Branches broke against my skin as I hurtled through the forest. My flesh dimpled under the blows in passing but that was the extent of the damage and the marks faded in seconds. Shrubs, bushes, and roots were stomped down or pulled up as I plowed along.

I came upon the fight a lot faster than I expected. One second I was surrounded by trees, the next second the broad back of something large and hairy was blocking my way. It should be known that I am a student in the art of the blind side so needless to say I hit that hairy fucker from the blindest side possible. The back.

The creature was a hell of a lot denser than I expected and instead of bowling it over to get steamrolled under me, I went down with it. There was a muffled canine yelp followed by the feminine yell again and then I was surrounded by fur.

Whatever was under me wasn’t happy. It bucked and heaved and tried to get massively muscular arms under itself as I tried desperately to get my knees around it so it couldn’t knock me off. Shrugging mentally and only slightly concerned at the implications of such an act I started slapping it.

Yes. Slapping.

I didn’t know if the hairy thing was good or bad. It could be some innocent native out for a walk and the woman doing all the yelling could be the vicious attacker. I only came here because the scream I heard meant there was someone here I could grill for answers and I only knocked over the hairy creature because it was in my way and I preferred to hit first. It doesn’t mean I was going to start offing the creature just cause it was hairy. I may have said hair a bit too much aye?

That’s when another arm, equally thick and matted in fur, wrapped around my waist. I had enough time to cuss at myself for not looking around sooner before I went airborne. Wood cracked and splintered under my weight as I crashed into the thick trunk of a tree. A rain of leaves fell about me as I fell five feet down to land on the ground. Sagging slightly as I tried to adjust to the sudden trauma, I took stock of the situation.

Two creatures, I could best describe as werewolves were helping up a third from the forest floor. Thick black hair, matted and clumped with forest debris-covered muscular humanoid bodies. They stood between seven to eight feet on legs that bent the wrong way with a barrel-like chest, thick with muscles and bare of hair. The visible skin was a shade of grey often found on a dead body.

The one I had knocked down shook its lupine head and glared at me with eyes the color of piss. Teeth as long as my fingers poked out from dark black lips that were pulled back in a vicious scowl. It growled and I watched a glob of saliva drip from its chin.

“Run! Foolish Human!” A feminine voice called from the foliage above us all.

Two of the werewolves growled up at the voice, their pointed ears swiveling about as they cast hate-filled stares towards the thick branches and the canopy above us. My buddy, the one I had given a quick hug and slap, just kept right on glaring at me.

“I will hold them off!” The woman called out again. I took my eyes off the wolves long enough to catch a flash of red on one of the branches above. “You need to getaway! The Forgotten will focus on me!”

I opened my mouth to object. But then she sprang through the air over our heads and I may have forgotten my argument. She was beautiful, her dark skin shone as she flipped through the air. Her toned arms extended out as she threw a wooden spear at one of the wolves. Her hair, lustrous and black, whipped around her face as she continued her flip. The red I had seen earlier was her clothes, a long flowing skirt, and top that left her midriff bare. I guess she needed a bare midriff to accommodate the six, black, chitinous spider legs that sprung out of her back mid-leap and allowed her to grasp onto the trunk of a tree.

The spear missed the now howling wolves but I couldn’t care less. I was too busy staring in fascination at the spider woman clinging to the tree. That was when a palm as big as my head came whistling towards me.

The wolf was fast. Incredibly so. Even augmented as I was, I barely ducked the swipe. Each of the werewolf’s fingers ended in an inch long claw, the nail thick and black and crusted with dirt. If I could get infected, getting scratched by it would have been a serious issue.

Stepping back to avoid another wild swing I felt the tree press against my back, the bark rough to my naked skin. I jumped up and kicked back, using the trunk as a springboard to launch myself forward. The right cross I delivered to the wolf was clean. I felt as much as heard the crack of bone as his jaw pulverized under the blow.

Flying past him/it I tucked and rolled on landing before springing back to my feet. Sliding on the leaf-strewn forest floor I spun back around, dirt spraying out behind me as I turned to keep my opponent in sight. I saw a brief glimpse of the other two wolves climbing the tree after the woman, their clawed limbs not nearly as effective as her spider limbs....spider legs?

My big beasty was staggering towards me, It’s jaw hanging loose from its face. The drool that now flowed freely was tinged pink with blood.

I felt a feral smile grace my face. I loved a good fight and no matter what world I was in, that would always remain the same. Violence is simple and easy and when it’s the answer, it’s the answer.

I slid forward making sure to keep my feet grounded and I closed the gap between us rapidly before the wolf could get the momentum needed to bring his greater bulk into play. Like a Gatling gun going off I rained quick, sharp, blows into its stomach and ribs. Rocking the beast. I stepped sideways to avoid its downwards slash and threw a haymaker into its unprotected kidney. The wolf twisted at the last microsecond and I clipped its hip instead. The crack of bone was drowned out as it let out an ear-splitting howl.

I hissed at the auditory assault and fell back covering my ears. A claw dug into my chest, and much to my surprise (and deep concern), parted the thick synthetic skin and muscle beneath with ease. The blow was deep enough that the shiny metal framework of my skeletal structure peeked out. A dribble of dark red blood leaked out of the wound, the liquid viscous and metallic from the nanobots that ran rampant in my body. The wound stretched from my right shoulder down to my left ribs.

I growled in pain. Though muted by the artificial cocktail of endorphins and adrenaline flooding my system, the wound still stung something fierce.

I wanted to check my power levels. I should be ok, I wasn’t doing anything too crazy with my body yet, but there were still three wolves to deal with and for some reason, my one was looking better and better by the second. His jaw wasn’t even hanging at an odd angle anymore.

“The fuck?” I muttered before calling out. “Hey! Woman in the tree! Is it just me or are they healing?”

“Foolish Human! You should have run! Of course, they are healing. They are the Forgotten. Thrice cursed. Shunned. Given over to the Chaos.” She yelled back at me as she hopped from tree trunk to tree trunk, her multiple legs flashing as they carried her about the wooden terrain with ease. The werewolves following her had to resort to flinging themselves bodily from one tree to the next, their massive muscles bunching at the strain.

I’m really glad she cleared it up, otherwise, I wouldn’t have a clue what was happening. In case you didn’t pick up on it, that was sarcasm.

So still without a clue as to why the bloody things were healing, I did what I always do. I just hit a lot harder.

The wolf charged at me on all fours. Its long arms working in tandem to throw itself through the air in large arcing bounds. Flooding my system with energy I entered battle mode. Technically it’s overclocking my system or at least that's what Sandy says and that it isn’t necessarily a ‘battle mode’ but screw it!

The world slowed down around me as I became hyper-aware of my surroundings, the augmentation in all my senses kicking into overdrive to feed my brain more data even as my brain sped up to process the extra data. I could see the clumps of dirt kicked up by each bound of the wolf’s loping run. I could see the hair along its back and between its ears flatten as the wind whipped at its coat. I estimated four bounds for it to reach me.

I shifted my stance, sliding my right leg back and bending the knee of my left. My body turned a little so my shoulder was leading.

Three.

I directed a little extra energy to my legs and back to support the sudden stress they were about to be put under.

Two.

Glowing orange lines appeared all over my body like veins as the supercharged nanobots that moved through my body like blood raced about under my synthetic skin.

One.

I tucked my chin and raised my fists. Time to fuck shit up.

The charging werewolf hit me with the speed and force of a runaway grav-truck. I slid back under the force, my feet digging twin furrows in the loamy soil, before stopping. I strained against the sudden force as I jammed my left forearm under the creature's chin and twisted its snapping jaws away from my face. Saliva splattered against my collar bone and dripped down my bicep.

I growled right back at it before jamming my right hand into its sternum and by that, I mean into its sternum. Nails as hard and as sharp as the blades of a knife and mechanics that could drive my arm forward with enough force to punch through half a foot of steel made short work of the skin, muscle and fibers in its way.

The wolf howled with pain even as it continued to pound my back and sides with wild slashes of its clawed hands. I felt the tugging and slicing as it tore apart my skin. Its claws weren’t sharp enough nor strong enough to get at my bones but that didn’t seem to limit the amount of damage I was taking.

I could feel my own blood as it poured down my back and butt. The wolves waving arms sent my blood in splattering arcs across the forest, staining the ground around us. Oversaturated as I was with energy, I didn’t feel any pain. I felt amazing! It was addictive, and therein lay the problem. I needed to end this. Quick! Before I ran out of power and keeled over.

With a bestial roar of my own, I used the hand buried to the wrist in the wolf's body as a handhold and twisted my left arm away and behind the creature's head with unnatural speed at the same time. Free at last, the wolf bore down on me, its maw opened wide to swallow my head whole. Using its forward momentum against it, I added to it with my left hand. Pushing its head down with my left I stepped sideways and lifted with my right. The handhold was slippery and skin can stretch and tear so it wasn’t the best but it got some of the results I was looking for. Mr. Wolfy went ass overhead and slammed down on its back.

A trail of dark red, almost black blood, flew through the air as my hand was torn from its body. The drops seemed to move in slow motion to my increased perception.

Not sure how fast the stunned wolf would heal I lifted a foot and with a grunt of effort dropped it down on its skull before it could recover. I may have put a bit too much effort into it. Like a burst mellon, its head went pop and my foot drove through its cranium and into the ground a good couple of inches.

Twin howls of anguish sounded from the side and I turned in time to see the other two wolves drop to the ground from the tree they were climbing and run towards me. One on all fours and the other on its hind legs like some pro-athlete.

Shaking brain matter off my foot I reached down with one hand and got a good grip on the dead wolf’s foot. Torquing at the waist I whipped my improvised projectile at the duo. The one running on all fours moved a tad too slow and got clipped in the shoulder by its buddies corpse. It fell back in a tangle of limbs. The woman in the trees took advantage and dropped from somewhere above onto the convulsing mass of hair. Her six legs flashed out as support, bracing and anchoring her in place, while she stabbed down at them with her spear.

Leaving her to it I juked to the side as the last wolf reached me. It’s wild swing waved over my head as I ducked but I didn’t dodge the follow up kick-stomp afterward and hobbled back as its foot made contact with my knee. Never knew a fucking animal could fight like a brawler!

The beast grabbed either side of my head and squeezed. A throb of pain pulsed behind my eye, and the beast pulled me towards its open mouth. My toes left the ground as it lifted me closer and I got a real good look at a Dentist's worst nightmare. Bits of meat and other...stuff...were stuck between its teeth. Bad dental hygiene helped explain the over-pouring stench of its breath as my eyes watered.

No way was I going out like that!

Breaking the hold by slamming my hands down on the inside of its elbow joints I dropped a foot to the ground. On the way down I tangled my hands it the thick hair matting its shoulders and pulled. If it wanted to eat me it was going to get a mouthful. I landed the mother of all head butts on the fuckers snout as he leaned forward.

He yelped. I cussed and rubbed my forehead.

Then I socked him once in the stomach for being an asshole. My veins still glowed and I still felt great, but I just knew I was running through my energy like crazy. My punch doubled the beast over and broke something or a lot of somethings if the popping cracks were any indication. Gripping its head, which was now at a convenient height, I slammed it down on my rising knee. Once, Twice, thrice! The sound of cracking and splattering ended quickly and I let the body fall limp to the forest floor. Blood leaked from the mush that used to be its head to run between the fallen leaves that covered the ground.

I looked for the last wolf only to stop short. The spiderwoman. Arachnachick? Whatever. Stood on the tangled corpses, her wooden spear shoved through an eye socket. Her spider legs wrapped around her waist making it look like she wore some type of armored black skirt.

As far as fashion statements go, it wasn't so bad.