Sinth Salvation - Pearl Tate Page 0,40

but these are not Earth Humans. There’s no time to waste if I want to draw them away from the bus full of children.

Another scream pierces the air, deeper and more articulate. I look back, worried Lilibeth may have disobeyed my order and followed me, but I’m staggered as I notice the elderly woman left her car and is now halfway to where I’m trying to draw away the raving creatures.

Phasing to her, I’m barely able to insert myself between her and a Taxin before it dives against my back, claws latching onto my clothing and teeth sinking into my side. Fuck, that hurts!

I spin fast enough to catch it with my laser and wonder how many more there could be. Fighting to maintain my phased position, I breathe deep and concentrate on each footfall as I help the elderly woman back to her car one step at a time, using one hand to slice through the masses with my laser as they continue to throw themselves at me, oblivious of the weapon and their fallen comrades. All reason is gone as they lunge and stumble, and I maintain my grip on the wiggling woman who crumples in my arms after a few steps.

Did she faint? I’m not sure, and I don’t have the time to figure out what her problem is as I struggle to open her door to shove her dead weight into her car. I’m reaching for the door handle as a snarling Taxin youth bounds across the roof of the car and throws itself at me. My laser strikes it through its throat, but incredibly, it continues to claw at my chest, spitting seawater at me while I fight to switch the device off.

Once the laser is released from where it’s sunk into the Taxin’s neck, I kick out at its drooling mouth as its claws grapple to maintain their hold on me. Switching the trakoline laser back on, I clear the area with a quick spin, making sure to keep my stance over the fallen, now moaning, woman.

Thankfully, the back door of her vehicle is unlocked, and it only takes a moment to bend down and throw her inside the back, slamming the door just in time to spin and decapitate another Taxin running full speed at my waist. Straightening, I glance toward the bus, appalled to see Lilibeth fighting with Taxin as the creature claws a man I didn’t notice before.

He’s caught in the tall door on the side of the bus, shaking his arm as multiple Wen-infected gnaw on his arm. It’s too late for him! Surely, Lilibeth realizes that. Why did she disobey me?

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

- Lilibeth

“Stay in the gateway!” Nikon yells at me as he phases across the field to get closer to the car and the moving mass of Taxin. I study the way he looks as he streaks across the distance. Amazing! He’s making the movement of running, but his movement is instantaneous. It looks more like a leap. One second, he’s by me, and the next—he’s there.

I follow him without even intending to! A grey-haired woman snags my attention as she screams and attempts to open her car door. With both his hands braced against the vehicle, she can’t succeed.

Fumbling with my bag, I’m right in his way as he spins around. His eyes widen until I slam the trakoline against his chest. “Take this!”

Stepping to the side, I wait to see how it works. I know he explained it to me, but will that kill them? He’s told me a few times we’re not supposed to kill them because they’re still attempting to develop an antidote or something. Effortlessly, he turns the device, making an adjustment he didn’t tell me about, and a two-foot beam shoots out the side of it!

Holy lightsaber!

He didn’t tell me it did that. I thought it was like a stun gun that disintegrated you or something. The section he’s holding in his hand is smaller than the end of a Star Wars lightsaber, but eerily similar. Watching in awe as Nikon spins in place, he doesn’t flinch as the bright white light shooting out the end slices cleanly and easily through the necks of three Taxin charging him. Thankfully, they don’t notice me as I’ve retreated into our gateway without even having to concentrate.

My stomach rolls uncomfortably as I stare down at the scaly faces at my feet. There’s not a ton of blood flooding out of their necks. Looking up at Nikon,