This is a short piece of Necromundan fiction, which sets the scene for a clash between Ratskins and Spyrers.

Hissing Roach stopped suddenly in the tunnel and, staring at the muddy ground beneath his feet, beckoned for the rest of his group to do the same. Four figures halted behind him and sunk into the blackness of the tunnel. Hissing Roach glanced back, then turned his attention back to the item which had made him stop. The Dark Ones had definitely passed this way - one of the women they had taken had dropped a love-tooth and it was this that had attracted Hissing Roach. He crouched and picked up the tooth. It came from a giant rat and was easily four inches long. The tooth was covered in a swirling script - poems praising the beauty and grace of the owner. Ratskin men carved these teeth to give to prospective wives. As Hissing Roach turned the tooth over in his hand, he thought of his own woman, Silver, and the seven cycles they had spent together before the Dark Ones came to kill and destroy.

They had appeared at dawn one morning, when the tribe was waking and had attacked without warning or explanation. First, a lumbering giant, clad in thick metallic plates had punched through the wall of the settlement like it was paper. Then it began firing a hail of shells from two weapons built onto its arms. As the Ratskin warriors had tried to mount a counter attack, two more of the devils had entered the settlement from the opposite side of the wall. The first ensnared its’ victims in a thick spider silk substance, then, as they lay helpless, the beast fell upon them with wicked steel claws. The second flew between the ramshackle huts, spitting laser fire from an arm, into women and children as they tried to run or hide. Many brave Ratskins had fallen to this three pronged attack, but as Crazy Snake, the Chief, had rallied his tribe to repel the invaders, a fourth had appeared. This one carried a bizarre looking shield and sword and gestured to Crazy Snake for a one on one fight. As Snake stepped forward past his men, the giant opened fire. Four heavy bolts slammed into the Chiefs’ head and torso and lifted him five feet into the air. He flew into a wall, fell to the floor, twitched briefly, then fell silent. This broke the nerve of the Ratskins who fled, and the killing started again. The Dark Ones then grabbed half a dozen women and fell back, leaving the tribe in disarray.

"What is it, Hissing Roach?"

The sudden voice brought Hissing Roach back from his memories and into the tunnel once more. He turned to see Bear at his side. Bear was, as his name suggested, a huge man, easily seven feet tall and a wall of muscle. He carried a spear gun that he had taken from a scaly out in the Ash Wastes, and he was murderously efficient with it. Bear was one of the survivors of that day, along with Roach and three others. They were all that what left, and they had to take vengeance for the dead.

"The Dark Ones passed this way, Bear, look" Hissing Roach passed the tooth up to bear, who looked at it and noticed Hissing Roachs’ expression.

"I’m sure they haven’t harmed her", Bear said, but Hissing Roach dismissed the thought from his mind.

"We must continue", he said. "Fetch the others Bear".

For four more hours they walked, all the time following the trail left by the Dark Ones. As they walked, Hissing Roach whispered a prayer to the Hive Spirits to give his band the strength to destroy the Dark Ones and save the women. Including Silver. The tunnel that they were walking down angled up steeply, and they had to scramble to the top. The tunnel opened out into an old slag heap, littered with a few old outbuildings. Around the largest building, Hissing Roach noticed two of the Dark Ones. The giant and the flyer. Hissing Roach guessed that the women were held in that building. He looked for the other two Dark Ones. As he scanned, he sensed a shift in the weather patterns of the hive. A fog was descending, a very thick fog. Within fifteen minutes the fog was dense and covered the slag.

Hissing Roach grinned and gestured the other four warriors forward.

"The Hive Spirits have answered my prayers" Hissing Roach said, "This fog will let us move unseen amongst our enemies"

Then a noise caused all five men to pause, a figure was moving towards their hiding place!

Hissing Roach slipped his throwing knife from its scabbard and moved to identify the intruder. As he peered over the rubble, he saw the Spider-Thing, obviously on a perimeter patrol. He levelled the knife, prayed for a true aim, and threw.

The knife pierced the things neck. It brought up a hand to the blade and then crumpled to the floor. Hissing Roach darted up to the corpse and retrieved the knife. He moved back to the rest of the Ratskins and held the blade out for them all to see.

"If they bleed they can die" Hissing Roach said. "And they will die soon".

He then gestured to the other Ratskins and they fanned out and began moving towards the building. Soon the devils would be dead and Silver would be in his arms once more.

The Hunters would now become the Hunted.