The thing slowed and approached him. It was human, after a fashion, a broken agglomeration of smashed skeleton and torn flesh. Tsang’s stomach twisted as he realised that the attacker was using a blade made from the bones of its right arm. The thing replaced the makeshift sword and flexed it experimentally. With care, it knelt and tore off the sergeant’s face, chewing on it.
Finally, Tsang’s instincts caught up with him and he grabbed at his pistol, but there were a mouthful of teeth in his neck before the gun ever cleared leather.
For a while there was only the sound of eating and tearing. Then through damaged and torn lips, the killer spoke aloud. “The Path of Joseph,” said Heywood Rope, “is thorny.”
About the Author
James Swallow’s novels include the Warhammer 40,000 novels Faith and Fire, Deus Encarmine and Deus Sanguinius; among his other works are the Sundowners series of “steampunk” Westerns, the Judge Dredd novels Eclipse and Whiteout, Rogue Trooper: Blood Relative and the novelization of The Butterfly Effect. His non-fiction features Dark Eye: The Films of David Fincher and books on genre television and animation; his other credits include writing for Star Trek Voyager, Doctor Who, scripts for videogames and audio dramas. He lives in London, and is currently working on his next book.