The corrupted beast didn't run like a crocodile. Driven by the parasitic, glowing red roots fused to its spine, it moved with the horrific, frantic scurry of a massive insect. Its six jagged limbs dug deep into the splintered wood of the viewing deck, launching its hulking mass forward onto the cracked ferro-glass of the open plaza with terrifying speed.
"Vance, break formation! Get the cruiser online!" Caldwell roared, his previous panic snapping instantly back into the cold, military discipline of a Spero guard captain. "The rest of you, form a line! Concentrate fire on the joints!"
Vance turned and sprinted for the vehicle. The three remaining heavily armored guards stepped forward, dropping into perfect tactical stances on the plaza to form a physical barricade between the charging beast and the parked cruiser. Their pulse rifles whined, unleashing a blinding volley of concentrated plasma fire.
The blue-hot bolts slammed into the mutated crocodile's chest and skull. Flesh vaporized instantly, filling the damp, freezing air with the sickening stench of burnt meat. But the beast didn't even flinch. Beneath the charred scales wasn't bone or organ—it was a dense, writhing cage of dark-red wood. The bio-alchemical bark absorbed the plasma heat, the glowing amber sap sizzling but holding firm.
"It's not piercing the mass!" one of the guards shouted, his voice tight with panic as he held the trigger down.
"Aim for the amber eyes!" Caldwell ordered, drawing a heavy, silver-plated hand-cannon from his shoulder holster.
Darian didn't stick around to watch the firefight. His survival instincts, honed in the lethal depths of the Undercity, were screaming. He gripped Lyra's hand, dragging her away from the blinding muzzle flashes and toward the sleek, obsidian chassis of Orion's vintage repulsor-cruiser, which sat parked thirty yards behind the firing line.
"Keep moving! Do not look back!" Darian yelled over his shoulder, his breath pluming in the freezing mist.
Behind them, the beast let out another layered, human-like shriek. It lunged, closing the remaining thirty-foot gap to the defensive line in a single, unnatural leap.
The guard, a massive man named Rylan, tried to step back to reload. He wasn't fast enough.
The creature crashed down onto him, its immense weight shattering the cracked ferro-glass beneath Rylan's boots. The guard screamed, raising his rifle to block the snapping jaws, but the crocodile's mouth unhinged again, splitting into a cavernous, jagged maw of serrated splinters. It clamped entirely over Rylan's torso, crushing his reinforced armor like tinfoil.
"Rylan!" Caldwell roared, firing three massive rounds from his hand-cannon directly into the beast's skull.
The slugs shattered the bark, but it was too late. The glowing red roots jutting from the beast's spine suddenly and violently elongated, whipping forward like predatory tentacles. They plunged straight into the joints of Rylan's armor, burrowing into his flesh.
It was over in seconds. The parasitic wood rapidly pulsed with bright, sickening amber light as it actively drained the guard's biomass. Rylan's screams cut off in a wet gurgle as his body simply collapsed inward, violently assimilated to fuel the creature's explosive growth. The beast shuddered, its wooden armor thickening, its limbs growing longer and more jagged as it digested the kill.
"Oh god," Lyra choked out, looking back just in time to see the guard's armor drop empty to the glass.
"Lyra, the car! Now!" Darian shoved her the last few feet toward the open passenger side of the cruiser. Vance already sat rigidly in the driver's seat, the vintage repulsor-engines humming to life with a deep, authoritative growl.
Another guard turned to run for the vehicle, but a thick, thorny root lashed out like a whip, wrapping around his ankle and dragging him screaming backward across the plaza into the dark.
Caldwell grabbed the last remaining guard, K, by his tactical rig, physically hauling the terrified young man backward across the open stretch of plaza. He tapped his earpiece, his voice booming over the squad comms. "Vance, we're boarding! Prepare for immediate departure!"
"Engines are hot, Captain! Waiting on you!" Vance's voice crackled back from the cruiser's cabin.
Darian didn't wait. He practically threw Lyra into the passenger cabin and piled in right behind her, putting his body between her and the open doorway.
Caldwell threw himself inside a second later, dragging the hyperventilating K in with him.
"Doors!" Caldwell barked over the comms, leaning forward between the front seats. "Get us out of here!"
Vance slammed his palm onto the dashboard. The heavy star-metal doors hissed, rapidly sliding shut.
But the beast had already turned its multiple amber eyes toward the humming engines. It vaulted over the shattered ferro-glass and the remains of the Spero guards, hurtling directly across the plaza at the cruiser.
Through the narrowing gap, Lyra saw the mutated crocodile close the distance in a single, unnatural leap. Its cavernous, splintered maw unhinged, snapping wildly at the closing doorway.
The doors slammed shut with a definitive, heavy lock, cutting off the creature's shriek just as the cruiser rocketed violently into the dark.