“Broke the shit out of him.” He aimed the stolen weapon at the ogre. It lifted one huge paw to shield its eyes from the blinding weapon-mounted flashlight. He flipped the selector to full auto and dumped a magazine of 5.56 rounds into the monster. Ogre hide was tough, but it wasn’t that tough, and some of the high-velocity bullets pierced through it. The monster bellowed in pain and charged.

The bolt locked back empty. The ogre was almost on top of him. Its hideous face was scrunched up, squinting because of the blinding light. Thinking quickly, Franks placed the carbine on a workbench with the light still pointing at the monster, and then stepped aside.

Sure enough, it had zeroed in on the light. The ogre crashed through the bench, and then through the wall behind it and out into the open platform. STFU operatives had to dive out of its way to keep from being crushed. The ogre tripped and fell, rolling through the construction site.

He could hear the rumble of an approaching train. Shadows grew up the walls from its headlight. That gave Franks an idea, but he would need to time it just right. Drawing his pistol, he walked through the hole created by the ogre and began firing at the soldiers caught in the open. Some went down while others moved to cover.

The ogre was getting up. Franks saw a length of chain on the ground, probably hurled from the busted gate. Running forward, he fired until slide lock and dropped the Glock. Not slowing, he bent down and snatched up the chain. Taking an end in each hand, he reached the lumbering ogre while it still had its back turned, threw the chain over its massive head, and yanked back with all his might.

The ogre thrashed as Franks choked the hell out of it.

But he didn’t want to kill it. Not yet. First he needed a gigantic meat shield.

Franks stepped on the back of the ogre’s knee while he hauled on the chain, forcing it around, steering the beast until it was between him and the shooters.

“Hold your fire!” shouted a woman. Either she understood that within three seconds Franks was going to be standing in front of a bunch of civilians or she didn’t want to hurt their ogre. “Hold your fire!”