Noah knew the honeymoon phase of their training was over. Up until now, they had only seen scouts—small, skinny things that ran away if you made too much noise. But as they settled into the library basement, the air felt different. He could feel a heavy vibration in his teeth.
Something bigger was "glitching" into reality nearby.
The library basement was cold
Noah was sharpening his machete when the sound started. It wasn't a hiss or a growl; it was a rhythmic thump-thump-thump coming from the floorboards above them.
"Mason, Lena, grab your gear," Noah said, standing up. "Claire, stay in the back room. Lock the door and don't open it unless you hear my voice."
"What is it?" Mason asked, his voice shaking as he struggled to pull his tactical vest over his head. "Is it Victor's guys?"
"No," Noah said, his eyes fixed on the ceiling. "It's a Crusher. We're four years early for this, but the timeline is shifting."
The ceiling groaned. Dust rained down on them. Then, with a deafening crash, a massive, grey limb smashed through the floor above. It wasn't made of skin or bone; it looked like wet stone. The limb was as thick as a tree trunk, ending in three blunt claws.
"Upstairs! Now!" Noah yelled. "We can't fight it in a crawlspace! We need room to move!"
They scrambled up the stairs and into the main reading room of the library. Standing among the tipped-over bookshelves was a nightmare. The Crusher was eight feet tall and built like a gorilla made of rock and muscle. It had no eyes, just a giant, gaping hole in its chest that glowed with a sickly orange light.
"It's huge!" Lena shouted, drawing her reinforced bat. "Noah, we can't kill that thing with a knife!"
"We don't aim for the skin!" Noah ducked as the monster swung a heavy arm, pulverizing a wooden desk where he'd been standing a second ago. "The glow! The core in its chest is the only thing that's real. Everything else is just armor!"
The monster roared—a sound that felt like two boulders grinding together. It charged at Mason.
"Mason, move!" Noah barked.
Mason froze for a heartbeat, staring at the ton of muscle rushing toward him. At the last second, he dived behind a marble pillar. The Crusher slammed into the stone, cracking the pillar but dazing itself for a moment.
"Lena, distract it! Hit the legs!" Noah commanded.
Lena didn't hesitate. She was faster than the beast. She slid across the floor, swinging her bat with everything she had against the monster's "knee." It didn't break the leg, but it made the creature stumble.
The Crusher swung blindly, its tail-like appendage whipping through the air. It caught Lena in the ribs, sending her flying across the room into a stack of encyclopedias.
"Lena!" Mason yelled, finally finding his nerve. He raised his crossbow and fired a bolt. It bounced off the creature's shoulder like a toothpick.
"Aim for the chest, Mason! Wait for it to open!" Noah was circling the beast, his machete held low.
The Crusher turned, its orange core brightening. It let out a blast of heat that singed the carpet. As it prepared to fire again, its chest plates slid open, exposing the glowing heart.
"Now!" Noah screamed.
Mason fired. The bolt sunk into the orange light. The monster shrieked, a high-pitched sound that shattered the library's windows.
Noah didn't wait. He leaped onto a fallen shelf and launched himself at the creature's chest. He drove his machete deep into the glowing core.
There was a flash of light and a smell like an electrical fire. The Crusher froze, its massive body turning from "stone" back into a heap of grey ash. Within seconds, the eight-foot tall beast was nothing but a pile of dust on the library floor.
Noah landed on his feet, panting. He looked at the pile of ash, then at his hands. They were covered in grey soot.
"Is... is it dead?" Mason asked, his hands still trembling on his crossbow.
"For now," Noah said. He ran over to Lena, who was coughing and clutching her side. "You okay?"
"I think... a rib is cracked," Lena wheezed, letting Noah help her up. "But I hit it. I actually hit it."
"You did good," Noah said, a rare bit of pride in his voice. "Both of you. That was a real monster. Not a scout, not a glitch. That was a soldier."
Claire came running up the stairs, her medical bag already open. She immediately started checking Lena's breathing. "I heard the crash. What happened?"
"The world is getting impatient," Noah said, looking at the hole in the ceiling. "The monsters are getting stronger, and we aren't ready yet. We need to train harder. No more 'basic' drills. From tomorrow, we learn how to kill things that don't die from one hit."
Mason looked at the pile of ash, then at the destruction in the library. For the first time, he didn't look annoyed by Noah's rules. He looked like a man who realized the "four years" Noah kept talking about might be a lot shorter than they thought.
They won their first big fight, but the team is bruised.