Part 27 (1/2)

'Just like I thought they would,' Derek said, a smug smile on his face as he looked over Lou's shoulder at the swarm of red blotches on the screen. 'We're heading west,' he said to all of them.

Geared up, she'd been standing around waiting over two hours since dusk for this, feeding off everyone else's impatience. Anxious and eager to go, they hustled into the jungle. Gina was primed and ready for a fight, having cast aside her doldrums over the night before.

This was her job now. She was going to kill demons. If it took the rest of her life, she was going to obliterate every single d.a.m.n one of them.

'We've got another mess of demons up ahead,' Dalton commed.

Derek and Dalton led the way. Derek wanted them all close tonight, so they stayed in a tight formation.

'Don't spread out until I tell you to start firing. Then I want you in groups of three like we talked about earlier.'

She'd be with Derek and Dalton tonight, sandwiched between two of the big, muscled he-men of the group. She smiled at the thought. And also felt safe.

There wasn't anything wrong with feeling safe. Especially knowing what was coming. Then again, once the fighting started, they'd all be battling their own demons and it wouldn't matter how the teams were broken out.

Once again, the flash of demons could be seen, like lightning streaking horizontally throughout the jungle grounds.

'Why are they coming at us with so much warning, approaching from so far away?' Gina asked.

Derek shrugged. 'Who the h.e.l.l knows? f.u.c.king with our heads, no doubt. They like to do that. They want to show us their numbers, scare the s.h.i.+t out of us.'

'It's working,' she whispered.

'They're close enough now,' Derek said. 'Spread out into groups and get into position.'

Their group was on the left, with Derek on the outside and Dalton on the inside, her in the middle. She moved forward and drew her weapon, tracking the demons as they approached.

d.a.m.n, they were fast. She blinked, trying to focus as they zipped back and forth across her field of vision.

'They're coming in fast,' Derek said. 'Be prepared for anything.'

She prepared to fire, but she got the idea they were going to come in too quick for her to sight them. She slung her rifle over her shoulder and pulled her guns out of the holsters.

One was coming right at her, seemingly h.e.l.l-bent in her direction. She swallowed hard and pushed aside her fear, aiming and firing one of the sonic bullets at it. It flew into the air and immediately began to swell, screaming in pain. She couldn't stop to watch because another came at her and she fired at it, too.

All around her the demons attacked. Fast, swirling.

'How many?' she shouted, though she didn't even know who she was asking.

'Too many! Fight them back any way you can,' was Derek's only reply.

Now they were close enough to touch!a danger zone. But they weren't attacking with claws and fangs. Why?

Gina's pulse raced, adrenaline at high speed. There weren't as many of the demons, but they were engaged hand-to-hand with these things. She felt them all around her, the air vibrating, the high-pitched whine of their nearly invisible movements causing her to pivot three hundred sixty degrees.

She was firing constantly, reloading and firing again, making herself dizzy with turns and attempts to focus on first one, then another.

She felt an icy cold hand on her wrist and dropped her guns. She jerked, tried to pull it away, but it was like a steel shackle had clamped down on her. Something was dragging her away.

'No!' she screamed. 'Derek!'

But in the melee surrounding her, no one responded.

'Get the h.e.l.l off me!' She kicked at them, but they had her pinned, surrounding her with their icy bodies like an arctic blanket. She couldn't breathe, couldn't move.

Oh, G.o.d, no. Not like this. 'Derek! Help me!'

More cold hands held her now, and she was falling, helplessly falling as the ground opened underneath her feet and oblivion took over.

Derek, help me!

Derek shot a demon, then another, pivoting around to search for Gina as her cry for help reached his ear comm.

s.h.i.+t. Where the h.e.l.l was she?

'Gina!' He looked to his right, but she wasn't in position. Only Dalton. 'Dalton, where's Gina?' he commed.

He sighted Dalton to his right, but he didn't answer, too busy battling back his own horde of demons.

Too d.a.m.n many of them again. His hunters were gaining the upper hand, though. He twisted and searched the area, firing his laser with one hand and the sonic gun with the other, obliterating demons in his path.

Where was Gina? Panic gripped him and he swiveled, determined to find her. He took one step and d.a.m.n near tripped over a hole in the ground.

A hole that was rapidly closing up.

'Dalton, Linc, need you here now!' he commed. 'Straight south, twenty yards. I need backup!'

Dropping to the ground, he felt the spot with his hand.

Hot to the touch. He closed his eyes and breathed in, swearing he could pick up Gina's scent.

She'd been here. Just now. She had screamed his name, begged him for help.

G.o.ddammit, they had taken her.

'What?' Dalton asked. 'We've got them beat. They're gone.'

'They f.u.c.king disappeared, man,' Linc said. 'What are you doing?'

'They took Gina. Right here.'

'You saw it?' Dalton asked.

'No. But I know it happened.'