Free The Azrael: The Reckoning by Jesse Gagnon

Each team member was visually inspected.  Their faces were compared to the photos sent to their access list only five minutes ago.  Jason wasn’t on the list but was known by the guards.  A short explanation and crosscheck with Simon over the phone verified his credentials.
    The guards waved the group towards several more armed guards who carried M-16 rifles and a pistol sidearm.  They unlocked a door that opened up to an access tunnel.  The door was heavy and was made of two feet thick solid steel.  The tunnel they were in connected with several other buildings with similar armed guards defending other underground entrance doors.  Mario’s mission led the group to a maintenance tunnel that gained them access to a small power grid which was the bottom floor of a high rise nearby.  Mario knocked on the door and waited in front of the security camera and several locks were disengaged shortly thereafter.  The door opened and the group entered the building.  More armed guards were inside near the door while the majority was posted up at each window that overlooked the streets outside.  One door exited the power grid floor into an alley between buildings.  A security camera determined the alley was clear and the guards quickly guided Mario and his team outside.
    The moment the door opened the aroma of the dead and of the Azrael scent, carrying in the breeze that funneled between the buildings, brought a grimace on Mario’s face.
    “Never get used to their smell.”  Mario stated while covering his nose and mouth.
    “I don’t think we should ever get used to that smell.  They mark the end of civilization as we know it.  We can’t rebuild until that smell…” Jason waved his hand in the air as if dismissing something. “is gone.”
    “Well said Jason.”  John agreed and added.  “Fuck the Azrael.”

Chapter 7
The Alpha
     
    The morning breeze grazed David’s face, awoke him from sleep and brought him back to his world.  His body had been hunting throughout the night.  The sweet stench of fresh turners excited his senses.  Stanley and Cooper were at his side as usual.  There was still a vague familiarity about them that he couldn’t quite remember.  He’s been an Azrael for as long as he could remember.  He enjoyed the hunt, the challenge and the victory in the kill.  His two companions were both gifted trackers that were invaluable to his herd.  They were not a large group.  They had exactly enough to get the job done.
    Movement in the weeds beyond the open field he was moving in caught his attention.  He listened closely as his body lowered its posture and the herd followed suit.  A group of ten armed humans waded through the weeds low and at alert.  Their slow heartbeats and human musk wasn’t hidden well behind the mud, grass and leaves that covered them.  He could taste the fear in the air and smiled.  The hunt begins.
    His body grunted softly urging the fresh turners to move in slowly towards the front.  As if given an exact command the Azrael remained low and pushed through the field slowly towards the men.  David’s body grunted at Cooper and Stanley.  The two massive Azrael eased stealthily towards the rear of the men in hopes to pick them apart from behind.  David waited and watched as his body orchestrated an intricate hunt.  The only thing he loved more than hunting men was hunting the Azrael defects that abandoned the herds.  There is no place in his world for such creatures.  Thinking about defects reminded him of the one that mocked him across the river.  That piece of shit stood beyond his reach taunting him to approach.  He remembered his face and size.  He was about the same size as his own body.  The aroma of the defect carried in the wind that day urged his herd to leap into the river.  David remembered one of his finest being swept away by the current.  That dumb fuck.
    Voices of men enticed his mind.  They appeared unaware of his herd.  The wind