As the creatures draw closer, I can tell one of them is Sherry—or the Echo version of her. I didn't get the chance to make Dax explain what that means. The being who resembles Sherry halts an arm's length away, and her male pal stops beside her.
"Mm, aren't you scrumptious?" she purrs. "Your flesh will taste like filet mignon, I bet."
"What are you?"
"Does it matter? Might as well think of me as Sherry."
I fist my hands and grit my teeth. "You are not my friend. You're from the Echo."
"Your big hunk of man candy told you that, didn't he?" She licks her lips, flicking her forked tongue. "Maybe I'll eat him next."
"You'll never catch him."
"Won't we? He might be big and tough, but we're stronger." Anti-Sherry aims a feral smile at her companion. "Time to show her."
Her cohort sniggers. "Yeah. It'll be a shocker."
She sashays over to the heap of corpses and uses the heel of her stiletto shoe to push some of the bodies aside. Then she steps back. "Take a look, hon."
I inch toward the pile and peer down between the bodies she just moved. There, I see the unmarred face of a woman. A human. The woman I'd worked with for more than a year—the real Sherry.
Just yesterday, I would've been horrified at the sight. Today, I feel nothing but a vacant coldness inside me, though only for a moment. Then I fist my hands again, grit my teeth, and seethe at the realization of what these beasts did to Sherry. The world shouldn't be like this. It was far from perfect before, but now it's a demonic fun house that chews up and spits out good people who got trapped in this nightmare. The anger burning inside me grows stronger, hotter, a boiling but hidden rage that I can't release and certainly can't reveal to these beasts.
I want to murder every last member of this gang of monsters. But I'd get myself killed that way, which wouldn't solve a thing. Yes, I want to live. Despite the horrors the Echo has unleashed, despite the fact I have nowhere to go and no one to comfort me, I do not want to die.
But I still need to figure out how to get away from Anti-Sherry and her carnivorous buddies.Think, Ally, think.Can't overpower them. Can't climb up the walls of these buildings. Can't fly away either. Distraction seems like my only option. But how can I distract these creatures so I can run away?
Anti-Sherry comes up beside me again, gazing down at the real Sherry with mock wistfulness. "I just couldn't wreck that pretty face. Ruined every other part of her body. Tanner had his fun with her too."
Fun? I grit my teeth and clench my fists, forcing myself to suppress the seething, boiling rage.
In the distance, an engine rumbles. Not a car. Something else. It's probably another member of this monster gang coming to join the party.
"She was pretty, but I'm way stronger," Anti-Sherry says. Then she grins at me, her jagged fangs glistening. "And now I'm hungry again."
The engine roar gets louder and louder, zooming closer every second. The roar has a growling quality to it, but I'm still not sure what kind of vehicle it is.
Voices cry out in surprise, and someone shouts, "Watch where you're going, moron!"
Anti-Sherry and her pals shout and scatter, getting out of the way of the big black motorcycle that just swerved into the alley, heading straight toward…me. The rider brakes hard, tires squealing, the motorcycle angled sideways. It has stopped three feet away from me.
Dax sits astride the big, black machine with his backpack secured to a metal luggage rack at the rear. "Get on."
I jump on behind him and strap my arms around him.
He guns the engine, and we rocket back down the alley, out onto the street, racing away from the monsters.
A tingle rushes over my skin. Dax came for me. He rescued me. I know he only did it because he thinks I can find Sefton for him and because he wants to screw me. But still, he came. No one has ever done that for me. I know I can't trust him. For now, though, I can at least count on him to keep me alive.
Until I learn how to protect myself.
Chapter Eleven
Dax
The motorcycle's engine snarls when I give it more power, and we barrel through the streets in a blur of motion. I have no idea what possessed me, but I didn't think about what I was doing. I dispatched the creature that had attacked me, though my victory came too late. The others had already taken Allison. Finding her became my only goal and the sole focus of my thoughts. Get to her. Save her. Why? I shouldn't care what happens to the woman. I don't care, except for the fact that she has a connection to Sefton and I need to find him. Without Allison, I can't do that.
But I'd experienced a strange sense of relief when I'd tracked her down, and when I saw she wasn't injured.