The car wasn’t one of theirs.

  Whoever was at the wheel was a moron and one who had no idea what the signal was and instead just honked away like a lunatic. In the daytime, that amount of noise was borderline suicidal. At night? It was a death sentence. And it wasn’t just the honking, too—whoever was in the car was yelling frantically and constantly poking out the window to take fire blindly with a pistol.

  And behind the car, appearing to number into the dozens, were pursuing Servants, identifiable even in the dark of night by their lopsided sprinting, their snarling, and the putrid stench of their rotten or still-rotting flesh.

  “What do we do here?” Lucas queried, no longer occupied now by his squirrel.

  “Stick to protocol.” Chloe watched the car as it approached, scanning again for heat signatures. There was only one person in the vehicle. “That car doesn’t make it to Rora, not even to the fences. Take out its tires, ground it.”

  “And leave whoever’s inside to the Servants?”

  “We’ll take care of the Servants,” Chloe said, stepping forward. “Just stop the car.”

  “Alright then.” Lucas unholstered his rifle and held it up, squeezing one eye shut as he took aim for the car. He pulled the trigger.

  The first shot bounced harmlessly off of the car’s hood. A moment later, the boy at the wheel poked his head out the window, looking in their direction.

  “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!” The boy cried out. “Stop!” “Lucas. Again. Don’t miss.”

  Lucas said nothing. A moment later, he pulled the trigger again. This time, he took out one tire. The tire hissed as air leaked out of it before making flapping sounds as the rubber grinded awkwardly against the ground. The car itself swerved dangerously from left to right, the boy at the wheel doing whatever he could to steady the vehicle. The driver poked his head out once more, his pistol trained at them this time. Without warning, he let off multiple shots.

  Time slowed to a crawl for Chloe then, enough that she could make out all of the bullets headed their way. Five of them, to be precise.

  The boy wasn’t a very good shot; most of the bullets were greatly off the mark. Only one was likely to hit a target, one that looked on course to find Chloe in the head.

  She sidestepped as the bullet neared, letting it sail harmlessly past, just like the other bullets. Lucas fired again. Another tire went out.

  That was enough for the boy to lose control of the wheel, the car swerving dangerously to the left, and on course for the woods. Chloe, however, was quick, arriving in front of the car in just a moment, digging her feet deep into the ground as she let it drive right into her extended hands.

  She pushed back against the vehicle, feet sliding against the ground as she did, digging up some of it. She gritted her teeth under the effort of what she was doing, throwing all of her strength into attempting to halt the car.

  She managed to bring the car to a stop, just at the edge of the road, and she glanced up at the windshield to find the boy with his pistol trained at her, a frightened expression on his face like he wasn’t sure exactly what was going on. The boy’s trembling finger pulled down on the trigger, and a bullet blasted through the windshield.

  But Chloe wasn’t there anymore.

  She pulled the driver’s door open, seized the boy by his collar, and yanked him out of the car despite his struggling.

  The boy took a swing at her as soon as she’d gotten him out, but she was quick, ducking beneath his blow before planting a fist into his stomach, soliciting a groan and loud wheezing as the boy bent over, eyes wide in pain.

  “If you want to live, stay right there,” Chloe warned. “Don’t move, don’t try to run. There are too many of them around now, even in the woods, thanks to your little ruckus. Just stay right here by the car.”

  “Okay.” The boy nodded, still wheezing as he responded.

  Chloe hoped she hadn’t hit him hard enough to rupture anything or cause any internal bleeding. She’d been holding back on that punch, or at least, had tried to do just that. She walked away from the boy, rejoining Lucas and staring ahead at the incoming horde of Servants.

  “That’s a pretty big swarm,” Lucas said, although he sounded more excited than anything else. “None of them seem particularly quick either,” he added, dropping his rifle to the ground and swinging one arm around as if to loosen it. “This ought to be a breeze.”

  “Don’t get reckless,” Chloe warned.

  “When am I ever?” Lucas grinned at her and winked before surging forward in a blur of movement.

  Chloe charged, too, right into the midst of the incoming horde. Despite the numerical disparity, Chloe and Lucas had an advantage over the Servants in that they were much faster than the rotten things were, much more coordinated, and capable of thought and improvisation. The Servants were stupid, slow, and driven solely by their insatiable desire for human flesh and blood.

  Chloe struck with the rifle again, swinging at one of the Servants with it. The Servant’s head exploded upon impact, chunks of it raining down everywhere.

  She went at Servant after Servant, each attack of hers delivered with the sort of precision and lethality that came only from experience and repetition. Her movements were almost rehearsed, almost instinctive. She knew exactly how much strength to apply if she wished to separate their limbs from their bodies, how much strength to apply if she wanted to punch right through them, how hard to swing if she wanted to make their heads explode.

  In only a matter of seconds, she’d dropped more than ten Servants and was soaked head-to-toe now in their blood. The stench of it would not fade easily, but that was not something she cared about a great deal at the moment.

  Alongside her, Lucas was reveling in the carnage. He was blurring between Servants, literally tearing them apart with ease. With one, he punched straight through the Servant’s gaping mouth with one fist before shoving his other hand inside and pulling the Servant’s head apart entirely. He ripped an arm off the headless Servant before its torso dropped to the ground and used the arm as a weapon, swinging with it at the others, cackling like a lunatic as he did so, his eyes shining past the blood that had stained his face, lips pulled apart into a crazed, unwavering smile.

  A Servant lunged at Chloe, attempting to sink its teeth into her. Chloe twisted away from the Servant’s reach, spun around it, and shoved her rifle into its head from behind before ripping it straight off and then launching the head through the air like a projectile, sending it shooting through the chests of other Servants, putrid blood curtaining the gaping holes it left in them.

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  A loud, unearthly screech filled the air then, seeming to come from somewhere in the distance. As soon as the screech came, both Chloe and Lucas halted in their tracks. Lucas’s crazed smile vanished at once, replaced with an expression of terror. Chloe’s face simply darkened.

  At once, and without any instruction needing to be provided to the both of them, they both retreated from the Servants, leaping backward and putting great distance between themselves and the mindless creatures.

  “Did you hear that?” Lucas queried as if wanting to confirm that his mind wasn’t playing tricks on him.

  “Yes,” Chloe responded quietly, her eyes gazing into the distance now, in the direction the screech had come from. There was only one thing out there that could have made a sound like that, and it wasn’t something either her or Lucas would stand much of a chance against.

  Even the Servants now had stopped moving, turning their heads around stupidly as if waiting for something.

  “We need to go,” Chloe said at once, voice grim. “I think it’s headed here.”

  “What about the rest of the Servants?” Lucas questioned, looking a little displeased at the possibility that he might not get to kill all of the creatures standing before him.

  “Not enough time for that.” Chloe was already walking toward the boy from earlier, sat now by his car, head slumped. He’d passed out.

  She bent by him, lifted him off the ground, and slung him over her shoulders. She returned to her truck, throwing the boy into the back before climbing into the driver’s seat, Lucas hastily getting into the front passenger’s seat.

  As she ignited the engine, Lucas stuck his head out into the window, peering into the distance. “Hang on, I think I can see something. Holy shit, it’s massive.”

  Chloe said nothing; she simply put the truck in reverse and slammed down on the pedal. She swerved the wheel sharply, turning the truck around, before switching into drive and barreling in the direction of Rora.

  As she drove, her comms crackled. “Chloe! Lucas! Are you still out there?”

  “We’re coming in now.” It was Lucas who responded to Jonathan. “Got a stray with us. You can thank him for luring the bastards here…and probably the angry one too.”

  “Is it on your tail?” Jon’s voice sounded frantic like he was in a hurry. “I’m with Spike and Aiden now, we’re on our way to—,”

  “No,” Chloe interrupted immediately. “Don’t come back out. We’re coming. We’ll be fine, got enough time. It’s not close to us yet.”

  “Uhm, Chlo?” Lucas was looking out the window again. “I wouldn’t be too sure about that.” Chloe’s gaze shifted toward the rearview mirror. Through it, she noticed a dark mass some distance behind them. Large and towering, with multiple spindly legs carrying it forward. It was gaining on them, and quick.

  The entire truck rattled then. “Shit,” she cursed.

  “I’ve got this,” Lucas said, grabbing his rifle and preparing to take aim.

  “What the hell are you doing?!” Chloe demanded, swerving the car roughly then to throw Lucas off balance. The consequence was that his rifle fell out of his grip, landed on the road. The truck rapidly left it behind.

  “I was going to take it out!” Lucas said. “What the hell did you do that for?”

  “Jesus, Lucas, you know damn well what that is. Bloody rifle wouldn’t have done anything but make it angrier…and possibly, faster.”

  “You think one of those needs help getting angrier?” Lucas blurted, eyes frantic. “Shit, it’s getting closer.”

  Chloe peered through the rearview mirror again. Lucas wasn’t wrong. They wouldn’t be able to outrace the angry god, not in this truck. She bit down on her lips as she considered all of the options.

  If she had explosives on her, she might have been content, allowing it to catch up with her. Though it’d never been tested, Chloe had spent a great deal of time pondering on how best to kill one of those things, especially since no one else had figured it out. Through the rearview mirror, she could see the thing up close now, its shadowy form, the scales across its skin…and that single crimson eye glowing at them.

  The angry god let loose a guttural sound, one that caused the entire truck to vibrate and rattle again.

  “Chloe, I have to do something!” Lucas yelled wildly. “Give me your gun?”

  “No.” Chloe held on to her gun firmly. “Take the wheel,” she instructed. “Don’t stop driving.” “What?”

  Chloe didn’t take any time to explain. She opened up her door at once, leaped right out of the car. She fell to the ground, rolled, and hastily returned to her feet. She took aim at the angry god at once, right at its singular eye, and fired.

  A loud wail filled the air, and the monster thrashed its spindly limbs about, kicking up anything in its path. The car from earlier with its tires shot out went flipping through the air, prompting Chloe to duck. The car missed her barely, crashing to the ground just behind her.

  The angry god continued its advance, but this time its single eye was focused intently on her. Chloe fired another shot at the monster while making her way off the road and into the woods. As she’d expected, it followed.

  “Chloe!” Lucas yelled over the comms. “Are you good? Did it get you?!”

  “It’s on my tail.” Chloe ducked beneath a branch, glancing over her shoulder to see multiple trees be uprooted in a single instant. “And it’s closing in fast. Just get back to Rora, doesn’t matter what happens out here.”

  “Like hell it doesn’t,” Jon growled over the comms. “We’re on our way.” “Jonathan, no. I don’t need your—,”

  There was an odd crackle, an indicator he’d disconnected from the comms. Chloe hissed under her breath, glanced over her shoulder again to see a tree flying at her. Her eyes went wide, and she attempted to duck. She avoided much of it, but a thick branch still caught her, slamming into her back and sending her hurtling forward.

  She crossed her hands in front of herself, shielding her face and bracing for the fall. She hit the ground hard and pushed herself right off at once with her hand, sending herself high into the air. From this height, she made out the monster, still advancing through the forest. It saw her too, and sent another tree in her direction.

  Still airborne, she twisted, spinning around and finding the tree with her feet instead. She ran across the full length of the tree as it sailed through the air, her rifle held firmly in one hand. She leaped off the tree just as one of the angry god’s limbs shot toward her. At the same time, she hurled forth her rifle, launching it through the air like a spear. The air whipped around the rifle as it shot forward, rapid as a projectile, before it found its mark and struck the angry god right in the eye.

  Again, the angry god let out another wail, a powerful one, accompanied by a gust of wind that caused the trees in the forest to sway and creak. At the same time, one of its limbs found her, piercing her thighs.

  She gritted her teeth hard just as the angry god yanked at her, pulling her in close. She seized onto its spindly limb and attempted to yank it out, but it didn’t budge. A moment later, it hurled her through the air.

  She struck a tree with her back and snapped it in half upon impact before hitting the ground. A pained groan escaped her as a metallic taste filled her mouth, the edges of her vision blurring out of focus. She attempted to move, but a sharp pain shot through her lower body that immediately discouraged the notion.

  Instead she remained there, on the ground, helpless while the monster continued to approach, more trees falling as it got closer and closer.

  The monster came into view again, or rather, one of its legs did. It came down on her, straight for her face. She shifted her head out of the way just in time, and the leg struck the earth just beside her face instead.

  Another leg came down, and this time, she had to part her legs to avoid it. A third leg had been about to come down on her stomach when suddenly, the sky lit up in crimson as flares went off somewhere east of them. The angry god halted at once, and it produced a sound she assumed was its version of a confused grunt.

  It stopped moving then as if listening. Chloe squeezed her eyes shut at once and held her breath, not wanting to see exactly what it was that would come next.

  For a few seconds, nothing happened, and then she heard it start to move again. She kept her eyes shut and listened, listened as it got farther and farther away. Soon, she couldn’t hear it anymore.

  She cracked open her eyes then and drew a deep breath, letting the cool air flood her lungs again. From somewhere in the woods, she heard rustling sounds, accompanied closely by the snap of twigs. Loud thuds, powerful ones, quick too.

  A moment later, Jonathan emerged from behind a tree, accompanied by Lucas.

  Jonathan and Lucas raced to her side at once, grabbing onto either arm of hers and pulling her to her feet. She winced at the pain that shot through her wounded thigh as they helped her up but bit down hard on her tongue to prevent herself from screaming out.

  “Come on,” Jon said, his voice steely now, a little angry-sounding. “Let’s get you out of here before it comes back.”