“I’m going to take out one vial.” Johnathan hoped he didn’t regret shooting himself up when he didn’t need it. He removed a vial and rolled up a sleeve. “Energy. Like food, but you don’t eat it.” He pressed the nozzle to his forearm and pulled the trigger.
The vial emptied, leaving a red ring where the pressure had forced the serum through his skin.
Nash tilted his head.
“It takes a minute and—” Fire seared through Johnathan’s veins. He was used to the surge, but without being depleted, it might as well have been napalm. His muscles bulged, and he sucked in a breath, exhaling it as a groan. “Has a bit of a punch.”
Nash held out his arm.
Johnathan reloaded the injector and delivered the dose.
Nash dropped his head back and closed his eyes.
Gashes closed on Nash’s body. Black tendrils slithered under his skin. When he spoke, there was no strain in his voice. “Thank you.”
“Any time.”
“What happened?” Nash shook him.
“I had to prove to the Anubis I wasn’t trying to poison you. I’m not depleted. So it kind of—” The Sarvari rolled through his chest, clawing at his ribs. “Hurts.” The wolf inside Johnathan drank away the pain, gorging on the strength. He slumped against the remnants of the truck wheel.
More howls rose like thunder.
“The other curs didn’t sound like that.” Nash watched the horizon.
“They remind me of defectives.”
“Remind you?”
“Defectives sound wrong. Because of the deformities. But these soundreallywrong.”
“What’s really wrong?”
“Bigger.” Their voices rang, drawing the attention of the Sarvari.
“How many vials of the ATP2 do you have?” Nash said.
“Eight.”
“I think I’m going to need them.” Nash held out his arm again.
“You take too much, it’s not going to make you puke like those M-1s. It will melt your brain.”
“Pretty sure it won’t be too much.” Nash nodded at the horizon.
A new line of animals moved in the distance. Instead of lithe bodies built for speed, they were all square and bulk.
And none of them was smaller than a Clydesdale. The largest had to have the mass of a small elephant.
“Jesus fucking Christ.” Johnathan reloaded the injector.
The defectives ambled in the direction Seung had taken Luca.
“Hurry it up.” Nash’s demand lowered into a growl.
Johnathan filled all eight slots on the injector and disengaged the doser so they’d express at once. “This is probably gonna hurt.” He hit the trigger. “Do you think the Anubis will let me help you?”
“It trusts you now.”