Alex's blood seemed to freeze in an instant!
That sudden, furious snarl ripped through the storm like an icy spike, stabbing into her eardrums and piercing the roar of wind, rain, and sand. Those molten-gold slit pupils locked onto the depths of the ruined mining field beyond the slag pit—an expanse swallowed by storm, rain, and suffocating darkness—as if some invisible, man-eating terror was lurking there.
Something was coming.
And whatever it was, even this dying beast felt threatened to its core.
Fear coiled around her heart like frozen vines, tighter and stronger than ever before. Alex jerked her hand back from the backpack strap she'd been tying. Her body went rigid, teeth chattering so hard she could almost hear the rattle. She followed the creature's warning gaze into the dark. There was nothing but broken slag swirling in the storm and the shadows of weeds swaying like clawed phantoms, moaning with eerie cries. Nothing else could be seen, nothing else could be heard. And yet the sensation—that she was caught in the sights of a venomous predator—was horribly, undeniably real.
"W-what… is it?" Alex's voice was as dry and rasping as sandpaper, trembling beyond control. Instinctively, she pressed herself against the cold heap of slag, as if it might offer the illusion of safety.
The beast did not answer—could not answer in human words. It only stared into the dark, its throat rumbling with a growl like distant thunder, heavy with warning and raw, undisguised killing intent. Its massive body trembled from pain and vigilance, freshly bandaged wounds bleeding through the rough strips of cloth. It was forcing its last strength to the surface, molten eyes sharp as blades, fixed on a point Alex could not perceive.
Time dragged, each second crawling past, thick with terror. Every grain of grit striking her face felt like the beat of a death knell. Alex's heart pounded, threatening to burst from her throat. Her fists clenched around the pack strap, knuckles white, thoughts in chaos.
Run? Leave this dying beast behind and flee alone?
The idea flickered for an instant, only to be crushed beneath a wave of guilt—and the echo of that warning snarl. It hadn't attacked her. Even in its agony, it had warned her of danger! And in that darkness, the unknown threat's true target was obvious: the beast—or perhaps the both of them. If she fled on her own, what chance would she really have, stumbling blind through a storm-drenched, crumbling minefield?
She couldn't run. That left only one choice—take the beast, get it out of this exposed pit, find shelter.
It was madness. Crazier than anything she had thought before. But Alex had no choice. Survival—and that strange, newly budding sense of responsibility toward the beast—drove her to act.
"Hold on!" Alex barked at the creature, her own voice carrying a harsh edge of defiance she hadn't known she possessed. "I'll get you out of here!"
There was no more hesitation. No more time to wonder if the beast would fight her off. Survival overrode fear, overrode doubt. Moving quickly, she looped her pack strap around the beast's good hind leg, threading it carefully beneath its chest to avoid the worst of its wounds, then pulled it up through its forelimb to form a crude but stable triangular harness. Her fingers were clumsy and half-numb, but the knots came fast, biting into her skin as the strap cut deep.
The beast seemed to sense the urgency. It did not resist her touch. Its growl only deepened, guttural and urgent, golden eyes still locked on the shadows, its entire frame drawn taut like a bow.
Just as Alex tied the final knot, bracing to drag—
Crack!
The sharp, crystalline snap of stone giving way rang out from less than thirty feet beyond the pit.
And then—two points of ghostly green light flared to life behind the piled debris! Cold, merciless, brimming with hunger and bloodlust, they fixed on the pit.
On her. On the beast.
It was here.
"ROAR!" The beast's bellow shook the earth, a thunderous explosion of rage and defiance. Rocks tumbled from the slag walls at the sound. It heaved itself up, golden eyes blazing, blood streaming anew from torn wounds. Even on the brink of death, it would fight.
But its body betrayed it. The effort wrenched it down, crashing back into the dirt with a guttural groan. Its molten gaze, burning with fury and unwillingness, never wavered from those green flames creeping closer.
Then—they moved. With inhuman speed, the lights lunged forward, hurtling out of the debris like ghostfire made flesh.
In that brief, dim flicker of stormlight breaking through the clouds, Alex's eyes widened—she finally saw it.
A twisted, unnamable abomination.
It ran on all fours, slick brown skin gleaming wet, like oil or sludge clinging to its flesh. Its limbs were grotesquely thick, joints bending backward, ending in claws as sharp as auger drills. Worst of all was its head—featureless, eyeless, nothing but two gaping holes that pulsed open and shut, within which those green flames flickered. A jaw full of serrated fangs gaped wide, dripping with viscous fluid, fixed on the beast with mechanical, merciless hunger.
"…locate… the sample…" The sound came in broken, metallic whispers, grinding like steel on stone. Its focus never wavered. The girl was nothing. The dying beast was everything.
"Get away!" Alex screamed, fear boiling into a desperate surge of courage. She snatched up an iron rod from the ground and hurled herself forward, stabbing with all her strength.
CLANG!
The rod struck hard against the creature's forelimb. But instead of flesh giving way, it rebounded with the ring of steel. Shockwaves ripped up her arms, nearly tearing the weapon from her hands.
The monster barely faltered, issuing a teeth-grinding screech. The green fire swiveled to her, cold and merciless, locking her in its killing gaze. One claw lashed out like a scythe.
"Look out!" the beast rasped, its warning raw and hoarse.
Alex felt the air split as she fell back in blind instinct.
SHRRIP!
The claw slashed across her jacket, tearing fabric clean through. Cold wind sliced her skin, leaving shallow, burning cuts across her chest. Death's shadow loomed over her—
But the beast wasn't done. With a final, primal surge, it lunged, massive skull slamming into the monster's side like a battering ram.
THUD!
The abomination staggered, screeching in shock.
"Go!" The word didn't pass through her ears—it detonated in her mind, raw, telepathic, threaded with exhaustion and command.
No time to question. No time to be afraid. Alex moved.
She seized the strap, braced her shoulder, and heaved with everything she had.
The weight nearly broke her. Her bones screamed, body pitched forward, face smashing into mud and slag. Agony tore through her shoulders, but she clamped her teeth and hauled, clawing at roots, rocks, anything her hands could grip.
Don't let go. Don't let go.
If she let go, the beast would die. If she let go, so would she.
Her body became a machine of pain and will, dragging an impossible burden inch by inch down the slope. Knees tore open, nails cracked and bled, lungs burned like fire. She pulled anyway.
Behind her, the monster's screech echoed, claws raking stone, but for now—just for now—it was trapped.
On and on she dragged, through the storm, through the mud, until her strength was nothing but a dying ember. And still, she pulled.
At last, the slope eased. Broken sheds and rusted machines loomed in the dark. Her body failed her, legs folding, collapsing with the beast in the muck.
Gasping, choking, chest on fire, she turned her head.
The beast lay motionless, its silver-gray fur matted with blood and filth. Only the faintest rise and fall of its chest proved it still lived.
Had they escaped? For now? How far to Hank's mine? How much farther could she go?
She tried to rise—
CLANG.
The sound of metal struck in the dark.
Her body locked, nerves strung taut again.
A shadow flickered behind the wreckage of a cart.
The monster? Had it followed?
Or was something else lurking in this cursed, forgotten mine?
Despair, cold as the endless storm, poured over her once more.