Lana looked away from the grizzly, bloody scene, meeting the other woman’s somber gaze. “Oh, no, those poor peo--” She froze as her eyes darted to the ground below them. A hoard of at least fifty more Warped had just reached the shelter walls. Most were of the larger variety, some even bigger than horses.

Cattie looked down grimly, her jaw tightening even more. “That was just the vanguard. Their heavy hitters have arrived.”

***

Bulco barely managed to shield his eyes when a dog-sized Warped landed on top of him, biting and snarling.

“I …” Bulco’s other hand shot toward his head, grabbing the creature, “... hate …” he yanked the monster off him, ignoring the bites, “... you motherfucking …” he grabbed the creature with both hands and with the exoskeleton humming in exertion, tore it in half, “... freaks.”

“We got more incoming!” One of the guards standing near the wall shouted. “Big ones! One of them has a--”

His sentence got cut short. A huge clawed fist punched through a walled section and grabbed him. Hooked metal claws pierced the screaming guard's body, then the hand pulled back, tearing his head and legs off through the narrow hole.

Bulco winced at the horrific sight and wiped the blood from his forehead. “That’s not something you see every day.”

***

Nori expertly and delicately maneuvered her fingers, turning the ship around, bringing it closer to the ground. With a single thought, the holo-controls disappeared from her hands and the ship hovered in place. She nearly tore herself from her chair, not waiting for it to unfold on its own, and ran to the cargo hold.

She came to an abrupt halt at the scene that unfolded.

Unity was hovering ten meters above the ground and twenty meters away from the shelter. A sea of Warped in levels ranging from five to seven, with a couple of eights, were pounding at the walls. The concrete wall was giving way. As she looked, a giant beast, three meters tall, punched straight through the wall and drew out a piece of bloodied human torso. The hulking creature brought his catch up to his mouth and dozens of sharp metal teeth and buzz saws hacked it apart. The monster visibly grew a few centimeters as it gobbled down its gory meal.

Lana and the three guards were shooting like crazy into the throng of monsters, but their shots seemed to do little damage to the bigger creatures. Nathan was sitting on the floor, desperately reloading the magazines they threw back at him.

Cattie shot three times in rapid succession, bursting the head of a level five Warped like a ripe melon. “I’m out!” she yelled. “Reloading.”