Samuel was driving the Varintluk back to the outpost; the sun was high above, flittering in through the canopy, caressing the snowy forest floor with gentle care. Luckily, no snow fluttered down, blinding him as he drove.

　　The borders of the thick, everpresent forest were several meters away on each of the vehicle`s flanks. Samuel had carved the small route in the trees using his chainsaw and careful maneuvering of the lumbering vehicle when he first went out to the lake he saw on the topographic map. He was pleased with the tight, never-ending green tunnel before him. After a few more months and some actual work, he could turn it into a proper ice road, but the rouge outlined route will do fine for now.

　　 Samuel had spent the last two days away from the outpost because he needed to zero his rifle and as an excuse to become more familiar with the moon that would be his grave. Driving the Valintluk was a bonus for him; the vehicle would undoubtedly be a priceless commodity for his new life.

　　His time out in the wilderness was enjoyable and relaxing. Samuel could not think of the last time he had such a wonderfully lonely place to work and do something he enjoyed. Shooting a state-of-the-art rifle at some targets and watching the wildlife through its scope from a safe distance were things he could get used to doing—too bad ammo was not unlimited, so he would have to be frugal with his reserves.

　　The massive frozen-over lake he decided to use as a target range was perfect. He had set up a few metal targets at 100 meters and quickly zeroed the rifle. The process only took him two magazines to ensure the sites were shooting true.

　　After that, he set up an old plate of rusted steel at 500 meters to see if the weapon`s documented accuracy was factual. He quickly learned that the rifle was indeed accurate, as he slammed round after round into the target, the echoing ring of it sounded like the chimes of heaven, filling him with warmth each time the sound bounced off the canyon walls.

　　 He was initially afraid with his bad eyesight and growing age; he would not have been able to shoot well anymore. At least now, whenever that gigantic monster returned, he could scare it away or kill it. The last thing he wanted was that thing ripping the outpost apart and causing him more work.

　　He wanted to let the rifle stretch its legs and shoot out to one kilometer, but he regrettably did not bring enough ammunition; having gotten carried away with shooting the gong, he had expended all the caseless rounds he had packed. That was not a bother; he could just make another trip in a few days.

　　Samuel rolled over a massive rock burring underneath a snowbank, sending a bone-rattling jolt through the Varintluk and into him. He gritted his teeth and cringed, hoping he had not broken anything. The vehicle was doing its job of letting him quickly move through the hostile environment of Baritin— breaking it several hours from home would not be an excellent start to his life here.

　　However, It did have a few things he saw as needed modifications. Even with the heat on full blast, the cab was barely warm enough for Samuel to take off his jacket and enjoy his morning coffee. He had already decided to add working on upgrading the heating systems in the vehicle to his ever-growing to-do list. He had to keep himself busy somehow, and he had plenty of time to work on prototypes.

　　 He had spent the previous night sleeping in one of the bunks just behind him in the storage area. Overall, it was comfortable, but the beds could use a bit more padding, which he could easily fix before he used the Varintluk again.

　　Samuel glanced up at the shaking necklace he hung off the rearview mirror. The little heart-shaped locket swayed back and forth, reflecting the sun into his eyes. The locket used to belong to Sarah. He could not think of a time when she did not have the little silver trinket around her neck.

　　He could not help but wonder how Sarah would have liked it here on the Baritin; she had always enjoyed being out in nature. Even if the small moon was cold, it was beautiful.

　　Especially in the middle of the night, when you could see the rings of Jurtintal, the planet Baratin was orbiting around. It was such an unbelievably green color it looked like an emerald suspended in the cosmos—at least, that is what Samuel thought while he sat atop the Varintluk`s cab last night with a case of beer to keep him company.

　　Samuel pondered what name he should give the vehicle. He was unsure where he picked up the habit, but he consistently names his vehicles. Sarah would always tease him when he got a new car, and he would drive around for hours thinking of a name. It did not bother him then or now. Plenty of people name weapons, and he would name his vehicles; not doing so felt almost wrong.

　　Samuel never thought of a name that gave the right tone. He wanted something more robust, reliable, cutesy, and feminine than the German names he kept thinking of. He wanted to refer to something other than the Verintluk, Olga, or Fenja; those names felt wrong.

　　He smiled as the vehicle burst out of the suffocating tunnel and crested the top of a small hill. The outpost came into view. The sun reflected off the heavy ice coating the exterior wall around the outside of the facility. A mighty, deep wind rolled off the mountains, making up the valley`s walls. Fluttering visages of the snow whistled loudly through the pines, so much so he could hear it even over the roaring turbine engine.

　　The snow drifting through the pine woods looked sinister, as if an army of ghosts ducked in and out of cover as they assaulted Samuel`s new home. Samuel was glad the drive was almost over. His lower back had been aching for the last three hours, and he could not wait to stretch out.

　　The rest of the drive was relatively simple. All Samuel had to do was occasionally work the Varintluk around some large boulder. Most obstacles were not an issue since he cleared any fallen logs with a chainsaw on his way out to the lake, and he could just plow over any snowdrifts on the trail. Samuel would have to come back with some explosives to clear the rocks, but he did not think they were part of the GU-supplied equipment. If not, some dynamite and plastic explosives would surely be on his next resupply request. Hopefully, the GU would not care if he wanted something so out of the ordinary, but he could likely justify it to them.

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　　—-

　　 Samuel carefully backed the Varintluk into the garage, doing his best to maneuver the trailing secondary cab of the vehicle in without slamming it into any of the high shelves or the workbenches in the far back of the room. He had never been great at reversing trailers, and this one felt even worse than normal ones. The vehicle felt floaty because the main cab and trailer had corkscrew treads. Samuel knew he would eventually get used to how the Varintluk handled; it was only his first time using it.

　　 Thankfully, he did manage to get the vehicle parked without any real issues. A few near jackknifes, but nothing else.

　　 Once Samuel hopped out of the vehicle, he quickly completed the post-usage checks outlined in the user manual. They were simple enough and needed to be done, especially after he rolled over that rock.

　　The post-usage checks were supposed to be done every time and would ensure the vehicle was still ready to drive. But the Varintluk was brand new and had not been driven till the paint peeled off, so he highly doubted it ran out of oil, had a fuel or hydraulic leak, nor had any of the panels fall off.

　　 After he was confident that the massive boulder had not damaged anything beyond making a small dent in the heavy metal frame, Samuel hefted his trash bag and backpack out of the cab. He slung the flamethrower across his chest while the empty rifle strapped tightly to his backpack using some paracord.

　　He groaned from the sheer weight of his equipment. His cold-weather clothes, pack, sleeping gear, and weapons pushed 50 kilos. Having this much gear on him was not ideal; moving was difficult, and his knees ached. Samuel knew he had some arthritis in them but never took anything for it. He would likely change that if he had to carry this much weight often.

　　Samuel already knew he did not want to come back outside today if he could avoid it, including return trips to the garage. So, suffering a little bit by only making one trip was worth it.

　　As Samuel worked his way toward the front door, he looked up at the solar panels; they glinted in the sunlight and were thankfully clear of ice and snow, meaning so long as that beast had not returned and destroyed the door again, he could hole up inside and start working on design plans for some of the upgrades he wanted for the outpost.

　　As Samuel neared the door, he paused, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. It took him a few moments to realize why he felt this way; the area was disturbingly quiet. There was only the sound of the whipping wind screaming through the outpost and the trees creaking as they were pushed back and forth by the breeze. There were no croaking birds, no skittering animals, or calls of the larger mammals echoing off the mountains.

　　He looked out to the forest, hoping to spot something that might explain the reason, but saw nothing beyond the swaying trees and snow falling from their limbs. Samuel tried to ignore the itching sense of unease growing in his chest like a cancer. He wondered if the beast had returned at first—until he turned his back to the forest and faced the door.

　　A massive roar echoed throughout the area and bounced off the valley walls for several seconds. The overbearing volume and pressure caused Samuel`s teeth to rattle and his heart rate to shoot into orbit.

　　Samuel slammed his fist into the button to open the door. The sliding hatch screamed like a worn-out radial bearing, shrill and high-pitched. It took several painful seconds until It began to open slowly; his eyes traced the surface, and his heart sank when he found the reason for the horrible performance. The god damned ice had grown thick and caused the door to barely fit into the recess of the wall.

　　Needing to wait until the door opened, Samuel flicked the safety off the flamethrower and whipped around. The pilot light ignited from the friction actuator built into the physical blockage safety. The bright blue flame shot several centimeters out in front of the muzzle, signifying the brush and ice-clearing tool was ready to keep him safe from whatever was approaching.

　　His eyes searched the area around him, frantically looking for any movement. Initially, there was nothing until there was the sounds of another roar that rocked the entire world around him, causing a large chunk of heavy snowpack to slip off the rook and fall on his head, blinding him for a moment—a moment that felt like an agonizing eternity when a predator that turned the outside of his home to ribbons was nearby.

　　After quickly wiping his face free of snow, Samuel immediately caught sight of the beast. It was a massive ball of fur, far larger and faster than any creature he had ever seen outside of videos. If anyone had told him about an animal that large moving that quickly, he would have thought they were joking, but this was no joke.

　　 The most he could tell with how quickly the monster was barreling through the nearly waist-deep snow was that it was bipedal and had grey-colored fur. All other details melded together in a blur of quick motions or were concealed by the titanic amount of snow the creature tossed up in its front and wake as the monstrosity barreled toward him. The monster looked like it was causing an avalanche on the flat ground it crossed with every step.

　　The creature was about to breach the treeline and careen through the outpost`s exterior wall when Samuel roughly pointed the flame thrower toward it and depressed the trigger.

　　The small handheld flame thrower roared like a dragon, filled with hate and defiance to the creature approaching Samuel. The indignant burst of flame arched across the distance between him and the beast, melting the snow and filling the area with scorching heat and wafting smoke.

　　Samuel slowly stepped back toward the door while the flames poured out of his tool`s muzzle, hopefully setting that gargantuan monster alight. But he was unsure because the smoke and flickering flames blinded him, singeing his beard with hellish heat. He glanced back to ensure he was about to enter the winter room entryway.

　　His eyes fell on the now open door, and Samuel`s feet were ripped out from under him as he was knocked off his feet. The air rushed out of his lungs as a wall of muscle, fat, and fur crashed against his chest, tossing him and the animal through the door.

　　Samuel slammed against the hard metallic ground of the entrance. The abomination`s heavy weight bore down on him, pinning him in place. His flame thrower was pinned beneath him, crushing one of his arms. His spine arched against the hard items in his backpack. The rifle`s pistol grip jutted up and pressed painfully into his side, only made worse by the plush, heavy weight of the monster that tackled him.

　　 In a raw, primal action, Samuel swung his free fist in the creature`s general direction, hoping to scare it off. He expected it to collide with a hulking wall of muscle, but it wasn`t. His hand almost bounced off the soft, plushy mound of fur and fat.

　　The beast holding him against the ground yelped in surprise and growled loudly at him just before a massive hand grabbed his wrist, slammed it down, and pinned his arm to the deck, holding it in place. He grimaced as a wave of pain shot through him as his wrist was crushed under the force.

　　Samuel closed his eyes, not wanting to see what came next, expecting the monster to clamp down on his face and crush his skull, ending him instantly. But after several moments without that, he heard the sounds of the beast grumbling and groaning.

　　He hesitantly opened his eyes, looked up at the monster, and immediately spotted the interloper`s soft golden eyes staring down at him, filled with what he thought was a frantic worry and concern.

　　The creature grumbled and barked at him again, fluttering large ears atop its head. Moments before, it dragged its massive tongue across his face, leaving a thick slick of drool behind.

　　"What the fuck?" Samuel said in confusion.