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Georgia clenched her teeth and moved to stand beside him. “Back off. I can handle this.”

***

Ash shook his headas he tried to get Georgia to move. “Let me deal with this... What is it?” There was no way in hell he was letting Georgia go up against this nightmare.

“I don’t know. But it’s pissed off at finding us in here.”

The animal lumbered into the room, stringy saliva dripping off its huge, exposed fangs.

Ash growled at the predator, and it snarled back, the noise echoing off the walls. This thing wasn’t natural. It looked like it had been patched together from different animals. How was that possible?

Georgia spun, and he felt her back press against his. “Ash! There are more of them.”

He shifted his gaze and saw two more mutant creatures appear out of the opposite tunnel. They also looked weirdly screwed up, with damage to their bulky torsos and recent surgical marks on their heads.

His hand clenched around his gun. “What are they?”

“I’d say they’re some kind of mutated Komodo dragon,” Georgia said. “But they’re too big, and they don’t usually have serrated claws or fangs that size. If it is some kind of crossbreed with a Komodo dragon, don’t let them bite you. Their saliva is poisonous. It’ll flood your system with toxins and kill you within twenty-four hours.”

“Got it. Watch out for the killer venomous fangs,” Ash said. “You tackle the giant cat. I’ll take those two. Change places with me.”

Georgia didn’t budge. “I can handle two lizards.”

“There’s no time for arguing. Let’s move before they’re on us.” He kept his back pressed to hers as they shifted position.

When Ash came around fully to see the creatures, his gut twisted. They were horrifying shambles. One was limping badly when it moved its back legs, and there were open wounds all over its skin. The crazed look in its eyes showed it was suffering.

“No wonder you’re in such a bad mood, buddy,” Ash muttered. He’d want to kill anyone who came close, in case they messed with him some more. “Let’s put you out of your misery.” He aimed his gun and fired at the creature on the right.

It roared as the bullet impacted, staggered to one side, and slumped down. The second creature charged.

Ash fired again, but his aim was a fraction off, and he only grazed the creature’s left shoulder. He dodged back, being careful to stay away from the beast’s mouth, and grabbed it around the throat in a headlock.

Its rough scales scraped against him as it fought to break free. Ash gagged. It reeked of dirt, blood, and infected wounds.

The creature snarled and bucked in his grip. Hell, it was strong. Its muscles bunched and contracted as it tried to escape, but Ash wouldn’t let it go. If he did, it would head straight to Georgia.

A quick glance her way showed she was holding her own. She’d killed the mutant big cat but was still aiming her weapon at the entrance.

“We’ve got more incoming,” she yelled.

Ash snapped the neck of the lizard he held. It grunted and slumped in his arms. “You’re better off that way, buddy. No more experiments for you.” He turned and raced to Georgia.

A second huge cat appeared in the doorway.

Ash aimed and fired.

The beast growled then collapsed, heaving out its final breath as it hit the dirt.

When Ash met Georgia’s gaze, he was shocked to see tears in her eyes. “Hey, we did the right thing by killing them. They couldn’t have been left to live down here. They’d have attacked anything that stumbled upon them.”

“It’s not that. Did you see what had been done to them? Someone abused those animals. They cut them up and did... who knows? It’s so wrong.”

Tension radiated through him at the agony in her words. “No animal deserves that. Whoever’s doing this will be sorry they attempted these freaky experiments.”

Georgia nodded and pinched the bridge of her nose. “They’re not experimenting on any more animals.”

Ash reached forward and squeezed her shoulder. He was tempted to hug her, but she’d hate that.