Page 80 of The Boy With The Sharp Teeth
Aroar shook the air and the earth around them. It was their only warning.
Thesound of glass shattering tore Sana's attention from Todd's fallen body as shelooked up in time to see a massive black arm punch through the window. Itsclawed hand grabbed Samons, who had moved to the opposite window from the door,enclosing around his neck. The ex-sheriff let out an ear-piercing screech justbefore his body was yanked through the window.
Fora brief moment, neither she nor Becker moved. They were frozen, wide-eyed tothe spot as they held their breath. They heard the thud of Samons body hittingthe ground just before the explosion sounded. Becker flinched from the windowas a spray of pink misted the other side of the partially broken glass.
Hishand holding the gun shook, and he stepped back a few paces from the window."You son of a bitch!" he yelled.
Somethingdark whirred by the windows just as sounds of more explosions rocked the earth.The rickety cabin shuddered dangerously around them, and Sana looked down atTodd and gasped. His face was paler now, and even more, blood-soaked his shirt.Shakily, she pressed both hands to his wound, wincing at his responding groan.
"I'msorry," she whispered, leaning closer to his body as another explosionshook the dilapidated house.
Beckerran eagerly to the window, leaning far to one side of the frame beforeswitching to the other side, desperately trying to see the whole scope of theminefield's damage. But from even where Sana knelt, she knew he was only seeingthe umber haze of dust clouding the air.
"Whatthe fuck is going on?" Becker mumbled under his breath as he moved awayfrom the window.
Somethingcracked from up above, and Sana looked up just as a beam from the ceilingslipped from the slanted wall and crashed to the floor a few yards away.Worriedly, she looked up at the remaining beams above her head. All rotted andleaning precariously with the house, she doubted any section of it would holdwith any more of the explosions.
Anotherroar tore through the air.
Withhis back to the front door, Becker looked wildly between the two windows oneither side of his swinging his gun back and forth. Sana tried to flattenherself against Todd, pushing her weight onto her hands, covering the wound.
Somethingheavy crashed against the other side of the door. Becker let out a yell, andhis gun went off as he scrambled to get out from underneath the falling door.Sana tried not to scream as two large shapes rode the fall of the door as itslammed to the ground. Two of the biggest wolves she had ever seen glanced ather briefly, their primal eyes flashing in the low gloom of the rotting cabinbefore finding their true target. Becker realized their intent a half a secondtoo late. His face was set into a mask of wild desperation as he lifted the gunto aim at the pouncing beasts, but they were too fast. The dark brindle wolf'smaw closed in over the man's wrist, holding the gun while the gray and whitewolf that reminded Sana of a timber-wolf landed on his chest, its snarlingmouth snapping dangerously as the man beneath it screamed and thrashed like amadman for his life.
One,two, and three more shots struck wildly into the ceiling as the wolves foughtthe man. Sana winced with each report of the weapon, her heart clenching eachtime as she prayed no one would get hit. Looking to the now gaping doorway,Sana's mind stopped as she saw the giant figure standing in the yard. Itsbright golden eyes met hers. As if waiting for her to look its way, thecreature arched its back and spread its long arms, and released an almightyroar.
Sanalooked away. Years of nightmarish images and homespun fears exasperated withtime and imagination stood before her flesh and blood—and covered in midnightfur. The sound of the gun hitting the floor with a clatter pulled her attentionback from the desolate realm of her fear. Turning to look over her shoulder,she could see Becker still thrashing beneath the massive wolves, but shecouldn't quite make out what they were doing to subdue him.
Adark blur flew past her, and she felt a tug at her back. Letting out a shortscream, Sana whipped around only to come face to face with two large brownwolves staring at her. Reaching forward, one wolf nipped at her shoulder untilit caught up a mouthful of her clothes and tugged at her.
"Wait!Stop!" she cried as she felt her whole body begin to drag across thefloor.
Outside,the large bipedal beast let out another snarling roar as it paced back andforth in the upturned clearing in front of the house.
Thesecond wolf grabbed another section of her sweater, its teeth only grazing herskin underneath as it clamped on and began to drag her in unison with the otherwolf. Fear and instinct told her to fight at the wolves, but something in hermind reminded her these weren't wolves. Memories of smiling faces sittingaround her dinner table pressed themselves upon her reminding her that she hadshared a meal and laughter with these men turned wolves. These were her familynow, and they were obviously only trying to help.
"ButTodd," she voiced frantically as they had her halfway out the front door.Pointing a bloody hand, she tried to get them to understand. "Todd ishurt, please get-"
Herwords were cut off with a yelp as she felt a clawed hand wrap around the collarof her sweater and another around her waist, hauling her up and off the cabinporch. The world around her spun as the beast carried her back towards theforest. She froze as she felt its muzzle sniff and prod at her body ininspection.
"Giveher to me," a voice said.
Withouthesitation, she felt the beast lower her to the man standing by the truckbefore turning with a guttural snarl. Sana kept her eyes on the man andlistened to the creature stalk back to the cabin. She blinked up at the man whocarried her and realized he was speaking.
"Sana!Sana, darling, say something!" he demanded.
Feareased in her overly strained mind, and she let herself take a breath, easingthe pain in her burning lungs. She had been holding it the moment the beast hadtouched her. Blinking again, she nodded as she allowed recognition for Adam tosink in.
"Yes,"she whispered, not even sure what she was saying yes to.
"Areyou hurt?" he asked, setting her down on the seat of his open truck.
Shakingher head, she began to look back at the cabin but stopped herself, she couldn’tlook. She didn’t want to see the creature Zach had become—not yet. "No,but Todd is-"
"Fuckhim," a voice behind her growled. "He was a part of this."
Turningin her seat, Sana stared at Elijah, who was standing on the other side of theopen door of the truck. Climbing into the truck, he scooted over in the seatand leaned over until he could grasp her by the waist. With surprisingstrength, he pulled her the rest of the way inside of the truck cab until shewas sitting in the middle and Adam could climb into the driver's seat. Startingthe engine, Adam drove the truck past other vehicles that were parkedhaphazardly along the road. Vehicles she recognized as belonging to some of theWaatese men. Some of them even had their engines still running and doorshanging open as if they had stopped and ran out of them in a hurry.
Silently,Sana sat between the two men as Adam drove, and Elijah cleaned off her handsthe best he could. Somehow the boy looked older than he did that morning, shethought as she watched him lift each of her arms and shift her legs as hedeterminedly looked for any injuries on her person. Maybe it was the fierceexpression that seemed carved in his face as he looked her over. He was angry,very angry, she determined.
