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

light turned on in the truck, and Jess sighed with relief when she saw two silhouettes scramble inside before the door slammed shut. Her relief was replaced with dread when several other shapes leaped at the door moments after it closed.

“Jess, are you there?”

Jess spun around and sat on the floor, cradling the radio. It was Akuba. “Akuba!” she yelled into the handset. “Akuba, where are you? Are you okay?”

There were a few torturous seconds of silence as Jess waited for a response. “...in the barn. I’m in the loft, but they’ve gotten inside.” She was whispering, and Jess could tell it was hard for her to talk.

Jess chewed at her lip. “Are you safe up there? Can you shoot them?”

“No.” The radio hissed static again, and Jess was afraid they’d lose the connection. “I dropped the rifle when I was attacked.”

“Attacked?” Jess yelled back, envisioning all sorts of horrors.

More static, and a broken transmission. “…okay. Just…leg. Bleeding...controlled. But the cats, Jess. They’re trying…climbing…loft.”

Jess flinched away from the radio, like it was responsible. She had to do something. She had too—

She jumped to her feet. Paul thought the noise and lights from the generator would scare them off. Maybe he was right. She glanced down at the gun in her other hand. She wasn’t sure how many bullets it held. Definitely not two-dozen, but it might be enough to get Akuba to safety.

She found Amisha waiting for her at the entrance to the office. “Go get in the room with Kamla,” she said, taking the girl by the shoulders and pushing her down the hall ahead of her.

“Where are you going?” Amisha demanded.

“The generator is right outside my bedroom window,” Jess explained. “I’m going to slip out that way, turn it on, and then get back inside. After I turn all the lights on, I’ll make a run for the barn.”

“Jess, you can’t!”

“I have to.” Jess stopped at her room, and didn’t back down when Amisha turned around to stare at her. “I have to.”

Slowly nodding, Amisha twisted away and ran to the other door across from them. Jess heard her knocking as she approached the window, and waited for the other bedroom door to close before unlatching the glass. Cautiously, she stuck her head out and strained to see into the darkness on the side of the house. Nothing. Leaving the radio on the floor, she carefully balanced the gun on the ledge, where she could quickly grab it if she needed to.

Slipping first one foot and then the other over the sill of the large, low window seat, she silently dropped the few feet down onto the grass. She’d gone in and out of the house that way before, and knew she was capable of getting back inside without too much effort.

The generator was about five feet to her left, and Jess crossed the space quickly. Struggling to see the switches and gauges in the dark, she felt with her hands. Holding her breath, she turned the biggest knob in what she hoped was the right direction, and then gave the cord a sharp pull.

A couple of low chugs made Jess flinch away, certain the noise would draw the jaguars in her direction. Then, the motor roared to life, and it was the first time Jess was glad the noisy thing was so close to her room. Springing away from it, she leaped for the open window and hoisted herself up and inside, snatching the gun as she went. As she slammed the glass shut, she didn’t see any sign of the cats, and wasn’t going to wait and see if they showed up.

Jess closed her bedroom door behind her, and then ran to flip on all of the external light switches, except for the one on the back patio. There, she wiped her sweaty hands off on her pajama bottoms so she wouldn’t drop the gun, before opening the slider and stepping outside.

Making sure the hammer was pulled back all the way, Jess held the weapon out the way Paul showed her and tried not to think about how fast the jaguars were.

“They’re distracted,” Jess muttered to herself. Distracted by the generator and lights. By Paul, Mavi, and Akuba. Before Jess had too much time to think about what she was doing, she was already halfway there. To her right, she could see the cars and truck. A banging sound from inside the car was drawing the cats, and Jess suspected Paul was intentionally trying to keep them away from the house. She saw several low, slinking forms circling the vehicle, but it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t even a dozen.

Jess’s step faltered in the dew-dampened grass. She was only twenty feet from the doors of the barn, which were open just wide enough for her to slip through. But she was being watched. She could feel it.

Spinning to her left, she saw the shadow just before it sprang. She fired the gun.

The muzzle flash blinded her at the same time that her ears rang. Screaming, Jess fell backwards as her arms shot up from the recoil. It saved her life.

The huge cat was almost on her when the bullet tore through its muscular neck. She sat down hard and watched in stunned silence as it twisted away from her in midair and fell to the ground.

Jess didn’t know if she killed it. She didn’t care. Rolling back to her feet, she sprinted for the barn. Her head throbbed with the beating of her own heart, and her vision was reduced to only the doors right in front of her. Her thoughts were sharp though, heightened to a sense she’d never experienced before.

And they were behind her.

Throwing herself at the black space between the wooden doors, Jess exhaled a desperate whimper as she staggered into the barn. Spinning around to