Then the screaming starts. The place thunders with snarling and screaming. Kiro gasps. I can feel the shock and surprise in his body, in the way he tightens his arms around me.
Gunshots sound out, but that only seems to increase the snarling. The agonized cries of men echo off the walls.
I look past his arm and see the blur of fur and teeth.
Wolves!
There’s blood everywhere. The roaring in the cave is deafening. People are dying, being ripped apart.
I feel Kiro lifting me. My belly is on fire. I’m bouncing in his arms.
No!I want to say. But I know we have to get out of there.
He’s running. I’m gasping for air. My face feels wet—I have no idea whether it’s sweat or tears. Maybe blood.
I hear Garrick’s voice.The copter. Get in—get in, goddammit! Get her in…do it.
Kiro growls.
I clutch onto him. “Do it,” I manage to say.
Because fucking Garrick knows how to fly. Most of us covering the hot zones know the basics of flying, but he’s a high-performance asshole, and if he’s saying “get in,” he’s confident about getting us out of here.
I feel us getting in. I’m hanging on one moment to the next, powering through the pain.
I concentrate on keeping myself together.
I black out, or maybe time is moving at a different speed, because suddenly we’re aloft. Garrick’s giving Kiro directions. Battlefield bandage for my foot. I smell the first-aid kit.
Two clumsy fingers at my neck.
“You with us?” Garrick.
I force my eyes open. I focus on Kiro.
“We’re doing this,” Garrick says. “I’ve radioed ahead.”
We’re flying. I’m still conscious. My insides feel ripped apart, but consciousness is a good sign.
I grunt.
“Ann—I didn’t know what that guy was,” Garrick says. “I didn’t know.”
Fingers on my forehead. Gentle. Strong. Kiro.
“The wolves…” I say. “They came.”
“The younger ones came,” Kiro says. “They didn’t die after all. They stayed together. Red’s pup. They saved us.”
“The wolves.”
“Yes,” he says.
“Did they…get out…”
“Did the wolves get out of that alive? Is that what you’re asking?” Garrick says. “Did youhearthe screaming in there?”
“They came out of it,” Kiro says. He’s saying something about guns. They don’t like anyone with guns.