“Is the bottom of the pedal on the floor?” Summers shouted over noise of the struggling engine.

“Yes!” Bard answered. “I know how to drive!”

“You’ve been doing this less than a month!”

Their group of Humvees had spearheaded the return to base, taking as many people as they could while the others booked it on foot. The problem being between the obsidian of the obsidian world shredding tires, shoes, and the weight of nearly twenty people in one vehicle, they weren’t making good time. Asle sat beside him, still trying to catch her breath, even as the Humvee lurched forward in awkward bursts. He heard one man fall off the roof, only to jog back to catch them.

“Fucks sake,” Summers muttered.

Hopefully the base could hold out long enough. Even if the walls fell, he’d made sure the anchor’s chamber was their fallback point, given that it was what the samr wanted, and it was also their only link between the worlds.

“We’re almost there, I can see the flag,” Bard called back.

Summers tensed, from what Viggo had said, this didn’t seem like another one of their probing attacks. They’d be going into a pitched battle.

“Right.” Summers popped the door, shuffling past two recruits, and grabbed Asle out of her seat. Jogging, he lifted her out as he ran ahead to the temporary camp full of very confused, probably very worried civilians. “Asle, we’re counting on you to stay safe here.” He paused. The radio was still down, so they’d be going in blind. “You remember the backup plan?”

“Yes?” Asle spoke as he raised her arm, opening a portal to what sounded like the apocalypse. Summers heard something out of sight roar. Glancing at Pat, the man inclined his head, that settled it.

“Twenty minutes.” Summers instructed. “If I’m not there by then, leave. But do not go in without me, understand?”

Asle nodded.

Summers smiled before hopping back into the Humvee as the others piled out. They’d need the speed, or what little of it they could get if they wanted to stay mobile.

Nearby, Pat was organizing everyone. The recruits followed his instruction without question, something Summers had to admire. They’d scraped together an army, but Pat had been the one to bring them together. Summers wasn’t sure if he could do the same. He was again grateful that he had friends that he could rely on.

“Commander,” Pat yelled. “We need you and the other Humvees on the biggest threats!”

“Got it!” Summers yelled, getting signals from the other vehicles.

He tapped the ceiling of the Humvee, grabbing Bard’s attention.

“You ready?”

“Yes, Commander,” Bard answered. He had a white knuckled grip on the steering wheel.

“I got you,” Summers said. “Just keep anything from stepping on us and we’ll be good. All right?”

“I trust you.”

“Likewise, buddy.” Summers patted Bard’s shoulder before getting into position.

With that, they launched through the portal, and directly into a man that must not have seen it open. Thankfully, Summers managed to glimpse black eyes as his head bounced off the windshield, so it wasn’t one of theirs. Unfortunately, that meant the enemy was in the middle of their base. The roar that punctuated that thought just confirmed his fears.

“Head for whatever’s making that noise!” Summers instructed.

He angled his gun out, firing into a grouping of enemy soldiers. Shots pinged off the vehicle’s armor just as a second Humvee drove out of seemingly nowhere, taking out their attackers with nearly four tons of high velocity steel. Summers couldn’t see any of his people nearby, meaning things were not going well for the base. Thankfully, Bard had been practicing in the base itself, and he negotiated corners with the speed and confidence of a man driving something he’d stolen.

From the sound of gunfire that was slowly intensifying, the others they’d brought had already made contact. They wouldn’t need to worry about cleaning up the stragglers. They’d been told to take out the big targets, and that was what they were going to do.

It was at that point their target came into view.

It was a massive, shambling mound of meat about three times as large as the other monsters. A small army of the boars he’d seen earlier were writhing on its side, with an amalgamation of other animals around them. Green deer, rodents, he even saw something that looked like an alligator. It didn’t walk, so much as flow over the ground. And they were all screaming.

Wonderful.

Summers aimed the turret and fired. A fountain of gore exploded outward, but the rest of the creature seemed unbothered, even as its mass began to move towards them.

“Fuck.” Summers leaned down. “Bard!”

The man just screamed in response.

Their Humvee drifted around a ruined building only for the creature to burst through it a moment later. Summers could see another of the Humvees firing at the creature. It did so in rapid succession, gouging chunks from its body and slowing it down just enough for Summers and Bard to make some distance. Then the other vehicle abruptly stopped only a short distance away from the creature. He could see the driver panicking.

Their engine had died.

“Army issued crap-”

Summers angled the turret on the creature, firing another shot that distracted it enough for the two in the Humvee to smartly get out and make a run for it. He was about to leave it at that before he remembered the crater his last Humvee had made. In fact, it had destroyed a sizable chunk of that monster in the city.

Summers leaned into the front.

“Bard, you think you can get us over there?”

“Yes?” Bard didn’t sound enthusiastic about the idea.

“Do it!”

Their Humvee angled towards the abandoned vehicle, and the creature, somehow, saw their path. It flowed over the other Humvee, just as Summers wanted. He aimed and fired at the dead vehicle.

BOOM!

An explosion unlike any before it tore into the amalgamation of flesh.

The reinforced windows of the Humvee shattered, a force slamming into Summers like a baseball bat. In the same instant, the world rocked as their vehicle tumbled. Finally, then their own engine died.

“Holy crap,” Summers coughed. That might not have been such a clever idea. Looking to his side, Bard was splayed across the passenger seat. “Bard, you still with me?”

He got a groan in response.

“Fucking hell,” Summers kicked the door of the Humvee until it gave.

In the distance, he could see and smell the smoldering remains of the monster. It wasn’t moving, and in fact, was mostly liquid.

Crawling out, he managed to wrangle Bard from his seat. He had a sunburn, hell Summers probably did as well. From what little he remembered about radiation, that was probably bad. Either way, he needed to get them out of there. He lifted Bard into a fireman’s carry and started running.

The battlefield was littered with corpses, some friendly, some not. Summers fell back as dozens of his people fought around him, continuing to move towards their fallback point. Looking out to the horizon, it was a sea of enemies. Most were humanoid, while others looked to be much of the wildlife. They’d underestimated the samr’s numbers by far.

There were two, maybe three other massive creatures that lay unmoving near the center. From what he could see, some were melting. Likely Roan’s blood at work. He found the culprits soon after, or rather, they found him.

“Commander!” Ayra yelled. “Over here!”

Summers vaulted over a barrier, into the crater at the center of the base. They’d been hardening the bunker that led to the anchor in preparation. The fact it was mostly rubble didn’t change the fact it was the most defensible area of the base they had. And when dealing with an enemy that vastly outnumbered them, having someplace they could defend and bottleneck those numbers was on the top of their list of priorities.

Summers spotted Viggo as he approached, the man moved to take his brother from Summers.

“He’s alive,” Summers said. “Try to get him some help.” He turned to Ayra. “How is it?”

“Not ideal,” Ayra replied. “We’re retreating to the bunker, you got here just as we pulled back.”

Judging from the pockets of resistance they were putting down, the samr’s people weren’t very organized.

Which could be a result of killing their leadership.

“How many we looking at?”

“Too many. Whatever you did had them pulling back, they weren’t as organized, but they’re recovering.” Ayra said.

Another roar in the distance, followed by a second, and a third put him on edge.

Summers moved past her, gesturing.

“Come on, we need to get underground before those things show up.”

She paled but followed.

As they navigated the only slightly cleared corridor that led to the bunker, Asle found him. Roan stood beside her, looking extremely pale. The kid might have donated a little too much of his blood.

Summers handed his gun off to Ayra.

“Asle, we’re going with plan B, you ready?” She looked hesitant. He didn’t blame her, this whole plan banked on her being able to keep control of herself. “Asle, no matter what happens we all owe our lives to you, okay? You’re the reason we got us this far.”

“What is a plan b?” Ayra asked.

Summers gestured down the corridor.

“We’re taking our toys and going home. Get everyone downstairs and ready to evacuate. Pat should already have our people on the way but send out anyone we can spare to grab the stragglers. They do not want to be here when we leave.”

“Anything I can do?” Roan asked.

“Roan, you’re barely standing on your feet.” He glanced at Asle. “Actually, do you think you can still take her in a fight?”

Asle glanced back at the only slightly older boy.

Roan paused.

“I feel like this is one of those questions I shouldn’t answer.”

“Fine, if Asle starts walking towards the anchor, try to hold her back. We’re going to do something stupid.”

“Stupid how?”

“We need to move the anchor into the obsidian world, that way the samr can’t get it. But the only person that can do that is Asle. She can’t get close to it, so I’m going to move it further away.”

Both Asle and Summers had a reaction on seeing the anchor. Summers, less so. And after his second round of brain surgery that might not even be an issue. Denying the samr the anchor by moving it into the other world had always been an idea they’d floated around, but given Asle’s reaction to it, and the fact they didn’t want to risk her, it hadn’t been something they were keen to test. Especially if the only thing keeping her sane was the fact the anchor was buried under tons of rock. But desperate times called for desperate measures.

“You, ready?” Summers looked to Asle.

“Yes.”

“When you hear me yell, make a portal as close to me as you can. In the meantime, work on getting anyone we can out of here.”

Asle nodded, and Summers move into the chamber proper. Some elves were scattered around, a handful of injured being cared for by the few civilians that had volunteered to stay back. They were already working to clear the place as Summers approached the anchor.

It was far larger, and more whole than the last time he saw it, the large scar running down the center even more prominent now. As he got closer, he could feel a pull, if slightly, in the back of his mind. He pushed that feeling away.

“Time for you to go on a trip.”

Summers searched the area, finding a girder that he could lift. If what he’d heard about Wendel was true, this thing could easily infect someone that touched it. No need to take that risk. Pressing the metal against the surface, he started to push. A metallic screech filled the air as he slowly edged the anchor to the far side of the room. As he did, tendrils of black reached out towards him, but couldn’t close the distance, even as the tingle in the back of his head escalated to a full-blown migraine.

“Fuck this thing.” Another moment, and Summers finally hit the back wall. “Asle!”

Summers saw Asle appear in the distance, Roan beside her. For a moment, she froze. Roan looked at her, saying something, she didn’t react. Then her expression turned angry. She stretched out her arm, and a portal appeared beside Summers. The anchor pulsed at the same moment, and then everything went to hell.

Either the anchor had some way of knowing something was wrong, the portal had affected it, or it just didn’t like him. Whatever the reason, those stubby tendrils shot out to wrap around Summers. He reached out, and grabbed one of them, pressing his will into it. The anchor stilled, and Summers smiled.

It was just like the hamr.

“Got you.” Summers dragged it the last few feet, before the portal collapsed, leaving Summers on bare stone in a cave on the obsidian world.

It only took a few seconds to tear free from the anchor after he was clear. Staring up, the anchor pulsed repeatedly as more portals opened around him, his people streaming inside.

He had no idea how important the anchor even was to the samr, but they were all certain that if they wanted to survive, they couldn’t let them have it.

Soldiers fell to the ground, panting nearby. Most showed anger that he’d only seen on an elf’s face a handful of times. The obsidian world had always been their last line of defense, and as such they had more than a few supplies squirreled away here. But a loss was still a loss, and it showed.

As Asle appeared, Roan and Ayra in tow, Summers moved to them.

“Asle, are you okay?” He glanced at the anchor far in the distance.

“Yes,” Asle panted, clearly strained. Then she grabbed her head. “No.”

Summers put a hand on her, it looked like she was concentrating. That concentration took on a painful air.

“Asle, Asle!” Summers pressed down on her neck, sensing the hamr. It was quivering inside her head. He willed it to still, and Asle’s face relaxed. Whatever the skeen’s power did, it was at least interfering with whatever the anchor was trying. Keeping this up would be a drain on his already tired body, but that didn’t matter. “Sit down, I got you.”

The two rested on the black stone, and Summers took in his surroundings. Pat had everyone organized, making sure they didn’t leave anyone behind. After double, then triple checking with his sergeants, he approached the two.

“How many did we lose?” Summers asked.

“Too many,” Pat said.

Summers hesitated, before putting an arm on his friends’ shoulder.

“We’ll make it through this. I don’t know what the hell our next move is, but we will.”

“I know.”

“. . .Do you still have the remote?”

“. . .Yes.”

Summers had spent the last few weeks making sure any explosives the base had, and that he didn’t trust the elves with, were rigged to one controller. They’d massed them around the weapons neither Summers nor the elves were able to utilize, including the few missile trucks, or TEL’s that had somehow been locked down by the army before they left. Their destruction wouldn’t do as much as a missile would, but it would put the equipment out of commission. It was one of the few tricks he’d managed to pick up from Cortez’s rants on the subject.

“Asle.” Summers said. “We just need one more portal, and we’re done.”

Asle took a deep breath, and Summers relaxed his hold on the hamr. A portal appeared, and Pat took a small controller out of his pocket, then hesitated.

“It’s gone.” Summers said. “We can’t do anything about it now.”

He pressed the button three times, then tossed the remote in. The portal closed just as a chain of explosions sounded in the distance, and Summers just knew whatever was near the base was about to have a very, very bad day.

And that was that. Their base, everything they’d built up, and whatever they’d left behind, was gone.

Summers stood, lifting Asle along with him. It probably wouldn’t hurt to put some distance between her and the anchor.

“Come on. Let’s go see what the damage was. Then we can plan our next move.”