The Drowned Cities (Ship Breaker #2)(30)

Soa was staring at the doctor girl incredulously. “This stinks!” He took a step toward her, glaring. “Get over here, maggot! Clean me up!”

But the girl was shaking her head and backing away. Soa took another step after her.

“I said—”

A scream ripped the night, coming from the far side of the perimeter. Gunfire chattered, then opened up full. More screaming, joined by a snarling that made Ocho’s blood run cold.

The half-man, he realized. It was coming for them. The gunfire and screaming suddenly cut short. Kilo and Riggs had been out there, and now there was nothing.

Ocho tried to get up and toppled over in his haste. He was more drugged than he’d thought. His head was dizzy with the painkillers. He waved clumsily at his troops. “Get out there!” He waved at his boys. “Dog Squad! Back them up! Don’t leave your brothers out there! Help them!”

More screaming and guns were going off, now from the North.

Fates, Ocho thought. It’s back. The dog-face is going to finish us off.

He cast about for his rifle, feeling suddenly vulnerable and alone. Where the hell was it? Where was his damn weapon?

Soa was unslinging his own rifle, shouting at the doctor girl. He was pissed off, but at least he wasn’t hurt.

“Soa!” Ocho ordered. “Get out there!” But Soa wasn’t listening. Or maybe Ocho just hadn’t said it loud enough. Either way, Soa was all about revenge on the castoff. The girl was backing away from Soa, but the weird thing was, she wasn’t panicking. Even as everyone else was shouting and grabbing for their guns and there was screaming and shooting all around the perimeter, the girl didn’t look surprised in the least.

She wasn’t afraid at all.

Alil’s squad dashed toward the sounds of fighting. “Light ’em up!” he shouted. More gunfire ripped the night. Muzzle flashes.

Ocho fought his way to his feet, ribs burning, dizziness washing over him. Where the hell was his rifle? From the corner of his eye, Ocho caught a flicker of movement. A shadow beyond the perimeter, faster than firelight.

“Incom—!”

A whirl of gray fur and fangs exploded from the darkness. Soa stumbled and went down, a beast tearing at his back. Another flashed past, tearing right through the center of the building.

Coywolv?

Blood poured from Soa as more snarling monsters piled onto him. He was screaming and thrashing, trying to get the beasts off him.

Why the hell were coywolv attacking a whole platoon of soldiers?

The doctor girl dodged past Soa and slipped into the darkness, even as more and more coywolv emerged to tear into Soa.

Why not her?

She was smaller. The coywolv should have been going for her. She was the easy bait. Coywolv always went after easy bait. It didn’t make any sense. It was like some kind of strange drug nightmare.

“Get it off!” Soa was screaming. “Get it off!”

Reyes had his shotgun up and was trying to get a clear shot on the coywolv, but they were all whirling motion, and the scatter would tear Soa as well.

“Shoot it!” Soa howled. “Shoot! Shoot!”

He sounded like an animal himself. Reyes sighted again, and then more coywolv piled in and Reyes had his hands full. The soldier boy opened up. One of the beasts’ heads whipped back at the blast, blood spraying. Coywolv snarled all around, tearing through the camp, dragging dead soldier bodies out into the darkness, going after the living soldiers as they tried to assemble.

The LT piled down the ladder, shouting for a rally point, the doctor man coming down after. Out beyond the edge of the firelight, the jungle seethed with predatory shadows.

Someone let off a burst of auto.

“Save your shots, you maggots!” the LT shouted.

It was out of control. More and more soldiers were screaming and down under piles of tearing coywolv. Ocho caught a glimpse of the doctor man disappearing into the darkness at the far side of the building, a medical bag in his hands.

“We’re losing the doctor!”

But no one was free to go after him. Ocho started hobbling after the man, ribs searing. He fell to his knees. As he struggled to stand, he caught sight of the girl again. Crouched right on the edge of the darkness, watching him.

Why was she still there? Was he hallucinating now?

Ocho again searched for a gun. Finally saw it leaning against a wall, on the other side of Jones’s body. He started crawling for it, but a coywolv leaped onto the soldier boy’s corpse, blocking Ocho’s path. Ocho froze. Another coywolv joined it. They both bared their teeth and snarled at Ocho.

What was he supposed to do? Look them in the eye? Look away? Back off? Don’t back off? He couldn’t remember.

His questions evaporated as the two coywolv seized Jones’s legs in their teeth and dragged the limp body away into the darkness.

Why didn’t they go after me? I was right there. And then the answer, as all the pieces of the puzzle fit together. Because she didn’t douse me with that stuff the way she did half the platoon. She set this all up.

Soa was still screaming. “Get it off! Get it off!” But there were three coywolv on him now, and everyone had their hands full, and then Soa rolled right into the fire and his screaming stopped being words. Coywolv leaped off his back, blazing canine forms, yelping and crazed.

Soa staggered upright, a human torch.

“Get him down!” Ocho shouted. “Roll him!”