Page 209 of Vameer

“We had a deer⁠—”

“Mom!” the boy shouts from the back seat.

But Jones is already jabbing his arm forward.

I don’t look. I keep my focus on my target. And when he jerks his attention over to the man attacking his wife, I dart my hand forward.

The end of the plastic tube presses against his neck. The pressure forces the needle out. And the toxin shoots into his body.

Jones and I both jump back from the car.

The kid is screaming bloody murder.

And… the parents slump in their seats.

Jones yanks the rear door open and grabs for the kid.

He’s dragging him out of the car by the time I round to his side, but the kid is fighting.

“Shut the fuck up!” Jones yells at the boy.

The boy twists in Jones’s hold. Something cracks. Jones tries to hold him at arm’s length. But the kid lets out an inhuman sound. And suddenly, Jones is holding a dog.

A wolf.

“Gods—”

The wolf kid snaps his teeth around Jones’s arm.

But the following shout is drowned out by a low rhythmic whomp.

Chapter 121

The Bystander

Isquint, leaning forward against my steering wheel, trying to see through the rain and the dark.

Did those cops just drag a kid out of the car?

I flip my wipers on high.

Or… Wait. What the hells? Is that a dog?

Something loud thuds over the rain.

The second cop puts the dog into a headlock. And then they start running. Away from the road.

“Oh hell no.”

I unbuckle my seat belt and shove my door open.

“Hey!” I shout. But the other sound is getting louder.

And that’s when I see it.

A helicopter.

“What the fuck?”