Chapter 2 - Bullets Still Hurt


    I stopped moving and ducked my head back out of sight, seems that the two gunmen hadn''t seen me peek out. Perfect. Now to find the other one, I first used the easiest methods, I looked around and saw nothing, I listened for anything other than the shots and the sounds of the two moving around presumably to get a better shot at me. They knew I was armed although they were probably not worried given how far off the mark my return fire had been. Oh well, my perfect plan had completely fallen apart and resulted in my rather panicked retreat and near blind firing at them. I had a second now though, time to use what I knew how to.


    I focused inward, first my heartbeat, loud, fast, and strong. My breath heightened from stress but steady. Then I expanded the sense, this was something I had picked up almost by accident, not quite magic I guess would be the best description. Focusing like this I could expand my senses far past what should be possible. I could still hear the shots coming, the bullets hitting either the metal beams or the concrete walls. I could also hear the steady breath of the two gunmen, they had completely calmed down, I could tell they were not worried in the least. Well, that worried me, a lot, them being so calm meant that the woman was strong, not sure how, but strong. Crap. I steadied myself focusing my intent, starting at the gunmen and sweeping clockwise from them. It took a few seconds but I swept the entire area all the way back to the gunmen and found nothing. My skill was good, this was one of my most useful abilities. Although this warehouse was much too big for me to cover it all, I could still easily cover the area around me. I could sense the gunmen maybe seven or so meters in front of me, a few rows of pallets of soil separating us. I could feel the wall a few meters behind me and the door I had snuck in earlier along it. The warehouse stretched further than my sense to my right and maybe another four meters to my left. Behind the gunmen lay another door which I had so recently escaped from in my botched plan of sneakery.


    Well if I couldn''t find her then sitting still was probably just waiting to get ambushed. I could see another line of pallets a few meters away. Not very far at all, as long as someone isn''t shooting at you. I steeled myself and took an internal three count and sprinted across the open few meters to the cover opposite. Seems like the two gunmen were so relaxed they didn''t even notice even though I would have been at least a flash in the peripherals of at least one of them. Thankfully whoever had placed this row had left a bit of space between them and the wall. I instantly felt that changing my position was almost certainly advantageous given that the woman, who must be using some kind of spell as camouflage, was now hunting me.


    I eased behind the pallets slowly working my way forward, I could still hear the shots coming from the gunmen. Strange, but I continue moving along the wall behind the pallets until I''m about level with where they are. I ease my head up and see the two still doing the exact same thing and now that I have a second I notice the blank expressions on their faces. Well, there goes another plan, I had been simply going to shot them without warning but now I can see that they are under some kind of effect. Don''t judge me, shooting someone is not pleasant but when it comes to saving someone or myself I''ll do it. However, these two are obviously under some form of control, magic, hypnosis, some kind of poison, who knows. The world is a big place and I was barely more than a beginner on this side of life. I wouldn''t shoot them unless I knew they were deliberately doing evil, this left me in an even worse position though. I focused inward again reactivating my skill trying to find her. I didn''t know much about her just that the Coyfolk came to me seeking help, they had told me a strange woman had been stealing pups. As the Coyfolk were the first beings I met on this side, I would do everything I could to help them.


    Using the skill I focused on the area I had vacated, straining and trying to push the ability to the limit. This was completely unneeded as the woman appeared right where I had been and shrieked, "Where is he?"


    She seemed to stare at the two gunmen who then separated and moved in either direction, I guessed to hunt me down. While she was distracted I lined up my shot and took it. The bullet ripped into her shoulder and she screamed. I could tell she was trying to disappear again but the bullet seemed to be interfering with her ability to do so. She was looking less and less human now by the second, round two to me I gave an internal shout of glee. I was lining up another shot when she spotted me and hurled a bag of soil from one of the pallets in front of her at me. Ack! Sounds like nothing right? I bet no one else has ever had a 22kg bag of potting soil whipped at them like it was a baseball. I dropped down flat as the bag exploded against the wall exactly where I had been standing. Great, she was strong, like super strong plus she had some kind of mind control thing. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    I loved the Coyfolk, considered the rascally beings my friends, I wouldn''t turn them away when they needed help but this was a bit much. Keeping low I went back towards her rather than away as I hope she expected. I never looked but I could hear the two gunmen heading the opposite way, so I had guessed correctly. I readied myself and turned the corner gun up to find her right in front of me. The surprise on both our faces obvious. We both reacted at the same time, I could feel pressure in my head and see her arms grasping towards me, from less than a meter away I couldn''t miss. I pulled the trigger until my mag was empty. She dropped to the ground bleeding heavily from an actually pretty tight grouping in her chest.


    I could see the shock on her now completely unhuman face as she transformed back to her base appearance as her life ran out. I heard the two gunmen drop like they had their strings cut whatever mental link they had with her backlashing when she died. I stood over what I now could see to be what I believed to be some kind of dryad and felt relief. I was still alive.


    I quickly searched through her clothes finding a set of keys and moved on towards the back door. I reloaded replacing my empty mag as I went, better safe than sorry. I checked on the two unconscious goons, they seemed fine but in the interests of safety, well my safety, I took their guns and extra ammo. Not that they had much given their pace of shooting at me. Looking at them closer I could see how dirty they were, chances are that being a dryad''s thrall left little chance for personal hygiene. Given that they had been unwittingly or not trying to kill me, I felt comfortable searching them and relieving between the two of them a couple of hundred dollars and a relatively nice looking watch. The Coyfolk are great but not exactly the wealthiest of peoples, I still had bills to pay.


    I moved on from the two toward the door at the back of the warehouse, I had been through it briefly before being spotted resulting in the messy firefight I had just experienced. I eased the door open but there was no one inside. I moved in quickly scanning around for anything of use. Nothing popped out immediately but I saw another door going further in. I tried it and found it locked, pulling out the keys I tried a few before finding the correct one. I opened the door to a dark room with an acrid smell. I nearly gagged and fumbled along the wall for a light switch and flipped them on. Against the back wall in cages were maybe a dozen Coyfolk pups, I recognized the smell now, they had been forced to urinate and defecate where they were trapped. I felt an instant anger at their treatment, I rushed forward and most of the pups started whimpering.


    They were clearly terrified of me until I heard a small voice "Will, Will", which then devolved into yips.


    I went to the cage and saw a pup I recognized, Ringer, named for the ring of black fur around her neck. The child of one of the local Coyfolk that I knew best. She couldn''t speak English and most Coyfolk would never bother learning it, but her Dad was an Alpha and he could, all she knew was my name. I quickly found the correct key and opened her cage, she jumped into my arms, sobbing against me. I made soft noises to calm her and looked at the other cages.


    Ringer''s yips must have told the others that I was known or trusted as they crowded the front of their cages. I went down the line opening the cages, coaxing the young pups out. They all crowded me around terrified and I did my best to project calm strength. It took a few minutes but the pups picked up on the aura I was projecting and stayed close but looked less panicked. I moved and they followed, I took them back out through the warehouse taking a different path, keeping their tormentors out of sight. I got them out of the building and headed toward my vehicle. I opened the side door of my minivan and they looked skeptical. I never thought of that, none of the Coyfolk had ever been in a car. I put Ringer in first and the rest seeing this piled in. I moved around to the driver''s side and got in.


    The group of them looked pathetic, huddled together on the floor of the van surrounded by the various bits and bobs of junk and equipment I used now and again. I had nearly forgotten that I had them as I opened the glove box and pulled out a few packages of beef jerky. I opened them up and pups immediately perked up. I almost laughed seeing their tails going wild and ears flicking. I gave them all a piece and headed back to the city. It wasn''t far but almost instantly all the pups were passed out in a pile and I was driving alone with my thoughts. A good day, days like this where it all worked out made me keep going.