The world flipped in three flat seconds.
Second one: The vehicle's door flew open and Elias literally tumbled out, rolling across the cracked asphalt with the grace of a drunk cat. A monstrous claw, long as an arm and sharp as a razor, pierced the sheet metal right where his head had been half a second earlier.
Second two: The vehicle, still in motion, skidded. Mara, reflexes razor-sharp, cut the engine and yanked the handbrake. Tires screeched. The smell of burnt rubber mingled with the sweet, rotten stench of the dimensional rift.
Second three: The three Nemesis—that was the generic name for these scaly bastards—converged. Two charged the vehicle. The third targeted Elias, who was getting up and rubbing his elbow.
"Briggs, barricade this shit for me! Saito, handle the trash! Finn, don't shoot—you'll kill us!"
Mara exited in a fluid motion, her pulse pistol already in hand.
'Class B Nemesis, "Ravager" type. Scales resistant to low energies, weak points at joints and eyes. Average speed, high strength. Recommended strategy: coordination, immobilization, precision shots.'
The recommended strategy shattered against reality.
Briggs burst from the other side of the vehicle. His arms extended, muscles bulging under his uniform. A blue-tinged energy dome erupted from his back with a high-pitched whine. He braced himself, feet digging two ruts in the gravel. The shield expanded, curved and trembling, forming a semi-circular wall in front of the wave of creatures.
The first Nemesis slammed into it full force. The impact made the field waver, energy streaks cracking its surface like struck ice. Briggs grunted, veins bulging on his forehead. The shield held, pushing back the mass and containing them within the rift's perimeter.
A sharp crack, followed by another, and another. Saito hadn't even left the vehicle. He'd rested the long, cold barrel of his plasma rifle on the door frame. His eye was glued to the scope. Each sonic detonation was followed by a blue-white flash slicing through the humid air.
One Nemesis, maw gaping, collapsed with a neat hole between its two yellow eyes. Another, climbing over a fellow's back, was blasted backward, its shoulder vaporized. A third, aiming for Briggs, took the shot in its open throat.
Finn stumbled out, his pulse pistol pointing at the ground, then the sky, then Briggs's shield. His face was waxen pale. "They... they're everywhere..."
"Agent Finn!" Mara was already out, weapon in hand.
Two Nemesis, smaller and faster, had flanked Saito's watch on the right. Their pupilless gazes locked on the paralyzed young agent. They leaped in sync, claws extended toward his chest.
Mara positioned herself between Finn and the monsters. Her pulse pistol rose. She squeezed the trigger.
A beam of concentrated energy burst forth, fist-wide. She swept it in a perfect horizontal arc. The first Nemesis took it full-on mid-stride. The energy sliced it in two, upper torso flying while its legs kept momentum before crumpling. The second, right behind, met the same beam. The discharge pierced its neck. The head, still screaming, rolled across the asphalt as the body stumbled and slid to Finn's feet, splattering his boots with black blood.
Finn recoiled, a choked gasp in his throat. He stared at Mara, eyes bulging.
She didn't look at him. Her weapon lowered, smoking. "Pull yourself together, Agent Finn, or next time it'll be you on the ground," she said flatly, without taking her eyes off the horde.
As for Elias...
He was walking.
He advanced at a steady pace. A short sword was sheathed on his back. The Nemesis, contained by the energy field, pressed against the blue barrier, clawing the air, howling. Some at the dome's edges started to flank it.
"Briggs, widen coverage on the left by five meters," Elias said, his voice carrying calmly through the din.
A Nemesis charged him. Elias pivoted on the ball of his right foot. The monstrous claw passed an inch from his face, displacing air. His right hand went to his back, gripping the sword hilt.
He didn't draw it fully. He just pulled it out a few inches, enough to expose about eight inches of crackling blue energy from the vibrating blade. He extended his arm, holding still.
The Nemesis, unable to stop, impaled its own throat on the extended blade. A gurgle, a geyser of black blood, and the creature slumped.
Elias didn't linger. He finally drew it in a fluid motion that seemed too slow to be effective. The short sword, forearm-length, crackled with stable energy.
A second charged. Elias simply lowered the blade. The monster jumped right onto it. The vibrating energy severed the tendons of a forelimb. The creature collapsed howling, and the sword's tip plunged into its eye before it hit the ground.
Another leaped from the side. Elias tilted his head, the fang-filled maw snapping on empty air. His sword, held low, swung up in a short, clean arc. It opened the creature's belly from groin to chest. Guts spilling onto the asphalt.
Mara stood near Finn, taking down creatures trying to breach the left flank, her pistol spitting short, precise bursts.
"Finn," Elias called out, yawning. "You gonna let a woman babysit you? Shoot."
Finn was shaking like a leaf, his weapon pointing everywhere but right. "Wh-where?"
"At a head. For heaven's sake, aim at a head."
Finn fired. The sticky polymer projectile whistled out... and landed on Briggs's shield, three meters from any target.
"Fuck!" Briggs growled, his shield flickering under the impact.
That's when the rift pulsed harder. A shadow formed in its violet core. It emerged slowly, shoving aside the last Nemesis like insects.
It was twice as big as the others. Its scales were black, glossy, veined with pulsing purple. Its eyes glowed with intelligent red fury. A bristling bony crest crowned its skull. When its paws hit the ground, the asphalt cracked.
It raised its head and roared. The sound was physical, a pressure wave that shook Briggs's shield and slapped everyone's ears.
The giant Nemesis fixed on Briggs's barrier, then started marching—slow, heavy, crushing injured kin without notice.
"Concentrate fire on the big one! It's the Boss!" Mara ordered, her pistol already aiming at the creature.
Saito adjusted his scope. He fired. The plasma projectile hit the monster's crest. A spark explosion, a black scorch on the scale, but nothing more. The giant barely turned its head, like annoyed by a fly.
Finn hadn't moved. He was huddled against the vehicle's rear door, rifle clutched to his chest, wide eyes fixed on the swarming horde.
"Agent Finn!" Mara yelled while downing a Nemesis in passing.
Finn turned his head toward her. His lips moved soundlessly.
A Nemesis leaped over the lines and landed three meters from Finn, claws scraping the asphalt in a shrill screech.
Finn whimpered, raised his weapon, pointed it the wrong way.
Mara fired twice. Two concentrated energy pulses struck the Nemesis at the nape and base of the skull. The creature collapsed, smoking.
The young agent jumped, fell on his ass, started crawling backward.
"Agent Finn!" Mara advanced on him, grabbed him by the collar, shook him. "Snap out of it! Now!"
Finn's eyes fluttered. He nodded hysterically, tears streaking his dusty cheeks.
"I... I can't... there's too many..."
"You're gonna hold your fucking weapon and cover our flank!" She shoved him back toward the vehicle. "Or you die. Choose!"