• • •
Autumn
The crowd, the shouts and screams, all the noise receded until it had all but vanished, leaving behind only the biter and me. The creature lurched forward and I staggered back, screaming as my back bumped the bars of the cage. Unfazed by my distress, it continued shambling toward me.
Black drool trailed from its mouth as it snapped its teeth, and its gurgling growls grew in intensity. A realization hit me and my screams died in my throat, because there was no point. This wasn’t a person, someone who might listen to reason. It was a monster with only one thing on its mind—my flesh. Everything that I was, it would take from me, just as those very same things had been taken from it.
Cowering, I stared at the chunk of missing flesh at its throat, at the bite that took its life. Life had once pumped and thrummed through its body; it used to live, but now it didn’t. I swallowed hard, refusing to let the same thing happen to me. I was more than this small, weak body.
I was strong. And damn it, I was sturdy.
“I am sturdy,” I whispered, and straightened to my full height, refusing to cower any longer. “I am fucking sturdy!”
It was nearly on top of me now, close enough that I could kick it. When I launched my leg out in front of me, my foot connected with its knee with an audible crack. It stumbled backward but didn’t fall, and I used the moment to my advantage, darting out of my corner and circling around it. It whipped its head around, following me with its sunken eyes as it reached out for me, its arms flailing, its bony fingers forever reaching.
Unexpectedly it lunged, its fingers finding purchase on my baggy T-shirt. Panting and stricken with fear, I slapped at its arms as it staggered closer. Baring its broken and rotten teeth, it tried to pull me closer, but I hit it harder. In a moment of blind panic, I started screaming again, pushing and pulling, kicking and hitting, desperate to be free, and my T-short tore in the process.
With one hard shove and a twist of my body, I spiraled free from its clutches and went sprawling across the space to its left, before smashing into the bars of the cage. My breath caught and tears burned behind my eyes as pain ricocheted up and down my arm and hip.
But there was no time to dwell on it; the biter was already coming for me again and there was nowhere to run or hide. Even dead it had strength, and though that strength should be no match for a living human being, it was. These creatures had no boundaries, no limits, and they didn’t feel pain. In fact, they didn’t feel anything at all. How could you defeat a monster with no weaknesses?
Sobbing, I swiped at my eyes, wiping away the tears and sweat that were blinding me. The creature was nearly on top of me again, growling and reaching for me. It took one last step, closing the remaining distance between us, and like an electrical shock to my heart, the finality of the situation hit me. This was it ...
This. Was. It.
• • •
Eagle
My hands were wrapped around Jeffers’s throat, and his were around mine as we crashed to the ground. I squeezed tighter, feeling his windpipe constrict beneath my grip. His bloodshot eyes bulged, and his face turned an unhealthy shade of red.
I stared down into his eyes, both wanting him dead and hating myself for wanting it. He was all I had left, everything that remained of Jenny and my kids. Jeffers was my last remaining anchor to my past, and once he was gone, everything would be gone.
My body trembled with indecision. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t kill him. I loved him.
And then I heard it, another scream that was undeniably Autumn, and my uncertainty turned once again to rage.
Jeffers was my past, but Autumn was my future.
Rearing beneath me, Jeffers released my throat and sent one fist into my ribs and the other into my skull. My chest seized and my head snapped back, but I held fast to his throat.
“Stop him! Stop him, you fucking idiots!” The shrill screaming belonged to Liv. I would recognize her hellish voice anywhere.
Realizing I had only precious seconds left before one of the guards decided to listen to her, I put everything I had into crushing Jeffers’s neck.
Seconds later, I felt a tug on my shirt and a weight on my back, and then all at once hands were grabbing at my beard and clawing at my face.
“Let him go!” Liv screamed.
I bucked, trying to dislodge her, an action that forced me to lessen my grip on Jeffers. Beneath me, he took a gasping breath and started swinging. His fist connected with my jaw, causing my head to swivel sideways. Choking on the blood that flooded my mouth, I rolled off him, coughing and gagging.
“I’ll kill you!” Liv hissed in my ear, still holding tight to my back.
Grunting, I swung my arm back and my elbow connected with her ribs, sending her flying backward. I got to my knees and scanned the circle of guards around us, finding them all looking wary and uncertain. Jeffers was still beside me, struggling to sit up, while Liv lay just a few feet away, holding her stomach as she glared at me.
“Adler.” Jeffers gasped. “It has to go down like this.” Wheezing, he sat back on his haunches and swallowed hard. Blood trickled down his face from various cuts.
Spitting out a wad of blood-tinged spit, I shook my head. “Yeah, it does.”
