Sergeant Onaem nods his head with a solemn expression; around him, steam pours out from the liquefied metal draining across what’s left of the hard shell of the Mach Dozer. As small flames surround the head of our squad leader, a tall, skeletal body emerges from behind him.
I see a pair of thick, feathery wings wrapped around a grey and white body without legs. A skull missing its lower jaw peers out from between black fur; its wings part to expose hundreds of black bugs covering its ribs and compensating for its lack of flesh.
Four long arms of bare bone wrap themselves around Onaem’s body. The winged Ajalu lowers its skull and inhales to create a vacuum which tears at the skin on our squad leader’s head.
As Sergeant Onaem begins to scream, pieces of his skull separate as insects are d
