The Titans

“Can’t you at least wait until there’s cloud cover?” Tommy asked, his voice softly trembling. “Surely Kyle could survive another day.”

Sarah peeked outside. He was right. It was a full moon, or near enough, and the streets were lit almost as clear as day. If one of the Titans spotted her then that would be it. No chance to hide. She exhaled slowly, and then looked back up at Tommy, his eyes wide.

“You know I can’t,” she replied, shaking her head gently, “His fever was bad enough when I left, and it’s got to be even worse now. If he doesn’t get these meds tonight, then that’ll be it.”

She heaved the backpack on, feeling its straps bite into her shoulder.

“Sure,” Tommy replied, nodding, “I get it.”

They stood together in the silence. After a minute, Sarah drew the heart-shaped locket out from beneath her shirt, her fingers closing around its cold, silver shell.

“Thank you for this Tommy. I know…” she paused, voice cracking. She swallowed hard, pushing the knot in her throat down, and then continued.

“Look, I know it wasn’t easy to get this. So, thank you. Kyle will really appreciate it.”

“Good memories are a powerful thing,” Tommy replied, “And we can’t leave those we lost behind. If looking at her helps him fight this thing, then, well… it was worth it.”

She threaded it back into her shirt, feeling the cold metal resting against her chest. Tommy smiled and offered his hands out wide.

“Tell everyone I love them, okay?” he asked.

“Of course,” Sarah replied, smiling, reaching her arms out and hugging him back, feeling his warmth against her.

She let go, turned to the door, and opened it a crack. Bathed in the soft white light of the moon, the streets looked almost unreal, covered in sepia tone shades. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been outside when it was this light.

The street was empty. Rubble from broken buildings lay piled in heaps, smashed cars lined the streets, squashed like bugs, litter and long-decomposed trash bags lined the pavements. So far, so normal. But no movement. She turned to look at Tommy one last time, gave a sharp nod, and then stepped out into the night, closing the door gently behind her.

Slowly, eyes peeled for any sign of movement, she crept down the avenue towards home.

After a few minutes, she heard them. Great thuds and harsh grunts carried over the wind towards her. A smashing, tearing, rumbling sound. She knew what that was. The Titans had found someone.

She listened for a moment, trying to pinpoint where it was coming from. It sounded like it was off to her left, far away, down towards the cultural quarter. Good. Away from home. Maybe that would draw the attention of the other Titans and give her a good chance of getting back safely. If they were all occupied with them, then that meant…

Suddenly, she stopped.

She saw in her mind’s eye the faces of her friends.

Kyle, Melissa, Lin. All of them.

Questions began to race through her mind, unbidden. What if they were the ones trapped in that house, terrified, screaming, waiting to be taken? Would she want someone else to use them as bait? To run off and leave them to die?

No.

She knew exactly what she’d want them to do.

Then, sighing heavily, she turned down the road to her left and began to walk towards the noise.

The smashing sound grew louder with every street she rounded, shaking the earth beneath her, the horrifying grunts and barks becoming clearer. As she rounded the last corner, she saw them. A group of three Titans, enormous and grotesque, their great gangly limbs tearing at the brickwork, slamming great misshapen fists into the walls one after another.

Screams came from inside, terrified and high-pitched. She’d heard rabbits make that noise before.

Sarah’s hands trembled as she stood there, watching, dumbfounded. What the hell was she doing? What could she hope to do? She took a deep breath in, and then slowly exhaled.

“Hey!” she yelled.

One of the Titans stopped and turned to face her. It raised itself up to its full height, nearly three times as tall as her, and stood, staring. Its pitch-black eyes locked onto her, mouth hung open, drooling, great teeth gnashing slowly. The others continued ripping at the house.

“This way!” she yelled again, waving her arms above her.

The last two turned suddenly, stopping their assault on the house, long greasy hair hanging over their faces. Suddenly, the first Titan roared, throwing its arms up, its great jaw opening wide, monstrous tongue hanging out. The sound shook Sarah to her chest, and she felt a chill run through her.

“Oh no,” she whispered under her breath.

She turned and began to run.

Beneath her, the ground shook rhythmically as the Titans began to stride after her, their grunts and barks getting closer and closer. Her feet pounded against the concrete, legs moving like pistons, chest heaving at the effort, throat burning, running with all the speed she could muster.

What the hell had she done?

Suddenly, the road opened to a vast square. Once upon a time, this had been the cultural quarter. Statues had lined the square, and people from all over had milled around, marvelling at the sights, laughing and playing in the fountains, visiting the magnificent museums and art galleries. Now it was just a graveyard, littered with rubble and broken figurines.

Then, she noticed it. The National Gallery, with its great vaulted entrance.

Maybe… just maybe it was open.

She sprinted towards it. She had to make it. She had to.

She leapt up the stairs toward the entrance, two at a time, her body moving faster than it ever had before. The great marble pillars holding up the enormous entrance rose up ahead of her. She dodged between the columns and ran up to the wooden doors, slamming into them and turning the handles with all her effort.

Locked.

No.

She felt a chill run through her, turning her stomach. In horror, she turned to look as they loomed towards her. The one at the front grunted loudly, a cruel smile spreading across its face, revealing rows of sharpened teeth. It crashed up the stairs, bearing down on her, huge.

And then, with a thundering crack, the Titan collided with the pillar. The force of the impact sent Sarah reeling. A fissure spread through the marble in an instant, the great mass of stone shifting with a horrendous noise. Sarah scrambled to her feet and began to run along the length of the awning.

With a resounding crash, the pillar fell. Sarah heard a strangled roar and turned her head for an instant.

Beneath the stone lay the Titan, moaning, but still moving. Then, without pausing, the second, long-haired Titan climbed over the rubble and into the awning, crushing its brother’s head underneath its foot as it clambered over, mouth slathering, jaw gnashing, the last one following shortly after.

Sarah turned and ran, chest tight with fear.

The ground shook beneath her as with each footstep the giants drew closer. She heard a scraping noise behind her as the long-haired one reached out, its fingernails dragging along the stone wall behind her. She yelped and dodged between the pillars. And not a second later, there came another great thud and crack.

Without daring to look, Sarah sprinted. A great thunder of noise roared behind her as if the earth itself was ripping apart.

Cracks and roars and screeches filled the air, a cacophony, unlike anything she’d ever heard before.

Suddenly, a great plume of dust enveloped her, rushing in and swallowing her. Grit filled her mouth and nose. Rocks and stones peppered her from all directions. She collapsed to the floor, wiping at her face, trying desperately to breathe. Still, the noise and dust surrounded her, and she lay, ignorant of the world around her.

And then, as soon as it came on, the noise dissipated. Gradually, the dust cleared. After a minute of coughing and spitting, she pushed herself up to her feet.

Wait a minute. She was in the open. Where were the Titans?

She turned to look behind her. There, where the magnificent awning had been, was now a pile of rubble, many times taller than her. Dust still billowed out, but it was softer now. Poking from beneath the rubble were two sets of gangly limbs, broken and twisted at strange angles, limp and unmoving.

There was no noise now. No grunting. No guttural barks. Just the silence of night.

She took a moment to breathe, her body still racing from the ordeal. After a minute, she looked up at the night sky and felt herself begin to calm.

The sky was just as clear as when she had left Tommy’s. The light of the moon still filled the world around her. But now she noticed there were stars. Not just one or two like before, but a great multitude. Thousands upon thousands of lights peppering the sky, each a little pinprick amongst the darkness, more than she could ever imagine.

She didn’t think she’d ever seen the sky like this before.

She waited there, breathing heavily, soaking in the night sky, waiting for her limbs to stop shivering with excitement. Then, after a while, she dusted herself off, gave one final look at the broken figures buried beneath the rubble, and began to make her way back home.

The journey was easy this time.

She knew there were more of them out there still, but she felt safer now knowing that even those few were gone. Thoughts began to race through her mind. If they were that stupid as to just run to their own death, then perhaps they could find ways to take them down. Perhaps they could do more than just hide.

But now wasn’t the time for fighting. Right now, she had to get home.

She rounded the final corner, her heart soaring in her chest at the familiar sight. She made her way to the door, almost sprinting up the steps, and knocked. After a moment, it opened with a click. There was Lin, her eyes wide, looking her up and down.

“What the hell happened to you?”

“I’ll tell you later,” Sarah replied, pushing past her.

She raced up the stairs, two at a time, and made her way into Kyle’s room, pulling off her backpack, rummaging through, and pulling out the antibiotics with shivering hands. He lay there, skin pallid and grey, sweat beading on his forehead.

“Come on Kyle, wake up,” she said, shaking him gently.

After a moment, he opened his eyes.

“Sarah... you’re...”

“Shh,” she replied, shaking two pills out of the bottle and bringing them up to his mouth. He swallowed them without a word, before slumping back down onto the pillow.

“And Kyle, I got you something else.”

He opened his eyes again. Sarah pulled out the silver locket from her shirt and brought it over her head, its long chain pooling in her hand.

“When I saw Tommy, he told me he’d gone past our house on one of his trips.”

Kyle’s eyes lit up.

“He found mum.”

She placed the locket into his hands.

“And he found this.”

He looked down at it, his eyes welling with tears. He reached out and flicked it open, looking at the picture inside. Suddenly, a smile spread across his face, lighting it up, his pale, sickly appearance almost disappearing. After a moment, he reached out his other hand and grasped Sarah’s shoulder with it, looking back at her.

“They can never get her" he said, weakly. "Not really. Not while she’s here.”

He squeezed her shoulder weakly, smiling.

“Thank you.”

And with that, he fell back to sleep.