Lisa knew fighting the Twisted of such numbers was going to be impossible. She could barely handle one Plain Strider herself and now that there were three and uncountable numbers of other Twisted, running was her only choice. The problem was, she could not that just yet. There were hundreds of people that were going to die horrible deaths if the situation did not change and soon.

Lisa looked about her for a solution but all she could see was impending death and chaotic panic. Running towards her was a ERM militia man holding a rifle. He was clearly fleeing with the rest of the crowd, and she got the idea to put his gun to proper use.

Lisa grabbed the man’s arm just as he was about to pass by. “Give me your gun and any ammo you got.”

“Fine take it!” The man shouted throwing the rifle into her arms. He then took off the belt of ammo around his waist and took off running again. “You can stay here and die fighting. I’m not!”

Lisa checked the rifles chamber and saw it was loaded. She then looked through the receding crowd and saw, with great relief, that the Twisted had miraculously not yet even entered the parking lot. They were just waiting on top of the rooves and standing in the streets. Though they were waiting, the Twisted were clearly anxious to attack and their screeches, roars, and cries came from all around.

“Wait… why are they waiting?” Lisa thought. “Are they being stopped by something or is something commanding them?”

Looking at the Twisted she noted that they had completely surrounded the warehouse’s perimeter. They seemed to have blocked off all the roads leading back into town. The Twisted left only one way to go was towards the cliffs, for there was not a single Twisted in that area. It was almost as if they had corralled the humans to go towards this place.

“This does not feel right. This feels planned somehow.” Lisa said to herself.

Lisa saw now that most of the humans had already passed by her and that there was no reason to stay in such a dangerous place. Many of the Twisted were eyeing her expectantly as she started jogging after the rest of the townspeople. That’s when she felt it, a deep rumbling resonating in her chest that was far deeper than that of the Plain Strider. A rumble that felt both commanding and terrifying.

Lisa stopped running and saw that a creature, unlike any she had seen before had immerged from the mass of monsters. It was the baby Hoard Mother! When it had left Moab City, 56 and the others had seen that the baby Hoard Mother was about the size of a large pick-up truck. They would now be shocked to know that the baby Hoard Mother was now larger and the same size as a Plain Strider!

Of course, Lisa had no way of knowing this. All she saw was the white scaly skinned, hairy six-legged, brontosaurus looking monster! From the way the other Twisted had parted ways with the baby Hoard Mother it was clear to Lisa that this impressive monster was the leader.

Lisa raised her rifle and took aim at the baby Hoard Mothers head. All six of its eyes were locked onto her and they were filled with a fighting hunger that only an animal old project. Lisa paid the look no mind and pulled the trigger once.

The bullet struck the baby Hoard Mother square between the eyes! Its head was knocked back by the unexpected bullet. Save for the tracking dart 56 shot into it, this was the first time the young monster had ever been hurt.

Lisa cursed under her breath when the Twisted’s head whipped back to glair angrily at her. There was no sign of any damage. The Hoard Mothers hide was even stronger than that of the Plain Strider. Then the baby Hoard Mother opened both of its mouths to let out that same rumbling sound with an even greater ferocity.

The rumbling was the signal to attack!

Every single Twisted present broke rank to leap off buildings and flood the parking lot as they began chasing after the fleeing humans. Lisa lifted her rifle once again and shot ten rounds in quick succession at the charging hoard. A few smaller Twisted were struck by her shots but it was like taking buckets of water out from the ocean, pointless.

Lisa then turned to run at top speed for the cliff. She had to get there as soon as possible and help organize the defenses. They were in for a terrible battle.

…

Nathan was still running with the townspeople towards the cliff when he heard the baby Hoard Mothers distant and faint rumble for attack. Looking back, he knew something was wrong, even with the hundreds of people blocking his view. The fleeing humans had left a huge plum of dust in their wake, but now there was a clear second plum of dust twice the size of their own approaching.

He gulped heavily and adjusted the heavy box in his hands to run better. He then spied a rock ahead of him and chose to climb atop it. Looking ahead he could see the flow of people veering off to the right towards the path, but there were still those that were splitting off into nearby buildings or going left towards the river.

“That’s right everyone, keep moving to the right after the last building. Head for the cliff not the river!” Nathan called out hoarsely. “The town buildings will not be enough to hid you from the Twisted. We need to stick together and get to higher ground.”

Nathan took another sparing glance back at the second plum of smoke. “Hurry up Lisa. We are going to need you to help us, so don’t die back there!”

“Get those rocks piled right here! I want the top of this path blocked off as soon as the last person gets here.” Gillian ordered.

Gillian was directing the people capable of working that had already made it to the top of the cliff to move rocks and boulders to the highest points and sides of the path. He had heard stories of the Twisted overwhelming entire cities with their numbers alone and since the town defenses were nothing more than a few guns and limited ammo this was all he could come up with to defend themselves. He only wished that he had more time to plan because there were no way rocks alone tossed at the monsters Medieval style was not going to be enough to save them. He just had a gut feeling that things were going to be bad.

Anderson, in the meantime, was doing his best to organize the women and children to get them to gather in the woods and scrublands far away from the pathway entrance. He had considered having them all cross the river and go to the other side already, but he had never been over there himself and he kept doubting himself as to weather or not it was safe to do so. He wished that Nathan or another leader was here to take his place. His anxiety was becoming more than he could bare and dealing with women and children just as frightened as himself was not making the situation any better.

Terisa was busy getting Hanna and the other Mech pilots to pile more sand and rocks atop the cliff in preparation for covering the pathway back up. She had been cursing non-stop, wishing she had never left Moab City and listened to her idiot cousin. Hanna on the other hand was pouring all her focus to the task at hand. Terisa would be barely finished giving her orders and Hanna was already moving to carry them out. It was as if none of the pressure of what was about to happen was even affecting her. The way she controlled the Mechs controls and how calming the flow of information was becoming to her only made her work harder.

John was not watching over Hanna but looking over the cliff’s edge at the stream of people escaping town. He knew he had to get Hanna out of here as soon as possible. The other side of town was presumably safe, and he needed to get to Mary and the others to warn them of the danger as well. Perhaps even leave town altogether. This was not his fight to be in.

Looking up at the Mech Hanna was in and seeing how much work she was doing, he felt guilty taking her away. Swallowing his feeling John felt that now was the best time to take her away. Even if he had to pull her out himself.

…

Lisa zig zagged through the crowd as fast as she dared without crashing into anyone. She was not only trying to reach the cliff’s path but find Nathan as well. She knew that if he survived this invasion then the town had a chance to rebound. She might be able to do it all on her own, but from the way the townspeople responded to him, Lisa knew Nathan was the linchpin holding these people together and that was something she still lacked.

Hearing another rumble from the baby Hoard Mother she was glad that she had her prosthetic legs to run fast. For not a second after the Twisted’s rumble the cries and screams for help followed. The slaughter was already happening at the back of the human pack. She couldn’t imagine what the scene might look like but if it was anything like the carnage the Plain Strider caused, then it was not a pretty sight.

Lisa finally spotted Nathan; he was standing on top of a rock at the bottom of the slope waving people on. Lisa rushed for his position and leapt into the air skipping most of the people in her way. She landed skillfully alongside him on the rock and grabbed his arm.

“We have to go now!” Lisa urged. “We don’t have time to save everyone.”

“We have to try.” Nathan answered pulling his arm away from her.

Lisa rolled her eyes. “Standing here waving your arms isn’t going to do a thing but put you in danger.” The two of them then heard another heavy and deep rumble. “Look, I can already see the largest of the Twisted coming this way! Come on!”

Lisa then grabbed the stubborn mayor and tossed him over her shoulder. She then started running up the slope as fast as she could. It was then Nathan saw, though he didn’t believe what he saw, the hoard in its entirety. There had to be thousands of monsters coming right for them!

Any thought of protest to the way Lisa was treating him was gone now. The real fight was just about to being!