Page 81 of Shadow Warrior
Around us, the other hounds had met their demise too.
Lloyd strode over to the cadets who’d been running from the beasts. “Cadets fight,” he snapped.
“Fuck you, Faraday,” a chestnut-haired cadet said. “We weren’t running from the hounds; we were running with them. There’s some green shit in the mist. It took two of our guys, and it was coming for us. It killed several hounds when it touched them. We need to go. Now.”
“We have to go back to the fortress,” Lloyd said.
“Nah, not that way. That shit is that way.”
Green mist? Was this a new test dreamed up by Henrich? “We can’t afford to go the long route.”
“Then you’re on your own,” chestnut-haired dude said. “We’re out.” He waved an arm, and his team followed as he jogged off into the mist.
“What do you think?” Lloyd asked Brady.
“We keep going,” Brady said. “If we see this green mist, we avoid it.”
We set off again, faster this time. Shit, I was feeling the burn. My lungs ached to cough.
“Justice, you okay?” Carlo asked.
Brady slipped an arm around my waist. “Feeling it too, babe.”
Fuck, I could barely breathe now. Shit.
Brady’s grip on me tightened, and then he staggered.
“Brady?” Oh, fuck … Oh, damn. My breathlessness wasn’t mine, it was an echo of his. As soon as the realization hit, the tightness in my chest eased. I still felt yuck, but nowhere near as bad as I had a minute ago.
Brady straightened, leaning on me.
“Babe …” I scanned his face. He looked bad. “We need to get him out of the mist.”
“Um, guys,” Carlo said. “Green mist incoming.”
It was approaching from the right, and it was coming in fast. We were probably less than thirty minutes away from the fortress, but with Brady struggling like this, there was no way we’d make it.
“Go.” Brady pushed me away. “Run. I’m right behind you.”
“Like fuck.” I slipped back under his arm, taking his weight.
“Dammit, Justice,” Brady said.
“Yeah, you can bawl me out later.” I picked up the pace, taking him with me. Carlo ran around to Brady’s other side and took his weight from there. Together, we managed to keep a good pace.
“It’s getting closer,” Aidan called out.
“It’s picking up speed.” Devon confirmed my suspicion.
What kind of mist did that?
Green tendrils snaked out in front of us, cutting us off, and then they slammed into us, shoving us backward.
Physical contact.
What the fuck?
It was around us now, swirling and cutting us off. Tightening around us.
