We’re in the car at a fast food place. Lots of exhaust to cover up our scent. As soon as we get our order, we’re heading south like we agreed. How are things looking for you? How are Mom and Michelle?
Everyone’s fine. You just worry about keeping your group safe, and we’ll keep everyone here safe.
Someone tapped on my window. I turned toward a woman and teen boy who carried several bags of food and a cardboard tray of drinks. With a grin I didn’t feel, I rolled down the window.
“Thank you. The little guy in back was about to starve.” I winked at the woman so she’d know I was joking and started accepting the bags and handing them off to Paul.
“We’re sorry about the wait,” the woman said, handing over the drink tray.
“Don’t worry about it. Thanks for the food.”
Jim! Get out of there now.
The fear and command in Winifred’s message had me shoving the drinks toward Paul and grabbing the wheel. I slammed the vehicle into reverse and twisted in my seat to see behind me. However, my foot never descended onto the gas pedal.
A group of seven males, directly behind us, stopped me. They’d made little attempt to blend. Ragged, dirty clothes covered them, but the threadbare material would have never kept a normal human warm.
The woman still beside the window made a small noise, also seeing the mongrels that held my attention.
The lead man smiled slowly, showing his elongated canines.
They’ve found us,I sent Winifred as I slammed down on the gas.
The tires squealed, and we shot backward. The woman screamed, she and the boy still not moving.
“Run,” I yelled to them.
The mutts scattered, jumping out of my way. They didn’t go far though. With snarls and curses, some partially shifted.
I cranked the wheel as I reversed, listening to claws screech against metal. Aden whimpered. Shouting erupted from the nearby humans, spilling from the restaurant.
Slamming on the breaks, I shifted to drive. The glass behind Gregory shattered and curled forward in a webbed sheet. Furred hands reached for Aden.
Gregory’s gaze met mine in the rearview mirror. Angry knowing lit his eyes. He growled, and his own claws erupted.
We needed to get out of here, but people ran in every direction. My foot hesitated on the pedal. Save their lives or those of the cubs. I glanced in the mirror again. Gregory swiped at the mutts then used his nails to cut Aden’s seatbelt.
“Henry,” he called, throwing the boy forward. The cub’s eyes were wide and panicked.
I gunned it forward as Henry caught Aden and curled protectively around both cubs. A man yelled and dove out of my way, and I jerked the wheel to the right, avoiding the back end of the nearest car trying to escape the chaos.
Cackling laughter exploded from the back. I looked up at the mirror in time to see arms grip Gregory’s shoulders.
Don’t stop,he sent me.Keep them all safe.
With a heave, several of the mutts pulled Gregory from the back as we swerved out of the parking lot and onto the main road.
“Dad!” Paul yelled from beside me, proof he’d witnessed what had just happened.
I checked the mirror again as I wove in and out of traffic. Gregory fought five of them in the middle of the road. Two sprinted after us, their paws eating up the distance.
“Keep hold of those cubs,” I said to Henry.
Giving the van more gas, I ignored the distant wailing sirens, the sound of Paul begging me to turn around, and Liam and Aden’s soft whimpers. Cars honked and veered out of my way. One of the mutts jumped on top of the roof of an old beetle, using it as a springboard to launch himself at us. He just missed the back end of our van, his claws scraping briefly on metal then nothing as he fell to the road and rolled in a heap of fur.
The second mutt trailed us persistently to the edge of town. Then he veered off the road and disappeared into the sparse trees separating one business from another. The sound of a helicopter overhead sent my heart racing.
The south is clear,Winifred sent, interrupting my thoughts.Head south.
