The chaos continued to swell, and we could still hear the shouts from where we were hiding. Growing angrier and angrier. More desperate. Kuros and I looked at one another, unsure of what to say next. Here we were crouching behind barrels, but what exactly could we do next?

“We really can’t just keep sitting here,” I said, my voice low. “Every second we’re hiding, more people are getting sick, sicker, and we’re one second closer to being attacked by those machines.”

Kuros nodded, his expression grim. “It ain’t that I don’t agree… but we’re probably runnin’ on our last chance here. If the sheriff catches us again, he’s like to hang us on the spot or shoot us dead.”

As we both pondered, trying to grasp for anything resembling a plan, we were interrupted by the sound of a struggle passing by. I peeked out from behind the barrel, only to see a group of deputies dragging Nate along.

“It’s Nate,” I whispered to Kuros. “They got him. The sheriff must’ve been more concerned about him than us.”

“Maybe by a little. Let’s move around behind these buildings so we can get a better view of the front of the jail where everyone’s crowded together. That’s where they’re probably taking him.”

“You sure they won’t just try to sneak him in the back again, or hide him out somewhere else?”

“Knowing the sheriff, I doubt that.” Kuros began moving behind the buildings, and I followed along. Seemed the whole town was preoccupied with what was going on in front of the jail, so we were able to move almost out in the open without anyone noticing.

Kuros was right, of course, and the deputies took Nate directly to the sheriff, throwing him roughly on the ground.

“Ah, thought you could just run off and go around spreading your lies, huh? That’s all you PanTech good-for-nothings are worth. Lies!” Eric roared.

“I think deep down you know I’m telling the truth, don’t you?” Nate said, spitting the dirt out of his mouth.

Eric’s hand went to his pistol, and I’d had enough experience with the man by now to know what was coming next. It was now or never. We needed an opportunity, and this would have to be the closest thing.

I ran out of my hiding place, keeping my hands up. Kuros wasn’t far behind.

“Sheriff, please. He’s telling the truth,” I pleaded.

His head spun around, nearly rotating off his shoulders. He looked at me, first with a look of shock, then anger.

“You!” he growled. “You and him are coworkers after all, so figures you’d come out here to back him up on his lies. After all, you’ve been tellin’ lies since you first got here. You brought that sickness with you too, just to peddle that snake oil vaccine that’s got who knows what in it.”

“Listen, sheriff, please!” I could feel my voice breaking. I was begging. Pleading. Not to get the upper hand as some kind of bluff, but because the situation was becoming genuinely hopeless. “Everything he told you is true. Everything I told you is true. We’re just trying to help you! Let us help!”

“Work together? Hah! With our PanTech oppressors and a bunch of outlaws? Lettin’ you keep your heads is what’s led us here in the first place. Look at what you’ve done to the people of this town! Now you’re tryin’ to turn ‘em against their own sheriff.”

Kuros took a step forward, his own hands in the air. “Nobody says we gotta be pals, Eric. Nobody says we can’t go back to killin’ each other after all’s said and done. After we handle this sickness, and everything else coming, I’ll turn myself in. You’ve got my word on that.”

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For a moment, Eric seemed to hesitate. Physically, it was hard to believe he was still standing. His skin looked like a corpse’s. Pale, clammy, and cold. A trickle of blood ran from his nose and kept flowing no matter how many times he wiped it. His face was doused in sweat. His lips were cracked and split, his eyes bloodshot and glassy.

But rather than a moment of reason, it was more of the same. He drew his gun, pointing it at Kuros.

Nate jumped to his feet.

“Giant monsters are coming, each one big as a house, and they’re going to kill everyone in this town!”

He laughed, the cackle of a villain in a children’s story. Nate was happy to see this town go up in flames.

Eric turned and shot him in the head.

Silence fell over the crowd. We’d all avoided saying exactly what was coming, knowing a full-blown panic would likely make everything worse, but now it was out there. It was all laid out on the table.

“Monsters?” a child asked, looking up at her father, crying loudly. “I’m scared,” she said.

Slowly, the rage began to boil again, even more passionately this time. For the first time, Eric looked genuinely concerned, like he just realized that things had passed the point beyond his control.

It had reached a frenzy. Some sections had broken off. Several were approaching me, murder in their eyes. Others approached the sheriff and his deputies with the same look. They wanted someone to pay, and only disagreed on who, or maybe which order.

“Listen to me!” I shouted, barely audible above the crowd’s roar. “You’re scared. You’re angry. I am too, but what’s coming is bigger than me, bigger than the sheriff.

Their tempers seemed to cool, but only slightly. At least they were still listening.

I continued. “There are monsters coming. They are as big as a house. They don’t have feelings, they don’t experience pain, and they don’t give up. The sheriff knows it’s true too. But you know something? I’ve killed them before! I know how. My team is on the way to help, but if we don’t put up a fight to buy them time to get here there won’t be anyone to stand against them, and no one left to protect.”

“Don’t listen to her nonsense!” Eric shouted, barely able to stand up straight. “Lie after lie after lie. Use your brain. You know they ain’t no such thing as big metal monsters. This woman brought a plague on this town, and now she’s using clever lies to win all you suckers over. I’ve spent my life protecting this town, and you’re going to listen to some crazy story pushed by a PanTech oppressor and a gang leader?”

The crowd seemed to falter again, completely at a loss for who to believe. Eric took quick advantage of the hesitation.

“Arrest them two!” he said. “We’re gonna hang the both of them today, and then just you watch how quick things return to normal!”

“Eric, stop this madness!” Kuros said. “We’re fightin’ each other while an enemy like nothin’ we’ve ever seen marches toward our town. Sheriff, you love this town, don’t you? Don’t you want to save it? Lead the fight yourself. Be the hero the town needs.”

An old man pointed his finger at the sheriff. “Our memories ain’t that short. The sheriff was goin’ around actin’ like a tyrant before this girl showed up, and the Red Collar Boys ain’t done nothin’ to nobody here. We hardly ever saw ‘em. That man ain’t no hero. He’s a fraud tryin’ to play king!”

Eric’s face softened again, the anger allowing the fear to creep back in. He took a step back, still holding his gun. He pointed it at the old man, then to me, then Kuros. He was losing his grasp on reality. He frantically wiped the sweat from his eyes. His lips were now taking on a bluish hue. The rings around his eyes dark as night.

“Shut up! Shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up!” he shouted, waving his gun and his hand around wildly. “I am protecting this town. I am saving this town. I’m saving it from the biggest threat its ever faced. An evil corporation and a band of outlaws. I already am the hero. I am.”

The deputies appeared to be unnerved, taken aback by Eric’s actions, growing more and more frantic by the moment. He wasn’t himself. Or, perhaps he was more himself than he’d ever been. The stress of the situation was taking its toll. No one really seemed sure of what was actually happening, aside from me. Thankfully, Kuros, Daisy, and the others had put their faith in my explanation, but they were trusting me. It was faith. The only one here who knew exactly what the virus was, had seen the machines with their own eyes, was me.

Everyone else was beside themselves with fear and uncertainty, whether they were hiding it or not. Their loved ones were getting sick and dying all around them, and now they were being told monsters were marching on their town to kill everyone who was left, until there were none. Until there was nothing.

Could I really have expected them to handle it any better than they have?

Should I have just… left this town to its fate? Moved on to the next zone to see what could be done there?

I scolded myself for having these thoughts yet again.

I knew what the right thing to do was, and I was determined to do it.

Just as I allowed myself to hope the deputies had given up on the sheriff, he shouted again.

“What are you waiting for? Get them!”

This time, they listened.