A string of orders barked out by Captain Cutter commanded over the chaos in the Common House. Some of the Hospitallers took positions at the windows on the ground and first floor while the rest rushed out the building. The children, woken up from the thunderstorm of footsteps and clanging, were hurried down into the basement by the older ones. A little girl in pigtails cried out for her mother, unwilling to move. An older boy came and tried to distract her from the fact that his hands were not her mother’s by murmuring all the sweet words in existence, yet she would not listen and squirmed out of his grasp.

Aware that the attack could start at any moment, Pyrik went to the little girl. Impatiently, the voice inside urged her to toss the brat down the basement and be done with her tantrum. Blood shed awaited outside, not a single drop of blood should be wasted. A thirst had to be quenched. Pyrik forced the voice back into the farthest depth of the abyss from which it came, and knelt low to be on level with the little girl.

“Have you not heard the bell? There’s an attack coming, little girl. You should take refuge in the basement,” Pyrik told her in a calm and patient voice.

The little girl ran her sleeve along her teary eyes. “I don’t want to go into the basement! I want my mother!”

She looked to the older boy, who shook his head. “I know your mother can’t be here, however, she sent me in her stead. I’m a Jaeger, you see. A monster hunter, and your mother asked me to give you this.” She plopped down her pack to take off her long coat. “It’s a monster-hunting coat. I know it doesn’t look like much, but it’s kept me safe for as long as I’ve worn it. Your mother asked me to give it to you, to keep you safe.”

The little girl looked up at the older boy. “It’s true,” he said.

Pyrik draped her long coat over the child’s shoulders, and nodded for the older boy to take her away. The little girl was ushered to the basement with little resistance. Cutter, who was watching from the first floor, waited until she disappeared down the stairs before turning away.

“The boy usually has to carry the poor girl away,” Haldane said as he checked the primer in the pan of his rifle. His helmet was already on, visor up. “Could use your blunderbuss. They love to come up close to the perimeter. I think it’s the fresh scent of sap.”

“Well, luckily for you and them, I like to fight up close as well,” Pyrik replied. She could not deny that the sensation of blood felt nice and cool on her skin, like standing in the rain.

Haldane closed the visor. “That much I can tell.”

The noise and commotion from earlier had now reduced to hushful waiting. Pyrik and Haldane lined up with the Hospitallers on the west side of the perimeter, facing the direction of the red forest. She tried looking farther into the night, past the houses, though the kerosene lamps only went as far out as the palisades. It was about two-storey high. Whatever it was had to scale that wall. The monster could be many-limbed, Pyrik imagined as she cocked her blunderbuss. It had to have the strength to snap a stake like a measly branch, or crush a helmet like some tin can. She wondered whether the captain’s helmet was crushed by one of its hands. Or by its jaw. Perhaps that could explain why Captain Cutter was overlooking his men from a first floor window, though she doubted a prideful man like him could stomach such cowardice. She wondered if he would rather have his head crushed than be saved.

Foliage started to rustle like an approaching storm.

“Fix bayonets!” Cutter called out.

“Fix bayonets!” The order was passed on down the line.

Pyrik swallowed. They were usually fixed after the shot or however many volleys were fired. Cutter might have anticipated that his men would only be able to fire off just one. Pyrik fixed her bayonet as well.

She steadied her breathing to a slow one-two count that she could tap along to with her foot. The wood-wind orchestra of rustling leaves and snapping branches increased in volume and intensity. The palisade shook. It groaned and teetered as many bodies climbed up. The Hospitallers thumbed the hammer on their rifles.

All Pyrik saw were quick blurs like rapid strokes of paint on canvas—there one moment on the top of the palisades, the next on top of the roofs. The jump from the palisade to the nearest house had to be five to ten meters apart. None of the Hospitallers bothered to train their rifles to the top of those homes. The creatures were mostly mired in darkness, and at least fifteen meters away. It was only logical to save their shot until they were in the spill of the kerosene lights. The only features that could be read from the silhouettes was an insectoid body with many thin, angular limbs. They made a series of clicking noises as they encroached closer to the Common House.

Their eyes gleamed red in the light.

“Sound off!” Cutter shouted. “West detected.”

“East clear!”

“North detected!”

“South clear!”

“South and East, stay on your guard! The beasts may flank our positions. North, hold your fire until they close the distance! West, fire on my command.” Cutter belted out.

The beasts leapt from the rooftops and into the light. They were chitinous, spike-plated creatures as large as a horse with angular features like a jagged rock that would spite anyone who dared to handle it with their bare hands. Its upper body was partially human while its lower body and limbs were insectoid.

“Aim for the head if you can,” Haldane said. “Gutting them in the thorax can work just perfectly fine if you can’t.”

Pyrik dragged a deep breath down to the bottom of her lungs, smelled the overly sweet sap from the stakes. Soon, the night would be sprayed red in a bloody mist. The voice inside was delighted at the prospect of blood.

One of the insectoids within the pack made a series of clicking noises with its chattering mandible. Another composed a series of short clicks as a reply, then scuttled away with half of their forces. Pyrik looked left and right down the line. The Hospitallers were spread thin, not enough for sustaining a continuous volley of fire.

“Clever bugs,” Pyrik said.

“They’re not your regular roaches in the pantry, that’s for certain,” Haldane replied.

The insectoids made a grating noise like squealing gears. Fanned out along the west line.

“Select your targets!” Cutter shouted. The order was echoed on the other fronts.

Tarsal claws scratched the ground. Mandibles nashed, dripping with saliva and anticipation. Their eyes burned bright with a primal need to kill when the insectoids charged at the Hospitallers.

Rifle barrels converged on their selected targets, and as distance was eaten away, Cutter ordered, “fire!”

An applause of shots rang out throughout the west perimeter, followed by shots from the north. A few of the insectoids fell into spiky piles , others shrugged off the shot. Continued to charge.

“Don’t let them bite you,” Haldane advised. “I don’t want to add you to the pyre afterwards.”

“Neither do I.”

“Hold the perimeter!” Cutter said.

Pyrik, Haldane, and every person along the line braced as chitinous bodies crashed into the perimeter.

Wooden stakes snapped. Splinters flew everywhere. Tarsal claws reached into the perimeter like hungry hands. Bayonets warded them off. Rifle fire continued from the windows. Pyrik jammed her blunderbuss in one of their mouths. Mandibles were blown off. Matter jetted into the night air. Her arm took the brunt of the splatter, ruining the sleeve of her white undershirt. A messy stain to be cleaned, a thought for later.

“Captain, the north perimeter is experiencing heavy resistance!” A cry was thrown out, barely heard among the clash.

A claw poked out, a throat was slashed. Another Hospitaller died.

“West perimeter! Send reinforcements to the north!” Cutter said as another applause of shots rang out. “South perimeter, what’s going on?”

“The south perimeter is being engaged by a pack of beasts!”

The smell of sap was now fragrant with heme. Claws grasped for limb, throat, anything at all but axe and bayonet hacked them away. A Hospitaller was pressed too close to the perimeter. The person was grabbed, screaming, as an insectoid hauled them over the stakes. A shot rang out from the first floor, and the Hospitaller died with some dignity. The body was ripped apart ravenously.

Haldane managed to slip his bayonet in between the spike plates of an insectoid trying to brave the stakes. The bayonet plunged further in as the creature, disregarding the blade sinking farther in, thrashed around in an attempt to get closer to Haldane. He struggled against the weight, arms waving. The rest of his comrades were absorbed in their own battles. Pyrik hurried, the mandibles were snapping eagerly at his head. She drove the bayonet into its thorax. The insectoid still persisted, clamouring for Haldane, so she dragged the bayonet up the thorax until its innards were relieved from its cramped confines. The uncoiled guts steamed in the cold. The insectoid slumped on the stakes like a tangle of thorns. Haldane, panting, fought to thank her while he yanked out the bayonet.

Pyrik ignored him. A sudden realization had her elsewhere. The Common House was under an attack on all fronts, even requiring certain fronts to shift around personnel to support the other.

Pyrik grabbed Haldane. “The east perimeter is going to be breached!”

He opened his visor, revealing the confused expression plastered on his face. His mouth was ready with a reply until they heard, “help, captain! The damned east line is about to be broken through!”

“Haldane! Take the Jaeger and some men to go reinforce the east perimeter!” Cutter said as he reloaded his rifle.

Pyrik was already ahead, sticking close to the Common House, ducking under roaring rifles, and avoided rifle stocks as reared to thrust their bayonets as she worked her way through the west and north line. The screaming and shouting swelled with each step closer, building the coming confrontation in her mind like a cake rising in the oven. She tightened the grip on her axe and bayonet. Rounded the corner. Insectoids smashed a hole through the perimeter. A Hospitaller was grabbed, thrashing while he was dragged away from the light.

“Wait, Pyrik! Wait!” Haldane called from far behind.

The Hospitallers on the east perimeter were at the breach hilt-deep in the thorax, unable to venture out to rescue their comrade, who’s pleas for help went unanswered. The voice inside urged her to jump in, the steel was already in her hands. The fighting would be plentiful, more than she could handle. She might be forced to take a draft from the abyss if she was not careful. Yet she was the only one who could answer his cries. She scaled the perimeter in a bound, soaring with her axe and bayonet poised to strike. When she landed on one of the insectoids that surrounded the Hospitaller, the voice inside came out as a gleeful roar. Her axe split its head in two, a knife through cake. Twisting around swiftly, blood sprayed as her bayonet slashed another’s throat. It got caught in between the plate of the insectoid, so she abandoned it with much reluctance as she dodged out of the way of a swiping claw. It freed her hand, though. The fallen monster had created an opening for the downed Hospitaller to escape. She seized the person and pulled him out of the chitinous circle of claws and mandibles, in spite of the voice inside telling her to stay and fight some more. However, the Hospitaller was injured, too slow. She heard the insectoids clattering quickly from their rear. She pushed her charge tumbling ahead while she swung around. The monsters came at her, mandibles opened to tear her limb from limb.

“Fire!” Haldane shouted.

Pyrik was prepared to hack the mandibles from one of their mouths until a volley of gunfire sailed into the oncoming insectoids. Pieces of chitin scattered into the night. Bodies crumbled. The remaining beasts wailed out a string of clicks before retreating with a venomous hiss. Similar strings of clicks were heard around the Common House as well. She watched as they scuttled up and disappeared over the palisade.

“Check for any injuries!” Cutter said.

Pyrik went over to retrieve her bayonet from the dead insectoid. It came free with a wet squelch.

It would have been a thrilling challenge to take on a pack of beasts with only the axe. She wiped the blood from the bayonet on her sleeve. Then slid it into its sheath on her belt. Oh well. Not that she was over eager to test her skills. If she extended too far, more than she was capable of, that might lead her to desperately reaching into the abyss, a hasty decision she would surely regret.

Pyrik went to thank Haldane. He was apologizing to the injured Hospitaller that she rescued, who was pleading as though he was in the clutches of the beasts once more. Before Pyrik could ask what was happening, Haldane raised his rifle and rendered his comrade’s head to red mist.

Several other scattered shots rang out.

He pulled out his flintlock pistol and turned to Pyrik. “Don’t make this harder than it has to be. Lower your weapons and allow them to check you for bites.”

“All right,” Pyrik said, trying to sound assured though the pistol stoked her nerves. It was the way that it was held, calm and procedural. She wondered how many stood confidently like this until the barrel of that gun was the last thing they saw.

Haldane kept his pistol trained on her as his comrades checked every inch of her body for any bites. They shook their heads when none could be found. Slowly, he uncocked the hammer and holstered his pistol.

The night concluded in heavy silence.