Going forward was the only real choice. None of us wanted to return to Santa Fe, and there weren’t any alternate routes to Albuquerque. Even if there had been, alternate routes would probably be plagued with just as many problems.

We crept past a collection of scattered buildings to our left, close enough to see a roaring inferno ahead on the other side of the highway. The skeletal black silhouettes amid the flames suggested that the area had previously been wooded, a rarity for New Mexico.

“It hasn’t spread to the highway yet, or across it,” Davi said. “We should be able to make it by?”

“If it gets close, we’ll need to bail. I’ve gotten better with my flame and ice abilities, but that’s…” Byron shook his head.

“Pretty sure five full fire departments would struggle to contain that blaze,” I said.

Kurt snorted. “That’s not a blaze. That’s a wildfire. None of us plan to throw you at it and hope for the best, Byron.”

The tall black man relaxed slightly. “Right. Good. I can probably keep the temperature down in a small area.”

“My air abilities should help with that. I’ve been practicing. If you can get some air cold enough, I should be able to keep it close. Even… even outside of Frank.” John spoke the last words hesitantly. We’d discussed abandoning the semi several times, but we’d managed to stick with it so far. John wasn’t the only one who was fond of the old truck.

“Keeping the cold air with us would help a ton,” Byron said.

“We picked up a flat cart while we were in Santa Fe,” I offered. “If we need to abandon Frank, I can push that. That’ll let me do the running and the rest of you can just hold on.”

Byron frowned. “Hopefully it doesn’t come to that. But… yeah.”

A wostrich herd ran by, coats afire, but we didn’t see any sign of people. I wondered idly who would get the points when they died. Would anyone? I almost suggested Davi or Byron attack them, but if we had to leave the truck, the last thing I wanted was an enraged herd of flaming monsters dogging our heels.

As we crested a hill, John, now driving, groaned. “Well, heck.”

It was easy to see what had prompted his frustration. A gigantic pole lay sideways across the road. It was slanted upward, with one end laying atop a nearby building, but the space beneath wasn’t large enough for Frank.

“What was that?” Byron asked. “A cell phone tower? Do you think we can move it?”

“I think it’s a Points Siphon,” Davi said.

As soon as she said it, I realized she was right.

“I wonder what knocked it over?” I said. “It can’t be the fire. That thing’s the coolest thing for miles. Maybe something else fell into it when it caught flame? I kind of doubt we can move it, but maybe we can cut a section out and drive through. Wait. What’s that noise?”

A steady, rhythmic pounding drew our attention to the right side of the road. The fire was about 200 feet away: close enough that we could feel the heat, close enough to worry about, but not putting us in direct danger yet. A dilapidated warehouse vibrated slightly with each massive thump, metal paneling adding a reverberating echo as counterpoint.

“Those are footsteps,” John said. His face was white. “Something huge is coming this way.”

A massive red-and-black head poked around the edge of the warehouse. Wicked teeth, each larger than my hand, were nestled in a jaw large enough to swallow a small child whole. Sagging flaps of loose skin connected the jaw to a predator’s body.

A tyrannosaurus.

John immediately threw Frank into reverse, trying to get the big truck turned around.

“Well, we found the Titan,” I said, trying for a lighthearted tone. “Dinosaurs. Obvious, in retrospect.”

We all swayed as John accidentally rammed the rear of the truck into the highway’s guardrail. “That ain’t a dinosaur.”

I grabbed onto a chair to keep myself steady. “Looks like one.”

“Used Analyze. It’s like a dino, but there’s something hinky about it. Aw, shee-it. It’s coming for us!”

John was right. Most monsters ignored us inside Frank’s cab if we didn’t have any gaps in the enclosure, rams and hexcrabs being the notable exceptions. The Titan, apparently, made a third.

The tyrannosaur-like monster loped to the other side of the highway, its unrushed pace covering the distance deceptively quickly due to its ultra-long stride. The elevated side of the toppled Points Siphon seemed to block its way. Either the monster couldn’t go over it, or it didn’t want to. Instead it jogged to where the oversized pole got nearer to the ground, then stepped over.

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It turned, then tilted its head toward the sky. The saggy folds of its neck began to inflate, and when leveled its head at us, a gout of flame shot forward, enveloping Frank’s cab.

John had begun to pull away from the dented guardrail, but we were still facing the dinosaur almost head on. Byron swept the flames on our windshield aside, making motions with his hands as he tried to get the flames clear. The temperature in the cab skyrocketed.

This must be what it feels like to be a pot roast, I thought irrelevantly.

John let out a howl of inarticulate rage and slammed his foot down on the gas. “Eat truck, lizard!”

I had just enough time to grab onto the arms of my seat before we careened into the monster.

The plow hit the beast’s legs, but the monster’s center of balance was high. Rather than being sent flying, it tipped into us, skull crashing through our fencing and windshield, just as the rest of us were thrown forward by the abrupt stop.

The monster seemed surprised, almost stunned, by the impact. It blinked once, scaly eyelids flickering to cover tiny, beady eyes, and shook its head from side to side.

It gave me just enough time to wriggle away, reaching out a hand to drag John with me, angling toward a sack near the door where our weapons hung. We hadn’t expected to need them inside.

My fingers closed around my trident’s haft and the truck rocked as the monster lunged. There was a sharp snapping sound followed by a scream.

I spun to see Davi stumbling back from the front of the cab. Blood dripped from the dinosaur’s jaws, and my friend’s right arm was missing just above the elbow.

Fury shook me and I threw myself forward, the tines of my trident sinking a few inches into the Titan’s eye and cheek.

The monster growled in fury and tore itself out of the truck. It almost took my trident with it, but I kept my grip, the trident’s barbs tearing more flesh away as the monster left.

I glanced at Davi, but John was already kneeling beside her.

He had her.

I had my job.

Not that I knew how I was going to manage it.

Byron, Kurt and I Ieapt out onto the road. Blessedly, the area around us was largely clear of smaller monsters. There was one spacedog, but a single kick was enough to send it back to whatever hell it came from.

“Keep it off me, Vince!” Byron yelled. “I’ll try ice!”

Makes sense, I thought. I sure wouldn’t bet on fire hurting it.

The monster’s legs bore deep gashes across its upper shins where the plow had hit, and its gait was uneven. Blood was oozing from the cuts. We’d slowed it down, but the damage we’d inflicted wasn’t fatal.

I danced forward, trying to stay in the blind spot created by the eye I’d taken out earlier. The dinosaur didn’t like that, constantly turning in an effort to keep me in view. Its speed was in no way equal to mine, but with wicked talons on the end of each toe and arm-severing force in its bite, I wasn’t breathing easy. I couldn’t make any mistakes.

Byron’s Ice Bolt shattered on its hide, leaving the barest mark behind. I heard him curse, and then ice began to spread across the monster’s face, blocking its other eye.

I heard the noise of a car behind me and risked the barest look over my shoulder. Kurt hadn’t been idle; he was sitting in the front seat of an abandoned pickup, which was outlined in the blue glow of his Animate Machinery ability. There’d been no time to repair the vehicle: he was brute-forcing this, accelerating toward the side of the monster’s legs with a look of determination on his face. The nose of the pickup crumpled as he impacted, but the monster’s balance wavered. Kurt backed up for another try.

Just then, Davi flew, literally flew, out of the semi’s door. Her right arm was still missing, but she held a sledgehammer in her left, swinging it toward the monster’s head as she activated her Powerful Blow.

The ability had been shit for me, but Davi had the synergy to make it work. The monster’s head rocked to the left and Kurt, forehead bleeding from a shattered windshield, slammed into the monster one more time. Their efforts, combined, were enough to make the monster lose its balance, toppling to its side on top of Kurt’s truck.

It was down, but not out. Without missing a beat, the tyrannsauroid tilted its head back, neck beginning to inflate for another searing blast of flame.

Can’t have that. I ran forward, stabbing my trident into its inflating neck like I was popping a balloon, then tearing my weapon free to leave a sizeable gash.

The dinosaur didn’t seem to understand what I’d done, because it tilted its head down and tried to shoot flame again, but couldn’t get any pressure. Instead, fire blossomed inside its mouth.

We’d seen the monster wade out of an inferno, but whatever heat resistance it had seemed to be mostly external. The puddled flames in its throat blazed merrily as the dinosaur thrashed in pain, but began to subside.

John had followed Davi out. He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted at me. “Vince! Stab it again! ‘Bout a foot below its jaw, right in the middle!”

I didn’t ask questions.

My trident pieced its neck, but got caught. It wasn’t meant for stabbing deeply, and this monster’s body was tough.

“Deeper!” John called.

I pulled it out, giving it one more try, stepping forward putting my whole body into the blow. At first, I thought I’d failed again, at whatever John wanted me to do, but when I pulled the trident out, the tip was flaming.

A moment later, the monster’s neck exploded.

Flame washed over me, painful and blinding. I screamed, a mistake that made the inside of my mouth sing with searing pain as well.

It probably only took a second before Byron was at my side, suppressing the flames, but it was a long, long second. Even after the flames were gone, my body was in agony until I sent the soothing prickles of Healing Touch through my flash-fried skin.

The monster’s own skin had shielded me from the brunt of the explosion, and I had been a few feet away.

The Titan hadn’t been so lucky.

A deep, ragged hole was carved into the monster’s throat, the edges blazing with fire. Somehow, implausibly, the monster was still alive… but even as I thought that, its eyes closed and it began to vanish, fading away to leave a large black gemstone in its place.