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The giant monster hauled itself out of the ruined building.

“Fuck me,” Marc breathed.

“Oh, god, we’re going to die,” Marina whimpered.

We pushed the guards back behind us and whipped our carbines up.

“We need weapons,” Kitt said urgently. “We can fight.”

“Give them blasters,” Jameson said, not taking his eyes off the monster.

“Oh no,” Jess murmured beside me.

My head whipped up. That’s when I saw the glow on the spiderlike creature’s bulbous abdomen.

A sickly green-yellow.

“It’s the same acid substance from the monsters on the beach,” Jess said.

“Back up,” Jameson bellowed. “Into the trees.

We walked backward, but the creature had locked on us and stepped forward. It had giant mandible pincers that snapped together angrily. Several red eyes locked on us.

“Light it up,” Jameson said.

We opened fire. The monster roared, but looked unaffected. It stabbed at us with one leg.

Jess leaped backward, knocking into me. We hit the ground and rolled. The sharp end of the leg speared into the dirt a meter away from us.

Shit. My pulse took off like a rocket. Another leg slammed down, dirt spraying us.

“Up.” I boosted her to her feet and leaped up. I yanked my knife out and stabbed at the leg.

My blade screeched across the leg. It was made of a hard black shell, impenetrable.

“The body’s too hard,” I yelled.

Another leg slammed down.

I dashed backward. The others were still firing but the laser wasn’t doing anything.

Nearby, Zeke climbed into a tree. He moved up the branches quickly. Balanced on a thick branch, he pulled out a knife. It was far bigger than standard combat issue ones we all carried.

“Keep it busy,” Zeke called out.

Marc stepped into view and waved his arms. “Hey, ugly.”

It skittered around, looking at Marc and ignoring Zeke. One leg slammed down and Marc dodged.

He laughed. “Have to be quicker than that.”

I saw another leg swing at him. “Marc, look out!”

He glanced back but there was nothing he could do. It swept him off his feet and tossed him into the air. He smashed into a tree trunk, then fell to the ground. With a groan, he staggered to his feet.

Above, Zeke leaped from the branch onto the creature.

He landed on one leg and clung with one arm. With his other, he lifted his knife, then hacked into the leg joint.