“What do you want?”
Drake motioned toward the stump of his right arm. It was gone from just above the elbow. “What do you think I want?”
The one time she’d seen Drake Merwin, he had made her think of Pack Leader: strong, hyper alert, dangerous. Now, the lean physique looked gaunt, the shark’s grin was a tight grimace, his eyes were red-rimmed. His stare, once languidly menacing, was now intense, burning hot. He looked like someone who had been tortured beyond endurance.
“I’ll try,” Lana said.
“You’ll do more than try,” he said. He convulsed in pain, face scrunched. A low, eerie moan escaped his throat.
“I don’t know if I can grow a whole arm back,” Lana said. “Let me touch it.”
“Not here,” he hissed. He motioned with his gun. “Through the back door.”
“If you shoot me, I can’t help you,” Lana argued.
“Can you heal dogs? How about if I blow his brains out? Can you heal that, freak?”
The car Lana had seen driving by was parked, engine running, in the alley behind the house. The boy called Panda was at the wheel.
“Don’t make me do this,” Lana pleaded. “I would help you no matter what. You don’t have to do this.”
But there was no point in arguing. If Drake had ever owned a conscience, it had died along with his arm.
They drove off through the sleeping town.
Out into the night.
Howard had seen with his own eyes the small army Sam had assembled. He’d seen them descending on Ralph’s. The grocery store was unguarded, which meant the other sheriffs had decided to get out of the way and make themselves scarce.
“There’s too many,” Howard had concluded.
So he and Orc had stolen a car and made their way toward Coates Academy. But they had taken a wrong turn somewhere along the road and ended up on a dirt track leading into the desert as night fell.
They had turned around, retracing their way to the main road, but that hadn’t worked, either. Finally, they ran out of gas.
“This was your stupid idea,” Orc muttered.
“What did you want to do? Stay in town with Sam? He had, like, twenty kids with him.”
“I could kick his butt.”
“Orc, don’t be a moron,” Howard snapped in frustration. “If Caine’s not there, and Drake’s not there, and Sammy is marching back into town like a big deal, what do you think that means? I mean, come on, Orc, do the math.”
Orc’s pig eyes had narrowed to slits. “Don’t call me stupid. I have to, I’ll kick your teeth in.”
Howard wasted twenty minutes ameliorating Orc’s hurt feelings. Which still left them sitting in a dead car in the middle of nowhere.
“I see a light,” Orc said.
“Hey, yeah.” Howard jumped from the car and started running. Orc lumbered after him.
The twin beams of a car moved at an intercept angle to them. If they slowed down, the car would miss them, never see them.
“Hurry up,” Howard yelled.
“Catch them.” Orc urged Howard on as he gave up the race and slowed to a heavy-footed slog.
“Okay,” Howard yelled. His foot caught on something, and he sprawled into the dirt. He picked himself up and only then felt the sharp pain in his ankle.
“What the—?” He froze. There was something there in the darkness. Not Orc, something that smelled rank and panted like a dog.
Howard was up and running in a heartbeat. “Something is after me,” he yelled.
The car lights were vectoring toward him. He could make it. He could make it. If he didn’t fall again. If the monster didn’t get him first.
Howard’s feet hit blacktop and he was illuminated, brilliant white. The car screeched. It came to a stop.
The monster was nowhere in sight.
“Howard?”
Howard recognized the voice. Panda was leaning out of the window.
“Panda? Man, am I glad to see you. We’ve been—”
Something dark and swift leaped and caught Panda’s arm. He let out a shriek.
From inside the car, a dog barked frantically.
Something hit Howard in the back and he hit the pavement on his hands and knees.
The car lurched forward. The bumper stopped six inches from Howard’s head.
There came a scream, a male voice. Orc. Orc back in the darkness somewhere.
There were dogs everywhere, swarming around Howard. No, not dogs, he thought, wolves. Coyotes.
The car door opened, and Panda fell out, wrapped half around a coyote.
A loud bang and a stab of orange light.
But the coyotes didn’t stop.
Another shot, and one of the coyotes yelped in pain. Drake staggered into view, looking like a scarecrow in the headlights.
The coyotes retreated, out of the light but by no means gone. Howard got slowly to his feet.
Drake pointed the gun at Howard’s face. “Did you set these dogs on me?”
“They chewed on me too, man,” Howard protested. Then he yelled out at the desert, “Orc. Orc, man. Orc.”
A voice like wet gravel, but with an eerie high-pitched tone, said, “Give us female.”
Howard peered into the night trying to make sense of it. It wasn’t Orc. Where was Orc?
“What female?” Drake demanded. “Who are you?”
Slowly, on every side, all around the car the desert moved. Shadows crept closer. Howard shrank back, but Drake stood firm.
“Who’s out there?” Drake demanded.