She closed her eyes a minute and breathed in deeply through her nose before blowing her breath out through her mouth. The air tasted of sulfur and hot metal.
Rain pulled an egg-shaped grenade out of her pocket, flipped up the lever and stuck her thumb through the ring. A quick tug and the pin would be out. Then she could toss the thing down the dragon’s throat.
If all went well. If not, she was drag food.
She poked her head around the corner of the building. Across the scorched courtyard she could see Sutter crouched behind an old rusted out dumpster. He nodded. She nodded back. It was now or never.
Rain dashed out into the open at the very same time Sutter darted into the courtyard from the opposite direction. The smaller drag caught the movement, its screaming cry almost joyful as it wheeled in the air and dove straight at its prey: Sutter.
She didn’t have time to focus on Sutter, though. She could feel the heat of dragon breath on her own back. She risked a glance behind.
The second dragon, golden green scales gleaming dully in firelight, was inches behind her. Rain could smell its breath, rank with the scent of decayed meat. She fought down the urge to vomit at the stench. Hurling up her dinner would be a very bad idea right now.
She pelted across the courtyard, willing her legs to move faster. She was halfway across the open space when a rock under her foot shifted, twisting her to the side and sending her tumbling through the dust. Rain managed to roll to her feet, but something was wrong.
It was like a thousand red hot knives stabbing into her ankle. It gave way and she was back down on the ground, agony shooting through her body.
Flipping to her back, she realized the drag was closer than she’d thought. A lot closer. Its head darted at her, mouth wide, jagged teeth dripping saliva.
Rain rolled desperately to one side, very narrowly avoiding the drag’s sharp teeth as it snapped its powerful jaws shut. Screaming in rage, it darted at her again, but this time she was ready.
Ignoring the pain screaming through her ankle, she rolled forward onto her knees. As the drag’s head came down, jaws open wide, in one fluid movement she flipped out the pin with her thumb and lobbed the grenade down the drag’s throat. With hardly a pause she tumbled forward, somersaulting under the huge body before scrambling to her feet and limping as fast as she could toward Tower One.
With a flying leap, Rain threw herself behind the apron wall around the base of Tower One. She didn’t even have a chance to check on Sutter as the world exploded in white hot light.
Four
“SUTTER! SUTTER!” RAIN’S ears felt like they were stuffed with rags. Everything was muffled, sound fading in and out like Padre Pedro’s old ham radio. Sticky wetness trickled down the right side of her face, dripping salty liquid into her mouth. She spat. Blood.
In some vague corner of her brain, Rain realized she was injured. She had no idea how badly and, frankly, she didn’t give a damn. Sutter was out there. Somewhere. Right in the path of the blast.
“Sut...,” she choked back a sob. The explosion had been bigger than anything she could have predicted. There was no way Sutter ...
She shoved that thought out of her mind. Sutter was fine. He was fine. “Sutter! goddammit, Sutter, answer me!”
She staggered toward the last place she’d seen Sutter, her feet stirring the dust of the arid courtyard. Charred bits of the dragon still smoked, the stink of burning flesh singeing her nostrils. She couldn’t tell if the second dragon had been caught in the blast, but if it hadn’t it was gone, at least.
And then she saw him. Or what was left of him.
Rain sank to her knees, tears falling unchecked down her face. She placed a trembling hand over her mouth, trying to hold back a sob. “Oh, Sutter.”
His body was burned so badly it was unrecognizable. If they hadn’t been the only two people down in the courtyard, she might have been able to convince herself it was someone else.
“Rain.” Footsteps behind her. “It’s not. It can’t be ... “Elan’s voice was tight and harsh, as though he could barely breathe.
Rain hauled herself to her feet and managed to stagger a short way from Sutter’s body before losing what little was in her stomach. Pain lodged itself just under her breastbone. She could hardly believe Sutter was gone.
Elan was still standing over his brother’s body, his face a mask. He swallowed hard. “He’s dead.”
“Yes.”
He closed his eyes. “How could he be dead?”
“I’m sorry, El. I didn’t mean ... I didn’t ...” She couldn’t get the words out past the lump in her throat. She swiped at her cheeks, but the tears kept falling.
“The second dragon got away,” Elan said.
Rain blinked. She didn’t care about the second drag. Her best friend was dead. “Sutter’s dead, Elan.”
“Yes, I know.” He turned toward her. “There’s nothing either of us can do about that, is there? We need to focus on what’s important. Protecting the compound.”
She bit back a sharp retort. Grief. It had to be grief. Surely Elan wasn’t so cold. Despite their differences, they were brothers. Had been brothers. The grief of losing his twin must be tearing Elan apart. “We should bury him.”
“There’s no time. We need,” he broke off as a sound hit their ears. The low rumbling was unusual and completely unique. “Marines.”
“Shit.” Rain ran to the gate of the compound and peered out. Sure enough, two Humvees bounced their way over the uneven terrain toward the compound. “Where were they when we needed them?” Before Sutter was killed.
She whirled around and signaled
