Ash shifted sideways just before the fire axe came down. The blade slammed into the concrete where his head had been a moment earlier and sent broken fragments spraying across the garage, but Ash was already moving back toward the creature. He raked one Demonic Power–coated hand across a fused arm, and the black mist burrowed into the wound like something alive. Flesh blackened and dissolved with a continuous hiss as foul smoke curled from the torn limb.
The fusion monster screamed and swept the axe horizontally, forcing Ash to jump back several steps. One of the younger male heads twisted toward him and stared at the two crimson points burning inside the black fog around his face. "What the hell are you?" it snarled. "You're not human either. Why are you killing your own kind?"
Ash's temper flared immediately. "Who the hell are you calling inhuman?" He pointed at the collection of distorted faces protruding from the monster. "You've got more than a dozen sets of eyes and apparently none of them work. If you can't tell the difference between me and you, shut up."
That answer enraged the fused Deadites. Different heads began shouting commands at the same time, and the monster's many arms responded with disturbing precision as weapons came at Ash from several directions. A fire axe cut downward, a length of pipe swept toward his ribs, and loose debris came flying from the side while clawed hands reached through the gaps between each attack.
Ash kept moving.
Demonic Power sharpened his reflexes enough to let him slip between the overlapping attacks, but the sheer density of the assault prevented him from mounting a proper counterattack. Whenever the black mist covering his body brushed against exposed flesh, it left deep corrosive wounds behind, yet the fused bodies immediately writhed together and began repairing the damage.
"You can't kill us!" Mr. Fonda's distorted head shouted from within the mass. "Die, freak!"
Ash had no intention of standing still and testing whether the monster's combined strength could eventually overwhelm him. He retreated through the garage while using parked vehicles and concrete support columns to break up the creature's attack angles. Behind him, the fusion monster charged without concern for its surroundings and shoved cars aside with enough force to set off one alarm after another.
Within seconds, the entire underground level filled with blaring horns and flashing lights.
Ash glanced behind him while continuing to retreat.
The fight was gradually moving toward the garage entrance.
One of the many heads suddenly turned toward a large work trailer parked along the wall. The faded lettering on the side read Fonda Tree Trimming Service, and secured to the back of the trailer was a commercial wood chipper with a wide steel feed chute facing the garage.
Several heads smiled at once.
Ash noticed.
"That can't be good."
The monster abruptly changed tactics.
Instead of continuing its coordinated weapon attacks, the entire fused mass charged straight at him like a truck made of corpses. Ash tried to move aside, but the creature accelerated faster than he expected, forcing him to cross both arms in front of his chest.
The impact launched him backward.
Ash struck the rear of the trailer hard enough to make the entire frame ring.
"Mince him!" one head shrieked.
Another twisted toward the wood chipper's control panel. A bloody hand stretched across the fused bodies, reached the starting lever, and slammed it down.
The machine roared to life.
Steel blades began spinning inside the drum with a violent mechanical grinding sound, and the feed chute behind Ash suddenly felt much less like industrial equipment and much more like an enormous metal mouth.
Ash could feel the vibration through the trailer at his back.
The fusion monster advanced.
Dozens of hands reached toward him.
Several caught his shoulders and arms while others pressed against his chest, trying to force him backward into the screaming blades.
Ash looked over one shoulder at the rotating drum.
Then he looked back at the monster.
"You've got a lot of brains in there."
A red grin appeared through the black mist surrounding his face.
"Too bad none of them are very smart."
Ash disappeared.
His body melted directly into the wood chipper's shadow.
The monster had already committed its full weight to pushing him backward and could not stop in time. The instant Ash vanished, the fused mass lurched forward, and several heads and dozens of reaching hands plunged directly into the feed chute.
The wood chipper caught them.
Blood exploded across the machine.
Steel teeth ripped through arms, skulls, and twisted flesh while the entire trailer shook beneath the violent resistance. Several hands vanished into the drum almost instantly, reduced to scraps as overlapping screams erupted from every surviving throat on the creature.
Ash emerged from a shadow several feet behind it.
He stared at the scene and clicked his tongue.
"Brutal."
Another head disappeared into the spinning mechanism.
Ash shook his head. "Almost hard to watch."
Noise came from outside the garage.
Ash glanced toward the entrance and sensed that the equipment he requested had arrived.
His grin widened.
He stepped into another patch of darkness.
"The garage is getting cramped," Ash called before disappearing. "If you're still alive, come outside."
The fusion monster thrashed violently until it managed to tear itself away from the wood chipper. Several mangled arms and pieces of fused flesh remained trapped inside, but enough of the creature survived to drag itself free. Its remaining heads screamed in rage before the mass charged toward the parking-garage exit after him.
By the time it emerged, the thunderstorm had passed.
Rainwater still covered the street, but the clouds had opened enough for pale moonlight to fall across the old buildings surrounding the property. Ash stood behind a hastily established firing position several yards away, his Demonic Power withdrawn and his expression far too pleased with himself.
A heavy tripod stood in front of him.
Mounted on it was a Mk 19 automatic grenade launcher.
The fusion monster stopped.
Ash rested both hands on the weapon.
"Yeah."
He smiled.
"Different game now."
The monster's surviving heads stared at him.
Ash leaned slightly closer to the launcher. "You thought I was just another monster hunter running around with a shotgun and a sword?" He nodded toward the weapon. "I have a federal agency behind me."
The creature tried to move.
Ash fired first.
The Mk 19 thumped heavily as the first 40mm grenade left the barrel and arced across the short distance. It struck the fused monster near the center of its torso and detonated in a violent orange flash.
The blast threw the creature backward.
Fragments of metal and debris tore through the fused corpses while the pressure wave sent pieces of limbs and dark blood across the pavement. The monster hit the ground hard, but Ash never gave it the opportunity to recover.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Three more grenades followed in rapid succession.
The first explosion tore through the creature's lower body.
The second ripped apart several remaining heads.
The third disappeared into the center of the mass before detonating.
The street flashed repeatedly with orange fire.
Windows in the already condemned buildings shattered under the pressure, and fragments of glass rained onto the pavement. Smoke rolled back into the parking structure while plaster and dust shook loose from the damaged walls.
Several abandoned cars near the blast zone were overturned.
Shrapnel punched into another vehicle and ignited leaking fuel, sending flames upward as the smell of burned flesh mixed with sulfur and gunpowder.
Ash finally released the trigger.
A deeply satisfied expression appeared on his face.
"Okay."
He looked at the Mk 19.
"I understand why people like heavy weapons."
A fresh AIIB earpiece and microphone had arrived with the launcher, and Raymond's voice immediately came through the encrypted channel. "Don't get too excited. The surrounding structures are already scheduled for demolition, the area was cleared, and the remaining residents in the immediate danger zone were confirmed dead or evacuated before I approved that weapon."
Ash glanced at the smoking crater ahead.
"So you're saying I shouldn't expect a grenade launcher every mission."
"I'm saying if you request one in the middle of an occupied apartment complex next time, the answer will be no."
"Fair."
Raymond continued, "This was an exceptional authorization."
Ash nodded. "I'm already grateful."
Smoke slowly began clearing from the street.
The fused Deadite lay in the center of the blast zone.
Very little remained recognizable.
Most of its arms and legs had been torn away, the protruding heads were gone, and the once enormous mass had been reduced to a shredded mound of burned flesh barely capable of moving. Its bodies had been ordinary human corpses before possession, and combining them had increased strength far more than durability.
Older Ash's shotgun had already proven that a Deadite skull could be destroyed by ordinary buckshot.
The wood chipper had effortlessly torn apart their limbs.
Four 40mm grenades had simply taken that weakness to its logical conclusion.
Ash stepped away from the Mk 19.
Broken glass crunched beneath his shoes as he crossed the street.
The remains twitched faintly.
Ash walked through the blood and debris until he stood directly over the ruined creature. He looked down with an expression of exaggerated sympathy and allowed black Demonic Power to gather around one hand.
"You look terrible."
The surviving mass shuddered.
Ash crouched slightly.
"Don't worry."
His crimson eyes narrowed.
"I'll put you out of your misery."