There was no way she could take on this many by herself; there were more than she’d ever battled alone. She battled ice-cold fear in the pit of her stomach as more and more orcs grasped at her, broken teeth snapping the air.

“Focus,” she growled as she stumbled against a broken curb, almost losing her footing. Catching herself, she adjusted her grip on her sword, cutting through the orcs grabbing at her sleeve, knocking them away and moving on to the next without pause. Stopping meant death for her, for the children . . . for their home.

Charging through a pair of orcs, she swung her sword, dragging it across the backs of their necks as she spun, kicking out to knock them to the ground. There were too many; the orcs came in never-ending masses, and she couldn’t take them on herself. She needed to focus on getting everyone to safety instead of trying to reduce the enemy’s numbers.

Most of her people were back at the hospital, but Rachael could still hear screaming from across the lot, behind the orcs that changed direction to trail her. Throwing caution to the wind, she took a deep breath and charged, ducking and dodging and weaving, chasing the screams.

She was vaguely aware of someone yelling her name behind her, but she couldn’t focus on that now. Swinging her sword arcing down into an orc’s skull, she yanked hard, pulling it out of one orc’s head to slice through another’s neck, never stopping long enough to let any of them grab her.

She spotted a man with a boy and a girl backing away from the orcs. The man—Rachael couldn’t remember his name—stood in front of the kids, doing his best to protect them.

“This way!” Rachael yelled, waving to them.

The boy bolted toward her, and she kicked an orc back with a solid foot to the chest, grabbing the small child and pulling him up onto her back.

“Hold on tight,” she shouted as he wrapped his arms and legs around her. She gestured to the man to do the same with the little girl, but he was frozen in fear, the child’s terrified screams drowning out Rachael’s yells.

She made a split-second decision and charged the orc that stood between them, swinging her sword more slowly with the extra weight on her back, but still managing to land a solid blow that knocked the rotted form out of her way.

The girl ran to her as soon as the orc was down.

“Run!” Rachael yelled to the man to follow, to run, but it was too late. He screamed as orcs swarmed him, ripping and biting. Rachael grabbed the toddler, hoisting her up on her hip, fighting back the wave of nausea that threatened to overcome her.

Too weighed down to fight, and barely able to run, Rachael panicked as the orcs turned their attention away from the now dead man to her. Struggling to move with any agility or speed, she tried to dodge around an orc as it grabbed at her shirt, shredding the cloth but missing her skin.