Bang!
A bullet cracked from the barrel.
"That's a miss. Aim half a meter to the left."
Bang!
It was a clean headshot. The bullet pierced the hound's skull and splattered its brain matter, but they lacked time for celebration as the remaining 9 hounds crept ever closer.
Bang!
The bullet whistled through the air and ripped through one of the hound's legs. The hound lost its balance and tumbled face down. However, the other hounds maintained their pace despite the incident. They were getting closer to the prey; their mutated senses flooded with the acrid scent of adrenaline and fear.
Bang!
Another hound was shot in the chest, rendering it useless. Still too many left.
Aden checked the wounded hound and refocused on the pack's movement. His eyes noticed a different hound - taller, faster, with dark ridges along its back. He had identified an alpha hound. The other hounds were sprinting in formation with it in the middle.
He was thinking about the bizarre scenario, and suddenly, understanding clicked into place.
"Tom, shoot that hound in the middle with spikes. If I'm not wrong, it should be their leader."
Tom was about to pull the trigger, but Aden's sudden intervention forced him to change the target. The rifle scope helped him pinpoint his target accurately.
Bang!
Thud!
One of the hounds fell, but it wasn't the target they had in mind.
"Shit. Why is your aim so bad, Tom?"
Aden knew Tom's aim wasn't at fault, but he couldn't help but comment to loosen the mood.
Dammit!
"They are protecting the alpha."
Bang!
Another hound lay dead, but still not their target. The constant attacks near their leader enraged the pack, their formation tightening defensively as they accelerated, covering the remaining distance with terrifying speed. The hounds were already within 30 meters of them, forcing Aden to swing his shotgun into position..
Bang!
The pellets hit three of the hounds, but the damage was minimal.
Bang!
The proximity increased the pellet damage, incapacitating one of the hounds.
Bang! Bang!
Aden incapacitated one more just before the hounds burst into the building. Meanwhile, Tom clinically finished off the incapacitated hounds. Immediately, they started reloading and ran to the barricade.
***
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
They were greeted by the remaining hounds trying to break their way in. The rapid attacks from the hounds slammed against the barricade, sending tremors through the floorboards and threatening to splinter the wood.
Aden took a defensive position on the left and Tom on the right. He shoved his shotgun through a gap in the barricade, ready to fire.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
Startled by a hound lunging at a gap, he pulled the trigger.
Bang!
One of the hounds was eviscerated, with its organs and bodily fluids everywhere. Fortunately, they had their hazmat on.
The kickback from the shotgun, coupled with relentless hound attacks, was the last straw.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The tables, chairs, and other pieces of furniture started tumbling down.
Bang!
A bullet exited Tom's rifle, chipping plaster from the wall behind the hounds as the chaos ruined his aim.
"You need to work on that aim, Tom."
The barricade was clearing at a visible rate.
Bang!
Another hound burst apart, but there were still 2 left alive, one of them being the alpha.
Aden rolled back to dodge the falling debris, but the shotgun was stuck in the collapsing debris. Left with little choice, he left the shotgun and grabbed one of the chairs to defend himself.
Now free of obstruction, the hounds jumped at both.
***
Bang!
The alpha lunged too quickly for Tom to track reliably in the tight space, his shot going wide.
Chomp!
Thuck!
He jammed the rifle stock forward, deflecting the hound's snapping jaws.
Swish!
A swift claw attack tore through his hazmat and took a chunk from his shoulder.
Ahhhh!
The intense pain made him dizzy and gnash his teeth.
Drip! Drip! Drip!
He could feel the warmth of blood dripping from his shoulder. Heat flooded his limbs as adrenaline surged, momentarily eclipsing the searing pain with a primal rush of strength.
"You bastard. I'll kill you."
He pushed off the alpha with his newfound strength and swung his rifle, landing in empty air. The alpha dodged the attack and retreated.
***
Thuck!
Meanwhile, Aden was stuck with the other hound. Fortunately, the wooden chair protected him from the attacks.
Tom's sudden scream caught him off guard. As he was about to check on Tom, the hound pounced on him, sensing the distraction.
Aden rolled back the chair.
"You bastard."
It enraged him.
Snap!
He broke off one of the chair's legs and charged toward the hound, wielding the chair defensively and the sharp broken leg as a weapon. All of his thoughts centered on ending this fight quickly to help Tom.
"Come here, you wretched being."
Thuck!
Thwack!
He blocked the hound's snapping jaw, recoiling as a wave of acrid stench blasted from its gaping maw. Despite a feeling of nausea, he willed himself and attacked with the broken leg. The leg broke further, sending splinters flying everywhere.
The hound tried attacking from different directions, but he blocked and countered on time. However, every parry and counter chipped away more pieces of wood.
Thud!
Huff! Huff!
The struggle ended after five minutes, leaving Aden victorious but gasping for breath, the shattered remains of his makeshift weapon littering the floor around him.
***
He glanced at Tom and saw him struggling against the alpha with multiple slash wounds. Immediately, he grabbed a nearby wooden chair and rushed.
Swish!
Thuck!
Tom parried the claws with the rifle, but he was knocked down. Sensing the opportunity, the alpha pounced on him.
Thuck!
The claw struck against the chair Aden held.
"Get up, Tom. Now is not the time to sit."
The clash almost made him lose his grip on the chair, but he held it with his dear life. Aden's presence forced the hound to retreat. Likewise, Aden slowly pulled back toward Tom.
"How are you doing, Tom?"
His eyes were locked on the alpha, but his ears were on Tom.
"I'll live. Forget about me. Do you know how to deal with that thing instead?"
An exhausted Tom tried to stand, but the trembling legs forced him to use the rifle as support.
Despite his vision locked on the front, Aden perceived Tom's struggle to stand straight, thanks to the scraping sound of the rifle.
"Yeah, buddy. You're in no shape to fight it. So, I'll defend against it. Try your best to fill it with lead."
Aden was inching towards the alpha ever so slowly.
"Come here, you ugly beast with a face only a mother could love."
He was trying his best to aggravate it so it wouldn't attack Tom. Meanwhile, Tom was reloading frantically.
Swish!
The alpha lunged and slashed its claw at him.
Creak!
The parry was successful, but it took a great toll on both his hands and the rickety chair. The alpha withdrew after each attack, making it harder for Aden to counter-attack effectively and impossible for Tom to get a clear shot.
"Tom, if you don't shoot next time, we might be in trouble."
"Easier said than done. It withdraws faster than I can aim." Tom retorted with annoyance.
"Don't worry. I'll make an opening for you next time."
Aden tightly held the chair and waited for the alpha to move. A tense atmosphere filled the hall, thanks to an eerie standoff between the two, both waiting for the opponent to make a move.
Swoosh!
The alpha made the first move. Aden braced the chair like a shield and charged into the alpha's lunge, aiming for a brutal, head-on collision.
Thwack!
A violent collision followed.
Crack!
The chair broke into two halves. With the alpha so close, he could hear its snarl as if it wanted to tear him into a thousand pieces. However, unlike before, Aden let the knockback kick in.
Aden was sent tumbling back.
"Now, Tom."
Without support to place its front legs on, the alpha lost its balance and fell headfirst.
Bang!
Screeee!
It was the last sound the creature heard before the bullet inevitably lodged itself into its skull.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Multiple shots fragmented its skull into several pieces. Simultaneously, its viscous, iron black brain matter oozed out.
"Get stuffed, you disgusting thing."
Tom was ready to kick the corpse.
"Did you already forget that it's radioactive?"
Aden's reminder forced him to retreat a few steps.
"Here, clean the injuries first. Pass me that rifle and some ammo. I'll help you bandage once you're done."
Aden passed a water bottle to him, took his rifle, and started reloading.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
He finished off the remaining incapacitated hounds one by one and switched his attention to Tom.
Turning back to Tom, Aden found him slumped over, already unconscious from blood loss.
He breathed a sigh of relief after grasping Tom's pulse. Then, he tore Tom's left sleeve and discovered the shirt soaked through, dark blood still trickling sluggishly from the wound.
Aden took out another bottle of water and poured it on Tom's shoulder. As the wounds cleared up, he came across a bizarre sight. A sharp object was lodged in Tom's shoulder; as he poured more water into the wound, more detail was visible. It was the claw tip from the alpha.
He knew the claw tip was radioactive, but he couldn't extract it as it would risk further bleeding. So, he could only perform first aid of cleaning the wound as best as he could, applying a powder antibiotic, and tightening the bandage around the claw.
"Maria is going to nag me again if she finds out about the missing antibiotic packet."
After confirming the bleeding had stopped temporarily, he cleaned the other wounds and bandaged them one by one. Fortunately, they weren't as deep as the one on his shoulder.
Afterward, he surveyed the gore-splattered room, the grotesque remains of the hounds already beginning to stink even through his mask.
Sigh!
The battle took a great toll on him, coupled with a lack of time to rest even once after the scavenge left him exhausted. His adrenaline was also starting to wear off.
***
Click! Click! Click! Click!
A familiar sound startled him as he opened a water bottle.
He went to investigate the source and came across something familiar. Half buried amongst the remnants of the barricade was a yellow metal casing with a handle protruding from its otherwise flat surface, on the opposite remained a round glass dial displaying a needle and small markings engraved within in black letters, in the middle of both lay a dial various settings engraved by the side, and on the left of the handle was a black button with zero engraved above it.
It was a Geiger counter, a must-have for all the scavengers to detect radiation.
He instinctively checked the setting and dial. His eyes scanned the glass again, then froze. The needle wasn't hovering near zero. It was pinned hard against the far right end of the scale, pointing directly at the numeral '5' mark. And the dial was set to the second lowest sensitivity, i.e., 0 - 0.5 Roentgens per hour (R/hr) - meaning the actual dose was at least 0.5. His blood ran cold. On top of it, he didn't even know if it was accurate since 0.5 was the limit at the current setting.
"Oh, Shit. How could I forget about these radioactive corpses? Vacation is over; time to go."
Not wanting to waste a second, he stashed the Geiger counter and the recovered shotgun into his backpack. He pulled a rope from Tom's pack, meticulously tied the unconscious man onto his own back, grabbed the rifle, and headed for the doorway. As for the bicycle, it was trashed beyond repair by the hounds. So, he had to make the arduous journey back home on foot, carrying his friend whose life hung precariously in the balance.