Fate's Surrender (Eternal Sorrows Book 3) by Sarra Cannon (android based ebook reader txt) 📕

other three dogs decided it was time to join the party. They leaped over the fence, but this time, they landed closer to him.

“Hey, how come you only get two and I got to deal with three of these things?”

Noah laughed. “This Dark One person must not realize who the real boss is out here.”

Crash lifted his machine gun into the air. “Oh yeah. Well, we’ll see about that.”

He emptied his entire clip into the three dogs, pushing them back a little bit. The bullets seemed to just fall away, hitting their mark but leaving almost no trace that they’d hurt these things at all.

He couldn’t throw the grenades, and bullets didn’t seem to be harming these guys. What else could he do? He backed away slightly as the dog-like rotters growled and snarled at him.

“Got any brilliant ideas?” he asked as Noah left his post and joined him at the back of the Humvee.

“I have a feeling this is about to get up close and personal,” Noah said, grabbing his bat from the truck and holding it at the ready. “I’m still not at full strength, but I can try to bash them with this. Primitive, but often effective.”

Crash laughed. “I asked for brilliant ideas.”

Noah laughed, too, and Crash was grateful to have such a cool guy to spend the end of the world with.

But they wouldn’t die today. Crash was certain of that. If his dreams were any indication, they still had a long journey—and a lot tougher battles than this one—to face before this was all over.

If only his dreams had shown him how to fight against rotters who were immune to bullets.

Before he could come up with any great strategy, the three on the ground ran toward them at full speed. Noah reared back and swung with devastating accuracy, hitting all three of them in the head and sending them flying backward.

“Ha,” Crash shouted, spraying them with follow-up bullets, just in case. “Take that, dogs.”

“Heads up,” Noah shouted, raising his arm to shield himself as the other two dogs leapt from the top of the truck and barreled into him.

Crash’s heart nearly stopped beating as one of those things dug its teeth into Noah’s skin and locked its jaw tight. The dog violently shook its head from side to side, trying to tear Noah apart.

Crash didn’t see any sign of blood, though, so he had to hope Noah’s stoneskin was still in effect.

The second dog hadn’t been as lucky. Noah had its neck in his other hand and seemed to be squeezing the life out of it.

In the meantime, the three Noah had slammed with the bat were making a comeback, and they looked angrier and more determined than ever. With Noah currently occupied, this left the three musketeers over here to Crash.

With guns out of the question and the grenades too dangerous to use, he only had one thing up his sleeve. When they were back at the hospital, he remembered feeling a deep fire ignite inside his body. Somehow, he’d poured pure electricity into a rotter’s body.

Of course, at the time, he was severely injured and pinned down, which had his adrenaline going crazy. He could, if needed, convince himself that this situation was about to go down the same path.

He tried to remember what that had felt like to channel so much power through his own fingertips, and as he reached for that same fire, it appeared. Like a tiny little ember that had been smoldering all this time. He had just managed to reconnect with it.

So, now he just had to figure out how to amplify it by a thousand and roast these things.

Nothing like the fear of death to motivate, huh?

He dropped his gun to the ground and held his hands out in front of him, feeling kind of stupid because he had no real idea what he was doing. All feelings of self-consciousness fell away, though, when he curled his fingers inward and sparks danced between them like little cracks of lightning.

“Hell, yeah,” he whispered.

He focused all of his energy on that burning ember deep inside, imagining he was pouring fuel onto it, causing it to burn hotter and more intensely.

That intention seemed to do the trick, and the lightning in his fingertips also grew hotter and more controlled.

“Time to test this out,” he said.

He pulled his curled fingers back and then shot them forward, straightening his fingers out at the last second and directing the bolt of electricity at the dog nearest to him.

A flash of lightning struck the dog-like zombie, and it squealed, pulling back and lowering its face to the pavement, dazed and, from the looks of it, slightly singed.

“What the crap was that?” Noah asked, finally ripping the dog-like rotter who’d tried to bite him off his arm. “Did you do that? Or is that something else I need to be watching out for?”

“That was me, man,” Crash said, laughing maniacally and holding up his fingers to show Noah the lightning. “How awesome is this?”

Noah’s eyes grew wide. “Do it again. Here they come.”

Crash cursed and turned his attention to the three dogs again. The one he’d singed had recovered quickly and joined the pack. Now, they were all heading for him.

He had no idea how quickly he could recharge his ability or if he could even get a shot off quickly enough to hit all three. He pulled his hands back toward his body as the rotters leapt off the ground, charging toward him.

With a yell, he put everything he had into the lightning and this time, instead of just a single flash or bolt, he kept pouring his energy into the stream.

A stream of almost rope-like lightning flowed from the fingertips on both hands, combining into a single, thick stream that connected with the head of the rotter he’d hit the first time. Crash kept yelling as he pushed the stream outward, holding onto it for as long as he could, imagining the ember