Page 76 of Heart of Dawn
I flipped the biter up and over, slamming the fucker down on the hood of a car. Its back broke, and then so did it its face with a single punch from me.
“Fuck this.” I picked up the pipe, the ground splitting under my feet.
With no other choice, I was forced back, the widening circle now up to the houses, spitting hot smoke into the air.
The biter at the middle of the circle laughed.
What now?
“Miko! Sir!” James called. “Are you okay?”
Through the lens of sickly pink, I saw their fighting silhouettes.
“Horde is getting too close,” Cate warned. “We can’t stay here.”
The ground quaked, the circle’s center collapsing, taking the laughing biter with it.
I leaped back again. “Get to safety!”
“We’re not leaving you!” Paige responded.
More of the ground collapsed, rumbling aggressively.
“Go around. Meet me?—”
The entire circle caved in, taking some houses with it. I ran from its trajectory, constantly checking on my pack.
Oh. My. God.
The circle spread east and west, creating a wide trench. Heavy sheets of pink smoke burst out of it, completely blocking me from my people. A fetid stench attacked my senses, cackling bubbled up from the depths.
With my throat constricted, I struggled to call for my pack. Fear got its fishhooks in me, locking me in place.
My pack. My pack. My pack.
Voices. Their voices. The horde’s voices, their hisses. Too many footsteps, too much terror in the air.
A slowie came at me from behind, successfully landing a bite on my left shoulder.
That snapped me out of my funk. Releasing a mighty roar to make my ribs ache, I drove my fist through its left eye socket,finding its brain and tore it out, the man falling down dead. I crushed the damn thing in my hand, its juices leaking through my fingers.
From what I could make out, the trench kept going in both directions, the ground vibrating.
Right. Plan B.
Finding my voice, I gave an order with as much volume as I could muster. “Find a way around. Get away from the horde. We’ll link up soon.”
“Sir!” James called back—the kind of response meaning he understood loud and clear.
Good. Time for me to?—
A huge head rose from the depths of the trench. Next, a beefy hand landed on the edge, making a dent. Then came the rest of it, rising, rising, rising until the man loomed twenty feet above me.
The same man who’d gone into the ground when it collapsed. Every part of him swollen as if he’d drowned and been underwater too long, his face like melted candle wax. Bruises covered his pink-hued skin, infected sores just about everywhere.
Holy. Shit.
His laughter caused parts of the trench to collapse, widening it further.
