Maddie hustled as fast as she could toward the picnic site, Jim right behind her. Euryale and Veronica stood the moment they saw the pair running toward them. Why can't everyone here be as fast as I am? Of course—they have legs, that's why!

  "Furies! Hundreds of them! Quick, get in the Humvee!" Jim yelled.

  The two women broke into a run, fueled by urgency. Veronica yanked open the driver's door and jumped inside, slamming it shut behind her. Euryale flew toward the rear passenger side, hastily clambering in. Maddie sprang through an open rear window, landing inside in one fluid motion, while Jim scrambled in through the opposite back door.

  Veronica stomped on the gas pedal. The tires spun against the dirt before the Humvee lurched forward, bouncing violently down the rock-strewn road. She gritted her teeth, gripping the steering wheel as she fought to keep the vehicle steady.

  "They're closing in on us!" Maddie shouted, glancing over her shoulder.

  Euryale twisted in her seat, eyes widening in horror as she spotted the dark swarm gaining on them.

  "I'm getting on the gun!" Jim bellowed, scrambling up through the turret hatch to the mounted machine gun.

  Gripping the handles, he yanked back the charging handle to load the weapon. "Torres, just keep driving—I'll hold them off!"

  "You even know how to use that thing?!" Veronica shouted.

  "Not really, but I saw Phineus use it once. Can't be that hard, right?"

  "Yes, it can!" Veronica snapped.

  Jim didn't have time to reconsider. He squeezed the trigger, and the machine gun erupted with a thunderous roar, spewing a stream of bullets at the incoming furies. The weapon jerked violently in his grasp, his shots wild and inconsistent. Maddie ducked as spent casings rained down inside the Humvee.

  Despite Jim's lack of experience, the bullets hit their mark. The furies shrieked as the shots ripped them from the sky, bodies crashing onto the road or vanishing into the trees. But more kept coming.

  "Damn it, there's too many!" Jim shouted over the gunfire.

  More furies burst from the treetops, swooping down with razor-sharp claws. One dove dangerously close, narrowly missing Jim's head. Another latched onto the rear roof. It lunged forward in a blur of movement, claws slashing deep across Jim's chest.

  Blood sprayed across the turret as Jim cried out, body jerking backward. He tumbled down into the Humvee, crashing hard onto the floor.

  "Jim!" Maddie screamed, dropping beside him.

  His chest was torn open, blood pouring out in thick rivers. His breathing was ragged, face rapidly losing color.

  "Veronica! Jim's been slashed—it's horrible!" Maddie shouted, pressing her hands against his wound to slow the bleeding. No. This can't be. Please, please... I have to save him. I must!

  "Damn it! Euryale, get the medical kit—now!" Veronica barked as she swerved to avoid a fallen Fury on the road.

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  Euryale yanked the kit ?open. She grabbed a roll of bandages and quickly wrapped them around Jim's chest, hands trembling.

  "Tighter! Wrap it as tight as you can!" Veronica shouted, her voice barely audible over the wind and roaring engine. "Keep going until you run out!"

  Jim's breathing grew weaker. His eyelids fluttered, his body growing cold.

  Terror overcame Maddie. "No, no, no—stay with me, Jim!" she pleaded, voice cracking as she cradled his face.

  But his skin was pale, his eyes dulling.

  And he was slipping away.

  "Oh no! No, no, no!" Maddie stammered.

  More furies swarmed through the open windows of the Humvee, their claws slashing wildly at the passengers. One perched atop the machine gun mount, its glowing red eyes peering inside.

  Maddie spotted it and yanked her glasses off, her eyes blazing with fury.

  "Die, you filthy beast!" she roared, her serpent locks writhing violently.

  The Fury turned to stone before it could react, its petrified form toppling backward off the vehicle. It crashed onto the road, rolling and shattering into pieces behind them.

  Wasting no time, Maddie slithered up through the turret and scanned the sky. With her eyes now fully exposed, she swept her head from side to side, catching as many furies in her petrifying gaze as possible. The air flashed with bursts of blinding light as more creatures met their end.

  "Look at me, all of you! Look at me and die! Die!" she bellowed.

  One by one, the furies stiffened mid-flight, their screeches cutting off as their bodies solidified. They plummeted from the sky, shattering upon impact. Stone bodies littered the ground around them, some smashing into pieces, others rolling across the dirt like discarded statues.

  A few crashed directly in front of the speeding Humvee.

  "Dammit!" Veronica swore as she yanked the wheel, narrowly avoiding a newly fallen statue. The vehicle lurched to the side, tires skidding as they fought for traction.

  "Maddie! Put your glasses back on! Use your bow instead!" Veronica shouted.

  Maddie snapped back to her senses and swiped on her glasses. She grabbed her bow from the side of the Humvee, nocked an arrow, and took aim.

  Wrapping her tail tightly around the seat for stability, she braced herself against the wind rushing past the turret. Her aim precise, she loosed arrow after arrow into the sky.

  Furies screeched as they fell, tumbling across the dirt before disappearing into the darkness beyond. One unfortunate creature landed directly in their path. Veronica had no time to swerve. She gritted her teeth and ran it over with a sickening crunch.

  Maddie kept firing. Left. Right. Behind. Above. Some arrows missed, but most found their mark, bringing down more of the relentless attackers.

  As she reached for another arrow, she glanced down and realized her supply was dwindling fast.

  Her gaze shifted to Euryale, who was still tending to Jim, desperately wrapping his wounds as the chaos raged around them.

  "Veronica, how much farther?!"

  "Not much—once we cross the bridge!" she shouted.

  The Humvee rumbled across the temporary bridge, tires thudding against the steel plates. In the distance, the base's lights flickered into view. Veronica snatched the radio microphone and barked into it,

  "Central, this is Sergeant Torres! We're inbound from the west, coming in hot! We've got hundreds of hostile fliers on our tail—Lieutenant Barnett is wounded! Request immediate covering fire!"

  "Roger, Sergeant. We have you on visual. Proceed straight to medical."

  "Come on, come on... damn it, start shooting!" Veronica hissed, pressing the accelerator harder.

  The Humvee roared over the open terrain, tires kicking up dirt as it sped toward the fort's perimeter. Veronica's jaw clenched as she leaned forward, eyes locked on the base ahead.

  "Maddie, Euryale, hang on! I'm flooring it!" she shouted, slamming the pedal down.

  Above them, the base's anti-aircraft guns sprang to life. Streams of tracer rounds streaked into the sky, ripping through the massive swarm of furies. The night flashed with explosions as creatures shrieked, their dark forms spiraling out of the sky, torn apart by relentless gunfire.

  "Finally!" Veronica sighed as the horde began to break apart, hundreds of furies crashing to the ground in fiery heaps.

  The Humvee barreled through the outer defenses, racing into the safety of the base. Veronica didn't ease up until they reached the infirmary entrance.

  She yanked the wheel hard and slammed on the brakes. The vehicle skidded sideways before jerking to a stop. Medical personnel were already swarming the Humvee. They rushed Jim inside on a stretcher.

  Veronica, Maddie, and Euryale leapt out, sprinting after them up the steps, fear and desperation driving them forward. Please be all right, please, he must survive, he must!