. James .

James watched, helplessly, as the splintered attack group approached the wall. His walkie talkie had been a source of excited chatter from one of the drivers that crescendoed into an incredible moment where they all thought the Titan was dead. Stabbing anything through the eye was generally a good way to put it down - or at least to reduce its mobility. And, so far, it had been one of the primary ways the defenders - his defenders - had been trained to put down beasts. It was one of the things he'd trained into Sara while they drilled sword stances, again and again.

He wasn't a real master, he knew. There was a major difference between being good enough to train people, and true mastery. James knew enough to help people and improve their motions, but he was never the person that could take an underperforming fighter and turn them into something great. He didn't see every flaw and detail like some of the people he'd worked with, or trained under.

Had he missed something in the salamander's movements? Was there more he could have learned, or seen, or imparted? Was Sara injured because of their foe, or because James hadn't given her enough attention to keep her alive?

The nagging questions swirled in his head as the crowd around him shared complex and concerned faces. They'd all heard the fight, reported in the driver's halting play-by-play rendition. Sara had proved exceptional against the guardian, and had taken the thing out somewhat easily, by all accounts. James - and everyone else - had all but expected her to slay the Titan the moment they heard she'd entered the fray. They cheered on the injuries Sanctuary's people dealt to the beast, and hoped the dead weren't people they knew.

The salamanders weren't dumb. That was for damn sure. Where the waves may have had beasts that seemed frenzied to get to the defenders and that threw themselves blindly into danger, the elites, guardians, and the Titan itself were a different class of monster altogether. They planned and strategized and communicated in ways the others didn't. So it wasn't surprising that the Titan had made itself look more incapacitated than it was. That was doubly true if it didn't feel threatened by the attackers that surrounded it.

If the Titan had led Sara and the others into a trap, then it was effectively using the same strategy as the guardian that nearly killed Reid. Fake debilitation, then retaliate with an empowered strike. James should have seen that coming. He should have warned Sara and Reid and everyone else in that damn group to stay cautious and not trust the beast. It was on him, as one of Sanctuary's commanders and as the combat expert, to identify threats and see to it that they were in the best position to deal with those dangers.

Sara's broken, barely moving body flashed through his vision. He'd only gotten a glimpse from a distance, before Reid had launched himself, his girl, and Danny forward towards the tents set up in last stand field. Susan was on her way to help her daughter, and nearly the entire medical team was on hand dressing and closing wounds while Danny used his skill. James swallowed.

He'd let Louis get killed, and he'd left Reid with Bertrand. Despite what the man said or forgave, those facts didn't disappear, they just occupied a deeper part of his mind. And right now, James was dredging the depths. He couldn't stop himself - there was just too much he felt responsible for and helpless to change.

The vehicles reached the wall, and those inside either climbed or were pulled up the face of the wall. They were panting and injured. One clattered violently as he came over the edge, and James realized it was the sound of bone weapons colliding against each other. With a closer inspection, James realized it was Reid's mace, and Sara's sword. Queen's Edge was missing the top three inches of its tip, and deep cracks ran down the length of the blade. Reid's bone was absurdly sturdy. The only thing capable of damaging it that they'd found so far were the crystalline growths of the salamanders. It was confirmation, and condemnation.

If they couldn't penetrate into the Titan's skull and get to its brain, it was unkillable. Maybe they could find a way to drown it, or burn it to death, but options and resources to accomplish that were slim. He couldn't ask the people next to him to fight against something they couldn't kill. He wouldn't.

James ground his teeth, and flipped on his bullhorn.

"Everyone, listen up. We have enough traps out here to slow the beasts down, and that's what we need to do. The convoy is all but gone, now. The only vehicles left are the ones we have ready to transport all of us. We've already lost enough people today. We do what we can to kill the wave if it comes, and then we all get out of here, understand? I want all officers to start making plans on how you'll have an organized retreat. This place is just land - there's plenty more. I'll give the signal when its time to fall back."

No one else needed to die today.

----------------------------------------

+ Reid +

Reid wasn't a stranger to hospitals. He'd seen family and friends grow old, or get injured, and had sat by bedsides and held hands in solidarity with those he'd cared about, and lost. Those experiences had given him a notion of what should happen, and what shouldn't happen when someone he loved was hurt.

Beeping machines were good. They meant everything was alright. Even if they beeped slowly, or they sent an alarm. A warning would ding, and a nurse would check on things, and then the beeping would continue. Whether good, or bad - the beeping let everyone know that everything was going okay - or at least that things weren't going wrong. You could see IV bags and wires and leads and monitors with their faint green lines or an LCD screen that turned a person's health into a series of colored columns - like they were printer ink that hadn't quite run dry.

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Reid wished there were beeping now. He wanted some sign - any indication of what was going on. The absence of it flicked against his mind.

Susan shuddered and pulled her hands back. She gave Danny a nod, and stepped away from the cot.

"She's okay? Why isn't she waking up? What do you need to finish healing her?" The words spilled out of Reid's mouth in a flood of repressed emotion.

Her eyes were red with strain, and her voice had that raspy quality it always got when she overexerted herself.

"I have to take a break or I'm going to burn out. She's..." Susan's eyes went to the top of the tent and she took a shuddering breath. "She's not good, Reid. She suffered massive blood loss and trauma to multiple parts of her body that did a lot of damage - even with how quickly you got her back here to heal. Her..." Susan swallowed twice. "That much blood loss means not enough oxygen gets to organs, and that makes the organs fail. Even though we've got her wounds stable and she's breathing by herself again... that damage doesn't go away. And her level - or constitution means its taking a lot of energy to heal her - just like you. But either way, it means we're doing what we can to fight back against her body shutting down one major organ at a time. It's not going to be a quick process - and we have to keep checking on her brain activity. The hypoxia lasted long enough that she definitely has damage there, and I can heal that - but its secondary to her organs right now. She's going to stay unconscious until we have that under control. and we're doing what we can to ensure she comes out of this okay."

"How long until she's stable?"

Susan gave a helpless, hollow-eyed shrug with her hands. "A day? It depends on what we can accomplish. If we're both working, we can make better progress but we have to switch off. If we just had a third healer..."

Marlene stepped forward and thumbed a radio to call the RV column. "I need anyone with a healing skill. No matter the level, find them and get them back here."

She didn't wait for an answer. Instead, she looked to Susan, then Sara, then Reid. "Can she be moved?"

"Slowly and carefully, yes." Susan said reluctantly. "I'd like to get her in a better state before we do it, though."

Marlene nodded, then picked a walkie talkie off her belt. "James, how are things there?"

James was still on the 2nd wall, in charge of leading the defense, or delay. The hope was Mark's traps would make things more of a fair fight this time around.

"No movement, but Marlene - when the attack comes, we'll slow them down, and then run. There's no reason to die here when we know we can get away from the danger. For now, everyone is well stocked, and we've set up a decent number of evacuation slides. We won't have a repeat of what happened before."

Marlene frowned. "Sara's situation is still delicate. She needs more time before we move her. And the column isn't far enough away for us to fully outrun the salamanders. I think you need to hold the wall, not focus on the run."

"Time, or time time? Honeybadger, if we can't kill the Titan we can't win. I'd rather do a fighting retreat than get bowled over. And I'm not going to have more people die here if I can help it."

"Just regular time for now. We'll figure something out."

She flipped the power on the unit off and looked at Susan. "Plan for the worst and get her ready to move. We can't delay this if the defenders are already looking for the exit." She looked to Reid. "And I'm not sure if I can blame them. Is that thing even killable?"

Reid turned his weapon in his hand. In the commotion of getting Sara out of danger, he'd dropped it on the battlefield. Someone had picked it up and brought it back for him, along with a very-damaged Queen's Edge. Bone had once again splintered against the crystal.

"I... I honestly don't know. I'm going to try stabbing up and hope I can hit the brain from underneath but - there's a chance that doesn't work either."

Marlene scowled. "So let's say we probably can't kill it. They've got one guardian, three elites, and sixteen-hundred regulars left after the big one we can't do anything about, and we already know they're faster than vehicles at low speeds. So if we run, if all the defenders run, they're going to get into a traffic jam as soon as they catch up with the end of the column's tail, and then the beasts are going to catch up anyway."

Reid stared at Danny leaned over his daughter. His hands seemed to pulse with light. "Unless - unless we get them distracted long enough that they don't chase the vehicles."

Marlene narrowed her eyes. "You sound like you're about to say something stupid, Reid."

Reid pursed his lips and looked at his wife. "I might still be able to kill it. I know, it's a slim chance, but if I can, I think we can win this. But we also need something to keep the beasts occupied, and I need a bit more rest before I can throw myself back into things." Susan raised an eyebrow. "Yes, I'm starting to understand my limits, thank you. But here's my idea. We have the additional ring of traps back behind the second wall that's going to slow stuff down. If I rest back there, and then we get Toby to call the Titan to me after the second wall retreats, I can fight it while everyone else gets away and makes some distance from the settlement." He looked at Sara. "Enough for slow-moving vehicles to not be the focus of the beasts."

Marlene shook her head. "If we just need a distraction, it shouldn't be you. Sara needs her father and Sanctuary needs you as a warrior. You should be on the same vehicle as your daughter for when things catch up."

Reid drew himself up and squared his shoulders. "The Titan is massive. It's fast, intelligent, and it heals itself. No one else is going to be remotely capable of injuring the thing. I'll just try to slow it down. I'll see if I can kill it. And I'll link back up with everyone else after we know Sara and the column aren't in danger."

Susan pushed her way into the conversation. "We don't even know if they're going to breach the second wall! Stop making plans like we've already lost."

Reid and Marlene shared a grim look. Marlene was the one that spoke. "The second wall isn't going to last. Our toughest fighters are winded, and we're still massively outnumbered. The salamanders have all of the advantages here. our traps and our defenses are just going to slow the advance. We can use that, but we need to plan realistically." She nodded to Reid. "Which is why we realistically need someone capable of slowing down or distracting the beasts to be the person that does it. I'm still our strongest aside from you and Sara. I'll be the one to do it."

"You aren't going to last a minute, Marlene, and you know it."

"No. You all go. Take Sara, get her safe. I'll distract the Titan and you get as far away as you can. We don't have time for this argument."

Reid's mind turned. For all her bluster, Marlene really wasn't going to be able to stop the Titan, nor would she be able to slow it. If they could just -

WARNING! You have been paralyzed for 0.5 seconds.

Danny's skill forcibly dropped as he and everyone else in the room froze. The screech blasting its way into their ears sounded different than the others had. This one was longer, louder, and angry.

Thundering footsteps echoed out in the wake of the roar - followed by a massive crash of broken wood.