The mood was tense as the members of J Hall stared at the approaching God.

Behind them was the village of Neech, population 212.

In front of them was a large two-legged machine, about twenty feet tall, striding ever closer. Its body looked like a great metal egg, tipped on its side. They called this type of God a Factory. Its egg belly would be full of Class Zeroes.

Rafferty hated Class Zeroes. She'd much rather fight a Class Five behemoth, all by herself, than deal with the chattering, hopping, spitting, stinging, biting mob of metal insects churning inside the Factory.

Sheridan and Lena stood in front, discussing wind patterns. Lena pointed just to the right of the God, and Sheridan nodded. Cody's Jack Colin stood next to her protectively, shotgun in hand. Cody was fidgeting, kept looking away from the Factory. Cody hated Class Zeroes as much as Rafferty did. Once, Blaspheme had convinced Cody there was a nest of them under her bed, and Cody had slept in the hallway for a week.

Oscar and Trevor had stayed back in town, to help orchestrate an evacuation, if one became necessary. The hope had been that the God would veer off this course on its own. If it did, J Hall could just watch as it walked right on by.

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That hadn't happened. Its path would lead it right into the heart of the town.

Blaspheme glared at Rafferty as she stepped forward, clearly still upset that Rafferty had volunteered them for the assignment.

I'm actually starting to regret it myself.

I just really hate chess.

"Let's just get this over with," she said, and then drew her gun, took aim at the God, and pulled the trigger.

Her shot hit home in a great blue burst, and the God wobbled. It stopped, and everything was quiet for a moment. Then the God emitted a metallic, echoing shriek that caused Rafferty to take a step backwards.

A small door on its smooth body slid open, and the first of the Zeroes was launched toward them. Blaspheme easily dispatched it with another shot, but more doors would open, and the ejection rate would increase. They would be dealing with dozens of them soon.

Sheridan knelt, and took aim at one the Factory's legs. They had discussed this. In a previous fight, their best against this sort of God, she'd used her most explosive arrow to obliterate one of the legs. The God had fallen to the ground, blocking several of its launch doors. Colin and Oscar had quickly mounted the downed opponent, and spot welded its main door shut with eerie efficiency. The rest had been easy.

Sheridan loosed the arrow. She didn't miss. The thing's right leg disintegrated in a billowing cloud of Blue. It toppled to the ground.

The dust in the Breaks is gritty and coarse. The wind is harsh. The winter nights icy. The God had wandered this place for many, many years. All of that time, the elements had been working on it.

When its great metal hull hit the ground, several of the rivets that held it together had finally had enough. The God's egg body split in half. There was a beat, another quiet moment, and then Zeroes poured through the opening. Hundreds of them.

Rafferty watched as a great blanket of metal skittered toward her.

Balls.

Big dangly ones.