The shot rang out a moment later.

It felt like someone had taken a big hammer and smashed my knee in. Didn’t hurt at first, but then the blood started flowing and the falling happened, and after that, it hurt like hell.

The worst part was the feeling of the bits of bone that used to be my kneecap grinding around in there. I was pretty sure it was gonna cause some permanent damage: muscle tearing, severing blood vessels, whatever. . . not that I didn’t have more important things to worry about.

I was vaguely self-conscious enough to realize I was going into shock as I dragged Hoshi behind an overturned SUV . The fact that my hands were shaking too bad to remove the safety of my forty-five was a bad sign. So was the copious amount of blood.

And yes, it felt just like that, very calm, very clinical, very simple. I was gonna die, no way around it.

A low whistle echoed through the empty concrete structure. “Here, piggy piggy,” an insane voice cackled. “Pappy’s gonna eat well tonight.”

Fuck.