A man and a raccoon share a meal atop a giant roomba-like robot. Seems like the beginning of a poorly thought out joke, but in Thomas’ mind it was such a magical moment. He was learning much about Delvik and his people as they took turns asking and answering questions.

For instance, Thomas learned that Delviks home was in the same building his research lab was in, that Delviks people were spread all across the base, turning the interiors of the still standing buildings into their burrows. Most importantly, Thomas learned that Delviks people had learned human speech from old books and audio recordings found in the base school.

For Delvik, the moment was the most surreal and profound moment of its life. Never before had a Human taken the time to simply sit down and speak with one of his kind, well as far as he knew, Delvik thought. This Human, Thomas, had a surprising level of knowledge of this land and the ruins the Burrows occupied.

He also found that a lot of his common knowledge surprised the Human, or made its face somehow go paler than it already was. There was something more to this Human, it got evasive when asked about where it came from, but it was speaking with him and Delvik would use this possibly once in a lifetime opportunity.

All the while, the two continued to pick morsels of food from the makeshift table. Thomas was very grateful that the shelters’ server contained a full database on wildlife, both locally and from around the world. This had allowed him to better pick foods that would be most likely acceptable; fruits, nuts, root vegetables and even some select meats.

As Thomas reached forward to claim a piece of cooked chicken after asking a question, Delvik seemed to suddenly freeze. Thomas’s confusion turned to shock as Delvik snatched up his spear and suddenly thrust it at Thomas, and only as it slammed into his chest did he realize that it was the butt end of the spear that he was struck with.

Thomas toppled backward from his seat, his chest bruised from the impact and a mix of incoherent cursing and pained grunt escaping his lips, when a massive dark shape slammed into the robot they were using as a table. The creature's long, serpentine head stretched up and it let loose a powerful screech from its tooth filled beak.

Scrabbling backwards, Thomas searched for the shotgun he had nearly forgotten about after diving deep into conversion with Delvik. He spotted the shotgun, lying shattered under one of the massive taloned feet of the giant bird, just as its large and very dangerous looking head swiveled to face him.

Thomas threw himself to the side with a stream of cursing as the monstrous birds’ head snapped forward. He could practically feel the wind from the beak snapping shut as he rolled to the side. His roll came to a sudden stop when he slammed into a wrecked table, causing it to crack and splinter, but not quite break.

From across the room Delvik watched the human crawl backwards, extremely similar to when he fought it. The Humans fighting style was strange, he thought, but it was keeping the Human from being caught by the Drunga.

Delvik eyed the situation from his vantage. He had taken advantage of the momentum from pushing Thomas back to propel himself out of the large opening to the burrow before the Drunga crashed into the machine. It was a shame about the food, but better that being crushed than themselves.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Delvik used the few moments that he knew he had while the giant bird shook off the effects of crashing into the ground to scurry up the vines growing around the opening to the burrow and onto one of the metal beams that ran across the room. He watched as Thomas threw himself to the side to dodge the creature’s attack, but got stopped on some wreckage.

Making a quick decision, Delvik lept from above and drove his spear deep into the Drunga’s back, causing it to let out a pained screech. Delvik held on for dear life as the creature tried shaking him off. He lost sight of Thomas and hoped the Human was staying true to his previous experience and fleeing, but those hopes were dashed as he watched Thomas swing what appeared to be a plank of aged wood at the Drunga’s side.

Thomas cursed loudly as the section of table he had broken off shattered against the side of the Monster. He could see Delvik clinging to its spear for dear life as the monster tried to shake him off. He needed something stronger, sharper and hopefully not fall apart on the first swing.

Spotting a chunk of rusted rebar lying on the floor, Thomas dashed for it, throwing himself into a slide as if he were playing baseball. Successfully rearmed he lunged at the beast and swung with all his might as its big head was snapping at Delvik. It felt like hitting an overstuffed pillow, and he almost dropped the rebar.

From above Thomas heard Delvik shout, “only stab, body too padded for anything else”. Taking heed of the advise, and while the creature was still distracted by the spear wielding raccoon dueling its head, Thomas took a quick moment to aim, he would likely only get one shot at this, and thrust the rusted rebar like a spear into the creatures side, just under the wing.

The stupid human was going to get him killed Delvik thought as he slapped the beak to the side with his spear and scored another shallow gash along the side of its head. While the creature was large, and Delvik was admittedly small, there was only so much room to maneuver while riding the Drunga. He would have to end this soon or either Delvik or the human would be killed.

Suddenly the creature gave a pained shriek, and Delvik capitalized on the moment. Rushing forward, he aimed and thrust the spear straight into the Drunga’s beak, aiming for and hitting the brain. Delvik let go of the spear as he leapt from the back of the collapsing creature, landing on the ground next to a blood soaked Thomas, who stood there with a stunned look and holding a long thin piece of blood covered metal.

“Good Stab, gave me an opportunity.” is all Delvik said as Thomas stared at the twitching abomination that lay before them. Delvik strode forward to yank its spear out of the mouth of the mutant bird, ending its twitching. As Delvik turned and began walking back to Thomas, he continued with what Thomas had learned was a smile, “Didn't think you could fight, only run, happily proved wrong”

Thomas began to reply that he can fight when needed, but trailed off as he noticed Delvik had once again frozen in place. His eyes darted all around and he seemed to be breathing much faster. “Run,” Delvik said in a hissing whisper, “I can only stop them for a few moments, so run”

Thomas heard two new noises, the first was of something sharp scraping against stone. The second was almost like a growling laugh, but somehow vaguely familiar. Thomas turned to look at where Delvik was staring, and a creature stepped onto the path leading up to the mess hall, and he suddenly recalled where heard that noise before, or at least something similar.

The creature was massive, a bit over two meters tall, but hunched forward as if more used to walking on four legs rather than two. The giveaway was the head, a long and rounded snout bearing rows of sharp teeth and two eyes placed high on the skull.

Thomas took one long good look at the mutant alligator, then looked at Delvik who was readying himself for combat. Thomas scooped Delvik up with both arms and sprinted for the door to the shelter. The Growling laughter stopped suddenly, and turned into a roar of anger from multiple sources.

Spurred to greater speeds by fear, Thomas practically flew the remaining distance to the shelter entrance and slid inside. As he pulled the door shut, he could feel impacts against the door and hear the sound of metal on metal strikes.

It was only after the door was fully closed and sealed that Thomas realized what he had done, and he glanced down at Delviks shocked expression.