The snake didn't turn to face her. Instead, it leaned forward and slithered away, leaving the woman behind. Nori’s eyes opened in horror as she realized the Warped was targeting her friends again, and there was nothing she could do to save them in time.

Lana and Nathan continued to run, crying in fear as the monster closed in on them. Just as it was about to reach them again, the roar of an engine filled the air. The Hummer, driven by Bulco, rammed into the monster, throwing it away from its prey. The gang leader reached out the window with his huge revolver and sent bullet after bullet into the entangled Warped. The heavy bullets tore large chunks off the creature, spraying the ground with gore. But they might as well have been shot from an air gun for all the good they did. The monster hissed in anger and pulled its crushed parts away from the vehicle, the bullet wounds already closing up.

Bulco got out of the car, his eyes glowing red. He was wearing a thick metal gauntlet over one arm. The two other gang members were nowhere in sight. The snake’s front half rose again, spitting in anger, and snapped forward to strike. Bulco drew his arm back and punched the monster’s head as it came at him. The device he wore sprung forward, adding force to the punch, and the snake’s head snapped up, then down into the pavement again. The man hit the downed monster again and again, but it recovered quickly and started rising again. The wounds and broken scales were mending faster than the large man could inflict them.

“Kid, head’s up!” Bulco yelled and threw the Disruptor to Nori. The move cost him. The Warped snake used the break of the assault and sprang forward. The large man was hurled on his back and his hands caught the snapping maw just before it bit his face off. “Kid! Hurry up!” he shouted, his bulging muscles straining against the pressure of the stronger monster.

Nori, Lana, and Nathan stared, mesmerized at the titanic clash. A man was actually holding off the snapping jaws of a monster at least five times his weight.

“Kid!” he yelled, a tone of desperation in his voice, and the red in his eyes dimmed.

Nori came to her senses. She pointed the Disruptor at the snake and fired. The beam blew a small crater in its plated body. The snake wriggled forward, pressing the pinned man harder against the ground.

Nori walked toward the monster, pressing the trigger again and again. The shots blew more holes in the creature's body, but even though the wounds didn’t heal, they were too small to be fatal. Just as Bulco’s arms were about to give in, Nori reached him. She pressed the end of the disruptor to the Warped’s head and fired.