Several more Skulls let out low moans. There was the rattle and thud of bone against bone, and Shepherd could easily picture two of the beasts jostling each other for position, hoping to be the first to find fresh meat. Shepherd moved closer to the counter. He lifted the shelf of books slowly and carefully. Rachel gave him an anxious look. One wrong move and the creatures out there would be on them in seconds.
His deliberate, tortoise-like movements paid off. The shelf was soon in place and extended the coverage provided by the checkout counter. He slid behind it and glimpsed out the window as he did. What he saw made his blood freeze.
Dozens upon dozens of Skulls marched between the trees. Their feet crunched through the underbrush and carpet of leaves. Clawed hands, hanging by their sides for the moment, clunked against the tree trunks. They bumped into each other almost clumsily. A couple nearby seemed on a collision course with the store, and the sight of them broke Shepherd from his trance. He crouched behind the shelf. “Stay completely still. There are at least a hundred out there.”
Rory’s jaw dropped. He shrank back.
“And those are just the ones I can see,” Shepherd whispered.
For half an hour, maybe longer, they waited in silence. Shepherd tried to breathe slowly, softly. They’d always operated under the assumption that the Skull’s strongest, most reliable senses were sight and hearing, like the humans they’d once been. But they never had any way to truly tell for sure. He prayed the creatures wouldn’t be drawn by the smell of live human meat.
More and more scrapes. More and more rattling bones. Another creature paused outside the broken window. It glanced at the corner of a tarp fluttering in the wind. It squinted, and the monster’s lips curled back into a snarl. Every muscle in Shepherd’s body tensed. He started calculating the most effective way to neutralize the Skull and get to the river. That would be their only hope—outrun the creatures. They couldn’t defend this ramshackle place from the number of Skulls he’d seen.
But the Skull’s snarl evaporated into the dull, passive expression the beasts wore when nothing was around to whip them into a frenzy. Shepherd caught himself before he let out an audible sigh of relief. The terrible noises outside dragged on for twenty or thirty minutes. Then the telltale sounds diminished. The monsters seemed to be retreating. Maybe he and the midshipmen would live to see another night.
A single grating scratch caused Shepherd to cringe. It sounded as though something were dragging along the side of the building. It continued until they saw the source of the din. A Skull with especially long shoulder plates was rubbing against the building. It passed near the door and stopped. Its shoulder plate had hooked around the window frame. The monster tried to walk on, but the plate locked it in place. Instead of simply backing up and freeing itself, the monster pushed forward again. A low growl of frustration escaped its lips. The doorframe shook with the Skull’s efforts. The entire wall seemed to shift and shake. A lantern hopped as the shelf by the door tremored.
The Skull struggled, hell-bent on yanking its increasingly embedded shoulder plate from the wooden doorframe. Fire burned through Shepherd’s nerves. He already knew this wouldn’t end well.
“Get ready to grab your packs,” he whispered.
He glanced at the Skull as it shook the doorframe again. It wailed. The rushed footsteps of more bony feet crunched through the leaves. They crowded around the frustrated Skull, interested to see what the ruckus was about. The Skull threw its entire body into the doorframe. Wood cracked. Paint chipped and flaked. It howled, and even more footsteps sounded.
The shelf by the door trembled and then collapsed. It seemed to happen in slow motion. Lanterns tumbled off. A grill plummeted. Cans of preserved foods and boxes of matches spilled. The Skulls screamed in excitement. Their rasping voices burst through the night air and echoed violently against the walls. Two of them tried to scramble through the window. Their claws tore into the trapped Skull. They fractured its bony plates, and rivulets of blood streamed from its injuries. The wounds only made the Skull more crazed.
The growing crowd urgently pushed against one another, each desperate to find what had caused the racket. Each drawn by the allure of potential prey.
A window above Rachel and Rory broke. Shards of glass fell over them, and a bony hand reached in, followed by a face caught in a fearsome snarl. Another window broke, and a Skull’s chomping maw appeared. The Skull’s eyes widened under its horn-rimmed brow when its gaze fell on Shepherd. It let out a bellowing roar to call the others to hunt.
“Ready?” Shepherd asked. The midshipmen nodded. He scooped up his pack with his left hand and held it like a riot shield. In his right, he grabbed a camping ax. He heard the rustle of the midshipmen gathering their supplies behind them. “Now!”
“Let’s do this!” Rory yelled.
“Go, go, go!” Rachel bellowed at the top of her lungs.
Anger and the intense desire to live against all odds sent waves of unrelenting power through Shepherd’s muscles. He reared one leg back and kicked with all of his strength at the door. It flew open. The force pushed the struggling Skull onto its back, and several of the nearby Skulls were knocked off balance. Holding the camping pack before him, he charged at the ferocious creatures. He shoved them back and struck out with the ax. Flashes of blood and the clash of steel against bone and flesh were interspersed with the screams and growls of the Skulls.
He could hear Rory and Rachel behind him. They worked quickly to clear a path through the monsters. But more charged them from every direction. The swarm they’d tried to hide from would soon be on them. They could not fight the Skulls head-on. There had to be another way.
“To the river!” Shepherd roared.
The ax cleaved a new target, followed swiftly by a second. The blade bit deep into flesh. Blood sprayed. Skulls howled. He pushed another creature over with the backpack. A Skull fell on its bony ass. Its jaws snapped, and its claws cut through the air. But he didn’t give it a chance to get back up. The ax found its home in the middle of the Skull’s face. The creature went slack.
Shepherd bent to retrieve his weapon. He pulled on the handle, but it was firmly stuck. Another Skull lunged, and he decided running was more important than struggling with the ax.
He sprinted for the river, Rachel and Rory close behind. A Skull careened directly into their path. Shepherd bowled it over with the pack. Rory lashed out with an ax. Rachel slammed a Skull with a shovel. The hollow ringing echoed between the tree trunks. More Skulls cried out in response.
Shepherd, Rachel, and Rory dodged under branches and leapt over knotted roots as they dashed down a slope. Momentum carried Shepherd to the point where if he lost his footing, he would probably roll straight into the river. But he didn’t stop. They ran as the muck and mud grabbed their boots and sucked at their feet. Skulls splashed in after them. The monsters, weighed down by their heavy organic armor, floundered in the shallow water.
The Skulls would be dangerous until they were far enough out to be swept away by the current and drowned. According to Rachel and Rory, the damn things couldn’t swim. He hoped their intel was good, but it was too late now to change tactics.
Let the river take the Skulls, please,
Shepherd prayed.
Soon he was swimming, his pack floating in front of him. The midshipmen did likewise. They kicked as hard as they could, and the current started to sweep them away. Suicidal Skulls, attempting to follow, were quickly pulled under by their dense armor plates. They splashed and flailed, but Shepherd did not spare them a moment’s pity.
Shepherd felt something hit his feet and roll under him. “Shit! Keep swimming!” The monsters were just as dangerous dead as they were alive. One cut from their bony claws, one scratch, and the Oni Agent would take them.
“Ah!” Rachel cried out, practically jumping from the water. “They’re under us!”
She powered ahead of the group with the prowess of a practiced swimmer. Shepherd wasn’t too far behind, but Rory was struggling. Soon, Rachel was striding up the other side of the river. Shepherd kicked until he reached the shore. He tossed his bag up the muddy bank and looked back.
“Where the hell did Rory go?” he asked.
The midshipman’s pack was floating nearby, but the young man had disappeared.
––––––––
T
he Skull screamed at Meredith. She rolled out of the way, and it slammed harmlessly against a tree trunk. She dove to snatch up her dropped rifle. Before she could grab it, bullets lanced through the Skull. Its body twitched with each shot. Blood and flesh sprayed from the exit wounds. The rounds had come from the wrong direction to be machine-gun fire from the Joint Base. She pressed the stock of her rifle against her shoulder and aimed it around the darkness.
“Meredith!” Miguel yelled. Glenn came running behind him.
“Careful,” Meredith said. “Renee’s nearby!”
“Here, here! Don’t fire!” Renee’s voice called out.
They swiveled toward the crunching of feet over leaves and twigs. Renee emerged from the gloom. More Skulls cried out around them. The Hunters circled up and fired. Their gun chatter broke out over the unholy chorus of Skull voices. The creatures came at them, clawing and screaming, through the trees. Bullets crashed into the monsters’ plates and tore through their flesh. Their heads snapped back, their bodies crumpled and lifeless.
“Retreat,” Dom said over the comm link.
“Aye, aye,” they replied in unison.
The Hunters worked like a killing machine. Firing and moving slowly through the woods. Machine-gun fire still peppered the shore and the sailboat. The Hunters maintained a healthy distance from the river as they made their way north, back to the building they’d come from. Progress was slow but steady.
“Changing!” Meredith called out. She replaced the mag on her rifle and resumed firing. Somehow they’d been lucky enough to avoid being overwhelmed by a wave of Skulls. But she’d learned long ago relying on luck was a mistake, and she remained vigilant. They soon reached the parking lot near the marina.
“Run!” Dom said. “I’ll cover your retreat!”
As promised, rifle fire chattered from the window of the burned-out office building they’d used as a temporary base. Rounds pierced the night air and impaled the pursuing Skulls. Bony bodies thudded and smacked against the asphalt. Meredith ran with the others, taking the occasional shot at any Skulls that dared to take a passing swipe.
They would be back to safety soon, she told herself. Back where they could better defend themselves. Back by Dom’s side.
A resonating bellow quenched those thoughts. Dom’s voice broke through the comm link, but Meredith didn’t need him to tell her the source of the roar. She spun on her heels and sighted up the humungous monster bursting through the edge of the woods.
It was a Goliath.
The creature ripped a tree from the ground. Soil sprayed from its roots. The Goliath tossed the uprooted tree with ease, and the trunk whistled through the air. Meredith dove, scraping her arms and knees against the asphalt. The others scattered as the trunk flew at them. Branches struck Glenn, and the man went down hard. The tree hit a parked car, and the vehicle skidded sideways, slamming against another. Metal screeched against metal.
This was supposed to have been an easy mission. Take a boat and use it as bait. See if the Joint Force Base was actively monitoring the river. If they were, abandon the boat. Check. Get back to Dom and then traverse south quietly through the night. That second part hadn’t quite worked out. The Goliath was an enormous wrench in that plan.
The Hunters sent a volley of fierce gunfire at the behemoth. Bone chipped off as bullets slammed into it or glanced off its horns and spikes and plates. Although its armor cracked and splintered, the beast didn’t even slow down. Its feet dug into the ground with each galloping step, sending clods of dirt and plants flying.
Soon enough its raucous bellowing attracted other Skulls. The beasts careened toward the gunfire and the hunting cries of their fellow creatures. There would be no easy way out of this mess.
“Keep falling back,” Dom said over the comm link. A loud whoosh sounded overhead, and then an explosion rocked the Goliath. Dom had used one of the group’s last grenade cases for their barrel-mounted launchers. Fire rolled in a billowing cloud from the Goliath. The giant Skull grabbed its chest and let out a moan of agony that shook the treetops. Its plates had been split open, and its ribs were exposed.
Meredith fired volley after volley into the unprotected meat of the Goliath’s chest. The beast stumbled then crashed forward. Momentum carried its body into another couple of trees, and the falling trunks smashed several of the nearby Skulls. One of the trapped creatures managed to free itself. It left behind a shredded leg caught under the tree in the process. It hobbled, tripped, and then crawled, relentless in the pursuit of its prey. She lit it up with a salvo of gunfire before retreating across the parking lot toward Dom’s position.
“Hunters, gather at the west entrance,” Dom said.
Meredith frowned in confusion. Dom had initially ordered them to reconvene in the office building, where they could hold out. This change of plans worried her, but she trusted that from his vantage point he could see how the battle was unfolding. Her job wasn’t to second-guess his orders, but to follow them to the best of her abilities.
The other Hunters were blurs in Meredith’s peripheral vision. Miguel’s rifle flashed. Glenn took a knee and sighted up a Skull running on all fours. Jenna waved a hand to goad them all on, while Renee changed mags and Andris sprinted for cover. All hell had truly broken loose.
Another loud bellow sounded behind them. Meredith first looked at the downed Goliath, but it hadn’t miraculously recovered. Smoke still drifted from its singed skin, and its tusked mouth hung open under its glassy, lifeless eyes. Then she saw a second Goliath punch through the wreckage of vehicles. Its hammering fists knocked the cars aside as if they were toys.