The steady of thrum of feet upon the cobblestone paths continued on and on. It was the constant march of the people, troubled feet upending their lives for hopes of another tomorrow. Some brought all of their prized possessions; others were content that their families were safe, children huddled in the crooks of their arms. Safe was a bit of a misnomer, but I wasn’t going to be the one breaking the belief. They carried that wish fervently, because if they weren’t going to survive in the depths of Old Titan City, then why bother fleeing underneath it.

In truth, I was sure that on the outskirts of the city some were willing to flee Titan City and take refuge in some of the neighboring villages, but that wasn’t an option for most of the people living here. They had too vulnerable family to watch after, friends who couldn’t move that quickly, a lack of strength to safely pass through the wilderness to another safe ground. This was the only option they had.

They had to cling to the belief, hold onto it dearly, let it encircle their hearts like an impenetrable shell. All so that they could be enticed to move on from their death in the comforts of their home, hope the lure that would get them moving. They were nothing if not tenacious in their efforts, steadfastly moving forward in as placid a matter as a horde of concerned citizens could be.

The optimistic gazes from the children filled me with a sense of dread, their expectations weighing me down. They had unbounded expectations, dreams that things couldn’t go wrong. Their faith in the guard believed no wrong, that we were an unshakable bastion, that everyone could be saved. It was a heavy weigh to carry, one I wished to do without.

When their hopes shattered, those beliefs would crush me. Rightfully so.

I couldn’t linger in my feelings though. They believed in us. It behooved me to act in that vested belief to the best of my ability, which meant setting aside my concerns for a moment when there was a time to process them. “I think we’re making good progress,” Mia said, pointing for another group to continue onwards down into the tunnel.

“I just wish we had access to this instead of needing to climb the cliff-side.”

“It was easy! We made do without.”

“You made do without. You were all much more suited to it, Mia. I had to scramble down, tethered to Vera just as a precaution.”

“Whatever,” she said, smirking back at me, but I could see the tension hiding in her expression. She too was trying to sublimate her fears, divesting them into other activities. All to continue doing our job, for whatever limited effect it was returning.

There was a fine line to walk between confidence and arrogance. We had to portray the former but not fall into the latter, lest when the job truly started we end up going to pieces.

“I’m really quite glad the evacuation is running smoothly here,” I said, motioning for another group to move on ahead of me down the stairs.

“Maybe if we’re lucky, we’ll get a large enough population down before the arrival,” Mia muttered back, halting another group that was moving too quickly. We had to have an orderly evacuation lest the others yet to descend fall into panic. Panic was the first step towards our evacuation efforts failing, because if the people didn’t continue to act in an orderly manner, we would get clogged up, unable to smoothly process our refugees any further.

“Don’t you cast foul aspersions on us,” Lenny said, emerging from the tunnel. He wore a foul countenance, posed as though he was prepared to smother us with his biceps if that meant more no words escaping from our lips. “I swear, you’re picking the absolute worst time to talk about luck. Didn’t Javier teach you anything?”

“Primarily to talk in threes,” Mia quipped.

“That… sounds quite like him,” Lenny said, scratching his bald head. “Just because he doesn’t know better doesn’t mean I can’t teach you something. Don’t try and jinx us. But more importantly, how are things going over here?”

“As you should be able to see down in the tunnel, they’re filing into the tunnel in an orderly manner. No one has stepped out of line. There was one instance where we almost had a scuffle due to someone stepping on the other person’s shoes, but Perry broke that up.”

“I tried to impress there were more important matters at hand, and that seemingly worked,” I said, shrugging.

“That and your puffed up fur seemed to scare them.”

“Posturing is important, Mia. You should know that.”

She rolled her eyes back at me. “Whatever, Perry. We don’t all have the gift of looking bloated at will.”

I feigned indignation, stepping back and covering my mouth with an open hand to Lenny’s hearty chuckle. “Glad to see you’re keeping it together. As long as you look to be doing well, the citizens will follow suit. Don’t break in their line of sight, alright? If you need a moment off to the side, let me know and we’ll switch who is operating where, but we have to remain strong for the weak.”

I nodded, gritting my teeth, his commands echoing all to well what my mind had been telling me this day.

“How do you think things will go?” Mia hesitantly volunteered. She stared at Lenny as though he was the only person in the world.

“I don’t know, Mia. I don’t know. I’ve never been around for an attack by a city-tier spike feeder and I certainly hope I never am again. Let’s just trust and believe in Amalarys’s plan and the others on the front lines while we do what we can here.”

He nodded at us and headed back down into the tunnel, stepping aside the constant flow of civilians who were more focused on their passage to safety than the passing words of paranoid guards.

It was for the best. If they had spared any thoughts towards our passing remarks, they may have falling a state of panic that would have cascaded down the line, driving those behind them into a frenzy. We couldn’t afford that. Not when things were going so well.

While I wished them the best down there, I knew it was a tenuous position of safety. Still, even if it was marginally safer, that would be better than having them up above with the monster.

That thought was quickly interrupted with the presence of the runner from that morning, making his way back around the city. He looked even more exhausted than before, seemingly taken to task to meet as many teams as he could, panting heavily from the exertion. “Get ready. The front line is starting to see some hostiles flying overhead.”

He bounded off again, job incomplete, no time to rest, leaving Mia and I to look up towards the sky, where the heralds of the spike feeder’s invasion started to swell the ranks.

From the distance I could see them swooping about the city, not close enough yet to get a good sense for them. They looked strikingly different from the monsters I was used to in their absence of spikes. I rubbed my eyes, trying to make sure I was seeing what I thought I was seeing, but no matter how much I squinted into the air, no tell-tale sign of spikes was visible.

Whatever these were, there absence of spikes didn’t make them less dangerous. I gasped, hand over my mouth, eyes alighting upon on the sight of a struggle civilian hoisted off in the sky by an errant parasite.

The winged beast flitted around in the sky, erratically shifting about as it continued back towards the outer walls. The person in its grasp looked like they were unconscious given their lack of movement, the alternative being they were resigned to their fate, knowing that falling from that height would also be the end of them. It would take a collected mind to think of that in the moment, and I doubted that was true of most of our citizens, so it seemed to be a case of the abduction of the unconscious.

“Are you seeing that?” I shouted, unable to contain myself.

Mia looked up, but she wasn’t the only one. The crowd started to nervously murmur, pushing forward faster than they had before.

“Good going, Perry,” Mia spoke. “Order. Order. We’ll handle any of those winged invaders. Keep moving in an orderly fashion.”

Her voice of authority, well honed from her noble activities was enough to temporarily instill calm in the civilians, at least for the moment until one of the parasites came closer to this part of the city.

From the glance I shared with Mia, we both knew that our tenuous calm would break at that moment. For now we had to do our best to ensure it could never come.

“Why don’t you quickly run down and appraise Lenny of the situation,” I muttered to her. “I’ll keep an eye out for them with my electroreception. I’m sure I can manage alone, at least for a bit, if the numbers are sufficiently small.”

She curtly nodded and ran down into the tunnel, leaving me to be the sole body monitoring the situation above ground. I motioned for the people to keep moving, my electroreception scanning the air for any presence.

The perimeter was relatively clear, some flying overhead to an extent that was far out of my reach. All I could do was keep an eye on them. Until they came closer it was best to pretend they didn’t exist, if only so that the people continuing through the tunnel didn’t fixate on the looming attack. My focus was split between the ground and the sky, a Direct Current prepared to fire if one approached too carelessly towards our position.

Mia returned shortly thereafter, Lenny in tow, their presence unable to shock me in my vigilant state. I had sensed their presence behind me, turning at their arrival. “What are you seeing, Perry?”

“Still no attacks close to us. Can’t say the same for the rest of the city. We might just be on a poor angle for them to notice us.”

“Don’t get so optimistic, Perry. It looks like they might start changing their minds,” Mia said, pointing to the sky. I turned back and saw one swooping down, fighting the urge to vomit as the grotesque monstrosity closed the distance, fine details finally apparent.

It was a misshapen thing, covered in a lattice of bones over its body much like a suit of armor. Gossamer wings sprouted from its back, twisting effortlessly through the air. But what was most shocking was its head, like a person’s face with sunken fleshy indentations where an orifice should be. I couldn’t fathom how it could see anything given it had no eyes, but that didn’t deter it in motion, swooping down towards a cluster of civilians so focused on the line that they were unaware of the impending attack.

I flung out my Direct Current, the electricity traveling through the air and making contact with the parasite. The beast recoiled in the air, the scent of burnt flesh wafting through the air.

“Don’t let up, Perry. It’s still moving,” Mia demanded, poking me on the side. I nodded and let loose another one one, the parasite crashing into a rooftop, twitching on its back.

“More are on the way. Do you think you two can handle them?” Lenny asked, nervously staring at the crowd. “I’m not quite equipped for aerial combat.”

“Neither am I,” I protested, Mia smacking the back of my head before I could continue.

“I’ll intercept them in the air, you ensure that none escape with our people, Perry. You can do that, right?”

“I’ll have to,” I said, accepting the duty thrust upon me. Had to live up to the hopes and expectations once again.

She took off to the sky in a few flaps of her wings, gusts rippling through my clothes, while I kept an eye out for any stragglers with my electroreception.

“Crap, around the corner,” I shouted, noting some activity out of the line of our sight, down the line as it curved behind another building.

Mia nodded, easily gliding through the air, effortlessly borne aloft by the wind. She banked around the corner and let out a startled gap per my ears.

I could only trust she was doing what needed to be done per her electrical signature seen in my electroreception. While she was dealing with that crisis, I had to be ready for the next one, hopefully resolving the issue before one would arise.

Another one of the parasites swooped down off to the side, seemingly eyeing a group of people. I sent out a hasty Electromute, the body locking up and plummeting to the ground off to the side of the line, those closest screaming in shock at the presence of the monster.

I ran over, body feeling the exertion from the fight down below in a quiet, tired ache, but that wasn’t cause to stop. I wove through the crowd, their panicked whispers unable to reach my ears, my focus shot.

“Keep moving along,” Lenny commanded, walking closer to the line as though his presence would calm them down.

In a second I was at the twitching body, and I lunged out and swiped at it with my spur, letting the venom finish the job. “It was trying to abduct someone. Good catch,” Mia said, descending to my side. “I don’t know how long we can keep this up.”

“We’ll need to keep this up until the people are through,” Lenny said, his tone brokering no arguments. “They’re trusting us.”

“Well yeah, but the spike feeder isn’t even here yet. Is there any way we can speed this up?” Mia questioned.

I sensed another parasite flitting down and flung a Direct Current at it, pushing until I sensed no more activity from the burning, twitching corpse. “This isn’t as effortless as it looks.”

The crowd overheard our argument— it wasn’t as though we were taking care to talk in appropriate tones, the amassed bodies acting with one shared intellect to achieve the most rational goal possible: panic.

They started pushing forward, our steady line broken up into a crowd of writhing bodies, swarming past us in an attempt to breach the barrier to safety.

“Single file,” Lenny commanded, his words attempting to reinstate order, but it was to no avail. The assembled people had gotten past the point of believing in our authority, needing to resolve matters in the way they saw best, their own lives at risk in the face of adversity. “Well shit,” he grunted, a shark head appearing over his normal frame.

“Now listen here,” he roared, voice echoing through the area. “You will get back into a line and march in steadily and safely. If you riot, you will trample others if not anything worse. We will get you safely down into Old Titan City, but you need to continue as you have been and trust in us.”

The crowd stared at him, caught between their preexisting panic and fear at his ferocious roar, but in this instance, panic won, a subtle knowledge knowing that Lenny couldn’t possibly stop them all. They pushed against each other, bodies eating casually thrown limbs as they jostled for proper positioning to enter the tunnel down to the old city.

Up above Mia danced in the sky, taking out stray parasites before they could even get in range, my voice carrying to her floating form as to where the next one would appear, trying to mitigate the damage so that the situation could recover, but even that effort was feeling fruitless.

And then the earth shook underneath us, the crowd wavering, bodies crashing into one another. Buildings shifted, stray tiles falling from the sky into the ground, wounds sprouting on the misfortunate. This wasn’t just a quirk of the ground, but the harbinger of something far worse. The beast was close enough for its impact to be known. It looked like things were advancing into an even worse state with the arrival of the spike feeder.