It began with a scream.

  Not the startled cry of a dreamer waking, nor the quiet terror of a lone sentry spotting something in the dark—but a raw, ripping shriek. It cut across the clearing like a blade, snapping people upright where they slept, shattering the brief calm of night.

  Miriam was already moving, Knife in hand, cloak half-dragging behind her. “South line!” she shouted.

  The fire hadn't even gone out yet. Embers flickered across the camp floor, throwing long shadows as figures burst from lean-tos, hands empty or fumbling for weapons—sticks, stones, spears, knives, whatever they had.

  Then came the second scream. And the third.

  From the southern perimeter, goblins poured through like ants from a ruptured hill—ten, twenty, maybe more. At the front, something taller. Bulkier. A head taller than any goblin, muscle-wrapped and wielding a jagged axe.

  Hobgoblin.

  “TO ARMS!” Jared shouted, swinging his crude axe toward the wave.

  The perimeter broke like paper. Stakes toppled, noise traps snapped. The goblins came screaming, eyes glinting with savage hunger, clawed hands lashing out at anyone within reach.

  Vin, still on crutches, swung a torch wildly as one lunged for him. Camila slammed into it from the side, Knife piercing under its ribs. She pulled free and pivoted—another came in low. She kicked it in the jaw hard enough to send teeth scattering.

  Near the center of the camp, Yusuf lit up. His aura flared as he dropped into Ten. Two goblins came at him—one with a club, the other with nothing but nails. His branch struck like a hammer, catching one in the temple caving in its head. It dropped twitching. The other lunged—and he sidestepped, then drove a boot into its ribs snapping bone and sending the creature rolling a few meters.

  Alex stood over Ellie, who was still scrambling for her stick. A goblin charged them—Alex didn’t hesitate. He tackled it low, dragging it to the dirt. It shrieked in his face before he shoved a sharpened stone into its neck again and again until the body stopped twitching.

  More were coming.

  “We hold the line here!” Miriam shouted, parrying a blow. “Don’t let them into the center!”

  The center housed the most vulnerable, the few elderly and kids in the camp.

  Jason roared as he drove a spear into the gut of one, only for another to latch onto his back. He stumbled. Theo yanked the goblin off with a brutal swing of a club, then dragged Jason upright. Blood dripped from Jason’s shoulder, but he stayed standing.

  The hobgoblin entered the camp like a king. It didn’t rush—it walked. Confident. Stone Axe dripping with blood, goblins swarming around it like rats. Its eyes found David.

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  And David saw it coming.

  He stepped forward, saber in hand. “Hey,” he said. “Come on then.”

  It roared—deep and guttural. Then it charged.

  David sidestepped the first swing barely. The axe buried into the ground. David slashed across its thigh, drawing thick black blood. It howled and backhanded him. He hit the ground hard and didn’t get up.

  Kevin, a quiet unassuming man, charged it from the black stabbing it with a wooden spear. It screeched and turned, grabbing and ripping out the spear, but keeping hold, Kevin tugged at it, a foolish action. The beast brought down its axe with no mercy, driving it deep into Kevins head, a bubbling sounds was made as brain matter escaped. The hobgoblin didn’t spare a second look it turned, watching the chaos unfolding with a grin across its face.

  Goblins were everywhere, the flickering flames offering no light, no moon shining on this night. The eyesight of goblins, better in the dark, lent to them a much needed advantage. The few torches set up offered some reprise for the survivors.

  Roger seeing the Hobgoblin distracted threw a spear. It buried itself in the hobgoblin’s shoulder. This caused it to screech again, shrill and distracting. But it kept moving forward, swinging madly, chasing Miriam and Jared as they tried to flank it.

  Elsewhere, Li was screaming—not in fear, but in effort. Her palms glowed faintly, and with a burst of raw instinct, she forced a goblin backward with a pulse of unstable magic. It wasn’t a spell. It wasn’t pretty. But it bought her time a second of time.

  Ellie appeared behind it and drove her sharpened stick through the back of its neck, its darkened blood spraying onto Marcy, who screamed in shock and terror.

  Wren was covered in blood—not all of it hers. She stood beside Yusuf now, their backs together. “This your idea of training?” she shouted.

  “I’m learning fast,” he grunted, striking another down.

  Jake dragged Dev behind a crate as the boy clutched a gash in his side. “Stay here. Stay down. If they breach again—run.”

  Turning he saw, saw through the flickering lights someone go down, as goblins swarmed them, ripping them with their sharpened nails and teeth, rending his flesh. The poor women’s broken screams pierced the night, till an abrupt end, she was finished off.

  The hobgoblin struck Miriam’s hand holding her knife with such force it sent it flying. She ducked the follow-up swing with the axe, rolled, came up with a spear scavenged from a corpse. It snarled at her, wounded now, bleeding from multiple places—but still very much alive.

  Alex charged it from the side.

  Not because it was smart. Not because it was tactical. Because someone had to.

  He hit its flank hard, knife drawn, stabbing into its side. It roared and grabbed him, hurling him into a goblin. Alex scrambled against it, stab after stab, till it stopped moving.

  Then Yusuf came.

  Aura blazing, He’d used Ren, he only had about 30 seconds now, he struck the hobgoblin in the ribs with everything he had caving in the beast’s chest. No more noise.

  It dropped like a puppet with its strings cut.

  This caused the goblins to route, their mighty leader cut down.

  It was all Miriam needed. She didn’t give her people a chance to rest.

  “FOLLOW, BEFORE THEY REACH THE FOREST, KILL AS MANY AS YOU CAN” She was very pissed.

  The Broken goblins paid no mind to their comrades dropping around them. They fled into the trees, shrieking in disarray, leaving blood and bodies behind.

  Jared slumped to a knee. Camila leaned on her blade. Yusuf collapsed after reactivating Ten, which was feeble. Alex looked around many goblins had been slain, some still moved with broken limbs.

  “QUCKLY NOW, CHECK THE INJURED AND THE DEAD, WE HAVE TO SEE WHO WE CAN SAVE” Jared screamed.

  No rest, not yet.

  The camp was a ruin. Blood soaked the dirt. Shelters destroyed, bodies strewn about.

  The fire burned low. Smoke curled into the sky.

  Groans and screams of pains lit up the night.