Religion was dead by that point. Before their arrival it was facing its final days. People knelt in pews and pressed their foreheads on mats for centuries but the modern age was slowly whittling that away. Millions still crowded into places of worship but then the world ended. It wasn’t how any of us expected it. Then again, I think we destroyed ourselves just as much as the giants did.

Even whilst I sat, staring at the indentation in Vera’s neck, searching for a happy thought, a pleasant memory, anything to drag me back out of this pit of anguish, I couldn’t help thinking about how we fucked up as a species. The scrutiny that Vera placed on me didn’t help. Then, I began to consider what the future might hold. Since the invasion everyone was mostly concerned about the present. No one even considered what might lay ahead when they could hardly keep themselves fed or sheltered. Now, in my state of apparent safety, I felt I could consider it. Weird. Safety. That’s not what I would have expected to feel in a time like this. Not after what happened outside.

“Thinking again?”

I looked up at her. All the contempt she once had was stored away in the deeper parts of her being. I nodded slowly but I don’t think she noticed. She gave her hand a slight bob, forcing me to stabilize myself.

“Yeah, just...thinking about what’s going to happen now…”

“Oh?” she started “and what do you think is going to happen now?”

Honestly I was thinking very long term. About what may become of  humankind, the giants. One thing I was certain of was no one would really win. But when I really thought about what would happen in the next few hours or days I thought only of the blank eyes I had seen during my ascent to the chamber.

“More of this I suppose”

Vera did not smile. In fact it was the single most exhausted look I’ve ever seen on another person. Was the guilt finally catching up to her?

“I have...so many questions. I don’t know where to begin..”

“Ellis, do not make me answer any more. It is pointless…”

“I know I’m just...so confused”

A wave of warm air smashed into me, nearly causing me to fall onto my back. I looked up. Vera’s nostrils flared and her eyes danced perceptively over my minuscule form. I wasn’t sure what she was so frustrated by but I didn’t feel like probing any further.

“Then be confused Ellis. God dammit just leave it be.”

“Alright, I can do that…”

“Good.” she quietly said.

Things returned to their submissive state of calm. I avoided looking at her face while she avoided straying from mine. Part of me wanted to leap off her hand to the floor below. Just to end the silence. The brooding blend of rejection and commitment. That’s when I suddenly felt my own inertia drive me face first into her palm. Her hand shot up and then bobbed back down. All the while the entire chamber groan and squeaked as she moved her limbs about. When her palm finally leveled out against I saw that she had taken to laying back down on her back. She held me aloft over her collarbone for a moment before tilting her hand ever so slightly, causing me to slip off onto her chest.

My perspective of her was always changing. I don’t just mean my visual perspective either. One moment she is a far reaching portrait that seemed to sing the hymn of intellectual beauty. Now, she was a landscape, a far stretching continent with mountains and hills. Flat plains and distant canyons which I could not hope to explore even in my mind. This only unsettled me more. To my right was the vast expanse of her jawline bounded by her alabaster neck. To my left was the gentle upward slope of her breasts. It felt wrong, almost voyeuristic to consider addressing anything but her face. But, at the same time, i could not bear to look at her. That’s pretty hard to do when she is literally everywhere around you.

The residual rise and fall of her breathing kept me alert though. I precariously took a seat on bare flesh. I felt its heat radiating into me. I felt its life surge beneath me as blood and marrow.

“Where will you go now?” she finally said. Somehow feeling the words actually stretch through her body made them twice as loud. It was so bad I couldn’t even really think of what she even meant for some time.

“I don’t know” I eventually said. “Back to the others I suppose.”

She shifted a little beneath me, as if unsettled. I wanted to say nothing more but I knew she would not allow that. Something about being there was enough for me. I felt words could only taint it further.

“Why would you do that?” she sneered. “They could kill you...Is that really what you want?”

I thought about that for a little while. Life was too much. This life especially. I guess it was my purpose to try and make it better but by that point the only thing keeping me from really committing to it was the fear of what lie beyond. It's easy to fear death when it is only a black void. One which there are no true authorities. I guess that’s why so many people prefer to think of it as a light, or garden, or the embrace of someone you once knew.

“Maybe that’s for the best.”

Vera’s response to my reservations was swift and acidic. “ELLIS.” I jumped at the ferocity.

“You don’t owe them anything. You never have. This. All of what I have done. You don’t need to apologize for. I’ll never understand you creatures. Running to one another for safety when it just gives my kind larger targets. When in the end its YOU who stab each other in the back. I’m so sick of it all. If you want to go then...then…”

“Vera no please I won’t survive otherwise. I have to go back”

“Not if I don’t allow it.”

“So what you’ll just keep me against my will? Not even you can keep that up forever.”

I could hear another rush of air escape her nostrils as she considered her  impulsive plan. I leaned back and let the small of my back touch down on her skin. It made my abdomen ache for a moment but it relaxed as I eased backward.

“And what about you? Where will you go?”

Again Vera’s response was quick and decided. I guess she had been thinking about it some time.

“I’ve grown so used to this place.” she droned. “I think I’ll stay here, at least for a time. Its as good a place to sleep as any, and the only one I know of that will keep me out of the rain”

I was a bit shocked. Naturally I would have assumed that she’d want to get as far away from this place as possible. Yet, still she lingered here. Then I remembered what she said about trying to understand, so I just sighed and let her breathing numb my head.

“Ellis…” she gently whispered

“Yes?”

“What’s it like to be happy?”

“I-”

“Have you ever known?”

“Yes”

“Tell me about it”

“I can’t”

“Please!” she pleaded. I rubbed the back of my head on the surface of her skin.

“No”

Maybe it was cruel, but I think it would have been much crueler to fill her head with empty hopes.

“Dammit where are you?” I huffed as I shook my shoe harshly in the air. Perhaps a bit too harshly. Finally the object of my frustration, a jagged grey piece of gravel, tumbled out onto the dusty earth. Satisfied I slipped it back over my heel and began looping the laces once again. When I looked back over my shoulder I saw Vera still lying prone through the chamber’s translucent glass. It was odd, as her body only barely peeked out over the opaque foundations. About half an hour earlier she had placed me back on the outer edge. Apparently she had been up most of the night wreaking havoc and was only now feeling the fatigue overtake her. As she drifted off to sleep I gave her an empty promise of my return. Or, at least now it felt empty. At the moment I was convinced I would return but now, wandering about the products of her work I felt a strong urge to run into the woods. To live amongst the beasts and never return to the civilized world. It wasn’t so civilized anyway.

It was about that point I noticed the cloud of dust being thrown up along the wooded road three hundred yards to my left. The distant but unmistakable putter of an aging engine meant only one thing. Others were returning.

I didn’t even notice I was running toward them until I was already halfway there. The clouds grew as I approached, mixing with the humid air for a moment before dispersing upward into the clouded sky. The sunlight had long turned into a grey overcast sky. There would be rain soon. I felt it in the twitching winds.

When I was in fifty yards of the vehicle it slowed to a stop. It was a common transport, no doubt one of the militia scouts returning to see if the site was secure. Or maybe it was a scavenging party. Yet, when I saw the line of vehicles directly behind it I realized that things were much more serious that I had initially thought.

“Put your fucking hands where I can see them!” a man suddenly screeched. A Blue shirt in a torn uniform hopped out of the truck with an M4. My palms went up into the air and I, like a trained animal, dropped to my knees. A few more jumped out the back to see what the problem is. All the while, every vehicle in the train came to a halt in a strange rhythmic motion.

“Who is in charge here?” I cried out.

I didn’t have to wait long for an answer. “That...would be me.”

A figure with his neck in a brace and his arm in a sling came stumbling over. The shine from his bald head was only matched by the slight glimmer from his glasses.

“Constable Mica?”

“Yes, Ellis”

“I-I thought you were dead?”

“Dead?” he said with some disdain. “No, far from it...though I can’t say the same for many…” his voice dripped with disgust. The once friendly, collected demeanor he had for me was replaced with a harsh shell of bitterness. I couldn’t blame him.

“What about Grim? Treble?”

“Grim is coming with the second wave. Treble...we never found him”

My jaw dropped. No words poured out of my throat though. I was, quite completely, struck by a silent sickness. The hunger in my stomach finally caught up to me as well. Like, all the meals I had put off the last few weeks suddenly compounded into this one starving pain. That’s when I collapsed. When they did finally pick me back up I sat down on the fender of the truck. As I looked down the row of vehicles I saw many of the passengers and their escorts slowly diffusing out of their transports to see what was going on.

“Ellis, where have you been?”

“I came back. I had to talk to her.”

“And? How’d that work out…”

A few stray preliminary drops of precipitation struck the back of my neck. I paused and looked up at the sky as more began to rain down.

“It was...something.”

“Hmm I bet it was” Mica muttered spitefully under his breath. “Well we don’t have much time, the others. They are coming, we have been told to come back and prepare what defenses we have. We are trying to get all civilians as far away from here as possible. Psyn Corps troops are coming as well. They say they have a plan. A last ditch effort. Something they’ve been working on for some time. Now, I have been instructed to detain you whilst the preparations take place, but before I do so, I must know, where did she go? Did you find her? Did she get far?”

My mouth was dry. What else was there to say but the truth? What would happen then? How would they react to her presence. Surely it would be chaos. Worse yet how would she react? Would she continue her path of carnage. I had to tell them. Perhaps then I could at least save a few of them.

“Mica, no you all...you have to get out of here. She’s-” but it was that point I saw that they weren’t paying attention. Instead all eyes were fixed behind me. Once angry faces now were twisted into masks of shock, awe, and terror.

“Dear God!” one of them whispered. Then a woman, somewhere in the distance screamed. Others joined her, and soon, the once orderly motorcade descended into wild frenzy. Panicked people dropped their belongings and scattered in every direction. Those still in vehicles tried haphazardly to drive away, pushing people aside in the process. It was a mad riot, people shoved each other aside in their desperation to escape. Escape what? As I turned around I saw Vera had awoken. The chamber door was slid aside and she was in the process of stepping out. Even from this distance the tremor created by her footfalls could be felt. Her eyes lay locked on the swarm of people at the camp’s edge. It was too late.

Many of the soldiers didn’t know what to do. Some dropped their weapons and fled with the others. Some tried to find cover, while others simply barked incoherent commands to one another. I simply stood while the sea of people surged around me.

When she was completely out, Vera stood to her full height. Even in this gloom she seemed to cast a shadow. Maybe not a literal one but a shadow of fear, of immensity, of power. I took in everything and registered what it meant collectively. She just stared back with a stoic look on her face. Another few steps rocked the earth as she drew a little closer. I had lost all bearing on those around me. One oafish man nearly knocked me down in his hurry to escape. I just stared up at her. Both of Vera’s eyes flashed around the  mob, darting from one corner to the next. She must have been looking for me. Then, just when I thought it was all over she turned away. Steadily she began to stroll off in the opposite direction. The heavy thud of her footsteps began to ease up. Finally after a few more steps she looked back over her shoulder at the fray and gave a forced smile. Then she went on.

When the others saw that she was leaving the madness began to die down. Slowly people peeked from their meager hiding places at the retreating giantess. She bore no intense physical signs of anger or defeat. Instead her gait was casual, measured, and, in my personal opinion, a bit forced.

“What in the-?” one man muttered. A hand rested itself on my shoulder. When I turned to see who it belonged to I saw Mica staring out in disbelief at Vera’s retreating form.

“What did you say to her?”

“I didn’t really say anything.” I said with a pause. My right hand slipped into my pocket to grasp my father’s watch. “I just listened.”

Rain was steady now. It came down in even scatter. The thirsty ground drank it up like a man dying of thirst. The once dusty landscape was turned into a cool muddy marsh filled with woe. Night was falling soon, and the dark shadow cast by the clouds only made the hour seem later than it actually was. Once the clamor had died down people did one of two things. Those with the Blue Shirts and Psyn Corps had begun to set up their defenses. They could not outrun Amora and the others for much longer. So they decided they would hold them here. It was suicide. Everyone knew it. Yet even Constable Censor, the Psyn Corps officer who had recruited me, seemed somehow confident that they would succeed. In my time I learned a lot about the giants. For one they were complex, as complex as any human. But one thing that never ceased to be true was that the giants were hard to kill. Very hard. Killing one was considered a miracle, but three? It was unthinkable.

“Ellis”

It was strange to even consider that something as small and powerless as we humans could overcome them.

“Ellis”

But Psyn Corps said they had a plan.

“ELLIS!”

Suddenly I snapped out of it. I looked up to see Censor rubbing his forehead wearily. He sat across from me at a rather shoddy card table with a faulty leg. The teetering mesmerized me for a moment, forcing me into my own head.

“Ellis we need to go over this again.” he groaned with worry. Aside from the armed guards flanking him, he no longer seemed to have the same intimidating collectivity about him. The last few days had really worn him down.

“Where did she go Ellis?”

“I told you I don’t know. Why do you even care now? Don’t you have bigger things to worry about?”

“Ellis, where is she. She must have told you. She wouldn’t tell anyone else!”

Something in his voice betrayed his intentions. What was he really after? What was so special about Vera?

“Look she just left, ok. She saw the refugees coming back and she turned away.”

A long angry sigh escaped his nose. His face was stretched out like a rubber band, until finally, he snapped! With quick ferocity he pounded his fist onto the table. I jumped a bit before settling uncomfortably back in my seat.

“DAMMIT!” he screamed. Even his guards were a bit shocked.
“What is so important about Vera? You should be glad  she’s gone after all this.”

He looked as though he was about to snap at me again but he quickly reigned himself back in. His eyes remained shut, as though hot fire would erupt from them if they were opened. He finally calmed and gave me an answer

“We...we need her.”

“Need her for...for what?” but as I finished my question I started to catch on. The subtle nuances of it, the harsh realities too. It all was starting to fit together. I didn’t quite know how but it was becoming clear.  This whole...thing...this job, it was a lie. They were never going to execute Vera. Vera was the plan. So was Amora. That’s what this was all for.

“Constable” I said very slowly. “How did Vera escape your facility? And Amora?”

His expression told me that he was aware that I had started to make the connections. He leaned back in his chair and brought his thumb and forefinger up to the bridge of his nose. The silent disdain he had on his face was so judging, so arrogant I wanted to strike him onto the ground.

“Ellis...you do not understand war. It requires sacrifice. It requires strategy. You have been integral in it. You have been our greatest weapon.”

“So what you...you let them go? Made it look like an escape? For what I-what strategy could you possibly have?”

“Ellis, please calm down. Tell me...its simple math really...what is easier to defeat, one giant or two? Two or four?”

I just glared back across the table.

“And why should we fight them when they are just as eager to fight each other. All it took was a little push. A little information here and there. We couldn’t have hoped for better outcomes. You-”

“So what, have you been drugging them? Hypnosis? What?”

“I don’t quite understand…” he conceded.

“How are you supposed to control them?”

“Control them….why Ellis what do you mean?”

“I know about the tests you’ve been doing on your own people back at Echo. I know about the drugs, how are you doing it? Mood manipulation?”

Suddenly he began to chuckle softly to himself. With a shake of his head and a wagging of his finger Censor sat back forward. I didn’t know what he found to be so funny but I was not having it.

“What?”

“Ellis, that...first of all that was only once, a preliminary test in small doses, what you witnessed at the camp was very much true human nature. And the instance with Vera? That was just because she wasn’t as...open with her history. She needed a push. No, there are no drugs involved Ellis. Its all you. You are the leverage. Or at least you were.”

“I...I don’t…”

“Just calm down now.” He said in fake tone of sympathy. I bit my lip to keep from screaming with rage.

“What could I have-”

“Ellis, all it took was you. You asked them questions. You told them what the other said. It was really quite simple and now...that blonde bitch, whatever her name is, is coming here now to kill Aleph. They would have destroyed each other, and it didn’t take drugs or machines, it just took words. It just took you.”

I felt like my head was about to explode. The veins in my face burned with hot blood. Everything was choking me.

“YOU USED ME!” I surged “YOU USED ME AND YOU GOT ALL THOSE PEOPLE KILLED. FOR WHAT? SHE’S GONE NOW AND SHE WON’T BE ABLE TO DO SHIT!”

Censor’s face fell a bit. It was not regret though, only desperation. He rubbed the back of his hand on his forehead looked off to the side. Nothing at that moment could convince him to make eye contact with me.

“Yes, she is gone. We had anticipated she would stay. We would return here, have her occupied by the first wave of refugees until the other giants arrived. Now...well now its too late.”

I rushed to my feet and planted both palms on the table. I had so much to say, so much pent up fury to unleash. All semblance of human thought left my mind. For a moment I became like the giants themselves. Carnal, destructive, emotional. Censor started to shake his head ever so slightly.

“Its really a shame Ellis.” His hand slipped into his jacket pocket. A moment later he withdrew a shining handgun which he leveled at my chest. “You lost sight of who the real enemy. Its not us Ellis, we are mankind’s salvation. There needs to be some loss if we are to endure in this world, but you got too attached to that one. I don’t know what you told her and quite frankly I don’t care...all I need to know now is...Where is she?” As he finished speaking his thumb pulled the gun’s hammer back.

My anger outweighed my fear, but I did not make a move. Instead I remained frozen. My flesh begged to be bitten by that gun’s metal teeth. I would have loved it. I would have loved to have been shot, just so that I could rush over the table and twist that thing’s head three hundred sixty degrees.

“Sit….down…” he said with harsh enunciation. I eased back into my chair, all the while fuming wildly.

“Ellis, I’ll give you to the count of three.”

“How many know about this?” I grumbled

“One.”

“What will the people do when they find out what you have been up to?”

“Two”

“Who gave you these orders, is this high command?”

“Three”

I immediately winced. I shut my eyes and squealed like a pig. After all of this I was still afraid. I would always be afraid. Afraid of death, afraid of them, afraid of her. Maybe it was because I was afraid of myself. But, even after a few seconds waiting for death, nothing happened. Then, a cold metal ring pressed against my forehead.

“Ellis”

“I...I don’t know” I quivered.

“Hmph, well that’s disappointing then…”

“NOo no no wait!”

But before he could pull the trigger the earth shook. The table teetered briskly before settling back down again. Then it happened again. And again. Before long the ground reached an odd sort of resonance such that instead of a simple pattern of footfalls, it was like the earth was shaking itself to death in a persistent hum. I opened my eyes and saw that Censor had began putting away his gun.

“Hmm, well looks like we may not have to go looking for her after all.”

Outside the distant frightened shouts waded in through the flaps of the makeshift tent they had erected. Both guards grew anxious and, with the Constable’s orders, exited in hurry.
“Come now Ellis, lets see if we can’t have you...dissuade her for a bit.”

“Why should I help you?”

“You’re really going to let all those people die for nothing?” he said coyly.

In my anger I pushed past him and exited the tent. What I saw when I emerged was not what either of us were expecting. My blood ran cold as I saw, on the horizon three massive forms slowly but confidently descending on the field of refugees at their feet. Even the sparse light I could see the golden shine of the central giant’s hair. They seemed infinitely large at this distance.

“Oh...oh no.” I heard the Constable whisper behind me.