Shannon returned to the main street and boldly approached the cantina. At the doorway, one of the burly guards boldly said, "We don't allow no outside whores in here. Only Diego's girls are allowed to work here."
"Don't insult me. I'm not a whore. I just want to buy a meal and have a drink. I think the food smells good." Shannon acted indignant at the whore accusation.
The burly bouncer smirked. Shannon was a very pretty brunette with bright green eyes and voluptuous figure. “Do you have money?"
"Yes," Shannon pulled out the purse she'd swiped and gave him a peek.
"Okay then, but if you're caught trying to pick up customers inside, you'll get sent away with a beating," he warned her ominously. "Now we're gonna frisk you because there's no weapons allowed inside."
"I don't have any weapons," Shannon answered, but raised her arms to be patted down. The guy groped her breasts and butt more than necessary, but she kept her temper so she could go inside. She entered the cantina and her gaze swept over the place. It was seriously crowded with customers, despite the early morning hour. There was a very long bar with a couple bartenders on duty. The kitchen was in the huge loft room behind the bartenders and orders could be handed right over to people at the bar. There were also a lot of tables for people to gather while eating and drinking. At the back of the bar there were gambling tables for cards, a roulette type wheel, and what looked like darts for wagers.
There was a locked cage in the back. Two guards stood by it defensively. There was what looked like a clerk inside the cage. He seemed to be there to receive and document money and issue gambling chips. There was an upstairs level, but she focused on where she was. She took a seat at the bar, where no one was directly next to her. She looked at the wallboard that listed food and drink prices.
"What'll it be?" The male, middle aged, balding, pot belly, bartender asked her.
"I'll have a beer and that steak and eggs special," she pointed at the board.
"Money in advance," he bluntly demanded. Shannon spilled the coins out. The place seemed expensive, charging two silvers for the meal and drink. The bartender scrawled her a quick receipt with a number on it. Then he went over and hollered the order to the kitchen. He stopped back with a pint of beer in a mug before serving other customers. Shannon nursed her beer while studying the place. There were plenty of pretty, voluptuous bodied, whores, dressed in little clothing, jiggling around the crowded cantina. A piano player rolled out tunes in a corner. There was lots of laughter and talking, with some shouting. There were numerous armed and armored security personnel watching everything carefully. It was lively in the early morning hours.
While waiting for her food, a drunk, ugly, fat man tried to chat her up. He didn't look prosperous. He was loud and annoying. She feared they might kick her out if they thought she was trying to pick up men in the place, so she was rudely blunt that she wasn't interested. He called her a bitch and stormed off. Her food arrived quickly. She was pleased to see a big hunk of quality steak, two fried eggs, some fried potatoes, and a couple thick pieces of fresh fried bread with butter. She devoured the food, loving the taste. She had another beer to wash it down. She would have preferred milk or juice, but it was a bar. She didn't want to look too out of place there.
All her plans went out the window abruptly. She was poked from behind and turned. It was a couple of tall, very muscular, men wearing armor and helmets. They had weapons jutting from their belts. They were security personnel with the pimp she'd kicked and robbed at the park.
"That's the bitch that robbed me," the pimp snitched while pointing at her.
"Did you rob this man?" The bigger bouncer growled at her.
"No," she lied.
"She did, too. She hit me with a club by surprise and robbed me," the pimp insisted.
"Listen lady," the bouncer ominously loomed over her, "Raul here works for Mr. Diego. If you robbed Raul, then you robbed Mr. Diego. You need to pay that money back and we'll let you go with a warning. If you keep lying, we're gonna have to teach you a painful lesson about stealing from Mr. Diego."
"I didn't rob him," Shannon firmly denied.
"Yes, she did," Raul the pimp reiterated.
"No, I didn't," she argued.
"Enough," the bouncer spat, obviously aggravated with the situation. "Let's see your purse, lady. You're gonna pay Raul back, so he can give Mr. Diego his cut." He grabbed her arm hard. Shannon jumped and jerked her arm free.
The pair of pugnacious bouncers both grabbed at her arms and shoulders, while using their height and weight to back her against the bar, and pin her in place. Shannon panicked and reacted violently. She wildly windmilled her arms with inhuman power as her dark matter inner symbiont strength surged over her. She was able to easily flail free of their fingers squeezing her skin. She shoved the thugs, and whipped her mitts with hits she pitched into the chin of one and knocked the nose of the other, while they tried and failed to restrain her. She bowled both bouncers over with her freakish alien strength and speed.
They were amazed and dazed by her potent punches, pushes, and ability to flail free from them. Raul tried to knife her neck. She nabbed his hand and wrist in mid-thrust. She wrenched his knife wrist in a brutal twist and stripped the blade from his grip. His arm made a loud pop as a bone snapped in it. He screamed in anguish and she nailed her knuckles on his noggin, near the ear. He shut up and flopped on the floor, out cold.
Two other burly bouncers pounced in her path and attacked. They didn't draw their weapons yet. To them she was just a little lady that somehow caught the trounced trio by surprise with her reactions. Shannon knew better than to waste time with hits and kicks to their armored bodies or limbs. Even their heads had helms. But their oval faces remained exposed, below their helm's nose guards.
Shannon performed her favorite kick, a flying side kick that had her momentum and weight behind it. Her eye expertly aimed at her oncoming target and her little boot heel hewed a clout into his mouth that knocked out teeth. It pasted him like a medieval mace in the face and chopped him off his feet to sprawl senseless.
Shannon lightly landed and ducked a punch the other chucked at her head. As she ducked, she whipped around a spinning thrust kick that impacted on his abdomen armor hard enough to stagger him back. Shannon followed up with a leaping crane kick that sockped his chops and dropped him dazed.
A pistol fulminated, flickered and fogged the air, fired by the first guy Shannon had felled with her fist. The ball clapped Shannon's back and the impact staggered her. The guy was brutal, discharging the second barrel into her back with a slap that made her reel. Shannon gritted her teeth and shuffled with a thrust kick, making her heel jolt his jaw like a jackhammer. His mandible cracked from the smack, dropping him into dreamland.
The other guy she'd pounded down was groggily grabbing his gun. Shannon stepped and dealt a hatchet kick to his chin that drubbed the thug senseless. Her armored Kevlar shirt had stopped the body shots that rocked her. Across the bar, by the back money changing cage, both bouncers were aiming rifles at her. Quick as she could, Shannon dodged in a burst of celebrity. The rifles roared and Shannon felt a projectile pinch her posterior in passing, nicking her butt cheek bloody. The other ball bit her bicep bloody brushing by.
Now patrons were shouting and scrambling, interfering with the aim of security. Shannon darted out the door. Outside, one of the bouncers yanked and cranked on her arm. Shannon wheeled his way, winging a stinging, straight punch that clunked on his square jaw. Her alien power piledrived the punch with precise power, making his knees buckle under the blow. He went down, looking confused.
The other, bigger bouncer, snatched both her arms and used a leg sweep intending to trip and pin her down underneath him. Shannon hopped over his leg sweep and slipped out of his mitts while gripping his limb and spinning and twisting him, while also ripping on his limb. Something in his arm popped loudly and he howled in horrible, sudden agony. Shannon bolted from the battle, fleeing the scene. She was wishing she'd brought her guns. Behind her she heard a rifle shot below and a pistol bark a ball after her. But she was moving too fast and disappeared round the bend, leaving her enemies behind. They'd made a mistake attacking her.
***
Shannon sprinted past people with supernatural celebrity and agility. The people that saw her just glimpsed a human figure blurring by that bounded over any obstacles, reaching impossible heights and lengths in leaps. Those same witnesses would have had trouble definitely pointing her out in a line up because she zoomed past so fast her features were just a flutter of passing movement.
When she was within a block of her cached possessions, she slowed down to blend in better. She rounded the factory to its big backyard, full of crates stacked high, and its dumpsters. She reached the high grasses and towering trees at the secluded edge of the yard, where a high metal fence barred others entry. She leaped to the lowest limb, about a dozen feet high, and scrambled into the seclusion afforded by the broad branches, full of thick leaves. She returned to her cached belongings, where there was also a fat fork big enough to fit a couch. She draped herself there to think. She felt safe for the moment.
She winced, feeling sore where the heavy caliber lead balls had bludgeoned her back, impacting on her armored shirt, which was fashioned with Kevlar and space age plating polymers. The shirt had blocked and buffered her back from the balls, but the 44 caliber at close range packed tremendous punch. She felt a bit tender when tagged. The other balls that grazed her butt and arm hadn't done much damage. Her alien symbiont was already healing those injuries.
On Earth, she'd been shot in the back at close range with a 9mm. The alien symbiont made her flesh very tough, even while in human form. The 9mm bullets had only penetrated a little bit, and the wounds had quickly healed. But she wasn't sure just how much damage she could endure in human or wolf form. She was obviously much more resilient in wolf form.
Her thought turned over what happened at Diego's place. Those men had tried to rob her and kill her. Any hesitations she may have had about robbing Diego's, and killing security personnel if necessary, were gone. In wolf form, she felt certain she could wipe out security there, and swiftly steal more than enough gold to get her into the city of Santo, where she could bribe guardsmen to see Scot. Then she could try freeing him, provided that he still lived.
She needed lots of money to try seeing and saving Scot. She wasn't cold blooded by nature. Had the security at Diego's not attacked her, she would have seen things differently. Instead they'd chosen to come after her. They'd started the war, she would go back in wolf form to finish it, and in the process acquire the funds she needed to pursue rescuing Scot.
For the moment, she was relieved that she got to wolf her meal down. Now exhaustion was overtaking her. She'd grown accustomed to sleeping in trees. She decided to stay where she was and snooze. After the crazy brawl in Diego's, she didn't want to risk strolling around town, and possibly ending up fighting again. She had a big night planned. It was best for her to get some sleep first.
***
Shannon woke before sundown. She felt better after the nap and drank some water before climbing down the tree with her saddlebags packed with possessions. Her body was warning her about its impending change. She didn't see anyone else near her secluded spot. She stripped out of her clothing and sat down in the shelter of the high grass behind numerous stacked crates and the dumpster. She had some privacy there. She patiently packed her clothing and weaponry in her saddlebags. She made sure she had room to put her loot when she returned. She felt the painful transformation commence as dusk descended. She rolled and thrashed around as her human form swelled to a new furry, fearsome, form. She was a wolf again.
She decided to go right ahead and hit Diego's immediately, rather than wait until later. She was anxious to get on with it, rather than wait and worry over her bold plan. She didn't want to leave her things on the ground, so she jumped in the tree and put them back on a lower limb. Then she set out. She did her best to move surreptitiously, but realized that was impossible. There were too many people out on the streets, and not enough cover, even at night.
She scared numerous people that spotted her. She gave up on stealth and switched to speed. She sprinted along the sidewalks and streets, veering back and forth, around pedestrians and equestrian traffic. She caused plenty of commotion, but she zoomed through so quickly, all the people had was a brief impression of a creature out of their nightmares blur by. Before reaching Diego's street, Shannon vaulted on a single story roof and crept across it until she could see Diego's across the street.
She was pleased to see the same two bouncers at the door that had attacked her hours earlier. Shannon waited until a crowd of customers funneled through the cantina doors past the bouncers, then she moved like fluid lightning. Shannon streaked across the street. The bouncers only had a split second to gawk, squawk, and clutch guns before she plunged into them.
Shannon’s yawning yap snapped and clamped on a bouncer's neck and shredded it in twain. He was headless in a heartbeat. Simultaneously Shannon's talons threshed through the throat of the other bouncer, leaving his head hanging on thin threads of flesh. Shannon bolted in the bar before either body outside dropped.
Her predatory gaze swept the place, pinpointing the security personnel. She felt a thrill of recognition spotting the same bouncers that attacked her earlier. Before people could even scream at the sight of her, she'd picked her prey and cruised through the room. She pounced above the crowd of patrons at the tables. One long leap reached two bouncers by the door leading to the hotel.
Shannon's titanic trap latched and slashed through the neck of one bouncer. Her talons trashed the torso of her other enemy, piercing his plate armor like paper. The eviscerated opponent managed to pull his pistol and fire as he fell. Shannon felt the balls paddy whack her back. She stumbled from the close range blaze of both barrels. Shannon took the horrible hit and plowed through the crowd to be a tougher target for the team by the back cage.
She used her front paw much like a human hand as she snatched and cast a heavy table as a projectile. Both bouncers had to jump aside of the crashing missile. Before they could recover, she was on them. Her claws swooped in a short loop that scooped through the arm of an enemy as he tried to cover her with his pistol. His arm was amputated, bisected at the bicep. His gun thundered, but the ball missed. Instantly, Shannon flung him into his friend, while that guy tried aiming at her. The bouncers blundered into each other.
Shannon was impossibly fast as she sidestepped a shot and closed with her final foe. Her claws flayed his forearm to the bone, so he lost his gun. Almost simultaneously her colossal kisser nuzzled his neck and left his decapitated head dangling on a splinter of spine and strands of flesh.
She slammed into the cage with unstoppable force. The cage door collapsed under her onslaught. The clerk inside had already dropped down a chute that led to the basement, where they kept most of their money after counting the take at different times. On the back counter, the coins were put into paper rolls for easier counting and storage.
Shannon's huge, almost human hands, scooped up many rolls of gold and silver coins, shoveling them into one of the casino's leather sacks. She didn't get greedy. She put the burden in her big mouth and bolted back the way she'd entered. Shannon had managed all that damage and purloined the plunder within about 8 seconds flat. The length of a successful cowboy's rodeo ride.
Customers were all in a panic, pushing each other over to get out the hotel doors and front entrance. The chaotic crowd was slowing the hotel security from getting in the cantina. Shannon bounded through the crowd, scattering people easily. She smashed glass as she drove through the window instead of the doorway. She struck the street and leaped, sailing back atop the one story roof. She heard guns bellowing out balls and felt one spank her flank. Then she was gone, with a major mouthful of money.
It was enough money to see her comfortably for a long while. She bared her huge maw in a fierce werewolf smile.
Bio:
Tom Kropp’s work has appeared in The Horror Zine, Chiron Review, Churches, Children and Daddies, Down in the Dirt, Freedom Fiction Journal, Short-Story Me, Dark Harbor, Blood Moon Rising, Flash Phantoms, You Phantomaniacs Anthology, Lowlife Lit, The Listening Eye, J Journal, Evening Street Review, Conceit, Spotlight on Recovery, Muscle and Fitness, Outdoor Life and many other magazines. His play Jailhouse Confessions was performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC in 2019. You can find more of his writings at tomkropp.wordpress.com. He has many audiobooks and eBooks available free through Google Play books.
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.