drone at a now lower altitude, it maintained it's position above the swerving vehicle. Dennis glided upwards around the currents to the craft. His eyes saw a spark from under the bottom frame and saw a missile drop before shooting downward.

He froze, the strong wind nor sharp pain couldn't tear his gaze away. The projectile was coming down and this one was going to hit, he just knew it.

Dennis reached one of his wings down to one of the flares, surprised they were still there. He yanked the caps off and focused up one of his vampiric powers as he stared at the end of the closest torch. Incinerate.

The end came alive with an orange flame, then burst into a blinding red blaze as the magnesium started to burn. With that, Dennis looked for the missile, which was shrieking down past him. Just before the missile could go by him, he reared back his leg and chucked the burning flare out.

The missile swerved, now chasing the torch like Dennis wanted. It followed the light until the wind distorted it and lost it's lock, sending it towards the ground. It detonated far off in the distance.

Dennis did a flip in victory but didn't have time to celebrate. He looked up to see the drone turning to the side, it's left wing dipping. He noticed a hole right on the wing close to nose of the UCAV, where it's machine gun would stick out. It's MG hadn't retracted yet, leaving a hole Dennis hoped the flare would fit in. He glanced down and decided to go ahead and light the other flare.

A shriek brought his attention back up and saw another missile was deployed, this time coming straight at him. He paled and gave a death stare at the incoming missile, just one mistake and that's it. Time seemed to slow for him as he faced the speeding projectile getting closer, and closer.

He dove and swooped up right at the last second, avoiding death. He shot up to the drone, adrenaline pumping. He looked back to see it was following him and it was, albeit closely. He had no room for error.

Dennis kept complete focus on the muzzle hole, his grip tight on the flare. He noticed the aircraft started to turn and shot with a burst of speed.

Cluck!

"Score!"

It was dead eye shot.

BAAM!

The hybrid was pushed back from the explosion. As he fell back down to the earth, he scanned the clouds for the drone. By the sound of Wally, this thing had tough armor. But it couldn't be that tough could it?

He spotted the sharp movement of the craft nose diving off to the side. It was trailing smoke as it barreled to the ground and just like the fourth missile, hit with a fiery explosion in the distant plain.

Yes! Dennis wanted to do a few victory flips but the pain was almost unbearable. Now he had one problem left, to find the ANAC through the storm.

He eventually made out the headlights and glided with the current to the rear doors. Dennis went from the stinging of being pelted, to feeling like hot needles were sticking him everywhere on his body. He felt the nausea starting to creep in and knew he had to get out of this mess. The rear door he had opened earlier was still swinging outward and he dove for it.

Dennis switched as soon as he darted in and shut the door. He leaned on it, catching his breath and letting the nausea fade. The hybrid continued to wait there and the silence was getting to him. He turned around once he felt better, right into the piercing glare of a certain werewolf.

Dennis didn't even knew he slightly shrunk before her, he hadn't seen a look on her like that before. A scolding, hurtful, and sick mix of feelings all in one expression. He noticed she was keeping tears back. "Look Win…"

"Don't," she interjected. Her eyes closed as she took in a deep breath. She suddenly grabbed his arms, and started to squeeze.

Dennis started to buckle at the pressure and looked into her eyes. He was met with heated glare not like before but it didn't overshadow the hurt. Her eyes fell and she let out an exhausted breath.

"Winnie…" Dennis began softly. "I'm sorry, I had to or we would…" he couldn't finish.

"I know, zing–zing."

She hadn't called him that in a long time. He was about to say something when her paws moved up to his shoulders. He was surprised when her lips made contact with his but he didn't resist. Rough and hard paws went against wet and grimy skin. He felt her tongue try to push through his clenched teeth and he opened his jaws fully. They explored each other's mouths like they've done many times before.

"Jesus!" Wally turned his head in annoyance, he was in enough agony right now.

Jake turned to give them some privacy, he was happy his friend didn't get the screws to him like he thought he would.

They parted, both staring into the other's eyes. Dennis felt a familiar lump in the pit of his stomach, like he felt when they were in their early teens. Winnie seemed to be rejuvenated in a way, but Dennis could still make out something like fear in her ever since he saved her from the flames. It was just a hint of it but he could still see it.

Winnie cleared her throat as she backed away. "I better start cleaning up this mess."

Dennis watched her as she started to pick the flares up near the gun compartment and immediately went to help her.

"You know I love you, right?" Dennis reassured as he handed her the last group of torches.

"I know you do." She took them and went to her seat. Wally gave a dissatisfied hiss.

"Hey Val, we on the road yet?" Dennis called.

"No, trying to find it now."

Dennis slouched down on the crew seat behind the gun compartment. Jake walked over and put his fist up, "man, don't think I've ever heard of anyone walking from a Wraith strike."

The dhampir couldn't resist bumping his fist, despite the pain that came afterwards. He looked over to the gun locker, it's corner was cracked open but it still remained locked. "You guys really couldn't get that thing to open?"

"No," Jake shrugged. "Guess these things really are built to endure."

Dennis nodded and kept his gaze down. He still felt the needles and the slight nausea, he assumed it was just stage one of radiation poisoning and would blow over by morning.

The steering wheel seemed to resist Valerie as she pulled it to the right. She was confident she was on the way to the main road but she couldn't be sure, driving off-road proved to be more challenging than the road in this storm. Val could see a church tower coming into view through the dust. "Okay, I think I see the Evangelical… HOLD ON!"

She failed to notice the half buried tank in the ground in front of her, and the vehicle flipped as soon as she hit it. Jake managed to grab hold of the side handles but everyone else was tossed around like dolls. Dennis hit his head as he lurched up and felt the sickness reach a new level as he was thrown around, he couldn't hold the vomit.

The vehicle landed after five flips on it's back, right on the main road before the town. Jake recovered the fastest and helped Wally up, who whined in pain. Dennis wiped the bile from his mouth and scrambled to the front. Weapons now littered the roof as the locker was now wide open.

"Winnie! Val!" Dennis grunted loudly as he continued to crawl on the roof of the vehicle. He was met with a gust of dirty air and the tingling feeling intensified. He could hear struggling in the driver's seat and saw Val trying to unbuckle herself.

"Dennis!"

"I'm here, don't worry." Dennis heard some painful moan come from the passenger side.

"Winnie!" Dennis crawled faster. His eyes fell on a hanging Winnie, she had one paw struggling to free her legs and the other holding her skirt down. His heart began to beat when he saw the dark red blood streaked across her face.

"Hang on," he scrambled up and saw what was wrong. Her seatbelt was torn to shreds but a mess of it seemed to be knotted around her legs. Dennis unsheathed his sword, causing Winnie to wince.

"You know I won't cut you." He moved under her and began to poke and cut around the wad of hardened fibers. Winnie grabbed his shoulder as she felt the belt become loose and eventually fell into his arms. Winnie blushed beneath her cheek fur as her cuts began to heal.

Dennis pulled himself and Winnie up. He moved over to the busted windshield, sword still drawn. Winnie and Val shielded themselves as he hacked away at the shards on the edge, clearing them a way out.

Val and Dennis pulled their hoods up on their combat uniforms, it would offer them some protection against this storm. Winnie hung back and pulled the neck of her dress over her muzzle, it was the best she could do.

The three crawled out into the radioactive dust and turned to inspect the damage. The ANAC was flipped on it's back with the end sticking up from the turret. The turret itself seemed to be smashed along with the windshield, the vehicle as a whole seemed relatively intact.

Jake crawled out with Wally in tow and strutted over, his leather jacket bulged. Winnie ran over and took her brother's left shoulder.

Dennis stared strangely at the bulge in Jake's jacket. "What's with that?"

"A nice pouch of weapons, ammo, and munitions." Jake cradled the bulge like a pouch.

"Pfft, so that's what you were doing?"

"You know it," Jake shot his hands like pistols.

"So what now, Dennis?" Val asked, shivering in her uniform.

The dhampir looked around and towards the town. He pointed to the church tower, "we go in there and get out of this, figure out what's going on and rest up."

"Sounds good to me."

"Hey, what about the carrier?"

Dennis looked back at Jake, "leave it, we're soaking up rads by the second and that turret is useless."

"Got ya, chief." Jake nodded and followed the group as the strutted off towards the old town. Dennis glanced behind and noticed Winnie and Wally were starting to lag behind.

"Hey!?"

Dennis sprinted over at the sound of Winnie's yell. "What's the matter?"

Wally coughed and pointed back to the road, "we got company."

Dennis looked down the road back towards the city and could make out the low–beam headlights piercing through the dust. At first it appeared to be just one vehicle, then he saw another set behind them, then another.

"Dennis, c'mon!"

Winnie snapped him out of it. "Everyone to those buildings!" He pointed to a cluster of buildings off to a right side road. The rest followed after him, knowing they wouldn't make it to the church in time.