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“That tentacle squeezed me pretty hard, but they’re just bruises.” Then she stiffened, her voice lowering. “Jameson, the monster is rightthere.” She looked over my shoulder.

“I know.”

“God, what do we do?” she whispered.

“I’m going to kill it.”

Her blue eyes went wide. “What? Alone?”

“It nearly killed you.” Determination filled me. That thing had almost taken Greer from me. I grabbed her hand and pulled her up. We slowly crept behind a tree.

“Stay here.”

“Jameson…”

“I’ve got this.” I pulled some thermo grenades off my belt. “Trust me. This is what I’m good at.”

She nodded, then gave me a tight hug and a quick kiss. “You’re not allowed to get hurt. You promised some days off and lots of sex.”

My lips curved. “I did, didn’t I?”

“Be careful.”

With a nod, I turned to face the creature. Its tentacles were all tucked in on itself.

It wasn’t expecting us to be a risk.

I weighed the grenades carefully in my hand. My jaw tightened. This creature wouldn’t kill anyone else. With the grenades in one palm, I pulled my combat knife out with the other hand.

Then I crept in closer to the monster, careful not to make a sound and disturb it.

I lifted the knife, then stabbed the closest tentacle.

It sprang awake with a low roar.

Its tentacles unfurled, waving in the air. It shifted its bulk, and a tentacle slapped down beside me. I jumped over it and stabbed again.

It made another angry sound. The tentacles whipped sideways, right at me. I dove to the ground and rolled under it.

“Come on.” I looked back over my shoulder. “You’ve got to do better than that.”

It made an awful moaning sound. Two tentacles rushed at me, and I dodged one but the second one slammed into my knees.

It knocked my legs out from under me and I fell forward. I kept the grenades tucked to my chest, rolling across the grass. Springing up, I sprinted toward the monster, leaped into the air, then stabbed my knife deep.

Another tentacle snapped out and curled around me. It lifted me off the ground.

I smiled.

Exactly as I’d hoped.

It moved me down, toward its open sucker mouth.

A nasty rotten smell hit me, and a deep sound echoed out of it. I pressed the buttons on the grenades and dropped them. One by one, they disappeared into the monster’s mouth.

One. Two. Three.

There was a muffledthump.