“Are you holding up okay?” Hadrian asks, his irritation dissolving to worry.
“Indeed,” I lie. “Let’s get started.”
The silence is deafening.
Without Theron and Hadrian and the others, the fourteen of us left are too quiet because all but one is sick.
Normally, Zoe has plenty to say. Not since the attack. Not since they left. Rekk, not since I injected myself. She’s too quiet and it agitates me.
With a heavy sigh, I notate the sudden agitation on my tablet as a new symptom. I’m not agitated with her, but at the situation. This has to be a new symptom.
It takes all too much effort to shuffle between the isolated rooms to check on each sick patient. Zoe is nowhere to be found, which unnerves me because ever since the attack, I worry about losing sight of her.
Hadrian barricaded the broken door. She’s safe. My female is safe. Still, I can’t help but want to hunt her down and keep her right by my side where she belongs.
Possessive thoughts.
I add that to my list too before heading into Julie’s room. Her color has returned, and clarity burns bright in her eyes.
Improvement.
“Hello,” I greet. “How are you feeling?”
Her eyes narrow as she scrutinizes me. “Better than you.”
I nod because there’s no sense in denying it. “Any new symptoms?”
“No. I need to get back to work. The weapon.” She grimaces. “We might be too late.”
“Oz is still working on it. I assure you when he devises one that will work, he’ll pass down the information. By then, you should be healed and can resume your duties.”
My answer settles her and she nods.
“We had a breach,” I tell her. “A beast.”
Her eyes widen. “I thought I heard sirens last night, but I was still out of it. I thought I was dreaming it. Is everyone okay? Zoe?”
I flinch at the mention of Zoe, worry once again plaguing me worse than The Rades has the power to. “They are. We’ve sent the well ones back to the Facility. I managed to kill the beast before it hurt her.”
Julie’s eyes fall to the zonnoblaster holstered at my hip. “That explains the weapon. Jesus, how terrifying. What’s the progress on the cure?”
“I’m diligently working on it,” I assure her. “Rest up.”
“I’m good,” Julie says with a grimace. “Help me up. With everyone gone, I can’t in good conscience sit here any longer. I’m healing. I can feel it. I just need a little assistance. Get me to the control room.”
I don’t want to have her traipsing around, but she’s skilled in weaponry and defense and is on the mend.
“Not before you’ve had an electrolyte booster.”
She allows me to inject her and then I assist her to her feet. Julie is strong and capable but still requires my help. I walk her to the control room where all the cameras on the outside of Exilium are recording.
“I’m exhausted,” she complains. “I hate feeling so weak.”
“I understand the feeling.”
It’s been hours since our group left and I haven’t been back to the control room to check the perimeter. Julie and I both manage to see something move at the same time.
“What was that?” she demands, pointing a shaky finger at the screen.
It’s another one of those beasts. From what Zoe explained to me, it was blind. Like a sabrevipe but more feral if you can believe it. Zoe compared it to a rabid wolf or was it a rabbawolf?
“Rabbawolf. They have them on Earth II.”
“Nothing I’ve ever come in contact with,” Julie says, a shiver running through her. “I think it’s running from something.”
“Or toward us,” I counter. “I don’t think it can get in, but I should be prepared in case it does.”
“Give a zonnoblaster to everyone who can hold one just in case. I need two,” she grumbles. “Oh no…”
Several more rabbawolves chase after the first one. All of them are running full speed ahead, toward the side of Exilium where there’s an opening to store transport vehicles. It’s the same bay that leads to underground tunnels that eventually grant access into this building.
“If they get inside,” I rumble. “I’m not sure I can kill that many. Perhaps if we remain quiet, they will move along.”
“Perhaps,” Julie whispers.
“What’s going—oh my fucking God,” Zoe hisses as she enters the control room, coming to stand beside me.
On instinct, I grab hold of her hand. She’s so fixated on the horrible beasts, she doesn’t wiggle out of my grip. Satisfaction slides through my veins as I hold the hand of my female.
“Shh, stormy one,” I murmur. “We’re hoping they’ll lose interest and move on if there doesn’t seem to be any activity or sound here.”
She squeezes my hand, her nog nodding sharply. Julie mashes a button, zooming in the camera. The beasts are clawing at the door to get in but haven’t discovered how yet. There are six in all, each one howling and yipping and trembling as though they’re afraid.
Afraid of what?
My question is answered when I notice a dust cloud. Like that of a geostorm, it thickens and approaches. Something big is running right toward the pack of rabbawolves.
From the red haze, something races ahead. On two feet. Tall. Muscular. Feral. It’s barely clothed, a shred of cloth covering its cock, as it runs full speed ahead. A large spear is in its grip.
It’s almost as if this being is like…us.
Impossible.
Our kind died out ages ago. There is no one left. Especially no one that looks like…
Them.
There are more.
Several dart out of the dust plume, weapons drawn and ready for their hunt. With impressive speed and precision, they attack the pack of rabbawolves. Each being moves too quickly for me to identify their features or make sense of what I’m seeing. Both Julie and Zoe are shocked silent.
Easily, they overpower the rabbawolves. With powerful jabs, they stab at the beasts, killing them instantly. It’s when they’re dragging them away, I realize they only managed to get five of them. The sixth rabbawolf must have escaped.
“What the hell are those things?” Zoe asks, her voice raw with terror. “They’re like you, but…”
Bigger. Meaner. Uncivilized.
And untouched by The Rades.
How?
One of the things kneels in front of its kill. He acts as though he’s starved, unable to wait like the rest of them. His claws—like our kind—are more elongated and sharper. He tears through the belly of the rabbawolf, ripping off a hunk of meaty muscle. Without bothering to char the flesh, he shoves it into his mouth, devouring it as though he needs the meat to survive the next several moments.
Once he’s eaten a few bites, he turns his nog, tilting to the side as he stares straight at the camera. Thick, green blood runs down his chin. After a snarl, he heaves the dead beast over his shoulder and trots back to the fading plume of dust where several of the others of his kind wait. Together, they take off running, once again leaving dust in their wake.
Julie and Zoe both start chattering as they try to understand what they just saw, both of them thankful the beings left.