I can’t let him die!
The dour Aurelian, Darok, has made it up to the top of the roof, and as he emerges from the fire escape, I point desperately down towards his fallen comrade. Darok shakes his head, his eyes fierce. I finally understand - Forn is sacrificing himself for us; and to honor is sacrifice, doing anything but escaping would dishonor him.
And yet, I don’t care about honor.
With a yell, I jump down from the roof. It might seem like I’m making a gesture as suicidal as that of Forn, but I aim my body carefully - crashing through the awning of a fruit stand beneath me to cushion my impact.
Ripe melons explode under me and I hit the ground hard. I’ll have bruises all over my body, but I nevertheless stagger to my feet, knowing there’s no time to waste.
Ahead of me, the horde pile onto the spot where Forn was thrown to the ground – crushing him beneath their oncoming mass.
I scoop up an overripe melon from the ground and toss it toward them. It explodes across the back of a towering, ten-feet-tall Scorp warrior – the biggest of the species I’ve ever seen.
The mass of writhing, snipping, snarling Scorp piling on top of Forn all turn as one – as if they share a single mind with the Scorp I just assaulted with that melon.
Oh, fuck!
This was as far as I’d planned ahead.
I mean, I’d got what I wanted – the mass of Scorp warriors to be distracted from the dying Aurelian and chase after me instead. I’d just not bothered to consider what might happen after that.
That moment, the huge mass of fearsome, snarling creatures turn and rush me. Fear overwhelms my senses. I bolt for it, fleeing as fast as an athlete and turning into an alleyway behind me.
The narrow alley is filled with trash and junk too worthless for even the desperate street urchins and homeless of Barl to have wasted effort rooting through. The alleyway ends in a wire fence. I rush it without thinking – leaping and clambering up the rattling mesh as the first of the Scorp warriors catches up to me.
The skittering, snapping monster swings its huge pincer claw beneath me, ripping apart the fence as if it was made from tissue paper. Miraculously, my fingers curl around the lip of the building’s roof as the fence collapses beneath me, and I try to pull myself up with all my might – but I’m too weak. My body’s got nothing left to give.
I look down at the mass of Scorp, snapping their pincers and snarling beneath me. They were just waiting for me to fall – where I’d be cut to ribbons in seconds.
One of them jumps, swinging his claw towards my dangling legs…
…and then I’m suddenly lifted into the air.
I look up in shock, and see Darok reaching down from the roof above, stretching out his arm to pull me up to safety.
That Scorp claw whistles through the air beneath me – slicing through the space my dangling leg had occupied just moments before.
And then I’m safe, back on top of the roof. Darok drops me to the ground and I see the horrified faces of my four orphans staring up at me – catching their breath at my narrow escape.
I feel terrible - their faces are like ashen masks; dulled from the long horrors of the day. I only hope we’ll be able to rest soon.
Looking past them, I gasp in relief as I see Forn up on the roof, too. He’s covered in even more brutal bruises and deep cuts, but miraculously he’s still alive.
Alive – and then some! Despite his injuries, Forn’s eyes burn a bright, venomous green and I know that stinging himself with the Scorp barb – plunging the venom deep into his veins – is somehow the only reason he’s managed to make it this far… for now.
But at what cost? There’s no humanity left in Form’s grimace as he barks something at me in his strange language – words that certainly don’t sound like ‘thank you’.
There’s no time to be offended, though. From our vantage point on the roof, I can look down across the entire city and truly take in the devastation for the first time.
Barl used to be a city teeming with life.
Now it teems with death.
Huge, organic Scorp ships – that resemble disgusting, yellowish insect eggs – litter the streets and skylines all across the city. Some of them engulf whole buildings, while others have fallen in clumps near houses and apartment buildings.
I can only imagine the horror of hiding beneath your table and looking out of the window to see the membranous thickness of an egg sac right outside; bulging and squirming with the mass of creatures within.
Scorp warriors have torn their way out of eggs sacs all across the city; flooding the streets and alleyways with the huge, nine-feet-tall creatures. With inhuman purpose they’ve started to assemble in the streets. They don’t run, as before – skittering and snapping and fighting to establish a foothold on this world they’ve been thrown onto.
Instead, now, the Scorp warriors walk methodically from building to building – and I gasp as they start to break down the doors and smash the windows as they come to them.
They’re going for the survivors of the initial assault now – picking them off after crushing any initial resistance. I wish I could go down there and help the people of my city – but I know it’s already too late. The only ones I can still help are Tod, Stacy, Tyler and Runner.
Forn looks up at me with deep respect. The huge Aurelian is dripping blood from his countless wounds, but in his fiery green eyes I see a reluctant acknowledgement that the only reason he’s still alive is because of my brave – if
