We pushed into the branches, heading toward town, toward school, toward Patrick. Alex leaned on her hockey stick, using it like a crutch. We hadn’t made it ten steps when we heard a crackling of branches, something moving swiftly toward us.

The sound of a body crashing through underbrush.

I stepped protectively in front of Alex. The crackling grew nearer, nearer.

Chet’s hulking form emerged, shredded clothes swaying about him. One of his hands was gone, the other mangled by Zeus. Bite marks raked his torso and face, and yet he still came at us, drawing back the nub of his arm to strike.

Stepping forward, I swung a baling hook straight down through the top of his head, sinking it a half foot deep.

The weight of the blow sent him to his knees. I kicked him, and he collapsed to the side. Then I set the tread of my boot on his lifeless cheek and ripped the hook free of his skull.

It surprised me how little I felt.

Alex was behind me, drawn back against a tree, her chest rising and falling from the scare.

“You okay?” I asked.

Again she regarded me with that expression I couldn’t quite read.

“Why do you keep looking at me that way?” I asked.

“You’re not who you were,” she said.

I wiped the bloody hook across my jeans. “None of us are anymore.”

She pushed herself off the trunk, balancing on her good leg.

“These woods are full of Hosts,” she said. “You ran into so many on your way to me. I don’t know that I can outrun them.”

“Don’t worry,” I said. “We’ve got friends here.”

“What do you mean?”

I put my fingers in my mouth and gave a sharp whistle.

Nothing.

I stared through the branches, waiting.

“Chance?” Alex looked at me like I was crazy. “What are you doing?”

But already I heard them charging through the foliage, churning up dirt. Alex didn’t have time to get scared before the pack of ridgebacks exploded through the trees, surrounding us, nipping at our hands and butting into us, fighting for attention. Cassius jumped up on me, setting his paws on my chest, licking my face. Smiling, I settled him down.

The others swarmed Alex, who laughed, delighted.

“Come on, boys,” I said. “We need a fanged escort through the woods.” I clapped my hands once. “On guard.”