I was waiting behind a high parapet on the roof of an apartment complex for the Antithesis on the street below to pass by. I had a strange alien plant gun that I was waiting to use on them once they were in position. I had enough medication in my system that I should be able to last the rest of the day without passing out from stress and anxiety. I had a super-advanced alien-made artificial intelligence secreted away in my skull talking to me from time to time. And lastly, I had people below that I wanted to protect enough that I would willingly put myself through all of this. “Thus is the life of a Samurai” I whispered to myself.

As I sat crouched down, back to the parapet, I held the strange organic pistol to my chest and waited for my chance to strike. I could hear the scrabbling of dozens of clawed and spike-tipped feet racing toward the people on the makeshift wall built of cars, trucks, dumpsters, and anything else that could be welded together below. One of the strangest and creepiest things about the abominations called Antithesis was the perfectly silent way that they went about everything.

I’m not saying that they didn’t make any sound but they didn’t have any sort of vocal communication. They never screeched or barked or roared. There was never any sound that one would normally associate with huge voracious predators. To mammals with millions of years of instincts that told them what to expect from giant carnivores, these things were wrong!

I focused back on what I was doing and listened as the wave of death and violence advanced. The sound that they made was mostly drowned out by the sound of the many guns firing at them and the screamed and shouted orders of the people down below defending the wall. I decided that the wave had probably advanced enough but asked the expert in my head anyway. “Inyris, do you think the Antithesis have gotten far enough for me to use the gun yet?”

‘I believe that the optimal time would be in three, two, one, now.’

I didn’t have to be told twice. I steeled my nerves and jumped to my feet. Leaning over the parapet, I took quick aim across the street to a spot in the biggest clump of the creatures below. After pulling the trigger there was a half second of a churning gurgling feeling in the gun. Then the slitted vents on either side of the rear that I hadn’t even noticed till now, opened and sucked in a big rush of air and a sack around the body of the gun swole up before jetting something from the barrel.

I didn’t really get a look at the projectile and began aiming again a bit closer to my side of the street. I pressed the trigger before I was done aiming since I now knew that there would be a delay before the strange gun fired anyway. The gurgling sensation finished just as I found the spot that I wanted the bullet thing to hit. With the second projectile away, I took a second to see what the first one did.

In the street below, a huge group of the Antithesis in the street on the far side had come to a stop and the ones aside from those nearest the wall all turned back towards the group I had fired at. Suddenly bedlam and pandemonium began to erupt from that group. Every member of the group began to suddenly attack all of the ones near them. The ones in front, to the sides, and behind them began attacking en-masse as well. The charging line practically ground to a standstill on that side and it was beginning to happen on the other side as well!

I was left speechless I had seen the kinds of things that the Antithesis were doing but I had never seen this level of carnage before. While I looked on at the carnage below, I was left stunned, my mouth hanging agape. The sheer level of senseless carnage that these creatures could mete out was horrifying to watch. Yet, a part of me was still very gratified to see them doing all of this to their own kind for once.

I had gone on a reckless adventure with Cat before but nothing I had seen before compared to this. The Antithesis were throwing the bodies of their deceased and eviscerated portions of them in all directions. The visceral scene below me was enough to turn my stomach inside out, and thus, I stood there at the parapet retching.

I was only drawn back a moment later when Inyris spoke to me. ‘While I understand and sympathize with your situation and the toll it has taken on your constitution, I must strongly suggest that you continue firing on the antithesis. The effects of the weapon will not last very long per shot and while each shot is minutely altered to keep the antithesis from adapting as readily, I would still argue against giving them excessive chances to do so. Also of note, there is a large grouping coming into your range that seemed to be clustered around one of the model fives.’

I was quickly forced to get my act together because whether I liked it or not, she certainly had a point. I began looking below while scooting to the side a bit to avoid the breakfast that I had left draped over the edge of the parapet.

I took aim at the large clump of antithesis and awaited the buildup of whatever concoction the strange alien gun I was holding in my hands would throw at them. This clump did indeed seem to be clustered around a model that I had never seen before. Unfortunately for me, it seems that it had spotted me at roughly the same time that I had spotted it. Unfortunately for it, my aim was not great and when I dodged back below the parapet to avoid getting shot by a barrage of needles The creature fired at me, despite all likelihood it actually improved my aim, and whatever concoction the gun launched at it landed squarely in the middle of its back.

Catching my breath from the sudden attack, I sprang back to my feet and looked over the edge in time to see the model 5 being swarmed by groups of antithesis from all around it. The model 5 in question was firing quills blindly into the group of antithesis surrounding it and doing far too little carnage to be of any help to itself. The large creature was very quickly losing ground to the smaller and more nimble assailants that were swarming it from all sides.

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I didn’t have long to marvel at this though because a group was being pushed through from the rear and I could see in this group that there was a much larger variant that I had never seen before. I could only assume that this was the model 6 that I had been warned about. As I looked at it, I realized that I had an expert who could confirm very quickly what I was afraid I was seeing. “Inyris, Is that gigantic thing over there the model 6? How do they even make something that big?”

‘Setting aside your ignorance of the various models I must unfortunately inform you that those are still one of the smallest models the Antithesis can produce. The higher the model number the larger the antithesis will usually be with some exceptions. There are some variants in the higher model numbers that are ranked such for their intelligence or genetic abilities but the largest portion of the higher numbers are still larger than those below them.’

"I got it." Besides, what could I say to that? I knew that to be true and yet somehow the realization that the gigantic form making haste to plow through the defenders below and to my left was still a monstrosity to behold. It wasn’t hard to spot due to its enormous size with its bony plates and six limbs jutting above the meandering horde around it.

The model 6 that I was looking at was still a few blocks away and despite its relative size, it wasn’t making tremendous progress in its advancement. I had a little bit of time but I didn’t want to waste any of what I had. Thus, I began firing into the crowd of milling claws and teeth that I could see below me. I noticed as I leaned over the parapet, that a few of the smaller models were making their way up the side of the building in my direction and I nearly screamed as I backed away.

“Inyris, please tell me that I have enough points to buy the other gun!”

‘Indeed, you can currently afford the War-Willow Gauntlet. Would you like to know your current point total and would you like to purchase the War-Willow?’

Despite the medication, I was on the verge of hyperventilating and may have yelled at my AI a bit more than was, strictly speaking, necessary. “Inyris! Gun now, please. I’ll worry about my points when I’m not about to be eaten.”

What arrived in front of me was a suitcase-sized black leather-like case that had the same veiny leaf pattern I had come to associate with the Gardener items. The somewhat oblong and bulbous leaves began to fold away and revealed a cavity inside that contained several large sacks and a protruding hole with a handle grip at the bottom.

The hole seemed to have several rings or segments folded around it. As I watched the scene unfold so did the leaves to the sides of the item. I realized very quickly what I was supposed to do and reached down to grab the handle before Inyris even had to prompt me.

As soon as my hand made contact with the handle, I could feel it begin to mold around my grip. At the same time, the large sacks to the sides of the item began to pulsate and shrink and the segments around the edges of the hole began to move in a concerted motion up my arm.

I hadn’t really considered it at the time but I was still holding my other gun in my right hand. I had grabbed the handle of the new gun in my left hand and thus the new gun was rapidly expanding over my left arm. It didn’t seem like this was going to make much of a difference in how it would be deployed but I did have concerns over whether my aim with my left arm would be adequate.

Realizing that it was far too late to worry about that now that the item was literally growing over my arm I could only wait impatiently as it finished what it had to do. The sounds coming from the side of the building were certainly concerning. With a final hiss and a pop the gauntlet that had snaked up my arm released itself from the base on the roof next to me.

I looked at the gauntlet lining my left arm and marveled briefly at it. It had a mottled green and gray motif with rows of spikes running back from two very obvious barrels. The Spikes ran between chitinous plates that now covered my arm. The effect of the whole made it look like I had taken the arm from a suit of armor and spray painted it a muddled forest color.

My reverie was broken only a moment later when I heard the first of the model 3s cresting the side of the building near me and I took aim. I wasn’t the least bit sure how I was supposed to fire this strange piece of alien technology attached to my left arm but it seemed that it didn’t have any such concerns. The moment that I thought about shooting the model 3 cresting the side of the parapet, a spike of several inches moved forward along the track between the plates and disappeared only for me to hear a sucking and spitting sound a moment later. In an instant, the model three was sent careening backward over the edge of the building, flailing in midair.

The recoil from my new plant-based gun gauntlet was not inconsequential but was somewhat mitigated by the fact that the gauntlet was wrapped around my entire left arm. I was still sent stumbling back a few steps because I hadn’t prepared myself for the sudden force of the projectile being lobbed into the face of my would-be attacker. I didn’t have long to rejoice though because, as is always the case, the Antithesis had friends that were inviting themselves to the party.

I grit my teeth and ran forward while willing the gauntlet gun to shoot at the Antithesis that were in the process of trying to kill me. This time the other row of spikes began to move forward and there was a strange sucking and chuffing noise. I wasn’t an expert but I guessed That it was repeating somewhat slowly for an automatic weapon. It certainly didn’t have the same rabid “brrrrt” sound as the guns that I had gotten used to over the past few weeks.

The Antithesis that I hit didn’t seem to give much regard to the shots that I had placed in them for a moment. Then almost as one they turned and jumped down the side of the building. I was then treated to the sound of glass breaking and lots of thuds coming from the side of the building.

I raced over to the side of the building and looked down only to jump back as an Antithesis snapped at me from less than a meter away. After regaining my composure I looked at the Ugly dark-green dog-like alien clawing its way toward me and raised my left arm with a grin. One shot of one large spike later and the monster was no longer one of my immediate concerns. The sounds of the battle below did catch my attention, however.