Carver hissed at him -- she had [i]just[/i] made a new head, and she was [i]not[/i] going to endanger it by being his meat wall -- and moved back behind him. After several moments of sideways leap-frog, they ended up far enough away from the ensuing fight that they realized, perhaps simultaneously (if Carver was being generous) that if they just ran for it, Shock might not even notice. Or if she did, she'd probably be too focused on Carmilla to chase after them.

They both turned and booked it for town.

Once they got through the main gate, Carver yanked the fabric scraps from Barrel's grip and made a bee-line for Jack and Sally's house.

~~~

Meanwhile, Carmilla was learning that her extra speed and strength did not completely make up for Shock's surplus of experience. The vampire managed to knock the trickster's hands to the side before they reached her throat and slip behind Shock, but wasn't able to dodge an elbow to the ribs as soon as she got there. The bitch knew what she was doing, curse it all! Carmilla got in two more shots of her own before being knocked to the ground, and had only a moment to notice that Shock's skirt had gotten flipped upwards, before she had to roll out of the way of another kick.