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The howls intensify as we run, cohtening around us like a net But we don&039;t spot another olf until, cutting our way through a ss Shark to the ground The pair roll away froroup swiftly train their weapons on the beast, I&039;n myself to the loss of our leader

But Shark isn&039;t ready for the grave just yet Staggering to his feet, he shoulders the howling olf away The others can&039;t shoot because he&039;s in their way, and Shark lost his gun in the attack

"Down!" Stephen yells, desperate to put a bullet through the olf&039;s head

Shark has other ideas Jerking a knife froe beast and drives the blade into its sto on its left ear for extra impact The olf screa his shirt and much of his flesh to shreds But Shark jabs at it a second time and a third, and its hands drop away Mos it off and hobbles free

"Are you OK?" Meera asks as he rejoins us, casting a worried look at his injuries

"I&039;ve cut runts He retrieves his rifle and pushes up beside Ti around the waistband of his trousers

As we clear the copse, we spot an ar towards us from our far left The beasts at the front look like they&039;re part of the enhanced breed We can also hear crashing and snapping sounds in the trees behind us-the pack froht up

"There!" Ti except a lot of rocks jutting out of the ground, but he seems sure of himself As we hurl ourselves after Ti skills were as accurate as he led us to believe

I don&039;t look back as we run, but I hear the olves closing in The creatures who&039;ve been chasing us fro fresh on the scene to create a chorus of howls and screeches that could drown out the sound of a nuclear detonation I feel hot breath on the back of ination

Tirabs it with his left hand and pivots, lobbing a boht The explosion and screams of the olves are music to my ears But as I coht of the beasts, no lee shrivels up like the petals of a flower at the heart of a furnace

There&039;s no sign of Timas For a horrified second I think he&039;s been snatched by a olf But then I see his bony ar us on

Shark is next to make it He dives in and Timas&039; arm disappears The rest of us come abreast of what looks like just a hole in the rock, less than a h But as I look closer I see that the floor is lower than the ground out here, so you can stand inside It&039;sto complain about that

Shark pops up like a jack-in-the-box He aims over our heads and fires at the olves There&039;s a grunt three or four centimetres behind my ear and I realise they&039;re even closer than I feared

Screa madly, I wrap an arm around Meera&039;s waist and hurl her into the hole, like a basketball player ainst one of the walls inside the entrance and cries out with pain But at least she&039;s out of the reach of the olves

Prae ducks in after Meera and scurries forward I almost collide with Stephen as we both try to push in at the sae of us standing here, politely , "No, after you," until we&039;re carved up and consuratefully dive in ahead of him

Meera and Prae have shuffled deeper into the cave Ti up a series of devices to the walls around the entrance For once he isn&039;t grinning By his expression, you htly perturbed

Shark is still standing half out of the cave, roaring as he ee into the hordes of olves Stephen falls into the cave backwards, firing as he topples He takes out a hich was just about to snap Shark&039;s head off

"Back!" Timas yells

Shark i the rest of us from outside, dives into the hole after his caught He screarabs for Liaain

"Hold on!" Stephen shouts, wriggling forward, firing around Shark and Liam

Liam jerks forward a few centimetres It looks like Shark has him, but then he&039;s wrenched out of the cave

For a brief ht Then the hole fills with the heads and upper torsos of dozens of olves They snap and lash at each other, fighting to be first in

Before the olves can sort themselves out and slither into the cave, Ti a button on a tiny detonator as I leap for safety Then there&039;s the mother of all explosions and the roof around the entrance coing us into darkness, ento for several ed with dust and bits of debris We craay fro our faces with jackets and T-shirts, breathing shallowly The roof slopes doards and after a while we have to bend When that becomes uncomfortable, we sit and wait for the air to clear I&039;m exhausted I could happily fall asleep where I&039;hs, spits out so, then says, "Who&039;s still alive?"

"Me," Tiasps

"Me," Stephen says ood friends with Liah the fabric of roans, "though I feel like half my ribs are broken What the hell did you throw rowl

"I could have saved !"

We laugh at the same tiht a torch" Nobody says anything "Brilliant So we&039;re stuck here in the-"

Soht It&039;s coun, fro, Tih to illurin is firreen light

"Re not to ss as if it&039;s no big thing, then raises his rifle so we can see ht, cra on how you look at it) The roof is much lower than it was at the entrance and dips even ed and jab into me The floor is sandy and littered with sharp stones It&039;s hurateful to be alive and in a olf-free zone to feel anything but utter delight-love, als

"How far back does this run?" Shark asks

"That information wasn&039;t on the charts," Timas says, then sets his rifle down "Wait here" He craay fro to be told that air one for what feels like twobefore I hear him He can move in almost perfect silence when he wishes He returns to his rifle, picks it up and sets it on his lap "The news is both positive and negative," he says "The cave is approxi, but it doesn&039;t finish with a wall There&039;s a sh from the other side So we needn&039;t fear suffocation"

"That sounds good to me," Shark says "What&039;s the bad news?"

"The floor isn&039;t solid" Tirit and srowls

"This area is riddled with se the opening on the other side of the hole is-it wasn&039;t on any of the h to pered, and the olves catch our scent, they&039;ll be able to burrow through"

Shark frowns "If the hole&039;s small, we could block it"