Outside Of Ash-Hive

  Fey, alongside Pike, pulled Kade past the fog line.

  Crowe watched behind them. Eyes scanning through the fog being pushed back by Onyx aircrafts turbine blades.

  Holvok stood by a opening door.

  Holvok (over comms): "Where's Noose?"

  Onyx soldiers formed up behind him.

  Fey replied, "During a skirmish with a Queen-Swarmer, she fell into a sinkhole. Asset jumped in after her, and we had to evacuate due to Kade's injury."

  He closed his eyes and nodded.

  "Onyx units, handle the Queen. We’ll track their suit signals, if the fog hasn't chewed them." Holvok commanded confidently.

  He removed an earpiece and donned his helmet, moving with numerous soldiers behind him. Holvok gestured to two soldiers.

  "Assist Kade to the aircraft. Fey, Crowe, Pike, you will come with us."

  ---

  They took an alternate route and discovered the collapsed building.

  Fey sensed an unsettling silence; no mid swarmer's buzzed as before.

  Fragments of mites littered the street.

  "Fey, these aren’t our kills… unless Noose and our asset regrouped, which seems unlikely," Crowe observed.

  Ahead loomed the Queen Swarmer’s enormous form, shrouded in spore fog.

  It remained still.

  Holvok and his men aimed their rifles, encircling it.

  No twitch.

  "It’s... dead. Whatever did this cleared out their cores," Pike’s voice trembled with disbelief.

  ---

  Noose's world returned with a sharp pain in her leg and a pounding headache behind her cracked visor.

  Karauro's armored chest rose and fell; he was still unconscious.

  She recalled him taking the hit as he collided with the wall, avoiding broken beams while protecting her head and back with his arms.

  His frantic attempts to set the wire snare failed. The boot thrusters didn’t work, and he pulse burst twice to create a shockwave for a softer landing.

  Instinctively, she shoved him away.

  A poor choice.

  The pain flared angrily again.

  She waited for him to awaken, and he did.

  "Damn, your armor is heavy," he muttered, shaking his head.

  "Why did you jump in?" Noose snapped.

  Karauro stood, inspecting his body.

  "Because I won’t be blamed for a dead handler," his voice firm, eyes glowing brighter.

  Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

  Noose scoffed, pushing herself up. Pain shot through her left leg from the Queen's stinger.

  Gritting her teeth, she hid her weakness.

  Karauro appeared unimpressed, observing her futile pride.

  He exhaled softly.

  As Noose took a step forward, her weight felt lighter.

  Karauro was already at her side, lifting her arm over his shoulder.

  "What are you doing—" Her words came out; he moved forward interrupting Noose.

  "Enough already, no time to bicker. Something's here with us..." he muttered, scanning the tunnel's black-veined walls.

  Moist noises reverberated through the tunnel. Making it feel alive.

  ---

  Noose observed her helmet’s damaged mask. Spores turned dark and thickened as they advanced.

  Karauro noticed too, attuned to her breathing.

  He hesitated. Unclipping her helmet, she flinched, fearing he meant to endanger her. But she quickly understood. He thrust his helmet onto her.

  “You—” she attempted to speak.

  He cut her off again.

  "Better you than a beast, right?" he sneered.

  Noose glanced away briefly, noticing deep gashes in the cement walls.

  "Yeah, we need to move," Karauro urged.

  She nodded and walked with him toward a partially obscured sign that read "Level D Parking."

  After a few minutes, Noose turned to Karauro.

  His hands twitched behind her, shaking his head and shifting his shoulders as if trying to dispel discomfort.

  "Ciro, you good there? Let me know if I need to shock you," she said, trying to regain his focus.

  His halo eyes were glowing now, and she recognized the sign all too well.

  A wet sound slapped against the concrete behind them.

  "Shit, Speenil Griever" Noose muttered.

  Karauro met her gaze, nodded, and leaned back against Noose, supporting her with his weight.

  She activated her Halo-wires.

  A human-sized lizard leaped from the shadows, nearly crashing into Noose. Its maw gaped wide, revealing a human face split into four parts.

  The wire shot forward, clamping down and shredding it.

  Another creature emerged from the ceiling, firing spikes from its back at her.

  Tendrils burst from Karauro's spine, pushing Noose away from the onslaught of projectiles.

  Noose aimed her rifle above Karauro, and the Speenil fell to the ground. It writhed briefly before going still.

  Karauros eyes stared onto the Speenils for a second too long.

  "Ciro!" Noose called.

  He snapped back to reality. Halo-eye's flickered.

  Karauro remained silent and returned to her side.

  He reached for her wrist, but she resisted.

  "Nope, you're not stable right now," she scowled.

  "Does that matter?!" he growled.

  The tunnel began to tremble.

  "Absolutely, it does! You've drawn in everything else around here except for Speenils, the perilous magnet on legs!" she shouted.

  "Are we doing this right now?!" He leaned closer, his eyes blazing.

  A nearby wall exploded, and a huge, horned black insect hissed menacingly. Boiling fluids drooled from its mouth. Splashing onto concrete, while multiple green eyes focused on them.

  Karauro didn't ask. He acted.

  With a tug on her wrist, he drew her close and used his Kinetic pulse to dodge a huge boiling projectile.

  "Let's get the hell out of here now!" she yelled.

  Karauro gritted his teeth, as if weighing another choice.

  "Hop on my back," he said, slipping her a Kinetic module to attach to her gauntlet.

  She complied as he fired a pulse burst at another projectile.

  His wire snare caught on the wall from which the creature had emerged from, retracting while his boot thrusters propelled them forward.

  Making a quick turn into the newly created tunnel.

  The creature lunged with its scythe-like mandibles but missed; Noose, now wielding his second Kinetic module, used the shockwave to shove it away.

  Tendrils emerged from his lower back. Using them like a bungee cord, propelling him forward.

  Noose's grip on Karauro intensified.

  The tunnel opened to a clearing with a nest.

  He slid and struck the concrete with his pulse claw, confronting the creature that leapt from the tunnel.

  "We should—" Noose began.

  "There are stairs over there. I caught a glimpse of the building map earlier; take it—" Karauros’s voice grew darker.

  "What? Are you serious? If I go there like this, I could encounter more." She hissed.

  "Guess you’re stuck with me then. Just know, I won’t hold back—so take cover and help me if you can." He smirked.

  Noose understood what he meant by not holding back. His eyes flared brightly.

  His tendrils shifted to an orange hue.

  "If you bare your teeth at me—" she muttered as she climbed off his back.

  "Yeah, I got it...handler." Karauros' voice turned raspy, his grin widening.

  The creature charged.

  Two more tendrils emerged, coiling around the creature's moving legs.

  He swung low, armor sparking as he slid beneath the insect.

  Noose fired bursts at its eyes, shredding them and halting the creature's charge.

  Pulse claws shot from Karauro's gauntlet, but were deflected.

  Stingers emerged from soft flesh pockets, grabbing his leg and tossing him against a nearby wall.

  "That's an Elder Griever, its a walking tank," Noose communicated into Karauro's earpiece.

  "A heads-up would have helped!" he growled.

  "You knew about the Ash-Hive, didn’t you? Or was that a lie?" she retorted as her halo wires latched onto one of the many stingers.

  Cutting it clean.

  The voice pierced his mind.

  DO NOT WASTE THIS CHANCE! DEVOURRRR!

  He shook his head.

  Two of his tendrils gripped his mouth, forming a jagged jaw.

  Karauro leaned forward, his head tilted like a predator, while the two tendrils grasped his forearm and spilled onto his pulse claws.

  He lunged.

  Claws scraped against carapace. It charged at him again.

  He halted it with great strength. Stingers lunged toward him.

  Noose's Halo-wire sliced through a few, but she couldn’t keep up with more emerging.

  Karauros's body performed an unprecedented transformation.

  His right arm split open. No blood—only black ichor resembling gel held it together. Bones shattered into sharp spikes.

  His split arm gripped the Elder's front legs, tightening suddenly.

  —Crack.

  The carapace fractured, green liquid flowing down.

  It shrieked.

  Karauros wore a disturbing grin, his bright orange eyes glinting as he chuckled.

  What on earth are you? Noose contemplated.

  Her gaze fixated on a vial from her armor's compartment.

  Labeled "Dampener K-19/Ciro."

  She realized it wasn't the right time yet—not until the danger was neutralized.

  A strange mist drifted in, black fumes oozing from Karauros’s mouth.

  Ichor crawled over his eyes.

  He panted, grinning.

  Another arm split open, biting down on the leg it restrained.

  Pods began to hatch nearby vertaclly hanging of flesh walls.

  "How generous of you to bring us extra to eat!" His voice was different, lower than normal.

  The black mist obscured her vision as the Elder toppled over. Smaller ones leapt onto the floor.

  Orange eyes retreated into the haze.

  Black Ichor spears erupted from the ground, impaling Elder Griever mites in place. A sharp hiss filled the air.

  The elongated spears shifted from orange to red.

  A crackling noise erupted as the black spores made contact.

  A chain reaction.

  Noose dove into cover.

  Dozens of blasts erupted.

  Minutes passed.

  Fumes hung in the air; nothing stirred.

  Only a wet crunch resonated.

  Noose hesitated, eyeing the mist.

  The helmet showcased a spectrum of colors, from warm to cool.

  Only one figure emerged—Karauro, hunched beside the Elder.