Page 42 of Rebirth

He’rox looks up, gaze fastening on something in the darkness, and his tenseness only makes more fear pool in my gut. His claw lifts from my mouth, but I don’t move. I fight to breathe evenly, even as my blood freezes in my veins.

The clicking speeds up, coming nearer. My heart pounds so hard I feel dizzy, but I keep still. Trusting my instincts. Trusting He’rox.

A shape emerges from the black, shambling and erratic. Only the dim starlight gives it form, but it’s enough for me to see the twisting antlers and recognize what it is. A deer.

Except no deer moves like this. I’ve hunted them before. I know how graceful they can be. This…thing before us is nothing like that.

The deer jerks and twitches unnaturally with every step, antlers gnarled and deformed, clicking with every swing of its head.

This isn’t right.

As sure as I was before, trusting in my gut instincts, so I am sure again. For now, they tell me to run. To get the hell out of here before this thing comes any closer. Because there is something very wrong here.

I open my mouth to whisper this to He’rox when he suddenly stiffens as if the air itself has gone dead.

It is only a moment. There is no time to react. Because the deer, a peaceful, graceful prey animal that it should be, suddenly snaps its head in our direction. I don’t know how I know—possibly a gift from a sixth sense—but I know the creature is focused not on He’rox, but on me. I can feel its attention like a dark sickly shadow crawling over me.

And just like that, it charges.

Its rattling shriek cuts through the silence of the night as it lunges forward, antlers aimed straight at me. The darkness is no ally, for the speed at which this thing moves, I get a moment’s clarity that I’m about to be impaled. He’rox roars, pushing me back against the sleeping bag as he leaps to meet the deer’s attack.

I scramble back, gun in hand almost automatically as I lift it and aim. But even if the night wasn’t hindering my vision, it wouldn’t matter. I can only track them because I can barely make out He’rox moving, and for a moment, I can only stare, stunned.

He moves so smoothly, it is like a dance instead of a fight between life and death.

With silent surety, he grabs hold of the creature even as the animal bends and bucks, snapping at him and trying to pierce him with its antlers. He’rox grabs on to one and with a vicious wrench, he pulls, snapping the antler in two.

The deer screams and another chill goes through me. For the first time since brandishing my gun, it trembles in my fingers as the sound hits me. It is chillingly unnatural. Not any sound I’ve ever heard a deer make before.

As it rears up, He’rox brandishes its broken antler like a spear and lunges forward, driving the antler straight into its chest. The creature’s shriek cuts off, legs spasming out from under it. It collapses to the ground in a tangled heap and silence suddenly returns.

My breaths are uneven as I engage the safety on the gun, a lump in my throat that I force down as I lower the weapon and He’rox turns to face me.

I can’t make out his expression from the distance between us, but I don’t need to.

He just saved my life. Despite what happened between us down in that cave, it’s obvious he’s still on my side, and that’s all I need to know for now. Because it’s clear we need to work together. Something’s gone wrong. The natural order of things has shifted.

Before I open my mouth to speak, I look out over the forest beyond, eyes narrowing as I try to make out any shapes along the tree line. I can’t see anything, but even then, I hold my breath.

“It was traveling alone.” He’rox’s voice reaches me and I nod slightly. Still, I keep my gaze on the forest beyond.

“Something was wrong with it,” I whisper.

He doesn’t respond, and I don’t expect him to. I stated the obvious and yet, I needed to say it out loud.

When I pull my gaze from the forest, I realize he is still standing by the slain creature, unmoving. Watching me with the darkness enveloping him on all sides. Standing there, he looks everything as threatening as the deer that just tried to attack me.

I should be afraid. I know I should be. But of all the emotions that linger at the base of my spine, when I look at him, fear isn’t one of them.

Pushing the gun into its spot at my waist, I grip my flashlight and turn the beam on. Flashing it in He’rox’s direction, he stands against the night like a white sentinel. Still unmoving, his eyes reflecting the glare of the flashlight like a cat’s would do, and a shiver goes through me that still has nothing to do with fear.

So tall and strong. The only thing that mars his perfection is the splash of blood that’s smeared across his chest. Evidence of the battle he just won.

He’rox doesn’t move as I direct the beam to the creature lying dead at his feet and as the light settles on the animal, my breath stops in my lungs.

I can feel him watching me, waiting for my reaction, and I fight to keep my features schooled. Because nothing should surprise me anymore. I’ve seen the effects of the worst diseases. How they can deform and destroy. Nothing should make my stomach turn.

But this does.

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