11 – ReaperHector’s rifle had an IMD built onto the end of the barrel—an Integrated Muzzle Device—meant to manage three different functions: dampen muzzle flash, suppress noise, and reduce recoil. As a result, it was very easy to burn through an eighty-round mag as he pointed his gun at the incoming shapes and pressed the trigger. The gun thrummed against his shoulder and, and his optics, which were tied into the gun’s onboard AI, traced the rounds in streaks of neon orange through the strange, dark world.The bulbous, horse-sized creatures tumbling toward them, octopus arms flailing, were known as lurkers, and he’d fought thousands of the things in his day. They were low-tier rift spawn that lingered near open rifts—sort of the bottom-feeders of the rift world ecosystem. The fact that they were present was a good sign; it meant there probably wasn’t something more dangerous nearby.Hot gasses and fluids burst forth from the creatures he shot, and they fell to the ground, sliding with their forward momentum. Before long, other streaks of rifle-fire joined his as the other members of the security team came through the rift and got their bearings. It was an unprovable rule of rift crossings: nobody ever emerged in the same spot. Hector swapped mags and spun; with no further enemies in his forward arc, he scanned the edges of the rift, waiting to see if any lurkers came around.Kristy was on one knee, her rifle tucked into her shoulder, watching the direction they’d just cleared. Matthews and Freddy were turning in circles, scanning. Meanwhile, the rest of the raid team pushed their way through, most of them stumbling or falling onto the strange, blue-black grass. Hector counted them off—Paige and Bobby, the thirteen technicians, and then Perry and Red bringing up the rear.“All present,” he announced in comms.Mathews barked orders, sending the technicians to drag the lurker corpses close and begin (...)