Naginata and Kaiser moved quietly along the back side of the shops. This plan was crazy, and I didn’t want to put Kaiser into harm’s way, but he had insisted that he could do what needed to be done.

I headed back towards the entrance of the resort – that was the side that the cable car was on, and the closest I would get to Khopesh. He had his invulnerability skill, which would keep him alive, but this would go more smoothly if the capcaun didn’t know where Khopesh and Xiphos were at all.

I poked my head around the side of one of the stores. I had no idea which one – they all looked the same from behind – and met eyes with Khopesh. He was hunkered down next to the side of the resort.

“Stay there,” I whispered into comms. “Naginata is going to distract the capcaun. Wait until you see a smoke grenade go off, then run across the road.”

Khopesh nodded.

I looked down the row of shops toward Naginata and Kaiser. They both nodded, and the weird wrongness of Kaiser’s nod made me feel uniquely uncomfortable.

Next thing I know, he’s going to want a seat at the table and is going to learn how to use a knife and fork.

Kaiser rocketed out from behind the building and into the street. I couldn’t see him, but I heard his savage come at me bro bark to get the capcaun’s attention. The monster’s heavy footfalls stomped away from my position, right towards where I presumed Kaiser would be.

I beckoned Khopesh to run and he did. He only gave a cursory glance up the street in the direction of the capcaun, and I thought in that moment I saw him go a little whiter.

Naginata pulled the pin on her smoke grenade and threw it out into the street. At the same time, Khopesh handed the six explosive shells to me. I immediately unloaded the six regular shells and started loading these new ones that would pack a punch.

The grenade exploded and another frustrated bellow echoed through the mountain air. I swallowed nervously as another plume of snow billowed out from the mountain above as it shifted further.

I beckoned Khopesh to follow me as we switched positions with Naginata and Kaiser. Naginata gave me a grin as she ran past us, which was echoed by Kaiser’s tongue lolling out the side of his mouth. That hairy bugger was having the time of his life.

I passed my smoke grenade to Naginata as we crossed paths.

Kaiser ran out into the street right near where Khopesh had just crossed and howled a dirge. There was another roar of frustration and another flurry of frenzied stomps as the capcaun launched itself down the other end of the street.

This ruse wouldn’t hold up for long. The capcaun would get wise to our antics eventually.

I didn’t stop at the end of the row of shops. I ran right towards the cluster of chalets that dotted the bottom of the slope leading up to the top of the mountain range. A ski lift ran empty chairs up to the summit of the mountain and I reached one of them just in time to grab on. Turning, I saw the capcaun burst through the last shop in the row – the quaint little eatery that I would have loved to try out if I’d been here on holiday. It exploded in splintered wood and glass as the capcaun ran through it like a freight train.

“That’s it, you big ugly bastard. Come and get me,” I said, then lifted my fingers to my mouth and whistled.

That got the monster’s attention. It roared again and doubled down on its frantic crusade to spread our blood and guts all over the mountainside.

It hit the bottom of the slope and ran up the side of the mountain towards me. The chalets were almost right below me now, but it wasn’t time to abandon ship just yet. The cable that held my chair aloft bounced with the impacts of the capcaun’s feet. Then the chair started to get a dangerous lateral sway, which threatened to unseat me.

No time like the present.

With the capcaun right beneath me, I leapt from the chair lift and tried to throw myself away from the capcaun. I listed Gravedigger and aimed it right at the monster, then pulled the trigger as I fell.

The shot boomed, but the split shells didn’t explode until they hit the capcaun.

Little pockets of glowing red flesh opened from crotch to sternum as the shell’s shrapnel exploded.

The capcaun wailed a mournful, almost regretful cry as the rumbling began. I landed in deep snow and had to expend a hell of a lot of effort to get myself upright again, just in time to see a huge shelf of snow at the peak of the mountain give way.

Snow billowed as the avalanche began, blowing up a huge wall of white that came down at us with incredible speed. I lifted Gravedigger again and fired off one more explosive shot at the capcaun before I broke into a sprint towards the chalets.

Running through knee-high snow was a lot harder than I had expected. I’m from Queensland, okay? The closest we get to snow is watching Christmas movies in our undies under the sweltering Australian Summer heat.

I wanted to reach the bottom chalet, right near the road that ran through the resort area, but there was no way I was going to reach it in time.

The capcaun ran after me. The mass of the giant creature gave it an edge as it barrelled down the slope towards me. The wall of white snow was only metres behind it and gaining fast. I had no illusions that the avalanche would kill the damn thing, but we didn’t need to kill it. We just needed enough time to escape.

One chalet went past to my right. Motes of snow danced in the air around me as the wall of white almost caught up with me. The sounds of the capcaun’s laboured grunts suddenly gave way to a cry of shock at the very same time as another sniper round shot out from the resort. I looked back just in time to see the capcaun’s knee jerk to the side.

Bones crunched as the monster’s knee gave out under its own weight. It tumbled, then disappeared right as the wall of white caught up with it.

I darted to the right, towards the open door of the closest chalet. I had no idea if the structure would survive the onslaught of an avalanche, but it was the best chance I had. I climbed the three stairs at a run, then leapt into the doorway right as the wall of falling snow slammed into the chalet.

White was replaced with black as the avalanche blocked out the light of the run. The house creaked all around me as tonnes of snow raced down the side of the mountain.

Somehow the chalet remained standing, but I had no idea how long that would last. If I survived this, the cold might get me. I’d still need to dig myself out of this.

Grunts and roars of frustration from the capcaun kept going, louder by every moment.

Had it seen me? Did it think that I was still alive? There was no way it could have kept moving under all that snow, surely.

I pulled the matches out of my pocket and struck one.

The angles of the chalet’s roof bent unnaturally. Some of the roof warped in, and I felt like it was only moments away from collapsing. There was a nice, comfy looking couch and a nice hardwood coffee table made of a single piece of local hardwood sitting before the hearth. This was exactly the kind of place I wanted to Snow blanketed the doorframe, but was the snow moving somehow?

The capcaun’s head broke in through the doorway. It must have crawled along under the weight of the snow, determined to leave me as a red smear in the snow.

Not today, mate.

I grabbed Gravedigger, still loaded with explosive ammunition, and aimed the gun right at the capcaun’s face. I pulled the trigger, pumped to reload, then pulled the trigger again.

Boom!

Chk-chk.

Boom!

The first shot weakened the capcaun, but the second finished the fight. The shrapnel exploded, and the capcaun’s head turned to red mush.

Unfortunately the explosive shots almost slammed into the wall and door frame around the capcaun’s head, which brought the whole damn chalet down on top of me.

If it wasn’t for the exquisitely well-crafted hardwood coffee table, that might have been game over for me. EDGE Command’s reality augment might make the real world feel like a video game, but there are no respawns.

Everything was dark and quiet when Xiphos’s voice came through on my comms. “Hatchet, please tell me you’re alive in there.”

“I’m alive, and the capcaun’s dead,” I said.

“Hot damn, you are one crazy mother,” Stiletto said. “I saw it all my dude. Where the hell did you learn how to do shit like that?”

“I watch way too many bad action movies as inspiration for writing my books. It hurts a hell of a lot more when it happens in real life,” I said with a weak laugh. “I’m in the chalet that’s second from the top. I’m not sure how long this structure is going to hold.”

“We’re almost there,” Xiphos said. “Rho, did you hear that? Hatchet killed the capcaun. We could use that experience boost right about now.”

A few seconds later the quest completed, and the supply drops were on their way down.

“I’ve put something in the general supply drop that should make things a little easier,” Rho said, but didn’t actually tell us what it was.

Did he want it to be a surprise? What a drama queen.

“I’ll send Hatchet’s prestige supply drop down when you free him,” Rho added.

The surge in experience was incredible. My anima battery boost increased this again by a quarter and shot me all the way up to Level 10, which brought another 3 skill points with it. Knowing that I was going to get a prestige supply drop just for little old me was the icing on the cake and almost made the weight of a mountain pressing down on me bearable.

“Cap, I’ve got two options for my next three skill points,” I said over comms while I waited for them to dig me out. The windowed interface appeared luminescent, but it didn’t actually cast any light on my cramped surroundings. “First option is the one I think. It’s called Focused Fire. If I attack an enemy, then everyone else in the team does 15% more damage against that target.”

“I can’t imagine any other skills are going to give that kind of bonus to the rest of the team,” Xiphos agreed.

“Other options are Armour Booster, which boosts my armour by 50% at 5 ranks, and Close Combat, which increases my damage in close quarter by 25% at 5 ranks.”

Even as I said it, I knew what the right choice was going to be.

“Focused Fire is top priority. Five ranks, you said? Shouldn’t you have four points to assign to that skill, not three?” Xiphos asked.

“I invested a point in another skill that heals Kaiser whenever I deal damage, for a percentage of that damage,” I said, almost expecting Xiphos to have a go at me.

Thankfully she didn’t.

“I can see the wisdom in that choice,” she said. “You’ll never believe what EDGE Command sent down to get you out of there.”

“It’s a god-damned flamethrower!” Khopesh said. I could hear the manic grin just by the joyous lilt of his voice.

Of course a flame-spewing weapon would bring a smile to that dude’s face. He reminded me of the kind of person who’d be a menace to society if they didn’t have a place to direct all of that aggression and tendency toward violence. It was glad to have Khopesh on my side, but I’d certainly be watching my back.

I sunk the three skill points I had into Focused Fire. For the good of the team.

“There’s another upgrade they sent down in the latest supply drop,” Xiphos said. “We’ll give you yours when we dig you out. We know exactly where you are right now, thanks to the new team location augment.”

“Just yell out if it gets too hot,” Khopesh said.

Okay, maybe I’d have to watch my back and my flank while he was around.

“You should find the capcaun before you find me. I’m not fireproof,” I said.

A few minutes later the ice started to melt and slush around me. They were close. A plume of flame broke through the icy snow on top of me.

“Okay, you found me! I’m under the coffee table!” I said.

Kaiser leapt into the gap under the table and crawled along on his belly to lick me on the face.

“Oh come on, man! I’m stuck here! You’re making this weird now…”

Kaiser barked twice. No. Then he licked my face again before backing out of the hole awkwardly.

I followed. Naginata offered a hand, which I took gratefully. Khopesh held his brand new shiny flamethrower like a proud father holding a newborn. Stiletto had a bemused grin on his face and shook his head at me.

“You’re crazy, you know that?” Stiletto asked.

“My ex-wife accused me of being crazy enough that I guess I just started believing it,” I said.

Emily had a point though. I hadn’t been the greatest husband in the world. My quirks and her quirks were destined to turn that spark that initially attracted us into an out of control wildfire that threatened to burn everything down.

“Let’s get to the cable car before they throw something even more deadly at us,” Xiphos said.