The sound of crumbling concrete giants, garnished by the screams of the dead and dying would wake up an injured May in a dizzied panic.

As she looked around, vision blurred by her own blood, lungs too shallow to breathe, she realized she had been trapped under debris.

The place had collapsed right over their heads and trapped them in the small lecture hall they were in; well, those that were still alive were trapped.

The other detail that seemed to bother her was the fact that all her nanobots were loose, out of her control, in fact, they were dead.

That could have only meant one thing, she didn't have time to think about that though, as the rubble was being removed from above her, she was safe, a miracle.

That was the only possible thought she could have had, right, because what else could have possibly been lifting hundreds of tons of concrete, metal and glass.

It wasn't any human, it couldn't have been, hope started to seep into her over worked heart, and even I wanted to have hope for her.

The light of a free world would pierce her small corner of crippling dark, but what she saw was not a savior, nor was it a machine.

It did not bring her joy, nor relief, for what she saw, was a monster, no metaphors included.

Many meters tall, it was humanoid, unrealistically muscular with strange green skin, its head an impossible pit of razor sharp spiraling teeth, its only eye on its chest, and it was reaching for her.

In that moment, as her small beating heart shattered at the realization that she was in fact, not saved, and that her death was swiftly approaching, her tears cleansed her bloody eyes as she wet herself.

It was over, just like that. It was that simple thought that broke her fragile understanding of the pampered world she had grown up in, and the blind faith she held in such an impossible ideal.

They were supposed to be 'gods', and yet, she was going to die at the tender age of fourteen. It didn't make sense, none of it did, but it didn't matter.

The thing would take hold of her and pull her from beneath the rubble, but it wasn't doing it out of the goodness of its heart, no, in fact, it didn't have a heart.

"Puuuuunnnnyyy scum... stain!" The girl that was simply being dragged along, basically already dead, gained new agency to look at the thing in its eye as it held her at chest level.

Its voice was labored and its words nigh gibberish as if illiterate, but it spoke none the less, the impossible creature that stood before her, spoke, and its voice shook the very earth it stood on.

She fell further into despair as the thing looked at her not even hurting her. She was truly powerless, a feeling she had only ever felt once before in her entire life, and it drove her insane.

"Ah... ah.... Ahhhhhhhhhh! Ahhhhhhh! Ahhhhhhh!" She screamed and flailed as if to beg for help, as if to make sense of her situation, but help wasn't coming, and there was no scientific explanation for the plight she found herself in, or at least, none that she knew.

"Ha...! Ha...! Ha...!" Its heavy voice shook the small girl as it struggled to laugh at her pain. "Consider... this... mercy... human..." She'd feel its hand slowly tighten as she cried.

Though I suppose fate was never so cruel, as within seconds, the barreling and wail of something fighting the wind exploded from across the charred and burning city.

Then within a moment's notice, so fast one couldn't even see it, the things head exploded with most of its upper body, raining down blood and flesh.

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It would then tumble to the floor, dead, and the girl had lived, cushioned by the ginormous hand.

Shock held her in place for a few seconds before she realized what was happening, but the moment she did, she did not hesitate.

Frantically kicking and clawing her way out of the corpse's grasp, one ankle broken, she began struggling towards the epicenter of the blast, despite the pain.

It was her only hope, and she'd be damned if she didn't even try to reach it. So, looking at the journey she had ahead of her, she began.

An already crumbling building would fall over, and while it wasn't going for her, what had toppled it, was.

Another one, monster, but not the same. It was pitch black, a dog the size of half a sky scrapper, its head that of a human's.

It stood still, looking down at her with empty eyes, smiling, as if to taunt her, but despite the pain her chest radiated, overworking her heart at the sight, she never stopped.

She'd keep going, and it would pounce at her, opening its mouth as if its razor sharp jaws were unhinged.

She'd look into the sharp, slimly, fleshy portal to hell, sure she had failed, sure she had chosen the wrong option.

But, as it closed in on her, a familiar sound would persist as it left the cover of the broken buildings and hovered above the streets for not even a second.

An ear splitting explosion, even from that distance, followed by the loud barreling of a round.

The next sight was a sky of gray matter, flesh and bone as its head shattered and its body was tossed aside shaking the ground.

Her observation was right, and there was hope yet, all she had to do was get there, though even that seemed a trial of faith within itself. Though, for some strange reason, she had hope, she was happy.

As she hopped along, her problems would only multiply as from above four shadows emerged, blacking out the sky as if to be an eclipse.

She wouldn't stop still, but her curiosity would make her inclined to look up. They were monsters, more of them, not grounded in reality, but in fantasy itself, fairies from dark age literature.

At least, they were supposed to be fairies. They were supposed be small, fruit sized, humanoid creatures with dazzling transparent wings, beautiful and elegant, but that's not what they were.

Perched on the crumbling buildings, they were just as large as they were, wings of bats and pitch black beady eyes, naked, humanoid, mouths covered in blood.

It wasn't that she didn't trust 'it', but, if they all lunged for her at the same time, could four rounds fly that fast, be fired that fast, be that accurate.

She had to take the chance, and even though the pain shot up her leg with every step, and it made her want to fall over and cry, she ran. Mashing her teeth together to cope with the pain, she ran as fast as she could, tears washing away the blood she was covered in.

Her worst fears were soon materialized, as all the things would fall for her in unison. It seemed fate had planned a different end for the poor girl still, as quick and light metallic taps danced through the streets.

So fast in fact, she didn't see anyone, or anything, and as the creatures fell, she'd feel the embrace of another person, a woman.

She had been picked up, but whomever it was didn't greet her, they only ran. They ran so fast, they couldn't have been human, couldn't have been pure.

They were moving so fast in fact, that May couldn't even muster the strength to look up at their face. Their capabilities were also far from human, jumping over tens of feet of debris in one go, maintaining all their speed.

In the end, the crashing things would miss, but they'd reach out their expansive hands. Then as the 'woman' jumped once more, the hissing of rounds passed all around them.

Then, one after the other, explosions roared behind them, and agonizing screams accompanied each one.

They'd slow down soon enough, skating to a metallic stop, and as they looked back, all they could see was a wall of flames.

Though, even the flames soon settled and all that was left in the streets were burning corpses, holes darting almost every inch of them. It was as if the shots were fired by the embodiment of hatred itself, meant to induce as much pain and suffering as possible.

As the adrenaline settled, May would remember to look at her savior, and she was human, in fact, she knew her.

It was her brother's fiancé, Cali. She would have begun to cry, but she was already doing so, in fact, she never stopped.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, before she could speak a word to her, they were already moving again, and just like before, she could barely move herself with the force Cali generated.

Though, as they danced and weaved through the streets, they'd end up at May's original destination, a gigantic cube, once marble, then, a shell of its former glory.

As for what the small girl was hoping to see, her glossy eyes failed to pick it out amongst metal frames, sparks and explosions, but, it was there.

It would come from a different place though. The building was mostly destroyed, but, closer to the ground, the building stood, not for long.

A metallic snap would echo through the place before seconds later, the surviving walls exploded.

Thankfully, she had a shield in the peculiar woman, and as she opened her eyes to look at what had happened, she'd see what she had fought so hard to reach, albeit different, but still, her brother.

He was escorting the few survivors of the blast out of the dilapidated building. She was safe, and as such, tired and wounded, she'd faint.