Noah held his hand to his head, wondering why it hurt so much. He first realized he was using his left hand. So he switched to his right, which made the pain only marginally better.
Had he crashed into the bookshelves behind him? The ache in his back from earlier made it unclear if he'd been smacked into something yet again.
Another hit to his spine was the last thing he needed.
He blinked, the fuzzy world slowly coming into focus around him. Yes, the bookshelves were behind him. He was in the library.
Rolling to his side, he slowly came to his knees and stood. As he did it, and he shook the cobwebs out of his brain, it became clear he was the only one standing. Everyone else was out cold.
Dead? he wondered.
He turned first to his right, to Wade. Reaching out and placing his fingers at his friend's neck, Noah found his pulse was steady and strong. Still, the touch didn’t rouse Wade at all.
One by one, Noah checked on each of them.
Only then did he realize that everything was stunningly quiet.
Had the shockwave destroyed his hearing?
He stood still for a moment and listened to his own breathing. No, he didn’t hear ringing. That didn't mean his eardrums hadn't been punctured, though. Sound traveled through the skeletal system better than from the outside, he knew. But he heard nothing.
There should have been footsteps overhead, yelling, bullets. The sounds of Will’s family members fighting for their lives. But all of it was missing.
In the deathly quiet, he reached to touch the dirt wall, thinking he would feel the vibration of the soldiers marching or fighting through the earth. But he felt nothing around him, either.
No one roused, and he leaned down once more, this time shaking Wade gently by the shoulder. But the other agent didn’t respond at all.
Noah patted himself down, feeling relief as he found his gun in his holster before he remembered it wasn't his. His was lost, somewhere out beyond the property line. This was a stolen weapon. Even so, he quickly ejected the magazine, checked it, popped it back in, and chambered a bullet.
The noise of his motions echoed through the library, even though the paper and the leather of the books should have absorbed it readily. He froze, wondering who might have heard him and who might be on the other side of that door.
Three.
Two.
One.
Noah reached out and slowly turned the knob, hoping to not alert anyone who was waiting on the other side. He cracked it but didn’t look. Waiting for several beats, he stayed behind the dirt wall for protection. But when nothing popped through the doorway, he dared to dart his head into the opening for a peek.
The hallway was empty. Bolder now, he stepped out, walking slowly, rolling his feet with each step to be as quiet as he could possibly be. He didn't quite have the wolves’ stealth, but he did all right.
At the first turn, he stopped cold.
Bodies littered the ground. Soldiers lay motionless, guns still in hands. He aimed his weapon. They were down, but they might not be dead.
Kicking at the feet of one of them, he waited and got no response. It almost surprised him. It would figure if it was only him to be up and around after whatever apocalypse they’d unleashed.
He knew that all of Aegis’ men might stand up and outnumber him at any moment.
But nothing happened.
He kicked the soldier in the feet again, then did the same with another, and another. They were the only ones he could reach without putting a soldier behind his back. When still nothing happened, he leaned down to check a pulse. This one had none. Noah was contemplating the ramifications when he heard the moan.
Standing upright quickly, he swung his weapon and watched as a hand came up in surrender.
“Don't shoot.”
“Jesse?” he asked, hoping he got the name right.
The man nodded. Jesse Little, another of Will’s grandsons.
The man stood, fully naked. He must have been down here fighting in wolf form. But even as the thought passed through Noah’s mind, another sound came from behind him as someone else stirred.
He and Jesse turned simultaneously to see a wolf slowly drag itself to its feet.