Free Ki Book One by Odette C. Bell

when he darted out from the shadow of the
building that the growling got louder.
    By the sounds of it, there was a whole pack
around him. He could catch the silvery glints of their sleek backs
in the dim light of his lamp. Here and there the flash of a tail,
even the glimmer of moonlight against wide open eyes.
    The well was barely three meters from the
back of the hut, but it felt like it was kilometers away.
Continually swinging the torch he made it though.
    The p ack circled in from behind. With a distinct, sharp scrabble
of claw on rock, he heard one jump. Springing off a high boulder at
the back of the cabin, it landed right in front of him. Body all
but convulsing back in shock, Jackson managed to hold onto his gun
somehow.
    It was a huge wolf, probably the alpha of
the pack, and as it bared its teeth and growled, the others moved
in from the sides.
    Jackson was pinned, but he had not lost.
Baring his own teeth at the thought of wasting a bullet, he aimed
at the creature before him.
    He did not get a chance to shoot.
    The wolf doubled back with a sudden lurch,
its ears pricking up as it sniffed the air in panic. The move was
picked up and repeated by the rest of the pack until they all began
to whine with worry. Seconds later they scurried as a group down
the slope and into the shadows of the large and ancient pines.
    They hardly made a sound. Not even a
whimper or a yelp, just the scrabbling of quick and frantic claws
over rock.
    The sight of them fleeing so suddenly and
with such speed saw Jackson almost drop his gun.
    Then he heard it. From up above a faint
humming that was getting louder. At first it sounded like nothing
more than an insect, but as it neared, he recognized it.
    The same sound of swarming locusts that he’d
heard before those soldiers had attacked the farmhouse.
    Dread drawing over him, he bolted for the
cabin. Before he could reach it, he saw a shape fall down from the
sky above. It landed with the softest of thumps on the gently
sloped roof of the hut. With the sound of its fall, it could have
been no heavier than a house cat, but as he saw it pull up, he
recognized the form of a man. He even saw the white glint of that
distinctive armor.
    Jackson had no time to react. Half a second
later, something landed in front of the cabin door. There was the
sound of wood splitting as something was kicked in and then a
punctuated short scream.
    Ki.
    He rushed forward but the soldier on the
roof somersaulted off and landed less than a centimeter in front of
him, lashing forward with the butt of his rifle.
    Slamming backwards into the wooden beams
of the hut, Jackson brought up his hands and managed to deflect the
rifle off. That was all he could do. He couldn’t catch it or yank
it from the soldier’s grasp; the force of the blow was
unstoppable.
    “ Ki,” he used up precious breath to shout
her name. It was a pointless move; no doubt she was already out
cold. These soldiers were the most efficient and well-equipped he
had ever seen.
    Still, her name bubbled up from somewhere
within and was impossible to stifle.
    The soldier brought his gun around again,
this time slamming it right into Jackson’s stomach.
    It crippled him. Stumbling to his knees,
he watched in still horror as the soldier lurched forward, grabbing
Jackson by the neck and slamming him against the wall. The cabin
shook so hard something dislodged from the roof.
    Beginning to black out, Jackson saw one of
the large wooden logs of the roof slide off and slam against the
soldier. Too sudden to move back, it struck the guy right on the
head. Crumpling, his fancy armor obviously unable to withstand such
a direct and heavy hit, the soldier’s hand was ripped off Jackson’s
throat.
    Gasping for air, ready to black out, somehow
he held on. Stumbling to one knee, he leaned forward. Mind a haze
from his near asphyxiation, his hand acted of its own accord,
snaking out and grabbing at the soldier’s gun.
    It was light, impossibly light. It felt
like