Kyle West - Evolution

“What is that?” Julian asked.

Maxillo shrugged. “Probably a jaguar. They are active in the forest, at nights.”

I knew that was not a jaguar. I had fought those things inside the Coleseo , just hours ago. This was something different. Something…worse. It was all too reminiscent of…

“Crawlers,” Anna said.

An unmistakable scuttling of dozens of legs sounded from ahead.

“Box formation!” Maxillo shouted.

The Praetorians hurried to make a square around us, each facing outward, pausing in the center of the road. We remained in the middle.

“Whatever comes out of the forest, shoot first,” Maxillo said to us.

Another screech sounded, deadly close to us now. A shadowy crawler pounced from the night and onto the misty road. It landed on top of a Praetorian, who screamed as the creature tore into his flesh. With a flash of spears, two more Praetorians charged the creature, skewering it through the belly. It went limp, even as more shadowy shapes came from the woods.

“There’s too many!” Anna asked. “We have to break through and make it to the ship!”

“The ship?” Maxillo asked. “What ship?”

A pair of crawlers attacked the group’s left flank. Three Praetorians lined up, pointing their spears into the darkness. The battle-hardened warriors did everything their training had taught them, but they had never fought anything like this. More crawlers appeared, swarming over the warriors, their spears doing little against the creatures’ thick exoskeletons. The crawlers screeched in victory as they ripped tendrils of flesh from the Praetorians’ corpses, sprays of blood adding a reddish hue to the mist.

“Do as she says!” Maxillo roared. “Clear a path ahead!”

The Praetorians responded, cutting their way through a pack of crawlers that still grew in number. Where had they all come from? There were no Blights around here, were there?

That was when a crawler appeared in front of me, a scythe-like fang flashing by my side. I tucked and rolled onto the ground. Lying on my back, the crawler appeared above me, exposing its soft underbelly. I aimed and fired my Beretta. The creature squealed in pain as each bullet connected, purple blood oozing from the large holes I had created at point blank range. I rolled to the side as the creature crashed down.

The others were ahead of me by now, but Anna had stayed behind.

“Alex, get your ass moving!”

Another crawler appeared at Anna’s side. She turned, dodging its lightning strike, all the while swinging around to catch it with her katana. The creature turned its stomach away, and instead the katana glanced off the creature’s side in a shower of sparks.

The crawler had cut us off from the rest of the group, and more were coming from behind.

I ran forward, pointing my gun toward the hideous monster.

Bam. Bam. Bam.

The bullets ricocheted off its tough skin. I had succeeded in nothing more than pissing it off. The crawler charged for me, and in so doing, exposed itself to Anna. She surged forward, swiping her blade underneath it.

The crawler gave a horrible screech that pierced my ears. The fetid stench of its guts filled the air as they spilled out onto the dirt path. The creature’s body slumped, twitched, and grew still.

“Come on,” I said.

I grabbed Anna’s hand and ran up the mountain path. We passed the bodies of both man and monster as we ran ahead. Thankfully, none of them were our own.

Then, a baleful roar sounded from above. The mist darkened as something… flew …over us. It wasn’t Gilgamesh . This was something alive.

We both paused on the road. I hoped the mist was thick enough that whatever was up there couldn’t see us.

The thing passed overhead, giving an unholy bellow is it plied the skies above. The mist was too thick to get a view of it.

“What is that thing?” Anna asked.

“I don’t know. We need to find the others.”

We continued our sprint, wheezing for air. The sounds of the screeches and gunshots were getting closer. Men’s screams sounded in the night. I could only hope that they weren’t either Samuel or Julian.

Finally, the ground leveled, and the road turned. We were getting close to the rendezvous point.

We passed the corpse of one of the crawlers. Huddled against its frame were two forms. It was Samuel and Julian.

“Samuel!” I said, running closer.

He held a finger to his lips.

“We thought you were dead,” Julian said.

“It’ll take more than a few crawlers to kill me,” I said. “Did you guys see that flying thing?”

Samuel nodded his assent, his eyes wide. “It swooped down and took Maxillo with its claws…”

“What was it?” Anna asked.

Samuel waved us over. We got on the ground, scooting against its back.

“I have no clue. But Ashton is up there. If we don’t let him know…”

“How is he going to find us in this mist?”

“We need to find a spot to hide, until things clear up a bit,” Samuel said.

“Where can we go?” I asked. “The forest is down the mountain, and it seems like there might be a Blight nearby…”

“A big Blight, if one of those things lives in it,” Anna said.

Samuel shook his head. “No. I don’t think there is a Blight. If there were, Augustus would surely know about it. I think there is some other explanation.”

“The Praetorians?” I asked.

“All dead and scattered,” Julian said. “We only survived by hiding against this.”

The flying monster gave another roar that echoed from the mountains. In response, the crawlers screeched in the distance. They had gone away. For now.

“They might come back,” I said.

“We need to get back to the city,” Samuel said. “The plan has changed. With the Praetorians gone, we need to get Makara and get the hell out of here.”

“I can lead us to the hospital,” Julian said. “It isn’t far.”

A colossal rush of wind pummeled us from above. The ground shook as it landed, sending the mist scattering. At first, I saw giant, claw-like feet, covered in crimson scales. The talons were as long as swords, and they curled as they buried themselves in the dirt. A massive body flared upward, crimson and snakelike, along with a massive spread of wings — wings impossibly large. They must have been at least a hundred feet wide. The creature was enormous — it was like a gigantic crawler, only with wings. From its back hopped two creatures to the ground — additional crawlers, who looked like they had been piloting the monster. The monster’s long, serpent neck lowered. It had no eyes — just two empty holes where the eyes should have been. Two massive nostrils opened at the end of its short, scaly snout, quivering as they sniffed the air. The head was round, bald, black as night, the darkness of the head fading to the deep, ruby red scales that covered the rest of its body.

It opened its mouth to reveal rows of thin, needle teeth, already stained with red blood. It opened its mouth and screamed, two forked tongues quivering as the roar emanated, shaking me to the bones.

And all I could think was: is that a dragon?

“Run!” Samuel shouted.

We scrambled up, just as the crawlers that had been riding the dragon flanked us on either side. The dragon stepped forward, neck and head extended. We ran, but it was too fast. Its mouth opened and closed, snapping as it neared us.

That was when the roar of an engine from above deafened us, sending us all to the ground. It was Gilgamesh . A blinding light flashed on, causing the crawlers to screech in pain. The dragon still kept going forward, terribly close.