Fear

Sam still held the reload magazine for the Sig Sauer in her left hand when the beast pounced.

In the hair-breadth of reaction time she possessed, Sam instinctively thrust her left arm forward as the open maw of the hound descended; her hand and arm sunk into the wolf's gullet while its steel jaws clamped down, its dagger-like teeth biting deeply just above her elbow. With the final, fading ability of her mind to control her muscles Sam willed her left hand to thumb loose a single 9 mm silver bullet from the magazine. That bullet dropped down the open throat of the hound…

And the effect was immediate.