Page 77 of The Hyena’s Guardian
Then her mouth opened. “Theron.”
The corridor froze. Several survivors visibly recoiled. Because the hungry ones had lost the ability to speak long ago.
The sound of his name emerged broken and distorted, like ruined vocal cords forcing language through instincts no longer built to hold it. But Theron still recognized the voice underneath the corruption.
A wound reopened silently inside his chest.
The creature twitched violently once before taking another step forward. “He… is reaching.”
Matt moved closer beside Theron, the warmth of the bond pressing instinctively against the shock threatening to drag him backward into memory.
The hungry one noticed. Every hungry one noticed. Their empty silver eyes shifted toward Matt. Theron felt the atmosphere change instantly.
The corruption recognized the bond between them. The realization hit hard enough that Theron’s claws nearly lengthened on instinct.
The female hungry one tilted her head farther, studying Matt with unnatural stillness. Then her gaze shifted back toward Theron.
For the first time since entering the corridor, genuine fear surfaced through the corruption twisting her features.
“It knows you now,” she whispered.
The words barely sounded human. Then the corruption surged violently through her body.
The transformation happened instantly. Bones cracked loudly beneath pale skin while the remnants of recognition vanished completely behind sudden ravenous hunger. The creature shrieked hard enough to shake dust from the arches overhead.
Every hungry one in the corridor moved at once.
“Move!” Vale shouted.
Gunfire detonated through the tunnels as the corridor exploded into chaos. The hungry ones hit the formation from both walls at once.
Matt barely had time to raise his weapon before Theron slammed one of the creatures sideways hard enough to crack stone beneath its body. Wolves fired in controlled bursts while Baptiste dragged one of the injured operatives backward through the collapsing line. The corridor filled with shrieking, muzzle flashes, and falling dust as hungry ones poured through the fractured arches faster than the survivors could drop them.
“Fall back!” Vale shouted. “Move to the secondary passage!”
Another hungry one launched from the ceiling directly toward Matt. Theron intercepted it midair.
The impact drove both of them into the wall hard enough to shake the entire corridor. Matt fired twice before the creature could recover, black blood spraying across the stone as it collapsed twitching at their feet.
Then the mountain groaned.
A violent tremor ripped through the tunnel beneath them, splitting part of the floor open near the rear formation. Several hungry ones vanished into the darkness below with shrieks that echoed upward through the collapsing corridor.
“Now would be excellent timing to leave!” Matt snapped.
Vale pointed toward a narrow opening partially hidden behind one of the fractured support arches. “Inside! Go!”
The survivors moved quickly.
Wolves covered the retreat while the remaining operatives forced the injured through the opening one by one. Theron stayed near the rear of the formation beside Matt, claws flashing through the darkness whenever another hungry one came too close.
The passage beyond narrowed sharply before opening into another chamber deeper beneath the mountain.
Ancient stone sealed most of the chamber intact despite the collapse outside. Thick support pillars ringed the outer walls while shallow water spread across portions of the floor, reflecting the faint silver-blue glow pulsing through ancient carvings embedded directly into the stone around them.
The moment the last survivor crossed the threshold, Theron grabbed part of the fractured archway and slammed it downward with enough force to collapse the entrance behind them.
Stone thundered through the tunnel and the shrieking outside vanished beneath the avalanche. Silence hit the chamber hard afterward except for uneven breathing and distant tremors moving somewhere far below them. For several long seconds nobody moved.
