Chapter 3

It was dark outside when the sheriff drove up to the red pickup truck parked under a tin roofed garage at the edge of the lake and parked in front of it in case Francis tried to leave before the sheriff could get a word in with him. The sheriff wasn't sure about Francis and the whole thing felt off. Claude is the first survivor in a series of gruesome murders. The man who saved him claims it was an animal and Claude, sitting in a hospital says it was some kind of monster, probably from the painkillers but nothing can be ruled out. The storm was finally slowing to a steady snowfall and the sheriff could see a light to his right, out on the frozen lake coming from a fishing shack. Amber freezes particularly early, in late September and the ice was already four inches thick by the third of October and seven and a half by the fifteenth. So like clockwork, the lifelong Amber resident put up his wooden shack, a lantern could be seen through the distant window.

Ben got out of his car wearing his sheriffs hat instead of the fur hood of his jacket and walked across the dark frozen lake as snow gently fell around Ben. The only sounds he heard were his boots muffleing through the snow. When he reached the shack Ben approached the wooden door up three steps made from large pieces of firewood stacked upon one another and knocked three times. The door was opened by a sleepless looking middle aged bald caucasian man with a grey moustache wearing a red winter coat and a blue wool toque. "Hello sheriff, wasn't expecting to see you out here, what can I do for you?" "I'm here to ask you a few questions about Claude Williams, the man who was attacked last night with his dog." The man had bags under his eyes and he looked at the sheriff with an almost blank look. That's when Francis picked up a small bottle of rum he had sitting on a table next to a full ashtray behind him as he called Ben inside. "Come on in." Ben said as he took a sip and put it down. The sheriff closed the shack door behind him. It was still cold but not as much inside and the electric lantern on the windowsill lit the three metre by three metre shack quite well.

Francis grabbed one of three folding lawn chairs from behind the door and opened one across from his for the sheriff, with the table of Francis's comforts in between them. "Please have a seat sheriff." "are you sure you're okay to answer questions right now? You seem a little, well intoxicated." Francis sat down in his chair and lit a cigarette. "Sheriff I came out here today to clear my head and make some sense out of what happened last night. It's almost six o'clock and I'm no closer now to understanding what happened than I was last night covered in Claude's blood." "Tell me what you think you saw, then." the sheriff said sitting down lighting one of his own cigarettes, as over the next hour, Francis recounted every gory detail he could remember. "It was bent over him in the street, when I saw it I thought it was a wolf until I noticed it was hunched over him, like a person."

"The animal that attacked Claude?" "it chased him out of Kings Ravine, the hiking trail and dog park, you know where it is." Francis pulled a bottle of rum and two glasses from underneath the table and offered one to the sheriff who politely declined. Francis poured the spiced rum into one glass, slammed it back and refilled it before putting the bottle back underneath the table with the other glass and continued his story. "I hit it with my truck, don't ask why. I just felt like I was as dead as he was if I'd just gotten out and hoped for the best. The thing was built heavy whatever it was. Some kind of mutant wolf or coyote or something…" Francis drank half of the amber liquid in the glass next to him and put it back down. "It looked at me. Made eye contact with these bloodshot yellow eyes, that darted around until they locked on mine. That's when I slammed the breaks and sent the fucker flying." "How big would you say it was if you had to guess?" "maybe six, seven feet tall. It was big, sheriff. Real big after Launching it off the hood of my pickup I…" Francis paused for a moment to finish his drink and continued telling his story for the sheriff who was a little skeptical, but Francis never had a history for bullshit stories. Especially bullshit stories connected with attempted murder. Ben could tell from his fifteen years of detective experience, theat Francis fully believed he was telling the truth. The drinking was only to make telling this traumatic experience… easier. When he got to the part where he arrived at the clinic he poured himself another drink though, much calmer now. "There was a doctor. A british guy, thick glasses." "Doctor Barker?" the sheriff interrupted to ask. "Yeah. He saved Claude's life sheriff. Probably his dogs too." Francis said, looking at the small dark fishing hole in front of him, a small fishing rod held in place with a vice at the bottom of the table. The line had been limp the entire time he had been there. "he did. I'm gonna go visit them at the hospital tomorrow to see how they're doing. You should pay them a visit Francis. I guarantee Claude would be damn thankful to see you stop by." Ben said, putting out another cigarette and standing up. "I'll be sure to sheriff." the sheriff shook hands with Francis and bid him good night. The sheriff put up his hood and made his way back to his patrol car.

Across town while Francis shared his story with Ben, Sarah Baker was heading towards Bradley memorial hospital in the back of an ambulance sleeping on a stretcher. The screaming, those bodies, just thrown in a pile of vile smelling meat. What they did was beyond evil, and I only heard what they were doing. She passed out while being questioned earlier by the male nurse in the ambulance. She started to regain consciousness when the ambulance doors swung open and she sprung up quickly on the stretcher. "Easy miss Baker. We're at the hospital." she refused to lie back down on the stretcher and walked inside along the dark haired male nurse and the ambulance driver. "Sarah we're gonna get you in a room up on the fourth floor to make sure you're okay." a doctor said, approaching. Sarah was still in a state of shock and her arm was still covered in blood from stabbing a cultist in a dirty bathroom nearly a dozen times. Her eyes were wide and mascara had dried down the sides of her now calm face. Her red hair was messy as the elastic broke in the ambulance.

Her yellow dress was spattered with blood, along with her name tag which was just barely readable. Sarah was escorted up the elevator with a doctor to the fourth floor. She walked past an open doorway and saw a man covered in bandages scratching a rottweiler next to his bed with the exposed fingers on his left hand. He watched her blankly as she followed the doctor as the dog raised it's head to watch her pass. About an hour after answering the doctors questions and confirming for them that she was in fact okay, she went to the bathroom to wash the crusted blood off her arm. She turned the hot water on and cleared the entire roll of paper towel scrubbing the blood off. When she left the bathroom twenty minutes later she saw Officer Cole talking to an older native man in a beige trenchcoat and fedora talking to Cole. "Sir those details are not available right now." Sarah watched Cole say, not taking his eyes off his book. "Please It's very important. I just need to know… was it them? The cultists from the forest?" Cole dog eared the page in his book and looked up at the strange man "What's your name?" "Abraham Wilhem." "Okay Abe, what's your game? You a reporter?" Cole asked putting the book down looking up to see Sarah watching from the doorway, though he simply turned his attention back to Abe.

"private detective and a concerned citizen." "Be that as it may, I'm not at liberty to reveal these details at the moment, you'll have to wait for the sheriff to make a statement on it." the man furrowed his brow and reached in his jacket and fished around for something. Cole gave a confused look and stood up, he was just a few centimetres shorter than the private detective. Abe extended his arm with a clean laminated white business card with his name and phone number on it with "Detective service" under his home and work phones. "Do you have an office in Amber mister Wilhem?" the older man removed his hat again and used it to fan himself. "Not exactly, I've been working out of my current living space, as well as a reporter with the local newspaper has been helping me with a promise of discretion until the local authorities give us the go ahead to talk about what's happened in greater detail." "So, is that what you're here for? The reporter sends you to get information from an on duty police officer who was just in the bloodiest crime scene of his entire life and possibly, foreseeable career." "I understand. I'll wait for the sheriff to make his statement. If you are able to talk in the future. Give me a call." Abe said putting his hat on and walking towards the elevator humming an old song that Cole vaguely recognized as the elevator doors chimed and opened. Abe smiled and tipped his hat to Cole who waved 'goodbye' as the elevator door closed in front of him.

Cole sat back down and picked up his book. He was about to open it when he saw Sarah again standing in the doorway of her room again. "Who was that?" She asked, her eyes were wide and the mascara wiped away and she scratched at her arm which had been scrubbed clean and she was wearing a hospital gown to temporarily replace the blood soaked yellow waitress dress she had been wearing earlier. "A private detective. He said he wanted to talk to you but i told him he had to wait for the sheriff to make a statement tomorrow." A doctor walked out of the elevator, she was wearing dark blue doctor scrubs and a long white doctors coat. She was native like Abe and very beautiful, she had long dark hair tied back and mascara around her brown eyes. "My name is Doctor Gina Wilhem. I'm Miss Baker's doctor." "I'm Officer Cole. did you just say Wilhem?" "I presume you were the one my father was just trying to get past. I'm so sorry. He's a private detective. I thought he was living in Calgary but he told me he'd been trying to connect the Nocturnis Infernis cult in the woods with the murders in Amber since he heard about it, and came as soon as this mess started to get really bad." "Do you think he has any real evidence?" Cole asked, pulling out his notepad once again to make a note. "I think if he does then he's in way over his head. He's getting old and i don't want to see him get hurt." "If he does I'll be sure to give him a call." Cole said, holding up her father's business card. "I wish that stubborn old bastard would just retire. "Right. Anything on Sarah Bakers condition?" "shock a few scratches, but nothing too serious." "okay let's ask her herself and see." Cole said, opening the door. And stepping inside. Sarah was lying down on the bed, staring at the ceiling with her hands clasped over the middle of her green hospital gown. Her long red hair was a mess. "Sarah Baker? How are you doing?" Gina asked sincerely, no smile. "I'm fine." she said blankly. "I just wanna get home and get some sleep. Has anyone talked to my boss? He hasn't answered anyone's calls the last few days or even been at work in the last week. See if he's okay." "Sure what's his name?" "Fred, Fred Daniels. He lives in the same apartment building as me, he lives on the sixth floor, I live on the second." Cole took the detail down as she spoke. "Apartment 604. I had dinner with Fred and his wife at christmas. God I hope they're both okay." she sounded like she was holding back tears. "Don't worry. A police officer will check on Fred tomorrow morning." Cole said looking into the blackness beyond the window. His train of thought broken by a loud high pitched scream coming from down the hall. Cole sprang up and ran out the door with Gina quickly following. Cole reached the room and heard Glass shatter before turning into the doorway. A nurse gathered herself up off the floor and grabbed Gina sobbing. "What Happened in here!?" Doctor Wilhem asked the woman who was heavily distressed. "Something was in the patient's room! I thought it was a man slouched over the bed but when it stood up, it was tall. So tall I couldn't do anything but fall down screaming!" the woman caught her breath for a moment before saying another word. "Yellow eyes. It had bright yellow eyes." "It had yellow eyes." "it wasn't a person!" Cole ignored the last part. "Check if the patient is alright." Gina said, stepping into the room. She approached the nightstand next to the patient's bed and flicked the switch on the small bedside lamp.

Claude Williams was still fast asleep. His bandages were still intact. There was little glass on the floor meaning it broke from the inside. "Shit." Cole said grabbing the radio on the left breast pocket of his police jacket. "This is Officer Cole Winters. There's been a break in at Bradley memorial hospital. Possible attempt on the survivor from the park attack. Send multiple units and let sheriff Aster know." there was a brief moment of static before the radio spoke back to him. "Copy that sending officers, Sheriff is just being filled in now." "Good, make sure they're here quick." from outside the shattered window they heard a noise that made everyone's hair stand on end. It was like a wolf howling combined with a pained human scream. "What the fuck was that?" Cole asked, failing to hide the whimper in his voice. Claude opened his eye for a brief moment from the sound and judged from all the people around his bed and the black haired nine foot tall, yellow eyed wolf sitting on his bed staring at him, that this was all a dream and closed his good eye, falling asleep within minutes of ignoring the sounds around him.

"Where's the dog?" "What?" Cole asked, turning back to the nurse. "What dog?" he asked again looking directly at the frightened nurse who had only just stopped sobbing. "The patient, Claude. He came in with a rottweiler. He was tied down there at the bedpost with a long chain." She pointed to the corner bedpost nearest the nightstand where they could see something had obliterated the heavy steel chain they used as a leash for the dog after following doctors around the floor and generally causing a nuisance, but no real harm. The screaming howl wailed again and everyone backed away from the window. Claude clenched his eye shut as the creature on his bed made the same screaming howl, though for Claude it was much closer. A dream that he wished he wasn't having anymore. He'd been drifting in and out of sleep paralysis all day and was able to ignore it for the most part, but right now this thing actually made Claude fear for his life. ��What the fuck is that?" asked Cole. as the real howl was still close, and intimidatingly loud, Cole didn't want to be anywhere near whatever could make a noise like that. It was like wolves fighting, snarling at each other only louder, angrier and prolonged. Like when a wolf does howl and they hold the note so to speak. None of them could make sense of what they were hearing. The strange howl screamed on for another few moments. "Gina stay here." Cole said with sweat itching under his police cap on his forehead as he turned to leave Claude's room Sarah was standing back in the hall looking at officer Cole with a terrified look on her face. "Get back to your room." He said pointing at her room as he turned and ran to the stairwell and proceeded to make his way down six flights of stairs where the three doctors, seven nurses, and three ambulance workers were either huddled around the front door trying to get a look at whatever made the noise or staring at Cole with terror in their eyes as he burst through the door.

"It's eating him for god's sake!" Cole heard one of the male nurses exclaim as he backed away from the double glass doors which were both shut and locked. "Hey! What the hell's going on out there?" Cole asked, approaching the group around the door. "Don't go out there!" one of the nurses called as Cole unstrapped his gun in his holster. "That thing's gonna kill you too, don't do it." exclaimed a doctor trying to stop Cole but it was no use. "Get out of my way! He could be dead out there!" Cole said as he saw a man struggling beneath some dark hairy shape that looked like a coyote or wolf in the darkness of the alley across the street, just past the view of the streetlight. Cole unlocked the door and the animal stopped eating. Cole watched the strange creature raise it's head, and turned it's canine body which was mostly hidden in darkness, Cole could tell from the desiccated corpse beneath the creature that whatever it was, it was too big to be an ordinary wolf or coyote. The potentially dead man's bloodsoaked jeans and boots were poking out of the alley across the street, his legs were all that was visible beneath the streetlight as Cole pulled the door open and heard it immediately lock behind him.

When he turned back to see who locked it it was the old doctor who pleaded with him not to go outside. Cole was now holding his gun in both hands as he turned back to the man whose body was now missing, a trail of blood leading him down the alley. Cole pulled out his flashlight and approached the dark brick laden alleyway. The street was silent aside from Cole's footprints through the snowy street, aiming his pistol down the alley, his flashlight revealed the body of a local teenager propped up against a dented garbage can at the far end of the alley, his throat and torso had been completely eviscerated. "Jesus christ!" Cole dropped the flashlight out of shock though the light was still shining eerily on the young man's body as his body heat trailed from his wounds like watching breath in the winter. Cole snatched up his light and scanned the rest of the alley as he covered his nose from the putrid smell with his gun hand while aiming the light ahead of him. When he saw it his heart nearly exploded. Squatting like a man with both hands down in front of it, on top of the large black dumpster. It's head was the shape of a wolfs but it's hair was black and it had bright yellow eyes that reflected in the flashlight. "Jesus christ." Cole said. He thought for a moment it was some guy in a fucked up costume until he saw the lips pull back and it growled like a damn chainsaw.

Cole fired three rounds at the creature, hitting it in the chest with all three. The creature roared and for a moment, Cole was sure he was dead and felt the heavy thing smash into him with it's stinking hairy body. When he hit the snow he was sure it would tear out his throat like that kid in the alley but it didn't. When Cole opened up his eyes he was looking up at the night sky and the creature was getting farther away as it let out a pained cry off in the distance. Cole slipped on ice beneath the snowy road as he picked himself up but when he did he quickly retreated back to his squad car and swung the door open and grabbed the radio. "Hello dispatch this is officer Cole Winters we've got a body over near Bradley memorial hospital, looks like an animal attack but i can't be sure." "what does the victim look like and how long do you think they've been there?" "no more than an hour i'd say.." "Got it, sending units your way." "thanks Lydia." "No problem Winters. Also, did you see what the animal looked like?" asked Lydia, the dispatch operator. "Yeah, but you're not gonna believe me, it looked like a wolf but a lot bigger. Long Black fur. Yellow eyes'' Cole shivered when he realized the creature matched the nurses description word for word but he brushed it off. Cole listened for her voice while observing his surroundings. The creature was still gone. "trust me, I believe you." "you do?" "Yeah, we just got a call in the last couple minutes from a block away from your location.

The family of four saw a wolf-like creature in their backyard. Officer Delton's checking it out right now." "Great. What's the address?" "2208 Hirsch street, they said it killed their german shepard.." "Thanks Lydia." "No problem, we'll have a crime scene crew at Bradley memorial in under five minutes, hold on." Lydia went silent for a moment and Cole was shook once again by that inhuman cry off in the distance. "Shit. Delton needs my help." "Officer Delton Rigs was Cole's best friend since he transferred to Amber." Cole sprinted back to the hospital doors and banged on the glass doors terrifying the people still inside. "Hey open up!" a young male nurse quickly opened the doors with haste. "Look I can't stay, more officers are on the way to deal with him." Cole said pointing at where the corpse was in the street. "What should we do?" "Just stay inside and let the police handle this. Anyone sees anything else like that and you make sure it gets called in." "got it." the male nurse said. Cole quickly made his way back to his cruiser, and got inside and tried to radio officer Delton. "This is officer Cole come in, Delton, do you read me, over?"

there was a painfully long moment of static before a voice broke through. "Thank christ I'm getting through to somebody. My transmi-" the voice was cutting in and out of static. "Delton I didn't get that, please repeat, over. "Requesting back-" his voice was once again briefly lost in static. "Delton! What is your location, over?" "2208 Hir-" the radio cut out again but Cole knew the rest of the address. "Don't worry I'm on my way over!" Cole flipped on his siren and lights and spun his car driving southeast passing trees and houses toward the source of the cry. Cole was on Hirsch street and didn't want to think about what would happen if he was a minute too late. He didn't want a repeat of what happened to Rufus. Cole scanned the house numbers, having to squint in the dark against his window to see most of the house numbers, while also listening for how loud that ungodly animal cry got. Cole could barely read the addresses on the front of the nice looking, two story houses that neatly lined the neighborhood but the noises overall weren't too difficult to follow 2212, 2210, 2208. "Jesus Christ!" Cole yelled as he noticed a dark shape in the middle of the road, he tried to swerve around it and crashed into an oak tree on the side of the road. The airbag ejected as Cole put both arms in front of his face to stop the blow. Cole was dazed but didn't feel any serious injuries. He fumbled for the radio and tried it again. He turned the radio channel back to the dispatch. "Dispatch, Lydia are you there?" there was no response. Only static. "Lydia do you copy over?" static rang loud and persistently. Cole switched the channel back to Deltons radio and tried him this time, only to be greeted by the same static. Cole grunted as he straightened his back slowly, it cracked twice as he undid the seatbelt. His vision was dazed and the windshield was cracked so badly Cole couldn't see a thing through it.

Cole tried to push the door open but it was stuck. "Ugh. fucking shit." Cole slammed his shoulder into the door which fell loudly to the ground. The deep guttural howl penetrated the air around Cole. "RRRRRAAAAAGGGGGHHHHOOOO!" "Holy fucking shit." Cole grunted as he stepped out of the car. His daze was starting to subside. "What the hell?" the front of the car looked like it had been beaten by an axe over and over again. The antenna was also ripped out. Cole undid the strap on his gun and limped to the sidewalk. There was a sharp pain in his leg that he hadn't noticed at first as he stepped onto the curb. One house down was 2208. The house Delton contacted Cole from. The lights had been turned off on what looked like every house on the street. 'That noise must have everyone on alert. Doesn't help me much though.' Cole saw blood trailing out from underneath the front door. It looked like somebody had tried to crawl out and been dragged back inside. Cole pushed the door open and had to step back covering his mouth and swallowing bile. It smelt just like the damn diner from earlier. The sound of a gunshot filled the air followed by another inhuman cry.. It came from inside 2208. Cole checked that he still had two pistol magazines, readied his pistol and stepped inside. The residence had red dark red wallpaper and white siding the lights were all out except for the porchlight out front. Cole pulled out his flashlight which was now dimmer from the batteries getting low.

The hardwood floor in front of him was smeared left and right with blood. Like bodies had been thrown about. The living room itself, to the left of Cole upon entering looked like a nail bomb had gone off. The wallpaper was shredded and even entire parts of the wall looked like they had been completely obliterated by something. Cole left it as it was and proceeded further into the house. To his left was a door which for the moment he left alone to secure the rest of the floor. Ahead was the kitchen opening and ahead of that was a small landing leading to the back door. and to his right a blood soaked staircase. Cole stepped into the kitchen and was met with a horrible sight. The owners of the house, a man and woman. Their clothes had been ripped to pieces. There were parts missing from them like they had been eaten. The man was lying on the counter next to the kitchen sink. His left arm had been ripped off and his face was all but gone. The only way Cole could identify it was a man was he wore the same green polo shirt in a picture framed next to Cole on the wall. The man's wife suffered just as badly. Her legs were broken and she had been smashed through the wooden dinner table in the centre of the room. Part of her face had been torn giving her an eery uneven grin making her smile starting from her left ear and ending where it normally would. Both of them had been gutted and eaten like the man Cole found outside the hospital. "Get back!" Cole heard a voice from the basement shout followed by what had to be at least six loud gunshots and footsteps racing up the stairs. Cole had his ten millimetre aimed on the door. The heavy wooden door Cole passed on his way to the kitchen swung open and a man stumbled out. Officer Delton was clutching a bloody wound above his waist with one hand and a smoking revolver in the other. "Delton!" "Cole! We need to get out of here we've gotta-" his words were cut off as a dark shape collided with the wall behind him and landed behind Delton. The shape stood up, staggeringly tall and blocking the hallway like a black void with beaming yellow eyes. aimed his gun at the creature and tried to fire but it only clicked as he pulled the trigger. He was out of bullets.

Cole stepped took a limping step towards Delton and yanked him backwards as the creature swung a long arm with five massive blade like claws that would have surely finished Delton if it made impact. The heavy swing just barely missed Delton and collided with the wall trapping it momentarily long enough for Cole to get a good long look at what he was looking at while Delton had already made his way down the steps towards the back door and was just getting it open when the creature finally got it's arm free. "Cole let's go now!" Delton booted the screen door open and charged outside. Cole fired a round into the creature's face. Blinding one of it's piercing yellow eyes. The creature howled in pain and anger as Cole turned and ran outside. He couldn't see Delton but he heard him kick open a wooden gate to his right. Cole quickly followed and when he turned the corner he saw Delton who was bald and dripping blood from a cut on his head Cole hadn't noticed until now. "Come on my cruisers down the road." Delton sprinted while holding the deep wound above his waist which was still bleeding. Cole quickly caught up and put one of Delton's arms over his shoulder to help him run. The creature Howled in rage from the house. For now anyways, they had a chance to escape whatever that was. They could see the cruiser. Cole hadn't even noticed it parked in a long row of cars that lined the side of the road he came from. "I can take it from here pal." Cole let Deltons arm go as the bloodied officer ran to the driver side and swung the door open. "Shit we've gotta go right now!"

Delton and Cole both got in the car and could see the large black creature sprinting like a tiger through the black street ahead of them with one yellow eye beating down on them. Delton started the cruiser and swerved out of the parking spot and into the street. The creature was several metres away, quickly getting closer as Delton slammed on the gas. "You motherfucker!" Delton yelled as the creature collided with the car at full speed. The creature didn't stand a chance against the speeding car that hit it like a train and was laying limp in the street. "What the fuck was that thing?" Cole yelled loudly. "I don't fucking know but it was definitely pissed off when i found it. I emptied this gun into it and thought it was dead." Delton was taking the longest detour he could to get to Bradley memorial without bleeding to death. He didn't want another run in with whatever that was and didn't think a building with people would stop that thing from tearing through after them. "Delton, What happened in there?" "I got a call about weird animal noises. Coming from the yard saying something happened to their dog, big dog too." it was a good thing there was no traffic because Delton had no intention of stopping until he was in front of Bradley memorial. "When I got there. Everyone was dead and the whole place looked blown to shit. I hear noises from the basement and go down to check it out. That thing was waiting for me and I emptied my gun into it. It hit the ground like a sack of bricks and I started to look around. That was a fucking mistake, because it got back up in about two minutes. Oh speak of the devil." Delton grinned a bloody smile while adjusting the rear view mirror. The bright yellow eye of the creature looked like it had healed and now both eyes were on them as a nightmarish howl filled the air followed by another. "Oh fuck off." Delton said as a third eye joined the other proving their previous assumptions wrong as the one they wounded joined it's brethren. There were now two. Delton pressed hard on the gas. Cole reached for the radio and contacted Lydia the dispatch operator. Delton swung the car left and they heard one of the creatures set off a car alarm behind them. "Dispatch this is officer Cole Winters, I've found officer Delton, we have two very hostile…" Cole didn't know what to call it and looked at Delton who was focused on the road before snatching the radio from Cole's hand. "A werewolf. Two now it seems." "a… werewolf? Is this some kind of joke officer Delton?" Delton rolled down the window and held the radio towards the snarling screaming howls while keeping his eye on the road. After about five seconds he spoke into the radio. "Lydia does that sound like a coyote? No it's nine feet tall, a family is dead and I'm holding my guts in. tell all units to carry heavy arms and execute with extreme prejudice do you hear me?" Delton put the radio down and turned another corner. "Cole, are they still following us?" Cole checked the window and they were close but not close enough. "Yeah, they're still on us." "I've gotta plan. Junkyard south side of town, not far." "why the junkyard?" "so nobody gets hurt." Delton said, his words slurring slightly as he spoke. He was soaked in blood from his wound. And opened the glove compartment. Pulled something out and stuck it in Cole's hand. "What the fuck." "it's an M67 fragmentation grenade." "I can see that, this isn't the time to ask why you have that." "we can fight those things all we want, we ain't gonna kill them with what we got." "So you're saying we blow them up to distract them?" "Yes" "we can't just blow up the police cruiser." "you're right. There's an abandoned water treatment plant that's at the centre of the junkyard, mayor dickless was too lazy to get it torn down so the building was condemned and had the surrounding area turned into the junkyard only one main entrance for the whole building and we blow it behind us after we get out trapping those things inside." "This is insane," Cole said looking at the grenade, then at Delton who responded. "Yeah, at best." as the police car crashed into the chain link gate.