The monster wore denim overalls so filthy their original color was unrecognizable. In the moonlight, its skin was bluish purple tinged with black, and sparse, greasy hair clung to its scalp. Its movements were clumsy and slow, yet each step landed with a heavy thud, as though it meant to ram its weight deep into the mud.
Never mind Kurt, who faced the monster head-on-even Dana, hiding beneath a tree nearby, almost wet herself in terror. Just a second earlier, she had been thrilled by the forbidden excitement of spying on her friends, her senses reeling from the presence of the man beside her.
"This is no time to stand around." Like a warrior descending from heaven, Nick sliced the head off the walking corpse raising a many-tined rake in front of Jules, then swept past Kurt like the wind.
Just as the bear trap in the huge monster's hand was about to fly free, an oddly shaped Predator battle axe buried itself deep in its chest.
Yet an injury that would have killed an ordinary person on the spot merely made it stagger back slightly. It did not even fall.
As the monster reached to pull the axe from its chest, a hand seized the haft before it could. The dim-witted corpse froze for a moment and instinctively looked up.
Gripping the haft, Nick kicked it in the chest, using the force to wrench the axe free as he twisted aside to avoid the disgusting black blood spraying out. He turned and chopped the head off another corpse pinned to the ground by the Combistick.
Then he pulled out the Combistick and swept it sideways in a backhand slash, shearing away most of the hulking corpse's head. It immediately lost its sense of direction and began turning in circles.