The chair lift carried Nina up the slope. She looked back. No sign of her pursuers – yet. Through the glass wall she spotted a handful of people fleeing through the mall, heading away from her fiery entry point. The slope’s top appeared through the haze. A fairy-tale castle stood at the summit, surrounded by fir trees draped with twinkling lights—

A bang from behind. She turned – and saw one of the armoured giants duck through the entrance. He looked around in confusion at the sudden climate change, then spotted the retreating figure on the lift.

His baraka came up – and fired.

Trapped on the chair, Nina shrieked – but the energy blast missed, crackling past close enough for her to feel it sear the air. She fumbled the shells from her pockets and loaded the shotgun. Five cartridges slid into the tubular magazine, a sixth meeting resistance. She racked the slide with a menacing yet satisfying ka-chak to chamber a round, then pushed the last shell into the mag.

Below, the second warrior caught up with his companion and sent a blast of his own after her. The bolt missed by a wider margin than before, though it still made Nina flinch.

The lift had by now swept her halfway up the hill. Even if they ran after her, she had a huge head start, hopefully enough to reach an exit—

The first warrior fired again – at a new target.

The chair lift’s bottom tower blew apart, the cable snapping. Nina screamed as she plunged towards the ground—

Even with over a foot of snow to cushion her, it was still a painful landing. She rolled clear as the whipping cable twanged down on her overturned chair.

She hurriedly recovered the shotgun, then waded upwards. The two warriors started after her. The snow came halfway up Nina’s shins, but was only ankle-deep to the giants. Their ascent was much faster.

She pounded on, breath steaming out in increasingly hoarse gasps. A small rise lay ahead, a hump to give those descending the chance to catch some air. She dived behind it as a baraka came up. The blast hit the mound and showered her with snow. Even lying down, the shock wave still felt like a kick to her chest.

Anger joined fear. She rolled to the steaming bite taken out of the snow and fired the shotgun. The two Nephilim were sixty yards away – beyond her gun’s effective lethal range, but still well within its maximum. They reacted with shock and pain as buckshot smacked against their armour, hot fragments stabbing through gaps between the plates. One cried out and tore off his helmet, clawing at a piece of searing metal buried just below his eye.

‘Welcome to the twenty-first century, assholes!’ Nina shouted, pumping the slide and firing again. The helmetless warrior screamed as more shot struck his head. Both Nephilim dropped, scrambling through the snow to find cover.