A little girl fell and whimpered. The entire group stuttered to a halt as some other kids helped her up.

Allie stifled a growl. They’d been fine all the way to the breaker room, even after the two-headed freaks attacked. Now, when true freedom lay down just a few more damned hallways, did they forget how to walk. No, that wasn’t fair. She felt it, too, like ice-water down her back, or a dagger at her throat. It felt like an army closing in, and she couldn’t tell where, or when, it would strike.

They made it a few more feet before another child sniffled and stalled, nearly getting bowled over by the kids behind them.

“Make a chain,” Allie said.

All eyes turned toward her.

“Hold each other’s hands and make a chain. That way, if someone gets scared, or stumbles, the kid in front and back can help keep them going. Okay?”

After some slow nods and fearful glances, the kids obeyed, grabbing hands and spreading out until they formed a line down the hallway. Allie wasn’t fond of the idea, but they couldn’t afford to keep stopping. This would probably help them get out quicker. It would also make the kids at the back extra vulnerable.

“Kyle, Lucy, up front.”

Both pushed forward.

“Kyle first. You know where the exit is, right?”

“Yes,” Kyle said.

“Good. Lucy, you’re at the back. I want you to keep the kids moving, no matter what. Don’t let anyone slow down. Understood?”

“Yes.”

There were enough trembling children, it amazed Allie that she didn’t hear their teeth chatter, yet Lucy and Kyle stayed still, eyes clear and fearless. Clearly, they took their role as leaders seriously.

“I knew I could count on you two. Kyle, start the chain and get walking.”

Lucy stayed close as the chain of scared kids stretched farther down the corridor. As the last child passed by, she grabbed his hand and cast a curious glance in Allie’s direction.

Allie grinned in what she hoped was a reassuring way and fell in step a few feet behind. She didn’t know where the danger was coming from, but if she had to bet, it was probably from the guts of the building. It only took a few more minutes to be proven right.

It started as faint flutters, a steady rhythm that reminded Allie of pigeons taking off from a roof. She pivoted, eyes darting toward the ceiling. A cloud of flying creatures closed in. Large gray and pink webbed wings slapped the air as bulging eyes stared at her from round, too large heads.

She threw her arms up as the lead flyer dove. Burning pain erupted in her forearm as it dug fangs into her flesh. She jerked, flinging the creature off and into the wall, where it hit with a thud.

The kids screamed. The rest of the creatures had flown by her. Allie twisted, grabbed one of the hateful things off Lucy’s shoulder and squeezed. Hair sprouted up her arms as the flyer shrieked, then popped, covering the nearby walls, floors, and Lucy, in a macabre splatter.

“Run. Get to the door!”

What few hands still held another’s dropped. The kids darted off. Most of them. The smallest four fell, and the flyers took the advantage.

“Shit!”

It came out as more of a snarl than a word as Allie’s mouth stretched into a muzzle full of sharp teeth. Before, when she’d changed, her body had gone on auto-pilot. This time, it seemed she’d been given the steering wheel. As little Charlie disappeared under an assault of leather-winged horrors, she wasn’t sure she wanted it.

She lunged, flopping belly first and sliding in an attempt to snatch him from the pile of flyers. The carpet dug in, leaving a burning trail across her torso and tearing a chunk of her tattered shirt off. Still, her hands reached. She gripped Charlie’s torso, overly tiny and delicate in her enlarged hands, and pulled him toward her. The flyers dispersed with a cacophony of screeches.

Charlie’s whimpers told her he was still alive as she held him against her chest. She wanted to know how badly he’d been hurt, but she couldn’t stop yet. Her roar rattled the hallway, startling a group of flyers mantling over a little girl a few feet away. Someone else darted by. Long blonde hair flew behind Lucy as she ran and dove for a third child farther down.

Good girl. Allie yanked the little girl to her chest alongside Charlie, a stubborn flyer hanging on her back. A quick crunch, and its head came off in Allie’s mouth. Bitter, pungent, and slimy. She gagged and spit, but didn’t stop moving.

Lucy wasn’t the only one who’d stuck around to help. Kyle had the fourth kid who’d fallen held awkwardly in his arms, the two of them disappearing as he stumbled around a bend in the hallway. The little girl Lucy had saved proved well enough to run, and the two did so hand-in-hand. The flyers followed.

Damn it. Damn it.

Allie roared again. The flyers nearby hissed, hooking clawed hands on the walls and ceiling as they stared down at a threat they didn’t dare attack. Snub noses. Round faces. Large eyes. Now that they sat still, the damned things looked like babies. Bile coated Allie’s mouth as she took off, an injured child hugged in each arm. She didn’t have time to think about it. She needed to save her kids.

She rounded the corner. Kyle’s burden had found his legs again. The two boys were running for the open door at the end of the corridor, both of them flailing as flyers flew above while Kyle shouted some colorful language. Oddly enough, the creatures seemed to have also noticed the open door. They had angled away from the children and toward the rectangle of light. Lucy wasn’t far behind Kyle, the little girl she still held by the hand practically getting dragged as she tried to keep up with the much older Lucy.

Allie quickened her pace. The kids she carried had gone quiet and still, but she didn’t dare check on them until they were out. She caught up to Lucy, staying on her heels as they made it through the door.

Tears sprang to Allie’s eyes as sunlight hit them for the first time in she didn’t know how long. A dense jungle stretched out in front of them, reaching far up into the sky. They stood on a third-floor balcony, narrow metal stairs weaving their way down a brown concrete wall to the jungle floor. Kids were scattered across the stairs’ length, and a group had gathered near the base of the building, which proved just as rectangular and window-free as its interior suggested.

Freedom.

The concept felt almost foreign. She wanted it, needed it, but what did it mean in this new, monstrous body?

A squirming brought her attention back to more important things. Allie kneeled, her body shrinking back into its human guise as her focus switched from attacking to helping.

Charlie and the girl she’d saved wriggled free. They grinned broadly in her direction, then started down the stairs. There wasn’t a scratch on them.

Allie shook her head. She’d seen the flyers bite them both, had smelled their blood on her arms and chest, yet quick-healing wasn’t even close to the weirdest thing she’d seen lately. As she fell into step behind the two kids, the girl’s stomach rumbled.

“Hungry,” the girl said.

She’d whined the word out, and it scraped Allie’s ears like nails on a chalkboard. Charlie’s stomach growled in response, and he added his complaint to the assault on her ears. Her eyes darted around. She seriously doubted there’d be a fast-food joint or a grocery store to raid in whatever place they were. Still, a jungle had animals and fruit, right? Allie wracked her brain. All she had to go off when it came to survival were a few nature documentaries and Hollywood riffs.

The kids’ whining intensified.

“As soon as we get down, I’ll find some food, okay?”

They sniffled, stared at her a moment as if gauging the truth in her words, then nodded.

Allie sighed as they went silent and hurried down the stairs.

A yowl echoed from the open doorway. Allie didn’t bother looking back. She scooped up the two kids, ignoring their surprised yelps, and bounded the rest of the way down the stairs. Something thudded against the ground nearby.

“Move!” Allie said.

The huddle of children at the bottom of the stairs gaped at whatever was going on behind her.

“I said move. Get away from the building!”

Allie snarled in emphasis, and at last, the spell was broken. Kids scattered. Allie ran with them, racing around the corner of the building into what she expected to be more jungle. Instead, to her right lay a long expanse of near-white sand, waves lapping against the shore, blue stretching out as far as she could see. In the distance sat a set of thick, wooden docks, poles bracing them as they reached out to deeper water. A single white motor boat swayed at the end of one.

“Over here! We’re heading to the boat.”

The kids swerved, came together like a school of fish, and headed her way.

Around them, monsters fled. Bird-like creatures nearly the size of the motorboat; lithe, bald, cat-humans no bigger than a child; multi-legged monstrosities full of mandibles and covered in shining carapaces. More creatures than Allie could count poured from the little exit on the top floor of the building, some jumping, some flying, some racing down the stairs, all dashing for the cover of trees with calls, shrieks, and screams. Not one stopped to attack. It seemed the smell of freedom was stronger than a monster’s desire to hunt.

The kids caught up to her, and she lowered the two in her arms back down to join the crowd. Lucy and Kyle stood tall, one on the left and one on the right of the group, herding the other children toward the boat.

Allie looked longingly at the jungle. It called to her just as much as the other creatures. The close-growing trees and shadowed recesses felt far safer than the bare open of the beach, but she’d had enough of sharing space with them, or that infernal building. She wanted nothing more than to escape the land it sat on.

A woman stepped from behind a line of trees to Allie’s right, short brown hair framing a sharp-angled face and intense gaze. “Wait.”

Allie glared at her, daring her to try to stop her and the kids as they moved past.

“That boat is out of fuel.”

“I think I’ll check it myself, thanks.”

“I emptied it.”

Allie stopped. The kids followed suit, shifting to the side so they could keep the woman and the monsters still flooding from the building in view. The side of Allie’s mouth twitched up. Smart kids. The woman, on the other hand, seemed less so despite the lab jacket she wore. She had no idea what she was up against. Then again, that went both ways.

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“If you emptied the tank, then how are you getting out of here? I don’t believe you’d strand yourself here with… those.” Allie motioned towards the monsters, knowing full well she looked like hell as well, even in human form.

“You’re right. I wouldn’t. They,” the woman waved at the monsters as well, “unfortunately, are failures doomed to die. Not you, though, and not them.”

The woman’s eyes flicked towards the children, and Allie growled before she caught herself. The woman simply grinned.

“You’ve got powerful instincts. That’s good. You’ll need them.”

“Are you threatening me?”

“Absolutely not. But others will.”

“Others?”

“People. Come on, now. I know you’ve kept your full intelligence. You want out of here. You need to get out of here. Do you think humans will welcome you with open arms? Humans, who can’t help but destroy their own kind, destroy the very world that sustains them?”

The kids started to shuffle and fidget. Probably getting bored, and Allie knew the feeling.

“I don’t plan on letting them see I’m not human anymore,” Allie said.

“And you think that will protect you, or them?”

Allie frowned. She hadn’t thought that far.

“I can help you. Protect all of you.”

“Really?”

The woman looked as if she hadn’t eaten well in a month. Dark circles hung under her eyes, and dirt covered her jacket. Allie could have snapped her in two with little effort.

“Yes,” the woman said. “I have a contracted cargo ship coming in soon. It will take you to a safe place, and more importantly, right to the middle of where you want to go.”

“What’s the catch?”

“All you have to do is what I made you for.”

“What… you made me for?”

It made sense. She hadn’t been born a monster, hadn’t sprouted a bit of fur or claws her entire life. Of course someone had done something to her. She just hadn’t been expecting to come face-to-face with the person responsible.

“I’m Dr. Miller, the head of this research center. You are my dream, a beautiful nightmare created to being a reckoning to the pathetic human race that’s far overdue. You are Hope.”

Pathetic human race? Allie narrowed her eyes. Perhaps not a human, then.

“The world needs a new predator,” Dr. Miller continued. “You and the children will fill the role nicely.”

The back of Allie’s neck prickled. “Will it put the kids in danger?”

“Oh, not really.”

A shift in the woman’s gaze, a slight flutter of her hands. It could have been anything—excitement, anticipation, a reaction to the calls and screeches echoing from within the jungle, yet Allie didn’t think so. No, she was sure the doctor had lied. She had every intention of putting the kids in danger, and that just wouldn’t do.

Allie punched the doctor in the jaw, and the woman collapsed. She spared her one last glance before turning to the kids. “Come on. If the boat really is out of fuel, we’ll just wait for this supposed cargo ship.”

“What if it doesn’t show?” Kyle asked.

“Then I’ll carve a spot for us in the jungle. I bet one of you had scout training.”

A couple of hands popped up.

“See? We’ll be fine.”

“Why… why do they all turn against me?”

Allie spun, her nails growing sharp on reflex. Dr. Miller stared at her as she picked herself up off the ground. Fire red ringed her irises.

“All I want is for you to do what I created you for.”

“No. You lied.” Allie’s voice grew husky as her body grew in size. “You said the kids wouldn’t be in danger. You lied.”

“Damn you, Yevon. Was this your plan all along, you bastard?”

The doctor’s face contorted, and for a second, Allie thought she was about to cry. Instead, she laughed. Loud, mirthless, and laced with poison.

Every hair on Allie stood up. She lunged. Miller caught her arm and twisted. A pop, followed by an explosion of pain, and Allie lay face-first in the sand with the woman’s knee digging into her back and her arm pinned behind her.

“I wanted to do this peacefully,” Dr. Miller said. “Creator and creation. I guess that’s what I get for giving someone else control.”

Allie didn’t know what the woman was babbling about, and she didn’t care. The doctor was impressively strong, yet she still felt as light as a feather. Allie bucked. Dr. Miller lost her balance and rolled off, Allie following her with claws out.

The woman was faster. She slipped behind Allie before she registered the movement. An arm looped around Allie’s neck and squeezed.

“I don’t want to kill you, Hope,” Dr. Miller said into Allie’s ear. “But I can’t let you just walk off. Not after everything.”

Allie scrabbled at the arm around her neck. Her claws raked against flesh, yet the doctor’s grip stayed strong.

“If you go by yourself, you might die. Let me guide you.”

No. Allie tried to force the word out. No air escaped. Darkness edged in on her vision. So what if she died, as long as the kids were safe? She backpedaled, slamming into a tree trunk as hard as she could, over and over.

The doctor cried out, her grip on Allie’s throat tightening until Allie thought her eyes might pop. Then, release. Allie gasped and scrambled away on all fours. Startled cries came from the children as they huddled a few feet away. All eyes were locked on her.

A rumble came from deep in Allie’s chest. It reverberated out and up as the injuries to her throat healed. She roared and spun to face her opponent. She’d tear the woman limb from limb or die trying. Her mind stalled. Blood coated the tree just as it coated the doctor’s lab coat, yet the woman still stood, although ‘woman’ seemed to no longer be the appropriate word.

“Why must they always betray me?” Dr. Miller hissed through clenched teeth. Elongated teeth, pushing out from a too small jaw. “Only under my control can you survive. I won’t let them have you. If you won’t do as I say, I’ll just have to save you the misery and put you down.”

With each word, Dr. Miller’s form changed. Her arms lengthened, splitting in two as feathers sprouted, while her body grew asymmetrically, bubbles of flesh pushing out in odd directions as the rest of her tried to catch up. The fangs grew longer, thicker, pushing the jaw out at an unnatural angle until it stretched into a long, scaly snout capable of housing them. The doctor grew taller than Allie’s monstrous form, higher and higher, only stopping when the top of her head nearly reached the top of the research building.

In seconds, a massive amalgamation of a snake, a lizard, and an eagle had replaced the frail-looking woman. Allie had seen it before, on the table. One paper had info on it. What had it said? Allie wracked her brain and came up dry.

The Miller-Beast’s jaw unhinged, and she struck.

Allie dodged, slicing at the serpentine neck as she went. The doctor was still fast, but her new bulk had slowed her down. Allie could see her coming now.

The Miller-Beast twisted, her neck, wing and clawed hand closing in on Allie in multiple directions. Allie jumped away from the claws, only to have her lungs, as well as her bravado, deflate against the bony ridge of a wing. The ground sailed away. Pain erupted across her spine as it met a tree trunk. Stars appeared in her eyes. Unviable. The papers had said the creatures were all unviable. All of them had a weakness. What was this one’s?

Miller’s attention shifted to the kids. To their credit, they had taken off down the beach when Miller transformed, and were in the process of trying to get around the fight to the cover of the jungle, but they weren’t nearly far enough away to avoid the jet-sized Miller.

Allie roared, pushing off the tree trunk as Miller pounced. The kids scattered. Allie slipped under the snake head and slashed up. Her efforts were rewarded with a shriek of pain from Miller and a gush of blood from the new hole in her throat. It coated Allie, blinding her for a second too long. A massive, lizard-like hand closed around her and squeezed. With her arms and legs pinned, Allie lashed out with the only thing she had left. Her teeth sank into the soft flesh of the palm. Miller tossed her away, and she found herself flying through the air once more.

This time, she hit sand and scrambled up in time to see a bloodied Miller charging at her with a fully healed throat. Regeneration. Of course the giant serpent-dragon thing would have regeneration. Allie tried to roll out of the way as Miller closed in on her and snapped. Pain exploded across her right side, then went numb, only for the feeling to return as she hit the beach once more. Her own regeneration worked overtime, healing her almost as fast as she got injured. She and Miller traded strikes, fatal and maiming blows brought to nothing over and over.

Allie couldn’t see the kids anymore, although it hardly mattered. Miller had clearly decided to end her first, and if the gnawing pit in her stomach and subtle slowing of her healing was any sign, she’d die before Miller. The kids would follow shortly after.

Miller’s clawed hand slammed down on Allie. Her chest cracked on impact. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t feel her legs, and this time, it stayed. She looked into Miller’s slit pupils. Allie could have sworn the doctor was smiling. A weight descended on Allie’s mind to match the one on her chest. She’d been a coward her whole life for a reason. She didn’t have the power to protect anyone. Not even herself.

A ball of snarling fur clamped onto one of Miller’s fingers, severing the digit and causing the monstrous doctor to rear back. More balls of fur launched at Miller, crimson blooming across her massive frame where they landed. They were larger than Allie remembered, but the smell, now more powerful than ever, didn’t lie. The kids, her kids, were protecting her.

Awe and shame fought for control in Allie’s mind as she watched the great winged serpent writhe in agony. No. Allie grabbed the severed finger which still lay on top of her chest. The children’s determination wasn’t something she’d easily forget. Still, she wouldn’t sit back while others did her job for her.

The finger stank like hot tar, and the meat tasted worse. Allie choked it down all the same. She was done running. Done being a coward.

Feeling returned as her bones knitted back together. Miller, tired of trying to catch the little furballs with her claws and teeth, dropped to the sand and rolled.

The children leaped free in grand arcs, long-muzzled snouts and elongated limbs reminding Allie of a pack of werewolves from an old horror movie. Although she’d never seen herself in full view, Allie knew—they were the same as her. The realization stoked a fire, and Allie used the sudden surge of energy to launch herself at Miller as she struggled to regain her footing. A number of the bite marks the kids had inflicted still oozed blood.

Allie picked a wound near Miller’s spine and dug in. She gulped down more stinking chunks of the horrid beast, feeding the pit in her stomach and reveling in the power it returned to her. She didn’t see Miller’s scaly tail coming until it slapped her away. Allie twisted in mid-air, all damage done healing by the time she landed a short distance from the little werewolves, and braced herself for the next attack. It didn’t come. Instead, Miller reared back, neck arching like a snake about to strike as her chest expanded.

“Scatter,” Allie said.

The kids responded without hesitation. A second later, Miller released a stream of flame.

Now Allie remembered what the paper had said. She ran toward the flames, aiming out and to Miller’s side where the cone of fire didn’t quite reach. The acrid scent of burnt fur filled the air, but the flames didn’t catch. Allie continued the motion and ducked under Miller’s neck to slash into her underbelly.

The kids fanned out with yelps and snarls. A few shrieked in pain. The sound only brought strength to Allie’s strikes. She dug deeper, gouging the hateful serpent’s flesh. The wound shrank slowly. Miller reacted just as sluggishly, swallowing what was left of her fire as she contorted in an attempt to shake Allie off.

Extreme energy costs. That’s what the paper had said. Cell cannibalization occurs without a constant food source. Regeneration is stable, but increases energy demands exponentially.

A tiny werewolf with blackened fur down one arm latched onto a wing. More followed. Allie roared in encouragement, and was answered by a more than a dozen voices.

Miller stumbled. She whipped her head around to snap at a little wolf on her flank. Allie met her halfway and sank her teeth into Miller’s snout. Miller pulled free, tearing away a chunk that only fueled Allie’s strength. The beast was slowing down. The battle was theirs to take, but Miller still had sheer size on them.

Over and over, the kids struck. Over and over, Allie deflected Miller’s attacks. Crimson flowed into the sand. Copper drenched the air until it was all Allie smelled. Her body was slowing down, too. She was taking in Miller’s flesh when she could, yet the winged serpent’s strikes came too fast to balance out. When Miller finally shuddered and collapsed, Allie could do little more than join her, coming to a rest next to the head that could have swallowed Allie whole.

They locked eyes. Miller’s were bloodshot, mirroring the damage done to the rest of her. She struggled to breathe, and any air she took in to her lungs escaped out of a hole dug into her chest. Darkness ate at the edge of the winged serpent’s gaze as something moved within. Something almost… sad.

The doctor-turned-monster grew still as the darkness devoured the light. An odd pang shot through Allie’s chest like a memory of a long-forgotten friend. It was an emotion that felt right to feel at the passing of another. It fled as quickly as it came, leaving Allie with only the pain in her own shredded body. Her ability to heal was tapped out as well, and the monstrous form she’d fought in shrank away, leaving only a dying human.

Food, as nasty as it tasted, sat in large quantities mere feet away, yet Allie didn’t have the strength to move. Perhaps she’d lost too much blood this time. It hardly mattered. She’d protected her kids. She’d done her job. Darkness came to her vision as it had done to Miller’s eyes, and an emotion Allie had felt a lot recently rose to the fore. Fear. This time, it wasn’t the fear of monsters. She could take any of them, she was sure of that now. No, her fear sprang from the promise of death growing with each passing second. She’d protected her kids for now, but they’d need her again. She couldn’t leave them.

A shadow fell between Allie and Miller’s head.

“Here. Eat. It tastes like crap, but you got to take what you can get,” Kyle said. He, too, was back to human, his bloody gown hanging half off his shoulder.

Allie choked out a laugh and grabbed the chunk of flesh Kyle offered. Arrogant to the last. Still, she supposed he deserved to be. He was pretty special, after all.

The meat wasn’t much. Still, it got her back on her feet. It also made her painfully aware of the cries of injured children. Of course she wasn’t the only one to get hurt in the fight. Her heart skipped a beat.

“Did anyone die?” she asked.

“Other than that hag? Not that I’ve seen. Lucy’s helping the others, though.”

“Then so should we.” Allie glanced at her human, unclawed hands. They shook. Apparently, nearly dying twice in a handful of minutes was a bit much, even for werewolves. “Kyle, carve more meat out.”

He shrugged. “Okay.”

Not long after, fifteen healthy, if grimy, children surrounded Allie. No one had died. Miller had threatened the wrong monsters, although Allie had to give the doctor credit for giving them bodies that refused to give in.

A ship’s horn sounded from the ocean. A cargo ship, shipping bins stacked neatly on its back, angled toward the dock. Allie scanned the children and the giant Miller-Beast. Deep holes riddled the corpse. Oversized internal organs splayed out on the beach, some in pieces. The doctor looked like little more than a shredded, if huge, carcass.

The kids, on the other hand, were covered in gore. They had all returned to human form, their clothes hung in tatters, and their feet were bare. They looked for all the world like victims of a war zone, and Allie knew she probably looked worse.

Allie smiled and motioned for the kids to follow her to the dock. In many ways, they were victims. Surely the operators of the cargo ship wouldn’t turn down a traumatized woman and children in obvious need of shelter. If they did, well, the appearance of a pack of werewolves would change their mind. Miller had been right about one thing—something called to her from across the ocean, and it made her ache for blood.