Chapter 3: Ninth Fortress

She couldn’t make out how it moved. Countless bone legs like those of a centipede rolled across the sand, and in the blink of an eye, it had clambered up near the vehicle’s cargo hold.

But it was far larger than any centipede. Bones from all sorts of beasts were fused together in impossible poses—like it had grown dozens of legs, dozens of arms, and dozens of skulls. The sheet-metal cargo hold only came up to its waist, if that twisted mess could even be called a waist.

Dry bones alone might have been tolerable, but clinging to it were strips of wind-dried beast hide, dangling eyeballs, and crimson threads like mycelium threading through its entire body.

A rotten stench rose from the dust, turning her stomach.

An He’s fingers dug into the iron plating of the vehicle’s side, gripping harder than she realized. Her eyes locked onto the Bone Eater. Dangling from its body was a rat reduced to bones and shriveled skin—its skull flattened, fur matted with blood, hind legs embedded in what should have been its chest cavity. Its front claws still waved at her.

She didn’t think the rat was waving hello.

Boom!

Asta’s Molotov cocktail struck the Bone Eater dead-on. An He watched the rat’s filthy fur catch fire in the blaze, then more cocktails streaked past the vehicle, every one hitting its mark. The roaring flames reflected in all three women’s eyes.

An He glanced back. Asta leaned out from the vehicle’s frame, lips pressed thin, her yellow-green eyes fixed ahead as the wind whipped her red forelock up and down.

She had to be in her thirties, but there was no weariness on her face. An He suddenly felt the sheer awe of raw power.

An He could easily tell that Heidi, firing from the other side, was the support while Asta was the main firepower. The woman’s marksmanship was exceptional—calm, precise.

The Molotovs slowed the Bone Eater. It was forced to release the “claws” hooked into the cargo hold, dropping behind and putting distance between it and their vehicle.

But the danger wasn’t over. The Bone Eater, wreathed in fireballs, doggedly pursued them from the rear. It was hundreds of times tougher than the ones that dropped with a single shot in the woods.

Once it was out of range, Asta stopped firing. She cherished her Bullet.

Asta: “Heidi, notify Thorn Lamp to go on alert.”

“Got it.” Heidi stowed her gun and slipped back into the cab, taking control of the vehicle again. She grabbed a palm-sized radio from the dash, hit the button, and reported rapidly.

“Control station, this is Heidi from Logistics and Asta from the Vanguard Team. Tier Four Bone Eater sighted at thirty degrees east-northeast of the Ninth Fortress. One confirmed, threat level unknown, ten kilometers out. Prepare defenses—prepare defenses.”

The radio crackled twice, then a woman’s voice responded on speaker: “Copy that. Activating Level Three defenses.”

“No, Level Three isn’t enough. Bump it to Level Two at least,” Heidi shot back. “Only one spotted so far, but they don’t usually travel alone. Heighten alert. If we can’t shake it, seal the gates and come salvage the vehicle once it’s clear.”

“Copy that.” There was a pause from the other end. “Good luck to you and Asta.”

An He’s heart skipped. That sounds an awful lot like parting words.

She noticed Heidi only warned about defenses, nothing else. An He leaned forward sharply: “No call for backup?”

“No backup.” Heidi let out a hearty laugh and set the radio down, stomping the accelerator. “Three years ago, we ran into the same thing. Two team members trading supplies in the outer wastes hit six Bone Eaters. They died—along with the rescue squad. Heavy losses. So now, Thorn Lamp members out in the field? No rescue option.”

“Why…” An He trailed off. It sounded downright inhumane.

Heidi’s tone stayed light: “No choice. Thorn Lamp members are rare. We save ’em for the knife’s edge—protecting the fortress and humanity. Dying to save a teammate? Not worth it. We all agree on that. Out in the Wasteland, if you run into Bone Eaters, you survive on your own power—and make damn sure you don’t lead them back to the fortress.”

“But aren’t you human too?”

“Us?” Heidi barked a cheerful laugh. “Sure… I guess. We’re the expendable batch. For Thorn Lamp, some member sacrifices are acceptable—keeps total casualties to a minimum.”

Heidi grinned wide, like she always did. But An He didn’t think this was a grinning matter.

She couldn’t quite grasp Thorn Lamp’s philosophy. Asta had called it an armed group.

An He had pictured something like a powerful government army. Clearly, that wasn’t it.

Curiosity burned hot. “What is Thorn Lamp, exactly?” she asked again.

Asta answered this time, with a new take: “The road to survival and rebuilding civilization is paved with thorns. We’re the lamp that ensures humanity endures.”

It sounded like a creed. In that moment, An He saw Thorn Lamp members as weapons imbued with a special creed—”sacrifice self to protect others” hardcoded into their brains.

No, wait—not weapons. Heidi and Asta brimmed with strong self-awareness and unique personalities. If anything, they were like a pride led by a fierce matriarch on the grasslands: the strong protected the group, foraged for food, struck when needed, sacrificed when necessary. Clever, savage, vibrant with life.

And unafraid of death.

An He finally pinned down the wildness radiating from these two. Is this how humans survive after civilization falls—reverting to primal ways in the barbaric wilds?

Not quite what she’d imagined.

An He peered out the window again. Sand had doused some of the fire on the Bone Eater; now it sparked and smoked as it chased relentlessly, picking up speed.

“But today’s different,” Asta said, tilting her head slightly against the gunstock, peering through the scope for the first time. “We’ve got a new teammate aboard. Heidi, shake that Bone Eater however you can. Get An He and the salt back safe.”

Heidi called back loudly: “Gonna depend on our luck!”

An He felt oddly singled out, a twinge of unworthiness creeping in. She wasn’t special—her life had been a string of failures. No one should risk their neck for her.

She rarely felt this inferior, but helplessness brought it bubbling up.

Fingering a hangnail, she asked Asta: “Didn’t you say earlier you weren’t gonna save me?”

“You’re not mutating anytime soon, so you’re one of us now. Thorn Lamp’s duty is protecting folks like you.”

An He laughed wryly. This redhead’s categories were brutally straightforward.

“Alright, friends—heads up, new Bone Eater at four o’clock,” Heidi rapped the iron bar, pointing to the right-side mirror. “Wait till it’s in range.”

An He poked her head out. Sure enough, a slightly smaller Bone Eater emerged from the dust haze. Unlike the hulking first one that lumbered upright, this moved like a massive ambulatory beetle.

So no two Tier Four Bone Eaters look alike.

Heidi fished a canister of liquid gas from the storage bin, along with a lighter, and tossed them to An He: “They hate high heat. If one grabs you, light it up for an emergency burn.”

An He clutched it: “Do they eat people?”

“With mouths? Nah.” Heidi worked the wheel expertly, zigzagging their path. “They rip you apart, infect you, then cram your Skeleton Frame into some empty spot on their body. Mycelium glues it in place. Once you rot and dry out, you’re part of them.”

An He pictured herself dangling from one.

Bet that’d reek.

“So they’re bulking up?”

“Yeah. Bigger Tier Four means more destruction.”

Mid-conversation, Asta shifted into full combat mode, varying her firing angles. Ejected shells flew wildly; hot wind carrying gasoline fumes blasted into the cab, even through the cloth strips.

Dead-on hits, but they wouldn’t drop easy.

The vehicle jolted hard—the rear hold had been grabbed. Heidi cranked the wheel; the cargo swung in a massive arc, slamming the Bone Eater with a bang!

An He’s heart raced; she nearly flew out. She clutched the gas canister and grabbed the rail with her free hand. Looking up, she saw Asta vault over the cab roof, rifle slung, striding past her like solid ground.

Asta bounded to the rear hold.

The vehicle snaked through the desert, using momentum to shake pursuit, while Asta crouched steady on the roof, gun braced and aimed.

In a reload gap, she pried a grenade from the hold and hurled it in a perfect arc—snagging on the Bone Eater’s jutting bone.

Boom!

The blast was close; the whole vehicle shuddered. Asta’s red hair singed at the edges. Without waiting for the smoke to clear, she yanked another explosive round from the hold.

Every handy spot on this rig was taped down with beige strips holding weapons.

An He had never seen such savage, fearless assault—like baiting the monster with her own flesh and blood.

This woman really isn’t afraid to die.

The hold dented badly from the hits but held miraculously.

They covered more ground. Asta had shredded half the big Bone Eater’s body, but it still twitched.

A heavy clunk—another jolt. Heidi scowled and bellowed: “Asta! The hold’s hook-lock is trashed!”

The smaller Bone Eater had used its hardened bone spikes to wreck the cab-hold linkage—down to a single sheet of metal. And Asta was still back there.

An He’s pulse spiked. These things use tactics. That means Bone Eaters have intelligence.

“You bastards—that’s a month’s salt!” Heidi cursed under her breath, repeating the maneuver. She eased off the gas and leaned out: “Asta, no waiting—use your Nestsoul!”

Nestsoul. An He heard the unfamiliar term again.

But no time for questions. As Heidi spoke, a brown-furred squirrel materialized on her shoulder.

An He’s first instinct: some Bone Eater trinket flung their way. She recoiled—then saw the tiny goggles on its forehead.

What the hell?!

Not a real squirrel—more like a dust wisp, a projection.

The squirrel snatched a small wrench from Heidi’s overall strap, scampered along the frame toward the damaged linkage—off to make repairs.

An He thought the earlier weirdness was peak crazy. This was straight-up magical.

Before she could process, a beastly roar echoed from the hold. Glancing back, she saw a massive lioness beside Asta—yellow-green eyes chilling as her partner’s.

The lioness sprang, slamming the smaller Bone Eater. Jaws clamped its head; a savage twist ripped free a chunk of white bone, flinging it to the sands. They tumbled into the yellow dunes, locked in mortal combat.

The vehicle pressed on.

Asta seized the moment, straddling the weakened cab-hold junction, hauling the iron frame with both hands to hold it together. Buying time for Heidi’s squirrel to fix.

Nestsoul. That’s Nestsoul.

An He snapped her head up. Is this Thorn Lamp members’ true nature?!

Eyes wide, she leaned out to pass a wrench to Little Squirrel. Heidi drove on ahead, fallen silent in intense focus.

No one noticed, amid the urgency, two smaller Bone Eaters slink from the fog. They crawled under the vehicle to the cab, then—while Asta was exposed—ten bony fingers seized her right arm.

They were dragging her off!

An He scowled, scrambled from the back seat, and unloaded the gas canister on them point-blank. Lighter flicked—a scorching wave blazed, reddening her face.

The Bone Eaters recoiled from the heat, but its grip on Asta didn’t slack. Bony fingertips pierced cloth, dug into flesh, yanking her down.

An He reacted with lightning reflexes, tossing aside the gas canister and grabbing Asta’s left hand. Her wound still throbbed with pain, making it hard for her to grip tightly, so she had to lean even further out. That’s when she saw that Asta’s legs were still hooked tightly around the vehicle’s frame—until that Little Squirrel fixed the connecting lock, Asta finally released her legs.

The moment her strength slackened, combined with the Bone Eater’s pull, Asta’s lower body plummeted downward, scraping against the jagged rocks in the crevice. The vehicle kept surging forward, the metal edge of her shoe nearly sparking against the stones.

Unexpectedly, Asta remained utterly calm. “Let go. Sit back,” she commanded An He.

An He didn’t dare release her grip. Asta swiftly hooked her foot around the iron railing beside the vehicle frame and violently shook off An He’s arm.

An He couldn’t hold on; her hand slipped free. But Asta didn’t fall from the vehicle.

This warrior stabilized herself with her legs and core, hanging upside down from the frame as she grappled with the Bone Eater’s brute force.

With her freed left hand, she reached under the vehicle for the tape stuck to the underside and pulled out a long knife gleaming with cold light.

In the instant An He blinked, Asta swung that long knife toward her own right arm.

Scalding blood splattered onto An He’s face with a wet splat.

An He froze.

“Remember, once a Tier Four Bone Eater hooks you, there’s no escaping,” Asta said, continuing to hack at the two monsters that had claimed her arm with that bloodied blade.

A kick sent An He tumbling back into her seat.

“I don’t need your help. Hide under the seat,” Asta said. With one hand gripping the railing, she repelled the Bone Eater and flipped back onto the roof of the vehicle.

Her braided red hair had come undone. Rifle on her back, knife in one hand, she called out, “Heidi, two of us can’t handle four Bone Eaters. I’ll buy time—floor it while you can.”

An He understood what she meant.

It seemed they were truly committed to that damned creed of theirs. Asta let out a strange cry toward the distance. That lioness came charging back at an unbelievable speed. Then Asta leaped from the vehicle, landing with the lioness one to the left, one to the right, pouncing on the monsters trailing behind.

Asta must have fired her gun—how else to explain the soaring flames?

She probably took the grenades from the vehicle too—otherwise, where did those deafening explosions come from?

The vehicle kept pressing forward.

Heidi was actually following Asta’s orders.

An He slumped into her seat, staring wide-eyed at the scene unfolding diagonally behind them.

She should have been more accepting of this by now, but everything that had just happened gripped her throat like a giant hand, pounding against her sanity like war drums. She felt the blood in her limbs surging tumultuously.

Sparks of barbarism and civilization, primal instinct and ordered resolve roasted her mind in turns.

She was shocked. How can a person march toward death so decisively?

The firelight was so clear in her eyes; she could even see the singed fur rising in the flames. The receding scene slowed to an excruciating crawl—the sand kicked up by the wheels was distinct, grain by grain.

“Asta.”

She murmured the name of her fellow survivor.

In that instant, shadows erupted skyward, blotting out the heavens. Black feathers burst from the back seat of the off-roader, swarming toward the distant firelight.

Heidi jerked her head up, staring in astonishment at the flock of birds that had appeared out of nowhere. She’d read about them in books: Bering Crows—black-feathered, red-eyed, massive and ferocious.

While Heidi was still marveling at where these things had come from, she caught sight of An He standing up and squeezing through the gap in the vehicle frame. Ignoring the speed, An He leaped into the gravel, her left shoe pounding the ground as she raced toward where Asta had vanished.

“An He!” Heidi hesitated for a split second, then yanked the wheel hard. The vehicle skidded in a wide arc across the gravel.

An He could no longer hear Heidi’s shouts; she was running too fast.

Heidi quickly swung the vehicle back toward the fire site—it didn’t take long—but by the time she arrived, the flames had died down. The Bone Eaters were gone. The crows had vanished.

In the vast gray fog, only An He approached the vehicle.

On her slender shoulders, she carried a person—with familiar red hair.

For the first time, Heidi yanked off her goggles and slammed them onto the seat, cursing, “Are you trying to get yourself killed?!”

….