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T he world slowed to a crawl. The steady thump of my heart drummed in my ears as fire pumped in my veins. They outnumbered us eight to two. The Telvian Enforcement officers turned their heads to see our faces, and I watched as recognition clicked into place, one right after the other.

It was go time.

I aimed and fired my stunner, taking out the officer closest to us, while Jacob whirled around at my side and fired twice, taking out at least two more behind me.

That was all the advantage we had…the precious seconds they wasted trying to add up the pieces were all the time we needed to take three of them out.

But then that advantage was gone, and suddenly, everything happened fast.

A guard to my left fired off several rounds at me as I leaped forward, somersaulting across the ground, popping back up on my feet, and leaping behind a parked car as more gunshots went off. I whipped around to see Jacob, who jumped in through a broken window of a nearby store.

Good. He was safe for now. I turned my attention back to the six officers that remained, took aim, and then fired again.

Zap, zap!

Another guard dropped to the floor, but not before he fired his assault rifle, causing me to squeak as I dropped back behind the car for cover.

Five.

ZAP! Zap, zap!

Keeping my back pressed against the car, I glanced over and watched as Jacob’s blond locks peeked out from behind the wall of the store, and he fired off several rounds. Another guard dropped to the ground.

Four.

I looked over the hood of the car, seeing the four remaining officers, and lifted my stunner to fire. The electrical charge flew through the air, but missed the officer I was aiming for. Damn!

BANG, BANG!

I dropped back behind the car as the bullets came whizzing past me. I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath, and then…shot up, aimed, and fired in one fluid successive movement.

ZAP!

The charge shot out again, and this time, nailed the officer. His body fell to the ground in a limp heap.

Three.

BANG!

I yelled out as I dropped back behind the car, gripping my right arm.

“Shit!” I breathed out, wincing in pain.

“Holy mother!” He got me. He got me right in the same damn arm as the stupid hellhound bite.

I cursed a few more profanities as I lifted my arm to examine the damage.

I was lucky. I was so, so lucky that I should have kissed the ground in gratitude.

Because that full metal jacket just grazed my arm, cutting a slice in it, butterflying my flesh wide open as it did.

If it had hit my bone… I shivered. I don’t think I would have had an arm left.

I bit the inside of my cheek as I rested my head against the car, hearing several more rounds go off in my direction. I looked at my arm again, watching the fabric of my jacket absorb the blood before it dripped on the floor.

Crap…

I glanced in Jacob’s direction and saw him pop off another few rounds while two of the remaining officers slowly encroached on him. There wasn’t much time, but I desperately needed first aid. Shifting my body, I tried to slip my backpack off my shoulders—

“Damn it,” I muttered under my breath. Where was my backpack?

I desperately looked around, scanning the ground for my bag.

It was gone. Somewhere along the way, amongst dodging falling F-18s and being under the fire of Apache helicopters, I must have lost my stupid bag.

I grunted as I thrusted my head against the metal of the car, jaw clenched.

It’s going to be fine. Everything’s going to be fine.

I had my 9mm still strapped to my hip, and my stunner.

The handgun had 12 rounds in it, and the stunner—I lifted it up and released the battery clip—had about eight charges left.

After that, I was out of ammo for both weapons, and I still had a long way to go.

I gritted my teeth as my arm throbbed. I put my stunner down and reached to my belt, undoing the buckle and trying my best to slip it off.

I needed something to slow down the bleeding.

I wasn’t in danger of bleeding out, but I also couldn’t be walking around the REG, leaving a trail of bloody breadcrumbs.

Hopefully Jacob still had his bag, because if he didn’t, we were going to be super screwed.

There’d be no point in making it to the REG lab if he didn’t have the bomb with him.

I started wrapping my belt around my upper arm and then tightened it, gritting my teeth and doing my best to keep from yelling out in pain.

I looked away as I cinched it down harder, my eyes falling on my brother holed up in the store.

Movement caught my eye as an officer held out a grenade, pulled out the pin, and threw it through the store window.

“Jacob!” I yelled, jumping out of my spot, and ran for him.

I didn’t make it far before the explosion went off, causing what few shards of glass remained to blow out as fire and plumes of smoke poured out of the window.

And then I screamed, because my brother was in that store just moments before, and now he was dead, exploded to bits from the blast. I kept running toward it.

I had to see if he made it, see if he was still alive, and I didn’t care about anything else.

That was my mistake.

I flew off the ground to the left, tackled by someone or something.

And suddenly, I was back at the tower, my face scraping along the dirt as the hound’s body pinned me to the ground.

I tried to fight it off, watching as its teeth came at me, its snarling maw opened in that unnaturally wide bite.

I screamed, because this was it. I had survived these monsters twice before, only to be taken down now, so close to the end.

I guess the third time really was the charm after all.

“Mara!” I heard my name, but I couldn’t see who it was. All I heard was the crashing of the ocean and that incessant alarm that never stopped blaring, never eased up, as the distant howls of more hounds called into the night sky.

“Mara, get up!”

Wait a minute, wasn’t it daylight just a few seconds ago? How could it be night already?

“Mara!”

I looked up and watched as those teeth came down, snapping at my face.

SMACK!

I felt the sting across my right cheek, causing my face to go flying to the left. “Ouch!” I opened my eyes.

It was daylight. The sound of constant gunfire and the thunderous, muted booms of bombs out in the distance invaded my ears. I heard the continued scream of people and children crying, as the smell of smoke and ash drowned out my sense of smell.

“Mara!” I looked and saw Jacob hovering over me. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry I slapped you, but we’ve got to go. We’ve got to go right now!” I heard the urgency in his voice as I blinked several times, completely confused.

“But where are the hounds?”

“What?”

“A hellhound attacked me,” I muttered, my mind trying to piece together what just happened.

Jacob grimaced as he looked at me in pity. “There are no hounds, Mara.”

“But—I saw it.” Oh my god, was I hallucinating?

“There aren’t any hounds, Mara,” he said, voice somber. “But we’ve got to go.” He grabbed my good arm and slowly hoisted me to my feet.

What the hell just happened to me? I shook my head, and suddenly, I was aware of the pain in my arm again. The constant throb and ache. And then I remembered the bomb in the shop, which was confirmed by a quick glance at the store that was burning from the inside out.

“But the grenade,” I mumbled, still trying to piece it all together.

Jacob worked furiously, pulling out gauze from his bag and wrapping my arm up. “They were going to have me cornered, so I ran into the back of the store and found a back entrance to the alley. I wasn’t in the shop when the grenade exploded.”

I looked around, seeing the two officers that had been attacking Jacob on the ground, and then I saw the third one on the floor by my feet. Is that what hit me? The Enforcement officer? But the hellhound…

“It was so real,” I whispered. “The hound was so real.”

Jacob finished wrapping my arm and slung his bag on his back before cupping my cheek. “I know…it was like it was really there, right?”

Tears blurred my vision. Was I going insane? This was the third time something like this had happened to me. “Am I going crazy?” I looked at my brother, staring into his scuffed-up face and bright blue eyes.

“No,” he cooed. “It’s okay. It’ll be okay.

They’re just flashbacks. Bad memories that feel really real.

I’ll help you with them, but we can’t do it right now.

We’ve got to get to the REG fast , okay?

Just stay focused on me. And if you see another hellhound, just remember that it’s just a memory, a bad nightmare. It’s not real, okay? Just a memory.”

I nodded.

It was a memory…just my mind playing tricks on me. I took a deep breath as I blinked, trying to get my head back in the game. Back into this battle, this current fight for my life.

“Attagirl,” he whispered as he planted a kiss on my forehead. “We’re almost there.” Then he took my hand and pulled me forward. REG Command was only a block away.