“One!” Devi stood and kicked a deformed dead woman in the side, then grunted in surprise when another landed right in front of her.

“One!” Finn called. Then, “Nina, heads up!”

I turned just as the sixth degenerate dropped from the fence and snarled at me. I took a step back, flexing my left hand, praying for that light to appear while the demon advanced, snarling and snapping in anticipation. Finn stood behind him, the glow still fading from his palm and imprinted on my vision. He reached for the demon approaching me, but then one pulled him off his feet and he was suddenly ensnarled in another fight.

I was on my own.

“Two!” Reese yelled, and another bright glow appeared on my right, highlighting the degenerate just two feet in front of me now. His chin was too sharp and thin flesh clung to the points of his elbows. His eyes flashed with light, and I couldn’t tell what color they’d been before, but now they were black, as if the demon inside him had rotted the very color from his irises.

“Two!” Devi shouted.

The degenerate pounced, and I lurched to my right. I only meant to move out of the way to avoid being pinned. Instead, my feet hit the ground six feet away. Stunned, I turned and the junkyard spun around me, the glow from Reese’s palm streaking across my vision twice before I finally stilled, dizzy and confused. My intended 180 had become two and a half revolutions, as if I were stuck on my own personal merry-go-round.

I threw my hands out, trying to regain my balance.

The snarl and the flying shadow hit me at the same time. Pain slammed into my chest. My back hit the dirt. Jaws snapped near my nose for the third time in less than a day. I threw my arms up, and teeth sank into the left sleeve of my coat. Rancid drool dripped on my cheek, and I turned my head, shuddering in revulsion while my pulse raced in fear.

The demon shook his head like a dog with a bone, and pain ripped through my arm from wrist to shoulder. I shouted and tried to jerk my arm free before he tore it off, but he wouldn’t let go, and the ache in my bruised bones was fierce.

“Two!” Finn shouted.

Desperate, I swung at the degenerate’s temple with my free right hand, and to my shock, his head snapped to the side and his pointy teeth were torn from my sleeve.

“Three!” Reese called, and Devi echoed him an instant later.

The demon groaned, stunned, and I saw my chance. I pressed my hands into his chest and lifted him as far from me as I could, then tucked my knees and wedged my feet between us. Then I kicked.