The scent of brine and ozone assaulted him, carried on a gale that whipped his hair across his face. Nick stood at the edge of the jagged cliff, looking down. Far below, the black ocean churned, smashing against the rocks with the rhythm of a slow, dying heartbeat. The last bleeding rays of the sun were drowning in the horizon, surrendering the world to the encroaching dark.

  He turned his back on the abyss to face the crude shelter he had lashed together from driftwood and palm fronds. Inside, the shadows of Ada’s family huddled together. The father sat with his back rigid, clutching his young son, while Ada ran her hands along the rough walls of the structure, her blind fingers mapping the dimensions of their temporary cage.

  "Stay inside," Nick commanded. His voice was a rasp of cold gravel, devoid of warmth. "Do not step past the threshold."

  He paused, letting the silence stretch until the father looked up.

  "Out there..." Nick gestured to the darkening tree line. "Is not a place for humans."

  He tossed the last heavy log onto the pile of firewood in front of the shelter. Dust motes danced in the fading light. He locked eyes with the father. "Protect them. If anything approaches... do not hesitate. Kill it."

  "I... I will," the man stammered, gripping a sharpened stick.

  Nick didn't wait for a promise. He turned back to the cliff edge.

  His physiology shifted. The muscles in his neck tightened, and his pupils dilated, swallowing the irises until his eyes were pools of amber designed to pierce the gloom. He didn't look at the ocean as a body of water. To his enhanced senses, the rolling black waves were transparent.

  Heat signatures drifted in the deep—faint, ghostly red smears moving in the cold blue void. The copper tang of diluted blood drifted on the wind. The predators of the deep were starting their hunt.

  To Nick, this wasn't an ocean. It was The Larder.

  Boom!

  He launched himself from the precipice. He didn't fall; he dove like a missile, his body cutting through the air in a perfect arc. He shattered the surface of the water, disappearing into the freezing blackness. The cold didn't register. His blood ran hot, his muscles coiled like steel springs, and the predator inside him woke up.

  Minutes later, a wet hand clawed over the cliff edge.

  Nick hauled himself up, water streaming from his body in rivulets. On his shoulder, he bore the massive, limp carcass of a reef shark. Dark blood slicked his back, mixing with the seawater. He dropped the beast onto the stone with a wet thud.

  He extended a single claw from his index finger. It glinted in the moonlight like a surgical scalpel.

  Shhhk.

  With one fluid motion, he severed the tail section—the primal cut, rich in muscle and fat. He kicked the chunk of meat toward the shelter.

  "Your share," he called out, not looking back. "Roast it. Eat."

  He hoisted the remaining two-thirds of the shark—the head, the torso, the organs—and walked silently into the tree line. He needed distance. They didn't need to see what he was about to do.

  Deep in the shadow of a massive root system, Nick sat down. He stared at the dead eyes of the shark. His stomach gave a violent lurch, a hunger so profound it felt like a hollow pit trying to consume his ribs.

  He didn't build a fire.

  His hands tore into the shark’s rough, sandpaper skin, ripping it away as easily as wet parchment. He buried his face in the raw, red meat.

  Crunch.

  The taste of iron and salt flooded his mouth. It wasn't just food; it was fuel. His system roared in appreciation. He ate with mechanical efficiency, his jaw working through tough muscle, gristle, and cartilage. He cracked the bones to suck the marrow. He consumed it all, leaving nothing but a wet stain on the forest floor.

  Nick wiped a smear of blood from his chin. His amber eyes glowed with a terrifying luminosity in the dark. His skin radiated heat as his metabolism processed the massive caloric intake in seconds.

  "Come," he growled low in his throat, a challenge to the silent forest. "I am ready."

  23:00 Hours

  Nick crouched on the high branch of an ancient tree, a silent sentinel overlooking the eastern approach. His nervous system operated at maximum capacity, his eyes sweeping the canopy like a echolocation.

  His hands were busy. He held a length of bamboo he had harvested earlier. With quick, precise shavings of his claws, he honed the tips into needle-sharp points. He coated the grips with sticky tree resin for traction. Twenty spears lay lined up on the branch beside him.

  Suddenly, the world fractured.

  Red text superimposed itself over his vision, burning bright against the night.

  [ALERT: MULTIPLE HOSTILES DETECTED] [DIRECTION: EAST]

  "They're here..." Nick whispered.

  He focused. His vision magnify in, bypassing the leaves, reading the thermal signatures of the approaching shapes.

  Four small, low signatures. Snake-tailed Hounds. Pack hunters. Fodder. Four vertical, cool signatures blending with the trees. Tree Men. Scouts. Fragile, but hard to spot. Two high-velocity signatures. Black Claws. Elite killers. Fast. Dangerous.

  And then... there was one more.

  Trailing behind them was a massive, dense blob of heat. It moved slowly, heavy and lumbering, but its density reading was off the charts.

  [UNKNOWN ENTITY: 1]

  "A new breed?" Nick frowned. "Two Black Claws are already a problem. I need to thin the herd before they spot me."

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  He picked up two bamboo spears in one hand. He weighed them, his mind instantly calculating the wind resistance, the arc of gravity, and the movement speed of the targets. Throwing them one by one would alert them. He needed a multi-kill.

  "Annoying pests..."

  Muscles in his arm coiled like braided steel cables. Veins bulged against his skin.

  Thwip!

  The twin spears left his hand, cutting through the air without a sound.

  Thud! Thud!

  Two dull impacts echoed in the silence. Two Tree Men, who had been perfectly camouflaged against the bark, suddenly went limp and plummeted from their perches like rotten fruit.

  Nick didn't hesitate. He grabbed two more.

  "They know."

  Below, the forest erupted in movement. The remaining enemies surged forward. The Snake-tailed Hounds hissed, their bodies weaving through the undergrowth. The Black Claws accelerated, blurring into streaks of shadow.

  Thwip!

  Another pair of spears flew. They buried themselves deep into the chests of the remaining two Tree Men. Four down.

  "Hounds are irrelevant," Nick analyzed, his mind racing. "Teeth can't pierce my skin. Poison is useless. They are just obstacles."

  He grabbed two more spears. "The Black Claws... lethal. But that unknown walking fortress..."

  He took aim at one of the sprinting Black Claws and the lumbering giant in the back. He threw.

  Chk!

  One spear caught a Black Claw in the shoulder. It didn't stop. The creature merely snapped the shaft off as it ran, its momentum unchecked.

  The second spear hit the giant.

  CLANG!

  The sound was wrong. It sounded like wood striking a solid iron bell. The spear didn't just bounce; it shattered into splinters. The entity didn't even flinch.

  "Armor?" Nick narrowed his eyes. "Or a deflection skill?"

  No time. They were closing the distance.

  Nick grabbed the last bundle of spears and hurled them in a spread pattern at the Hounds. Three of them went down, pinned to the earth.

  But the real threat had arrived.

  Black Claws.

  Two shadows burst through the canopy, defying gravity. A jet-black claw swiped past Nick’s face. He jerked his head back, feeling the wind of the attack slice his cheek.

  The second one lunged for his ribs.

  Nick abandoned his perch, tucking his body into a roll and dropping to the forest floor. He landed in a crouch, but they were already on him.

  The fight was a blur of violence. Nick was purely on the defensive. The Black Claws moved with synchronized lethality—one would feign a high strike while the other swept low. He dodged, weaved, and parried, but there was no opening to counter-attack.

  [WARNING: HIGH VELOCITY PROJECTILE INCOMING]

  The red warning flashed in his retina, screaming danger.

  Nick’s spine tingled. He didn't think; he reacted. He twisted his body away from a Black Claw’s slash while simultaneously flexing his back muscles, commanding his osteocytes to surge. Grow.

  A layer of white, calcified bone erupted from his back just as the impact hit.

  CRACK!

  The force was like being hit by a sledgehammer. Nick was lifted off his feet and thrown tumbling across the dirt.

  He scrambled up, gasping, and looked at the object lying next to him. It was a stinger. But it was the size of a human arm.

  "A bee stinger?" Nick grit his teeth. "At that size?"

  He looked past the Black Claws, into the darkness where the heavy footsteps were coming. The giant stepped into a patch of moonlight.

  [ANALYSIS COMPLETE: DIABOLICAL IRONCLAD BEETLE - VARIANT]

  The data flooded his brain. Ironclad Beetle. Exoskeleton capable of withstanding 39,000 times its own body weight. It would take two Blue Whales pressing down on it to crack that shell.

  "A walking fortress," Nick muttered, wiping dirt from his lip. "Usually, they just play dead. But this one... has a ballista."

  Slash!

  The split-second of analysis cost him. A Black Claw capitalized on his distraction, its talons raking across Nick’s right bicep.

  Blood sprayed.

  Nick stumbled, dropping to one knee. The second Black Claw raised its arm for a decapitating strike.

  "Damn it!"

  Nick threw his left arm up to guard his head, tucking his legs tight to his chest to protect his vitals. He exploded sideways, rolling away from the death blow.

  I can't win this. Three against one. One walking fortress, two speedsters.

  Run.

  Nick kicked off the ground, exploding southward. He pushed his legs to their limit, tearing through the underbrush. Behind him, the rhythmic thudding of the Black Claws pursued.

  "Same speed..." Nick calculated between ragged breaths. "Their muscle structure is identical to mine. Top speed is equal."

  [WARNING: PROJECTILE DETECTED]

  Again!

  Nick juked left. The massive stinger whizzed past his ear and slammed into a tree trunk ahead of him, obliterating the wood in a shower of splinters.

  He used the momentum of his dodge to spin around.

  If we have the same speed... they must be running in a single file line.

  This was his chance. A split-second 1v1.

  The leading Black Claw burst through the bushes. Nick didn't run away; he slammed on the brakes and lunged forward. He shoulder-checked the creature, throwing it off balance, and slashed with his claws.

  He only managed a shallow cut before he had to spin and run again. The second one was too close.

  "Again..."

  Run. Turn. Strike. Run.

  Hit and run.

  Steam rose from his right arm as the wound began to knit itself back together. But the cost was high. His body screamed in protest. Healing took energy. Running took energy. Fighting took energy.

  Hunger.

  The void in his stomach opened up again, wider than before. His vision blurred at the edges. Black spots danced in his eyes.

  "No..." Nick ground his teeth. "Not yet..."

  But the Black Claws weren't slowing down. Why weren't they tired? Why did they have infinite stamina?

  Nick spun for another counter-attack, but his legs wobbled. His blood sugar was critical.

  The Black Claw lunged, its maw opening wide, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth.

  Nick’s logic snapped. The man receded. The beast took the wheel.

  CHOMP!

  Instead of using his claws, Nick threw his face forward, burying his teeth into the Black Claw’s exposed neck.

  He bit down with pressurized Ichors. He felt the windpipe crush, the jugular burst. Thick, black ichor flooded his mouth. He jerked his head back, ripping a massive chunk of flesh free.

  The Black Claw convulsed and collapsed, gurgling.

  Nick swallowed the meat whole. He didn't chew. He needed it now.

  The rush was instant. The bio-fuel hit his stomach and converted to pure adrenaline. His vision cleared. The fatigue evaporated.

  "Die!"

  Nick raised his claw, aiming to sever the fallen creature's head.

  CLANG!

  His hand vibrated with the shock.

  White bone had erupted from the Black Claw’s neck wound in the last millisecond, forming a jagged collar that blocked his strike.

  "You have got to be kidding me..." Nick snarled, backing away.

  [WARNING: PROJECTILE INCOMING]

  Nick backflipped, dodging another heavy stinger from the dark.

  He assessed the battlefield. The bitten Black Claw was regenerating its armor. The second one was circling. And the walking fortress was closing in.

  "If I stay, I die."

  He needed separation. He needed to isolate them.

  Nick turned his back on the monsters and sprinted. Not south.

  He turned East. Towards the only place that might hold answers.

  Towards Estelle.

  ?? IMPORTANT REMINDER: As mentioned, this story is launching on Amazon KDP on Feb 18th. I will be posting chapters rapidly over the next few days to give you a solid preview before the stubbing happens on the 17th.

  Following the story so you don't miss the next update! The fortress is being built, but will it be strong enough for what Dr. Lamarck is sending next?