Its claws were in her chest. The machete slipped from her hand.
I gasped and shot forward as the scrab pulled its claws from Dani’s body. Blood stained her shirt.
The scrab whirled away from me, and I reached for Dani. She swayed out of my reach. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Hunter raise his gun. Shots rang out.
“Hunter, no!” Madison yelled.
Dani crumpled to the ground. The scrab jerked as bullets pelted its thick hide.
Something sharp hit my arm, and I yelped. It left a trail of fire on my skin. I blinked, my grip on my machete slipping.
The scrab lunged at me.
17
Noah moved so quickly that I didn’t realize he was in front of me until I saw his machete in the scrab’s neck. It made a choking sound before it hit the ground.
I blinked as I took an unsteady step backward. Blood dripped down my arm, and I wasn’t sure why. Had the scrab scratched me?
Grayson shot across the lobby and skidded to a stop in front of me. “Where did it go in? Is she the only one hit?”
Madison surveyed the team. “I think so.”
Grayson carefully pushed up my shirtsleeve. Blood dripped from a gash.
“Is that a bullet wound?” I asked incredulously.
“It’s just a scratch,” Grayson said with a sigh. “Jesus, that’s lucky.” His gaze drifted to the ground, the relief on his face disappearing.
Dani. Her head was turned away from me, blood seeping out of the holes the claws had made in her chest. She was dead.
I gasped and looked away. I swayed on my feet, and Grayson quickly grabbed my arms to steady me.
Panic crawled up my stomach. Grayson’s hands tightened around my arms, like he could tell. I took a shaky breath and squeezed my eyes shut like that would block out the image of the dead body now seared into my brain.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Julian yelled. My eyes popped open. Julian yanked the gun from Hunter’s grasp. “You’re not cleared for guns!”
“Yeah, but it was an emergency, and—”
“You just shot one of your teammates!” Julian pointed at me. “You could have killed her!”
“I didn’t mean to! She should have stayed out of the way if she didn’t—”
“Get your shit and get out,” Julian spat. “You’re off my team.”
“What?” Hunter’s face went red. “You can’t do that. I was just trying to—”
“I don’t care what you were trying to do. Get. Out.” Julian said the last two words through clenched teeth.
“Edan, are you injured too?” Grayson asked quietly. My breathing was ragged, and he still had one hand on my elbow. My other arm was starting to burn where the bullet had hit.
Edan had one finger hooked into the neck of his shirt, peering at his shoulder. “Yeah. I don’t think it’s too bad, though. One got me with its claws.”
“Come on. You’re both going to medical.” Grayson gently steered me away from the lobby.
We passed more dead scrabs on the way to medical in the back of the building—in the hallway, in the doorway to the cafeteria, a piece of one outside a restroom. The door to the small gym was open, revealing several members of team five standing amongst a bloody mess.
Medical was a midsized room that had been converted into a doctor’s office. There were ten cots lined up, half of them with privacy curtains. Various supplies in plastic containers were open and spread out everywhere. Dr. Walsh, a volunteer from Kansas, shook his head at two recruits standing in front of me. One was bleeding from a wound on his head.
“No, he needs to go to the hospital. All head injuries go to the hospital. Take him to the front, there’s a van leaving soon.”
The recruits turned and brushed past us.
“Dave, I think these two just need stitches. Can you take a look?” Grayson asked.
“Yes, sit.” Dr. Walsh gestured at the cots.
I sank onto one. Edan took the one next to me.
“Make yourself useful.” Dr. Walsh thrust a bottle into Grayson’s hands. “Clean his injury while I do hers.”
More recruits streamed into the room as Dr. Walsh began cleaning my arm. I blinked at them, the noisy chatter making my head spin. All I could think about was the pool of blood around Dani’s body.
We were on day three of training, and we’d already lost a team member.
“I’ll be right back to do your sutures,” Dr. Walsh said. “I need to examine this guy real quick. OK?” He gestured at a man cradling his arm against his chest. I nodded.
“Clara?”
I looked up to see Julian pushing his way through the crowd. He rushed forward and knelt in front of me. “Are you all right?”
“I’m—I’m fine,” I stuttered, startled by the open affection in his expression. I could still see his face when he was yelling at Hunter. So full of anger I thought he’d burst.
He leaned closer to inspect my wound. “I thought you and Edan might have locked yourselves up in the sparring room,” he said. “I wouldn’t have blamed you.”
“We didn’t sign up to hide,” I said, with far more confidence than I actually felt. But saying the words out loud almost made them feel true. I took a slow breath, my heartbeat slowing a little.
A smile broke across his face. “No. You certainly didn’t. But I’m sorry. I should have been there. It didn’t occur to us that you guys wouldn’t be safe in the building. We didn’t even realize what was happening in here until we’d killed all the scrabs outside.”
“I think there were more outside, anyway,” I said. “They needed you out there.”
“I know, I just wish I’d been here. For the whole team,” he quickly added. “We had plans for how to introduce you guys to battle. It wasn’t supposed to be like this, on your own, scrambling for weapons.” He paused, and his next words were a little
