Chapter 36
THIRTY-SIX
Jack
With supernatural beings as fast as werewolves, and especially vampires, the fighting had quickly spread to every part of the small town.
In front of Jack, a grey werewolf bent over a vampire dressed in a New Hope uniform, tearing out his throat.
To the left, another vampire soldier and werewolf circled one another.
As much as Jack wanted to stop and help fight, he understood their mission was to get Aareth help. First and foremost, their friend needed medical attention.
Jack had been to Term numerous times while working with his father in the Outland.
From what he was seeing now, the town hadn’t changed much.
The wood buildings that made up the city’s infrastructure were lined one right next to the other, and the dirt roads cut through the town like they always had.
As the sky began to lighten, heralding another day, the main thing that stuck out to Jack was the lack of civilians and the amount of blood in the street.
It shouldn’t have come as too much of a surprise that people would be in their homes behind locked doors at the moment. But the chaos that ran through the city was anything but normal.
Jack pounded behind Kimberly as she rounded corners and sprinted past numerous confrontations. Werewolves and vampires were everywhere in various stages of battle.
Jack searched for his father as he ran, but there was no sign of the large white werewolf. Jack was so focused on looking for his father, as well as any potential threats to their sides or behind them, that he almost toppled over Aareth as Kimberly came to a halt.
In front of them, two vampire soldiers stood over the carcass of a werewolf. Blood fell from their mouths, canvasing their faces with brutal war paint. They spotted Jack and his friends at the same time Jack made eye contact with them.
Kimberly’s hesitation was short-lived. She turned a corner and began an all-out sprint.
“We’re almost there!” she shouted over the chaos. “Next block down, on the left!”
Jack told his legs to continue to run forward as he craned his neck behind them. Sure enough, the two vampire soldiers who had spotted them had given chase. By the second, they were gaining ground on their prey.
“You have to take him the rest of the way.” Jack was about to drop his end of the litter and reach for his wand. “I’ll hold them?—”
Jack blinked, still trying to discern what he had just seen. One moment, the two vampire soldiers were chasing after him with blood red eyes; the next, they were gone in a flash of brown fur and teeth.
The female werewolf Jack had saved from certain death at the hands of his father had come out of a side alley.
She’d stricken the two vampires with the force of a battering ram, breaking the back of the first one that took the brunt of her vicious blow.
She was now on top of the other, tearing at him with knife-like claws and teeth.
“Here,” Kimberly stopped at a house on the corner of the street and pounded on the door. “Amber! Amber, open up! It’s Kimberly!”
Nothing.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Kimberly hit the door so hard this time, it shook like it would cave in at any moment. “Amber, if you’re in there, open up, or I’m going to break down this door.”
More movement, this time from the corner of Jack’s eye. A female vampire covered by shadows lifted a rifle and drew a bead on Kimberly’s head.
A dark figure leapt from the roof above her and crashed down on top of the vampire soldier, folding her in on herself. The werewolf wasn’t dark at all; it was Marcus.
The door to the house swung open. A tall, middle-aged woman with long hair and a leather jacket had opened the door. With wide eyes, she took in the scene in the streets as she stood holding a frying pan the size of Jack’s torso in her right hand.
“We need your help.” Kimberly pushed her way into the house, uninvited. “And for God’s sake, put down the frying pan. That’s not going to do you any good unless you plan to cook us to death.”
Jack followed Kimberly’s lead as they bullied their way into the house. An elegantly decorated sitting room connected to a kitchen area with a long table. Kimberly and Jack placed the stretcher onto the wooden table, pushing off dishes and utensils.
Amber locked the door behind them. “What’s happening out there?” She dropped her frying pan and ran to help. “Who is this?”
“A war this world has never seen is happening.” Kimberly lifted Aareth’s jacket off his body. “Can you help him?”
While Kimberly and Amber exchanged words, Jack realized that Aareth had been quiet for a long time. He looked down at his friend, and cold shock grabbed at his heart.
Aareth wasn’t breathing.
“No, no!” Jack ran to his still friend’s side. “Aareth, wake up! We’re here. Wake up!”
Amber stopped asking her questions. Instead, she checked the pulse on Aareth’s neck with two fingers. She didn’t say a word to Kimberly or Jack as she cupped her hands and began administering compressions to Aareth’s chest in a steady rhythm.
“You can save him, right?” Jack was trying to grab the Female doctor’s attention, but she was fixated on her work. “You can bring him back, right? Are you listening to me? You have to bring him back!”
Jack felt Kimberly’s strong grip on his shoulder. She pulled him away from the table.
“Let her work,” Kimberly said in a soft voice Jack had never heard the gargoyle use. “If it’s his time to go, there will be nothing anyone can do. If he is meant to live, he will.”
Jack hated Kimberly’s logic. It was one he actually believed in, but hearing it while his friend lay dead on the table was something he couldn’t accept at the moment.
Jack pushed away from Kimberly in a halfhearted attempt. His eyes never left Amber’s hands pumping up and down over Aareth’s chest. She was talking to him as she worked. “Come on, come on! This world is not done with you yet.”
Aareth’s face was pale, his lips already turning blue. Then, out of nowhere, Aareth let out a huge gasp.
“Aareth!” Jack wrestled himself from Kimberly’s grip and ran to the other side of the table opposite the doctor. “Aareth!”
“I feel horrible.” Aareth swallowed hard, looking up at Jack and Amber. “I died, didn’t I? That would explain the taste in the back of my throat.”
“You’re not out of the fight yet.” Amber winced as she lifted Aareth’s coat, examining his wound. “You two, let’s make yourselves useful. Kimberly, I’ll need hot water and towels.”
Amber looked at Jack with an even stare.
“The best way you can help your friend now is to do what I tell you.” She motioned with her chin to a door that led deeper into her home. “Down the hall, first door on your left is a closet. In the closet is a red medical bag. I need it—now.”
The screaming from the battle outside was beginning to fade as Jack ran to obey. Exhaustion had started to set in, now that Aareth was in the capable hands of the doctor.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Something hammered at the front door.
“Just can’t catch a break,” Aareth mumbled from the kitchen table. He looked over to the door, trying his best at a yell. “Hey, can you give us some peace and quiet for a second? I’m trying to die over here!”