Smoke on the horizon drew my drone like a fly. There shouldn’t be any smoke this far out.

  The jungle folk had warned us this was a no-man’s land. Between the constant storms and the higher-level creatures, it only made sense to be here if you were grinding levels.

  I wasn’t grinding, just trying to get some space.

  Ever since Xander had joined the camp, tensions remained high.

  The first drone, Tiny, broke off out of the grid pattern I sent it on to map the area and flew directly to the smoke.

  I guided it lower in the trees, yet it picked up the shots. Gunshots. Flying faster than before, the small drone hovered hidden next to a tree.

  Claws tore a chunk off the side of a crashed escape shuttle. Gunfire sprayed out from the inside.

  The dinosaur jerked back, but still shoved its head into the hole it had just created.

  I shot across the landscape, staying a good fifteen feet above the treetops in my racer as the drone fired at the creature. Hopefully, it’d get annoyed at the attacks.

  I sent the other drone back to Lakeside. I needed Abby or my father, ASAP.

  Tiny flew to the other side of the crashed shuttle and found a hole that a couple of people were working on widening.

  They flew over the room and fired from down low on the creature. I hoped it’d drive it back.

  A roar echoed through the jungle as the creature jerked back.

  Then I fired again. Bullseye!

  The energy shot took it in the shoulder area, shoving it back to the tree line.

  This time it fled.

  Tiny flew near the new opening in the shuttle, and I used its speaker. I didn’t dare have it move within sight.

  “Are you okay?”

  Instead of flying closer to the craft, I hovered high in the air, watching in the direction the creature had fled.

  I hadn’t been able to get a lock on it and discover its name or level. That worried me, because it was definitely big.

  “We’ll live… but we have a man injured."

  Big, the other drone, arrived back at the compound and found my father. Thankfully alone, doing a loop around the perimeter.

  Splitting my attention into two wasn’t bad. Three made my head ache.

  “Dad. Survivors. Need to send shuttle and David.”

  “From where?”

  “Spine.”

  My answers were short and sweet.

  He shook his head and raced toward the center of Lakeside and the shuttle. Big beat him and docked inside the craft.

  I dropped that connection and focused back on the situation.

  “How many of you? We’ll get a shuttle in the air.”

  “Shuttle? Wha…”

  A woman stepped out of the wreck. She carried a rifle, and I knew her. Commander Valeria, third in charge. Presumed dead.

  Just like the rest of the command structure.

  “Commander Valeria, can I get your name?” she asked.

  The tree tops in the distance shuddered, and the drone froze.

  “We have incoming,” I said, instead of answering her.

  Tiny flew up and in that direction.

  I only had three charges built up on my craft. I checked back in with the shuttle and found my father sitting down in the pilot seat. I triggered the engines and lifted off before closing the ramp.

  “What’s the situation?” he asked into the air, knowing I’d hear him.

  “Incoming, large. My shot did damage, but it's back for me. At least three survivors, and one injured."

  I lowered myself in the air, getting closer to the Commander.

  Tiny found the disturbance. The enormous creature had brought a friend. At least this time, my lock worked.

  [Carnivorous Therizinosaurus, Level 80, Deadly.]

  There were three massive claws on each of the upper limbs, and the creatures stood on their two back feet. Narrow snouts with sharp teeth on a small head with a long neck made for a pretty fearsome predator. The injured one lagged behind the first, and somehow still resisted my lock.

  Yet, both traveled slowly through the jungle, cautious now that something had hurt one of them.

  I snapped back to the wreck.

  “Fuck, I can’t take it.” The words slipped out of my mouth. These days, we worked as a team to take down the bigger things. All of us shared in the growth that way, but it meant that we didn’t level as fast.

  “Breathe, fighter,” said Valeria, in a commanding voice. “We’ve been holding the thing off for days.”

  “There are two, and the second is bigger than the first,” I added.

  “What’s the ETA on that evac?” She instantly asked.

  I checked the distance from the shuttle to our location. It’d be tight. The firepower on the shuttle would help, but my relative lack of growth limited the potential. If I sat in the pilot’s chair it’d be more, but that wasn’t going to happen.

  “Tight, but our guys can handle it once they’re here.”

  I assumed so, given my Dad’s level plus whoever else was in the shuttle.

  “Then we’ll hold.” Her voice brooked no argument.

  Tiny tracked the two monsters through the jungle. It took longer than I thought it would for them to pad closer. They were definitely being cautious. That meant they were thinking about things at some level, which might make this tougher. Nothing to be done for it, though, and at least the extra time meant the shuttle would be more likely to get to us before we were all food.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  “I’ll try to keep the big one distracted from the air,” I said, thinking of the best ways to slow them down even more.

  Taking a deep breath, I let Tiny fire. Pot shots, aimed toward their eyes, making sure to keep far enough away to just be annoying. The point wasn’t damage, just to slow them down even more.

  Surprisingly, it worked.

  The injured one lagged even farther behind than before, pausing while Tiny shot at the other.

  Pain rippled across my brain as Tiny’s connection disappeared.

  “Fuck, Tiny!” I jerked back and shuddered in the air, breathing heavily. The pain would fade.

  “You okay, fighter?”

  “I’ll live…” I croaked out before I shot higher into the air. High enough to stay out of reach, but ready to fire.

  The massive beast broke through the treeline with a roar.

  Pissed, I fired.

  The shot took off half its cheek, yet the creature only roared louder.

  “Shit!” Valeria vanished into the wreck.

  Two shots left with any real firepower.

  The creature leaped across the gap and slammed into the side of the wreck.

  Screams came from inside.

  I opened fire, trying to keep my eyes on the trees for the other one. It hadn’t joined the fight, and somehow it’d gotten to Tiny. And I still didn’t know properly what it was, since it was resisting my Ident ping. That fucker needed to die.

  A warning blared only a second before claws swiped at my side, coming out of nowhere.

  I twisted midair and fired.

  I gritted my teeth as the blast pushed me back, and chunks of the beast sprayed across the jungle.

  “Got you!” I yelled.

  [You have gained bonus experience from combat for surviving against a Level 65 Hidden Therizinosaurus.]

  [You have leveled up.]

  [You have leveled up.]

  I pushed the notifications away as I shot upward again, unable to see around me. Spinning in a tight corkscrew cleaned enough blood and gunk off my helmet to let me see again.

  The larger creature threw another metal chunk into the tall trees before it nosed again at the upside-down crash, clearly trying to get at the gooey center of this crunchy treat.

  I fired the smaller rounds I had, but they didn’t even pierce the giant’s hide. Sweat dripped down my back as I continued to fire, heat building up, but it wasn’t like I had a lot of choices. I had to keep them alive until the cavalry got here.

  The Therizinosaurus’ teeth crunched into a jagged metal piece that it yanked back, completely ignoring me.

  A bright flash suddenly cut into its back, causing it to drop the metal.

  Mentally, I cheered as Hammy fired a second laser at the beast. The third shot it tried to dodge, and failed.

  I aimed, this time at the back of the creature's knee, and fired my last good shot.

  A warning crept across my screen that my main weapon needed to recharge, but I closed it without reading it. It wasn’t like I wasn’t aware, and I couldn’t do anything about it anyway.

  The shot partially hit; even so, the impact knocked the creature sideways, making space between it and the wreck.

  The shuttle darted out of the jungle and landed close to the wreck, with the ramp already down. People jumped out and shots filled the air, while a small crew raced backward to the wreck.

  I pivoted and dove closer to the rescue crew, watching the other side of the jungle. We didn’t need anything wanting to take a prize while we were distracted.

  Several minutes later, the notification came right before the creature toppled to the ground. Cheers broke out, but I stayed focused on the trees.

  This area wasn’t safe. Not at all.

  Hellion marched around to the others, and it didn’t take long for a perimeter to form.

  A cluster of folks broke from the wreck and were loaded onto the shuttle.

  Movement in the distance sent warning signs down my spine, and I straightened.

  “We have incoming, take off now!” I yelled as I shot upward again, trying to get a better look. Unfortunately, whatever it was stayed below the tree cover.

  Moments later, no one was left on the ground, and I ordered the shuttle up high. Several smaller creatures broke through the tree line and leaped on the carcasses of the two dead carnivores.

  Once in the clear, I twisted my craft in the air and flew at the bottom of the shuttle. My much smaller racer docketed into the carve-out I spent weeks forming into the hull.

  Poor Tiny. I wouldn’t even get to recover the materials.

  The roof opened automatically above me, and I banged on the hatch to get someone's attention.

  Hawk yanked it open and offered a hand, pulling me to my feet next to the pilot’s chair.

  My Dad sat in position until I gave him a nod. Then we rotated positions.

  My connection with the shuttle snapped into place, and I directed us home.

  “Good work, son.”

  “Did we get everyone out?” I asked, not looking away from the window in front of me. Meters and controls snapped into place on the glass, though only I could see them. Everything from weapon statuses, to the weight of the cargo.

  “You did.” This time the comment came from Commander Valeria. “Racket is getting patched up, and Foils is in okay shape.”

  [Valeria, Level 48.]

  Hawk’s voice filled the space. “How the heck did ya’ll survive out there?”

  “Let’s wait until we're back at Lakeside,” said Dad, this time using his demanding voice. “We will debrief there.”

  Thankfully, the Commander said nothing. As it was, the chain of command had shifted over the last several months. Everyone from Lakeside on the shuttle had a higher level than her, and she wasn’t dumb. The only ones still under Rank 1 were those from Sanctuary, and that’s only because most didn’t want to go out and fight. They just wanted to live their lives, safe as they could be.

  Either way, this likely wouldn’t go well, especially not with Xander already stirring things up. Xander hadn’t been anywhere near Valeria’s rank on the ship, not that it mattered to anyone but Xander anymore, but Valeria’s arrival would knock the only shred of authority he still had out from under him. That could be dangerous.

  “Who is Alex?” The question came from the back, and it must have been one of the other survivors. “That notification is the only thing that kept us going.”

  Now that conversation definitely needed to wait until later.

  ###

  My head lightly brushed into the Wraith right before the hole. I tried to duck while running, but it wasn’t enough. Energy rushed out of me at the slightest touch. My momentum immediately slowed, and I stumbled on an unseen rock. Chills rushed from the area of contact.

  The hole in the floor loomed too close for me to stop, so I pushed off with one leg as best I could, using the soarstone to leap closer to the other side. Trying, hoping, to make it.

  So close!

  Another Wraith appeared from the floor on the far side of the hole and brushed my outstretched hand.

  Ice cold rippled up my arm, and my fingers froze in place as heat and momentum drained from me. Gravity took over, and we fell. I curled around my midsection as best as I could, trying to keep Strange safe in his pouch.

  The third wraith brushed along my left side. It left us hanging in the air for more than a second and our descent slowed. Gaps in the walls flashed by, darker than the surrounding walls. Every so often, two of the creatures appeared right across from one another.

  Gravity sped up again and down we went, passing two levels of the holes before another glimmering Wraith appeared. The light of the creature outside of the rock barely cast shadows.

  I shivered, hoping Strange would survive.

  My aura sense went wild as I used a foot to push off a wall away from the Wraith. I couldn’t hit too many more of them; I’d already lost the use of one hand, and my side felt numb from the third hit.

  A faint red glow came from far below at what had to be the bottom.

  Lava, it had to be lava.

  I couldn’t breathe, looking at the red-hot glow coming from below.

  We fell toward another Wraith, this one hanging in the air.

  I tried to twist away, but the foot I used to push away from the last one barely touched it. Again, we hung in the air for a second and it slowed us down some more. I used that moment.

  My knife appeared in my working hand, and I slammed it into the stone wall. Gravity jerked us down and my shoulder almost popped out of its socket, but we hung instead of continuing our fall. Pain tore through my shoulders, but my knife dug in deep.

  That slowed us down even more.

  My unfrozen foot kicked into air instead of stone and I swung into the gap just as my knife broke free. I pointed the knife to the far side of the hole and pushed energy into an air blast.

  It knocked us into the tunnel opening before I crashed into the rocky ground shoulder first.

  My knife chattered away as my body spasmed. A groan escaped before I could stop it.

  Everything hurt. Especially where I’d hit a rocky section of the floor. Parts of me felt like they were missing from my body, around the areas that had touched a wraith.

  A faint chirp came from Strange, but I couldn’t respond. Everything hurt too much. At least we weren’t falling, but even through the pain, I knew we weren’t safe.