Page 71 of Lorran
“Stay behind me,” he ordered and held the rifle at the ready.
A creature emerged from the trees, all compact muscle and slinking motion. Crouching, Wyn had trouble judging the size of the animal.
Big. Way big.
It had the face of a wolf with a long snout. With tusks at the corners of the mouth, the upper lip curled back in a snarl. The body reminded her of a bear with thick trunks for legs and massive shoulders. Muscles shifted under brown, speckled fur as it pawed the ground.
Lorran fired a warning shot into the ground. The animal’s ears went flat as it stepped back. It rose onto its back legs, finally giving them an idea of its true height.
Massive.
They were so fucking screwed.
The wolf-bear threw back its head and roared. Wyn felt it down to her bones, reverberating through her.
Time slowed to a crawl as events seemed to happen all at once. The wolf-bear charged, and Lorran rushed forward. He held out the rifle like a shield. The wolf-bear’s powerful jaws clamped around the bulk of the weapon.
Lorran grunted, pushing forward and wedging the rifle further into the beast’s maw. A massive paw swiped, knocking Lorran away.
He tumbled to the ground, rolling with a practiced skill that made Wyn believe all that morning yoga wasn’t for nothing. Bouncing to his feet, he held out a knife.
One puny knife against the wolf-bear.
The wolf-bear shook its head, dislodging the rifle. The weapon fell to the ground, disappearing to the tall grass.
Wyn’s heart pounded in her ears.
She was going to be a widow. She saw it clearly. If she ran now, she might make it back to the base before the beast was done munching on her husband.
Spinning in a panicked circle, she saw the path they had taken through the trees. Well, path was generous. They hacked their way through undergrowth. There was no path, she’d get lost in a matter of moments, and no way could she run faster than the wolf-bear.
She didn’t have her comm unit on her, not that it worked because there was no network connection on this awful planet. There was nothing she could do except watch Lorran be mauled. She felt small, powerless, like she had been during the gas attack, watching Reese stumble and fall.
Breathing was a struggle, then and now.
Lorran was on the back of the beast. For a moment, his size appeared ludicrous, like a grown adult riding a pony, but a yowl from the beast erased all pony notions.
So not a pony.
His knife plunged between the shoulder blades. If the wolf-bear felt anything more than a sting, it gave no indication. A paw reached out, raking claws down Lorran’s arms. Blood bloomed because he wasn’t wearing his armor.
Wyn had asked about the double standard of him swaddling her in protective armor while he wore that equivalent of a T-shirt, but blah blah blah, thicker skin, faster healing, and other BS reasons.
A thick tail—it had a tail?—came from behind and wrapped around Lorran’s neck. He pulled the knife out and hacked at the tail.
Fuck this. She wasn’t helpless.
Wyn skirted around the grassy field, searching for something, anything, that could distract the creature. She just needed to snag its attention and give Lorran an opening.
She picked up pieces of broken pavement, choosing the heftiest ones that fit into her palm. Pelting the wolf-bear with stones wasn’t the best plan, but it was the only one she had.
Arms full, she carefully inched forward. The wolf-bear had its full attention on Lorran.
Taking aim, she realized the flaw in the plan. The stone flew, hitting the wolf-bear’s flank. It spun, turning a burning eye toward her.
Yup. That was the flaw. Wolf-bear had claws and tusks and a tail that could strangle.
Wyn had an armload of rocks.
