The beast had… missed. The monsters were ripping apart the kinbeast, the kit that needed protection. There was a scream, strange gurgling as claws tore through newly molded flesh, then nothing. The beast didn’t see, it was too busy hauling the small, furry-tailed kin towards the end of the bridge, dodging through the aberrations that sliced out towards its flanks. But it didn’t need to. The screams were loud enough.

One of its kin had perished. There would be time to mourn, but this wasn’t it. It still had to protect the rest of the kits, and the monsters were converging down the bridge, forming up on a wall. The strange ones were still pushing forward, and two of them seemed relatively capable of defending themselves. The problem was that with their two legs and small size, they were too slow.

Behind them, a gout of heat seared the creature’s tail, a bellowing roar echoing through the cavern. On an instinctive level, the animal was terrified. This wasn’t right, it was a predator, but whatever was in this cavern with them was an absolute horror. There was no fight to be had, only escape. It had to get as many of the kits out as it could.

The animal growled through the mouthful of hoodie, flexing its tail as it made to grab the… uncomfortable one. Shaking its head ever so slightly as it tore down a nearby fleshnid with its raking claws, the beast’s tail reached out towards the strange one just as he threw a fevered pitch towards the top of the fleshnid wall. The beast saw what he was doing.

The strange one needed more force. It was a wise choice, but the beast could do nothing but run and pray that it could barrel through. Pain ached through its body, blood soaking through the mane behind its skull-like face as it panted hard. They wouldn’t make it, not like this.

Except for the young kit. In a flash of inspiration, the beast remembered the strange ice the young kit had made. Between it and the metallic kit, the precision of the unpleasant one and the sheer mass of the beast, they had a chance of breaking through. Desperately, the beast shook its head towards the wall, making a large show of preparing to leap through it. Its legs tensed, muscles coiling against femurs, tendons stretched taut, fur flaring on the creature’s neck. It couldn’t speak; it had to broadcast its intentions as loudly as possible. If there wasn’t enough weakening fire through the wall, they would all perish.

If there was, this would be one hell of a beginning for the pack.