Sawyer shook his hands furiously, willing blood and sensation back into his throbbing arms. Beside him Julia was kneeling, talking to him, but his ears only throbbed with hissing grey noise.

His vision was fine though and he watched horrified as two Chittrix emerged from the water, powerful heads raised to strike. Their bodies sliced with effortless precision toward the surrounding walkways, foam and scum curling in their wake. His stomach lurched. The Chittrix were heaving with Scutters. The small, scorpion-like aliens swarmed across the black, shiny Chittrix carapaces, thick front claws snapping at the air.

The first Chittrix hit the walkway on the far side, elegantly powering onto dry land, its clawed front limbs gouging wood into splinters. Scutters screeched and streamed from its neck and body, swamping the boardwalk in seconds.

Sawyer flexed his fist. His hands were working again. He grabbed Julia’s arm, hauling her upwards.

“Move!” Vibration from his voice rumbled in his throat as he spoke. He gripped her upper arm, dragging her away from the dark blur of vicious insectoid bodies.

Violet retreated in tandem, pressing the transmission button on her armored helmet. She shook her head at Sawyer. No reply.

His head buzzed. They were on their own.

The second Chittrix had exited the water to their right. Its tail lashed against the narrow boardwalk, smashing the wood and brickwork in a violent cacophony that vibrated through the thick soles of Sawyer’s boots. It bared the irregular, jagged needles of its teeth, its elongated tongue scenting human fear on the air.

Julia was grinding the bones of his hand, her other raised to her breastbone which rose in giant, hitching breaths. The Chittrix towered in front of them on thick haunches, talons carving concrete and wood like butter.

Sawyer frantically pulled Julia, following Violet, tripping over scattered boxes, desperate to put distance between them and the alien attackers.

Julia stumbled and fell, crashing into the debris that littered the floor. Violet swung in front of Julia’s prostrate form and fired at an approaching clutch of Scutters, blackening the concrete with the energy blast. Sawyer dropped behind Julia, thrusting his hands over hers and taking control of her pulse rifle. He raised the weapon and unleashed a torrent toward the advancing Chittrix. The motion unlocked Julia’s brain and her hands tightened on the trigger as she resumed control and joined Violet’s assault.

Darr appeared to Sawyer’s right, running doubled-over, his head dipped low. He skidded to a halt behind Sawyer and tossed him a pulse rifle. Sawyer grabbed it mid-air, then he checked the charge and flicked the safety off.

Sawyer moved with Violet, Darr and Julia covering from the sides. They paced forward, weapons raised, discharging lethal pulses of energy.

The Chittrix widened its brutal mouth in a silent howl that Sawyer still couldn’t hear. Hatred glinting in the faceted eyes it spun away from Sawyer and the others. In several bounding leaps, it launched itself across the vaulted space to join the other Chittrix advancing on the two girls Sawyer had seen earlier. They huddled in the makeshift kitchen, pressed into a tiny space under a rough-hewn worktop, their small, dirty faces streaked with tears.

Sawyer aimed his weapon fire at the barbed spine of the nearest Chittrix, his nostrils burning with the nauseating stench of charred alien protein. Doubt circled his mind as he continued to fire. The Chittrix appeared unstoppable, their advance on the girls relentless. Where the hell were Garrick and Foster? He allowed himself a sweeping glance, catching a blur of motion from the corner of his eye.

Foster ducked from behind a low brick wall on the far side of the building under a protective rain of laser fire from Garrick, his hands glittering with spiked silver stars. He ran across a wrecked flotation bridge, dodging neatly as it keeled under his weight and expertly pitched the five-pointed devices into the closest Chittrix.

It turned from its advance on the children as two stars embedded in the meat of its tail. Two more slid on its defensive exoskeleton and clattered to the ground. The Chittrix swiveled and lunged, but the stars were embedded where the root of its tail joined its body, too high for it to reach.

Foster’s mouth widened in warning as he dove from the last wooden float, slicing into the bottle-green water. Violet ducked and Julia started to drop, but Sawyer was quicker, slamming into her from behind, his body covering hers as they hit the floor. He curled protectively around her as the world ignited, obliterating the Chittrix.

Sawyer waited, blood and grit tainting his mouth, until chunks of meat and chitin had stopped falling on his back. Then he raised his head and wiped dust from his eyes. On the edge of the main lagoon, Foster pulled himself clear, water streaming from his body. One Chittrix was gone, the center of the explosion scoured clean by the force of Foster’s stars. The remaining Chittrix shrieked and charged once more toward the girls, deadly head lowered and intent on slaughter.

Sawyer rolled off Julia and fired, Darr joining him seconds later. Scutters darted toward the men, their fighting claws frantic, creating a living shield for the remaining Chittrix. The two girls desperately rammed their small bodies further under the worktop as bullets and laser fire cut the air above their heads.

A woman rose up from behind a broken wall and ran half-crouching toward the unexploded devices on the ground. She scooped them up and without breaking her stride, ran directly at the tail of the Chittrix, stabbing the two remaining stars into the base of the tail in two deft throws.

Beth. Sawyer yelled, deaf to his own voice.

She glanced in his direction and swerved, dodging Scutters as she sprinted, head tucked, her legs driving for safety. The Chittrix convulsed as it stretched for the embedded blades.

Sawyer pushed past Julia as Beth bolted toward them. He fired directly at the Chittrix’s head, rushing to position himself between the woman and the alien.

But he was never going to get to her in time. The Chittrix was faster. Taking two leaping bounds, it caught Beth with the side of its barbed tail, tossing her like a doll clear across the floor and into a brick wall. She smashed against the solid stone, her blood spattering on the dusty brick before she dropped bonelessly to the ground. The Chittrix loomed over her and opened its mouth in a defiant scream that was cut off as the explosive charges detonated.

Sawyer hit the ground as the world fractured for the final time in a blaze of blinding light.