Walter ran down the aisle away from the horde of beasts. Occasionally turning around and throwing odd disks of serrated metal into the train of monsters. He took the moment to read one of the packages before throwing the Diablo circular saw blade. He had used a saw before in his improvised weapons training but these were closer to chakrams. These circular saw blades were very satisfying to use but were barely slowing the beasts down. He needed to find different tools to fight with.

He was looking for something like a spear but the closest was a pitchfork he would have to circle back for. The beasts were beginning to box him in though. The horde chasing him had been whittled down from his distance attacks, all of them bloodied in their pursuit of him. Other though lay hidden, ambushing him, leaving their marks upon him.

Their whip-like tales lashing out at him from around corners, the tips barbed. Needle-like claws letting drop from the roof onto him if he was not careful. Their oversized front teeth chewing holes through metal as if it were cheese, let them chew through aisle walls to keep up with him.

He counted 10 left; these were the smartest of the horde. These were the smaller ones that ambushed him rather than nip at his heels. They had chased him, herded him, past all the weapons he had been grabbing and using, past the toilets to the darkest part of the building. Walter could only see the glimmer of their intelligent red eyes as they cautiously walked closer to him.

Walters back bumped into the wall. Pulling out his last weapons two screwdrivers he could use as shivs he prepared himself. One of the beasts lunged at him, and he activated skitter with his shiv pointed at the beast. Feeling the weight of the beast slam into, slowing his skill skitter just a hair.

He spun as the skill deactivated, throwing the beast in the direction of the others. Breaking their line he started running again. But none followed him, instead they howled in chorus. Their voices building upon each other distorting the very air around them. They howled until their voices sounded wet but they kept howling. One by one their voice stopped until he could hear painful coughing and choking.

Walter kept running to the front of the building towards the light as heard something rumble. From where he was something large began to move, knocking over one of the aisle shelves as is lumbered. Each step it took Walter could feel shake the ground.

Walter could try to escape but he didn’t think he would have time to bend the bars again. And if he did manage to escape would he ever be brave enough to come back? Changing his direction he ran to where he thought he saw the pitchforks. Around the pitchforks, he found other useful items for yard work. Grabbing four pitchforks he went closer to where he could hear the beast moving.

“HEY HEY I’M HERE SO COME AND GET ME” he screamed at the beast.

The beast roared so loud it felt like someone lightly punched him in the chest. Feeling dizzy, Walter touched his ears feeling wetness. His eardrums were bleeding but this wouldn’t deter Walter. He had been dizzy a lot growing up as last in class. Meals were based on his rating in training classes and he almost always was last. Last in class meant last in line for meals, after everyone picked over everything and only left him scraps making training harder the next day.

Galvanized by this thought as soon as he saw the dinner plate-sized eyes, he threw the first pitchfork like a javelin. Almost falling in the process he caught himself by balancing on the second pitchfork. During this, the beast’s barbed tail whipped out knocking the pitchfork away from the air. It continued it slow gait in his direction as Walter readied the second pitchfork throwing it at its face before running to the other pitchforks.

Snatching them up as he ran by them, he spun around waiting for the beast to try squeeze into this aisle. The beast lumbered up to the aisle trying to squeeze in, Walter threw the pitchforks in quick order. The first one knocked away, but the second scoring a hit into its side.

The beast roared lifting onto its hind legs showing smaller baby beasts suckling at its tits. Shaking the hairless baby beasts from its body, they fell hard on to the floor screaming. Their faces covered in glowing green breast milk from their mother dripped from their mouths sizzling on the ground as they sniffed the air. All of them orienting on him they all stopped their cries at once. Their pudgy little bodies started crawling at him screaming for blood.

The mother moved back from them an intelligent gleam in its glowing red eyes at his misfortune. Whatever the beast was planning Walter wasn’t planning in getting anywhere these babies, but the closest baby beast started glowing the same neon green. Opening its eyes and looking directly at Walter it shot like a rocket at him. Barely dodging it slammed into the rest of the pitchforks he planned on using, exploding in a mess of glowing green ooze. Every item touched by the ooze was dissolving wherever the blood landed.

Running away from the babies, he dodged every speck of neon green he saw. Grabbing a wood ax in the act he needed more of the circular saw blades to throw at the babies. Running towards the aisle he needed, the mother beast’s barbed tail flashed at him. He couldn’t react in time getting stabbed through his calf, tripping him.

Tumbling into the ground he crashed into a display of cans that rattled. Throwing one of the cans where he thought the beast was caused its tail to lash out striking the can. As the barbed tail punctured the can it exploded in a cloud of black staining everything around it. Grabbing a couple of cans and his ax Walter pushed up to his feet hobbling away to where he first came through.

As he took the corner into an aisle another one the baby beasts flew past him smashing into the ground in an explosion of glowing acidic goo. Hobbling down this aisle the Mother beast lumbered into view-blocking his exit. Turning around to escape the four remaining baby beast t came into view sniffing the air looking for him. With nowhere to go, Walter stood there a split second before acting.

He charged the baby beasts watching for their eyes to open. Their eyes cracking open Walter spun around and charged at the mother beast. Underhand throwing the two rattle cans at its face, its tail flashed puncturing both cans in an explosion of black paint.

Activating his skill, he dashed through the cloud. Landing next to the beast he swung his ax at the base of beast’s tail severing it. As the beast roared in pain the four baby beast collided with it blocked from view the haze of paint in the air.

The babies exploded into their mother beast’s face. Its face immune to its acid it ignored the goo. More enraged about its tail it started to attack Walter when the acid dripped into its eye dissolving it. The giant beast started bucking and rolling in pain kicking Walter with its hind legs.

Walter went flying into a pile of wood planks. Pushing himself off of the ground his ax still in his hand his leg and ears bleeding he needed to end this. Aiming for the front of its head Walter activated his Skitter skill again. Feeling his calf wound rip a little more he went flying forward his ax held as if it was a bat. The skill ended and with its forward momentum, he pivoted his body swinging the ax through the mother beast head. The ax went through its head in an explosion of gore the ax handle shattering from the force.

Walter went with the swing sliding in the beast’s gore as it blood pumped on to him. Taking a deep breath he rolled over onto his stomach and started crawling to the front of the building to tend his wounds.