by Jeff Uribe
[Leo's room, New York City. 6:30'ish]
> "Which means?"
> "She's either dead, pregnant, or already taking care of the 'puppies'."
> "I don't suppose you can tell us where to find them," Leo asked.
> "One break-through at a time."
Leo smiled as he took out 3 small briefcases from the duffel bag that he had brought with him from Washington. He opened them one at a time and displayed the small arsenal of automatic weapons that were a part of his "private" collection. Jim gave off a low whistle as he looked over some of the modified semi-automatics that he saw.
"Preparing for war?" Zenya asked, glancing at Leo with a half-grin.
Leo took out another longer case and started to assemble his old trusted sniper's rifle. "Tools of the trade, my dear." he said as his fingers snapped pieces into place automatically. Within a minute, he was looking through the scope at various objects in the room through his scope, making sure his sights weren't off in any way. After a few adjustments, he looked up and saw Jim holding an Uzi, and another automatic with laser sights.
"Nice." Jim said, as he weighed the gun in his hand, then tucking it away in the holster Leo modified to hold it.
Zenya held up Leo's not-quite-so-legal sawed off shotgun and smiled. "Does this make me seem less feminine?"
Jim grinned as he looked towards Leo, who answered, "I'll answer that when you put away the shotgun. Take extra ammo, who knows what we're going to encounter down there."
After everyone took what they need, Leo put the cases away and they headed off towards the subway system once again.
[In the subways, 8:15 am]
"So, what's the plan?" Jim asked, as he led the group down.
"We get one of these things to come after us." Leo said, unslinging his rifle.
"Great." Zenya said, walking between them. "In other words, we have no plan."
"Well.... if you want to look at it THAT way." Leo said with a laugh.
It was hungry, that's all it knew. The last time it fed was a long long time ago. As it watched the three creatures pass below him, it's mouth watered at the thought of being able to feed once again. It's red eyes glowed as it crouched, its hind legs ready to spring the creature upon the last of the passersby. As the last creature passed beneath it, the creature leapt.....