Knights of the Grey City

Chapter 42 - VICTORY

I pushed myself over the wall of debris and leapt down on the other side. A flat road stretched ahead of me, a straight shot to safety. I ran with everything I had, boots on the shaky ground, completely focused on escape.

In about ten seconds, the first demon reached me.

A skeletal wolf, bigger in size than any wolf should be: the size of a car. It pounced on me, bringing me to the ground back-first. Its jaws flashed to my throat and pure instinct got my forearm up in the way instead. It bit down, easily snapping the bone. I pushed my leg up and kicked its throat as hard as I could.

I didn't do any damage, but unbalanced it. I rolled out of its pin, unable to register the pain. I somehow got my feet under me, but before I could sprint away, the second demon reached me.

It slammed into my side, the spikes on its shell digging into my shoulder and hip. Its mandibles sunk into my back as I hit the ground again. My forehead struck the ground hard, rattling my whole skull. I sensed the demon go for my neck.

I pushed myself to the side with my good hand. Its bite only grazed me. Then I rolled onto my back and used the movement to kick its legs out from under it. This type of demon was pretty light on its feet; it went down. I twisted on top of it, wrestling with its mandibles, and managed to break a piece of them off while it thrashed.

Wolf caught up. Another tackle, its claws planted on my shoulders, my arms pinned under my back. I slammed into the earth for a third time, breath leaving me and ribs burning with pain. I struggled, thrashing as it lowered its fangs around my throat.

I felt the pinprick of them on my skin and then the wolf was gone. Still in full survival mode, I forced myself up to my knees, then had to stay there while the world warped and swayed around me. My forehead touched the dirt and I realized I'd slumped over.

"Friendly fire," Huang said at me, and again, I was taken off my feet by something fast and heavy. I didn't have the energy to resist as I was lifted up in a pair of white talons, the ground shooting impossibly far below us.

It took me a moment to realize what that meant and I dragged in another breath, clutching at the hard feathers that were cradling me. "Don't fucking drop me," I wheezed.

"Holy shit, Camilo," Huang said. "Fuck, damn it, fucking hell."

Darkness was starting to fill in the edges of my vision, but I resisted it with a vengeance, focusing my spatial sense around us. There were flickers of movement behind: demons flying in pursuit.

"You got... bogeys..." I gasped. It was very difficult to get enough air.

"I know," Huang said tersely. "Just hang in there. I'll outfly them and get to the main City. Either we're going back to Toronto or we'll think of something to do in the Sanctuary."

There was no point in taking inventory of all my injuries, all I knew was that my entire body was beginning to pulse with pain. I stubbornly clung to consciousness, focusing on the feedback from my sense, at the demonic army starting to bite at our heels. They... could they follow us into the next district? We hadn't thought they could, but...

I sensed it when Huang passed the threshold. The ground stopped churning and shifting, the half-built buildings disappeared behind us, and the quality of the air and material changed. I pushed my spatial sense out behind us and could find no trace of the demons that had just been in hot pursuit: they'd vanished.

"What happened!?" Katie demanded, swooping close to us.

"I don't know—I looked away for a second. Camilo got attacked as a human," Huang said. He swooped low and made a none-too-gentle landing that sent a shock of pain through my whole body: I would have snapped at him if I'd had the energy. Just staying conscious was taking all of my concentration.