The screams of the second wave filled the air as her mouth yawned wide before them. A cathedral of hot flesh and pearly white teeth, it was more horrifying than anything the veteran soldiers had ever seen.
--
Nearly three whole generations had been born in Haven and there were few left that had ever seen a human before. The tales that had been passed down from their forefathers seemed laughable to the young men and women that occupied the tiered city. Nothing alive could be that big, that powerful.
Her first footfall had shaken their world, bringing the story to life and chilling their souls.
They had flown out to meet her. Four dozen warriors had left the citadel, their boost packs zipping them through the air, arrows notched in their bows.
She had killed a third of their number before she even realised they were more than insects. The human moved faster than they could imagine. Her outspread hand swatted them from the sky, splashing their broken corpses across her steel hard skin before sending them spiralling down to the distant earth below.
Their arrows had bounced harmless off of her head and neck as she plucked their squad leader from the sky. Her thumb and forefinger, their nails painted as black as night, closed around the fierce warrior with ease. She screamed as the human’s lightest touch obliterated her legs and boost pack, letting loose a fountain of blood and smoke. The squad leader squealed in agony as she was brought to the girl’s eye.
The human’s pupil dilated as she focussed on the tiny creature in her grasp, heedless to the swarm that buzzed around her. The broken woman was barely larger than a pin head; it had taken her every effort not to crush the fragile thing completely.
The scout’s attack wavered as the girl’s lips twisted from a surprised gasp into a cruel sneer. Her fingertips twitched, smearing their leader between them. The human watched as tiny fragments of metal and flesh fluttered from her grip and descended to the moss covered floorboards below.
Her gaze followed them, her eyes widened, her smile spread.
She leaned forwards, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, her chunky SLR camera swinging out on its strap from where it had rested against her flat, exposed stomach.
The floor of the shed was alive with movement. Barely a foot away from the toe of her brown leather boot a crowd of tiny people scuttled around a cluster of ramshackle buildings. She peered down at them through the dim light that filtered through the milky glass windows, excitement and fascination fizzing within her.
They scurried away from her, weighted down by their meagre belongings or dragging tiny carts made heavy by possessions and those too old or weak to run. They were just one of a handful of similar such dwellings spread out across the dusty floor, each one cobbled together from scraps of wood and cardboard.
The human straightened, her eyes sweeping the derelict shack before her. She tightened the knot that held her cream cardigan in place about her waist. The soft fabric kissed her exposed thighs before they disappeared into her tight denim hot pants.
The creatures continued to dance through the air around her, their arrows shattering across fabric of her vintage leather jacket or burying themselves harmlessly into the cotton of her white cropped top. She swatted them away from her, their bodies popping as the back of her hand destroyed them.
The rest flew about her in panicked formations, their ammunition running low. She ignored them, turning her attention to the rapidly emptying settlement before her. She smirked as she lifted her foot.
The ground team assisting the refugees leapt to the air as the world was plunged into darkness, the farmer’s cries chasing them as they fled the endless mass of black rubber that filled the sky. They could do nothing for those still in the town, they were doomed to die.
She hovered on one leg as the sad collection of buildings was obscured by her boot. Their screams grew louder as she began to slowly lower her foot on top of them. She answered them with laughter, her chuckles drowning out their final pleas.
The scouts watched on in horror as her boot engulfed the town. The unstoppable weapon could have consumed the scattered dwellings twice over; those beneath her didn’t stand a chance.
The impact of her heel hitting the ground was felt all across the district. Her black laces, thicker than a cart, scythed through the air as the ball of her foot began to descend. Chunks of mud the size of boulders rained down from the grooves of her shoe, exploding around the fifty or more farmers that were still within her shadow. They looked up in horror, desperately urging their families forwards as her sole connected with the roof of the main hall. Many had dropped to their knees, weeping, praying to her for mercy.
‘Boom’ she whispered as her foot settled upon them, silencing half a hundred screams in a single footfall. Her smile broadened, her teeth flashing brilliant white in the gloom as she twisted her foot back and forth, reducing the settlement to nothing but broken splinters and pulverised flesh.
Her fingers flew to her soft, pink lips, her bangles jangling like the tolling of bells as she suppressed a burst of laughter. Lifting her foot away nothing remained of the once bustling town. In its place was a rough boot print, scraped from the moss and highlighted in blood and mud.
The scouts hovered about her head, the tiny creatures frozen by shock and awe. ‘What do ya think boys?’ she purred, flashing a wink at them, ‘giving up yet?’
The scouts broke into two detachments, spiralling around her in a pincer movement. Her movements shook the earth, bringing the thousand or so people who ran from her crashing to their knees. The first detachment had barely travelled six inches before she captured them in an enclosed fist. Their muffled cries were replaced by the crunching of fibre thin bones as she drove her iron hard fingertips into them.
Discarding the fresh corpses with a wave of her wrist, she span on one leg like a dancer, her slender form pirouetting. A vicious downwards strike slaughtered ten more, another was vaporised by a flick of her finger. Barely a dozen shots were fired before only six remained, racing towards the heavens and away from her reach.
‘Ah ah ah,’ she chided, leaping up after them. Her fingernails clawed the air beneath them as they darted out of reach, safe for less than a second before the hurricane that followed ripped them out of the sky.
The thunder of her landing shook even the tallest buildings atop haven, causing their metal foundation to shudder. She slapped three more to the earth, her foot pulverising their splattered corpses and claiming the lives of more refugees.
Of the three survivors, the first turned and sped for the city, tears streaming from beneath his goggles.
The second, consumed by grief, howled with rage and charged her foe, her pack open full throttle letting loose a fat grey trail of smoke. The human’s eyes tracked her lazily before turning away, a casual backwards swat ending the soldier’s life.
The final scout just watched her. He watched as she turned to him, his ears were deaf to her as her voice rumbled through him. He hung in the sky, pale and numb as her fingernails tore through his boost pack. His lip trembled, urine soaking his legs as she drew him towards her, her mouth opening, a tongue as large as a homestead reaching out for him.
She closed her eyes, one hand trailing across her throat the other resting on her stomach as her lips closed around him. She purred with delight though she could neither feel nor taste the tiny creature that perished inside of her. This was all for show.
The people below would be watching. So too would those in their city, the thousands cowering in the buildings that clustered across the shelving cabinet before her.
She could only just make out the speck that was the final scout, the trail of its weird little jetpack racing away from her. Let it tell its little friends, she thought, let it fill them with fear. As soon as she had heard of this place she knew what she was going to do.
The city could wait; she had already a plan in mind for it. The people at her feet, the tiny farms and villages, they were an unexpected bonus, they were expendable.
She took another step into the shack and closed the door behind her.
‘Run, run, run,’ she cooed, ‘here I come.’