Afterworld: The First Beast

It was something like a boar, a razorback, if you'd made it the size of a moving van and crossed it with an armadillo. It was snuffling around in the underbrush, and for a long moment I considered just backing away and leaving it to forage. Then it looked up, locked eyes with us, snarled, and charged, 

Jason grounded the butt of the boar spear and caught the beast in the throat, while I bounced an arrow off its forehead. I'd been aiming for an eye, but I missed. The spear snapped, but Jason rolled aside and sliced into its armor as it passed, his spines doing their work. Another arrow shattered at the joint of its neck and shoulder -- Ishanna's work -- and I heard a curse from back among the trees.  

Injured, the beast spun, trying to decide which of us to attack.

That was when Devon pounced on its back and sank his teeth into its neck. It thrashed, trying to fling him off, and its tusks tore up huge chunks of underbrush and scraped  gouges in the ground. I tried another bow shot but missed again. Its skin was just too thick to pierce that way, and those small black eyes were difficult targets. Jenny came in under it, clawing at its gut, but while she managed to draw blood it wasn't anywhere near a killing blow. She came out the other side and darted away, further distracting it. 

Then I heard a pff like somebody blowing out a candle, and part of its right foreleg exploded. That was the power the monks had given Mary: her breath was shield and weapon and conjured reinforcements, depending on how she shaped it. Evidently she'd decided on sniping. 

The beast reared with a grunting howl, then slammed its hooves down. Devon was still clinging to its neck, claws and teeth hooked firmly into the edges of its scales and trying to chew his way through. Jason had circled off to one side and was yelling abuse at it, trying to keep its attention on him. Then a crack of thunder split the air. 

Ishanna had given up on her bow, and gone to the rifle instead. The hole she made was cleaner than the one Mary had given it, but probably deeper. I dropped my bow and drew the Zombie Cleaver; it was my only other option, and the bow had done nothing so far. 

That was the moment the beast decided to come at me, charging at me like an oncoming train and lowering its head for a scooping slash with those massive tusks. If it managed to connect, it was going to cut me in half. 

I waited, calculating the timing. 

Then there was another pff and it stumbled, and I took that opening to dart in, kick off my altered left leg, and throw myself up and past its tusks at just the right angle to take out its left eye with the Zombie Cleaver, cutting on the pass. Behind me, I heard it squeal -- but I was busy moving, putting distance between us. 

Then the thunder rolled again, and the beast staggered and fell onto its side, throwing Devon loose. Jenny came out of the trees in a blur, found his place, and dug her claws in, ripping into its flesh.

It shuddered, squealed once more, but lay still. 

Ishanna's bullet had taken it through the eye.