"Boom... boom... boom..."
The deep thuds echoed through the night, each one shaking the ground and rattling the wooden frames of the small homes.
Scott's eyes snapped open. He was already on his feet before the second crash came, closer this time.
"Roar…!" Then came the roar.
It wasn't the sound of one animal; it was a horrifying chorus that seemed to come from every direction at once, tearing through the thick forest that surrounded their small camp.
The camp itself was not big, built on and around the twenty meter tall Heartwood Tree that grew on top of the peak of a small mountain.
Dozens of small tree houses were built among its thickest branches, connected by rope bridges that swayed in the pollen-heavy breeze.
Below, at the base of the tree, more shelters were built into the mountain's side, all protected by the sprawling giant roots.
Inside one of the larger houses, Scott who was asleep immediately woke up as soon as he heard the roars and gripped his bio-spear so tightly his knuckles turned white.
The eerie sounds from the darkness made his teeth chatter.
"What was that?" he whispered, his voice soft, but deep. It was not even midnight yet, but there were already some creatures from the decay at their camp.
Beside him, a woman named Elara also woke up and reached out to her Fungal-Charcoal Respirator mask that was placed not far from her, while her eyes scanned the shifting trees below from the window.
"That," she said, her voice calm and low, "it seemed to be something big and angry tearing the forest apart."
Another crash, louder this time, sounded much closer.
"Rroarrr…"
The beast roared again, a sound filled with so much fury it felt like it could curdle blood.
"Look after little Sid," As he said that to Elara, Scott ignored her and moved swiftly along the sturdy branch that served as a main walkway, his feet sure and silent on the wood.
It's not just him, many others also woke up hearing the commotion, but unlike others he was different.
Where they felt only fear, Scott felt a strange repulsive energy and the strong pressure, more than his ears or eyes could.
He was a First Order Sporeborn, a genetically mutated human species adapted to the extreme environment of Sporos, his strength, speed or his senses are many times stronger than ordinary sporeborn.
As he arrived at the lookout post, Scott saw a young man named Leo standing there.
Leo's face was pale, his knuckles white as he gripped the bridge railing, and his eyes were wide with alarm.
"Scott!" he exclaimed. "What is that thing? It sounds huge!"
"It should be," Scott said, his voice calm and steady, cutting through the rising tide of fear.
"Get everyone from the lower roots up to the inner branches. Also, tell Maria to get all the children to the heart chamber."
Leo nodded, his fear giving way to purpose.
"All right..." He scurried off, shouting orders.
Leo scrambled away down the swaying rope bridge, his voice echoing back, slightly muffled by the thick air, "High branches! Everyone to the high branches! Maria, take the children to heart chamber!"
Scott didn't watch him go. He strained his eyes, staring into the oppressive darkness beyond the camp's perimeter.
The chaotic chorus of roars was closer now, a wet, sloppy sound mixed with the sharp crack of crystal-barked trees snapping like twigs.
The whole forest canopy seemed to be churning.
Figures moved behind the curtains of the small houses, parents hushing their children, fighters grabbing their gear.
The whole camp was awake and listening, suspended in a shared moment of terror.
The ground trembled again, more violently this time. A few loose pebbles skittered off the edge of their lookout post.
The roaring grew louder, more defined. He could hear the wet snap of bones and the tearing of flesh in that horrible sound.
Looking from the distance, together with his past experience he could guess that it was a zombie, but not like the shambling, weak zombies they usually dealt with.
This was something else… may be a peak First Order Zombie or a Second Ordered Zombie.
Just as he was thinking, a light step sounded on the branch behind him, a stern-faced woman with graying hair climbed the ladder into their post, her gray hair blowing in the night wind.
She held a long bow on her back, it was his aunt Jorunn.
"You feel it too, don't you, boy?" she said, her voice sharp and clear, cutting through the noise.
"Hmm," Scott nodded his head, looking out into the darkness.
Jorunn stared out into the violent chaos of the night, the forest floor one hundred and fifty meters below them exploded.
Another massive, crystal-barked tree was thrown sideways as if it were a sapling.
It crashed into the other glowing flora, sending up a shower of phosphorescent spores and splintered wood.
And then what emerged first into the dim light of the camp's bioluminescent light wasn't one creature.
It was a small horde.
"Fuck..." Leo who returned back cursed, having returned to the post, his face even paler.
They were Razorback Spore-Boars, dozens of them, their thick hides were matted with glowing, parasitic fungi, and their tusks were filled with jagged shards of glowing crystal.
The "chorus" of roars was the sound of the entire pack, a rolling wave of hunger and mindless panic.
But Scott's eyes were locked on what they were running from.
"Get the gates sealed!" Scott ordered, not just to Leo, but to the whole camp. "Now! Get those Rapid-Deploy Spore Gates active!"
From the high branches, figures moved, activating the defensive systems.
Below, at the base of the mountain, the massive, living roots of the Heartwood Tree began to writhe and twist, thanks to the command from a Sporeborn with the [Branch-Braid] gene causing them to weave into a solid, living wall.
The aggressive mycelium coating the main "gates" pulsed, swelling to plug the gaps and releasing warning puffs of paralytic spores.
The crashing and roaring was getting closer, moving in a straight line, directly towards them.
The wave of squealing boars split around the base of the mountain.
Maybe it was the heavy, warning smell of the paralytic spores from the Heartwood Tree, or maybe it was just their blind panic, but they didn't even try to break the gates.
They just skirted the edge of the camp's clearing and disappeared back into the dark forest, their terrified cries fading into the distance.
Their panic, however, had led the real danger right to their door.
A moment later, a massive shape tore through the last line of crystal-barked trees and stepped into the dim, glowing light of the clearing.
It was a zombie, but it looked like something from a nightmare.
It was shaped like a man but stood far too tall, easily two and a half meters.
Its body was a horrible mix of rotting human muscle and burnt tiger fur.
Its skin was pulled tight over a huge frame, torn open in places, showing the bone underneath.
Sickly green and orange patches of glowing spores pulsed on its wide shoulders and back.
Its head was all tiger, too big for its body, with a jaw that hung open, showing rows of yellow fangs.
A low, wet growl rumbled from deep in its chest.
It stopped. Its head tilted, and its cloudy, dead eyes looked up. It saw the treehouses. It saw the lights in the windows. It saw the small, terrified people watching from the branches.
The tiger-headed giant lifted its head and let out a roar so loud it felt like a punch in the chest.
Then it charged.
"Boom... boom... boom..."
Each step was a heavy thud that shook the Heartwood Tree to its roots. People screamed from the lower houses.
The creature was just a blur rushing forward with a scary speed.
Two hundred meters.
One hundred and fifty.
Scott braced himself, his heart hammering. His mind went blank.
They were all going to die.
Thinking back again, he remembered how his father burned his own life energy to protect them from a Spore Ghost that attacked the camp a few years back.
"If only my father was here," a dark, cold feeling filled his chest, his eyes filled with the same resolve as his father before he sacrificed himself to protect the entire camp.
Various figures flashed in his mind, faces of his wife, his son, his relatives like Leo, Aunt Jorunn and others, making his resolve to face the zombie at any cost stronger.
As a Lord of the camp, this is what he was ready to do, just like his father or other elders of the camp who sacrificed to protect young generations.
"Even if I have to die, I should at least kill it," he thought, gripping his spear, it was just a hard, sad choice he had to accept to protect his family.
One hundred meters.
It was almost on them. Then, it was as if the monster had run full-speed into a wall of solid glass.
SKREEEE!
It skidded to a stop. Dirt and rocks flew everywhere as its huge, clawed feet dug deep into the ground.
The creature was stopped cold, right outside the ring of old, moss-covered stones that marked the hundred-meter line from the tree's base.