The train hissed to a stop.
Steam exploded from the brakes, covering the platform with white cloud. The engine groaned one final time, then went silent.
As Holden stepped off the train, freezing rain hit his face instantly. The ground was just a mess of thick, deep mud that tried to swallow his shoes with every step he took.
The Demon-Mouth Outpost loomed out of the dark like a giant, gloomy fortress. Massive black walls, thirty feet high, were covered in spikes and huge energy cannons. Watchtowers stuck out from the corners, their red searchlights cutting slow arcs through the rain
BOOM.
A distant explosion shook the ground. Then a second one hit.
"Was that artillery?" Renna asked, peering into the darkness from behind Holden. Her voice had lost its usual bounce. "That's definitely artillery. Why on earth are they shooting big guns at two in the morning?"
"Because the monsters don't keep office hours," Holden said.
