Were Inc Uncaged

right. To his surprise, he saw nothing! He could see nothing that could have cast the shadow; he did see a woman shackled to the wall, shackled with old iron chains. Her head hung down and her body had fell forward putting strain on her arms, causing the shackles to dig into her wrists. With his experience above ground, he wasn’t going to take any chances, he would be cautious when approaching the woman. He slowly got closer to her with his rifle aimed at the woman’s head, he quickly examined the woman’s body. He saw her neck has purple bruises scattered between teeth markings, her arms were riddled with shallow and deep lacerations; her body seemed to be covered with Were Inc body armour! Her hair was long and dirty, but he could see her hair was golden blonde. He cautiously poked her head with the barrel of his rifle, but she didn’t move. He dropped to one knee and used his rifle to lift her head up with his rifle’s barrel under her chin; her eyes although barely open, were a beautiful blue and grey mixture, but her face was beaten and covered in blood stains both fresh and old. She tried to speak, but she was too weak. Her words couldn’t be heard, she could only mime ‘help me’.

Captain Quis Podex lowered his rifle and pressed on his visualiser announcing, “Corporal, I found the woman, she’s in bad shape.” He struggled to undo her shackles, in spite their rusty appearance, they were surprisingly strong.

“Dam it, miss, can you hear me? I’m going to get you out of here, okay?” he assured her, lifting his rifle firing at the bolts in the walls, they were no match for the 5.56mm rounds from his weapon.

“Ok, let’s get you back above ground,” he said, helping her to walk with his arm around her waist and her arm thrown over his shoulder.

When they faced the tunnel, their salvation, it was being obscured by the very beast that must have cast the shadow the captain saw earlier. It was a large black and red creature that seemed to be created from tarmacadam. Large portions of its body were moving like living oil.

“Right, the past lives on,” Captain Quis Podex sighed out loud.

Back above ground, Corporal Knightley was having trouble communicating with both Sergeant Devonne and Captain Quis Podex. She would have to wait for her captain to emerge from the hole while avoiding the menacing group that were quickly approaching the cottage. She hastily and carefully rolled a suppressor onto the barrel of her rifle, switching the rifle to a semi-automatic function then hunkered herself down in the doorway of the backroom. The men entered the cottage, pausing in the hallway and sniffing the air.

“Female,” one man announced in a guttural voice.

“Release the beast,” declared another man with a wicked smirk. The man hauling the bag stood forward untying the top sack.

“Feed my pet,” he instructed, letting a snarling impish demonic thrall, a deranged human man out of the sack to hunt the female they smelled.

“Help me!” Captain Quis Podex ordered; trying to get himself out of the hole and help the woman that was with him also, Corporal Knightley rushed to their aid.

“Sir, we have hostiles in the building,” she explained, helping the woman out of the hole.

“On your six,” the captain ordered as the woman climbed out of the hole.

Corporal Knightley didn’t have time to act, the woman she helped from the hole reached for the corporal’s sidearm (a 45cal Mk23 SOCOM pistol) and shot the deranged man directly between the eyes.

“Wow!” Corporal Knightley exclaimed as she quickly helped Captain Quis Podex out of the hole.

“Get them!” a man shouted, followed by gunshots.

“Go!” the captain shouted, throwing their attention to the backdoor of the cottage.

“Sergeant, get your ass over here!” he bellowed over the communication link as they raced towards the stone bridge that lead into a rather small village. It looked like it had been built by hand more than a hundred years ago.

They raced into the first building they came across, a tavern, a gloomy building with rustic red bricks that seemed even more feeble in the pouring rain. The sign that hung outside proudly had the taverns name on it ‘I’ll Omen.’ It was boldly presented with a sickly ogre coughing. Once inside, Corporal Knightley slammed the door shut while Sergeant Devonne ducked down at one of the windows, looking out to see if they had been pursued.

“Help me here!” the new woman called out.

“What happened?” asked Corporal Knightley, turning away from the door to see Captain Quis Podex badly injured, even his armour was damaged with strange markings.

“Over here!” she replied, rushing to clear off a large table where the new woman with help from Sergeant Devonne lay the captain down.

Corporal Knightley once again reached for her field medical kit this time resting it on the table next to her Captain, unrolling it then examining his wounds; the team might never have known they were not alone if the barman hadn’t off cleared his throat, “Coug’uh.”

The three ladies turned around slowly, seeing a barman and two customers sitting on their high stools staring at them, the barman simply asked, “Will yees have a drink will yees?” But he didn’t get an answer.

The more rounded man of the two customers shuffled his way off his stool, his belly wobbling as he walked towards them. With his hands in his pockets, he stood over the captain, examining his injuries.

“Ah, sure, he’s a goner,” sighed the man with a nod of his head. The three ladies looked at him, horrified.

“Odin preserve us, sure yees won’t be helping anyone with equipment like that,” he snickered, pointing to Corporal Knightley’s medical equipment then to Captain Quis Podex before stuffing his hand back into his pocket.

“I tell yees, what yee need is good ould Irish craftsmanship, that’s what yees need!” he mocked with excitement.

“Hand me my tool bag there, from behind the