I hurled the Molotov through the doorway. It shattered against one of the fallen monsters and ignited its carapace. The creatures around it shrieked and pulled away. The alcohol burned far too quickly and the monsters were back on the move. “More!” I turned back to find that the Hunters without rifles or shotguns had formed an assembly line, cutting, stuffing, and lighting. A flaming bottle was waiting for me. Another two shooters cycled through as I took the second Molotov and chucked it a different creature. It only burned for a few seconds of painful wailing. The dampness of the invading forest and less-than-ideal incendiaries was thwarting us. Two enterprising Australians had wrapped their curtains around lamps to make bundles and poured whiskey all over them. I got out of the way as they lit them and tossed the blossoming fireballs into 1613. The slugs made a chorus of painful shrieks.

We were the very model of efficient monster killing.

“Coming through! Make a hole! Bomb coming through.” Lee and Cooper were shoving their way down the hall, one dragging something big, the other pushing. The crowd parted and it was revealed to be the housekeeping cart.

Earl looked up, recognized his former Explosive Ordnance Disposal tech and his former Marine demolitions specialist, and smiled. “This should be interesting. Clear a path!”

Seeing who was involved, I was suddenly very nervous. The two of them stopped a few feet away. From the look of the cart, they had raided the janitor’s closet for cleaning supplies. Lee began pouring a big jug of a clear liquid into the trash can. Cooper dumped in a five-gallon bucket of something red. Lee began to stir it with a mop handle. The two explosives experts seemed positively giddy. That was a bad sign. “Somebody order fire?”

“Everybody except the next shooters fall back!” Earl shouted.

Milo came over, read the label on one of the empty bottles, and nodded approvingly. “Ooh, good idea. Hey, did you guys notice all this laundry soap?”

“Brilliant!” Lee exclaimed as he snatched up a box.

“Fall way back!” Earl clarified.

“Don’t worry. This should mostly just stick and burn rather than explode.” He sounded very excited, and If Milo was excited, then we should probably evacuate the city. “Mostly.”

If this was going to be it, I wanted to be where it was most dangerous, so I cut in line to be the last shooter. Lacoco took the other side. The nearest creature was only ten feet away, and as it took another halting, clanking step, and I realized that the carpet in front of me was receding, almost as if the dead grass was consuming and replacing our reality. The bathroom was gone. There was a tree where the coat closet had been. Their world was growing. “Hurry it up!”