Lupi 04 - Night Season

“Dondredii,” he hissed. He said it again, louder, calling out to Tash in a string of non-English words. Then he looked at Cynna.
    â€œRun!” Wen told her as he broke into a run himself, the little councilor grunting with pain at the jolting—but not complaining. “Get your people together! The dondredii come!”

ELEVEN
    C ULLEN looked up at the first shout. He got a good whiff about the same time. Not that he recognized the scent, but it said “carnivore” loudly.
    Brooks was lucid but clammy. Cynna had done right to wrap him in her coat—shock was a real danger, given the man’s physical fragility. Cullen couldn’t tell about the tibia, but one glance confirmed that Brooks’s wrist was broken—an obvious radial fracture needing immediate reduction and maybe surgery, judging by the visible misalignment. Only surgery wasn’t among their options.
    Neither was even crude bonesetting, not yet. “Sorry,” Cullen told his patient, and slid his arms beneath the leather and the man, rising with Brooks in his arms like an oversize infant.
    McClosky grabbed Cullen’s arm. “What are you doing?”
    Cullen jerked free. “Run, fool!”
    Cullen followed his own advice. His knee hadn’t finished mending, and his foot was still weak. He was slow. He lurched more than ran, but the group clustered around the presidential assistant wasn’t far. His burden was still conscious when Cullen knelt and unloaded him as gently as possible beside the Wright woman.
    Cynna and the rest were still sprinting toward them. McClosky puffed up just as Steve snapped, “What’s our target? And where?”
    â€œThat way,” Cullen said, nodding at the forest. “And I don’t know. You—Tash—what are these—”
    â€œShit, shit, shit!” Gan piped, shifting from foot to foot, eyes wide and bright with fear. “Shit, shit, shit!”
    Tash spoke calmly, her sword ready, facing the forest. “Dondredii aren’t true sentients, but they have a rough group intelligence. Wen thinks this pack numbers twenty or twenty-five. We have a chance. You are injured?”
    â€œKnee’s banged up. It’ll heal, but hasn’t yet. You?”
    â€œNot significantly.” She looked at Steve. “Do you have more bullets for that gun you shot me with?”
    â€œEight rounds left in this clip, and seven more clips.”
    Seven. Good God. Cullen spared a moment to bless Steve for being such a paranoid gun freak.
    â€œClips?” Tash repeated.
    â€œLots more bullets,” Cullen explained. “Do dondredii burn?”
    â€œShit!” Gan cried loudly.
    They poured out of the forest maybe a hundred and twenty yards away. They ran with a swinging gait halfway between ape and hyena, using their upper limbs as a second set of legs, and they smelled like spoiled meat. They made no cries, no sound at all, as they ran.
    Instinct struck, quick and brutal. Change. I have to Change, to meet the enemy armed with teeth and speed —
    Cynna skidded into place beside Cullen, beating Wen and the gnome by a few paces. “Holy shit. Give me my bag, man.” But she didn’t wait for it to be handed over, grabbing the bag as Wen arrived and dumped the gnome on the ground beside Brooks.
    A hundred yards and coming fast. They looked like zombie apes—pale, necrotic skin, grossly heavy upper bodies, and the flat faces of apes or men.
    Wen stretched out a hand. Tash slapped a knife into it. “Across from me,” the big woman told him, adding something in her own tongue before switching back to English. “Wen will try to disrupt their group mind, but working alone, he may not succeed. They’ll surround us before attacking. Those with weapons or killing magic will form a circle around the rest.”
    â€œWhat do I do?” Panic made McClosky’s voice high and shrill. “I don’t have a weapon.”
    Ruben spoke from the ground, his voice thin but clear. “You will move to the center of the circle and attempt to keep Ms. Wright alive. Agents Timms and Weaver, take direction from Tash.”
    â€œCynna Weaver,” Tash said, “can you kill?”
    â€œYeah, I’m not as good as Timms, but I can shoot something that wants to eat me when it’s close enough.” Cynna smelled scared. She sounded and looked ready, though, had her weapon out and steady.
    â€œYou