Fangs of Fate (Untish #1)

Chapter 39

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

CHANCE

My chest was heaving with heavy breaths. I could barely maintain a sitting position and was half leaning on a wall, bracing myself to stay upright.

“They got you good.” Holland’s light brown eyebrows knitted together in concern. “I thought you wouldn’t make it…” her voice trailed off in uncertainty.

I understood it. Being emotionally vulnerable sucked. Perhaps the blood-haze sex had been a bad idea. I wasn’t sure I wanted to be emotionally responsible for someone else.

“Yeah, well they’ll have to do better than this.” I winked and tried to straighten. Immediately, I regretted it; stabbing pain filled my stomach and shot up to my chest. The wound was bad.

Dux Carran snorted as he towered behind Holland. “I’d say those claw marks are just about enough to take you down, boy.”

Saving my life or no, he was getting on my nerves.

“How did you know?” I’d been thinking about it since the circuit started cruising and we were a safe distance from the now decimated settlement. “The clubs. You were prepared.”

“Ach, yes. They come into my settlement and think they can treat us like prey? Ha.” He snorted. “I donno know what they are, but bullets didn’t stop many last time.” He puffed his chest, red chest hairs popping out from underneath his unbuttoned guara shirt that was now half shredded and completely covered in dried blood. “One thing you’ll learn as you age, boy: a club can kill most anything.” He winked at Holland. “If you’re ever open to some new tricks, I’d be happy to share my sizable knowledge with you.”

Holland’s face turned a brighter shade of red than I’d ever seen.

“So, you knew that bullets wouldn’t stop them and didn’t say anything?” Rage began to fill my veins. We could’ve been prepared. We could have fought them off better, maybe even won. I looked around the train car. We had left with maybe seventy men combined.

“I donno owe you anything. I saved your arse back there, donno forget it.” Dux Carran lowered his brows. Was he really threatening me?

“According to the Glenn’s Code of Conduct, you did owe me that knowledge.” I tried to stand and couldn’t—I crumpled even further into the wall. I needed a medic.

“Dale, just take it easy. We should be at the outpost in an hour or two. You need to refrain from moving if you don’t want to bleed out.” Holland gently adjusted me, bracing the wound.

“Listen to the lass, boy. I did not save your life so your pride could kill you.”

“How long have they been upright?” I wanted to strangle him. But if I couldn’t physically manage that, I could at least use my brain to gather intel.

“Since the first attack. Though, the swarm this last time was far larger than I’ve seen before.” This time, Dux Carran had the decency to look perturbed. Maybe there was more to this meathead than just sex, blood, and wine.

“They were on all fours at the last settlement,” Holland whispered, clearly thinking the same thing I was.

“They’re evolving.”

We reached the Southern Outpost an hour later. To my utter humiliation, Dux Carran hoisted me on his shoulders and carried me into the Medic Lounge to be seen. I protested, of course, but Holland’s pleading look—and the fact that I couldn’t even stand—demanded I just find a way to cope. I may not be able to walk, but at least I could say I’d had Holland. Twice. And despite Carran’s relentless flirting, Holland didn’t appear to be interested. Which, to my great entertainment, bothered the giant greatly. As it should.

I’d been sitting in the bed for the past six hours, connected to IVs and having all sorts of medications pushed. The sheets were scratchy. Guess not much had changed. The door opened and a familiar frame filled the door.

“Glad to see you’re up,” Holland said as she entered.

“Yeah, I bet you are.” I winked at her, and her face started to flush. I fucking loved that about her. “I think I’m about ready to yank this IV out. Tell me the bag’s almost empty?”

She walked over to the stand behind me and checked the bag. “Almost. I’d say another twenty minutes and you should be all done.”

“Good. We have a lot to do.”

“About that, we need to talk.” She sat on the edge of my bed and began playing with a frayed piece of fabric from her black pants. “These attacks are getting worse. We’ve survived two of them thus far, but I can’t imagine we’re the only ones. I’ve reached out to HQ and filed reports and they’ve simply accepted my reports and then classified them. I’ve tried to reach Dux Rusty and Dux Phillips, but they haven’t answered. What if…” She left the question hanging in the air.

“They’ll be alright. As much as I’d personally like to see Rusty bite the bucket, he’s too annoying to allow us the peace of his absence. Phillips is strong and smart. For all we know these were isolated events.”

“Really?” She leveled a look at me. “I’m not stupid, Dale. Dark magic is at play here and that likely means there are obscene amounts of magic being expended. The results would likely be larger than just two attacks. This Outpost hasn’t seen any attacks since the one last week. And as far as I can tell, they haven’t witnessed the creatures,” she lowered her voice with the last word.

“What are you saying?”

“These attacks are within our borders, Dale.”

She couldn’t be seriously insinuating we were responsible for their creation, could she? My father, as messed up as he was, wouldn’t violate natural law.

“No. We don’t have all the facts.”

“But Dale, I can’t even access security footage from the attack last week. It’s been deleted. And HQ?—”

“HQ has their hands full. We are under enemy attack, remember?” I couldn’t keep the snap out of my voice. “Look, Holland, I’ve served my entire life under the Glenn’s protective covering. I’ve watched my father enact laws to protect our way of life. There’s simply no way that HQ or my father has anything to do with this.” I placed my hand on hers and gave it a gentle squeeze.

She bit down on her tongue and averted her gaze. Fine, if she didn’t believe me then I’d prove it to her.

“Holland. We know the enemy has infiltrated our borders. These creatures are just another weapon, and we will defeat them.”

“You knew one of them,” her voice was barely above a whisper.

I clenched my jaw. She had me there. I don’t know how Arche Shultz became a creature, but he was listed as a casualty of the Eastern border attack from last week.

“I don’t know how he became that…that thing.” I ran a hand through my hair as I spoke. “But I do know he was murdered by the enemy and that means his body was likely taken when they escaped. I don’t understand why or how, but we know dark magic is capable of many things.”

Her pale brown eyes pierced my ice-blue ones. She wasn’t fully buying it.

“Here, let’s just go to the command center and start compiling reports from the recent attack, personnel, and any missing persons. Then we can contact HQ about any discrepancies, and I’ll request an immediate meeting with leadership for guidance on next steps.”

She nodded at me but didn’t seem convinced.

I gritted my teeth.

“There is a reason for procedure, Holland. We live in a civilized society because of law and order. Don’t forget that.”