Chapter 8: Victory’s Sacrifice
Alice swore as Matilda pulled her closer. She tried to stop herself, but couldn’t get a grip on anything fast enough and Matilda soon squatted over Alice. Matilda crashed down on top of Alice's chest while her hands shot out toward her throat. Alice, despite the jarring blow, managed to grab Matilda's wrists before her hands reached her neck. Matilda's look of anger only grew as she pushed down harder, trying to force her way through. Alice put all of her strength into stopping her, but still Matilda’s hands began to inch closer and closer. She was strong... almost Gabriella level strong. If this keep up...
Realizing she couldn't win this test of strength, Alice switched tactics. She used her grip on Matilda to slid a bit further down and move Matilda closer to her head. Alice worried Matilda would notice, but she either didn't or was too focused on her neck to care. Whatever the reason, it was a blunder Alice would punish.
Alice jerked her legs up and used her high flexibility to bend them all the way to Matilda's head. Matilda had enough time to look surprised before Alice linked her feet together in front of HER neck and pulled back. The heels of Alice's boots dug into Matilda's neck and she began to gasp and strain as they constricted her windpipe. Matilda tried to shift herself to dislodge Alice's feet, but Alice made sure to keep her heels pressed in. The contest of strength began to swing into Alice's favor as Matilda started to run low on air. Alice was just about to risk letting go to try and pin Matilda when the Sword, suddenly, broke away.
Matilda lunged backwards away from Alice and sucked in a huge breath of air. Alice, now free of the threat to her own neck, used the time to roll out from under Matilda and leap back to her feet. She moved to strike Matilda while she recovered, but stopped as Matilda staggered up to her own feet. Alice couldn't help but be surprised at how quickly she had recovered from that. She pushed the surprise away, however, as she lowered herself into a combat stance. Matilda growled in fury as she did the same.
For a second, Alice thought the stance was just the usual rookie attempt at a stance. However, as she studied it further, she realized it was the exact opposite. In fact...it reminded Alice a good deal of Gabriella's own stance, though there were some differences. Matilda must have picked up on her surprise as she let out a low chuckle.
"Surprised? Let me educate you on the fact that some Swords still know how to kill hand to HAND!" she yelled the last word as she rushed Alice. Her first swing was a wild blow that Alice, easily dodg- Suddenly, Matilda's other hand rushed in and Alice, barely, managed to shift around to avoid the real punch. A feint... she did know what she was doing. Alice lashed out with her own quick punch and Matilda was forced back to avoid it. But the Sword didn't let up the attack and came right back in. She sent a quick one-two punch at Alice and Alice was forced back as she dodged the punches. She countered with a kidney shot to Matilda’s side and felt the satisfying feel of fist on flesh. That should have slowed her down... but it didn’t. In fact, Matilda acted like she hadn't even felt Alice’s attack as she sent another mighty punch right at her head. Taken off-guard by the lack of reaction to her attack, Alice was only able to deflect the punch to her shoulder rather than avoid it.
The powerful blow sent Alice reeling backwards and pain surged through her right arm. She didn't need to look to know she would have a nasty bruise where the fist had hit. Worse, her whole right arm felt numb and trying to move it sent fresh waves of pain up in response. Dammit, how had she taken that hit so well?! Not even Gabriella could have shrugged off a body blow like that! And yet Matilda had... This was bad...
Matilda gave Alice a vicious grin as she started toward her. Alice backed up to buy herself some time to recover and think of a new approach. Trying to fight Matilda head-on was proving inadvisable… She needed a new tactic. Alice glanced back and, quickly, leap up to avoid running into the coffee table. She keep her face a mask of worry as a plan, suddenly, came to her mind.. Just as she hoped, Matilda charged forward and lashed out at the table with her leg, trying to send Alice tumbling to the floor. Alice, however, leap up just as the table was sent flying away and spun around to deliver a devastating round-house kick to Matilda's head. Matilda was driven right into the couch by the kick and stumbled to her knees in front of it. Alice landed back on the ground, stumbling a bit from the spin, and let out a relieved sigh. The relief lasted less than a second.
To Alice's horror, Matilda pushed herself back up to her feet and turned back to Alice, her face a slab of hate and fury. This...this was impossible! No human could have taken that kind of blow and not had SOME kind of reaction! She should have a concussion at the very least! And yet...and yet Matilda didn't even look fazed, save for the slowly rising knot on the side of her head.
"You....fucking....That fucking HURT!" Matilda yelled as she charged forward again. Alice cursed as she dodged to the side, barely avoiding Matilda's charging form. She whirled around and rushed Alice again. Deciding to try one last time to end this, Alice waited till Matilda was right on top of her to spin away and slam her leg into her midsection, clothesline style. Matilda gasped from the blow and Alice thought she had, finally, found a weakness. She was wrong. Matilda snatched up Alice's leg almost as soon as she hit and Alice found herself unable to pull away. Matilda's look of hate and fury melted away to reveal a look of triumph. Shit, she had been planning this!
Matilda yanked Alice towards her and raised her fist. Alice tried to block it, but her hurt arm was too slow and her other was too far. Alice could only watch in horror as Matilda’s fist smashed into her face.
For a brief second, everything went dark and Alice was lost in darkness. Her mind reeled and tumbled in confusion before sudden, demanding pain dragged her back to the light. Alice had to fight not to scream in pain as the entire right part of her head seemed to be nothing but agony. She opened her eyes, one of which screamed in protest in the attempt, and found herself looking at the ceiling. Her mind reeled with what had happened, but the sudden appearance of a face brought everything back.
Matilda glared down at Alice before raising her foot. Alice tried to roll away, but wasn't quick enough as the shoe slammed down on her chest. Alice gasped in pain as the air was driven out of her and fresh ache joined the agony that was her face. Still, she didn't cry out. She wouldn't give her that enjoyment.
"All this...for those... THINGS!" Matilda said as she looked out the window, her face going back to the look of hate and disgust. She shook her head as she bent down to pull Alice to her feet.
"A spy for the Shields or the higher ups I could respect, but a damn traitor siding with those mants out there! They are NOTHING! Nothing but fodder and tools to be used and discarded! There is nothing worth saving out there!" Matilda yelled into Alice's face. Alice tried to fight back, but the pain and the lose of air had made it near impossible to move. Dammit, no... she couldn't lose! If she did then Gabriella, Holland, and the others...
"And speaking of using them...why don't you use them to break your fall!" Matilda said before hurling Alice straight toward the window.
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Holland had to fight not to collapse in despair as he looked at Alice's beaten form. She had lost... Alice had lost to Matilda and now... Alice seemed to realize the same thing Holland did as she stopped mid attempt to stand. Instead, she shook her head and laid back down as if resigned to her fate. Some part of Holland wanted to curse her for giving up, but the smarter part of him knew she had no choice.
"What...what is she doing? Why won't she get up?!" Amber, suddenly, said from beside Holland. Holland might have jumped at her unexpected arrival, but his despair held too much of his mind. He wasn't sure when she had managed to get down to the ground level, but she still looked far from recovered as she stumbled a bit closer. Anger began to form on her face, but Holland moved to ease it.
"Because she can't. Not without killing even more people..." Holland said as he turned back to Alice's massive form. As if to punctuate his words, people began to rise out of the debris near Alice while others rushed to help. Amber noticed them as well and her anger was snuffed out as quickly as it had ignited.
In one move, Matilda had trapped Alice in the very farm she had been trying to protect. No matter how careful Alice was, she wouldn't be able to avoid killing someone if she moved. And if she rose and tried to fight... They would be lucky if there even WAS a farm after such a battle, much less survivors. Their only counter to Matilda had been beaten...they had lost...
A rumbling snarl echoed over the farm as Matilda moved to the broken window. She leap through it and the entire area was rocked by the force of her landing, nearly knocking over the still recovering Amber. She glared down at Alice's still form in disgust before glancing down to her feet.
"Are you serious? Are you FUCKING," Matilda raised and smashed her foot onto the ground, killing God-knew how many people.
"SERIOUSLY," Matilda's other foot followed the first, utterly annihilating one of the buildings Alice's body had missed in its crash through the farm. Holland felt his stomach knot as he wondered who had been in that building...how many they would never find buried under all that rumble...
"going to LAY THERE?!" Matilda bellowed out so loud that both Amber and Holland winced in pain. And they had been in a building... Holland looked over to Alice and saw she was wearing a mask of no emotion. She simply stared back at Matilda as the bruise on her face slowly spread. Matilda glared hardened as she began to move closer to Alice, not even watching what or who she stepped on.
"You weak bitch! You care so much about these mites that you would rather just lay there, helplessly, than accidently kill some of them?!" Matilda demanded as she closed in on Alice. One of her feet plowed through another building without even slowing down as she moved forward. Fuck, she hadn't even done it intentionally, it just happened to have been in the way... Holland could see people trying to flee from her path, but the Sword moved far faster than they could ever hope to. Some still managed to escape, but so many others... Dammit, he had to do something! But...but what?
Even if he, somehow, rallied everyone and made a break for it, Matilda would over take them with ease. Of course, he and the rest of the Elves could slip away into the trees and escape, but the prisoners... They were already weak from hunger and their horrid treatment. Add in their inexperience in avoiding notice and you had a recipe for disaster. He might manage to slip a handful out, but the rest... Was he really going to have to make that call after they had come so close?
"Fine, you fucking traitor. HAVE IT YOUR WAY!" Matilda, suddenly yelled as she stopped next to Alice. Her foot drew back and rocketed into the side of Alice's chest, smashing through another building along the way. Holland had no doubt THAT impact had been on purpose as bits of debris and...other things, splattered onto Alice's midsection. Alice nearly cried out from the hit, but managed to bite back the scream as her eyes clamped shut in concentration. Her muscles tensed as they fought to curl her into a ball, but Alice held them back and stayed still.
Holland swore out loud as rage bubbled up. That kick had to have bruised, if not broken, a rib and STILL Alice refused to move. Dammit, he couldn't just stand here and watch this! He had to do something, anything!
Turning away from the horror, Holland stormed his way out of the HQ and into the chaos of the open streets. Prisoners were running in every direction, some trying to pull friends out of the few remaining buildings while others made for the exit. A few of his fellow Elves were trying to get some semblance of order, but it was a futile attempt as another boom from Matilda's footsteps sent fresh panic through everyone. Even a few of the guards had thrown away their weapons and were joining the ranks of those fleeing in terror. Holland's determination started to dim as he realized that he would never get these people under control. They were broken, utterly, and nothing would get them unbroken.
"Holland, wai- Oh God..." Amber said as she exited the building into the mess as well. She looked around in horror before turning back to him.
"What...what do we do now?" she asked in worried tone Holland had never heard from the veteran soldier. Holland felt his spirit fall again as he wondered the same thing. He despised himself for thinking of it, and yet he knew he had no choice. They had to run... he had to rally his people, get the best looking prisoners he could, and flee before Matilda finished with Alice. It was their only option.
"We have to fall back..." Holland heard his voice say.
"We have to get out of here before Matilda turns her attention to the rest of us or...or we are all dead," Holland finished, feeling nearly sick for having to say it. Dammit...DAMMIT! Amber looked at him in shock, but it faded as she seemed to come to the same conclusion of their chances. She looked downcast and sick, but nodded just the same.
"Understood. I'll...I'll try to rally who I can find. What should I tell them if they want to try and kill Matilda?" Amber asked as she looked back up at Holland. Holland almost chuckled at the thought. They had only three firearms, including his pistol, in their entire wing and not one rocket. Their bows would only piss Matilda off and their firearms wouldn't do much better. Besides, trying to fight her would just kill even more people. No, unless they could kill her instantly, there was-... kill her instantly...Nothing THEY had could, but....
Holland didn't answer as he felt a fresh wave of hope hit him. Instead, he moved forward, pushing his way through the crowd to get a better look at Alice and Matilda. Amber asked after him a few times, but he ignored her as he grabbed the last bit of hope he had like a drowning man onto a piece of timber.
He moved around the building blocking his view and saw that Matilda was now sitting on Alice's chest. He ignored her booming taunts and words as he looked around the devastated area. People were fleeing as fast as they could from the two giantesses, some only able to crawl, as Matilda snatched up a few of them every so often. Debris from the buildings that been destroyed littered the area along with... along with shards of glass. Most were rather small, even compared to him, but a few were still together enough to form near building size panels of glass. Holland's hand seemed to start to slip from the timber as he saw all the pieces were well away from Alice. Was his gamble going to fail before it even began?
And then he saw it. A large piece of glass, shaped almost like a spear point, buried in the ground only a couple of scale yards from Alice's left hand. The piece had to be twenty and some scale feet high, but that made it just the right size. Holland let a huge grin spread over his face as hope, finally, came back with a vengeance.
Holland whirled around and found Amber following him. She blinked a few times at his sudden change in look, but Holland had no time to explain. They had to move as fast as they could. Every second was beyond valuable now.
"Amber, go get as many of our strongest people and the fittest prisoners you can find and have them head to that shard, the one close to Alice's hand. Get them to push it toward Alice as fast as they can and make sure Alice knows what you are doing," Holland said a bit too quickly. Amber looked confused for a moment, but it passed as she seemed to realize the plan. Her own mood brightened as a small smile appeared on her face.
"Yes, sir!" Amber said and started to move away, but stopped and turned around a second later.
"Wait...what are you going to do?" Amber asked with a look that suggested she already had an idea. Holland gave her a wary smile before he answered.
"Buy you and the others time, of course."
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Alice could only watch in mute horror as Matilda snatched up yet another person. It was the third one she had grabbed.... and the other two bloodstains on her hand foretold his doom. It took almost all of Alice's willpower to keep her face an emotionless mask as Matilda brought the man close enough for Alice to see.
"This? This little... thing is what you are siding with? Look at it, LOOK!" Matilda said, thrusting the man closer as Alice fought to keep her fury down. The man looked beyond terrified and Alice didn’t need to hear him to know he was begging for his life.
"This isn't a person. It isn't worth fighting for, it isn't worth protecting, hell it's barely worth FEEDING! All it's good for is being used and then," Matilda paused as her thumb began to press down on the man. He started to scream and beg for help, but Alice knew Matilda was ready for her to retaliate. All she would do is give Matilda what she wanted by acting. But watching as the man sunk lower and lower, and the crunching became lou-
Suddenly, with a sickening crack and pop, the man vanished under Matilda's thumb while blood squirted out like grape juice from a crushed grape. Alice couldn't help but flinch at the noise, but got herself back under control almost immediately. Matilda gave a fake look of surprise as she looked at the tiny splotch of blood and flesh on her thumb. Damn her...
"Oops, pushed too hard. These things always break so easily. Oh well, there are plenty more," Matilda said as she rubbed the ruin that had been a person right onto Alice's face. Alice had to fight to keep her fist from clenching as Matilda looked around before lunging out to grab another prisoner. This one was a woman and she was already screaming in terror as Matilda turned back to Alice.
"Now, where were we..." Matilda said in obvious faked confusion, even tapping her chin as if in thought. After a second she raised her finger and nodded.
"Oh yes, I was telling you how dumb you were for helping these little disposable wipes. Oh and you have something there," Matilda said as a sick grin spread on her face. Alice was confused as to what Matilda was talking about, and stayed still as her hand with the woman moved toward her face. Alice held her breath as Matilda shoved the woman onto Alice and began to use her like...like a wipe. Oh God, she was using her to wipe up the man she had smeared on her. The woman's screams of terror only grew as she was used like a living tissue paper, occasionally going silent or dimmer as blood and other...things got into her mouth.
Alice's fury reached new heights as her hand dug into the dirt. She knew what Matilda was doing, knew she was trying to get Alice to fight back. The monster didn't want a quick end to this, she wanted another fight with people slaughtered in the hundreds by their blows. And a fight that would, undoubtedly, end just as badly as the first for Alice. But knowing that and not rising to the bait were two different things. Doubly so as the poor woman was pulled back into Alice's sight.
The female prisoner was covered head to toe in blood and bits of flesh. She had stopped screaming and just stared forward, shivering and crying in shock. Alice could feel her mask starting to crack as rage like she had never felt before flooded into her. Matilda's murders had been bad enough, but this...this was just pure evil.
"Eww, look how nasty it is now. Guess we need another one," Matilda said as her thumb began to descend on the woman. The woman, however, didn't even move as she just stared forward, her eyes glossed over. She was in so much shock that not even her survival instinct could snap her out, and Matilda was just going to crush her like it was nothing! Part of Alice yelled at her to stop, to think about what she was doing, but that voice was drowned out by her rage.
Alice's mask was cast aside as she shot her right arm up toward Matilda's head. She didn't care if Matilda was ready for it, if she wanted a fight, or if it had no effect like all her other blows. All she cared about was that she knew she had done all she could to stop this...butchery!
Matilda's face got a triumphant smile as her hand moved to block the blow. Alice swore as Matilda caught the blow an- wait...why did her knuckle feel wet? It was almost as if a raindrop had hit it, but it was buried in Mati-... A wave of horror and guilt smashed into Alice as she realized Matilda had used the hand holding the woman to block her blow. No.....oh God no...
"HeheHAHAHAHA!" Matilda let out an ecstatic laugh as she let Alice's hand drop back to the ground. She leaned down so that her face was only a few inches over Alice's and gave her a twisted look of success.
"How does it feel? Killing them is so easy, isn't it? All you did was try to save it and, pop, it dies. And you want to help them. Hehehe, you can't even help them without kil- OWW!!!" Matilda, suddenly, screamed out in pain startling Alice out of her shock. Matilda's demented look was replaced instantly with a look of hate as she whirled to her left. Alice followed her and saw a number of Elves firing arrows up at her from the rubble around them. The arrows were sinking into Matilda’s calf, but they were too small to do anything but cause pain. Matilda let out a deep growl as glared at them.
"You fucking things DARE to attack ME?! Do you think those bobby pins are going to stop me?! All you are doing is PISSING ME OFF!!" Matilda bellowed as she raised her arm to crush the Elves. Alice, now fully out of her shock, lunged forward to stop her from bringing the fist down. She had no idea what the Elves were trying to accomplish, but she wasn't going to let them die without trying to save them. And, unlike last time, Matilda wasn't ready with a hostage to stop her.
Alice grunted in effort as she tried to keep Matilda's fist from hitting the ground. It took nearly everything she had left, though, thanks to Matilda’s strength. Matilda's rage-filled eyes left the Elves and turned back to Alice as Alice got her other hand around her neck. Whatever kind of punishment-absorbing monster Matilda was, she still had to breath. If Alice could keep her held long enough for her air to run out, then maybe she could stop this nightmare. But even as Alice thought of that plan, she realized it was hopeless. Matilda let out a low growl as her other hand, despite being pinned between them, started to push Alice back. Even worse, her raised arm was breaking free and Alice was barely slowing it. Matilda was just too strong.
With a roar of effort, Matilda shoved Alice back to the ground. Alice grunted as she hit and tried to move, but Matilda was still on top of her. Before she could react, Matilda brought her raised fist down right onto her head. And everything went black once again.
Alice groaned as the world began to float back into focus. She had no idea how long she had been out, but she doubted it had been more than a minute considering the immense pain in her head. She opened her eyes and horror washed over her. Matilda was swearing and cursing as she brought her left fist down again and again and again and again on the area to her left. The few Elves still alive were fleeing as fast as they could, but not fast enough as Matilda's fist rained down like artillery shells. Bits of crushed bodies and blood were flying everywhere and Matilda didn't even seem to notice how battered her own hand was becoming. Did she just not feel pain?
Before Alice could try to stop Matilda again, a voice spoke up in her right ear.
"Alice, to your left! Make sure Matilda doesn't notice!" the unfamiliar voice yelled, though was still barely audible despite that. Alice knew it had been a shrunken person and she made sure Matilda was looking away before glancing to her left. She didn't see anything save the farm for a second, but then her eye caught the slight movement of something. She risked a better look as Matilda turned further away.
A few feet from Alice's left arm was a large, pointed piece of broken glass. And behind it was about ten or so men pushing it forward toward Alice. It was slow going thanks to how big the shard was, but it was inching forward and more men seemed to be joining. Suddenly, Alice understood what the suicidal attack on her right had been about. A distraction for what might be their last hope. Matilda had taken everything Alice could throw at her, but having a shard of glass driven right through her windpipe...
Making sure Matilda was still looking away, Alice tried to stretch her arm out further. The shard, however, was still well out of her reach. Dammit, she had to get it as quickly as possible or even more people were going to die! She willed the men to push harder as it moved closer and clos-
"Let that teach you not to mess with a human," Matilda said as the pounding stopped. Alice cursed as she faced forward again, stopping her attempts to reach the shard. Matilda turned back and glared down at Alice, a slight look of suspicion crossing it. Alice had never been good at lying, but she was great at hiding her emotions so she hid behind her expressionless mask, hoping Matilda would go back to her torture. The two stared at each other for a moment before Matilda started to turn to her right. No, if she saw the shard...!
Alice started to lunge again to try and buy some time, but stopped as Matilda's eyes shot wide open in surprise and pain.
"AHHHH! WHAT THE FUCK!?!?!" Matilda yelled in fury before spinning back around to her left. Alice couldn't see who had distracted her again, but whoever it was might have just saved them all. Alice waited a heartbeat before going back to reaching for the glass.
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Gabby had barely survived Alice's sudden crash through the farm. Had she not stopped to check on an unconscious prisoner, she would have rushed right into a building along with two Resistance people she had been with. A building which Alice's massive form had utterly annihilated. Instead, she had simply been blown away by the impact, hurt but alive.
Pushing the pain aside, Gabby had helped people flee from Matilda as she plowed her way through the farm. She had saved twenty or more people...but hundreds of others hadn't been so lucky. But Gabby did her best to forget the death toll and focus on the people she could save. It had been easy when there had been people to save. But now...now with no one she could reach in immediate danger, she had nothing to distract herself with.
Gabby's fists tightened on her hammer as she watched Matilda kill another person, trying to goad Alice into fighting. The monster damn well knew she had won AND that Alice couldn't fight back, but was trying to anyway. For her part, Alice was resisting Cuntilda's attempts and was keeping from adding to the bloody tally, but even Alice had limits... Dammit, how had that monster beaten Alice? And how could Alice have let this happen?! Gabby knew the last one wasn't fair...but she couldn't help asking it.
"Ma'am...what...what do we do now?" a young male prisoner asked as he stood beside her. Gabby glanced back at him and to the large group of prisoners that had formed around her. It was a good question... She knew what SHE wanted to do, but these people were fucked without her help and she couldn't just abandon them. That left only one real choice.
Before Gabby could answer the boy, a sudden ear-splitting yell of pain came from Matilda. Gabby cringed in agony, but whirled to face Matilda anyway. To her utter shock, a number of the Resistance people were firing their arrows up at Cuntilda. They were not doing any real damage, but it was enough to get the monster's attention. Attention that was going to see them all dead. What the fuck were they thinking?!
Cuntilda went to crush them, but Alice stopped her mid swing...for a second. With horrifying speed and strength, Matilda shrugged off Alice and gave her blow that left her reeling. God...Gabby wasn't sure even she could have broken that hold so quick. Even more terrifying, however, was her counter-attack on the Resistance. Her fist rained down as fast as Matilda could swing it and with the force of an airstrike. Blood and body parts were sent flying and Gabby was sure some of the blood was Matilda's. Yet she didn't even seem to notice as she smashed the area apart.
Without a single thought to the danger, Gabby took off for the killing ground. She didn't know what the Resistance was trying to do, but they needed help and Gabby was going to give it to them. The intense shaking from the continued pounding made the going tough, but Gabby fought through it as she neared the decimated ground.
It took Gabby less than a minute to arrive at the Resistance position... but it had been a minute too long. Every Resistance pe- no, soldier was dead, injured, or cowering in shell shock. The utterly flattened remains of thirty plus people were scattered around the area and blood had caked everything. Gabby had been in war zones before, but this...Gabby had to fight not to lose her lunch at the sight. They had never stood a chance...
"Ga...Gabby..." a weak, familiar voice called out. Gabby pushed her revulsion down as she turned to the source of the voice. A sudden wave of lightheadedness hit her as she saw the broken remains of Holland lying on the ground a few feet away. His entire lower half had been crushed and only the top fourth of his body was still there...even his hands had been caught under the lethal blow.
"Dear God..." was all Gabby could get out as she moved to what remained of Holland. His mouth moved a few times as if trying to speak, but nothing came out save gasps. Gabby knelt down beside him and raked her brain on what to do. She had to save him but...but how?! Suddenly, Holland sucked in a large gasp of air and leaned up toward her.
"Distr...distrac...." Holland whizzed out before his words were replaced by blood. Gabby shook her head and tried to force him to lay down, but it was too late. Holland gave one last gasp before his eyes glazed over forever. He was gone.
"Dammit," was all Gabby could think to say as she laid Holland down. She closed his eyes before looking back up to the giant monster that had killed him. Her eyes rove the scene, but didn't seem to spot Gabby in amongst all the carnage. Gabby, though, had to fight not to spring to her feet and challenge her in rage. Resistance or not, Holland deserved better than this!
"Let that teach you not to mess with a human," the monster said, sending Gabby's blood to beyond boiling Human? HUMAN?! She dared to call herself human after this...and that mother... There were no words and Gabby was past them anyway. Sh- no IT was dead. It was dead, dead, dead, DEAD!!! Damn the size difference, damn the sense, and damn it! She was going to kill it no matter what!!
Gabby, having just enough sense to know her hammer was useless, tossed her weapon away before snatching up a nearby sword. With a mighty yell of rage and fury, she charged Matilda's kneeling lower leg without a single thought on the fact she was charging a leg bigger than most warehouses. She was past caring about the size of the enemy or the fact she was making a suicidal attack. All she cared about was getting revenge for all the people it had murdered.
As Gabby made it past the halfway point, her yell began to dim. Her breath was starting to run out and she focused what she had on keeping herself moving. To her surprise, however, the yell was taken up by other voices. Gabby looked back and saw a small pocket of prisoners and surviving Resistance soldiers run out to follow her in her mad charge. She started to yell for them to go back, but stopped as she looked into their eyes. They had an almost mirrored look of rage and desperation. They were past caring if they lived and nothing she said or did would stop them following her. So she did the only thing she could do. She rejoined their yell.
The monster never turned back to them as they neared its leg. If it heard them, it ignored them, but it was more likely it hadn't. It was just as well as it would notice them now! Gabby raised her sword and drew it back as far as she could. Then, with a yell of fury, she plunged the sword right into the monster's lower leg and smiled as blood started to pour out of the wound. Other people followed her example and stabbed, cut, fired, or bashed their weapons into the enormous leg causing more blood to pour onto the ground.
"AHHHH! WHAT THE FUCK!?!?!" the monster bellowed out with enough force to shake the ground. Gabby fought the pain in her ears away as she pulled her sword free and started to hack at the giant wall of flesh. Some part of her knew she was doing no real damage to the monster. A fall from the full-sized porch could do more damage than she was doing, but Gabby didn't care. All that mattered was she was hurting the damn thing, that it was feeling pain.
"You fucking cockroaches! DIE!" the monster yelled again and Gabby stopped her mad hacking as she saw the leg twitch...but its hands didn't. Why wasn't it reach- oh shit!
"She's moving the leg to crush us! Get on it!" Gabby yelled out as the massive leg began to grind toward them. Gabby grunted in effort as she leapt up onto it and buried her sword into the flesh. To her relief, it had just enough resistance to hold her up and she dug her feet into the somewhat yielding flesh as best she could. The quicker soldiers and prisoners followed her example and leap up to join her, using spears, swords, and even axes as handholds. But not everyone was quick and not everyone had a sword, etc...
The slower people had just enough time to look worried before the leg knocked them to the ground. Some tried to crawl away, but their legs were quickly pinned by the mass of crushing flesh. They screamed in terror and pain as the monster's leg flattened them like a steamroller. Gabby had to look away as the unlucky souls began to bloat up from the pressure their crushed bodies began to experience. A sickening pop followed soon after that made Gabby shiver in horror and revulsion.
Gabby turned back as the pops stopped and saw that some of the people had managed to run before being caught, but the monster's leg was picking up speed. They couldn't hope to outrun the wall and all of them were armed with hammers, bows, or other weapons incapable of holding them up. Gabby swore as she realized they were dead...unless.
"Hey, grab on! Hurry, take my hand!" Gabby yelled out to the group. She risked letting herself slid down a bit further before extending her hand toward the group. Some of the others on the leg began to do the same as it started to catch up with the fleeing group.
For a few seconds, none of the fleeing group seemed to want to risk it. Gabby swore and was about to yell at them some more, but stopped as the same young male prisoner from before suddenly stopped. He turned and waited a second before leaping toward Gabby. Gabby strained herself forward and held her breath as their hands moved toward one another. She felt his flesh slap hers and clamped down as hard as she could as their hands locked together. The boy's momentum slammed him into the flesh wall and he began to slid down toward the crushing doom. Gabby swore and lifted him upwards as his legs scrambled to try and get a foothold. Pain and strain began to ravage Gabby's arms, but still she held on. Finally, the boy's foot managed to catch onto a small imperfection in the monster's skin and the strain of holding him eased. Gabby let out her held breath as she loosened her grip a bit. They were safe...for now.
However, not everyone had been so lucky. A few of the others had managed to pull some of the fleeing group up as well, but more than a few had empty hands. Some had just not been strong enough to keep the other person up. Others had had no takers for their help. And two had paid the ultimate price for trying to save others when their own weapons had slipped out or broken, sending them both tumbling to be crushed into paste. The rest of the fleeing group fared no better and had been flattened like everyone else. Gabby swore as the thirty or so band who had charged with her now numbered seven...including herself.
Gabby looked at the few survivors and wondered what the hell to do now. The monster's leg had, finally, come to a stop so they could keep attacking, but... Gabby could almost hear that sickening pop again and she had to fight not to shi-
"LOOK OUT!" the boy she was holding onto said. Gabby snapped out of her thoughts and looked up to see the monster's hand racing toward them. Shit, it was too close! Gabby didn't have time to dodge, but felt herself yanked forward anyway. She glanced down and saw the boy pushing himself off the monster's leg and pulling her with him. Gabby swore as she let go of her sword and let herself fall. She and the boy plummeted to the ground, maybe just quick enough to avoid the slap. But the others...
"MATILDA!" Alice's voice bellowed out and the slap stopped inches from hitting flesh as a strange gurgle sound followed the yell. Gabby's eyes went wide before she slammed into the poor boy.
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Alice knew this was her last chance. She had no idea who had distracted Matilda again, but whoever it was was going to pay in blood for this chance. She couldn't allow it to be in vain. She WOULDN'T allow all it to be in vain.
Turning to the shard, Alice stretched her arm toward it as hard as she could. The people pushing it seemed to realize this was their last chance as well and she saw them through their entire bodies into moving it. Blood began to appear on its side as they cut themselves on its sharp edge, but still they pushed. And with each push it moved closer, inch by bloody inch.
Alice heard Matilda yell something, but didn't bother to turn. She HAD to get the shard even if it meant weathering another beating. She shifted her body a bit to move closer and her fingers grasped out as far as they could. Just...a...bit....more....
Finally, Alice cringed as her finger slid off the edge of the shard. The pain, however, only brought relief as she reached for the glass again. The small group of people gave one last mighty heave as Alice reached out...
and grasped the tip of the glass.
Alice let a small smile out as she pulled the shard closer and snatched it up. She ignored the pain as it cut into her hand and turned back to Matilda. She was raising her hand to slap at something on her leg, but Alice wasn't about to let her finish that move.
"MATILDA!" Alice yelled as loud as she could before swinging the shard forward straight for her throat. Matilda turned with an annoyed look on her face, but it was soon replaced with shock and surprise as the glass shard buried itself into her neck. Matilda opened her mouth and blood gushed out and onto Alice. Alice, though, only narrowed her eyes as she recognized the signs of a cut windpipe. No matter how inhumanly tough Matilda was, she still had to breath and she couldn't do that with her windpipe flooding with blood.
Matilda shocked look gave way to one of rage as her hands started to move toward Alice. Alice, however, simply twisted the shard and Matilda's hands stopped to move to her throat instinctively. She gurgled and gasped a few times as Alice leaned up toward her face. Letting her die like this would have been easy, but Alice wasn't going to make this easy. She pointed to her left and Matilda's eyes followed her finger to the small group of people standing where the shard had been.
"Go to hell knowing those "things" are what sent you there. They moved this shard,” Alice paused as she let her mask fall away to reveal a glare of disgust.
“Now, burn and suffer with all the other demons," Alice said before slamming her hand into the glass, driving it even further into Matilda. Matilda eyes went wide in pain and shock as she began to gurgle and gasp like mad. Her hands clawed at her neck as if trying to dig out the glass while her face began to turn blue. She let out a few more gurgles and looked to try and get up, but Alice wrapped her arms around her to stop her. Matilda struggled to escape, but her insane strength drained away along with her color. She gave one last pull before slumping down onto Alice, her strength gone. Alice simply watched as Matilda's eyes filled with panic and fear. One last gurgle escaped her lips before her terrified eyes lost all focus. Matilda was dead.
Message sent to Matilda Pledger from Atlanta Command:
Your request for more supplies is denied. You have exceeded your personal allotment for this and next month and are hereby cut off from further doses. We remind you that the dosage amount is NOT a recommendation but a STANDING ORDER. If proof of your overuse is found you will be punished as per guidelines 2-45B.
Command
PS: Don’t send this kind of request again, Matilda. I will not risk my plans just to shield you from the upper levels. Make do with what you have or steal more, I don’t care, just do not go through the official channels again.