CrabMando

Harro rubbed his hands together for warmth as he shook in his loose armor. A short distance past the outpost, the sea crashed loudly into the shore, a fine mist chilling the sandy area. A full moon peeked through heavy clouds, barely illuminating the dismal place. His breath fogged as he stepped into the guardhouse, jerking the chair to the window and sitting for a second to appreciate his posting.

His moment of peace broke abruptly with a loud crash from the next stop along his patrol. Leaping from the chair and dashing out of the door, he sprinted along the wall and slammed open the next guardhouse. He noted first a fellow patrolman filling the opposing entryway, then he saw the body laying face-up, although whose face was impossible to tell with the gaping hole through its head.

“Did you do this, Garn?”

His friend shook his head slowly, eyes wide as he looked to the hole in the ceiling. Garn followed the spray of effluvia and gaped.

“Don’t walk in front of the window.”

Harro mentally reassembled the path of the shot, agreeing wholeheartedly.

“Probably for the best. You should go get the Captain.”

Garn nodded and left, Harro kneeling to remain out of sight as he looked over the corpse. A reasonably quick inquiry of the pouches told him it was one of the newer recruits. Loud padding outside the door prompted Harro to extend his arm and speak hurriedly as the two people barged through the door.

“Don’t go in front of the window!”

Captain Taloo peeked at Harro, then to the corpse, and then back to Garn. A firm, un-expected shove proved their foresight as another bolt cored Garn and crashed through the ceiling, both holes leaking the freshly-started rain to mingle with the fluids inside the guardhouse.

“I see why. Report?”

“…uh…I got to my station and then heard a disturbance, sir. Came to investigate and found the scene as you did, then sent Garn to retrieve you. Sir.”

Thunder clapped outside the room, making them both jump. Taloo crouched down and crept messily through the bodies. Once he was safely on the other wall, he rose to a crouch and grimaced at his clothes as he resumed command.

“We need to stop whoever that is, obviously. Let me check the rampart really quick…”

Harro watched impotently as his Captain crept out of the door, peeking over the wall and staring intently at the beach beyond. Another flash of electric fire illuminated the sky, its responding thunder drowning Taloo’s confusion. He crept back inside with a furrowed brow.

“There’s nobody there.”

Harro cocked his head.

“Are they hiding?”

Taloo glared and smacked him upside the head.

“You know damn well it’s all beach except to the east. Where would they hide? The tide is high, but it’s not close or deep enough. Nothing but sand and a Crab.”

Harro stopped rubbing his head.

“A Crab?”

“Yeah, a big one. One of the brown rounded ones. Horseshoe, I think.”

Harro frowned.

“Those’re bad omens.”

“What, are you going to tell me some family story about how they are to be respected as heralds of misfortune or monsters that kill in the night then?”

“…well not now I’m not.”

Taloo smacked him again.

“It’s a moderately-sized, rubbery, nasty-ass crab, alright? They come to shore every once in a while.”

“Then where is the gunner?”

It was Taloo’s turn to frown. He crept back to the wall, peeping over and waiting for lighting. The flash only seemed to confuse him further as he scurried in out of the rain.

“Well, the both of them are gone now.”

The captain slammed his fist on the floor. A matching *thump* sounded outside the far door, drawing their panicked attention. Slowly and viscerally they snuck across, opening it wide and staring into the rain. The stone catwalk was slick, with a single Horseshoe Crab rocking anxiously on its back and scrabbling at the air as it tried to right itself. A flip of its tail forced it onto its side, the mess of appendages now hidden under its dull shell. Harro raised his eyebrows and widened his eyes as he addressed his Captain.

“We should go. Slowly.”

Taloo smirked and stood up, disbelief overwhelming the memory of death behind him.

“It’s…it’s a crab.”

“It is going to kill us.”

Taloo shot him a questioning look before walking up to the thing and poking it. He stood and turned to reply, rivulets running down his robe.

“See? It’s a Crab.”

Harro faced the bodies and gestured.

“But what about-”

Another deafening THOK rung out as he reeled just in time to see his Captain’s boots disappear over the edge. Lightning flared off of the wet Crab’s shell, unchanged since he had seen it last. Harro began to whimper while a cacophony of boots burst through the door at the end of the walkway, the man in the front bracing his fellows from advancing before he surveyed the scene. As Harro watched in terror and disbelief, an Arbalest slipped out of the shell, impossibly huge for its confinement. With an assuredly unnatural swiftness, it clawed back the bolt and let loose with a volley of death, shredding the personnel as well as the wall behind them. It fell on the massive siege engine as it disappeared back into the shell, a satisfied chittering creeping out of the Crab. Unsure of why the chitinous one had spared him, but unwilling to argue the choice, Harro blacked out.