The creature on top of her bared its teeth, scrambling for a grip on her neck. She struggled for breath, trying to twist her M4 around and get it between her and the thing on top of her, but she couldn’t. She squeezed the trigger anyway, praying it was pointed at something important.
Nothing happened.Crap, the magazine must be empty.
Knowing she was screwed but refusing to give up, she squirmed under the hybrid’s heavy weight, shoving the hands away from her neck and shoulders at the same time she kicked with her knees. She didn’t expect it to help—the hybrid on top of her outweighed her by a ton and was ten times stronger than she was—so she was shocked when the hybrid loosened his hold and rolled off her, taking her weapon with him.
Kendra scrambled back, wanting to put as much distance between the beast and herself. That’s when she realized the hybrid was dead. For a second, she thought she’d gotten a lucky shot in, but then she saw that the barrel of her M4 was buried in the thing’s chest. It had impaled itself on her weapon as it landed on her.
She didn’t waste time considering her good fortune. Declan needed her help. She grabbed her weapon, kicking at the hybrid as she jerked hard. She refused to think about where the barrel of the M4 had just been, instead reloading it as quickly as she could. Snarls mixed with growls to become one terrifying sound somewhere behind her, and the hair on the back of her neck stood up as she shoved a fresh magazine into the gun.
Releasing the bolt to chamber another round, she turned around, expecting to see Declan with one of those large-bore needles shoved in him—or worse. But there was no needle. Just a lot of savage ripping and tearing as Declan and the remaining hybrids went at it, rolling around on the ground like a ball of living fury.
One of Declan’s big fists shot out, connecting with one hybrid’s jaw. The sound of breaking bone echoed around her, blood spraying from the creature’s mouth. And yet, the hybrid barely seemed to notice the damage, leaping back in the fray to slash at Declan with long, ragged claws. Declan was bleeding all over, too, but he simply roared and kept smashing at the two creatures facing him.
Kendra tried to line up a shot to help, but they were moving around too fast for her to take it. She was just as likely to hit Declan as one of the hybrids. But there was no way she was just going to stand there and do nothing while he was slowly cut to shreds.
She aimed above them and squeezed off a three-round burst.
Both hybrids snapped their heads around at the sound of the bullets zipping over their heads. That was even more of a reaction than she could have hoped for, and it gave Declan the opening he needed.
He lashed out with his foot, his heavy boot catching the biggest hybrid square in the chest and sending him hurtling, to land on the ground ten feet away. Kendra was on the hybrid before it could get up, firing burst after burst into the thing’s chest before shifting her aim and putting two rounds in the back of its head.
She loaded her last magazine as she turned back to Declan and the remaining hybrid. But the lone hybrid was no match for Declan, and he quickly gained the upper hand, smashing his fist repeatedly into the creature’s chest until it stopped moving.
Then Declan was at her side, his eyes wide and terrified. “Oh God, you’re bleeding!”
Kendra opened her mouth to point out that he was bleeding, too, but the words died in her throat as she looked down at herself. The front of her uniform was soaked in blood. Her hands tightened reflexively on her weapon. The hybrid she’d fought with must have gotten his claws into her after all.Butthenwhydon’t I feel weak from losing so much blood?
It wasn’t until Declan ripped open her outer shirt and sent buttons flying everywhere that she realized what had happened.
“Declan, I’m okay,” she said. “It’s not my blood.”
He looked at her in confusion. “What?”
“It’s not my blood,” she repeated, then pointed at the hybrid who’d impaled himself on her weapon. “It’s his. He bled out all over me.”
Declan turned back to her, relief on his face. That was when she got a good look at him. His uniform had even more blood on it than hers, and most of it belonged to him. She swayed a little at the sight, suddenly light-headed, and she reached for the tatters of his uniform top as much to keep herself from falling as to check on his wounds. She pulled the outer shirt aside and gently lifted the T-shirt underneath to expose dozens of wicked slashes. Blood flowed freely, running down his chest.
“Oh God. What do I do?” she moaned.
She’d put teams through hundreds of injury scenarios for training back at the DCO complex, but right now she couldn’t remember a freaking thing she’d seen.
Declan grabbed her hands and gently uncurled her fingers from his tattered shirt. “It’s not as bad as it looks. Right now we have to get out of here. Your gunfire is going to draw more hybrids.”
Everything he said after, “It’s not as bad as it looks,” went right over her head. Because it looked really bad to her. She was pretty sure she’d caught a flash of rib in the wounds under his pecs. How the hell was he still standing?
“Declan, we can’t go anywhere until I get the bleeding stopped.”
But he dragged her away from the stream. “We need to go. Now. You can patch me up once we’re somewhere safe.”
She almost laughed.Safe?They wouldn’t be safe until they were back home. But he was right. They needed to get out of here. She only hoped Declan was right about those wounds not being as bad as they looked.
Kendra was just about to break into a run to keep up with Declan, but he stopped beside the hybrid who’d impaled himself on her weapon. She frowned as he pressed one big boot into the thing’s bloody chest, then the other.
“Get blood on your boots,” he instructed. “Hurry.”
She had no idea why he wanted her to do it, but she did it, even if it did make her feel ill. When she was done, he grabbed her hand and started moving. Instead of heading back up the ridge like they’d originally planned, he led her along the stream. Probably so they could make better time.
She glanced over her shoulder at the six dead hybrids and spent shell casings. She couldn’t believe she and Declan were both walking away from that fight. But the victory hadn’t come without a price. Declan was hurt much worse than he’d let on. Within minutes, he could barely walk without her help. They needed to stop so she could tend to his wounds, but she had no idea if they’d gotten far enough away from the ambush site yet.
