“I’ll make sure they don’t shoot at us,” Charlene added.
The odds were far from even, but the humans with guns did distract the Urbat enough that—
Clay grunted, the sound oddly concerning in the din of all the other sounds. I looked his way and caught him stagger a single step back toward me. He immediately snarled and lunged forward at the half-shifted dog grinning at him. The grin didn’t last long. Blood sprayed when Clay’s claws sunk into the man’s throat and, with a fisted hand, pulled out his windpipe.
The Urbat clutched his neck, gurgling his last breaths. Clay didn’t make any move to fight the other Urbat pushing their way toward us, though. I watched in horror as one knee gave out, and he sank to the ground. Everything slowed when he turned slightly, and I saw the red blossoming on the front of his shirt.
Flashes of Ethan’s death filled my mind.
“Help me!” I screamed, breaking formation and rushing toward him.
A wall of bodies surrounded me. I didn’t look away from Clay. He sat heavily on the ground, one hand bracing his weight and keeping him from laying back completely.
“Don’t do this,” I said, shaking. “Don’t die. Don’t leave me.” I took off my jacket and pressed it to his stomach.
“Shh…it’s okay,” he said.
He reached up and smoothed his bloody fingers over my cheek.
“No, it’s not. I saw Ethan.” I remembered Isabelle’s reaction to Ethan’s death. Fate had been smart to make her Peace and not me. Everyone would die when Clay did.
“Sweetheart,” he said, brushing the tears streaming from my cheeks. “Lift the jacket and look. It’s not the same as Ethan.”
He pulled back the jacket and showed me the long gashes that had ripped open his stomach. It wasn’t a bloody hole, but it wasn’t good either. I could see intestine.
“Fuck. Shit. Fuck.”
He collapsed all the way to the ground. A spray of blood painted his face. I looked up, searching for help. A strangled gasp escaped me. Carnage lay around us. Human men. All dead. Clay lay in the center with me kneeling at his side.
Around us, with the help of the remaining humans, the rest of the group still fought a losing battle against Urbat. I focused on the sparks crossing the mountains. They were almost here.
“Isabelle, you have to end this,” I yelled.
She glanced at me and saw Clay on the ground, my jacket once again pressed to his stomach. Rage filled her features.
“Shields!” she screamed.
I felt the tug, but gave nothing. The Urbat fell to their knees with her inhale and completely collapsed with her exhale. Blood seeped from their noses and their sparks faded in the darkness of my mind.
The humans had remained standing, though, oddly unaffected by Isabelle.
“Thank you for your help,” Charlene said. “Once you return to your homes, you’ll feel happy that you helped defeat the Urbat and protect innocent women.”
None of them moved. I didn’t care. I stared down at Clay’s pale face. He’d closed his eyes.
“We need to get him to a hospital,” I said.
“You know we can’t,” Winifred said.
I choked on a sob.
“I’ll be fine,” Clay whispered.
I looked away from him to Olivia. I didn’t know what I wanted from her. Help? Hope? Answers? She stood from her place on the snow and came toward me.
“Gabby, now you. Release them,” Olivia said.
For a second, I thought she said him. Then I realized she was talking about the humans still standing there, not doing anything but staring at me.
