We didn't waste time once we stepped out of the sanctuary again, the plan already set and the map guiding our direction as we pushed forward across the province at a steady pace. There was no point conserving energy now, not when every hour mattered, cutting across terrain instead of following clear paths, the ground shifting from broken stone to open stretches of land as we closed in on the first marked zones along the way.
The first safe zone we came across wasn't held by any alien race.
It had been overtaken by creatures.
We slowed as we approached its boundary, the signs obvious before we even stepped inside, the ground littered with broken bark and claw marks carved into stone, and when we crossed the edge the source revealed itself quickly. Large, thick-bodied boar-like beasts moved through the area, their hides hardened into something closer to layered bark than flesh, tusks curved and jagged as they tore through anything in their path. There were dozens of them.
