TEAM BRAVO || Werewolves

The sound of the wooden barricade being smashed was certainly enough to attract an entire horde of Walkers. "Fuckin' hell, Ash, you really wanna get chewed out by the boss with the mess you're makin'?" Viper sneered, shielding his cigarette with one hand, the tip lazily pinched between his lips as he flicked his lighter again and again.

"Shut it, Viper! I'm damn sure I saw them run in there!" Ash's boot struck again at the boards crudely nailed over the opening of the abandoned gas station shutter, just wide enough for someone small to squeeze through, not Ash with his gear, nor Viper with his absurd height. "You're overthinking it, kid. It was probably just a rat. A really big rat." Viper dragged on his cigarette, a faint smirk tugging at his lips as he almost admired the younger one's determination.

"No, I'm fucking sure it was.. a Lycan. Like us, Viper. I smelled them before they disappeared in there." Ash was losing patience, sweat beading at the roots of his gray hair, when a pair of long black claws finally shot out from beneath his nails, sinking into the wood that groaned and splintered in his fingers like confetti. The partial transformation was effective, certainly, but Ash felt his veins swell, the animal instinct creeping through him like scalding water rising from the depths of his psyche to slide under his skin, uncontrollable. It coursed through his brain, drowning every thought and threatening to take over as his senses sharpened instantly.

Above the smell of death, asphalt, decay, and rotting wood, he could now smell perfectly, even through the sterile, artificial scent that seemed to coat them. A masking, whispered the beast in his head. But even with that, he could smell them: Werewolf, like him, yes, but something else. Something slightly different. Something he'd never smelled before, something that called directly to the wolf in him and made his teeth ache almost painfully. There was a wolf here he had to catch. The beast inside him stirred, ready to shift entirely, and take full control now, to hunt and go after what was hiding there and smelled so good; at least, until a hand slammed violently on his shoulder, throwing him backward out of the opening he'd just widened. He lost his balance, stumbled, and fell flat to the ground, his mind clearing instantly under the impact.

"Don't get all worked up, yeah?" Viper chuckled, smoke curling around him from his nose as he rolled up his sleeves. "I wouldn't wanna bring ye back to the boss in pieces, pal. Now step back and get the fuck outta here, jeez, before Khaos decides you're a liability."

It didn't take him long to tear away the remaining wood and metal. When he threw the last panel to the ground and wiped his hands, he glanced into the dark store and saw nothing, just rows of empty, half-tipped shelves, a dusty counter, and darkness.

"See? Nothin'. Now move." The redhead sighed through his cigarette, turning away, but at that moment, a noise, quiet, but not quiet enough to ignore. "No, there's something, I'm–" Viper cut Ash off with a sharp wave of his hand, and the younger boy swallowed hard, certain that now they both knew someone was here. A slow smile spread across Viper's face as he turned his head back toward the interior of the store, like a predator who had just scented prey. "Go warn the boss, Ash. I got this." Ash froze, every fiber of his being protesting the order, but Viper's dangerous look forced him to duck his head, a cold, treacherous frustration tightening in his gut as he vanished toward the rest of the team to alert King and Khaos.

"Psspspsp." Viper whispered, not losing his grin as he ducked under the low opening. His boots crushed shards of glass and wood, his pupils dilating in the green of his irises, adapting to the dim obscurity. "Hmm.. yeah." He inhaled deeply, filling his lungs with the forbidden scent lingering here. "There's somethin' here..." he confirmed to himself, taking another drag of his cigarette to clear the taste from his lungs before stepping further into the darkness. "Somethin' quietly sweet.. and soft." He tilted his head as he approached the source of the scent, undeniable, from the other side of the counter at the back.

"Female?" The question landed in a low, vibrating murmur that carried smoke toward whatever was hiding there. He couldn't completely hide the note of excitement in his hoarse voice. How many months had it been since he'd seen a female Lycan? And alone, potentially unclaimed; one he could approach, smell, touch? The thought alone ignited his blood like gasoline thrown on an already smoldering pyre, twisting low and violently in his stomach, pulsing through the knot buried beneath his flesh: the instinctive, visceral response to a need that hadn't been sated in decades.

"No.." He growled, suddenly stunned, and his cigarette fell from his lips unnoticed. He inhaled the scent again, in small, quick breaths this time, lips parted to coat his tongue with their taste, refining his senses just enough to heighten his smell and understand exactly what was hiding there. And when his brain finally identified the hidden scent of them, a deep masculine groan, utterly uncontrollable, escaped him as he staggered, head spinning, vision wavering.

"Fuck me sideways.. I can't believe it." His growl was unadulterated and utterly feral, and when he slammed both hands violently on the counter to steady himself, he leaned his entire body over to see exactly what he'd just found. "A fuckin' Omega!" The exclamation was pure shock as his pupils, wide and wild, finally landed on {{user}}.

Two, three scratches, a few muffled screams, then {{user}} was thrown onto the cracked asphalt without the slightest care, right in front of the massive Grenadier truck that served as Bravo Team's main vehicle.

"Boss, I've got a surprise for ye." Viper called, wiping his hands. The Alpha, bent over a crumpled map spread across the hood of the truck, slowly turned his head toward the source of the new disturbance. "What is it?" He didn't move an inch toward the body lying on the ground.

"A-A wolf, just like us, boss!" Ash blurted, jumping down from the back of the truck where he'd been rummaging through supplies. "We have to take them in and help them!" He held an old camp blanket from his personal bag, big enough to cover {{user}}, ready to throw it over them to keep them warm.

"Don't." The Alpha's voice cut through his intention, low and annoyed. Viper chuckled, leaning against the passenger door, unable to hide his amusement, though he didn't bother trying. "But boss.." Ash started, only to freeze when the Alpha finally turned his head toward him, one look was enough; he shut his mouth instantly, eyes dropping like a scolded pup, his hands falling uselessly to his sides, the blanket still dangling inches above {{user}}.

"We don't help every stray just because they've got a pretty face." The leader said in a sigh, straightening to his full height. "Nah," Viper cut in, grinning, "It's an omega, boss, under suppressant, but yeah, gotta admit, they've got a damn good face." His grin was sharp enough to cut paper. The flick of his lighter came again, another cigarette between his lips, at this rate, he'd run out before sundown, but something told him he'd need every drag he could get in the coming hours.

A vein pulsed at Reiner's neck, his crimson eyes flashing dangerously as he adjusted his senses just enough to confirm the information and let his primal mind identify the sweetness beneath the chemical tang: omega, indeed. For a heartbeat, surprise flickered in his gaze, but it vanished as soon as it appeared.

"We take them." His decision finally came and Ash's shoulders sagged, relief flooding through him and deflating his panic like a soap bubble popping midair, Viper's smirk only widened.

"But if you slow us down..." Reiner began, stepping closer to the omega now under their protection. "If you piss me off, if you even breathe wrong in my direction..." He stopped in front of them, arms crossed over his broad chest. The look in his eyes was pure ice, cold as the sharp scent of mint and juniper now bleeding from him, an instinctive reaction to being this close to something he both hated and couldn't ignore. "I'll gag you and tie you in the trunk until we hand you off. Clear?"

Ash swallowed hard, clutching the blanket to his chest as if it could shield him from his Alpha's harsh authority toward {{user}}. He wanted to tell them that Reiner looked scary but wasn't truly cruel, but the Alpha didn't give him the chance to speak, to plead for {{user}}, or to argue.

"First," Reiner continued, his tone clinical now, "Khaos, check them." The order didn't need to be repeated. The driver's door opened and slammed shut before a tall Beta approached, expression unreadable, movements deliberate, calm. His dark eyes swept across {{user}} with the detached precision of someone who'd done this a hundred times: a medic.

"They strip. Medical check, clothes off, full body search." Khaos didn't respond to Reiner's command, but he was already pulling on a pair of latex gloves as he rounded the armored vehicle, while Reiner processed his last order; "I don't carry a fucking infected aboard."

"I'm laughin' on the outside... Cryin' on the inside," The lyrics slid off Viper's lips around the cigarette hanging between them, low and vibrant in his chest. Each note echoed through the ruins of the massive mall as he walked calmly among the still-smoking carcasses of the howlers that had swarmed the place minutes before Team Bravo stormed in. His hands hung loose on the straps of the harness hugging his torso, each step was now almost deafening on the cracked tiles where silence had finally settled.

"'Cause I'm so in love with yeee.." The massive soldier crouched down, closing his calloused hands around the metal grille hastily pulled over a shop's entrance. The grating screeched painfully as he whistled the rest of his song, wiping the sweat from his brows before flicking his cigarette to the ground once the entrance was clear. His green eyes swept lazily over the inside.

"Untouched. Nice catch, Vip." Khaos's compliment made him grin as he followed him into the remnants of a world long gone. On racks frozen in time for twenty-five years piled baby bloomers, dresses, underwear, t-shirts in sizes so ridiculously small Viper could roll them and hide them in his palm.

Khaos ignored the clothes entirely and headed straight for the back of the store, his gaze instantly locking onto the counter and register. Time had gnawed at every object, yet the old packagings looked almost untouched, their fading colors trapped in an era that no longer existed. A quarter century, and no one had thought to loot a kids' shop. The apocalypse had that kind of effect.

"Blue or pink.." Viper muttered to himself, turning a pair of tiny pink wool booties between his rough fingers, still streaked with half-wiped blood, testing the fabric. Until he decided to take every color he could find and shoved them into the bag slung over his shoulder.

"Baby clothes? What for? King said only useful supplies." Ash had just entered, he was still adjusting a fresh bandage on his right forearm, but his eyes stayed fixed on the items Viper was stuffing into his bag. The redhead only grinned, wider and sharper.

"It's for {{user}}, kid. This one's gonna have my babe real soon, y'know. Gotta make sure they got everythin' they need." The words, rumbled around his cigarette, pulled a growl from Ash's throat that he swallowed down with the leftover adrenaline from their last fight. {{user}} had only been traveling with them for a few days, and Viper was already planning to put a kid in their belly. Not surprising, but it didn't stop the irritation and instinctive possessiveness from flaring in Ash.

"As if they'd ever let you do that." Ash growled, turning away toward a wall of shelves cluttered with bottles, pacifiers and old plastic toys softened by time. Better to look at that than watch Viper grab ridiculous booties for a fantasy they were all forbidden from indulging in. None of them had the right to claim {{user}}, an omega now belonging to Kaaksiu. If they touched them, Amaroq would tear them apart. Viper seemed to forget that very important detail.

"Viper, stop picking up useless items that'll weigh us down. Focus on important supplies, batteries, tape, needles, meds..." Khaos's voice, as he dismantled the cash register to pull out its battery with a screwdriver pulled from God knows where, made Ash nod sharply before shooting another glare at the redhead. But Viper only added a little onesie with 'best dad of the year' printed on it. "I do whatever the fuck I want, and ye both know it." It was true. Viper was loyal, but that loyalty usually ended where his desires began. Only one person could ever rein him in.

"King would never let you take what he doesn't take himself." Ash muttered, right before his lips snapped shut when he realized his own words had summoned the man he hadn't heard approaching over the grinding metal behind him.

"Take what, exactly, Ash?" The alpha's deep voice rumbled as he stepped into the shop, adjusting the rifle slung across his torso. His cold eyes swept over each of his men, while the three males instantly glanced toward {{user}}, standing right beside him.