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Chapter five: Rough Knights

Christina glanced skyward when the sound of flapping wings reached her ears, the vixen watching as Tobias began his short descent to the ground.

"Report, what did you find, Tobias?" Christina asked as the dragon landed and walked to the team.

"I took out three Scouts at the location of the convoy." The dragon reported, "But the trucks are there, Christina. I am not sure about the condition of the cache."

The vixen nodded, "And what about survivors?"

"No survivors. There was combat with casualties on both sides. But all Delsirian soldiers were killed in action, it seems." The dragon replied, "The escorts were also destroyed."

Christina cursed violently under her breath, "Alright...Either way, we still need to go to the convoy's location now that you've confirmed it's still there. The cache can't be too far from there. I doubt the Valdye would want an ammunition cache like that."

William nodded in reply, "I'll contact Calvin's part of the team and instruct them to meet us at the location."

Christina nodded her approval as the raccoon pressed the comlink on his ear. As he contacted Calvin's part of the team, the vixen glanced at Tobias again, the dragon waiting for her next order. His tail blade was still stained with the blood of the demons, black splatters along its length. But as she looked away from the dragon, something still nagged at her. Like a memory just out of reach, the feeling that she knew this creature from somewhere just would not shake loose, growing stronger every time she laid eyes on him.

For now, the vixen once again pushed the thought away. Even if she could recall why, it would not change the current situation her team was in. They were in a combat zone heavy with Valdye forces. Now was not the time to go chasing feelings of lost memories.

"They're on their way." William said, snapping Christina back to reality once again, "Calvin will meet us at the location of the convoy now that the dragon has confirmed its location."

Christina noted the tone of which William had used the words 'the dragon', almost as if he had resented saying it. The vixen mentally shook her head, deciding to have a talk with him later about why he had decided to take that tone.

"Alright, we'd better get moving then. We don't want the trail to go colder than it already is." Christina looked to Tobias, "Tobias, lead the way back to the convoy."

Tobias simply nodded and took point, walking up the street with Christina and company behind him.

* * *

Melody watched as Calvin checked his TAC-COM before the tiger looked up at the partially destroyed building before them. The entire second and third floors of the building were destroyed, most of it and the building next to it plus a taller building across from it, having collapsed into the street and effectively blocking it with rubble and debris. So once again their small part of the team was forced to detour. But as they had examined the rubble, Kelsey had noticed something.

"This is fresh." The calico noted, "I have a feeling the convoy passed through here while under fire."

"What makes you think that?" Calvin asked, the tiger looking back to the calico.

Kelsey picked up a large casing that had been laying on the ground, coated in dust, "How about these shell casings? These are 30mm rounds, probably high explosive, definitely from one of our escort vehicles. And those blast marks in the remains of the buildings. My guess is that our convoy passed through here and destroyed these buildings to prevent the demons from being able to chase them."

Calvin nodded, "Yeah, I'd agree with you. But why'd they shoot so high? If you want to collapse a building, we all know you take out the bottom supports, not the higher up ones."

"Maybe there were demons on those floors trying to leap onto the convoy from above?" Melody guessed, "The gunners could have been firing to take them out and took down the building as well."

"Your guess is as good as mine right now." Calvin replied, "But one thing is for certain; we need another route past this."

Kelsey nodded to the destroyed building closest to them, "How about through there?"

Calvin shrugged, "One way is as good as another right now, let's move."

Calvin approached the building first, slinging his rifle to his back as he drew his pistol. As he walked up to the door, the tiger gave it a quizzical glance.

"Ok, how the hell is it that they bombarded the building and the front door is still intact?" the tiger asked.

Melody shrugged as Kelsey replied, "I really wouldn't question it, just open the damn thing."

Calvin nodded in agreement as he put pressure on his right foot, the left lifting up before slamming into the door, forcing it open! The tiger walked in first, his revolver raised as his eyes darted from corner to corner in the dark building. Shafts of light lit up small sections of the darkness, most of the windows blocked by the rubble outside.

Kelsey followed the tiger inside, Melody bringing up the rear.

"I don't like this." Calvin noted as the three of them moved through the destroyed remains of the building, "Something doesn't feel right."

"We're in a ruined city infested with demons that massacred our recovery team and convoy team." Kelsey replied sarcastically, "What could you possibly feel isn't right about that?"

Calvin simply smiled in return, "Nothing at all, now that you mention it. That's our usual life, now isn't it?"

"Smartass..." Kelsey grumbled, beginning to push open a back door to the building.

As she did, the calico felt the door handle suddenly ripped out of her hand! As light shone into the dark room, Kelsey raised her rifle quickly, Melody and Calvin following suit as a cry went up from outside, the sound of the door crashing against a wall opposite to them.

"Go back!" Calvin ordered as the tiger realized what was outside the door.

Kelsey immediately backed away as she kept her rifle trained on the now open doorway, a large, dark figure rushing towards the door on all fours. Kelsey's mind had already registered what the form was as she squeezed the trigger. Her rifle fired, the burst of gunfire causing the creature to draw back, letting out an angry roar as it backed away from the opening before running to the left and out of Kelsey's view.

Melody kept her eyes on the opposite wall where they had come in from, "Please tell me that was not what I think it was."

Kelsey panted, her adrenaline already flowing through her system, "Yeah...Call Christina now. We need to warn her."

Calvin nodded in agreement as he ordered Melody to return to the front door and keep an eye out for the Valdye. The collie nodded and walked back to the door they had entered from as Calvin pressed a finger to his comlink.

* * *

As her part of the team continued to follow Tobias back to the location of the convoy, Christina put up a hand for them to halt as a beep went off in her ear. As she moved her hand to her comlink William and Serena taking up covering positions around her as Tobias simply stopped and glanced back to them, his tail blade twitching slowly in anticipation of another fight.

"Christina, we have a problem." Calvin stated over the link.

"More Scouts?" Christina asked, "I know, the town seems infested with them."

"No, this is worse than Scouts." Calvin replied, "We might have a Knight running around too."

"I really hope you're joking, Calvin." Christina said, the worry clear in her voice, "We really don't have the firepower to take on Knights."

"I doubt there's very many. If there were more, I think we'd have been jumped by now." Calvin observed, "Or seen a lot more carnage."

"Alright, keep your eyes open and do not engage if you see it. Just put as much distance as you can between you and it." Christina ordered.

Calvin replied that he would before signing off, Christina looking back to her team of four. William looked back at her, already knowing the threat of a Knight was more than they were hoping to find. Serena reloaded her shotgun, racking in a shell as she looked back at Christina, her eyes telling the vixen that she was ready for any threat that came their way. As Christina looked at Tobias, she found that the dragon was still calm; his bloodied tail blade held loosely as the dragon stretched his wings to their full length before retracting them against his back.

"Alright everyone, we know what we're up against." Christina said as she stood before them, "As you all know Knights are by far the worst of the general infantry the Valdye have. Fast, strong, have a strong sense of smell, and can take bullets like a tank before finally falling. They have no known weak points and a higher intelligence than Scouts. The good news is that they prefer to work as individuals instead of in groups."

"And close combat?" Tobias asked.

Christina looked at him, "Anyone who has tried to take on a Knight in close combat has been killed within seconds. We keep them at range and keep firing until they fall."

"With any luck we won't see one at all." William commented as the raccoon quickly checked his weapon's current magazine, "Although, just one alone could not wipe out our convoy, even with Scout help. There has to be more than one of those things."

Christina nodded and turned to the dragon at her side, "Tobias, did you see anything other than Scouts when you got to the convoy's location?"

When Tobias shook his head, Christina looked down the street and ordered the team to double time it to the convoy's location.

* * *

Calvin darted down the street towards the objective marker on his TAC-COM, Kelsey and Melody at his heels as another blood thirst roar went up from behind them! Calvin stopped only to take a shot at the creature tailing them, his bullet sinking into it's flesh as the demonic creature howled in frustration. Its dark, pebbled skin riddled with gunshot wounds as the Knight chased down the three, it's glowing, orange, pupil-less eyes never losing sight of them. Kelsey dropped to one knee, opening fire with a three round burst that slammed into the creature's shoulder as it's black blood sprayed from the new wound. The demon reeled back in pain, giving the team a chance to gain distance between them and the Knight as it recovered, shaking off the pain before resuming it's hunt.

"We have to lose this damn thing!" Kelsey exclaimed as she opened fire again, Melody's duel heavy pistols blazing as she opened fire as well.

"No shit, Kelsey!" Calvin replied, glancing around as they ran, "In there!"

The tiger pointed to an abandoned grocery store. With a nod, Kelsey and Melody followed him inside, the tiger opening fire again upon the Valdye before leaping in through a shattered window.

Once inside, Kelsey took a breath before immediately gagging, the smell of rotting meat and produce overpowering the calico as she covered her nose and mouth with her hands. Melody had pulled her shirt up over her muzzle to try and filter the smells coming from the heavily degraded shelves of food and supplies. Aisles had collapsed onto each other as half-opened canned goods and other supplies littered the ground.

"My god it reeks in here!" Melody exclaimed as she looked over to Calvin, the tiger oddly smiling.

"Yes. Yes it does." Calvin smirked as he covered his mouth and nose with his shirt.

"You sound a little too happy." Kelsey sneered, "Something you like about this filth?"

Before he could reply, Calvin pulled the two behind a destroyed shelf, the tiger shushing them as the Knight ripped the already damaged doors off their hinges, throwing them aside before stepping inside. The demon raised its lizard-like head, sniffing the air slowly before letting out a snort of disgust. The rotten scents of the store were overpowering to the demon's sense of smell, causing its vision to blur. With a grunt of frustration, the Knight realized it had lost its targets. As it turned to leave, Calvin slowly poked his head out from around the shelf, watching the Knight leave the store, the demon sniffing outside before taking off down the street again with a roar.

Calvin smiled and looked back at Kelsey and Melody, "We're safe for now."

"Just be glad those things sense of smell if so powerful." Kelsey stated as she looked around the store, "And that this place smells so horrible."

Melody tapped a can with her foot, the collie reloading her pistols as she nodded in agreement, "So we avoided it for now, but we still need to get to the convoy's location. I hope you have a plan for that, especially with that thing still out there."

Calvin nodded, "We'll take the back way out of here. There should be a loading bay at the back of the store. From there we'll follow that road until we get back to the main road."

As the tiger finished, his ears picked up a sudden growling coming from the area he had just mentioned. As the tiger looked towards the source, he groaned. A Scout had just walked out from a back store room, the demon calling loudly with a bloody howl that caused two other Scouts to appear from the back of the store, one having been rummaging through the decaying meat.

"Today is not our day." Calvin said sadly as his ears pinned back before he raised his rifle again.

* * *

Tobias watched from a rooftop as Christina examined one of the bodies around the location of the convoy, the vixen sighing sadly as she picked up the dead delsirian's gun, taking the ammunition. William was examining one of the destroyed escorts, having dragged out the dead bodies from within the transport before examining the vehicle itself.

"Yeah, no way we can drive one of these out of here." William said as he crawled back out, "The insides are a mess, not to mention the guns are useless now. I'll do what I can to repair them, but without ammunition they're still useless."

Christina nodded as her ears pinned back before she turned to Serena, "Did you find the cache?"

Serena nodded to a large series of crates that were set in the back of one of the destroyed trucks, "You mean these crates? Yeah, I think I did then."

Tobias leapt from the rooftop, gliding down to the crates before landing on top of the cab of the truck. His tail blade slipped under the lid of one of the crates before prying it open, revealing a nesting of ammunition and weaponry. The dragon nodded to Christina, who walked over and smiled.

"Yeah, this is exactly what we were looking for." The vixen said with a satisfied smile, "Finally things are looking up. William, get a hold of the trucks and tell them to come up the route we came through. We need to move these things out of here and back to base ASAP."

William nodded and tapped his comlink, giving instructions to the truck team on where and how to meet the team. But the raccoon also warned them about the current threat of the Knight in the town, and to avoid them at all costs. As he signed off the comlink, William looked back at Christina, the vixen nodding and tossing him a fresh box of ammunition from the cache.

"We'll hold here until the trucks arrive." Christina explained, "Calvin and his part of the team should arrive pretty soon, so we're not going anywhere until we have everyone back together and alive."

Serena glanced up at the rooftop where Tobias had fallen back to, the dragon having gone back onto over watch, "Should we send the new guy to go make sure my sister and the others get back safely?"

Christina nodded, "Good idea. Tobias, get down here."

The dragon glanced down before leaping off the rooftop, gliding back down to Christina before landing in front of her and standing at attention for an order. Christina nodded and told the dragon to find and escort Calvin and the rest back to their location. With a nod and a running leap Tobias took to the skies, his wings powering his flight as the dragon cleared the rooftops to search for Calvin's part of the team.

As Tobias left, the vixen turned to William, the raccoon test firing one of the escort vehicles top mounted machine guns that he had been working on repairing using whatever he could gather up from the other vehicles. The weapon clicked dryly, the raccoon smiling as he dropped down from the roof of the vehicle and over to one of the cache crates, grabbing a belt of ammunition for the weapon. As he loaded it, Christina walked over to him.

"Think this thing is going to hold out?" She asked, putting her hand on the side of the destroyed vehicle.

"If it doesn't, we're in trouble." William replied, "We'll need heavier firepower to defend this location once the trucks get moving. Those damn demons will know something's up."

"Which means they'll come right to us." Serena observed, "But the three of us alone can't hold out here, there's too many ways to this location the Valdye can use."

Christina nodded as she walked back to the crate they had opened, "That's why I sent Tobias to get Calvin's part of the team and lead them back here. All seven of us can hold out, especially if we can get that machine gun turret active again. Plus we have these."

The vixen pulled out several rifle magazines, taking a single bullet from one of them. The round looked like the standard 7.26 bullet that was used in their weaponry. But the tip of the bullet had been colored black. Christina slipped the round back into the magazine before loading it into her rifle.

William nodded, "We finally have some damned AP rounds, huh?"

Christina nodded, "Right. Nothing tears through Scouts like armor piercing rounds."

Serena pouted slightly, the collie's ears dropping down "And what about me? Any boxes of shotgun shells in there?"

Christina dug through the crate for a moment before emerging with a box of shotgun shells, tossing them to the collie, "Not many, but there's a few."

Serena reloaded a couple of shells, placing the rest in a pouch one her side, "That's plenty for right now, I've still got some reloads left."

Christina's ears perked up as a roar came up from the town, the vixen raising her rifle towards the source of the cry.

"Look alive, we've got company!" Christina ordered, falling back to take cover behind one of the destroyed trucks.

William cocked the machine gun, aiming it towards the street as Serena swapped her shotgun for her sidearm, cocking her heavy pistol before taking aim along with him.

* * *

Calvin braced himself as the Scout leaped at him again, his rifle whipping up as the Valdye rapidly drew closer. The rifle butt slammed into the underside of the demonic creature's jaw, lifting it up a bit as Calvin stepped around the Scout. As it hit the floor, Calvin pulled his rifle to his shoulder and fired, the Scout's neck being pierced by the bullet. Without hesitation, the tiger dropped to one knee and leveled his rifle towards the Scout that was focused on Kelsey, the calico slowly circling it as it followed the same suit.

The Scout was already limping, blood dripping from a rifle shot to it's leg; though this had done no more than serve to make the demon angrier. Kelsey hissed at the demon instinctively, her fur puffed out as her rifle kept trained on the demonic creature. Finally the tension snapped as the demon broke strafe and lunged at Kelsey. The feline opened fire, the bullets tearing into the Scouts now exposed underside as she stepped aside from the charging demon. It collapsed to the floor as it's black blood pooled under it.

The two leveled their weapons at the final Scout who had engaged itself in combat with Melody, the collie trying to push the Valdye off of her. When the demon had charged at her, Melody having been tackled onto her back as she tried to fight the demon off. The demon cried out, snapping it's bloody jaws at her in an attempt to rip into her throat as the collie struggled under it. Her boot was kicking at the Scout's stomach, trying to find the leverage to throw the demon off of her as Calvin took aim, his crosshairs finding flashes of exposed flesh between the Scout's armored head and back as it struggled to kill Melody.

As his finger put pressure on the trigger, a flash of exposed flesh appeared in his crosshairs. Calvin took the opportunity, his finger fully pulling back the trigger as the 6mm rifle fired. With a flash of fire from the barrel, the bullet sped through the air, piercing the demon's throat in an instance. Blood poured from the wound as the demon died, Melody finally able to push the dead creature's body off of her.

"Thanks Calvin." Melody said as Kelsey helped her up.

The tiger smirked, "No problem Melody. Besides, if anything happened to you, your sister would kill me."

"Can we please get the hell out of this damn store now?" Kelsey asked, "As much as I like the scent of death and decay, this is pushing it."

Calvin nodded in agreement, leading her and Melody towards the back exit of the store. As they reached the loading docks, Calvin slowly opened the door to the docks from the store, his rifle barrel poking out slowly as he looked for any signs of more demons. With a nod to the girls, he opened the door and walked out, looking around. In the low light of cracked and broken windows, the eerie atmosphere sent a chill up the tiger's spine. Destroyed freight trucks filled the lanes, many of the trailers having been forced open by desperate hands as dried blood coated the floor and walls.

"This must have happened during the initial attacks four years ago." Kelsey said as she examined one of the trucks, "Or shortly after it."

Calvin picked up a police riot helmet, a bullet hole through the front visor, "So glad we were defending the capital instead of in these riots. At least we had an organized effort for food and shelter there with soldiers guarding every entrance...this must have been a blood bath when the Valdye showed up."

Melody climbed to a cab of one of the trucks, forcing the door open before climbing inside and examining it, "Or before that. This windshield was shattered by a bullet, not a Valdye."

Kelsey nodded as she walked past the cab as melody climbed out, "Panic is never pretty; especially in a population center like Hayder was."

Calvin nodded in agreement as he walked down the lanes, looking for anything they could use before smiling and calling out, "Hey girls! I found something useful!"

Melody and Kelsey walked over to him as Calvin lifted up the hood of a vehicle that looked a lot like a four-seated golf cart, inspecting it before nodding and looking to them, "This thing's still in working order. Plus it's running off electricity instead of gas. It might still be holding a charge."

"A utility vehicle?" Kelsey asked as she rolled her eyes, "Yeah that'll do the job."

Calvin nodded, "Yeah, it will. Better than traveling by foot, anyway. Though I also suspect it'll be noisy. But that's why we have guns, right?"

Kelsey sighed, "At least we'll have a chance of out running them when we run out of bullets, I suppose."

Calvin climbed into the cabin of the vehicle, the tiger glancing around before he found the ignition. With a low growl, the tiger realized that it required a key to operate. With that, the tiger dropped below the dash, finding and wrenching open the cover to the controls of the vehicle before working with the wiring.

As he worked, Melody and Kelsey searched for a way to open the loading bay door. Kelsey found the opening mechanism near the heavy bay doors, the calico's fist slamming down on the button that activated it. With a groaning grind, the door slowly raised up, sunlight pouring in through it as the dark of the loading bay was banished.

As it rose, Kelsey and Melody raised their weapons, taking aim at a figure that had just landed outside the doors. With the cocking of their weapons, the figure stood up and raised its own pistols, the tail rising up as the blade at the end was held at shoulder length as the wings on it's back spread. Once Kelsey and Melody had identified the creature, they lowered their weapons.

"Christina send you to see what's taking us so long?" Kelsey asked as Tobias replaced his weapons and walked inside the loading bay.

The dragon shook his head, "I was told to escort you to the convoy. Christina and the others have set up a holding point until we arrive."

Calvin looked out from the cabin of the utility vehicle, having managed to hotwire the vehicle, "We don't need a babysitter, we can do fine on our own."

Tobias shrugged, "I was ordered to do this, so I will."

Kelsey nodded and looked back at Calvin, "You got that damn thing running yet?"

Calvin smirked as he pressed two wires together, the vehicle sputtering to life before dying shortly afterwards. Calvin mumbled to himself as the tiger continued to work with it as Kelsey shook her head.

"Yeah, I'm just going to take that as a no." Kelsey answered herself as the cat checked over her rifle.

"I'll get it in a moment." Calvin replied, "Just need to get this current working."

Melody nodded as she watched Tobias, her eyes studying the dragon's form as they lay to rest on his bloodied blade, dried black demon blood splattered along it, "I'm going to guess you've been encountering more Valdye?"

Tobias glanced at Melody, "The cache site was hot. Now it isn't."

"For now I'd guess." Kelsey stated, "All the more reason for you to hurry the hell up, Calvin!"

As she finished, the vehicle sparked to life, giving the tiger a jolt as it did. Calvin gave a startled yelp as his tail frizzed out, the tiger grumbling to himself as he attempted to straighten it before fastening the panel back on. Experimentally, the tiger pressed down onto the vehicles gas pedal lightly. With a lurch forward, Calvin smiled and maneuvered it towards the open loading bay door before applying pressure to the break, the vehicle halting.

"Alright, we have transport." Calvin said with a smirk, "Now, load up and let's get moving. Those things will be all over us once we get going."

Kelsey climbed in beside him as Melody got into the seating behind them, "You drive, we'll shoot."

Tobias walked out of the bay as Calvin gunned the engine, the vehicle driving out of the loading bay and turning to face the streets of Hayder. Calvin opened his mouth to see if Tobias was going to get in, but as he did the dragon climbed on top of the vehicle's cabin, the dragon wrapping his tail around the roof support beam as he raised his pistols.

"Ok, is it just me or is Tobias here a bit nuts?" Calvin asked.

"Just drive." Kelsey replied.

Calvin shrugged and pressed down the pedal. The vehicle took off down the road as the engine groaned from wear. As the team drove Tobias glanced up at the passing rooftops, studying each one before it passed within a second. As expected, the vehicle was anything but quiet, the engine whine echoing as the vehicle moved. But another sound caught everyone in the vehicle's ears. A cry went up followed by two more, growing in number as the echo spread.

Calvin pressed the pedal down fully, the vehicle accelerating forward as Kelsey aimed towards the front of the vehicle. Melody aimed back as Tobias kept both pistols trained along the rooftops.

"Well, we did expect that response." Calvin said over the engine.

Kelsey nodded as a Scout bust out of a building as they passed it, the demon stumbling as it tried to turn in mid air. As it stumbled, Tobias fired twice, nailing the demon in the leg as it was left in the dust. As it fell, Tobias fired off one more shot, the bullet piercing the demon's throat.

"Just slow them down, don't go for kill shots." Kelsey advised, "We don't have the time or ammo for that."

As she explained this, two more Scouts leapt from destroyed windows of the buildings around them, chasing the vehicle as more cries went up around them. Tobias reloaded and took aim as Melody and Kelsey did the same, each one ready to defend the vehicle as they drew closer to the meeting point.