Her Wild Hero

Kendra knew she couldn’t go directly toward the hybrids. She needed to lure them well away from Declan before she tried to take them out. That way, if she failed—which was pretty likely—Declan would still have a chance. Best case, they wouldn’t be able to find him at all. Worst case, at least she’d give him time to wake up.

She closed her eyes and tried to get a feel for which way the wind was blowing. Ivy had taught her the trick of turning until you felt the breeze on your cheeks, and it pretty much worked. Fortunately, it didn’t seem like the wind would carry her scent down to the hybrids. If she moved slowly and carefully, and didn’t make any noise, she stood a good chance of getting away from the shelter without them realizing that she was there. As fast as her heart was beating, she’d be amazed they hadn’t already heard it.

She turned parallel to the stream and headed away from the hybrids, which meant she was going in the same direction they were. Moving quietly along the rocky slope she was on proved difficult while wearing her goggles. The less-than-stellar depth perception the things provided made avoiding all the stones damn near impossible. But she did it, at least long enough to get out ahead of the slow-moving hybrids before slipping down toward the stream.

She turned to look over her shoulder. It took a few moments to find them in the dark. Three of them were crawling along the ground on their hands and knees, sniffing as they went, while a fourth walked beside them. Crap, she could recognize the one walking—it was Marcus’s second-in-command. And he was leading his group of hybrid bloodhounds right toward Declan’s hiding spot.

They were moving at a slow pace. If she was trying to escape, she very likely could have, but that wasn’t what she was trying to do.

It was hard to tell for sure, but the hybrids were probably getting close to the section of the stream where she and Declan had headed up the slope to their makeshift shelter. If the creatures were locked on a good scent, they’d be turning up the slope any second.

She needed to get their attention before they reached that point.

Flipping up her goggles—she’d never be able to hit anything with them on—she hefted her M4 to her shoulder and sighted at the second-in-command. If there was one hybrid she wanted to kill first, it was him. She popped off one three-round burst at him. She didn’t wait to see what she hit. She just dropped her NVGs back into place and took off running.

Being stealthy wasn’t important now; moving as fast as possible was. She wanted the hybrids to know exactly where she was. And she wanted them to chase her.

Behind her, their growls got louder as they got closer. Their boots pounded the ground as they caught up to her. They were even faster than she thought. At this rate, they’d be on her before she got far enough away from the shelter.

Hating to do it, but knowing she had to slow them down at least a little, Kendra slid to a stop, then turned and lifted her M4. She had maybe fifteen rounds left, at most. She couldn’t afford to waste one of them. She flipped the selector switch to semi and carefully lined up a shot at the first hybrid sprinting toward her. Well, as lined up as she could get it while wearing NVGs. She squeezed the trigger slowly, refusing to let adrenaline get the best of her.

She fired three carefully aimed shots, hitting at least one of them and making all four hybrids slow down. She got another forty or fifty feet before they were on her heels again. Not that she was complaining, but why the hell weren’t they shooting at her? Were they so interested in killing her with their fangs and claws that they’d rather chase her than shoot her? She supposed she should consider herself lucky—until she thought about how painful those fangs and claws were going to feel tearing her flesh.

The chase turned into a crazy game of Red Light, Green Light as she turned around at random to shoot at the creatures. While it slowed them down, the game couldn’t last forever. For one thing, she didn’t have enough ammo. For another, she was getting tired much faster than the hybrids ever would. But she’d put a fair distance between them and Declan—maybe almost a mile. Would it be enough? She could only hope it was at the same time she pushed for more.

Then she heard her pursuers crashing through the jungle from her left and right, and she knew she’d made it as far as she could. They were flanking her in an effort to end the chase.