Beast Devourer: I Grow Stronger by Eating Monsters

The first silhouette came through the doorway.

Raven fired before the man had even finished entering.

BANG.

The round struck the front plate and knocked him half a step backward, but not enough to stop him. Raven corrected the angle and fired again.

BANG.

The second bullet entered through the narrow gap between the helmet and the upper edge of the vest. The man fell backward just as the second operator behind him tried to move aside.

Too late.

Raven was already moving.

He didn’t stand in the middle of the corridor trading gunfire. That was a good way to die.

He threw himself against the left wall just as three rifles opened fire from the doorway. The corridor erupted in overlapping gunshots, concrete fragments spraying around him as one round struck the column and another tore through the space where his head had been half a second earlier.

Raven fired twice while retreating.

He wasn’t trying to kill them.

He was trying to make them stop advancing.

It worked.

The men disappeared behind the armored doorframe, and Raven used the opening to reach the electrical panel he’d spotted earlier. He holstered the pistol for less than a second, drew a knife, and drove the blade between the cover and the wall.

A twist of the wrist popped the panel free.

Wires. Breakers. Control module.

He didn’t know exactly which circuit controlled which system.

He didn’t need to.

Raven gripped the knife by its insulated handle and cut through three of the main lines.

A shower of sparks illuminated his face.

The red corridor lights died.

So did the cameras.

Complete darkness swallowed the hallway.

"NVGs!" someone shouted from the far end.

Raven was already moving.

He heard several men reaching for their night-vision goggles. Plastic shifted against helmets. Hinges snapped down. Small sounds, but enough.

A trained operator could deploy NVGs almost by reflex.

Almost still took time.

Raven entered the darkness and drew the pistol.

Five steps.

He turned right.

A man had just lowered his goggles, and Raven caught the faint green glow reflected in the lenses.

He fired once.

The body dropped.

Raven caught the operator before he fully hit the floor and dragged him closer, quickly stripping what he needed from the man’s equipment.

Rifle.

Magazines.

Smoke grenade.

Flashbang.

Perfect.

He discarded his empty pistol and took the rifle. It wasn’t his, but it was familiar enough: short-barreled AR, suppressor, ambidextrous selector.

Raven checked the magazine by feel.

Almost full.

"Left sector," a voice ordered.

Raven recognized Harker.

Internal response team.

Competent.

Predictable.

An infrared laser cut through the darkness. Raven couldn’t see it with the naked eye, but he knew it was there, and more importantly, he knew where Harker would look first.

Raven took the flashbang, pulled the pin, and threw it.

Not toward the team.

Against the side wall.

The grenade bounced once, then again, before landing behind them.

"FLASH!"

The operators instinctively turned their heads.

BANG!

Even with his eyes shut and his face turned away, Raven felt the blast hammer his ears.

He went in immediately.

The first man still had his rifle raised. Raven shoved the barrel toward the ceiling with his left hand and fired twice from the hip into the man’s chest.

He folded.

Raven used the falling body as cover while turning toward the second operator.

The man tried to bring his weapon up, but Raven slammed his wrist with the handguard, knocking the rifle off-line. A knee drove into the ribs, followed by the rifle stock into the jaw.

The operator dropped.

The third man was farther away.

Raven released the first body and fired twice.

One round struck the vest.

The other hit the thigh.

The operator lost his footing.

Raven advanced.

He didn’t retreat.

Most people tried to create distance when a gun appeared. At this range, against trained men, distance belonged to whoever had the better firing line.

Raven preferred to take that line away entirely.

The wounded operator tried to draw his pistol. Raven kicked his wrist, sending the weapon skidding across the floor, then reversed the rifle and drove the stock into the man’s temple.

He dropped.

Harker appeared from the side.

He had recovered his vision.

Raven saw the barrel first, then the shoulder, then the face.

Harker fired.

Raven threw himself against the wall. The round grazed his arm, bringing heat first and pain a moment later.

He ignored both.

Raven fired from a low position and forced Harker to retreat, then advanced while firing.

One.

Two.

Three.

Not at center mass.

At the cover.

He was forcing Harker to move.

The man shifted right.

Exactly where Raven wanted him.

There was an open doorway beside him. Raven had noticed it when he entered the section.

As Harker crossed in front of it, Raven threw the rifle.

Harker reacted on instinct and knocked the weapon aside.

Raven was already on him.

He caught Harker’s armed wrist, drove an elbow into the bicep, and trapped the arm as he stepped in with his hip and slammed the man against the wall.

Harker’s pistol appeared.

Raven saw it clear the holster.

He caught the slide in his hand.

Harker pulled the trigger.

CLICK.

The slide couldn’t cycle.

Raven drove his forehead into Harker’s nose.

The man stumbled backward.

Raven twisted the trapped pistol. The wrist gave.

Another twist forced the joint farther than it was meant to go.

Harker grunted.

Raven ripped the weapon away.

One shot.

Harker dropped.

Raven breathed once, short and controlled, then looked at his right arm.

Superficial cut.

Nothing important.

His chest hurt from the earlier impact, though.

That could become a problem.

Not yet.

Footsteps sounded behind him.

Raven turned.

Cole stood there with his rifle lowered.

Not aimed at him.

"We need to get out," Cole said.

Raven didn’t lower the pistol.

"You might."

Cole looked at the bodies scattered across the corridor.

"They’re going to flood the entire level."

"Probably."

"Raven."

"What?"

"You don’t have time for this."

"Funny. Five minutes ago, you seemed to have plenty."

Cole clenched his jaw.

"I didn’t know they were sending the entire containment team."

"What did you think was going to happen?"

"That you’d surrender."

Raven studied him for several seconds.

"Then you know me worse than I thought."

A different alarm began to sound.

Not the silent warning from before.

This one was deep, mechanical, and repetitive.

WOOOON.

An automated voice followed through the speakers.

SECURITY PROTOCOL THREE ACTIVE.

LEVEL THREE SEALED.

PURGE SEQUENCE AVAILABLE.

Cole went pale.

"Shit."

Raven glanced toward one of the dead cameras.

"What does purge mean?"

Cole didn’t answer.

Raven raised the pistol an inch.

"Cole."

"Gas."

"What kind?"

"I don’t know."

"Yes, you do."

Cole hesitated.

"Modified VX."

Raven stared at him for a moment.

"Very patriotic."

Cole took a step forward.

"The dimensional lab has an independent system. If we get there, we can seal ourselves inside."

Raven gave him the faintest smile.

"We?"

"I don’t want to die here."

"A minute ago, you wanted me dead."

"That’s different."

"Not from where I’m standing."

The alarm sounded again.

Cole looked down the corridor.

"You can kill me later."

Raven considered that for half a second.

"Acceptable."

They moved.

Not as friends.

Not as teammates.

As two men whose interests happened to align for approximately five minutes.

Raven collected two magazines, a grenade, and a tourniquet while Cole watched him adjust the equipment.

"How much are you bleeding?"

"Less than they are."

"That doesn’t answer the question."

"Then stop asking."

They ran.

The complex had changed around them. Doors that had previously been open were now sealed, emergency lights flashed along the walls, and somewhere behind them came a faint hiss.

Gas.

Cole accelerated.

So did Raven.

They reached an intersection with two possible routes.

Cole moved left.

Raven grabbed the back of his vest and stopped him.

"No."

"The lab is that way."

"So is an airlock."

"So?"

Raven pointed toward the ceiling.

Two small nozzles protruded from the paneling.

Cole understood immediately.

"Direct gas dispersal."

"Yeah."

They went right instead.

The map Raven had memorized showed that the corridor led through maintenance, then toward the cooling core, and eventually connected to a secondary access point on level four.

The fake mission had included real blueprints.

Probably because Voss expected Raven to be dead before he ever needed them.

Bad decision.

They rounded a corner.

Two guards were waiting ahead.

The men raised their weapons.

Cole shouted:

"Black Hound! Lower—"

Raven fired first.

One guard dropped.

The second returned fire as Cole threw himself into cover.

Raven crossed the corridor while firing.

Two shots.

The second guard fell against the wall.

Cole looked at Raven.

"They might have let us through."

"No."

"You don’t know that."

"Their safeties were already off before they saw you."

Cole didn’t answer.

Raven retrieved a keycard from the first guard, and they continued.

The maintenance level was significantly hotter than the floors above. Thick pipes covered the walls, steam drifted through sections of the corridor, and the roar of turbines drowned out almost every other sound.

Perfect for an ambush.

Raven raised a fist.

Cole stopped immediately.

Raven pointed toward a shadow ahead.

Nothing.

He waited.

Then he caught the reflection.

Optic.

About sixty feet away.

Raven grabbed Cole by the vest and threw him left.

The shot came immediately.

CRACK.

The bullet tore through a pipe.

Superheated steam exploded into the corridor.

Raven dropped behind a metal housing.

"Shooter," Cole said.

"Thanks."

"Can you see him?"

"No."

Another shot struck metal with a violent ring.

Raven studied the pattern.

Not a conventional sniper.

Too close.

Probably a designated marksman waiting for them to advance.

Raven pulled out the smoke grenade.

Cole shook his head.

"He’s got thermal."

"It’s not to hide us."

Raven threw the grenade toward the damaged pipe.

Smoke began mixing with the steam.

Cole understood.

Irregular temperatures.

Degraded thermal image.

"Three seconds," Raven said.

"What are you doing?"

"Going out."

"That’s a bad idea."

"Which is why he won’t expect it."

Raven counted.

One.

Two.

Three.

He broke right.

The shot came almost immediately, but Raven was already changing direction.

The round struck behind him.

Position confirmed.

Upper platform.

Raven fired three times.

The shooter ducked.

Cole emerged from the opposite side.

Crossfire.

The marksman turned toward Cole.

That was the opening Raven needed.

He reached the side ladder and climbed two rungs at a time.

The man heard him and turned.

Raven threw the knife.

Not because he expected it to kill him.

Because he needed the reflex.

The shooter jerked his head aside.

Raven reached the platform.

The enemy’s rifle was too long for the distance.

Raven grabbed the barrel and smashed the pistol into the man’s throat.

The shooter stumbled backward.

Raven dropped the pistol and committed both hands.

Wrist control.

Elbow.

Shoulder.

Turn.

The man lost his balance and Raven drove him against the railing.

The shooter tried to draw a knife.

Raven trapped the arm, slammed his forehead into the man’s face, then drove a knee into his body before catching the wrist and smashing it against the railing.

Once.

Twice.

The knife fell.

Raven caught it in midair and drove it beneath the vest.

The man went still.

Raven pulled the blade free and let the body drop.

Cole reached the platform several seconds later.

"I told you to wait."

"I did."

"Three seconds."

"That counts."

Cole looked at the body.

Then at Raven.

"Do you ever wonder why they were afraid of you?"

Raven wiped the knife against the dead man’s sleeve.

"No."

"I do."

"That explains why you’re nervous."

A deep boom traveled through the complex.

Not gunfire.

Something much deeper.

The lights flickered.

Cole looked up.

"That came from the lab."

Raven sheathed the knife.

"Let’s go."

Level four didn’t look like a military installation.

It looked like a place built around something no one understood.

The concrete corridors gave way to white metal walls, reinforced glass, dense sensor arrays, and so many cables that entire sections of the ceiling disappeared beneath them. Warning symbols appeared everywhere, and Raven didn’t recognize any of them.

Not because they belonged to another language.

Because they seemed to have been designed specifically for this project.

At the center of everything stood a circular chamber.

And behind the glass...

something black.

Raven stopped.

It wasn’t a machine.

Not entirely.

The space inside the chamber itself seemed distorted. A dark sphere floated several inches above a platform, absorbing rather than reflecting the light around it. Thin white lines appeared and disappeared across the air surrounding it like cracks forming in reality.

Raven had seen explosions, missiles, chemical weapons, and experimental technology.

He had never seen anything like this.

"What the hell is that?"

Cole was breathing hard.

"We don’t know."

Raven looked at him.

"The mission brief called it a dimensional device."

"That’s what they think it is."

"Think?"

"It appeared four years ago."

Raven went silent.

"They found the facility around it."

Cole shook his head.

"They built the facility around it."

Much better.

Raven stared at the sphere.

"What does it do?"

"Sometimes nothing."

"Excellent."

"Sometimes objects disappear."

"Where do they go?"

"They don’t come back."

Raven looked at Cole.

"Every answer gets better."

The doors behind them closed.

THUNK.

Cole turned.

"No."

Raven already knew.

He looked toward the ceiling as a red light began rotating.

The speakers came alive.

"You made it farther than expected."

Voss.

Raven looked up.

"That happens a lot."

"Cole."

Cole closed his eyes.

"Sir."

"I gave you an order."

"The situation changed."

"No."

Voss’s voice turned cold.

"You changed."

Raven looked at Cole.

"That sounds like a death sentence."

Cole breathed slowly.

"I know."

Voss continued.

"Raven, we can still end this cleanly."

Raven looked at the glass, then at the black sphere, then back toward the sealed doors.

"Your definition of ’cleanly’ needs work."

"Surrender your weapons."

"No."

"The complex is completely sealed."

"I noticed."

"You have no way out."

Raven slowly walked toward the main console.

Cole followed him.

"Don’t touch that," Voss said.

Raven smiled.

"Now I’m definitely touching it."

"Raven."

The console displayed dozens of readings, most of them incomprehensible.

Energy.

Mass.

Distortion.

Coordinates that made no sense.

One value was increasing.

Cole stepped closer.

"That’s not normal."

"What?"

"The resonance."

Raven pointed at the screen.

"That number?"

"Yes."

21%.

22%.

24%.

Climbing.

Voss spoke again.

"Step away from the console."

Raven looked directly at one of the cameras.

"Are you trying to kill me or protect me from the equipment?"

Silence.

That answered plenty.

Raven looked at Cole.

"What happens at a hundred?"

"I don’t know."

"You’re lying."

"We don’t know for certain."

"Worse."

The number reached thirty percent.

The sphere inside the chamber began to deform.

The white cracks multiplied.

The air itself started to vibrate.

Raven felt the pressure in his teeth, like standing too close to an electrical storm.

Voss spoke again.

"Cole, open the security chamber and fall back to the corridor."

Cole looked toward the doors.

He didn’t move.

"What about Raven?"

"That’s an order."

"What about Raven?"

Silence.

Cole gave a dry laugh.

"Of course."

Raven watched him.

"Took you long enough."

"Shut up."

"Just saying."

Cole raised his rifle toward one of the cameras and fired.

BANG.

The lens shattered.

Raven raised an eyebrow.

"That’s probably going to hurt your annual review."

"Raven."

"Yeah?"

"When we get out of here..."

"We’re not leaving together."

Cole looked at him.

Raven’s tone hadn’t changed.

"What?"

"You tried to execute me."

"I helped you."

"Afterward."

"Raven—"

"After you realized they were going to kill you too."

Cole clenched his jaw.

"You want me to apologize?"

"No."

"Then what do you want?"

Raven looked toward the sphere.

"To survive."

The resonance reached forty percent.

A new alarm activated.

Higher.

More urgent.

DIMENSIONAL STABILITY FAILURE.

Cole went pale.

"Voss."

Nothing.

"Voss!"

The voice returned.

"I’m sorry, Cole."

Cole froze.

Raven didn’t.

He moved immediately.

"What is he doing?"

Cole looked toward the console.

His eyes widened.

"He’s overloading the core."

"Can we stop it?"

"From here... maybe."

Cole ran toward the terminal.

Raven positioned himself beside the door and listened.

Boots.

A lot of men.

Voss wasn’t relying on the anomaly alone.

"We’ve got company."

Cole began entering commands.

"I need a minute."

"You’ve got thirty seconds."

"It doesn’t work like that."

"Today it does."

The outer doors began to open.

Raven checked the rifle.

Seventeen rounds.

He picked up another magazine.

Thirty.

One flashbang.

One fragmentation grenade.

Pistol.

Knife.

Blood on his side.

Wounded arm.

Fatigue starting to build.

He could work with that.

The door opened twelve inches.

Raven threw the fragmentation grenade through the gap.

"GRENADE!"

The door tried to close.

Too late.

BOOM!

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