The passenger door of Mira’s car flew open as the Corporal stepped out, even in the darkness and rain her shocked, wide eyes visible. “Jesus!” Mira slammed the door and rounded the car as Omar stepped backwards away from Bromley. Bromley started forward and Mira reached for her pistol when she saw movement out of the corner of her right eye. She turned to see three more shapes lumbering down the sidewalk towards herself and Omar, shuffling their feet along as the rain coated them in liquid sheeting. A fellow deputy and it looked like two civilians, all three with that same dead look in their eyes, their faces a bluish-gray hue like Bromley and those two suspects back at the station. Mira started to step back to her left when she saw more movement off to the left, two more civilians just like the others.

[i]What the hell is this!?[/i]

Mira felt it, that same freezing fear that gripped her heart like a cold, clawed hand. Her throat tightened, her hands or feet neither would seem to move. This could not be real and yet it was, if this were a nightmare Mira would have long woken up by now. What was happening? [i]Why[/i] was it happening?

Bromley made a loud, mindless half shout, half growl, and it spurred Mira to action. She raised her pistol and trained the sights on Bromley’s face, her nerves overcome by the pump of adrenaline she was feeling across her body. Mira pulled the trigger, the resulting bang and muzzle flash cutting through the rainy darkness. There was a spray of red and Bromley crumpled back onto the asphalt. “Move, inside Omar!” Mira dashed forward slapping Omar across the arm. She was about to make a break through the gate when her feet slid to a stop, the Corporal looking back towards the patrol car. The suspect was still inside, the shadow of his head darting around in the backseat.

[i]We can’t just leave him out here, criminal or not - not to the devices of these… freaks.[/i]

“Omar,” Mira said his name for the second time, “get… get the perp. I’ll keep them back!”

Mira gave Omar a hard push for the second or maybe third time this very early morning as she turned to face the coming three. She raised her pistol and took aim at the deputy, Mira recognized him as a new guy on the force. [i]Terrell?[/i] Terrell and the two civilians at his side moved forward shoulder to shoulder, shoes scrubbing against the concrete as they looked their would-be prey in the eyes. That’s what she was - prey.

“Stay back!” Mira shouted, already knowing it was pointless. The three were less than twenty feet away and Mira felt her hands shaking now. She heard another “growl” nearby and knew there were more of these forsaken things around. Mira tightened the her muscles in her hands and fingers as she aimed for Terrell. [i]Sorry…[/i] Mira fired a second time, the bullet hitting Terrell just below the right eye, shattering bone and leasing blood across his face. The deputy fell backward, knocking down the freak on his right as he collapsed leaving only one standing to continue towards Mira. Mira swiveled her pistol and fired again, hitting the next target directly in the forehead - its’ head snapping back as it fell face first onto the ground. 

Mira glanced towards the car and then back to the three fallen bodies, the one scrambling to stand back up again. Mira could see shadows moving across the street and down the opposite sidewalk. [i]There must be more than a dozen of them…[/i]