Hicks dropped down from the tree and rolled to his feet. Flames dancing all around him, heating his face and bare arms. The pair of Orcs busy chopping down the tree behind him faced him, their raven black hair swishing in the hot breeze, and violet-colored eyes regarding him hungrily. Female Orcas, he thought. This would be a challenge. Slightly slimmer than their male counterparts and smarter, Orcas were considered better fighters, although quite a rarity among Orc war bands. The pair of Orcas circled to either side of him, flashing their tusks and waving wicked sharp axes to either side. He rushed at the taller of the two, left swinging for her un-protected face. She blocked the blow easily with her forearm and swung her axe hard and fast, grunting with effort. He stepped back barely in time to dodge the blow, the axe head grazing his chest to leave a trail of blood. Biting his tongue at stinging pain, he barely had time to recover his footing, before the second Orca swept in her axe head, scything towards his feet. He leapt backwards and nearly tripped on a charred goblin corpse. He quickly righted himself and tried to go on the offensive, but the skilled pair of female Orcas worked closely together, driving him backwards towards the flames.

Tiring fast, he threw himself at the shorter female Orca. She adjusted her axe swing to meet him, too slow; he knocked her over and gained a few cuts for his trouble on her ridged armor. The second Orca growled at her sister's fall and brought her axe head down hard to cleave him in two. Expecting the blow, he rolled off the Orca and watched with delight as the second Orca beheaded the first. The surviving Orca fell into the bloodlust at the sight of her fallen sister. Grabbing the axe of the dead Orca, he swung the weapon at the Orca's feet. The creature ignored the blow and began launching heavy swings of her axe. Blood spurted and the Orca tumbled to the earth, one of her legs cleaved clean off. Lifting the axe, he brought it down to behead her. Breathing heavily, he stumbled back a few steps to search for the Orc that had killed his friend. And found to his surprise a half-naked man sprinting along the outskirts of the road, his clothes torn and bloodied. Bleeding from dozens of wounds, face caked in mud and dirt. Mouth agape he watched as the crazy roamer, for it could only be a roamer that would be so stupid dodge and weave his way through the horde of goblins.

Curious to see what the roamer was fleeing from, he turned and nearly bit through his tongue. Fiends...hundreds of fiends, dreaded night creatures that emerged from within the bowels of the earth each night to cleanse the land were closing in from all sides. Goblins and Orcs alike turned to flee their presence like a tidal wave breaking on rocks. He opened his mouth to scream a warning to his squad, when he felt an intense torment burn in his side. White hot flames seared through his stomach and chest eating the flesh and skin from his bones. Mouth frothing with blood, he cast one last glance up at the creature that had snuck up behind him, and saw the familiar inhuman gaze that had taken so many of his battle brothers and sisters. He closed his eyes, and prayed he would be with Qazin, wherever he was going...

~ * ~

A bewildered Cora watched as the goblins and Orcs massing at the base of trees broke and ran. The goblins wailed in fear, clawing and biting each other in an effort to escape the forest. But with so many goblins pressed in tightly, many were being crushed in the stampede. The Orcs in their blood-smeared armor used their weight and size to plow their way through the mass of goblins; their massive war axes clearing a path with powerful scything blows that sent limbs and blood flying. Her ears sore from the goblins wild shrieks, Cora tried to get a sense of what was happening. Her pale blue eyes caught sight of a speck of light growing rapidly in the distance, with hundreds more appearing to join the first. Her mouth went dry...fiends. Thousands of fiends were marching through the forest their bright lava colored skin lighting up the darkness. They strode forth with palms upraised releasing fountains of white hot liquid flames to scorch everything in their path, leaving in their wake smoke, ash and death. Memories of a school bus surrounded by flames flashed behind her eyelids; children screaming and banging against the bus door that been fused shut. She shuddered and shook her head. Some memories never leave...

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Most of the goblins surrounding her tree had fled, with only a dozen or so stragglers. She detached the torch from the rifle and slung it on her shoulder, sheathed her machete, tugged the robes off a dead goblin she had killed earlier and slipped it on while grimacing at the stench, before dropping down to the forest floor. The wound in her side broke open and seeped fresh blood, throbbing with every movement. Gritting her teeth, she held the spearhead and kept the torch turned off and waited for a moment in the shadows of a wide cedar tree. Seeing no signs of goblin stragglers, she clicked on her torchlight and headed north. She walked north-east for several clicks before seeing Soren ahead of her his shoulders slouched, limping eastward, biting her lips she sped up her pace to try and catch him. Nerves on edge, Soren crouched down and instinctively swung his machete in a wide arc.

Cora hurriedly stepped aside. "Easy there Sor, it's me."

Soren grunted, "Sorry."

His hard-bitten face appearing very grave in the moonlight and without another word continued limping forward.

She tagged along beside him, her eyes gazing around her for any signs of danger. "Have you seen Hicks?"

Soren didn't break stride; slightly turning his head to look at her. "Dead."

Cora's heart sank, she had hoped he at least would survive the night. With Hicks dead, she was next in the chain of command, which meant saving the rest of the squad was up to her. God! She wished she hadn't put her hand up now.

They were nearing their initial staging point, an old rundown police station that had later served as army headquarters and now as an outpost for rangers, when Tommy decided to make his appearance.

"There you are! Thought you guys had gotten lost!" crowed Tommy with a wide grin on his golden face, peeling himself away from a nearby tree where he had been hiding. "I was lookin for you guys everywhere."

Without thinking, she spun on her heels and raised her rifle to her cheek, pointing it at Tommy's chest. Soren gave her a confused look, but didn't move.

"Whoa! There Cora, it's me Tommy" he said raising his hands as he spoke.

She advanced towards him, hands shaking. "You nearly got me killed! You bastard!"

Tommy's emerald green eyes flared. "I was doing you a favor, Co –ya."

"Doing me a favor?" she laughed bitterly, "How the fuck were you doing me a favor?"

He shrugged and brushed his fingers through his long jet black hair. "Only the strong survive," he replied simply.

Cora could not believe what she was hearing, her every instinct told her to blow this bastard's brains out on the ground.

Seeing her eyes hardening with violent intent, Tommy looked to Soren, with a pleading expression. "You're not going to just stand there and let her shoot me, are you?"

Soren shrugged his shoulders and replied softly, "Not my business."

Seeing no intervention was coming, Tommy turned his attention back to Cora, his expression switching from annoyance to fear. "Is now really the best time to be doing this?"

Cora forced a wicked smile. "Now is the perfect time."

She aimed her rifle and pulled the trigger. 

End of Sample

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