Night Beyond The Night by Joss Ware

attuned to the presence of the dead thugs.
    What had been a very narrow alley had flooded decades ago and was now a shallow stream, dark with shadows from roofs that tilted in toward each other. Zoë could hear the splashes ahead and started off quickly, edging along the wall nearest her.
    Grasses and reeds sprouted where water and brick met, and who knew what lived in the small canal, but she had sturdy boots (if a little too small) and determination. A rat scuttled past her, bumping her leg, and slid into the water. Zoë’s lip curled in revulsion. No matter how many of those rodents she saw, lived with, crawled with . . . they still disgusted her.
    It wasn’t long before the narrow space ended, opening into a wider area lit by the moon. She saw the outline of the
ganga
who carried the bandanna-man, and froze against the mossy wall. Where was the second creature?
    Zoë listened, sniffed, waited. But not for long, for she couldn’t let them get too far ahead of her in case the bounty hunter who sometimes rode with the
gangas
was waiting this time. Then there’d be no way she could help the blond one, or get her arrows back.
    She sensed no other presence, saw no orange eyes, and, most telling of all, smelled nothing but the familiar scent of waterlogged vegetation and mildew. Picking up her speed, she hurried along, breaking out of the canal-alley and promptly stumbled into something at the edge of the water.
    A
ganga
. With one of her arrows jammed into the back of his head.
    Well, damn
. At least he was putting them to good use.
    Zoë couldn’t resist a smile. She yanked the arrow from steaming
ganga
brains and, with a sharp flick, flung away any clinging remnants, then swished it quickly into the water to rinse.
    Two down, one to go.
    Her hesitation had caused her to lose sight of them, but when she came to another crossway, she heard the shuffling, plodding creature. He wasn’t far ahead, and, although she didn’t like to climb through buildings she didn’t know—rotting floors, broken stairs, crushed roofs, animal lairs, and all—she slipped into a nearby doorway and sprinted along the ground floor of the structure, praying all the while that she wouldn’t go through the floor.
    Making her way through slanted boards and around decaying furnishings, she got close enough to the
ganga
for a good aim.
    He was coming toward her, and the man, who must have been struggling before when he slammed the arrow into the other thug’s head, wasn’t moving.
    Didn’t bode well, though Zoë had never known of a
ganga
to attack a blond person.
    She didn’t waste any further time, but fit the arrow and let that baby fly through a window.
    Score
.
    The
ganga
froze, staggered, then gave a horrible grimace of pain and crashed to the ground. Its burden hit the ground, too, his head bouncing enough to make Zoë wince.
    She waited for a few breaths, but everything was quiet. So she slipped out of the building, the hair rising at the back of her neck, feeling as though she was completely exposed.
    She walked quietly toward the two unmoving figures.

Chapter 4
    Jade peered down from the window, watching the battle below. Dred—no, Elliott—and his companions had all rushed down and out to fight off the small group of
gangas
. She would have followed, but Elliott turned and said, “Stay with the rest of them.”
    “I’m staying here with them,” she told him, so he understood it was her own decision and not that she was letting him tell her what to do. The last thing they needed was for the other kids to get spooked and rush blindly out.
    Or, if the worst happened—which, by the looks of the battle below, was unlikely—and Elliott and his friends didn’t return, at least Jade would be there to help the kids.
    What the
hell
had Geoff been thinking anyway? First, leaving the city—and now this? She was going to murder him for messing up her plans if she finally got him back to Envy. Maybe even before.
    And how had she and