The first of the four sharks snarls and leaps at Orion.

  He spins on the ground and pulls his pistol and starts firing at the beast.

  The bullets strike the huge bull like fleshy creature in the face, and quickly kills it.

  XP ADDED

  I don't care about your XP anymore! That was easy. Too easy. The beast doesn't want me to die, does he?

  That thought quickly leaves his mind as another shark runs at Orion and knocks him off the ground like a bull.

  He is tossed in the air and hits the ground hard across the way.

  This blow is too much.

  After all the fighting over the last four days, Orion is done.

  My leg is broken. Oh, the pain. A bone is piercing through flesh.

  Orion looks and sees he is bruising instantly from the internal bleeding.

  The three sharks left surround him.

  "You're going to have to kill me, fellas," Orion says to them, laughing in his pain. "I'm done."

  They don't quite understand.

  One gets bored and turns to run into Orion again.

  Orion lifts his pistol and empties the clip into the beast.

  It falls over dead now as well.

  The other two sharks scream at their dead brethren, and stare at each other like wondering what to do next.

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  Orion tries to move his leg but horrible pain goes up his leg and hip. He empties the clip and tosses the pistol to his side.

  "Okay. Gonna die right here."

  SEVERELY INJURED

  "I know I am!" Orion screams at his own eyes.

  Orion feels around his belt, realizing he is fresh out of weapons and clips after the last few days.

  All that is left is his knife.

  He shrugs and takes it out, waiting for one more beast to attack.

  One of the small beasts howls into the air and then leaps, coming to crush Orion.

  Orion lifts his knife and tries to stand, pushing with all his strength.

  The fleshly creature lands upon Orion, and he is halfway inside the monster.

  It screams and leans over and collapses, dead.

  Orion looks at his ooze covered body and knife. The creature hardly had any weight to it. Like a jellyfish with a bony structure or outline.

  But before Orion can have victory, the final shark leans its head down for a final push.

  This will be it.

  The creature is low. The impact will be vicious and violent and strong.

  Orion takes a deep breath, knowing his death has finally arrived.

  He gently puts the knife down and touches his cross necklace and says a prayer.

  Everything comes back. Before the nuclear war. His fiancee and child. How he got to the island.

  The display. The years of fighting the fallen and defending and rebuilding. Then, after the violence, the boring waiting and seeking old boats and monoliths for treasures to make money from.

  Then Cole. All stages of Cole. Then the aircraft carrier and Goliath and the Demon Lords and Ran.

  Now this.

  The beast runs at him.

  Orion closes his eyes, knowing it will hurt, but just for a moment.

  Suddenly, a gun blast breaks out.

  The beast falls over with a hole in its side.

  Orion looks and sees The Old Man, Adam, out of his trance, shakily holding Orion's large rifle that slid down the hill.

  Adam drops the gun, sickened by what he did, but slowly runs to help Orion.

  Others of the pod people who have not gone mad run up the sandy barge to help as well.