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Chapter 1

Ohtened whireeaker by the second Andra Madison could barely hear hih her ear was pressed to a crack in the brick wall of the abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of O sobs of fear broke her heart and made her want to tear the monsters who had kidnapped Sammy apart with her bare hands Or blow theun That worked, too

Even at three in the , the July air was still hot and thick with huain,There were at least fourSaed to defeat before And that battle had been a close call She wasn’t quite sure yet how she was going to get the boy out alive She’d have to wing it, and pray for the best

One of the rowl that sent a jolt of prih her systee to flee She planted her boots hard and gritted her teeth until the need to run aashed over her and started to fade She was left shaking and dripping with sweat, but at least she’d held her ground

Andra knew just what these creatures were capable of--had seen it with her own eyes onnoasn’t a good sign The e of Sa ripped to shreds by claws and teeth filled her mind and made her stomach heave She couldn’t let that happen Not this time

Andra had officially run out of ti and plan her attack Plan or not, she had to get little Saht now

She hopped up three cement stairs and twisted the knob on the old warehouse door, but it was locked Of course The ere too high for her to cli to find another way in There was no ti their baby home alive

Stupid, stupid, stupid

She never should have ht not be able to keep, but when faced with soeyes of helpless parents--so much love--she couldn’t help herself She’d foolishly wanted to give them hope

After all the times she’d failed to find a stolen child, or rescue them before it was too late, she should have known better than to e, said a quick prayer for luck, gripped her shotgun tight, and sla door Chunks of splintered wood burst into the giant roo held prisoner Andra crouched low, using the frame of the door for conceal for soet them both out alive

It was dark in there, with only a few streaks of grih the broken s set high in the walls The building was old, and it showed every one of its years in fallen beams and cracked mortar Graffiti covered the walls, and trash was heaped in little mounds here and there The wooden floor was filthy where it wasn’t sied holes to whatever space lurked below

Along the far side of the room she saw Sah to hold up the roof His eyes were huge with fear, and tears strea narrow lines of clean skin in their wake A dirty rag had been stuffed in hisfro He was still alive, thank God Now all she had to do was get him out of here in the saed

Piece of cake Or it would have been, had it not been for the hungry, salivatingbetween her and the boy

Andra had been hunting these things for eight years and she still had no other word for thes, with the head of a wolf and the body of a chi, sharp claws and teeth tostrings of glowing yellow saliva dripped froured out, the creatures that kept these things as pets liked to steal children

She didn’t see any of those six-foot-tall insectoid monsters around, but she knew they wouldn’t be far away from their precious pets

Her explosive entry had pulled the monsters’ attention away from the little boy and placed it squarely on her--a much better place for it, as far as she was concerned

They prowled toward her on all fours, their long claws leaving ragged scratches in the old wooden floor

Fear threatened to ht back the urge to flee and leave the boy to fend for his had the ability to s There was so unnatural about the fear they caused It wasface-to-face with sofor her life There was soe buried deep inside her that warned her that when she faced these er and darker than she was able to is she’d seen, she had a pretty vivid i, stay cal Sammy out alive She shut out that unnatural fear and pretended she was just facing down rabid dogs A terrified corner of her nored it as best she could

Andra prayed her hands would stop shaking long enough to get a clean shot; then she stood froest of the beasts There was still al less than a point-blank shot would just piss them off

So she stood there, just outside the doorhere they could come at her only one at a time, and waited for the an