Cutting shallow, just barely into the fat below, Sue Ann unzips a body from its pelvis to its throat. She shows Todd every step, pointing to individual parts with his ixwa in hand. Gripping it as a knife is awkward, but possible; she does so nimbly. The job is a tough one. But once she’s gotten through the dermis, she tears skin off with brute force and minimal, precise cutting.

  They watch the street as they work, eyes open for signs of marauding beasts. Todd hands over his harvesting manual, and Sue Ann checks the contents to see if it matches her experience. The two of them split open the body cavity to extract the stomach and check its contents. Blood mars Todd’s cuffs. Evening approaches.

  “There it is!” Sue Ann points suddenly.

  Todd shoots up to his feet. “Where? There?”

  Slinking along the shaded side of the street, a great, four legged creature stalks closer. Its whole body is covered with long feathers instead of fur, its elbows are bent akimbo with inward turned paws, and its narrow head sports a panting mouth full of needle-like teeth. Todd estimates its height and realizes its long, weasel-shaped form is as tall as his waist.

  “Whoa.”

  “I told you.”

  Todd takes back his weapon and Sue Ann hefts Candra’s scepter. They watch cautiously and hold their arms up threateningly. The feathered beast approaches in fits and starts, making a beeline for the pile of carcasses across the street. It hesitates, then snatches a rat by the haunch and starts dragging it away.

  Todd lowers his weapon and breathes out heavily.

  “There were more of those?” he asks.

  “There are at least two,” Sue Ann replies.

  “Great. Well, hopefully they’re just scavengers. Ha ha ha. Famous last words.”

  Sue Ann doesn’t laugh. “Do you want to finish trimming this skin?”

  “Sure,” Todd says, “just tell me if I’m doing it wrong.”

  Night falls and the crew doesn’t have any way to start a fire. Hooting calls echo through the empty city streets, and chittering noises answer. The temperature plummets quickly, causing breath to fog in the air. Teeth chatter and muscles shiver.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  “Shit,” Candra announces.

  “Tell it,” Joe agrees.

  The bedrolls have been laid out, and the first of the ration tokens redeemed. Randall, Candra, and Joe chew miserably at their doughy meals and share a single canteen of water.

  After twenty minutes, Todd trades places with Joe and dines on a chunk of sweet and sour orange curd. No one is particularly hungry, and they pack up ample leftovers wrapped in waxed leaves and into their bags. No one is ready to sleep either. The daily stellar cycle of the planet is simply too far out of sync of their own schedule. From their perspective, it was still early afternoon.

  “Well, we need water and wood,” Candra asserts.

  Todd pinches some crumbs of his meal and shapes it into a tiny person. “We’ll have to leave this town,” he says.

  “Good, this place gives me the creeps.”

  “But if we leave in the morning, won’t we be tired?” Randall asks.

  Candra adjusts her leather armor and declares, “we’re not going to go at night.”

  Todd bites a leg off of his little man. “You should finish cultivating your weapon token, Randall.”

  The young korean grumbles but he produces his token and starts meditating.

  “So, uh. How are you holding up?” Todd asks Candra.

  “Other than being sick as a dog, covered with rat blood, stuck on an alien planet, and cold as hell, I’m fine.”

  Todd winces. “Yea.” He tries again. “At least we’re all together.”

  Candra leans back. “Yea. I don’t know what I would have done if I had to lead my other group. I hope they’re alright.”

  “I’m worried about the Breckers. I can’t stop thinking about them. But they’re on normal difficulty. They’ll have a much easier time, I’m sure.”

  Candra says something reassuring and nods. Her eyelids slowly flutter closed and her breathing deepens.

  Being dismissed, Todd rises to his feet and moves to the door.

  Joe waves him over. “Come here and check this out,” he says.

  Outside, a strange transformation is sprouting up throughout the ruins. Every couple of feet, from deep within cracks or crevices in the buildings, pale, glowing purple tendrils are unfurling. All around, these fungal sporocarps sprout and let off an unearthly glow under the starry sky.

  Todd’s pupils constrict. He watches as the bodies of the rats start to shift. The coils of a giant millipede appear, rolling around and shoving its head forcefully against the belly of a dead beast.

  Todd points. “How long has that been there?”

  Sue Ann shuffles in place. “Just a minute or two,” she replies.

  From the distance, a dark shape slinks their way.

  “There’s another one coming,” Todd alerts them.

  “There are three,” Joe corrects him.

  “Should we be worried,” Todd asks.

  Joe thinks about it. “Better get ready either way,” he says.

  The swarm of bugs keeps growing as the night grows deeper. Now a twisted heap of arthropods undulates as they try to feed.

  “We should drag these out,” Joe indicates, waving over the skinned rat. “They might try to come inside.”

  “Or we should just have Randall fire blast them all,” Todd suggests.

  “Do you think that will work? I guess that’s an option.”

  “It’s safer than fighting them directly,” Todd shrugs.

  For a long time, the three of them stand transfixed. A perverse curiosity holds them in place as nature takes its course. But these are only lowly scavengers, and the food chain goes much higher. Before long, there’s a flash of motion. Three feathered minks have arrived, and they rush the buffet with yips and snarls.

  Todd exchanges a glance with Joe, and then with Sue Ann.

  Heavy bodies slam into chitin, and vicious claws tear as the beasts attack the bugs with abandon. Numbers barely matter, and yellow powder puffs out in a growing, knee-high cloud as the minks devastate their competitors.

  “Guys, get up!” Joe urges.

  Candra ends her cycling and Randall limps over with blue tinged metal cutlass. The five of them set up inside the door and watch the conflict reach its climax. The largest mink chomps on a millipede, right behind its head. It shakes it violently.

  Joe clasps Randall’s shoulder. “Toast, I want you up front, just in case.”

  Their grisly conquest complete, the three beasts rise from the slaughter, goo in their maws and their feathers puffed out. With their hackles up, and growling menacingly, they take steps towards the mansion.

  “Make yourself big,” Todd shouts. He stands on his tippy toes and waves his ixwa high over his head. “They’re just protecting their food, we want them to think it’s not worth it to attack us.”

  The others follow his lead, spreading their hands, stomping and shouting.

  Then the giant feathered minks lunge forward.

  “Shit!”

  “[Igneous Bou] - Crap!” cries Randall, dropping his new sword.

  A gout of orange flame bursts from his hands. Swirling tongues engulf the lead mink and lick the front parts of the ones behind him. A crackling noise and an unholy stink mark the burning of feathers, and then the scalded beast barrels through the fire and slams into Randall.

  Stumbling back, Randall takes a slash across his belly as the frenzied mink lashes out blindly at everything around it.

  “Get it!” Candra shrieks.

  Todd stabs at the air with his short spear, looking for an angle. Joe stands in his way, and swings his sword fiercely into the haunch of the mink. It yowls and wheels on him, rearing on its hind legs and swiping with its good paw.

  Evading the blow, Joe runs into Todd and disrupts his aim. At the same time, the other two minks shake their heads. Their plumage is charred, but their eyes open wide with rage and their lips peel back. One coils power in its hind legs and leaps with outstretched claws.

  In a panic, Todd shifts his hand to the left and unleashes a [water spear] straight into the face of the leaping mink. The beam of liquid cuts a split in the beast’s lip and tears a gouge out of its cheek before punching into its shoulder. The creature twists sideways and slams into Joe, knocking the tall young man over onto one knee.

  Candra shoves past Todd and menaces her mace at a downed mink, but it lashes out at her and she dodges back.

  “Sue Ann!” Candra shouts.

  The skinny young woman jumps. She’s stuck at the back of the melee, inside the doorway and holding her sword.

  In the meantime, Randall is forced back. His leather cuirass has deep rents over his stomach, and now he is caught out alone on the wrong side of the monster. Taking a chance, he reaches down to recover his sword, but the beast reaches out and tears open his hand. Randall cries out in shock.

  Todd whips his hand around and gathers another watery bulb of energy. It lances into the side of a head, scrawling torn skin like a child’s cursive. It barely misses the eye, but flings the mink around. Eyes wide, Todd raises his ixwa high and stabs it into the flank of the mink tangled with Joe.

  The third mink chooses that time to spring. It launches itself bodily into Todd’s side, its claws piercing through his gambeson and scoring into his flesh along his back. His weapon is lost to him, still embedded in the other animal.

  “Gah!”

  The beast’s teeth gnash on thick fabric. Its body weight drags down on him.

  Todd punches his attacker in the snout twice, his broken bracer bending and his knuckles striking against bone. He points his open hand at its face and lets his skill loose, backspraying everywhere. The mink sputters, falling away. It’s claw tears free and Todd grits his teeth against the hurt.