Page 71 of Chaos & Carnage

“No! Cade!” It was my scream that filled the operating room again.

The man dragging me backwards gripped me tighter.

“Shut the fuck up, bitch,” he growled, waving his gun at everyone, slowing as he got to Caleb.

He was going to shoot Caleb. My brain stuttered, a sudden moment of cohesion bursting through me.

“Down!” I yelled, hoping everyone was paying attention.

And then I turned my head and sunk my teeth into his bicep. His flesh didn’t break straight away, not at first, but soon I felt the pop of skin as it gave, just like when I cut through it with a scalpel. But this was blunter, not the usual glide of a knife, the tiny pop and then the silky-smooth parting of the tissue. He screamed, shaking me off. Another bang. A huge deafening bang.

“Fuck! Alice!” I heard their voices.

Not just Cade, but Caleb, too. Cade vaulted the upturned table; Caleb ran across the room. The men in leather behind them scattered, Indie yanking Stuart to his feet.

In the corner, the oxygen tank burned, the fire quickly spreading up the cupboard door. The arm loosened, pushing me to the side. The last man standing was now on his back, a blond man straddling him, dealing blow after blow.

He stopped momentarily. “Chaos, get her out of here.”

Cade nodded, gentle fingers now on my arm, guiding me to the door.

“Cade. Cade.” My voice was a muddle of vowels and sounds. “The animals. We need to get the animals out.”

He nodded, looking over at me. “Magnet. Fury. We have to evacuate the animals.”

Behind me the fire blazed, but Caleb stayed, still punishing the man’s face.

Chapter Twenty Seven

“Carnage! Come on!” Indie shouted, the roar of the fire behind me making it hard to hear anything other than the blood pumping in my ears.

Underneath me, the man whose face had hurt my fists was limp. Blood running from his nose, which was now mashed into his face.

“We leaving these fuckers here to burn?” I asked, not moving from on top of him.

These fuckers had touched our girl. Cade’s girl. Alice. They had hurt Alice. They deserved to bake for it.

The first patter of water splashed down on top of my head, intermittent at first and then fizzing to life as the sprinkler system kicked in.

“Come on,” Indie grunted as he hauled the fingerless man backwards, pulling him out through the door and along the corridor, a trail of blood following them.

I looked around again. At the flames building in the corner of the room and the bodies that littered the floor. It was carnage in here. Too many bodies and not enough time. I had no idea how we were going to explain all this away.

Following Indie and the whimpering, sobbing excuse of a man, I rushed out of the burning vets. In front of us, my brothers juggled two dogs that were trying to fight each other, and three carriers of cats. Outside it was cold. Not quite icy, but the wind was picking up.

I scanned the street, watching to see how many curtains twitched, and how far away the police might be.

“We need to get out of here, lads,” Magnet rasped.

“What about these?” Cade lifted the cat carriers in his hands.

“We can take them to my house,” Alice replied weakly.

Fury nodded. “And him?”

“Someone needs to be here to give the right story,” Indie grumbled, pulling the man to his feet.

“Reckon he’ll be able to? He looks pretty fucked over?”