Wrong Side of Hell (League of Guardians 0.50)

“I don’t,” she couldn’t articulate what was in her brain. How could she? Remembering the last moments of her life seemed an impossible thing, but it was there. The pictures, the sounds, the smells.

Mergerone’s maniacal grin. His cold hands. The two orderlies who’d accompanied them. She groaned once more and would have staggered away, but two strong arms held her fast. “What they did . . .” She shook her head and closed her eyes. “What they did to me.”

Oh my God, I’m dead. But how can that be? I’m alive . . . I think.

None of this made sense. Where the hell was she? And who was this man that held her?

“How is this possible? I mean, if I’m not really here, how can we be having a conversation?”

His hand was on her chin again—this time his touch was gentle, though the sound of his voice was anything but. He glared down at her. “There’ll be time to process that shit later.” He glanced up and swore. “Right now we have to disappear, and fast, understand?”

He hopped down from the pavilion, pulling Kira along with him. His muscles bunched beneath her fingers. There was strength there—real strength and not just the physical. She sensed he was made up of many layers—a lot were hidden, though she wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to see them.

“What’s your name?” Suddenly she dug her feet in, not even sure why it was so important. “In all this craziness I need to at least know that.”

Kira waited, heart nearly beating out of her chest, fully aware of the shadows moving toward them, yet as she stared up into the dark eyes above her she felt . . . safe. She felt hope.

And for the first time in ages, here in this place of chaos, she felt a kind of . . . peace.

“Logan.”

His one word answer was terse but it was enough to settle the demons inside, at least for the moment. He pushed her ahead of him and nodded toward the forest. “We need to find a place to hide until I can figure out how to get us back.”

“So I’m not dead.”

“That’s a technicality that won’t matter if we don’t get the hell out of here.”

He looked away, ignoring her, his lips tight, hands clenched.

“Wait a minute,” she grabbed his arm again, though she let it go quickly as his face darkened into a scowl. “You don’t know how to get us back? Seriously? How the hell do we know that’s the right way to go?” She pointed toward the forest.

Disbelief crossed his features and he stopped cold. “You want to argue that point with me now?”

“No, I just thought you’d know—”

“Do us both a favor, all right? Don’t think.” He leaned in close and she shivered as the stubble along his chin grazed the flesh beneath her ear. His breath was warm, though his voice was cold as ice. He growled. “Run.”

She was frozen, her feet rooted to the ground.

“Run, little Dove.” This time the order was barked and Kira reacted instantly. Grass-cutting man pointed toward a fountain that seemed to have appeared from nowhere and she dashed toward it, Logan on her heels.

They were nearly to the fountain when Logan snarled, the sound so vicious the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. Kira spun around, watching in horror as several of the trojans gathered in a semicircle, while the largest in the pack advanced toward Logan.

They were ten feet in height—at least—and their bodies were made of leather-like skin in varying shades of silver. Overly large heads with luminescent eyes of teal, and teeth as sharp as a blade and as brown as the earth beneath her feet. The creatures stood upright, though it looked like they balanced themselves with long tails that swept out behind them and were covered in spikes the color of a blood-red harvest moon.

“You will die first, dog.” The closest one to Logan spoke, the words slithered from between its green lips like syrup dripping from a bottle.

“Kira, run!” Logan barely got his words out before the creature rushed him. A blanket of energy surrounded Logan—Kira couldn’t explain it any other way—and enveloped him whole. Small bursts of electricity sparked up into the air and a god-awful roar erupted from inside as the energy vortex swirled around him.

She took a step back and if she wasn’t sure about anything before, she sure as hell had no clue what the hell was happening now. The energy dissipated like steam escaping a kettle; small puffs were there and then they were gone. She froze. Her mouth went dry and she struggled to breathe.

Logan was gone.

A massive hulking animal stared back at her with fiery red eyes and a thick, shaggy coat of fur—like burnt tobacco shot through with bolts of gold—and it was as large as the creatures before them.

It growled and swept its tail back and forth menacingly. Remnants of energy shimmered against its hide, slipping away and disappearing as it howled into the sky and turned toward the advancing trojans.

It was Logan.