No response from Thomas was made known to us, I called out to him once more as my eyes were glued to the tablet’s feed. Our faces shared the same expression of shock and disbelief at what we were witnessing. I saw the endless horde of creatures emerge from the thickets and charge into the barrier's kill zone; the cannons moved about erratically in a fashion that almost suggested it had given up on targeting individuals and instead cut through the horde like a warm knife through butter with its plasma bolts.

If it were not for the screens wide field of view I would not have noticed the dragons taking to the sky, flying high above and laying waste to the top of the barrier as Tactical Police and Private military lined up along the railings and started firing relentlessly without worrying about aiming, the vast horde was dense and large enough for them to hit something. The cannon whose view we were watching through had been firing non-stop since their unrelented charge until its barrels started to glow bright orange and the view behind them was heavily distorted by the heat. The overheated barrels dimmed their colour only until the blue plasma that illuminated the length of the barrels was all that remained while the barrels had stopped firing for a moment. Intense heat could be seen being emitted from the barrels until it had cooled down significantly enough for it to start firing again. Another dragon had capitalised on the cannons' cool down time and charged directly for it. The cannon had begun to spool up once more and turn its attention to the crimson red dragon that charged it. The dragon extended its wings to slow it down enough for it to use its hind legs to land on the cannon's barrels. It had gotten out of range when the cannon fired narrowly missing it and crushing the barrels under its strong muscles, the dragon had properly landed on top to use its arms to viciously remove parts and panels off the cannon before it turned its angered visage toward the camera. It took the time to show off its dagger-like teeth and its impressive vicious maw before the camera feed went offline. Whatever had happened to cause it to go down could only be something everybody dared not to think.

Thorsten switched the feed to another camera to see the familiar vista of the non-human horde climbing the barrier, some had already managed to scale halfway up the concrete wall. Prompting me to call on Thomas once more.

“Thomas, you really need to come here!” I shouted.

In the back I could hear the heavy-footed thuds on the floor as my brother marched over to us. “What?” He shouted with a short temper “What could be so important you had to call me here!?”

I gazed into his eyes and he noticed the shock in mine, I turned to face the tablet and he leaned in closer to observe the chaotic carnage that was unfolding live. “What the fuck?” he muttered. I couldn’t help myself but watch the tragedy unfold with morbid curiosity.

Thorsten had switched the camera view again to view a sector of The Barrier far away from Sanctuary Hills. A sparsely populated region known as Hancock over two hundred kilometres away. The barrier was overrun as dragons and Gryphons had taken to distracting the cannons with their aerial attacks before damaging them beyond repair so the horde of inhuman monsters could safely traverse the titanic concrete monstrosity that obstructed their objective. They could be seen coming from beyond the flattened hills and further beyond the camera’s pixel rate could accurately depict as an endless wave of factions trying and dying in their attempt to bring humanity to its knees. Another cannon, an older model that utilised bullets instead had its tri-barrels spool up before cutting through the horde like its plasmatic cousins further east down the barrier. A caravan of elves stuck together amidst the sea of centaurs and Nagas who were dodging and weaving to avoid being hit; some were not so lucky as they were replaced by a bright red mist. In their desperation to avoid the gunfire and make it to the barrier, the cryptids started climbing on top of each other in a frantic attempt to ascend the wall much more rapidly. The cannons were too busy trying to stop the ocean of enemies from advancing before it could turn its attention on the organic ladder being formed as elves, satyrs and others began spilling over the barrier and into the sparsely populated town of Hancock.

Suddenly it hit us when we watched them pour over the barrier. One brave wood elf ran up to the cannon base with nothing but a long wooden staff in her hand and a long bow slung over on her shoulder, she came running down the large barrels toward the camera. Everyone had taken a deep breath as we watched the feminine creature being drawn closer to the camera. Her skin was not as pale as the other elven tribes were known for, in fact, this one had an olive complexion; the creature was unnervingly close to the camera as if to inspect it the way an animal would, it almost seemed as though she was staring directly at us. The wood elf quickly turned its head toward its compatriots then turned to face the camera again. She got off her knees and with a swing of her wooden staff she disconnected the camera.

“Turn that off.” Thomas said softly.

I looked over to him to see the fear in his eyes. His chest was heaving as though he were on the verge of a panic attack that would never arrive, he repeated his instruction to Thorsten as he ran back into his office.

Even though Thorsten had complied and set the tablet down without the live feed showing us the invasion force, all of us stood still while stunned from what we had witnessed. Surely this had to be a videography manipulation by some hacker to stir people up. There was no way we were actually under attack, right?

Anna grabbed the television remote off the table and turned the breakroom’s tv on. At first the manufacturer's logo was displayed in an intricate display of colours to show off the full range of display capabilities the set had before it had switched over to the previous channel it was on. A charismatic talk show host was in the middle of showing off his sponsor’s latest product. Anna changed the channel once, then again to see that normalcy was not a dream or a random flight of fancy. It took a moment for everyone to process the sound of a staticky buzz that came in short bursts which had interrupted the advertisement, the screen was replaced with a single line image of the coat of arms of Balko while underneath in bold white text it read: Emergency Broadcast Imminent. Please stand by.

The screen then switched over to a view of the mayor of the city at his desk, an assistant was applying some kind of touch up make up on his face for a split second before disappearing from the camera's sight.

“My fellow citizens, pay attention because this is not a drill. As of moments ago, the barrier which has kept humanity safe for these last few decades is currently under attack by a horde of inhuman monsters that have been kept out for so long. I have issued an emergency mobilisation of our local garrison and law enforcement to engage the beast men should they get through, all civilians from regions near the barrier are to evacuate immediately and to take only the barest of essentials with you.”

Anna clasped her hands over her mouth, Thorsten muttered something in his native language. My mouth was still agape in disbelief for I could not believe what I was hearing, it was made even worse when the mayoral address had to hammer home the gravity of the situation by splitting the screen with drone footage of the Barrier attack outside my home. It played out in almost similar manner to that of Hancock where the Plasma cannons were taken offline by the attacks of the dragons and gryphons while on the ground the barrier surface was crawling with creatures of all kinds trying to get over. The run-down houses and apartments that lay at the base of the Barrier were in chaos as from the aerial footage could easily be seen the scared civilians running for their lives in the streets while cars had ignored traffic lights and pedestrians alike in their haste to leave.

Thomas entered the room once more with his keys in his hand. “Michael, come with me!” He grabbed me firmly by the shoulder and dragged me out of the break room.

“W-where are we meant to go!?” I stuttered.

He looked back to face me and spoke with a tone of resolve and conviction. “We are going to get the fuck out of here.”

Thomas then turned his attention to everybody else in the breakroom. “I suggest the rest of you do the same!”

Thomas tugged on my arm more as he dragged me out to the maintenance corridor, after we had entered the corridor, he had let go of me and transitioned from a power walking pace to one of jogging which I kept up with until we had reached the parking garage attached to the lower levels of the building. After we both entered his car, Thomas turned on the ignition and flattened the accelerator with his foot, not even giving the automatic doors to close themselves before we had taken off. Around us in the parking garage we experienced a taste of what the carnage outside would have become. In his haste he had almost run over two people and had a near collision with another car that had sped its way out of its resting spot, my heart was racing at the thought of nearly crashing and how In my mind I had retracted what I said about Benji’s driving. With the exit in plain view, Thomas accelerated even further until we crashed right through the red and white striped aluminium boom gate and scraping the front bumper on the incline that led outside, we flew out into the street and landed on the left side of the road. Thomas recklessly drove along the roads in the city by weaving past the cars that had crashed into each other from the chaos or were abandoned in the megacity wide evacuation, even driving on the opposite side of the road gave us no heavy thoughts for we were both certain the police were not going to issue a traffic fine at this time. He drove onto the ramp that led us on to the main highway but what had left me perplexed about his driving was the direction he was taking us; I did not think twice when he drove onto the highway, however, my curiosity grew when he was driving in the opposite direction.

Stolen story; please report.

“Uh, Tom, not to question your driving but aren’t we meant to go the other way, away from the invading army of monsters!?”

He quickly glanced at me. “And leave mum all by herself? Not a chance in Hell. We are gonna go pick her up and get the fuck out of here!”

I cursed aloud as I kicked the furthest part of the floor in frustration. I couldn’t just leave her there but we were going in the exact direction of danger for her. When we arrived in Sanctuary Hills, the whole place had descended into a realm of chaos and disarray I had not thought possible before; much like the city before, the streets were littered with the abandoned remains of vehicles with some on fire, people ran out onto the streets either completely oblivious to our presence or did not care for that a car would possibly hit them. We rounded a corner when we saw people run out into an intersection in front of us that had been the site of a multi car collision, we watched helplessly as some of the fleeing civilians fell onto the bitumen. As we got closer to the intersection, I found that none of the people that fell had gotten back up; I focused on the crimson puddles that surrounded some of the fallen and was horrified to learn that they were slain by monsters. Thomas sighed heavily as he made the same observation I had, but our apartment building was only a block away and we could not stop now. He drove on beyond the car collision and as we left the intersection one man had unknowingly run into our path. Thomas slammed on the brakes when we spotted him at the edge of his peripherals, however we were too late as his body slammed onto the bonnet of the car while his head crashed into the glass windshield shattering it.

I let out a shriek as he bounced over the car while all I could see was the faint shade of blood in between the white cracks in the glass that dominated my view. Thomas swerved when the collision occurred and all of a sudden, we hit a bump that made me hit the ceiling. My spine ached from the collision and my chest tightened fiercely, Thomas repeatedly cursed as he unbuckled his seatbelt as he got out of the car.

“Son of a bitch!” He shouted.

I got out of the car with haste and I saw what had happened. On the road behind us I spotted the skid marks we made when we collided with that man who was lying face down on the bitumen. I traced the skid marks to our position and saw we had hit the gutter and went over it, the damage to the front of the car didn’t seem so excessive, I saw Thomas clutching his hair in his hands as he stared at something. The bonnet of the car had been dented majorly but it was hardly noticeable compared to the wrecked windshield with spots of blood that rested in the cracks, I went around to stand next to Thomas when I saw what had him worked up, the front guard had not only come loose but was greatly dented inwards; so much so that it had also damaged the coolant condenser which let out a mix of highly pressurised steam and green liquid that bubbled from its own heat as it collected itself in the gutter.

Tom’s eyes widened as he observed the damage and came to realise the car was not going anywhere.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” he shouted. “The car is totaled, what are we gonna do?”

I looked around to see the carnage around us. Homes and businesses were on fire, in the distance plumes of smoke wafted along the barrier as cryptids invaded our home. The orchestra of alarms and tyres screeching in the distance flooded the air with a cacophony of destruction. I noticed some of the cars that had been abandoned were still running their engines and it finally occurred to me.

“Tom, we’ll have to take one of these cars, some of them have their engines still on, as soon as we get mum we can get in one and drive!”

“What, you mean steal? Michael, this isn’t a game alright? Theft like that carries a two year minimum.”

I gestured around us “I really do not think anybody is going to care. Besides, what other choices do we have?”

Thomas threw his hands down in defeat as he hissed through his teeth. Behind us the mumbling and groaning of the victim started to squirm alive, we turned to face him as guilt finally had hit us in a fashion not too dissimilar to that man; remarkably he stood up tall and it was then that I noticed this was no ordinary man: his ears were short and pointed while his attire consisted of leather slings and pouches that hung from his belt. What had truly captured my attention was the two sheathed daggers that hung at the back of his belt. Thankfully the pointy eared individual did not reach for them. His clothes were rags but the recent collision had not done any favours for the tattered remains of his clothing, he turned around and saw us staring at him and for the first time I felt fear.

His pale complexion and subtly red eyes stared at us with contempt as he clutched his chest and all I could feel was my heart pounding hard in my chest, urging me to run for my life before he guts me. My mind then wondered if this was the guy that had taken out those people we saw before; did he slay them with those daggers? No, he didn’t collect them from the bodies. Perhaps he threw knives at them? Maybe, but where did he keep them? His other arm lay limp at his side as he stared at us with those nightmarish red eyes. I thought perhaps he would leave us especially in his state; would he still be ready to fight us in his state? He huffed at us then promptly turned around, I breathed a sigh of relief as he walked away. It caught me off-guard when I saw the splatter of blood spurting outward from the back of his head, I was stunned, shocked, paralysed to the point I had not heard the gunshot next to me. My ears rang fiercely until they drowned out the sound of carnage going around us, I stood silently and stared at the lifeless body of the Night elf that had fallen onto the ground, I could not believe what I saw. I turned to face Thomas holding a large weapon in his left hand; the barrel was a polished silver with intricate ornate patterns etched on the barrel with the trigger and trigger guard seemed to be lined with gold. The barrel still smoked when Thomas lowered his gun to the ground.

“W-what the fuck, Tom!?” I shrieked. “How can you be so calm about this!?”

He tucked the gun in between his pants and his shirt when he looked back at me. “It was either him or us.”

I stared at Thomas completely dumbfounded at what he had done. My voice grew shaky as I struggled to speak. “But he was going away, he was going to leave us alone!”

“We don’t know that. He could’ve been the one that killed those people over there” He said as he gestured to the bodies on the intersection “If we had let him go, he could’ve alerted his buddies and we would be next. I was not going to take that risk.”

My breathing grew shaky until I started wheezing from shock. I was a frequent consumer of violent video games and movies, but to see it happen before my own eyes? I could not process the thought of seeing the spark of life taken from another thing.

“We are not far from home, let’s get moving before one of those freaks comes looking for him.”

“When did you get a gun?!”

“I keep it in my office for safety. Believe me it was the best fourteen thousand esses I’ve ever spent and it just saved our asses. You’re welcome.”

He walked down the footpath away from the scene toward our old home, I stood still for a moment as I took in everything around me, I snapped out of it and ran to catch up with Thomas. When we had finally arrived outside the apartment's lobby door, we discovered that the building had no power connected to it. Thomas used his hand cannon to smash the glass panes on the door to allow us to crawl through, inside, the apartment building had not fared any better than the outside; doors were ajar, clothes clumsily thrown about and even duffel bags were left abandoned by their owners as we ran down the length of the corridors. I spotted our apartment up ahead and I reached for my keys and fumbled with them to find the right one and insert it. When I opened the door, our apartment looked the same as it had this morning.

“MUM!” I shouted.

“Mum?” Thomas asked.

Muffled footsteps came from the bedrooms heading for us, our mother rounded the corner and she jumped when she saw us. I sighed with relief when I saw her, however, she seemed to be in a state of mind that could be a mix of both relief and frustration.

“What are you idiots doing here? I told you to leave!”

I turned to face Thomas.

Thomas had opened his mouth to speak before our mother gasped as she looked at me “Oh my god, sweety, what happened to your head?”

“Wh-what are you talking about?”

“You have a massive bruise on your head. And you are bleeding!”

I put my hand on my forehead and brought it down to my eyes, I saw the sticky blood on my palm when suddenly it had clicked.

“Oh right, we had a car accident earlier.” I summarised.

Thomas closed the gap between us as he spoke, he extended his arms out as if to persuade her “Mum, we came here to pick you up.”

Mum brushed Thomas’ hands away when he approached. “I told you to run, I gave you a head’s up, why did you not listen, you stubborn bastard?”

“I couldn’t just leave you here! I couldn’t do that to you, Mum!”

“Guys,” I shouted, “can we argue about this another time!? It’s bad enough we are going to have to find another mode of transport but the horde of beasts getting through is increasing with each second!”

Everybody looked solemn for a moment. Mum excused herself to finish packing her bag. Thomas went back to pacing around the living room while I made my way to the kitchen. The window behind the sink showed a vista of columns of black smoke and distant dragons acrobatically toying with the cannons atop the Barrier. A loud boom caught my attention as I searched for the source, when my eyes gazed over to the Barrier, I witnessed a bunch of dragons flying together in almost perfect formation.

“What are they doing?” I said under my breath.

The dragons flew over the barrier and high above the suburbs below; they hovered into a circle and extended their front legs to the centre of the group, even from the distance I saw them do something that made a green ball of energy appear in the center, the aura grew and became brighter over the next few seconds. I watched helplessly as the combined magical sphere grew in diameter and was awed when it suddenly shot forward to the Barrier.

With a blinding flash equivalent to Weapon of Mass Destruction I shielded my eyes, the sound of the explosion shook the very foundations of the apartment building, some patches of the ceiling fell onto the carpeting. When the shockwave hit the apartment, it came with a force strong enough to shatter the glass out and spread the remains all over the floor, it had also hit me with a force that knocked the wind out of my lungs, I flew backwards and landed on my back on the floor with the wind knocked out of me. My ears rang fiercely and my vision was blurred. I saw Thomas get up off the floor and over to me. His lips were moving but I heard nothing, he left my sight and went to the bedrooms, I felt his footsteps through the floor. I tried to stand up but the ringing and blurred vision made the simple task needlessly difficult.

After I had gotten on my shaky legs to see out the window what had happened, my eyes displayed everything blurry, nothing was focused. In the distance I could make out the Barrier and the smoke cloud from the explosion. My eyes started to clear up as the distance became more clear enough for me to notice the large chunks of concrete slam into houses, I was horrified by the spectacle. I rubbed my eyes once more in an attempt to clear them up and as I stared out to the explosion I saw a large chunk of concrete with a smoke trail coming this way, it flew with exceptional speed when I finally realised it would hit the building; I braced myself and began to run to the back of the apartment to put some distance between me and the large boulder of doom. My legs, however, were not prepared for such strenuous activities as I fell to the ground when I took one step, I clawed my way back up in a hurry when something hard collided with the back of my head and something large collided with the building. I felt the vibrations on the floor as darkness consumed me and I pondered if this was how I was meant to die, is this where my story ends.