Chapter 12:Justified Betrayal

January 17, 2024 3:27 PM

Run, run, he had to run. He had to find the tunnel, had to find the Phoenixes, had to find help! Marcus stumbled a bit as another massive shock wave blasted the area. He didn't dare look back as his friend, Alex, helped him keep his feet. They both keep running as gunfire, yells, meows, and laughter filled the air. The Society had found them, and now all they could do was run. Run like the bugs they were...

"This way!" Alex said as they turned to avoid a large open area a giantess' foot had made. They moved to go around it as Marcus looked in horror at the crushed field. Trees had been flattened like they were nothing more than twigs and bits of blood were slowly dripping down them. He even thought he saw a face crushed into the wood, but he didn't dare look hard enough to tell. He felt sick, but he had to keep going, had to keep running!

They rushed past the field in full sprint as another shock wave blasted the area. This time, Marcus and Alex both turned to see a giantess laughing as dust came up from her feet. The rear guard were getting slaughtered and their fire wasn't even denting the giantess' shield. If only they had more launchers... A fairy dived into the fray as a loud meow echoed off the hills as well. More screams and yells could be heard as the giantess stomped down again. And she was just one of the four attacking them...

"Come on!" Alex said as he pulled Marcus along. Marcus followed in a daze, barely conscious of what was happening. This...this couldn't be happening... Everyone...everyone was dying...the Society had found them...they were doomed, they we-

Suddenly, a deafeningly loud buzz filled the air as Alex turned to look behind them. His face paled as he dived back to push Marcus to the ground. Marcus fell flat on his back just as a large hand went rushing over him and snatched up Alex. The fairy giggled in joy as it grabbed him.

"ALEX!" Marcus yelled in panic. Alex was pulled into the air by the fairy who had zipped past them, his face a mix of terror and determination. She took off into the air with Alex writhing in her grip.

"FIND THE PHOENIXES!" Alex yelled back before the fairy flew out of sight with her cargo. Marcus' terror and panic reached new heights as he realized he was alone. Thirty of them had set out, and now he was all that was left...the guy who had never even had training. The others had been soldiers...been trained to fight. But they had died...one by one...to catmonsters, fairies, giantesses....He...he....

Marcus did the only thing he could and took off running. He throw down his gun, his ammo, everything that was slowing him as he ran toward where the tunnel should be. The sounds of war and slaughter were everywhere and pressing down on him. He had to escape, had to escape had to! The noises started to sufficate him, the screams driving into his skull. He heard the buzzing of fairy wings, the meows of catmonsters, and the booming laughter of the giantesses getting closer and closer. They were after him, they were going to get him, HE WAS GOING TO DIE!

He ran up a small ridge in blind panic and nearly ran past a strange sight. Some part of his mind screamed at him and managed to get through the fog of terror. He stopped and turned to see a part of the hill covered in old vines and leaves. That...that didn't really fit with the rest of the hill. Everything else was dead an- THE TUNNEL!!!! His heart leap for joy as he rushed to it and pulled the stuff out of the way. He had just started to rip it off when the vines and leaves shifted back. He staggered back as a woman came out of the hidden door behind the fake vines and leaves.

"You just had to knock," she said as she looked up. Marcus followed her eyes and saw two more fairies moving toward the area, looking for more people to snatch up. The woman frowned before grabbing him by the collar and pulling him in, closing the hidden door in the same motion.

Marcus had to blink a few times as his eyes adjusted to the much dimmer light. The small tunnel was full of heavily armed people with the same patch work clothing he had.  The woman seemed to be the leader as she looked better armed and had more well made clothing. Marcus nearly flopped to the ground in relief as he realized he had made it. He had linked up with the Phoenixes coming to help them escape. Alex...I did it...

"Oh thank God...I...I didn't think any of us were going to make it. You...you need to hurry, we are getting slaughtered out there!" Marcus said as he tried to recover. The woman nodded and opened the hidden wooden door a bit to peek out.

"Where are the people you need evacuated at?" she asked as she looked out into the warzone. Even inside, the rumbling and constant gunfire echoed in, nearly drowning out all sound.

"There...there is an old stump that didn't get shrank. The stump has a number of termite holes in it that we are using to hide the women and children in," Marcus said before moving beside her and pointing it out. Its huge size made it rather easy to see. The woman looked at it and then back to where the main fighting was.

"Smart. Put your noncoms in the stump while your combat units make it look like that old rusted car is your last holdout. Still, easy enough to sabotage," the woman said.

Marcus had just enough time to look confused before the woman whipped out her handgun. His eyes widened as he found himself staring down the barrel. A bright flash blinded him as the world fell away.


Tiffany shook her head as the Snakes' scout flopped to the ground. Idiot, did he really expect them to forgive them after they raided their base and killed their people? No, there would be no forgiveness today, only the complete destruction of the Snakes.

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3 days earlier...

January 14, 2024 1:42 PM

General Tiffany Faine drummed her fingers over the table as she read the map again. She had read it more times than she cared to count as she waited for Darius to arrive. The rest of the HQ was buzzing with activity as reports poured in of the approaching Snakes, and the Society forces trailing them.

As pathetic she thought the Snakes were, even more so after their cowardly attack, she was still stunned by how quickly they had fallen to the Society. She, like Darius, had assumed they would be able to hold out for a few weeks, at the very least. The useless fools, however, had proven to be even more incompetent than even she had thought as they fell apart in a matter of days. Now they were making a mad dash toward the Phoenixes hoping the very people they had wronged would save them. If the Society wasn't sure to see the battle, she would have lead her people to war and slaughtered them already.

Tiffany sighed as she cursed her inability to act. Darius had left strict orders to hold position until he arrived and Tiffany was unwilling to disobey them. Doubly so as a misstep could reveal them and send them fleeing just as the Snakes were now. Tiffany was confident in her command, strategy, and leadership abilities, but she was not so arrogant as to believe she was better than Darius. He was their leader for a reason, after all. Which left her with only one option, wait. And she hated to wait.

"General, the outside watchpost just reported Darius and his soldiers arriving," her second-in-command, Lieutenant Lloyd Cromwell, reported. A few of the other high-ranking people in the Phoenixes didn't make use of rank and titles, but Tiffany found them useful. Her group was not a family, it was a military unit and the people part of it needed to remember that. Unlike those idiots in the South...

"Finally... Lieutenant, show Darius to the war room," Tiffany said as he saluted and marched out of the room. She had wanted to tell him to hurry the man along, but Tiffany knew that would be a waste of breath. Cromwell would obey her every order, but even he wouldn't rush the leader of the Phoenixes. His loyalty to her did have some limits.

Thankfully, Darius hurried up to the war room despite not being urged to. Cromwell lead the way as Darius entered along with two of his officers, his squad leaders if she had to guess. Oddly, she didn't see Derek with him, a rare thing when he went into a combat situations. Just as well, she was not a fan of the large man.

"General Faine, good to see you again," Darius said as they shook hands.

"Same to you, Darius. The reports you requested are all on the table," Tiffany said, motioning to the table behind her. Darius had never taken a title or rank for himself, preferring to just be called by his name. It had irked her at first, but she had given up on caring a few years back. She supposed it was his right as their leader to decide if he wanted a title.

Darius moved past her and began to look over the table, going straight to work as always. That was fine by Tiffany who preferred to get things done rather than socialize. Darius spent a few minutes going over the map, asking a few questions every so often about the lay of the land and marks on the map. He then went to the latest reports on the locations of Snake troops and Society troops, again asking questions every so often.

It took a little over an hour for him to get caught up on everything. Tiffany spent most of the hour answering questions and helping Darius understand their way of doing things. Each Group had their own quirks and slightly different ways of reporting and coding things. Darius might have been their leader, but even he couldn't keep up with all the different ways they all did things. He did catch on rather quickly and was reading their messages without trouble by the end of the hour.

"Hmmm...better than I feared, worse than I hoped. That said, I see a solution for this disaster, though, it will require some field work," Darius said getting a surprised look from a few of Tiffany's soldiers, including Cromwell. She, however, was not surprised. Darius' brilliant tactical mind and quick thinking were the reason he was in charge of the Phoenixes, after all. She had stop being surprised by how quickly he could put together a plan long ago.

"Two of my Forces stand ready to move out and I can have a third one ready tomorrow," Tiffany said, having anticipated their direct involvement in a solution. Darius nodded in approval as he looked back over the map.

"Those two and my own Force will be sufficient. Get them all loaded with the best anti-Society gear you have here. While they get loaded out, send out our scouts to find where the largest group of Snakes are. We need to find them ASAP," Darius said as people began to move to carry out his orders. Tiffany was a bit annoyed with him taking command like this, but if it meant saving Hope and putting the Snakes down, and some Society too, she would swallow her pride.

"Should we not be equipped to fight the Snakes, sir?" Cromwell asked, looking a little confused. Darius shook his head.

"We are not going to fight the Snakes, Lieutenant. We are going to save them."

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January 15, 2024 8:15 PM

Tiffany frowned as she looked through the near pitch black forest. Night had fallen in full and the moon barely gave any light to see by. The temperature had dropped noticeable with the sun gone and Tiffany's breath formed in front of her. Her soldiers keep their fur coats tight around them as they waited in the dark. Somewhere in the gloom, their scouts were moving through the area looking for the battle that was raging nearby. Gunshots, screams, and the rumble of catmonsters moving echoed through the area, setting everyone on edge. They might not be able to see in this darkness, but the catmonsters would have no trouble at all.

It had taken them most of yesterday to find the largest group of Snakes and most of today to reach them. The Snakes had taken cover in an old abandoned tool-shed for the night. However, their hiding place had been compromised by four catmonsters the Society had left in the area when they had fallen back for the night. Considering the noise and screams, the fight was not going well for the Snakes.

Tiffany still hated this plan. No matter how it ended, it still required them to aid the Snakes which made her blood boil. But, Darius was in charge and his plan was sound. As much as she didn't like it, she would stick to the plan and just remember the ultimate goal. He hadn't told anyone what that was, but Tiffany had seen it once he explained the first part of the plan. It was brilliant, but she still didn't like it.

Her thoughts were cast aside as a bit of movement caught her eye. Her hand went to the pistol she carried as a few of her soldiers grabbed their weapons as well.

"Rise," came a voice from out of the darkness. Everyone relaxed as one of the scouts they had sent out came into view. His patchwork clothing had a number of twigs and other such things sticking out of it, making him look more like a moving bush than a person. He moved over to Tiffany and knelt down to the ground. She knelt with him as Cromwell threw a fur cloth over them. Once the cloth settled, Tiffany uncovered a small fire they had hidden in old plastic-wrap and allowed the light to shine out. The scout, now with light to see, began to draw out a rough outline of the area in the dirt as Tiffany put on an eyepatch made from some cloth.

"The Snakes' lines are here, staggered out from the tool shed in four, maybe five rows. Four catmonsters are ripping their way through them. It looks like the Snakes are trying to pull them back toward the tool shed, probably planning on using the shed to get some high ground on them. Taking a lot of casualties doing it, though, and its not working too well. Their guys keeping scattering and losing cohesion as soon as the catmonster shows," the scout reported drawing a circle with a cat face in the middle to show the general area the catmonsters were when he looked.

Tiffany frowned at the rough map. The catmonsters were not right on top of each other, but close enough that they would likely have to deal with two of them if they did attack. And while waiting for the catmonsters to get close enough to the shed was tempting, Tiffany knew they wouldn't be saving anybody by then.

Having lines like this coming out from your hiding place was beyond stupid as was trying to use so many people to lure something unintelligent into a trap.  A smart leader who have left small groups scattered about, but close enough to hear the other groups if attacked. That way you could use the groups to try and lure the threat AWAY from the main base or attempt to just hide from it. And sending a lot of people as a lure just risked someone panicking and wasting the effort and lives, doubly so when a catmonster only needed one person for a distraction.

Whoever was in charge of the Snakes, however, wasn't very smart and Tiffany was sure they would get their people killed if the catmonsters got to the shed. If they were going to save this group of Snakes, they were going to have to stop those catmonsters before they arrived at the shed. She cursed in her head as she looked over the map one last time to make her choice where to attack from. Sadly, this kind of situation didn't leave much to strategy and there was no real way to plan an ambush without knowing where the catmonsters were. Brute force was really the only option, and they were badly outclassed in that regard.

Tiffany snuffed out the light as she threw off the fur cloth. The time in the light had completely ruined her night vision and she barely saw Cromwell take the cloth away. The scout didn't seem to be bothered by it in the least as he stood up and took off back into the woods, most likely to make sure his comrades had reported the info to the other Forces. Tiffany switch the eyepatch to the other eye and the world became much clearer thanks to its preserved night vision.

"Lieutenant, send a runner to Darius and Abraham's Forces. Tell them we are moving in to engage the catmonsters," she ordered. Cromwell nodded and moved off to get one of the runners. She was still annoyed Darius had taken the other Force with him, but he was the leader. He better put her soldiers to good use or she might decide against him being the leader...

Tiffany turned back to the battle ahead of them and took a deep breath. She was going to be sending a few of her soldiers to their deaths, but such sacrifices were necessary. If it saved Hope and keep the chance of the Society losing alive, they were well spent sacrifices. That did not make them any easier to pay, however.

"Squad Leaders," Tiffany said as her four squad leaders came forward to receive their orders. She wished she could give them different orders, but this had to be done. And she would not coddle them with fake, kind words.

"Get your squads locked and ready for catmonster combat. We are going to advance and take out the catmonsters attacking the Snakes. Keep your people spread out and hidden as long as possible, but engage the moment you are spotted, orders or not," Tiffany said as they all nodded. Other Groups might have had their squad leaders question that order, but hers knew better. Her soldiers obeyed their orders, no questions asked, or they found themselves punished.

Tiffany got her own squad prepared and double checked their rockets herself, just to be sure. Those weapons would be the difference between them losing a few people or most of their people and she was not going to allow any misfires. Once she was satisfied everything was ready, she motioned forward and lead the way toward the battle, the other four squads spread out alongside them before going off in their own directions.

They moved out through the woods, sticking to the shadows as much as possible, and slowly began to spread out. Tiffany smiled as she saw her squad spread out enough to avoid more than two of them being near each other, but keep close enough to see everyone. She had trained her soldiers well and she would be sad to see any of them be lost. But, lost they would be as that was their job as soldiers. Anyone who wasn't prepared to face a grisly death from either being crushed or eaten had no business being a soldier of the Phoenixes.

The noise of the battle increased as they moved through the black, bare woods. Gunshots and screams mixed with the occasional rumbling meow as the battle came closer and closer. The area began to brighten slightly from small fires started by misfired missiles or by the fool soldiers who had been manning the line. They passed a fire pit that was still lit and Tiffany swore as she realized what kind of amateurs they were dealing with. Setting a fire at night...no wonder they had four catmonsters slaughtering them all.

Tiffany shook her thoughts off as a loud rumble sounded nearby along with a booming meow. Screams and sporadic gunfire echoed through the woods as the battle closed in on them. Tiffany motioned down as her squad took cover. A huge, black form moved past the top of the trees, its size easily dwarfing the trees. The catmonster...it was right on top of them. Flashes of light came as a few doomed Snakes fire up at the monster, but the flashes died away along with the screams and pleas of mercy. The all too familiar gulp of someone being swallowed whole followed as Tiffany narrowed her eyes. Those Snakes might be useful...

She listened as the last of the screams died out and gave the signal to prepare. Her soldiers hefted up their rockets as a few more flashes lit up the forest and part of the catmonster. The huge thing was crawling up to the two surviving Snakes, toying with her meal like they loved to do. Tiffany waited till the screams reached their loudest to signal her soldier to take aim. One of the Snakes was silenced with a gulp while the second began to beg for help and his mother. His screams dimmed a little as Tiffany saw the catmonster slowly pushing the last Snake into her mouth, drawing out the taste to enjoy its meal. It had better enjoy it, because it was the last one it would ever get. The second gulp came, and so did Tiffany's order.

"FIRE!" she yelled as her squad launched their barrage of missiles toward the catmonster. The flames of their engines lit up the barren forest and caused the catmonster's eyes to glow as she snapped around to them. Too late, however, as the missiles slammed into its side, sending blossoms of fire and blood flying out. The catmonster cried in pain as Tiffany leap up with her own launcher and fired a shot straight toward its head.

The catmonster turned and looked about to lunge for them when Tiffany's and two other missiles smashed into her head. The catmonster lunge was turned into a stagger back as it fell to its side, now groaning and moaning in pain. Tiffany rushed forward as she reloaded her launcher, sprinting past the catmonster's ruined side. Blood and some of its guts were starting to spill out and she smiled at their first kill. Those Snakes had proven useful. She stopped at the catmonster's head, now badly mauled from the three missiles that had hit it. It groaned as its hands started to pick it up, but Tiffany ended its attempt with near point blank shot right into its head. Now there were only three catmonsters.

They had gotten lucky with this one. If those Snakes hadn't been there to distract it long enough for them all to get ready, AND take it by surprise, that first volley would not have put it down. Those Snakes had died so her soldiers didn't have to, and that was a fair trade considering what they had done. Whether they would be forgiven or not would be up to the people they had killed for their food.

The rest of her squad was moving up when she felt, and heard, more rumbling. It was getting louder...and closer, shit one of the other catmonsters must have seen the explosions. Catmonsters didn't seek revenge, but they did know explosions meant food and one was making a beeline for them. If she knew where her other squads were she could have set a trap, but this darkness made communication next to impossible. She should have keep her squads close, a stupid mistake due to her inexperience in night fighting.

"Scatter!" she yelled as she dashed away from the dead catmonster and her squad did the same. Barely a second after she started to run, she saw a huge figure moving over the trees, eyes shining. It was already scanning the area and let out a rumbling meowed as it caught sight of a few of them. Damn, they were not taking this one off-guard. The catmonster got down on all fours as it started toward her squad.

One of her braver squad members, Harmon, fired a rocket up at the catmonster. The rocket was on target,  but the catmonster easily shifted to avoid the missile. Damn catmonster's and their inhuman speed. Tiffany didn't bother to watch as Harmon took off running trying to lure the monster away from his comrades. He would not get very far, but any time he bought was more time for her or the rest of the squad to get a clear shot.

Tiffany stopped at a tree and ducked behind it. She looked to her sides and saw a few of her soldiers nearby. They were all hidden and keeping low as they readied their launchers or reloaded them. She wished she could give them some order or strategy that would guarantee them victory and their lives. However, now that the catmonster knew they were here, there was no strategy involved anymore. Now it was just a battle of attrition and luck.

Tiffany cursed as she heard Harmon swear before being cut off by that sickening gulp. Harmon's sacrifice wasn't in vain as she heard two rockets roar out. She glanced around the tree and saw two blossoms of fire explode out as the catmonster cried in pain. Two hits, thought they looked to have only hit her sides and not her arms or legs. Not kill shots or wounding shots, but any damage was good.

The catmonster turned to its left and lunged forward. A scream of panic was cut short as a crunch came out along with the crash of the catmonster hitting the ground. Its hand swiped out and Tiffany gritted her teeth as she saw a figure go flying through the air along with a number of trees. Another of her squad dead, damn that monster... Tiffany was not going to sit around anymore as she signaled the nearby soldiers to fan out and move in.

Tiffany scrambled to a nearby tree as another rocket blasted out. The catmonster dodged back and Tiffany eyes went wide as its huge foot came flying toward her. Tiffany leap backwards as the foot crashed to the ground, pulverizing the tree she had been hiding behind into nothing but splinters. The world exploded with noise as the foot blasted through the earth and Tiffany was nearly deafened by the noise.

Tiffany had to fight back a cough from the dust and waved it away from her face. She looked around and saw the missile go flying above her head, a miss. To her side, she saw one of her soldiers, Paula, staring in terror at the catmonster's other foot, stopped barely inches from crushing her. However, a bloody arm was sticking up from under the catmonster's foot and blood was splattered around it. Damn...

Tiffany snapped back forward as she heard a scream of anger that was all too familiar. Cromwell. She looked forward and was barely able to make out the catmonster's hand and the form wiggling in it. She cursed as the other hand came up to her mouth and a scream, a female one thankfully, was cut off as it gulped down another of her squad. Dammit they were dropping like flies!

Tiffany was willing to sacrifice anything for the Phoenixes, but there were limits. Cromwell was too important to her operations to die here for a mission she did not care for. She needed him alive so she knew the Eastern border was in good hands if she died. He was not allowed to die, not yet. This monster was not going to take him.

Tiffany scrambled to her feet and raised the launcher up to the pussy's pussy. She smiled as she fired and didn't flinch when the explosion sent bits of flesh and blood splattering onto her. The catmonster screamed in pain so loud that Tiffany was deafened by the noise. It sprang forward and held onto its crotch, with both hands, as it screamed and cried in pain. Tiffany's smile spread as she saw the figure of Cromwell pick himself off the ground and scramble back into cover.

Tiffany took off as well before the catmonster whipped back around. Paula, however, was not so quick, still in shock by her brush with death and her comrades demise. The catmonster caught sight of her and roared in fury before running on all fours straight for her. Tiffany cursed as she saw blood come flying up along with trees from its charge. Damn, how many of her squad was this thing going to take?!

Paula screamed in terror before dropping her launcher and running the other direction, getting a flare of anger from Tiffany at the abandoned weapon. The catmonster lunged forward again and Paula simply ceased to be as the catmonster landed right on her. It began to smash its hands into the ground where she had been as it hissed and growled in fury.

Seeing her chance, Tiffany began to reload her launcher, but stopped as a sudden massive roar got her attention. The catmonster turned just in time to get a full volley of rockets into her. It staggered back and cried in pain before flopping to the ground, large chunks of it blown apart. Despite the massive wounds, it hissed in fury and swiped its arm through the trees that had lit up. Tiffany heard bones cracking along with bark as the new squad took its own loses. Dammit, this had to end!

Before Tiffany could pull her launcher up, another one fired from nearby.  The rocket flew forward and hit the catmonster right in the back of its neck. Cromwell smirked as he lowered his launcher, his skill with aiming it still amazing Tiffany. The catmonster twitched from the hit before flopping to the ground, completely limp. It gave a few weak and pitiful meows of pain before a second, smaller volley from the, now ruined, treeline finished it off. Two down...

"Squad, reform!" she yelled out as the noise of the battle dimmed. Of the twenty soldiers in her squad, only eight appeared out of the darkness, including Cromwell. She had lost twelve people...and would have lost more if her other squad hadn't shown up. Twelve of her best...their lose would not be easy to make up for. Darius' plan had to work now or this had been a needless sacrifice.

Just as her squad had reformed around her, the leader of her second squad, Jennifer, appeared. She had a still smoking launcher on her shoulder, already reloaded and ready to fire. Her fur clothing had bits of wood and blood splattered on it and she had a large bruise on her forehead. Tiffany would have to ask about her loses once this was over.

"Nice timing, Squad Leader Jennifer. Do you know where the other squads are?" Tiffany asked, pushing aside her lose in favor of the task at hand.

"No, General, we lost squad three when we heard your fight with the catmonster. We went to assist while squad three continued forward toward the third catmonster. I don't know where squad four is," Squad Leader Jennifer reported as she glanced at the survivors of first squad.

No sooner had she finished did the battle suddenly pick up again. The distant sounds of rockets being fired drifted over the trees along with explosions. An angry meow followed the explosions along with the rumbling of a catmonster on the attack. Someone else was engaging on of the two remaining catmonsters.

"Get back to your squad, Squad Leader, we still have two catmonsters to kill. Stick close to my squad and make sure everyone is ready to fire," Tiffany said as Jennifer saluted and took off back to her soldiers. Tiffany turned to what was left of her squad and fought back the urge to tell them to hide and survive this. That wasn't an option and would only put other soldiers in danger. She was not going to run and hide and neither were her soldiers.

"Let's move," Tiffany said as she lead the way toward the battle, her soldiers falling it behind her. They ran through the ruined woods, past small fires spreading outward, over places that had been utterly flattened by the catmonsters, and avoiding the few dead bodies that were still in the area. Considering the carnage they were going through, there should have been a lot more, but only the lucky ones had a corpse. The rest...

The noise from the battle began to get louder and Tiffany began to be able to pick out individual screams and yells. Tiffany was slowing her squad's advancement when a massive barrage of rockets filled the air with their roaring engines. Tiffany could barely hear the catmonster's cry of pain over the rockets, but felt it hit the ground. The noise died down to near silence as the yells and screams vanished along with the engines.

Tiffany moved her squad forward till the catmonster's huge dead form came into sight. The catmonster had been nearly blown apart by the massive amounts of missiles that had hit it. Its entire chest was blown out and its arms looked to be a ruined mess of bones and hanging flesh. Movement drew her eyes upward to a figure standing on the catmonster's head.

"General Tiffany. Excellent work killing the other two catmonsters. The Snakes are saved now," Darius said as he leap down off the catmonster's head, his handgun still smoking. Tiffany gave him a confused look as she glanced back to where the fourth catmonster was still attacking. It sounded like it was getting closer...

"We still have a last catmonster to deal with, Darius. Assuming victory would be a mistake," Tiffany said, finding Darius' nonchalance annoying. He never did seem to be fazed by anything.

"That one is being taken care of and will not survive long. We need to focus on other matters. I need you to come with me to meet the Snakes," Darius said, seemingly unconcerned by the approaching catmonster. Tiffany glared at him in annoyance at that order and was dearly tempted to tell him to shove it. But, Tiffany trusted Darius and that he knew what he was doing, even if it made her sick to her stomach.

"Fine, but the catmonst-" she was interrupted as another massive volley of rockets blasted out. Tiffany and her squad turned to see an entire Force fire their rockets at the catmonster. The monster didn't even get a chance to scream as it was blown apart by the massed fire. So that is what Darius had done with her second Force...

"Is dead. Come, we need to hurry. The sooner we meet them the sooner we can leave," Darius said as he made a beeline for the shed.

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8:49 PM

As they approached the shed, Tiffany's fear of the Snakes attacking them mounted. So far, they had only passed badly wounded or utterly broken soldiers who were no threat to anyone, but they were bound to run into some soldiers who could still fight. Darius lead the way with five of his own soldiers. Tiffany followed with Cromwell and the survivors of her first squad. They deserved to be here for this. She wanted to bring second squad too, but Darius had not allowed it.

They were only a few yards from the shed when they came upon their first real squad of Snake soldiers. The squad called out to them and caused Tiffany to curse under her breath. Did they not know yelling would attract Society attention? Fools...

"Hey, are...are they dead?" one of the Snakes asked as the squad started to stand up. Tiffany was tempted to answer them with a bullet, but she held herself back. She needed to remember the plan.

"Yes, the catmonsters are dead. I need to speak with your leader, immediately," Darius said as he stopped their advance. They were close enough to see if they started to grab for weapons, but far enough that they could slip into the darkness and escape if need be. The Snakes talked among themselves for a second before someone knew yelled out.

"Who are you and why do you need to see him?" the new person asked.

"I am Darius, leader of the Phoenixes. And I need to speak to him to prevent you all from being killed out here," Darius said without a hint of lying in his voice. Not surprising as it wasn't a complete lie. The plan wasn't to kill them here, after all.

Again, the Snakes talked among themselves, though it was obvious they were excited by the news. One of them went running back toward the shed and Darius got a small smile on his face.

"We sent someone to go get him. Fuck we are glad to see you guys, though. We thought you were going to leave us out here to die," the first one said as the Snake squad relaxed a good bit. Darius motioned them all forward and the Snake squad came into full view.

Calling them soldiers would be a vile overstatement. Most of them looked to be barely old enough to be considered an adult, or too old to be fighting. Despite the battle that had raged around them, they looked mostly unscathed and had, probably, just hidden in this little hole they had dug rather than do any real fighting. Just as well, though, as their "weapons" looked about ready to fall apart. It was no wonder the Snakes were slaughtered out there if they were all like this.

"We are not so cruel as to simply leave you to die," Darius said, again, no hint of lying in his voice. Tiffany was impressed with how well Darius lied.

The next few minutes were spent with Darius asking the soldiers what had happened. Sadly, they only knew bits and pieces, having been civilians up till a few days ago. The Society had hit the Snakes hard after their fire attack. The leader of the Snakes had ordered the civilians evacuated and were, originally, going to go north. However, the Society had utterly wiped out the Snakes' base, despite it being well underground, and had taken off after them horrifyingly quickly. They were forced to run west and try to reach the Phoenixes rather than try to make the long trip into the mountains. Since then, the Society had been tailing them and the civilians had broken up into smaller and smaller groups with fewer and fewer soldiers spread among them. Darius wanted to know how the Society had beaten the base so easily, but these people had no idea and were sure no one else did either. The only people who knew were those that had been in the base and they were all dead.

"So none of you are trained soldiers?" Tiffany asked them. They all looked away as they slowly nodded. Now the Snakes inability and amateur tactics made sense. These were not Snake soldiers but volunteers trading their lives for time. She might have respected them once...but not after what the Snakes had done.

Before anyone else could talk, Cromwell grabbed his rifle and pointed it out into the shadows. Tiffany turned as two figures emerged into the light of the fire the volunteers had lit, and she had let them keep only because she was confident they could escape, unlike them. One looked to be a volunteer, most likely the one who had run off. The other, however, had a soldier's look about him and seemed to have some training, though not good training if he just came sauntering up to them with no code words or anything.

The boy, and he was a boy as she doubted he was out of his teens, looked to be in charge as the other volunteers gave him respectfully nods. Just how dire the situation for this group was was becoming very obvious. Cromwell lowered his weapon as the boy moved to Darius.

"Pr-...Alex, leader of this group of Snakes," Alex said as he held out his hand to shake. Darius accepted it and introduced himself.

"Thank you for coming, Darius. We would have been slaughtered out here if you hadn't come along," Alex admitted as he gave them a warm smile. Darius did not return it, but did nod in appreciation.

"You are welcome. But your people are not save yet, far from it in fact. Your people told me a bit of what is going on and I doubt you will survive out here for more than a few days," Darius said with all the tact of a bomb. The volunteers gasped and cursed but Alex simply nodded in agreement.

"Yeah... I know. There was a Ranger attack yesterday and I was the only survivor from our soldiers. All our good weapons and equipment is gone too and, no offense guys, these people are not ready for this kind of fighting," Alex admitted with a sigh. His volunteers didn't look to have taken any offense as they just looked away.

"I am glad you are not trying to hold onto some false sense of pride, it will make this easier. Out here, you will all die. However, there is a way I can save some of you," Darius said. The volunteer's eyes light up with hope, but Alex's narrowed.

"Some of us?" he said as he eyed Darius.

"Yes, some. Our food stores are not unlimited and bringing all of you the way I am going to tell you would be too dangerous, for both of our groups," Darius said with a stern glare. Alex returned the stare before sighing and nodding.

"Alright, what is it?"

"There is a secret tunnel we use to move into the area unseen. It goes straight to our main city of Hope, far to the West of here. I can tell you where it is and keep it open to you, but I cannot risk fighting the Society head on. If they found out there was another Resistance group out here..." Darius let it hang and the Snakes to fill it it. Alex understood as he nodded.

"I understand. Tell me where it is and we will get there," he said before Darius started to explain. Alex listened and nodded, repeating the instructions back to make sure he wrote them right.

"Yes, that is right. Be there in two days time and we will help get your people to safety. I would suggest you move tonight. These dead bodies will attract more catmonsters and the Society come the morning," Darius said. Alex nodded and thanked them. They shook hands one last time and then left each other to their work.

They moved back toward where Darius' Force waited for them. They were silent till they were well away from the Snakes and out of hearing. Cromwell was rubbing his chin in thought and looked up to Darius' back.

"Sir, do you mind if I ask you a question?" Cromwell asked. Darius shook his head.

"No, what is it, Lieutenant?" Darius said as he glanced back at her second. Tiffany turned to him as well, curious as to what Cromwell had on his mind.

"Why go through all this trouble just to tell them about that cave? We could have just killed one of the catmonsters and pulled back to let the other three kill them all. The Society would be bound to find them with the catmonster's dead body nearby," Cromwell asked. Tiffany hid a smile of satisfaction at her second's keen mind. He was shaping up to be a worth successor, not that she would ever tell him that.

"Yes, they would have found that group dead, but would, also, have reports of other such groups still moving. They would keep advancing and we would be in a race to track the other groups down before they arrived. This way, however, we don't need to track them at all. Alex will do all our work for us," Darius said as if he was explaining a problem to a student. Cromwell didn't seem to fully grasp the answer yet, though, so Darius continued.

"Tell me, Cromwell, what do you think Alex will do now that he knows there is hope for his people? Will he simply take my offer of saving a few of them or will he try to FORCE me to save them all? Of course, a tactically minded person would figure such a plan was doomed to failure, but Alex is not such a person. If he was, he would never have come to meet us with no backup OR let his people come under attack by four catmonsters. Not to mention he is still a bright-eyed young brat who would never consider we might be trying to kill them. After all, why save them now just to kill them later?

"The answer is obvious, really. So we can kill them ALL later. He will send out people to tell as many Snake groups as he can of the tunnel and will, conveniently, leave out the part of it being an offer from myself, just like he left out ever agreeing to only bring a few people. The other groups will make a mad dash toward the tunnel and meet in the area. Undoutably, there will be someone more intelligent than Alex among them, but it will be far too late to stop what has happened. By then, we will have boxed them in with the Society and they will have nowhere to run. They will have to bank on us coming to save them," Darius finished with a cold stare. Cromwell blinked a few times as the plan came into focus now. He shook his head before smirking to himself.

"I see, a brilliant plan, sir. I see now why the General follows you," he said as Darius nodded in response. Tiffany keep her face an emotionless mask as she wished it was time already. Soon...soon her people would not have to fear the Snakes lurking in the grass.

"Good. Now, I need to speak with the scouts. Lieutenant, find them and bring them to me ASAP."

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January 17, 2024 3:30 PM

Tiffany looked out the hidden door as two of her men moved the dead Snake down the tunnel, out of the way. Two fairies were still flying over the area, but looked to be losing interest. A few more seconds and they would head back to the battle by the old rusted car. And then they would have a clear line of advance to the stump.

She nodded as the fairies, finally, moved away. It was time to put the plan into action. Today the Snakes would die and never again threaten her soldiers or the people they swore to protect. Today, the Society would become the only threat she needed to worry about and those bastards would pay for all the people they took. Both their own, and her's.

"Squad one, get ready to move," she said as she took out her launcher. The new squad one, formed from the survivors of Squads one and two, readied their own launchers as Cromwell moved up to her.

"Sir, please allow me to lead this mission. There is no-" he started to say, but Tiffany cut him off with a glare.

"I will not ask my soldiers to do a mission I am not willing to do myself. And this mission is far to important to be left to anyone else. Get back to Darius' squad and make sure the explosives are ready. Blow them the second you get back," Tiffany ordered. Cromwell sighed, but saluted and headed back down the tunnel. Allowing this tunnel to remain was too risky so both her and Darius had agreed to destroy it. And with the battle making the perfect cover for the explosion, now was the time to do it. Even if it meant she and Squad one would have to find another way back to the Phoenix lines.

"Squad one, move out!" she yelled as she throw open the door and charged out into the light. Squad one followed after her and Jennifer, bringing up the read, slammed the door back. They were on their own now, on a suicide mission to draw the Society to the civilians of the Snakes and make sure they were all wiped out. With them dead, the Society would stop their advance and the Eastern border would be save, for now. It was a mission worth her possible lose.

Outside the tunnel, the sounds of battle were deafening. Rocket and gunfire echoed off the trees and hills, screams of pain, terror, and anger combined into a dull roar, rumbling earthquakes shook the ground as catmonsters and giantesses moved through the area, crushing anything in their way, and booming laughter and taunts rose over all of it as the Society bitches lorded over the battlefield like giant demons. If this wasn't hell, it was close to it and Tiffany would have wanted to be nowhere else.

Tiffany lead her soldiers in a full out sprint toward the stump in the distance. It was, at least, four to five hundred yards away and every second they were out here was another second they could be spotted. They couldn't be seen, not yet anyway.

"Buzzer!" one of her soldiers yelled as Tiffany looked up to see a fairy heading for them. She cursed as she dived behind a nearby tree and looked back to make sure the rest were doing the same. Her soldiers had all found their own hiding places and tried to keep as low as possible as the fairy's shadow went over them. Tiffany glared up at the fairy as its eyes roamed over them, but didn't settle on anything. It keep going past them before veering away.

"Go," Tiffany said as she took off again, her soldiers falling in behind her. The noises of the battlefield began to get louder as they got closer and closer to the stump. Its huge form began to loom higher and higher as they closed in on it. Tiffany stopped them a few yards from its base and had them spread out to draw less attention. The last thing they needed was the Snakes seeing them and coming out to investigate.

She crawled up closer to the stump to get a better view as her soldiers keep their eyes out for any Society forces. A few people were patrolling around the stump, all making sure to stay hidden from the air. Even if a fairy or a catmonster passed the stump by, they were unlikely to see the Snakes keeping watch over it. One of the old termite holes was nearby and had a large amount of supplies inside it. Most of it looked to be food and other such things. Shame it would have to go to waste.

She crawled back to her soldiers and hand signaled them to move around the stump. They needed to get to the side that was facing toward a giantess or a catmonster before putting the plan into action. They moved out as stealthy as possible as they slowly made their way around the huge stump. Thankfully, the Society seemed to have fully invested in taking down the Snake forces in the ruined car and the flybys by fairies became rarer and rarer. They managed to slip around to the side of the stump facing the ruined car without drawing attention to themselves from either the Society or Snakes.

They arrived at a good location as a giantess loomed high above them in the distance. She had her hands on her hips and looked to be yelling down at something, most likely some fairies and catmonsters. Undoubtably, her shield would be online, but that didn't matter at all. All they had to do was get her attention and make sure she realized what was in the stump.

Tiffany used hand signals to give her orders. She had everyone set up their launchers on the shaped branches they had made the day before. The branches let them set the launchers up like mortars and everyone made sure to aim at the giantess. A few would miss, but they only needed one or two to hit. Her weapon expert, Kevin, strung the launchers firing pins together so that a single pull could, theoretically fire them all. If that failed, Kevin would have to do it manually and, most likely, be killed for it. No helping it, however. It was either him or all of them.

With everything set, Tiffany had her soldiers take out their rifles and set the next part of the plan into action. They moved back toward the stump and crawled their way into range of the Snakes around it. Tiffany waited a second to get one in her sights before taking a deep breath. With this, the Snakes would die.

"Fire!" she yelled as she fired on her target, smiling as he fell before even turning around. The others in the squad fired as well and a number of the Snakes fell to the sudden barrage. The Snakes reacted, surprisingly, quickly and dived into cover. A few returned fire, but their shots were poorly aimed and missed her soldiers. Tiffany ejected the spent casing and slammed the breech closed before firing a second shot at the Snakes. She clipped another Snake in the shoulder, but the Snake was pulled into cover by one of his comrades. The rest of her soldiers got off a second round as well and had similar luck. The Snakes had gotten into cover now and they needed to pull back before their superior numbers came into play.

"Fall back!" she yelled, making sure that the Snakes could hear her as well. She crawled back down the hill they had used along with her soldiers and scrambled to her feet. They took off at a full sprint back to the launchers, making sure to weave through the trees as much as possible. Tiffany risked a glance back and saw a few Snakes cresting the hill. Bullets whizzed past them, but didn't hit anyone, yet.

"Once you reach the launchers, scatter! We will meet at the rendezvous location. If you are spotted, die well," Tiffany said. That might very well be the last order she gave them, or that she ever gave, but she had no time to worry about that now. More bullets began to zip past them as more Snakes got over the hill and began to pursue them. One of her soldiers cried in pain as a bullet hit his arm, but he shook off the pain and keep moving. Stopping now was certain death.

Finally, the launchers came into view. Tiffany turned to her right and keep running as the rest of her soldiers did the same in every direction. Jennifer headed close to the same direction as Tiffany, but soon vanished into the woods and rolling hills. Tiffany was alone and could only keep running if she wanted to live.

She slowed a bit as she heard the roar of multiple launchers firing. She turned back and saw the missiles flying up toward  the skyscraper-sized form of the giantess. A few were way off target and hit places past the giantess, like the car and other such things. However, about five of the missiles were right on target and exploded a few inches from the giantess as her shield stopped them. Tiffany slowed to a stop as she waited to see if the plan worked.

"Who the hell?" the giantess' booming voice said as she turned to look behind her. Tiffany smiled as she saw the giantess was wearing a visor. They had learned the hard way that those visors were more than just for show and had many devices built into them, including magnification. She had lost a few good people to those damn things, but now she was grateful for them.

"Well hello there. Did you stupid rebels think our shields didn't cover our backs too or did you just have a death wish?" the giantess said as she smiled down at where Tiffany estimated the launchers were. Tiffany smiled herself as the plan, finally, came to fruition. Now all that was left was to escape.

The giantess' massive footsteps began to shake the ground as she walked toward the stump. Tiffany had no wish to be near her and took off as best she could over the shaking ground. She had to brace herself against trees every so often as the shaking got worse with each step of the titaness. She had only gotten a few yards before the shaking was simply too much to safely walk in.

Tiffany stopped as she took cover behind a tree, risking a falling tree limb to avoid a falling foot. The giantess moved to where the launchers had been set and came to a stop, her hands on her hips. A few more rockets were fired up at her, but all of them simply exploded on her shield without doing any real damage. They were far too few to cause the shield to overload and were only giving away their position, fools. Seemed the Snakes still had amateurs in their ranks. Not surprising, all the experience soldiers were probably at the car.

The giantess smirked as she raised her foot and Tiffany swore as she dived to the ground. She was far too close to the giantess for comfort. She put her hands over her head as she waited for the blast. She didn't have to wait long.

The air exploded in sound for a split second before everything went silent. Tiffany gritted her teeth as air blasted past her and she barely managed to keep from being blown away. The ground shook like a wild bull as she held on and hoped not to be in the path of a falling tree. It seemed like minutes, but it was over in less than a second. The air died down and the ground steadied itself.

Tiffany didn't waste a second as she took off running again. She needed to get as far from that stump as possible before any of Society forces moved to it. Once they realized the stump was another base, they would have fairies and catmonsters patrolling around it for anyone trying to escape. She had to get out of that ring before then.

Her ears were still ringing when a second stomp blasted her off her feet. She fell to the ground and glanced up to see a tree falling directly toward her. She rolled to the side, barely avoiding the trunk but taking its branches full on. They tore into her fur coat in a few places and she was forced to rip her way out of it as she keep running.

Now without her fur coat, the cold wind was stinging her bare arms. She ignored it as she pushed her body to run faster, pumping her arms and sucking in the cold air. Her throat was beginning to sting from the cold air, but still she ran. Her hearing slowly faded back in as booming laughter came from behind her.

"Haha! You Resistance are such morons! We might have missed the ones in this stump if you hadn't shot at us. Hey, Lutice, there are some in this stump too!" the giantess said as she kicked the stump and sent a chunk of its rotten wood flying off. Even from this distance, the impact was like a cannon shot and Tiffany grimaced in pain from the sound.

"Oh is that right? Well I got just the thing to deal with them. Bring a few catgirls over," another giantess said as she started to walk over to the stump as well. Three catmonsters came over with her and began to paw at the stump. Tiffany risked a few glances back every so often to see what was going on, but didn't dare stop.

The giantess named Lutice moved to the stomp and reached to her belt. She took out her canteen and smiled as she opened the top. Tiffany smiled herself as she realized what she was going to do. They deserved it and would receive no pity from her.

Lutice chuckled as she knelt down next to the stump and slowly began to tip the canteen over. Tiffany could just barely hear screams and yells of panic over the still ongoing battle at the car and chuckles of the two giantesses. Tiffany looked away and focused on running as the screams grew louder before becoming softer. And then they stopped completely. The only sounds seemed to be the giantesses' laughter and the catmonster happy meows. Tiffany wasn't smiling anymore.

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January 22, 2024 3:32PM

Lloyd sighed as he heard the footsteps behind him. He didn't want to do this, he didn't want to give up on the General yet. But Darius was not so patient and the Eastern border needed a leader. He had learned a lot from General Faine, but he still felt there was more to know. But now...

Darius' plan had worked. The Society seemed to think they had killed the Snakes and their patrols had stop moving toward them. In fact, their scouts had reported that the Society looked to be pulling back and that their patrols were fewer in number. However...However not one person from the squad General Faine had taken out into that battlefield had been seen since, including the General herself.

Lloyd knew that it should only have taken them three days to make it back, but had still held out hope. He still did, but Darius didn't seem to share it.

"Lieutenant Cromwell, its time. I will ask you again, do you wish to be the new General for the Eastern border or not?" Darius asked as Lloyd grimaced. He didn't turn to face Darius as he lowered his head. If he refused he knew Darius would just appoint someone else. And whoever that was might change everything the General had done. There really was only one choice.

"Sir! I am getting a report from watchpost 24. Its something about survivors!" one of the telegraph operators said. Lloyd spun around and nearly shoved his way past Darius to the station.

"What does it say?" he demanded as the operator held up a finger as he wrote out the message.

"Found Survivors of battle. Identified as Squad Leader Jennifer and-" the operator paused as he smiled, "General Faine!" Lloyd could have hugged the man if he wasn't trained to keep such displays hidden. Instead, he made do with a clap on the man's shoulder.

"She's still alive. I knew she would be. Darius, I must decline because the General of the East is still alive," Lloyd said as he turned back to Darius. Darius gave the barest hint of a smile as he nodded.

"Very well. Keep up the good work, Lieutenant. Tell the General it is good to know the East is well secure in her hands. And to let her second in command do the suicide missions next time," Darius said before heading for the exit.

"Of course, sir," Lloyd said with a salute as he watched Darius go. Once he was gone, he turned back to the room and smiled to himself.

While Lloyd Cromwell enjoyed the return of his leader, Darius sighed in annoyance. Cromwell would have been so much easier to deal with and keep control of. General Faine, however, was no one's pawn and would be...testy. But there was nothing for it, now. She was too good to be squandered, so he would make use of her as best as he could.

At least the eastern front was secure and, assuming the reports were correct, Derek had carried out his mission. His gamble with Sanders and that catmonster had bought them time, time enough, he hoped, to find what Manchent left. It was a risk, betting everything on an unknown thing like that, but Darius had no other choice.

"You better have left something good, Manchent. You might be the last hope for Hope..." he said to himself as he walked back to his Force.