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The cattle pusher punched through one layer, dragging them under the carriage.
Sunlight glinted in the distance, catching Johnathan’s attention.
Another vehicle? Couldn’t be Seung. And it wasn’t the direction Craige went in, even if was there was no way he’d be able to travel fast enough to go that far.
Johnathan squinted, but even with the eyes of the Sarvari, whatever he saw was too distant to identify.
A hard boom to the side of the truck snatched his attention. Glass blew out from the passenger window covering the seats.
Curs pushed the side of the truck, tilting it until it threatened to roll. Johnathan hit the gas, and the back tires sprayed blood-soaked fur. The truck found traction, and broke free of the curs swarming over it.
Johnathan cut around the perimeter, angling the truck’s front so the extending ridge of the cattle pusher aligned with attacking animals.
The guard impacted a line of curs clamoring over each other to get to the Anubis. Their limbs tangled up in the metal bars. Bones snapped, and the momentum of the truck ripped them off, leaving the creature thrashing on the ground. A free meal for their own to devour.
It knocked down the numbers but gave the others a source of food, enabling them to heal faster.
But it also made for a great distraction and put their heads low enough for a direct hit.
Johnathan threw the truck in reverse. A series of thumps rocked the vehicle, and a trail of beheaded animals carpeted the ground.
The driver’s side window erupted, and a set of jaws snapped the air close to Johnathan’s cheek. Black threads poured down his arm, and he seized the cur by its skull. The bones folded in his grip, and Johnathan twisted his wrist, tearing the head from its shoulders. He tossed it out the passenger window as he spun the vehicle around, avoiding another attack.
The right front tire exploded, dropping the truck to the ground, then both rear tires blew out. Curs shook the bits of rubber before abandoning them and diving for the rims.
“Fuck.”
Johnathan put the truck into four-wheel drive. The vehicle slid for a moment. Then the bare rims became blades instead of mallets, severing spines, heads, limbs.
The Anubis turned on the survivors, transforming them into confetti. The remaining curs scattered.
Chaos stilled, and the Anubis stood amid a mountain of dead.
Seung had told Johnathan stories of the devastation the Anubis and its army of Sarvari could bring.
Johnathan no longer had to imagine what that looked like.
The Anubis waded through the carnage. Its narrow ribs pumped up and down and its exhales left white clouds at the end of its muzzle. With each step in Johnathan’s direction, black threads unwound, shrinking its form, freeing Nash Kelly.
He dropped to his knees.
Johnathan stopped the truck and got out.
Cur blood soaked Nash’s skin and matted his hair. Gashes lingered on his back and sides.
Johnathan jogged over. Bits of flesh and entrails squished under his boots.
“Hey.” Johnathan held up his hands. “That you? Or…”
“Me…” Nash lifted his head.
“C’mon, let me help you back to the truck.”
“There will be more.”
“And you’re spent.” Johnathan knelt. “You need calories.”
“And I don’t have time.”
