One second Vex Kaine crouched in a trench with a rifle. The next, blue light swallowed him whole. Now he lay face-down on cold red dirt, no gun, no war, no idea where he was. The beam had ripped him from the front line and dropped him here. His ears rang. His hands shook. He had never wanted anything but to fight his way home, and home was gone. He forced himself up. The ground stretched flat and open in every direction. No cover. No walls. Just a purple sky and a wind that smelled like burnt metal. A soldier alone in the open was a dead soldier. He knew that much. Then he heard the clicking. Two shapes moved toward him across the plain. They walked upright but wrong, joints bending backward. Their skin was dark and marked with glowing green symbols. Two heads. Sharp claws. Eyes that burned like sick lamps. Demons, his gut said, though his mind knew better. Aliens. And they had seen him. Vex ran. His legs nearly folded, but he ran. Far ahead, a stand of huge red-barked trees broke the flat land. Cover. He aimed for it and did not look back. The clicking grew louder. Faster. Closer. He hit the tree line and threw himself behind a thick trunk. His lungs burned. He peered around the bark. The two creatures had stopped at the edge of the grove. They circled instead of entering, heads twitching, claws flexing. They would not come in. Vex did not question luck. He pushed deeper into the trees. Between two trunks stood something built by hands. A low bunker of dark red timber. Heavy walls. A black doorway. Someone had made this. Someone who feared the same things he did. He stumbled inside and pressed his back to the wall. Weapons. He needed weapons. In the dark he found a rack of tools and blades, crude but real. He grabbed a long iron bar and held it like a club. Better than empty hands. Something moved in the corner. Vex spun, bar raised. A small creature shrank against the wall. It had the same dark skin and horns as the monsters outside, but tiny. Its huge eyes blinked at him. It made a soft, worried sound and did not attack. He froze. The thing looked young. Scared. Not a hunter. It crept toward him one step, then stopped, watching to see what he would do. Vex lowered the bar an inch. His heart still pounded, but the immediate danger had passed. He had cover. He had a weapon. He was not exposed anymore. But he was not alone, either. Outside, the two demons still circled the trees, waiting. And this bunker was not empty. Someone lived here. Someone who might come home and find a stranger holding a weapon over their small, frightened companion.

The iron bar felt light in Vex's hand. Too light. One club against clawed hunters was not a plan. He turned from the small creature and studied the walls of red timber. Someone had built this place to keep the demons out. Someone had known how to survive here. Vex needed more than a stick. He needed a real weapon. He searched the racks in the dark. His fingers found rope, dull tools, a coil of wire. Then the clicking started again outside. Closer now. The two hostile creatures had stopped circling. They had found the doorway. Vex pressed against the wall beside the black opening. A long shadow fell across the floor. The first demon's head pushed inside, twin faces twitching, green symbols glowing on its dark skin. It sniffed. It had smelled him. The bar would not be enough, and he knew it. The small creature bolted past his legs. It scrambled to a low panel in the far wall and slapped it with both hands. A deep groan ran through the timber. Vex spun toward the noise, sure it had doomed them both. Heavy beams slid down across the doorway. The bunker was built to seal itself. The child had known the trick. The demon shrieked and jammed a clawed arm through the shrinking gap. Claws raked the air inches from Vex's chest. Vex swung the iron bar with everything he had. The blow cracked against the demon's wrist. It howled and yanked the arm back. The last beam dropped home. Wood slammed against wood. The doorway was solid now, sealed tight. Something moved in the dark behind him. Not the child. Bigger. A red shape rose from the deepest corner, where Vex had not looked. Horns curved from its skull. Its eyes burned orange. Muscle stacked across its chest, and a carved plate hung at its waist. It stood taller than Vex, and it had been here the whole time, silent, watching him fight for its home. Vex raised the bar. His arms shook. The creature did not attack. It looked at the sealed door, then at the small one huddled by the wall, then back at Vex. "You struck the hunter," it said. The voice was low and rough, but the words were clear. "You did not strike the young." Vex did not lower the bar. "Who are you?" "Khar'thrax Shadowmaw." A clawed hand touched the small creature's head. "This is mine to protect. So is this ground." Outside, claws scraped the sealed timber and gave up. The clicking faded into the grove. For the first time since the blue light took him, Vex was not being hunted. Khar'thrax crossed the floor and lifted a bundle from the wall. He tossed it at Vex's feet. A blade unrolled, real steel, longer than the bar. "Drop the scrap," he said. "If you stay, you fight what comes. And more comes." Vex let the iron bar fall. He picked up the blade.