Up ahead was the most delightful part of the run, a steep incline that always made her swear she would give up running every time she crested it. Turning up the volume, she forged ahead.
The scream rent the air, the sound of feminine terror stopping her cold. Instinct had her turning before her brain could warn her it was a bad idea.
A woman, the one in the skimpy running gear, six feet in the air and grabbed around the throat by…
Oh dear gods…
Orcs.
Why hadn’t she fought her dad harder about the wards? But this… how was she to know this could happen? Orcs in the park, backlit by a hazy sun during an afternoon run where she should be safe.
Her hands hung there, cold, numb. Her mouth opened, she knew it was open, but no sound was coming out.
Orcs.
“Not her.”
They spoke? Those monstrous creatures could speak?
And then one of them locked eyes with her. He threw his head back and roared, the guttural noise flaying her exposed nerves. The rest of the orcs turned their attention to him. He proceeded to point at her.
“Her!”
By the gods, me?
No.
No.
Are you involved with the necromancers?
But she wasn’t. Never, she’d never had anything to do with them.
This couldn’t be happening.
Orcs, larger even than Terak, their greenish skin oozing and oily, their heads misshapen, like someone used their skulls for batting practice.
A dozen orcs now chasing after her.
She was running, she was running even though she didn’t remember turning from them, branches flicking over her skin as she crashed through the wooded area. The ground vibrated from the force of the running creatures, creating an uneven surface under her feet.
“Terak!” she screamed. She hadn’t seen him during the run, but he had to be here. He had to be. He promised he’d protect her and Terak, Terak would always keep his promises.
She tore through the forest, bramble and brush scraping against her body with every step. Heavy footsteps were so close, the clang of metal and the rhythm of their stride gaining.
This couldn’t be happening. She was a nobody, a nothing. This couldn’t be happening.
A primal scream sounded from above and powerful relief surged through her body, stopping her in her tracks as she looked for him.
Terak.
He was here. She was safe.
Terak’s arm emerged from the foliage up above. He grabbed the tallest orc and brought him into the air, wrenching his neck so hard to one side that Larissa heard the crack of bones.
The orc stopped moving, and Terak threw the body far away, then dropped to the ground and grabbed another orc, his clawed hands ripping into its chest through the metal casing.
The other orcs turned to Terak, all but one. One orc still had her in his sights. He shouldered through the others surrounding him, coming straight at her. Terak turned from the orc he was fighting to launch himself at that one, preventing it from getting any nearer to her.
That move left his back unguarded, and another orc took advantage, taking its sword and slicing through Terak’s wing.
Terak made no sound or movement to indicate he had been struck with a sword. He never stopped fighting the orc in front of him, keeping it from getting near her.
She could get away. Now, while their attention was on Terak, she could run to her car on the other side of the wood and escape.
An eye hanging from its socket.
She had stood there, waiting for the zombies to grab her.
If Terak hadn’t been there, she would be dead. Afterward he held her in his wings as she cried and he called her brave.
I don’t want to die.
I don’t want to die and I don’t know what to do.
But I never want to be that person in the alley again.
There had to be something she could do beyond run away in her car.
Her car…
She didn’t have a weapon but she had two thousand pounds of magic-fortified metal at her disposal. Could an orc survive being run over?
Only one way to find out.
Larissa ran to the vehicle. Her fingers shook as she turned the key in the ignition, but the car started readily. Snapping on her seat belt she jammed down on the gas pedal, then spinning the wheel so hard tires squealed.
Her massive SUV took the grass easily, the bumps and dips rocking her in her seat. The trees were spaced apart far enough that the car was able to drive through the openings.
The fight was in front of her. Several orc bodies littered the ground, but three orcs still fought Terak. Terak was holding his own, but his chest and arms were swathed in large splashes of red and one wing was useless, the torn skin flapping in the wind.
Larissa pressed hard on the gas pedal, aiming the car at the two orcs farthest from Terak.
The orcs responded a second too late to the sound of an approaching car, lifting their heads as the car rammed into them. She rolled over them, sickening thumps and crunches that had her stomach begging to lose its contents. She clenched her teeth against the urge to vomit.