Night had fallen.
The moon had risen, no longer candyfloss pink, but a deep red, a crescent gash torn into the horizon, shining through a gap in roiling clouds that hung dark and heavy above.
And the sky was bleeding.
"Danger coming! Run! Now!" Maria, now a massive fox herself, gnashed her teeth, eyes wide.
Miles felt red droplets splash against his thick fur, sticking to the fabric of his clothes. Almost at once it felt as though razor sharp barbs had driven into his flesh.
"Ah!" He stumbled back through the doorway, slamming it shut with a tail. Veins of crimson spread across his robe, tiny eyeballs briefly rippling open along its surface before the living leaves turned green once more.
"Nasty." Miles scraped blood off his fur before it could soak through more, rubbing where the rain had "bit" him.
"Danger! Leave!" Maria pressed against him, sharp claws protruding from her fingers.
"I can't go running around out there." Miles shook his head. She was barely coherent at this point. "I'm not-"
Lightning flashed through the hole in the roof, rumbling through his bones to shiver up his spine. Miles bolted under the table with a yelp, fur bristling.
And he wasn't alone. Maria shivered right alongside him, holding his arm in a vicelike grip.
"You…" Miles muttered through gritted teeth. "You too, huh?"
Better monsters than lightning.
And better an army than that tainted rain.
A crimson hand smashed against the door, tearing it open. Flowing red oozed down the wooden surface as a shambling, dripping red humanoid staggered into the room. Partially liquefied flesh sloughed off the bone as it sighted the pair of cowering foxes with pupilless yellow eyes and lurched forward, opening a lopsided jaw in its distorted face.
Lightning crashed again, eliciting a series of bubbling howls from the street outside.
Miles flinched. Seemed like the world had heard his thoughts and responded with a cheerful "why not both?". This was apparently exception number two to the safety that the town - or its inhabitants? - provided.
He reached into his hammerspace, pulling free a pistol and pulling the trigger in the same motion. A salvo of brightly coloured pellets snapped forth, exploding into bursts of paint as they hit the blood man with surprising force. Chunks of red blasted off its body, sending it stumbling to a momentary halt. The monster snarled, molten flesh flowing to cover the impact. Red blended brown and purple as it mixed with paint before a blazing hammer swung down on its head, turning the whole thing into a smoking stain on the ground.
Miles frowned, glowing weapon sat in the puddle of hissing remains as he grimaced at the downpour outside. Should he tell Amy about this thing? She did appreciate a good hammer-
Another lightning flash revealed more shambling figures approaching from the gloom. He brought out the paintball pistol once more, liberally spraying the approaching horde with trembling aim.
Lightning couldn't reach him here. He was in a stone building. A stone building with a hole in the roof. A stone building with a hole in the roof in the middle of a rainstorm where the rain posed a good chance of turning him into the very things he was shooting, and the terrified pit in his stomach didn't care that lightning couldn't reach here. There was a non-zero chance that it could hit the ground nearby and-
Flash. Another crash of terror drowned out Miles' surprised yelp. Arms wrapped around his shoulders as a fuzzy form leapt on him from behind, Maria herself trembling in terror. Weirdly comforting. Was this a "misery loves company" thing? At least it was just sheet lightning, and far away. Distance meant safety, safety meant he could think, if only a little.
Focus. Miles fired once more. A blood man finally collapsed under the punishment, becoming one with the rain. A flying polyp made of equal parts blood and eyes took its place, drifting towards the building. A distant explosion preceded the ratatat of gunfire.
The others. Presumably they weren't in danger from the rain? Probably in danger from this horde.
"Maria! You need to let go of me!"
She growled wordlessly in response. Something scraped up the back of his head.
"Are you licking me? Gross."
Without the charge packs on his armour there was no way he could use his beam gun for more than a fraction of a second, and with her dragging at him there was no way he could-
Lightning flashed, banishing the thought. A robot, the same type as the one he'd encountered on his first night, charged in from the dark, rain and paint dripping from its armour. He slammed his hammer down on its outstretched arm, severing it neatly at the shoulder. A second swing tore it in half. Hollow metal chunks hissed down to nothing.
Great, not a robot. Try not to think about it.
More figures swarmed the entrance. Miles swung and shot on autopilot. He'd fought armies before. The most important part was to keep your body moving. Once you stopped, that was the end. That was when they got you.
Another explosion. They were still fighting. Was Cosmo still here? Had she gone back to her tree?
Could he reach them? What did he have? Dirt? Armour he couldn't wear? The simple metal blades he'd found were more use for whittling than fighting, and it wasn't like he could fight his way there in the rain anyway. Hard to think when lightning kept setting his brain to primal.
He thrust his hammer out, raindrops hissing against its blazing surface as it punched straight through the pelvis of a rotting humanoid and into the chest of the one behind. Both hurtled backwards, flaming projectiles that burst into the horde with brutal effect. However many he killed, more just kept coming from between the buildings, flooding the street with enemies.
Miles slammed the door closed in the face of another blood man with a horrid squelch. Heavy blows smashed against the door, shaking it on its hinges.
Lightning flashed again through the hole in the roof. Miles squirmed around in Maria's grasp, shooting a large bird - fish? - that flew in the opening.
… Alright, that could work.
"Come on!" He dragged the fox-woman across the room's cluttered furniture, calling his helmet out of hammerspace. A weight that never really left now hung heavy on his head once more.
At least she wouldn't be able to lick him now.
Miles breathed, pulling his goggles down over his eyes and scarf up over his face. If he kept his head forward he could keep his ears protected by the helmet at least. Tails… He pulled them up against Maria, using them to peel her grip away.
The door burst open, a shambling corpse stumbling in dressed in what appeared to be a top hat and tuxedo, followed by a polyp, chunks of flesh dripping from its frame.
"Hold tight!" Miles yelled unnecessarily as he grabbed her wrist, kicking off to launch up to the roof, tails blazing as he ascended. Rain hissed away on contact.
There, he grabbed the edge of the ledge, pulling Maria up behind him with a grunt. Even if he was strong enough to lift her more than a hundred times over she was still plenty heavy enough to pull him over if he wasn't careful.
Lightning flashed overhead, illuminating tiny clouds drifting towards them at unnatural speeds.
Miles extended his hands, pulling out lumps of dirt to seal the hole in the roof before forming a crude igloo around them block by block, finally jabbing a torch into place to bring some light into the pitch black enclosure.
Perfect. He spun his tails, burning away a few stray drops still sat on his fur.
"You'll be safe here." He firmly removed her grip, slipping towards the entrance.
"Leave! Bad night!" Maria moved to follow him, but another crash of distant thunder drove her back with a whimper.
"I'll be back soon." Miles stepped out, armour slipping into place around his body, cannon in his hands as he straightened. Lightning flashed, illuminating a seemingly endless mob of assorted monsters swarming below. "Maybe."
He couldn't stay out here for long. His poncho would probably eat him if nothing else.
Gunfire sounded out once more. Miles twisted the dial on his cannon to "2" as he glanced towards the noise.
Needles of liquid lanced down from above, clear rather than red, falling against his armoured wrist to tear a deep gouge in the fabric of his robe.
Unable to look up, Miles fired randomly above, rapidfire beams spreading out in all directions like a ridiculously exaggerated shotgun spread.
The downward assault ended, chunks of several creatures splattering down nearly indistinguishable from the crimson downpour.
Time to move. His beam gun blazed down, green among red into the crowd as Miles leapt from roof to roof, heading towards the outside of town. The creatures that survived followed like a wave, crashing through buildings to spill out the other side. They climbed over one another trying to reach him until he leapt in a graceful spiral through the hole in the wall of the building, blasting apart a blood man with a flaming punch as he landed. Dante and Cherry both looked at him open-mouthed.
"Hi!" Miles waved at them, twisting the dial on his cannon to "3" and levelling it to the open doorway. "Thought you might need some help."
Coils slipped into place as crude clockwork gears lined up with one another in a single unbroken sequence. He pulled the trigger, sparks of green crackling from the barrel of the cannon for a few seconds before a solid line of energy scorched forth, tearing a gap through the enemy swarm and setting fire to a tree on the far end of the town.
Finally the beam faded to nothing, batteries, and his own mojo, drained by the cannon's overwhelming power consumption.
"Are you two alright?" Miles turned his back to the now empty street, lifting the cannon over his shoulder in what he hoped was a cool pose.
They stared at him. Miles peered down at himself, robe more crimson than green at this point. Had he let his other tail poke out?
"What the heck are you still doing here?" Dante stormed towards him, gun raised.
"Didn't Maria find you?" Cherry shook her head, an unthrown grenade still held in one hand. "You should have run."
Miles tilted his head in confusion.
Wait, they weren't looking at him.
Miles turned back to the street, torrential rain the only sound outside.
And then lightning flashed overhead, revealing not one but two massive eyes staring down at them from above.
Oh no.
Miles stepped back as two pupils larger than he was tall began to glow with power.
This was going to be a terrible night.
