Shepherd Moon: Omegaverse: Volume 1 Read Online Free Page A

beast, it had covered half the distance. Probably fifteen yards. Quadrupedal, its massive arms propelled it at frightening speed, the legs providing direction. As Duncan squeezed the trigger, he realized that they look much more hyena than wolf.
    The rifle jerked in his hands; the feedback of his haptic gloves, added to the staccato hammer of sound, surprised him. The werewolf's torso jerked to its left, stitched by a trio of holes. Duncan squeezed the trigger again, sending another three round burst. And again. It fell dead at Duncan’s feet.
    Before he could recover his thoughts, two more attacked. One each from either side of the hut. He fired at the rightmost, hitting it in a leg. It wavered, so he switched targets and put two quick bursts in its direction. Most missed, but a couple hit, slowing it. A little. Duncan aimed and put a burst into its head. As it dropped, Duncan switched back to the wounded one.
    The wreck of its leg had slowed it considerably, but it still came toward him. Now five yards away, Duncan could see its hands. Human-like, but with short fingers that ended in a nightmare of claws. He put two more bursts into it. Finishing it.
    He wondered how many shots he’d fired. Enough. He pressed the magazine release on the rifle with his right hand while his left moved to the ammunition pouch on his belt.
    As if waiting for this moment, a dark grey blur erupted from the door of the building. Duncan knew he wouldn’t have time to reload the rifle, so he dropped it and drew his pistol. Pulling onto target, he began firing as fast as he could. As the slide slammed open after his eighth and final shot, he stepped to the left to avoid the now lifeless corpse that slid through where he’d been standing a moment before. He was pretty sure he’d only hit it once, but the .45 caliber bullet seems to have been sufficient. He released the empty magazine, put a fresh one in and thumbed the slide release. Loaded, he replaced it in its holster, and bent to retrieve his M4.
    He stood, put a fresh magazine in the rifle, and pulled the charging handle; startling himself as the bullet he’d forgotten was still in the chamber was ejected past his face.
    He turned. “Well that wasn’t so …”, he choked on the rest of his sentence. The area behind him had turned into an abattoir floor; parts of Matt and Vince strewn among the corpses of their opponents. Clancey, on the ground, was pushing a dead werewolf off his legs. His left leg was a horror of ground meat, bone and spurting blood. A claw’s rake across his chest added to the gore.
    “Wasn’t so … what?” laughed Clancey.
    “I’ll help you get back to the ship.”
    “Screw that,” said Clancey. “Just give me their rifles and pistols and haul ass. You got the loot, right?”
    “A piece of paper.” Duncan gathered the weapons, some magazines from the corpses, and tossed them to Clancey, who began reloading them and placing them on the ground next to his legs.
    “Yeah, could be anything.” The clicking began again, beginning in the north this time.
    “Run,” said Clancey.
    Duncan moved off to the south, quickly. As he reached the southernmost building, he slowed, crouched and moved his way around to the outermost wall. The tapping was still localized in the northernmost buildings, but he wasn’t taking any chances. The wall was clear of werewolves, so he began sprinting, south, toward the ship.
    He hadn’t covered more than twenty or thirty meters when howls once again cut the air. Shortly thereafter, he heard two M4’s open up. Clancey must have one in each hand, he thought. Then the flat boom from pistols. Then silence. Too quickly.
    The howling picked up in intensity. It was answered to his left, to the east, from the woods. It got louder as he ran. He could see the shuttle in the distance, but he could also see the red pulsing on his map from behind and to his left growing in intensity and rapidity. They were getting closer, but he didn’t pause