Another explosion rang out, accompanied by a puff of smoke from a platform floating down the river. A spear soared through the air, cable coiling out behind it. Crashing into the dock, the spear embedded itself into the planks, sending wood splinters flying.

Several large rafts drifted in the water, the current hauling them along. Two harpoons had embedded into the wood of the dock. Large cables secured to the spears tightened as infected scavengers cranked winches, pulling the rafts out of the current and toward the docks.

“Keyla,” Elion yelled, running down the path toward the dock house. Rifles cracked as scavengers on the rafts took shots at Elion, projectiles whizzing through the air around him and smashing on rocks. Luckily, the motion of the rafts on the water prevented more accurate fire.

Splatter-thumping shots sounded from the dock house, the telltale sound of Keyla’s laserarm returning fire. Teal light flashed in the windows, and streaks of energy cut across the water. Elion slid down an incline to the back of the dock house, unslinging his rifle.

Snickers burst out of the dock house, a streak of gray fur. The cat ran past Elion, sprinting up the cliff toward the safety of the village.

Elion raised his rifle, leaning out of cover to find a target. A snarling scavenger waved a makeshift sword, a long heavy blade with an unevenly ground edge. He rode the bow of a raft, water splashing over him as the river bucked the raft up and down. The winch pulled the craft forward against the current, the scavenger shouting some kind of war cry.

Elion took careful aim and fired, a beam of energy lancing through the air, momentarily connecting Elion’s rifle to the man’s chest. The man tumbled backward onto the raft, a swirl of smoke and steam billowing around him as he fell.

Another boom, and a third spear flew through the air, splashing down in the water nearby. Elion counted at least 4 more rafts coming down the river, each with their own grappling cannon and winch, crowded with armed scavengers.

The crew of the raft that had missed their harpoon shot hurriedly cranked their winch, trying to recover the projectile and fire again, but they were already being swept out into the fastest part of the river. That current is fast and strong. They’re not going to make it.

Elion scrambled into the dock house as Keyla fired off another round of shots, the thumping splat of energy beams lighting up the interior in stark contrasts. The smell of seaweed and rotting wood confronted him.

“Keyla,” he exclaimed, “There are too many! We need backup!”

“Go get help,” she said, moving to another window for a better shot. Scavengers screamed, their cries growing louder over the sound of the river.

“You’re faster,” Elion said, finding his own target. He missed, but his shot clipped a different scavenger, sending the woman tumbling off the back of the raft.

“I’m also a better shot!” Keyla said. “I’ll hold them off while—”

A spray of bullets, fired from a machine gun mounted on a raft further back, peppered the wall of the dock house, blasting holes through the woodwork.

“I’m never going to make it up that hill,” Elion protested. “And I’m not going to leave you behind. You go!”

“We need to do something about these crates,” Keyla said, indicating the few remaining crates of sensitive equipment that they had not yet transported to the bridge. She grabbed one of the boxes and carefully moved it to the back of the dock house, setting it gently behind one of the metal pillars that held up the roof.

“If we don’t get help soon, I don’t think that will matter.” Elion said as he peered out the window, his statement going unanswered as Keyla moved the remaining crates.

The raft that had missed its first shot was not going to get a second chance; the current had already swept them out past the first three rafts. They were headed quickly down the river toward the bridge.

Elion prayed that someone at the bridge would notice and send help.

Three rafts had now succeeded in anchoring themselves to the dock. These had swung out parallel to the cliffs, the current pulling against them as the winch pulled them in closer to the slow eddies near shore.

The rafts would swing down and smash into the rocky cliffs of the island if they didn’t continue reeling in their harpoons. At their current speed, they’d be on the docks before Elion could even make it halfway back up the hill.

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Another boom, another harpoon sailing through the air. This one crashed through the metal siding of the dock house, barbs catching onto a structural beam. The building groaned.

“We need to unhook their harpoons!” Elion shouted as Keyla moved the second crate. “If they make it to the dock we’re done for.“

He raised his rifle and fired a few more shots, trying to hit one of the cables or winches. One of his shots hit, causing the scavengers working the crank to dive to the ground. A spray of fire from another raft sent Elion scrambling. Bullets pinged off of metal joists.

“Stop attracting their fire,” Keyla yelled, setting the last box down. “At least draw their attention away from here, away from this equipment!”

Elion peered out the window, disappointed to see the winch he hit still in operation.

“Cover me,” he said, running to the door of the dock house.

“Wait,” Keyla called after him, but he was already through the doors. He ran a short distance to the nearest harpoon, where it had smashed through the planking of the dock. Keyla’s rifle thumped behind him.

The harpoon here had punctured a plank, and nearly pulled it out of the dock. Nails screeched as scavengers turned the winch, hauling on the cable. Elion kicked the plank hard. The nails came loose and the board sprang up and out of the dock, flying through the air as the raft pulled it away down the river.

Keyla ran away from the dock house and up the dock, leaping the new gap in the dock and sliding down behind some barrels. Elion crawled over to her, keeping his head down. A rat-a-tat thump of bullets pounding into their cover kept him cautious.

Another boom sounded, followed by the heavy thwack of a harpoon biting into wood nearby, splinters flying into the air. Elion’s body trembled, but he had to do something. We can’t let them get to the dock.

“Good move,” Keyla gasped, crawling further down the dock until she reached the edge of the barrels. Resting her rifle on a coil of rope, she took two shots. Something exploded, louder than a cannon, and without the accompanying whistle of an incoming harpoon.

Elion peeked over a crate to see that Keyla had destroyed the cannon on one of the rafts. The raft burned, floating away down the river as scavengers dived into the water, trying to board neighboring crafts.

“Good move yourself,” he said, pulling up his rifle and taking aim at another harpoon launcher on a raft further up the river. Fire from a nearby raft forced him to duck back down before he could shoot.

A harpoon embedded itself into a nearby dock piling. Elion screwed up his courage and dove for the piling. He tried to wrench the harpoon out of the wood, but it was buried too deeply. He scrambled back to cover.

Keyla leaned against the crate beside him, breathing hard. “There’s too many of them,” she said.

“We need help,” Elion said.

“They’ll see the rafts from the bridge and come, but it’ll take too long,” Keyla said. “We need to cut the cables of their rafts!”

“How?”

“You’re an Aurelian. Use your sword!”

“I—” Elion bit off his rebuttal.

“Abilities,” he muttered.

<< Manifest Armaments >>

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“What does Manifest Armaments do again?” Elion asked, trying not to draw Keyla’s attention. If I have a sword, it’s going to be that ability.

“What?” Keyla asked aloud, peering curiously at Elion. Another harpoon whistled through the air, lodging itself into a piling of the dock house. “You’re talking to Praxis?” she said, shock widening her eyes. “You have no idea what you’re doing!”

<< Summon divine armaments to your aid in battle >>

“I dropped my sword at the Altar,” Elion said, thinking of how he’d presented his butter knife there.

“Summon it back,” Keyla called back. “You’re an Aurelian!”

“Manifest Armaments,” Elion commanded, sounding more confident than he felt. He remembered Zev, leaping from his truck, suit of golden armor forming a protective casing around him, his sword blazing in the night. I really should have tried this out earlier.

“We’re going to die,” Keyla groaned, blindly shooting over their cover. Returning fire shook the crate Elion hid behind.

Elion breathed deeply, feeling strength surge through his limbs as threads of light gathered around his body.

<< Manifest Armaments >> activated.