24

Mika and Bradley killed a dozen ghouls and deaders- the ones leading the charge of he massive hoard- before taking off following Ari and Devion's scent. Devion had chosen a building that went underground. It was a massive interior sector that had tunnels that went deeper under ground. Mika went into the tunnel that lead down to the cavern room. Devion was attending Ari's still body layingon a wide flat surface.
He saw her body on the ground and Devion in his shifter form laying next to her. A flash of panic swept over Mika.*Relax she is just out. Her breathing is stable, and I can hear her heart beat- it is normal for a human.* the massive black wolf nuzzled her hand and there was no response back from her.*She broke out in a cold sweat when she fell from me.* Mika instictively growled at Devion for not catching her, but then nodded his head in thanks. Devion nodded his head in a silent answer. Mika knew Devion had saved her regardless.
"Bradley I smell water, go get some for her." Mika ordered as he stepped up to her. bradley pounded off following the scent of water grabbing a water canaster inhis massive jaws as he fled off. There was barely any light down in this cave but Mika could see her clearly- her eyes rested, her lips parted and one busted. The left side of her temple had a large bump to it and was already turning purple. There were various scarpes up and down her body from being thrown. mika began checking her limps for anything that may be broken, thankfully everything, even for a human, was superfical. Bradly came padding up, and whinned slightly at Mika to take the canister. He did so, patting the brown wolf as a thank you. He tore a small segment of her shirt and poured the water over it. A carefully, so carefully he bagan cleaning her. Many of the cuts had stopped bleeding that was a good sign. When he moved to wiping at her face she began to wake up. Scruntching her face and coughing as she tried to sit up.
"Oh my god!" she gasped as she held her head, and squeezed her eyes shut.
"Lay back down Ari." he said in a low calm voice. He genently laid her back down against devion who was now wagging his tail. "What the fuck?!" she groaned.
"Listen, sshh, take it easy. You've hit your head." Mika kissed hte top of her head so happy she was coming around. "Take a sip of water, k?" he brought the canister up to her lips and let her take a few sips till she pushed it away.
"Can you tell me what happened Ari?" Mika prompted trying to understand how bad her injury was. She blinked a few times, having little light didn't hurt her eyes, but she wanted to see where she was. "Deaders." she scruntched her face up trying to recall what had hurt her. "Niko, you and I were fighting, and then.." her eyes opened wide."Niko?!" she gasped. "He did this?" Devion placed his massive head on her chest feeling her heart race and her breathing increase.
'Hey, hey it's okay he isn;t here. He will be dealt with okay. You are okay, Devion, Bradly and I are here." she swallowed the sudden large lump in her throat and nodded her head gently.
*She needs to rest Mika.* Devion whimpered. "We think you need to rest now Ari. You are safe." he genlty brush a strand of hair away from her eyes, and leaned down to kiss the top of her head once more.
When Ari had drifted off in a peaceful slumber the men went into planning mode.
Bradley had shifted back to his human form and began gathering up wood to make a fire. The sun was out now and streams of it poured down the tunnel but it was still barely enough to see how big this cavern was. Devion was on guard duty and was told to stay near Ari as Mika and Bradly explored the tunnels making sure nothing else was in there with them. The first tunnel they went down proved to be useless. At some point a massive cave in had occurred and block the way forward on both. The second tunnel even though it had been caved in proved to be where the water was located at. A spring had spouted from the rocks and puddle into a small pool big enough for them to lap up with their tounge and put the canister in.
The water was sweet and cool Mika noted.
One all entrances and exits had been accounted for Mika and Bradley returned to Devion.
The men shifted all back to human form to discuss the next steps.Mika checked Ari was sleeping peacefully once more before joining the other two around the fire. "Ok we need to talk abotu what the fuck went down." Devion growled. "I don't know one moment Niko is fighting with me and Ari against the deaders. Working as a team and then when we had been spotted he turned on us." Mika ran his hand through his thick curly hair. "Did you feel or hear anything different with him?" Bradley thought about it for a few minutes playing over anything that would've hinted that Niko was gonna turn on them. "Not really. After the wendigo everyone was rushing to get away. I didn't try to connect to Niko as we ran. Before we left i tried to reach out to him and see what he had but there wasn't anything there. He had told the truth when the wendigo escaped Niko's memeory only should wind and then Mika crashing up the stairs."
"You think the wendigo is **in** Niko now?" Devion scoffed.
"Hell yeah I do!" Mika answered. "His eyes weren't his when we fought Devion. I do not know what made him flip."
Bradley sighed, and folded his hands to cover his face. " We can't get him back can we?"
Mika and Devion looked at each other,"If this thing is an evil spirit and has to have a host. I doubt that it will release Niko and let him live."
'Devion was this where you were stationed at while we were watching the nest?" Bradley changed the subject.
"No. I had seen it but didn't chose it. I went about a mile up the way. Why?" he said as he shook his head.
"Because we do not want Niko or the vampires to know exaclty where we are. They for sure will know we are here now thanks to Niko." Mika was trying to think how he could reincforce this place. He fully expected there to be scouts to break out and try to find them, he just didn't know how much time he would have.
"We will have one on guard at all times. Any activity near here we will take them out." The men all agreed that will be the best move. "We need to pull whatever resorces we can find around here and make our base."
"Mika you and bradley go out first. I'll stay behind with Ari."
Mika nodded and felt that would be best too. At least he could communicate with Devion as he and Bradly hunted.
It was day light now so they did not fear running into vampires. However that did not mean deaders, ghouls, or possibly the wendigo wasn't out so they would still need to be careful.

Bradley and Mika took off to scavange any thing they could to make into weapons, or to use to fortify their hold. Through out the day they brought back their findings. Mika had lucked upon a fairly good size cast iron pot. It was rusty but for what he wanted to use it for it would do. Bradley was the hero of the finds as he had found a location that had once been a store. Still packed in plastic crates sat a gold mine of pieces of silver dishes, cups, and silverware. Someone had packed these away and had planned to return for them at one point. Their lost and Mika's find as far as he was concerned.
They weren't sure if silver would kill a wendigo, but they knew it would casue a lot of damage to a vampire. Contray to the old belief that silver was posion to a werewolf, or that they could not touch it. They could touch it all day long, however if it pierced their skin such as a knife or if the creature was lucky a bullet, yes it would slow their regeneration down significantly. Mika's plan was to dip all of the knives Ari had in silver, and to do some modicfications of his own.
They built a very intense fire and placed the cast iron on it. Once they felt it was hot enough they began melting down the silver. It was a slow process as the metal had different thickness due to its shape. When liquid silver sat in the pot Mika dipped each of Ari's knives into the substance. He then partically shifted lengthing his claws. He dipped each one into the firey liquid. Bringing it just short of the base of the claw. Mika grunted and clenched his jaw as the intense heat shot up his arm, keeping each claw only in momentarly. When every one of his front claws had been dipped he pulled them and let them cool. It was incredibly painful, streaks of blood dripped down each claw. "Pour the water." he hissed at Bradley. Shakely Bradley complied. Stream rose up as the water met the melted metal.
"You are fucking crazy boss." Devion said as he examined Mika's claws. Each had coated perfectly and already began to harden. Mika wiped he sweat pouring from his forehead with his forearm,"Shit's not advisable." and smirked. Devion began to laugh as Mika chuckled lightly.
"So you think it's gonna work?" Devion asked as Mika examined his new nails. "I don't know but I am going to find out."