Hungry Independents (Book 2) Read Free Page B

action. Fear
     coursed through her limbs, but she pushed through the barrier when
     the lead dog closed over Samuel like a juicy pork chop. Molly
     jumped off the porch and kicked the beast in the head with a
     sickening thud. She snatched up the shovel and jabbed the spade
     into the rows of teeth as the dog’s head swiveled back. The dog
     yelped in pain, retreating behind the others in the pack.
    Samuel lay motionless on the ground with his
     eyes closed.
    “Samuel! Samuel, are you all right? You have
     to get up!”
    No response. The two dogs in the middle
     separated and crept forward, wary now that Molly had shown her
     backbone. The injured dog slinked off to lick its wound and await
     the outcome.
    Molly gripped the shovel’s worn handle with
     slippery palms. Afraid to dry them on her pants, she hoped she
     could hang on until Samuel came around. She nudged him with a toe.
     He moaned once, but nothing more.
    The dog on her right sprang forward and she
     stepped over Samuel to meet its charge. The beast stopped and
     crouched again. On her left, the other canine came in low at her
     legs. Molly stabbed the shovel blade down and caught it in the
     neck. The cutting edge bit with force and another whining shriek
     echoed in the darkness. The animal rolled over and Molly struck its
     side, penetrating its body.
    She lifted and twirled back as the dog on her
     right attempted to sneak up. In the motion of her spin, the shovel
     hit the post that supported the porch overhang, sending vibrations
     through her hands and arms. Exposed without the shovel between
     them, Molly stumbled when the dog bowled into her side and knocked
     her against the railing. She slipped her hands up the handle and
     drove downward into the animal’s back as its menacing teeth sought
     her legs. Molly hammered the canine repeatedly with the blunt
     handle, screaming as fear fueled her strikes. The attempts to bite
     her ceased and Molly kicked the dog’s side, spun the shovel around,
     and buried the spade in its back. The animal whimpered, fell and
     bled.
    With Molly out of position to protect Samuel,
     the last two dogs pounced on him. One bit into his leg while the
     other bared its teeth close to Samuel’s throat and watched Molly
     with red, intelligent eyes.
    Molly didn’t pause to think. Using the shovel
     as a lance, she charged the animal biting Samuel, spearing its side
     and taking the beast all the way to the ground. The other one
     slammed into her and this time Molly was knocked off her feet into
     a flowerbed.
    She lost her grip on the shovel from the hard
     landing. The dog followed, its heavy body pinning her, foul hot
     breath on the back of her neck. Trapped, she clawed at the dirt and
     flowers in panic. She waited for the sharp pain that would carry
     her death close behind.
    A tremendous roar sounded and the weight
     lifted off her with a giant clash and a surprised yip. Molly pushed
     up and regained her feet, searching for the shovel’s protection.
     She found it in the flowers and spun to help her defender.
    Her brother Mark, in nothing more than his
     striped boxer shorts, wielding an aluminum bat, clubbed the black
     beast until nothing moved. Mark breathed like a thing possessed and
     searched for more dogs to strike. Four furry bodies lay sprawled in
     the moonlight.
    “There were five,” Molly said, trying to
     breathe and contain the adrenaline spike that carried her, “…five
     of them.”
    Mark nodded and stalked through the front
     yard, searching for the fifth. The lead dog that first tasted the
     blade of Molly’s shovel.
    More boys, similarly clothed as her brother,
     arrived with bats of aluminum and wood, like they were about to
     have late night batting practice.
    “There’s at least one more dog out here,”
     Mark relayed to the others. “Get in teams of three and find it.
     Molly, do you know which way it went?”
    Molly dropped to the soft, wet ground,
     crushed under the weight of fear