The battle outside raged on. Bodies littered the rear parking lot of the school. Twenty-four of Colita’s brood yet lived.

The pavement was no longer pooled in blood. It bathed in it. A great splashing lake of deep sanguine colors. Once the blue mixed with the red, it all just looked black. Like oil. The abyss swallowed their feet as opponents clashed together. The battle was even more intense than Sagan had imagined.

Out in the open air, the Icari found almost no limit to their abilities. They were capable of carnage unimaginable unless witnessed. After four years of training and preparation, their unit had gotten so much wrong.

Colita’s men were the enemies they’d expected and were easy enough to kill. Their sheer numbers posed a problem when the good guy army consisted of untrained students.

Korac’s men were a distinct challenge. Not long after the fight began, the good guys learned that piercing the brain wasn’t enough. Decapitation was the only way to go.

“Sagan!”

She whirled around the massacre. “Matt?”

About ten fighting pairs away, Matt shouted at her while forcing his way through the throng. Above the screams and grunts, she barely made out his words, “—In the woods.”

“What?”

He shoved an Icarus away. This was really important to him. She maneuvered through the crowd and met him halfway. “What is it?”

Matt stopped to catch his breath. He opened his mouth to say, “There are—”

A high keening sound interrupted him. A sound unlike anything Sagan had ever heard. It raised goosebumps all over her arms. A primal instinct screamed at her to get far away.

“Gargoyles.”

“In the fucking woods?!”

Matt nodded, saying, “They’ve kept us trapped on campus.” An Icarus bumped into him, and he shoved him off like a mosh pit veteran.

Sagan glanced at the tree line to ask, “What’s stopping them now?”

Matt said, “I think they’re only meant to keep us in. We’ve experimented. We can go anywhere on this campus, and they don’t bother us. Like really well-trained guard dogs. The biggest ones you’ll ever see.”

The creatures from Korac’s sketchbook…

One problem at a time. Sagan said, “Thanks for the info. Are you okay?” She scanned him over for wounds.

Matt smiled. A genuine, good-looking smile. “Lieutenant General, I think you have bigger problems right now.” And he disappeared into the throng.

Sagan really did, too. The extreme underestimation of the Icarean super soldiers bothered Sagan. It was all she could do to evade their blows. She’d only killed one, and several students had died during that time, and if they were so hard to kill, then why—

Sagan recognized Andrew’s scream. She spotted him through the crowd as one of the excessively serrated blades impaled him.

“Andrew!” She pushed her way to him.

He waved her off and knocked the Icarus in the jaw, staggering him. The effort was too much, and Andrew fell to the pavement. He laid there unmoving.

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John, even with his worn knee, severed the head of a super warrior. He took over fighting Andrew’s Icarus.

Deeper in the crowd, Tameka traded blows with another one. Sagan shouted, “Look out, Tameka!”

The redhead evaded a devastating lunge, blocked the attacking blood sucker with her sword, and landed a well-aimed kick to his face. She thrust the sword into his throat. The blade lodged in his vertebrae.

Tameka shouted in surprise. It was still alive. A blow like that would kill a lesser Icarus. The redhead turned the sword in his neck and split his spine apart. The beast stayed down this time.

Tameka shouted, “Thanks for watching my back!” She tried to retrieve the sword. “Shit!” It appeared to be stuck.

Sagan pushed through the crowd to help. All the fights between the students and Icari swallowed any path to her friend. She only caught glimpses of Tameka now. Something glinted. Metal. Serrated metal behind her best friend.

Sagan screamed, “Tameka!” Another echoed her.

The rough blade erupted from her best friend’s right shoulder. She screamed, and her knees gave.

The blade withdrew, the large teeth tearing as it exited. After a flash of fire, the Icarus shrieked. Lynn knelt beside Tameka.

Sagan sighed in relief as she burst into the clearing. “Are you all right?”

Tameka nodded and swallowed before asking, “Is he dead?”

Lynn scanned the few dozen people that surrounded them. She said, “No. He’s just gone.”

Tameka searched. “Where’s Pablo?”

Lynn pointed, and both girls turned. Pablo and Kyle shared the honor of serving as one of the Icarus’ punching bags. Each of them had lost their weapons. Their lips were bloodied, and their eyes were blackened.

John knelt on the asphalt beside Andrew. Three bodies laid around them and more followed suit. Swords clashed, people shouted and screamed, flames roared, and bodies fell. Only six super Icari remained, but the good guys had gained the upper hand, and proved more than enough to finish them all off.

Tameka allowed Lynn to help her stand and retrieved her sword from the dead monster’s corpse. “Give me one of those bottles.”

“Yes, ma’am!” Lynn tossed her a bottle and a lighter.

Tameka collected the items and pushed into the crowd.

“What will you do?” Sagan asked, worried about the girl’s wounded shoulder.

Tameka announced without turning back, “I’ll save Pablo! And Kyle, too, I guess.”

The Icarus was content with the distracting task of beating the two to death. Tameka set fire to the Molotov cocktail and wedged it inside the soldier’s armor. Flames erupted and clung to his clothes. He screamed in agony and panic as the alien fell to the pavement to battle the fire away.

Pablo said something to Tameka that Sagan didn’t catch. He reached out his hand. She passed him the sword, still covered in the other Icarus’ blood. Vicious rage mottled Pablo’s face as he decapitated the alien.

Five super soldiers left.

Sagan enjoyed the swell of pride in her chest. Her people made good on their training. They even acted well together as—

She shrieked in agony, and the entire crowd turned to her. In the middle of the action, she faltered backwards. Her hand came away from her bare stomach covered in blood.

The Icarus behind her tried to lunge for her heart. She spun and caught the sword in the crook of her axe in a test of strength she couldn’t afford to spare.

Sagan fell. Just before the blood sucking alien impaled her, his head came loose from his body, and Cecily stood where he fell.

“Cecily?”

The other girl smiled and offered her hand to Sagan.

“Thanks.”

Regretful tears sprung to Cecily’s eyes as she said, “I’m—”

Her face contorted in agony. A jagged sword burst through the center of Cecily’s body. She clutched Sagan’s arm in a death grip, trying to speak, but her voice only gargled.

Sagan held on. “No, Cecily! It’ll be okay. Don’t go.”

Blood sprayed from the dying girl’s mouth across Sagan’s face, and then she fell.

Sagan glared up at the Icarus with his partially burnt face. With one powerful swing of the axe, the bastard fell on top of Cecily, a headless corpse.

Only three left.

Sagan winced at her midriff. A nice diagonal gap crossed her stomach, losing blood. She stumbled and supported herself on Korac’s axe. She stayed there on one knee, head bowed, wrist perched on the pommel. One minute to rest. That’s all she needed.

The dream team executed the last three super Icari quickly, but not before Korac’s soldiers had reaped maximum carnage. At substantial cost, the students dispatched Colita’s soldiers. At least eighty students had died.

Andrew was still unconscious. Kyle and Pablo swelled like tenderized meat. Tameka’s shoulder bled severely.

This wasn’t right.

Kyle shouted, “Check the bodies. Make sure no one’s just unconscious.” He marveled as people complied, and a secret, satisfied smile spread over his lips. He finally got to give an order.

Sagan shook her head.

Pablo and Lynn came over to check on her. Tameka and Kyle checked on John and Andrew. Bleeding wounds needed packing and tending. Everyone needed well-deserved rest. No one had really thought of a plan for broken bones, yet. There was far too much horror for one day. Surely this was the last.

The only thing left was Rayne.