Interrupting my ministrations, my sister asked, "Do you have any gardening tools that could be weapons?" She was always thinking one step ahead.

"Great thinking, babe," Bo said with a grin, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. "Let's go check."

As they headed off, Potbelly threw in another suggestion. "We should grab the trash can lids to use as shields or something."

"Yeah, good call," Bo acknowledged, nodding towards him as everyone started to mobilize, moving to gather what they could for whatever was coming.

I decided to join Bo and my sister in the garage to look for tools while the rest went scrounging for shields. As I headed off, I found myself thinking about Princess. When she decided to go outside with the others, there was a hint of something... I wondered if she had wanted to come with me. Why hadn't I just asked her to? Damn, why do I have to be so clueless sometimes? Next time, I’ll just ask her—but nicely. Chicks don't like to be told what to do, I think. At least my sister doesn't.

We walked through the doorway into their attached garage from the kitchen. The three of us immediately began scanning the area. There weren't any cars, so it was pretty easy to scope the whole thing out. After searching, we managed to grab a few more things: a rake and an ancient pitchfork which Bo said was an antique his mom loved. The thing looked to be in pretty good shape despite its age. It looked handy. With our two added weapons, we headed back inside.

As the three of us entered the kitchen from the garage, the others were just coming in, and man, were they worked up.

Bo must have sensed it just as I did, as he quickly asked, "What's going on?" Princess, Pimple Face, and Potbelly all spoke up at once. My sister gestured for calm and pointed for Princess to speak first.

Princess took a deep breath and said, "There's something crazy outside. There are a bunch of giant monsters out there trying to loot everything!"

Bo asked what they looked like, and the three took turns chipping in their observations, their voices tinged with awe and fear.

"They were massive," Princess started, her voice shaking a bit. "Like, really massive—towering over eight feet tall. It’s like watching a walking building that’s all muscle and fat.”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Yeah their bellies—they were huge!" Potbelly added, almost with a sense of professional respect. "They bulged out under all that muscle, like they could eat an entire house."

Pimple face, still catching his breath from the encounter, described their faces. "Man, their faces looked like they’d been through wars. Scars everywhere, and those eyes—burning like coals. And they had tusks or something; they stuck out like they were ready to gore somebody."

"They had equipment too, Princess added. "They wore this crazy armor made from all sorts of stuff. Metal, maybe bone, other bits of who knows what else, all tied together. It looked like something out of a post-apocalyptic movie. And their weapons—every single one of them had something deadly hanging off their backs."

"And despite how huge they were, they moved so smoothly," Pimple Face concluded. "Like, they were giant, but they moved like they were much smaller, you know? Scary agile."

You could hear them the whole time they were describing them—yelling about being hungry. Their voices boomed like thunder, shaking the windows. It was surreal, hearing those... creatures, the giants, clamoring for food like that.

Bo interrupted him then, "Sounds like Ogres, from D&D or something."

Pimple Face nodded his head excitedly, "of course! That’s totally what they were."

Just then, a loud crash shook the whole house, startling everyone. Pimple Face screamed, "What the shit is that?"

We all froze, then turned toward the source of the noise.

Princess was the first to react. She yelled, "They threw something at the window!"

I nodded, impressed by her quick thinking. She was getting hotter by the minute. I could see the window was shattered, but the cabinet we had shoved in front of it had held.

Bo seemed to agree with my assessment. "Good thinking moving the furniture," he said. "That might've saved us there."

"What do we do now?" Potbelly exclaimed, his voice shrill with panic.

"Maybe we should peek out there again?" I suggested.

"We can't see out the windows with the stuff covering them," my sister pointed out.

"I guess I’ll go peek at those goons then," I declared, a surge of bravery fueling my resolve.

I grabbed one of the trash can lids we had brought in to use as a makeshift shield. With the lid firmly in hand, I walked to the door to take a quick look outside. As I moved, I caught a glance at Princess; she was looking at me, her expression possibly one of attraction. Score. Don't screw this up, Chad.

I cautiously cracked the door open and immediately made direct eye contact with one of the ogres. He was exactly as they described: butt ugly but intimidating as hell. I couldn't help but relish the opportunity to confront him. I didn’t know why, but it felt like I had been waiting my whole life for this moment.

Turning back to the group, I announced with a rush of adrenaline, "One of those forkers is headed this way. I'll go cut him off."