The first thing Jagger noticed was that the monsters were no longer only coming from the front.
They were spilling in from every side street now, drawn by the blast, the blood, and the half-melted remains of the Herald. Ghouls scrambled over abandoned cars with that same sick, jerking speed. Goblins shrieked from the rooftops and dropped down in twos and threes. Smaller things slithered low through the smoke, too fast and too ugly to properly name in the dark.
The second thing he noticed was the sound.
Engines.
Heavy. Layered. Fast.
It rolled through the street beneath the screams and gunfire like distant thunder closing in. Jagger's head snapped toward it at the same time Ulna's did. Jung shifted his stance, shield rising. Abdul's sword came up. Nico, still breathing too hard, looked from the incoming swarm to the road behind them with wide, bloodshot eyes.
Three pairs of headlights tore through the smoke.
"Humvees," Abdul said.
