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clashing force
of…desperation? I couldn’t quite fathom it to understand what it was. But once
our eyes met, something clicked. Something that wasn’t there before
suddenly dropped down between us, like this physical weight. I felt it.
And, yet, I couldn’t quite process what it was as stark terror continued to
render me this voiceless person.
     
    But
his face tightened again. I heard the sweaty sound of skin against wood as his
fingers tightened on the axe handle, and he was holding it within both hands,
lifting it in front of him.
     
    “No,”
he told Jeff, in this firm and…well, rather manly tone. It didn’t fit him. It
didn’t sound like it should have come from him, but it did because I saw him
say it.
     
    Something
like relief and yet horror filled me because even if he fought for me, he was
still outnumbered by the other guys. I actually started to feel bad. Like, I
actually felt my greedy selfishness hit me from the inside, reprimanding me for
being this way.
     
                “Stupid,”
Jeff muttered, lifting the gun, and both of us froze at that moment. I’d never
looked into a barrel of a gun like that. It felt unreal. It felt like it wasn’t
happening, and yet I was seeing this happen. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t
know what else to think. I could only stare into that barrel and –

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Four
     
     
     
     
    It
was this tremendous crash of noise that made me scream, thinking that Jeff shot
Harley. It filled my ears in a wave of never-ending sound, distorting and
booming. Seconds later, it felt like I’d been crushed from behind, and I hit
the floor face first, sliding as all this crazy sound deafened me. I opened my
eyes, confused and disoriented, as white smoke caused me to cough, filling my
lungs with heavy weight that made it difficult to breathe.
     
                Something
exploded from behind us. I rose into a standing position, trying to breathe and
cough at the same time. I heard this continuous sound of destruction, a roar of
sound that made it difficult to concentrate. As I struggled to orient myself
with what was happening, I realized I was looking up at this outlandish,
massive figure surrounded by the night sky.
     
                It’s
a Gundam ! some crazed part of my mind screamed. This face wasn’t human
– its eyes were heavily hooded by some sort of metal, neon blue piping
lighting this crazy alien face that was both robot and being. It had four
wicked arms that were busy tearing through the warehouse’s north wall,
rendering it into rubble, exposing us to the cold night. As metal twisted and
screeched with the thing’s movement, I started to see that it was merely
‘opening’ the building to the horde of creatures that had been waiting outside
to get in.
     
                This
thing was gorgeous – it was massive. It wasn’t a human-shaped
character that the anime mecha were recognized by – it was clearly
outworldish. Neon blue piping flashed here and there throughout jutting
shoulders, absurdly long arms with even longer fingers. Stubby legs – for
something that size, its legs were really short – moved in a fluid motion
like an animal’s. The giant robot crushed vehicles underneath each step, the
ground rumbling with its movement – it had to be hundreds of feet
high.
     
                My
mind was blown, watching this thing walk away. There were other shadows in the
distance as big as it, but they were too far away for me to see individually. I
could only imagine what they truly were. I could only think of how beautiful it
was to see these alien robots, here to destroy Earth, actually existing in
front of me. I wasn’t looking at them in fear or horror – I was admiring them from an anime-enthusiast’s point of view.
     
                I
was totally