Free Primal Shift: Episode 2 by Griffin Hayes

crunching the debris littering the floor, as well as Nikki’s continued whimpering, made stealth nearly impossible. They heard footsteps coming toward them and Carole and Nikki stood. The sling with the cast iron temple was still in her hand. She absolutely hated the idea of using any religious paraphernalia to attack another human being, but at the time she’d been a little short on options.
    Nikki tapped her arm. “Mom, look behind you.”
    Carole turned and saw the dull red outline of a fire extinguisher. She pushed the bloodied sling into Nikki’s hands and pulled the extinguisher off the wall. The hose was attached to the body by a clip and she yanked it free. The two men came out of the darkness and Carole saw right away that one of them was the Chip Eater, his gaze on Nikki as though he wanted to make her his. Carole aimed the hose, squeezed the handle and nothing happened. Panic rose up within her guts. She might have been lucky working those knots free and saving Nikki, but she didn’t think her luck was going to last much longer.
    “The pin, pull the pin!”
    Carole did and when she squeezed this time, a white billowing plume shot out of the nozzle. Both men reeled back in shock, falling to the floor. Carole gave them another taste, screaming as she did.
    “Back off, assholes!”
    They might not have understood her words, but the terrifying blast of high pressure sodium bicarbonate sent the men scrambling for safety.
    “Hold on tight, honey.”
    They left the gift shop surrounded by a mob of dishevelled figures. Carole knew these extinguishers didn’t have more than a few seconds of pressurized gas so she’d have to make every shot count. The sound of a discharge sent a shockwave through the crowd. Some ran away, others stayed, but everyone backed off, which was the intended goal. The two women, arm in arm, backed away from the crowd until they finally turned and ran.