The gray mist hung thick under the oak canopy, heavy with the sharp smell of iron and fresh dirt. Bill stood by the brick pillar, his thick fingers still pressed against the plunger of the silver syringe, his chest heaving with a slow, as he prepared to haul Caleb's limp frame down toward the ridge. The boy's head had rolled back, his eyes half-closed under the dim amber glare.
Just when Bill thought he was going to have his way, a sharp rustle broke through the ferns behind him.
Molly was standing by the base of the lightning-scarred tree. Her mind was still a chaotic blur of dizziness, and a burning, unquenchable thirst was tearing through her throat, but the sight of the canvas coat and the leathery face of her attacker caused her to fly into an immediate, instinct rage. Although she was still about a meter away from him, her body blurred appearing directly before him with an inhuman speed.
Before Bill could even lift his arm, her right hand swung forward into a vicious slap. The impact landed perfectly against his jaw with a loud, fleshy "crack", the sheer strength behind the blow sending his heavy 230-pound frame staggering three paces backward, his rubber boots skidding through the mud as he nearly hit the ground.
At the very same moment, the echoes of Caleb's earlier screams had traveled across the western edge of the quad, catching the ears of Claire. Dashing into the woods with a curious, intense expression, she didn't hesitate; her thumb flew across her phone screen, dialing her sister's number to log the anomaly before she even reached the tree line.
Coincidentally, Lira appeared at the scene at the exact same moment from the opposite direction. She had been tracking Molly's ever since the side door of the department had been left unlatched.
The first thing Lira saw through the fog was the massive, shadow-black wolf hovering over the two fallen students, its jaws snapping close to their torn limbs. Without a second of hesitation, Lira dashed forward, her long coat billowing behind her as she intercepted the beast. With a terrifying display of raw physical force, she flung the huge wolf sideways, sending its massive body crashing violently into the nearby cedar trunks with a hollow splintering of wood.
Claire didn't waste a heartbeat. Recognizing the danger, she assisted quickly, gripping the collars of the two unconscious boys and dragging them backward across the wet moss toward a safer, sheltered spot behind the foundation.
Molly remained frozen in the center of the path, her breathing coming in shallow, ragged gasps. An abnormal, suffocating thirst and hunger were twisting inside her stomach, making her teeth ache as she stared fixedly at Bill.
Bill was currently perplexed, his hand rising to touch his bruised jaw. The leathery skin was already swelling, and his bloodshot eyes stared at Molly with a mix of shock and boiling fury; he had never in his wildest dreams imagined that a female student could possess the strength to rattle his bones with a single palm.
Reaching deep into the lining of his canvas coat, Bill brought out a heavy, rusted steel pipe that had been hidden inside his clothes. He swung it forward with a brutal, downward arc aimed directly at her collarbone. Seeing the iron about to land on her, Molly could only cross her forearms in front of her face as a desperate, instinctive defense against the blow.
"Swoosh."
The heavy air whistled. What she expected to be the agonizing pain of fracturing bone turned instead into an instantaneous shift of perspective. The pipe struck nothing but gray fog; Molly found herself standing entirely unharmed, a few steps away from Bill's right flank, her instincts having forced another involuntary burst of unnatural speed.
Claire, seeing Bill completely unaware of the shift and focused entirely on the empty air in front of him, seized the opening. She stepped into his blind spot and launched a heavy punch straight into his gut with all her strength.
The blow connected with a dull, sickening "thud" against his midsection, the massive counter-force causing Bill to double over, his breath gave a violent wheeze as he almost threw up right onto the dead leaves.
He staggered against the brick pillar with a jaw trembling. He had not, in his wildest and most arrogant dreams, thought he would one day get himself beaten up this badly within the span of a few short moments by a handful of university girls.
Behind them, the brush erupted again. The huge wolf, having quickly regained its footing after Lira's throw, lunged forward through the mist, its yellow teeth bared as it prepared to continue with its unfinished business.
Before its paws could even touch the gravel, a heavy, sharp oak tree branch tore through the fog from the upper ridge. It pierced straight through the center of the beast's chest with a brutal, wet crunch, pinning the animal's massive frame directly to the dirt. The black wolf let out a single, rattling choke and dropped dead, its dark blood seeping into the moss.
The branch had been thrown by Rein who apparently was standing on the low ridge with her hands extended, her fingers were still trembling slightly from the exertion of her telekinesis. She let out a long, ragged breath, her eyes scanning the clearing. She was incredibly glad she had arrived early after receiving Claire's urgent text; if she hadn't cleared the boundary line when she did, things could have been a lot more ugly for the first-years.
The sheer volume of the commotion—the splintering trees, the screams, and the dull thuds of the combat—could no longer go without attracting a response from the perimeter. Through the dense fog at the edge of Tenth Street, the sharp beams of high-powered flashlights began to cut through the branches, followed by the frantic, aggressive barking of tracking animals.
Two campus patrol guards broke through the yellow tape line, their hunting dogs straining against their leather leashes. They stopped dead in their tracks, their torches lightening the bizarre, horrific sight of the clearing. They were utterly surprised to see a massive, prehistoric-looking wolf lying dead on the ground with an oak branch through its ribs, while Claire stood under the sodium lamp with the two bleeding boys, frantically calling out for help.
"Over here!" one of the guards shouted, his beam swinging wildly toward the brick pillar.
Caleb was seen in another direction, his body laying flat on the wet ground near the ferns, completely motionless and almost lifeless after Bill's sudden injection. The second guard hurried over, his heavy boots skidding in the mud as he dropped to his knees beside the boy's frame. He pressed two fingers firmly against the side of Caleb's neck, waiting through three long seconds of silence until a weak, sluggish pulse thrummed against his leather glove.
"He's still breathing!" the guard called out, signaling back toward the security vehicle.
"We've got a live one. Get the medical logs updated now!"