The Extinction Series , Ellis, Tara [famous ebook reader .txt] 📗

been possible, and Jess prayed for it to stop. It had to stop.

“Jess?” Paul’s voice was close, and the girls swung to their left as one, until the light fell across the two men. Paul and Mavi were less than twenty feet away, crouched down. Both of them were armed. “Turn it off!” Paul whispered, waving his free hand frantically at them.

Jess was the first to react, and snatched the flashlight from Amisha. When she switched it off, her blindness was complete. Afraid to move, she whimpered and closed her eyes, certain someone or something would grab her at any moment as she waited for her vision to adjust. To drag them all off, screaming, into the jungle.

The wailing had stopped. In its wake, the silence was almost as bad.

Jess opened her eyes, and let out her breath. Vague shapes came into focus. Paul had moved closer, while Mavi stood facing the other way, looking constantly in every direction.

“Was that Tufail?” Amisha cried, clutching and squeezing painfully at Jess’s arm.

Paul crept to within a couple of feet, and Jess saw he was holding the pistol at the ready. Leaning closer, his eyes were wide as he whispered. “The jaguars are back. Get inside.”

“But, Akuba!” Jess hissed, her throat tightening. “We can’t leave her out here!”

“How do you know?” Amisha said, sounding close to hysterical. “Maybe something else happened, and Tufail needs our help.”

“We saw them!” Paul barked, his voice rising and tinged with a raw fear. “I ran out when I heard the first shot. It came from the other side of our house. A whole…pack, or pride, or whatever they’re called. They…were in the field, taking—they…took Tufail.”

Amisha gasped, and Jess tightened her grip on the gun while looking toward the jungle. It felt as if her heart was being torn from her chest, and it was hard to form the words. “Akuba. Did they—”

“—She ran,” Paul interrupted, shaking his head. “I saw her running toward the barn. Now, go!” he demanded, pushing at her. “We have to get inside. They’ll be coming back for us.”

“How many?” Jess was moving, pulled along by Amisha. “How many are there, Paul?”

The older man was keeping pace with them, facing out and walking backwards. Mavi was staying several paces behind them, swinging his weapon around in wide arcs, looking for a target.

“A dozen, two dozen. I don’t know!” Paul said, sounding hoarse. “There were too many to count, and we didn’t stick around to find out.”

“There!” Mavi was aiming to their right, in the open area between the fields and the barn. “I saw movement. Not human.”

Amisha slid the back door open, and Paul rushed them inside. “The generator,” Paul said to Mavi. “We need to turn it on. The noise and outside lights should help keep them away.”

Jess eased slowly into the room until her back hit the kitchen island, stopping her. She was afraid to take her eyes off the space beyond the patio. She reached out blindly for Paul’s arm. “But they aren’t afraid of anything.”

Patting her hand first, he pulled away. “Stay here, and turn all the lights on once we get it running. Do you understand?”

Focusing on the older man’s voice, Jess nodded. She hadn’t known him for very long, but it was enough to know that he was kind and brave. A retired police officer, over the past week he’d proven his knowledge surpassed whatever edge he’d lost with age.

Amisha closed the heavy glass door behind the men, but Jess didn’t feel safe. She’d taken the opportunity after the first attack, to look up the cats in the set of encyclopedias her dad kept in his office. She’d known they were big and potentially lethal, but had no idea how much. At six feet long and up to two-hundred-and-fifty pounds, they could run fifty miles an hour, and had a more powerful bite than a lion. They were essentially the perfect killing machine. While attacks on humans didn’t happen very often, when it did it was almost always fatal.

Jess eyed the door. She was pretty sure something that big and heavy, going that fast, could break the glass. It wasn’t something a jaguar would normally do, but they already knew they weren’t acting normal. It was like they’d decided humans were a prime menu item, and everyone was invited to the dinner party.

Jess shook her head to stop her panicked thoughts, and moved toward the light switches. She wanted to be ready when she heard the reassuring rumble of the generator. She paused with her hand over the switch and turned to look at Amisha. She was sitting on a stool, staring at the floor. “They should have it on by now,” Jess whispered.

Amisha covered her face with her hands and started to cry softly. “I just want it to stop,” she gasped through her fingers. “I want my mom, Jess.” Dropping her hands, she looked much younger than her eighteen years. “I want to stop being afraid.”

Jess was trying to think of something reassuring to say that wouldn’t sound like a lie, when a burst of static made her jump. Seeking out the source of the noise, she saw one of the handheld radios on the counter. Paul must have left it. Relieved, Jess grabbed for it and keyed it up. “Paul!” she shouted. “Paul, come in. Is there something wrong with the generator?”

Bang!

The sound of Paul’s .45 caliber was slightly different than the rifle, and a lot closer. Amisha squealed and dropped to the floor, while Jess threw herself back against the wall.

Bang!

Another shot, from near the front of the house.

Pushing away from the wall, Jess ran to her father’s office. Kneeling in front of the window, she pressed her face to the glass and searched the yard.

There!

Near the cars and truck. The dome