Chapter Twenty-One: Disturbed Nest
Rey was still glaring when they left the bunker, but as Kylo stepped out first into the aged, cool night, her wrath was instantly demoted in importance.
Something was wrong.
Stretching his awareness far beyond the yard, he hunted through the ebbs of Force around them, a spider testing the strings of his web, seeking the source of the foreboding tremor.
Without thinking, he reached back and took Rey's elbow, drawing her to his side. "I sense we're no longer alone," he whispered. "Be quiet and still."
He shouldn't have given such a directive, because—of course—she immediately did the exact opposite.
"Let GO!" She yelled. "Stop grabbing me!"
Kylo glowered. "You… are…." His voice shook. "Awful."
"Ha!" She said. "That's rich, coming fr—."
He covered her mouth with a gloved palm, muffling the rest of her unneeded retort. "Shh," he hissed, scanning the area in mounting tension. He could feel Rey watching him and knew she could see his agitation.
Good. Maybe she'd actually listen for once.
She echoed his search and gasped into his fingers. At the yard's end, three hulking shapes loomed in the darkness. They were animals of some kind, overlarge and snorting giant clouds in animated interest. The creatures approached with slow, plodding steps, but dropped to all fours in the blink of an eye, trundling across the expanse in a lumbering run that sped to a sprint.
Kylo recognized them. He released her and whirled on his heel, rushing back to the bunker doors and retyping his code into the access terminal.
Rey managed a choked sound as the shapes neared, proximity sharpening enough details to show pelts of coarse fur. Triple rows of daggered, saliva-covered teeth and beady, yellow eyes glittered in the moonlight reflecting off the surrounding snow.
"W-What are they?" She stammered.
Kylo captured a handful of her jacket, yanking her backwards. "Gorgodons," he clipped out. "Hungry ones, it seems."