Surrender To Us, Our Luna (One Luna, Four Alphas) novel Chapter 90

Chapter 90: 90-They Left Him Out

Clementine:

I had almost stopped breathing. I watched the creature come out the same way as the other one, head down and sniffing across the ground. This time, it was headed straight toward me. I knew I had to move, but I had a terrible feeling that the moment I did, it would know I was there.

Carefully, I shifted my weight. My leg was half-raised, and I was balanced on the tip of my foot. I slowly placed it down, but the rough ground made a faint sound under the pressure. I held my breath. The creature lifted its head, as if trying to locate where the noise had come from.

I began to slide my front foot back, hoping to step away as quietly as possible. But it was getting harder, because the creature was moving fast, and I was trying not to make a sound.

That’s when someone came to the rescue.

I heard rocks hitting the ground on the other side, where the first creature had been standing. It was deliberate, and it was loud. I turned and saw Yorick throwing rocks to distract it. The creature raised its head and rushed toward the sound.

I had only a split second to move. I dove to the side, and the creature ran past me, chasing the noise.

Then I saw Yorick sprinting toward me.

Chaos broke out as the two creatures began fighting over the severed head. They were making so much noise that, at this point, we knew anything we did wouldn’t be heard over them.

Yorick ran straight toward me, grabbed my hand, and shook me out of my frozen state. Then he took off in the opposite direction from where we’d come. I heard my other squadmates following us. But the green squad started heading back the way they had come, as if they’d either given up or planned to regroup later.

For now, we were just racing through the village. The houses looked like they had been attacked. Their doors were wide open, and the creatures were everywhere. There were so many of them.

We suddenly realized we couldn’t go any farther. We stopped and stood in a tight circle, eyes scanning in every direction.

"How do we defeat them?" I asked, still watching the area to make sure none of them got the jump on us.

No one answered. Just silence. Then Yorick pointed toward one of the tallest buildings in the distance. It looked like a mansion.

"But we can’t go there," I said.

"Clementine’s right," Troy added. "What are the chances that the mansion is safe? It’s bigger than the rest of the houses. That just means more of those creatures could be inside."

Troy was with me on this, but Yorick had noticed something we hadn’t.

"There’s a big lock on the outside of the door," Yorick said, pointing. "And none of the windows are broken."

He paused, but we already understood what he meant.

"Which means none of the creatures have been inside yet," Haiden finished for him.

It made sense. That became our new goal.

I started to lift the hatch by hand, but it made such a loud screeching noise that we all panicked. The creatures’ chittering grew louder, they had heard us. They knew someone was among them now.

"Come on, hurry up! Forget about being quiet!" Yorick shouted, grabbing my hand to help me lift the hatch.

I had to let go, it was too heavy, too rusted. Only Yorick or one of the others could manage it.

While the others struggled to push the heavy door open, I caught a glimpse of the creatures sprinting toward us. They were fast, but not as fast as I had expected from their long, scaly legs. They took huge strides, but their pace wasn’t consistent. After a few seconds, they would slow down, then suddenly speed up again.

Suddenly, I felt a hand grab me and toss me inside. I hit the floor first. I think it was Yorick who had thrown me in. The others began piling in behind me.

Troy and Haiden made it through, but Yorick was still at the doorway.

That’s when I saw his expression shift. His eyes narrowed. For a split second, everything seemed to freeze.

And then, right before my eyes, something grabbed Yorick. It was probably a hand, or whatever it was, but it pushed him back. The White Squad suddenly appeared out of nowhere, rushing in and leaving Yorick behind. It was Joshua who had tossed him out.

"No, Yorick!" I screamed, getting up to run toward them. But the White Squad had already started the chaos. They pushed Troy and Haiden back as they came in.

And then Joshua and Jack started to close the door while Yorick was still outside.