Three of the wolven creatures broke away from the back and ran for Jack, and the numbness fled before a spike of adrenaline. Sweat beaded at the base of his neck and marked a trail down his back. He brought his blade up.
The werewolf in front was much larger than the other two. The closer they got the clearer the details were. Jack could start marking where they must have sustained wounds. The smallest one had the worst, a deep gouge on its face that still bled.
They stopped, all upright. Dark brown fur was absorbed by skin, snouts shortened to form a humanoid nose and mouth, claws became hands. In moments, a human man with shaggy dark blond hair and yellow eyes stood before him. The two smaller ones were both male, a teen and a prepubescent, with features so similar to the adult they had to be family.
The adult stared him down, those yellow eyes unwavering as they appraised Jack. “I would appreciate it if you lowered your blade,” the now man said, motioning with his chin to the knife in Jack’s hand.
These creatures could kill him with little difficulty. As loath as he was to give up any weapon, it would be nothing but stupidity to keep it out and antagonize the creature. Jack opened his mouth, and words he didn’t plan tumbled out. “How is this real?”
Battle cries sounded in the background as the werewolf spoke. “I do not know. What I have been told is our realms have collided.”
“Collided? What do you mean, realms?”
“I mean your world is not my world. Yet somehow, they have become one.”
Jack looked to the battle still waging, the werewolves winning over the other monsters. “What are those things?”
“Orcs. They are our enemies.”
“And humans?”
The werewolf studied him with the palest yellow eyes he had ever seen. “Humans exist on my world. Most were allies. We will see if the humans on this world will be considered the same. For the moment I am willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. We will fight the orcs so the humans of this area will be safe.”
The orcs were retreating. The werewolves still in battle followed, and all the monsters dispersed toward the city’s edge.
Jack wasn’t going to follow to see how it played out. Right now only Lauren mattered. “Thank you for saving me.”
The werewolf nodded. “Perhaps in the future, you will return the favor,” he said, turning back into his other form, the young ones following his lead. All three took off in the direction of the sounds of battle, and Jack went the opposite way, toward his wife.
The double doors of the hospital entrance were in sight when a great flapping sounded overhead, air gusting around him like a mini-tornado, whipping up debris in great chunks.
Around him the late afternoon sun disappeared, leaving shadow and darkness. Jack looked up.
Fucking hell.
This can’t be.
Am I…?
Crazy. Have to be crazy.
Dra-
Dear Lord, please,
Dragon?
Help us…
It was straight from every fairy tale ever told. Enormous enough to block the sun. A wingspan easily three times that of the largest plane he’d ever seen. A long neck and an even longer tail.
It passed over him, lost to his sight within moments.
Sensation returned to his limbs. Only then did the throb of his palms and the ache in his knees make themselves known, where concrete shards sliced into his hands and ripped out the knees of his trousers to bloody the skin underneath. His legs throbbed as he rose.
No. Compartmentalize. Later. He’d think on it later. Now he had to get into that fucking hospital.
Ignoring shouts to keep out, he bounded up the steps to the sixth-floor maternity ward, leaping over rock and broken steps that littered his path.
The front desk of the maternity ward was empty and the automatic doors were open. Here the earthquake had done enough damage to twist walls and leave chunks of tile lying about. Power was on, but it was dim – back-up generator only. It was safe enough to keep the patients here, but it was clear the ward was in crisis mode. With no one to stop him, he ran down the hall. “Lauren! Lauren!”
A nurse ran out of one of the rooms in front of him. “Sir, you need to stop! We are trying to keep everyone calm.”
“I’m looking for my wife. What room is Lauren Miller in?”
A stillness stole over the nurse’s form except her shoulders, which pushed back in quick movement. “Lauren Miller?” she asked, but it was stalling disguised as a question, something a cop saw and heard on a daily basis. Tendrils of fear Jack had not experienced even when faced with those monsters only minutes before uncurled from his belly, his skin growing chilled as they wormed their way to the surface.
“Where is my wife?” he asked, advancing on the younger woman.