Calris watched as Jasmine, Ferez and Asim disappeared around the corner, before turning his attention back to the beasts bearing down on him. Ban planted himself beside him, axes at the ready and not so much as a bead of sweat on his brow. Which was odd, given Gaelon, objectively the far fitter marine, was wheezing from the running.

“What are we dealing with?” Calris asked.

“Giant. Fucking. Monsters,” he replied.

“No shit, I can see that. I’m more interested in the how, the why, the what the fuck, and the how do I kill it?” Calris bit back. A few more seconds and the beasts would be on top of the marines, and he desperately hoped Ban had some useful information before the crunch came.

“No idea, no idea, I know, right? And stabbing seems to work. They’re tough, but Gaelon did one in with Jaz.”

“Anything else?”

“’Fraid not,” Ban replied, before adding in a whisper, “bet you five silvers Gaelon has more kills by the end of this.”

“Time and place, Ban.”

“Right. Sorry.”

With nothing else to be gained from chatting and the beasts closing rapidly, Calris decided that now was the time for action. The tunnel they occupied was narrow and forced the beasts into a single file as they charged. If he could drop the first one, he could use its corpse to break up the momentum of the ones behind and maybe buy some time for Jasmine and the others. He launched his javelin at the leading beast, just a few meters away now, and sprang forward to cut down the second.

It was a pointless gesture, as his javelin sailed clean through the first beast, and then the second, before sticking fast halfway through the third. The beasts toppled in unison, the rest of the pack skidding to a halt behind them, staring stupidly between their dead comrades and the man who killed them.

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“What… was that?” Gaelon asked. Calris just stood there, dumbfounded, still in a runner’s stance, unsure of how exactly he had put a shaft of wood and steel through three bodies in a row.

“I… am a little confused as well.”

An uneasy stillness descended, the marines staring at the beasts who gauged them in return.

“Should we attack?” Gaelon asked, edging forward, javelin at the ready.

“No, not now. I was gonna use the body of the first one as cover to break up their charge. If we go to them now, the bodies will slow us down if we need to retreat,” Calris replied.

“So, wait for them to come to us?”

“Yeah, I think so. The corridor here is narrow, but two of us can fight side by side. With their size, though, they need to come on individually. We should be able to hold them here for a while until Jasmine and the others return with the captain. I would go so far as to say, this plan is foolproof,” he added with a smile.

Shit, look at me go, guess I make a pretty good commander after all. Olic was right!

And then Ban tackled him against the wall as a bone cudgel sailed past his head, lodging itself deep in the glass behind them. The creatures started howling again and a hailstorm of bone came flying down the corridor.

Maybe not.

Gaelon hurled his last javelin, punching through an eye socket as he turned.

“Foolproof my arse, dickhead! This is why you shouldn’t have been promoted!” he shouted as he grabbed the other two and shoved them down the corridor. “Move it!”

The marines sprinted for the corner in a half crouch, arms above their heads to ward off the rain of bone missiles. At least the beasts seemed more enthusiastic than skilled, most of the cudgels missing their mark. One of them still got lucky, though, something resembling a femur slamming into Calris’ ribs as he turned down the next corridor. The force of the blow knocked him off his feet, and he cried out in pain.

The ribs again?

Ban skidded to a halt and hauled Calris to his feet, half dragging him as they kept running. Calris could feel the shattered bone moving under his skin, the pain almost unbearable, but as he ran he realised, it wasn’t moving the way it should have.

The broken ribs were realigning themselves. After a few seconds, the pain stopped altogether, and Calris explored his side with his fingers. His ribs had healed perfectly, and in the space of a few quick seconds. He locked eyes with Ban and saw understanding and confusion.

What the fuck is going on?