Monster Mine by Meg Collett Page B

getting to a secure location with a roof over our
heads and locks on the doors. By the time we were halfway back, we
all caught the first strains of a low-thrumming tick tock .
    Our bodies tensed. We wouldn’t survive
another attack. On Hatter’s other side, Thad lifted his nose to the
sky and took in a long drag of air.
    “ Easy!” Thad called as
halflings lifted their guns. “It’s just Hex’s pack on our flanks.
Keep moving.”
    I saw them then, our allied aswangs
moving through the shadows around us as we came to the main street
in front of our warehouse. They bounded along, truly guarding our
sides. Behind us, some leaped from rooftop to rooftop, guarding us
from above. They called back and forth with high-pitched clicks
that were far different from the wild barking I’d heard in the
alley.
    One darted in close, loping forward
with long, ground-eating strides. He was absolutely massive, the
biggest ’swang I’d ever seen, including the ones who’d just
attacked us. Through his dense, black fur, I saw the rigid muscles
contracting and pulsing. His coat was shiny and unscarred, his eyes
completely black. Curved ears swiveled around, listening to every
scant sound. He drew up next to Ollie and Luke, who stiffened and
tried to pull her away.
    “ It’s just Hex,” she said,
breathing heavily beneath his weight.
    I noticed the moment Hex must have
said something to Ollie, because her attention snapped to him.
Whatever she said back through her thoughts had some sting to it.
Her eyes narrowed and her mouth frowned in disapproval, even though
he came up to her shoulder, his massive snout level with her eyes.
He literally dwarfed me, and maybe Ollie had the balls to talk back
to him in her head, but I tucked in closer to Hatter. On my
shoulder, I felt his grip tighten on me.
    “ Almost there,” Thad
said.
    In front of us, halflings were
spilling through the bay door, which Ghost had rolled open, the
echo of metal chains still clanging through the empty night
air.
    Hex’s pack peeled off and disappeared
back into the night as the halflings went safely inside. With one
last look at Ollie, Hex joined them, and just like that, they were
gone.
    As soon as we were under the bay’s
rolling door, it began to lower. Halflings spread out, securing
locks and taking positions at windows. They had to be beat, but
they all moved with military precision. Some started reloading ammo
clips from the crates lining the back wall. They started up a sort
of assembly line to distribute ammo and fresh weapons. Others laid
out the injured on the warehouse floor. Ghost darted between them,
med packs stacked high in his arms. He’d come prepared. Along the
wall with the cabinets, Lauren started unlocking the drawers and
pulling out unmarked pill containers and pre-filled syringes. She
was working with black and blue bruised eyes and a taped
nose.
    “ Where’d they go?” Ollie
panted and helped Luke to the ground.
    “ They have positions
around the building,” Thad said. “Hex will probably lead a small
contingent out to search for the ’swangs who made it away from the
fight. They’ll terminate them by dawn.”
    “ And what about that
thing?” I asked.
    Hatter lay on the ground, his hand
still in mine. I hated seeing him among the injured. It tore my
heart out.
    “ That . . .”
Thad took a shaky breath. “Will be harder to track.”
    “ I’ll be right back,” I
told Hatter as I started heading toward the halflings laid out
closest to the cabinets Lauren was working next to, but before I’d
even taken two steps away, Thad pulled me back. “Help the unbitten
ones. Over there.”
    I frowned as I assessed the ones Thad
had indicated. “They’re not critical. I need to help
Lauren.”
    “ Reece and Ghost will help
her. You help them,” he ordered, his voice clipped, but there were
far too many bitten halflings over there for just three people to
assist.
    “ Are you crazy? What’s the
problem?”
    Lauren injected the