SKY OF THUNDER (A Titan Story)

The night was bathed in a warm darkness and moonlight, the city stood bejewelled in against the black the lights twinkled in the reflection scattered across the sea, even though late and dawn only several hours away the city still had some beats of life going on in the streets, Marcus was stood at the bar of the office party which was at the Ocean View a club which was atop one of the many high-rise buildings here you could see the ocean and the whole city, Marcus hated these office parties the boss always said it helped with team building but it was an excuse for the people he didn’t like to get drunk and become the focus of water cooler gossip the next day, he took his drink and made his way through the dancing crowd of binge drinking and future regret and opened the sliding door and made his way onto the balcony closing the door behind him to help drown out the noise, he raised a glass to himself and toasted “To another great night” he gulped hard at the whiskey which burned his throat slightly “Jeez, why do I do this to myself every time?” he leaned on the railing watching the moonlight dancing across the waves when the door opened behind him, he glanced over his shoulder to see Rachel smiling at him “You look like you’re having fun” He smirked “That obvious? Why are you out here?” “Oh Henry is getting too close for comfort so I thought I could hide out here” Marcus gestured to the railing “Well pull up a railing and join me if you like?” she wandered over to him Marcus could help but look she wore a sparkling deep blue dress and smooth ebony skin and her hair straight hanging just below her shoulder line and was a black as the night she was a true beauty, she leant onto the railing alongside him “If you hate it so much why do you always come?” Marcus sighed then faced Rachel head-on “Honestly I have absolutely no idea, maybe I just want to try and be a team player” he looked back out to the city admiring the calm scene. The sliding door went again the two turned to see that their assistant manager Henry walked over to him, the sway in his walk implied that he was a bit drunk he stepped in front of Marcus and smiled at Rachel “Was wondering where you had gotten to” she winced as he spoke his breath confirmed that he was drunk “Well I bet you can use the company” he gave a smirked, Rachel rolled her eyes “Actually Henry, Marcus has been keeping me company” Henry turned to see Marcus stood behind him, he looked him up and down “Ok but don’t be too long, or you’ll give the wrong impression” he started heading back inside he looked back still smirking “I’ll save you a drink and a dance” the door slid behind him leaving the two alone Rachel cringed slightly “He’s such a creep, sorry about that I thought coming out here would get him to leave me alone” Marcus could see she was bothered “Don’t worry I don’t intend on going back inside anytime soon so stay out here as much as you like” she smiled back at him “Thanks Marcus” she too turned out to the city night life “Beautiful isn’t it?” Marcus smiled “It’s why I always come out here”.

The boardwalk was silent, the fair was closed but a few people were walking along the pier enjoying the late night, a man wearing a black jacket and flack vest along with dark grey combat trouser was wandering the boardwalk, he reached into his pocket and took out a radio “The city is quiet, where does tracking have him?” a voice crackled over the radio “Planes have lost visual of him, tracking can’t be confirmed” Walker began to look worried “Wait what do you mean you don’t have a visual? This city needs to be evacuated tracking had him 20 miles away” the voice spoke out again “Negative HQ believe he won’t appear at your location” Walker paced the pier “I don’t like it can we get anyone here for a worst-case scenario?” the radio crackled again “They will only send reinforcements if sighting is confirmed” “Copy that will report in 30 minutes” Walker cursed loudly he clicked the radio to another channel “Kit…Kit do you copy? Over” At one of the mountains that loomed over the city a large bunker and power plant was stationed about a mile and a half away, in the event of Mega-Fauna this was the city’s evacuation point with several underground hangars for civilians to take shelter, at the watchtower one member of Walker’s team was sent to the tower to activate the siren should something happen, Katerine 'Kit' Petrov answered her radio “I’m here Boss, over” Walker continued pacing the boardwalk “Kit HQ aren’t sending backup if this goes down soon you need to quick on the alarm to try and get as many people out of here as we can” Kit looked out of the window “I’m ready Boss” Walker nodded to himself “Be ready Kit” Walker put the radio back into his pocket and left the boardwalk returning to the black SUV parked close by two other men were stood next to the car one spoke first “What did they say?” Walker shook his head “They need confirmation first” Carson cursed under his breath “He was 20 miles from this location, you know how fast he can move” Carson replied, Davidson spoke after “There will be no time to evacuate if he comes” Walker looked at both of them “Then we better pray that he’s a no show” he looked out to the black clouds that filled sky “But after Gigarrah showing up in Japan a few months back…I’ve got a feeling about tonight”.

The party behind them was still in full swing, Rachel finished her drink as Marcus glanced at her “Think it’s time to re-join the party?” Rachel gave a sweet laugh and replied: “Are you ready to socialise?” He smirked and stood up from the railing “Maybe I could be bribed with a dance?” he gestured out a hand Rachel smiled and took it “I’d love to Marcus” the two walked back into the function room, Marcus led Rachel onto the dance floor and took her gently into her arms and they began to dance slowly, Rachel smiled as the music played she placed a hand on Marcus’ shoulder as they swayed slowly together to the music, Marcus smiled in return as he gazed into the dark brown of her eyes and she was truly a beauty he cleared his throat “Um Rachel?... I was wondering if you fancied getting coffee with me some time?” Rachel smiled and let out a laugh of relief “I wondered when you’d finally work up the courage to ask me out” Marcus grinned when Rachel replied with “I’d love to” they continued to dance, the lights in the room flickered, Marcus and Rachel scanned around with concern as did everyone they all looked with slight fear, when the flickering had ceased Marcus noticed through the window the lightning in the sky far out in the bay, he weaved through the crowd making his way towards the door of the balcony and slid it open stepping outside he could hear the thunder rumbling and lightning flashed.

Walker stopped the SUV quickly and climbed out he stood on the sidewalk looking at the clouds swirling in the distance and lightning streaking across the sky, he was worried there were no reports of thunderstorms for the whole week he picked up his radio “HQ…HQ this is Walker we are getting unusual weather here what’s the situation?” the radio buzzed Walker was fearful “HQ what’s the situation?!” the voice came over the radio “Target confirmed on your position” a whistling roar echoed from the clouds bringing silence to the city, the party had gathered outside on the balcony the noise had everyone chattering Rachel looked to Marcus and spoke with worry “What the hell was that?” Marcus kept his gaze out to the city, Walker was fixed to the sky when finally he saw something moving.

The clouds swirled and plumed downwards as the massive creature slowly emerged from the vaporous blackened mass enormous feathered wings swooped down carving into the clouds sweeping them like smoke, the moonlight illuminated the mixture of blues and green of the monster's fur and feathers but the creatures head was made from solid bone with jagged ridges which formed the teeth in the mouth and four small black dots on each side of the face which were photoreceptors instead of eyes, last to emerge from the clouds was the long furred covered tail which whipped around in the air, this Mega-Fauna was called Thunder Wing also known as The Sky Wyrm an aerial creature that can create electricity using the static charge of its body, it bellowed again as fighter jets swooped out from the clouds and zoomed passed Thunder Wing which began to head towards the city.

Walker took the radio and got in touch with Kit at the power station “Kit…KIT!!! Sound the alarm now!” Kit ran across the station’s control room to a power box, she opened the panel and unlocked the switch mechanism and activated the siren. Marcus couldn’t believe it he had seen footage online of Mega-Fauna but here was Thunder Wing in the flesh the group of co-workers looked startled then the air filled with the wail of the air raid siren, Marcus took hold of Rachel’s hand “We need to get out of here” he looked to the group of frightened people “Everyone we need to leave and make our way to the shelters!” they all began making their way to the stairway.

Thunder Wing roared as the four planes swept by, the lead plane was piloted by Alice Neeman she spoke to the other planes “Keep to formation and prepare for attack run hopefully concentrating on a fixed point might do some damage” the other pilots confirmed the order, the planes circled back approaching Thunder Wing’s right side the guns spun round and burst forth a barrage of bullets striking across the beast’s back causing it to shriek and bank left away from the city one of the pilots spoke “Didn’t damage it but it certainly pissed it off” Neeman replied “Keep at it, at least this gives the civilians more time to evacuate” the planes continued firing the guns, Thunder Wing turned to avoid the bullets it began to shake its body which crackled with sparks, bright orbs of light became scattered in Thunder Wing’s wake which began to wreak havoc with the instruments of all the planes, Neeman cursed “Dammit dials are going haywire!” the attack was called The Vale of Stars an electromagnetic defence that interferes with electrical equipment, the planes manoeuvred through the stars Neeman looked around “Anyone have a visual?” the pilots looked around but the flashes made visibility difficult they all replied with a negative, when suddenly Thunder Wing emerged behind the plane formation it’s bony mouth crunched open and a white arc of lightning streaked out and struck one of the planes which erupted into an explosion of fire and smoke, Neeman yelled quickly “BREAK FORMATION!” the planes spun away from the creature in different directions to avoid another attack.

Marcus and Rachel made their way down the staircase all they could hear was screams and shouting from the other people evacuating when they emerged out on the street the whole city was in chaos people running, cars were jammed in traffic, some of the fighter jets flew overhead the engines roaring loudly, Marcus and Rachel ran down the street it was long way to get to the shelter. Walker drove erratically through the city as Carson and Davidson held to the side of the SUV to steady themselves Carson spoke wearily “So what are we going to do?” Walker was keeping his view on the road and the sky he shook his head “I have no idea but with Thunder Wing close we need to get out of the city” Davidson replied “What about the civilians?” the SUV weaved passed several other cars Walker kept a lookout for any hazards “We don’t have the resources to help evacuate the city and anyone coming to help us won’t reach here in time” flashes of light came from up above everyone in the SUV looked up from their windows to see the massive creature fly passed. Thunder Wing swooped in low over the city as Neeman’s plane headed directly towards the colossal beast, it reared upwards and slammed its wings together creating a shockwave which swept across nearly half of the city with a deafening crack smaller buildings exploded into dust and rubble, glass shattered and skyscrapers toppled, the plane was clipped by the wave causing the right wing to rip away from the jet Neeman tried to keep control “I’m hit! I’m going down!” the plane plummeted in between the buildings Neeman tried to avoid hitting anything the street ahead was long enough to crash land, she pushed down on the joystick bringing the jet down onto the tarmac with a crash and a screeched as the jet slid along the road however she didn’t notice the black SUV approaching her, Carson pointed and yelled “SHIT! LOOK OUT!!!” the SUV was clipped by the plane which caused it to flip over and crash onto the street as the plane collided with a storefront kicking up dust and glass, part of the city had been wiped off the map as fires began to burn anyone who had been caught in the path of the shockwave in buildings and the streets would not have survived.

Walker crawled out of the driver’s side window which had shattered scattering glass across the road; dust churned and screams from people trying to flee echoed all around him as he got to his feet and slumped against the overturned SUV he glanced around to see that the night was bathed in an orange glow from fires in the surrounding neighbourhood the direction the plane came down the street was now blocked by a semi collapsed high rise, to get to the shelter they would have to take another route, the last two fighter jets did a fly by the guns fired and Thunder Wing roared Walker turned back to the car and looked to the passenger seats to check on Carson and Davidson, Carson was out cold Walker grabbed hold of him firmly by the shoulders and pulled him out of the car dragging him away to the side of the road “Carson? Carson can you hear me?!” Walker slapped him gently on the cheek repeatedly Carson came to wincing with pain “What the hell happened?” Walker saw the storefront crash “I think we were hit by a plane” from a distance behind them a voice spoke out “Hey are you guys ok?!” Walker turned back to see a man and a woman heading towards them they looked rather smartly dressed, Marcus crouched down next to Walker and looked at Carson “Is there anything we can do to help?” Walker replied “Yes can you two stay with him, there’s someone else in the SUV” Marcus and Rachel nodded as Walker ran back to the car; he crouched and clambered into the passenger side to check on Davidson he called out “Davidson? Are you ok?” he got closer but noticed that Davidson was dead, his neck was broken from the force of the crash Walker checked for a pulse but there was nothing Walker cursed “Goddammit!” he took out the radio “HQ Davidson is dead” the voice from HQ crackled to life from the speaker “I’m sorry Walker” Walker was agitated “Yeah you tell that to his family” he turned off the radio and climbed back out of the car and stood upright he slammed his fist on the side of the SUV in anger, Rachel called out concerned “Is everything ok?” Walker couldn’t find the words his anger had tight hold of his speech he tried to calm himself when he saw the crash jet plane and the smoke billowing from now exposed window he looked to Marcus and Rachel “Keep an eye on him I’ll going to check the crash for a survivor” he ran over to the plane and clambered up the side of it and looked into the cockpit which had the acrylic shattered and saw the pilot was unconscious, Walker reached in and undid the pilot’s helmet which revealed a streak of blood running down her face, Walker tapped on her cheek “Hey, hey can you hear me?” he tried shaking her gently by the shoulder.

Alice regained consciousness with a start, her head throbbed and buzzed she then realised that she could hear a man’s voice “Hey are you ok?” she looked to her left to see a man looming over her he had a look of concern as he repeated his question “Are you ok?” she regained some of her senses and looked back at the man and replied “Uh…yeah…yeah, I’m ok what the hell happened?” Walker spoke again “Your plane was hit by the shockwave, you’re lucky to be alive” Alice fumbled on the buckles of the seat straps which unclipped freeing her from the pilot seat Walker reached out a hand “Come on I’ve got you” she grabbed his arm firmly as Walker pulled her out of the cockpit and helped her down onto the ground “So what’s your name?” Walker asked she replied “Alice…Alice Neeman, Captain of Echo Squadron, what’s yours?” Walker replied back “Karl Walker MFD Agent” Alice looked at Walker “MFD? Didn’t know you guys were stationed here” Walker paused for a moment “We’re not, we were here just in case Thunder Wing changed course, there was four in my team but there’s only three now” Alice spoke sincerely “I’m sorry my guys aren’t faring much better” Walker began to lead Alice into the street when Thunder Wing swooped overhead with the other fighter jets in pursuit Walker spoke “Looks like your guys are faring better than you think” Alice let out a laugh “It’s not the first time we’ve tackled with Mega-Fauna before, last time was The Nomad about a year ago” Walker replied “The Nomad? I thought he was contained in Nevada?” Alice nodded “He was but he escapes now and again but luckily being harmless we just help push him in the right direction” she hobbled along the road to the others who were still waiting, Rachel walked over to Walker and Alice “Here I’ll help, you can check on Carson” Walker nodded as Rachel took Alice’s arm around her shoulders and put her other arm around Alice’s waist, Walker knelt down by Carson who was now sat up on the road “How you feeling? You able to walk?” Carson nodded “Yeah sore but I can manage” Walker patted him on the shoulder “Good man” He stood upright looking to Marcus and Rachel “Thank you for your help, I didn’t even ask for your names” Marcus rubbed the back of his neck “No problem we were happy to help, I’m Marcus Brody and this is Rachel Okonjo” Rachel waved in reply, Alice spoke, “So Walker what’s the plan?” Walker looked to the sky “Only priority is to get out of the city and to the shelters in the mountains” Marcus spoke, “Could we use a vehicle?” Walker nodded “If we can find a working car we can get the shelter” Rachel helped Alice sit next to Carson “I’ll stay with them if you two want to find a transport” Walker nodded again “Alright Marcus come with me and we will be back soon” Walker and Marcus headed towards the scattered cars to find an abandoned car.

Walker saw police officers trying to help members of the public get out of the city, Marcus searched a couple of cars that had been left whilst working cars were turning back to find another way passed the road blockage, he came across a silver people carrier with the driver door left open Marcus leaned in and saw that the key was still in the ignition he looked over the hood of the car and shouted over to Walker “Walker! Over here!” Marcus climbed into the driver’s seat and took hold of the key as Walker came over and stood next to the driver’s seat, Marcus turned the key and the engine roared into life both cheered with relief Walker got into the passenger side and they drove back to the others.

Rachel was on the sidewalk sat next to Alice who looked at her and noticed she was nervous Alice spoke calmingly “Are you ok?” Rachel shifted her posture “It’s just the situation, stuck in a city with a massive creature destroying everything” Alice put a hand on her knee “It will be ok, I know we are a bit broken but Walker, Carson and myself we’ve handle this kind of situation before we’ll get to the shelters” Rachel let out a sigh “This was not how I thought that this night was going to go” Alice looked curiously Rachel continued “Marcus asked me out on a date, then all this happened” Alice nodded “Thunder Wing is quite a mood killer” Rachel and Alice laughed as the silver people carrier pulled up near them, Marcus and Walker got out and walked over to the others as Walker indicated to the car “Ok let get going” Rachel stood up and helped Alice to her feet then helped her to get over to the car and into one of the passenger seats, Walker and Marcus picked up Carson when several loud explosions boomed from somewhere close by followed by another roar from Thunder Wing Walker looked to the sky “We better hurry, I’ll drive” Marcus nodded as they put Carson next to Alice and Rachel on the passenger seats then Walker got behind the wheel and took his radio out “Kit? Kit are you there?” Kit’s voice came from the speaker “I heard about Davidson thank god you guys are alright? Where are you?” Walker replied “Bit beat up but found some evacuees we are heading to the shelter now” Kit looked out the window to the city “You better hurry Thunder Wing is levelling over half the city” Walker nodded “Copy that we’ll be there soon” he put the radio away as Marcus got into the front passenger seat Walker looked to everyone then to the overturned SUV where Davidson’s body was still inside Carson called to Walker “Walker we will come back for him, but we need to go” Walker paused for a moment then took a deep sigh “Right let’s get the hell out of here” the car reversed backwards then turned away from the blocked street and headed down to find another route.

The car was driving cautiously down the street with people still running about the city trying to find ways to escape or find a safe place, Walker watched all the people and the emergency services and shook his head “We could have had more time to get people out” Carson replied “This isn’t your fault Walker, we’ve done all that we could” what Carson said didn’t make Walker feel any better his suspicion was correct about Thunder Wing but MFD HQ did nothing to prep the city until it was too late this was really grating on him they usually had better preparations for Mega-Fauna activity, Gigarrah was problem enough with his unpredictability they didn’t need that problem with Mega-Fauna that they could keep track of, the car turned left at a junction and passed by multiple destroyed buildings swerving between rubble and cars which was slightly dangerous with the street lights only illuminating parts of the road after another left they turned onto another large main road as they drove down there was several loud bangs mixed with gunfire followed by the remaining fighter jets which flew overhead as the planes broke away there was a rumbling growl Thunder Wing was close by, Alice looked from the window to see Thunder Wing behind them reared up in the sky with the massive feathered wings slowly flapping to keep him hovering Alice stared at the creature with concern “What the hell is he doing?” Thunder Wing roared loudly sparks flickered out from the fur of its body; Walker looked in the side view mirror and could see Thunder Wing charging up “OH SHIT!” Walker knew what was coming he quickly changed the gear and hit the accelerator hard he barked to the others “Hang on tight!” the car sped down the road as large columns of lightning began to rain down throughout the city, the lightning slammed into the ground cratering the roads and pathways evacuees tried to find cover from the attack but buildings were not safe one skyscraper was struck twice and was cleaved into two the top half collapsing onto the fleeing crowd, Walker turned the wheel hard to avoid one of the lightning strikes “Shit!” he yelled as another strike hit too close, the group at the back of the car held on tightly onto anything as the car shook from the impact but Walker managed to keep control as more and more bolts of lightning struck around them, after a moment the lightning finally ceased and Thunder Wing shrieked and continued its dogfight against the two remaining planes, what had occurred Walker had seen once before a few years ago it was Thunder Wing’s most powerful electrical attack, it was known as The Pillars of Light.

They finally got clear of the city and were heading up the mountain pass towards the power station and the shelters, they joined into the convoy of vehicles and people walking on foot who had managed to escape the city in time, Walker relaxed slightly but no one spoke they just sat in silence as the power station finally came into view they were finally safe.

The group walked into the shelter were guards showed them the way to rest up with food and water Marcus and Rachel sat on a fold-up bed as a couple of military officials took Carson and Alice to medical to treat their injuries, Walker stood looking at Marcus, Rachel they looked tired but relieved to finally be safe he walked over to them placing a hand on Marcus’ shoulder “You guys get plenty of rest, it’ll be safe here until the all-clear is given” Marcus stood up and smiled at Walker “Thank you so much for getting us out of there” Walker smirked and held out a hand which Marcus shook “No worries Marcus I’m glad I could help…take care you two” Rachel waved goodbye “Take care Walker” Walker bid farewell and made his way towards medical.

At the medical bay Carson was being bandaged by one of the medics Walker stood next to him “You better recover quickly Carson my team is useless without you” Carson laughed “Don’t worry I’ll be ready for the field in days” The medic turned quickly “Make that week’s Agent Carson” Carson sighed but shrugged in agreement Walker spoke “Get some rest Carson, I’m going to check on Kit” he gave Carson a nod and made his way to the control room. At the control room, Walker arrived and met up with Kit “So Kit what is the count?” Kit was silent for a moment Walker repeated himself with curiosity “Kit…what was the count?” She took a deep sigh and finally spoke “The final count is that the shelters are at 47% capacity…overall” Walker’s heart skipped he stepped back a few steps processing the numbers, the words finally crept out of his throat “That’s not even half of the city’s population” he stormed out of the control room to a service lift that leads to an open ridge on the mountain. Marcus found an emergency kit and took out a blanket and a water bottle, he found Rachel and wandered over to her unfurling the blanket he caringly draped it across her shoulders and held out the water bottle “Here you need to drink something” she took the bottle and smiled “Thank you Marcus” he sat down next to her both of them felt like they could sleep for a week Marcus laughed “Well so much for that drink date” Rachel took hold of Marcus’ hand and smiled “I think we can take a rain check but we’ve survived something horrible I think we’ve proven our relationship” Marcus smiled in return “Well how about coffee and a long sleep then” Rachel laughed as well “Now that sounds like a perfect date right now” Marcus leaned in and kissed Rachel on the lips as she gently caressed his cheek both were happy at such a bleak moment but they had each other to get through such a dark time.

The lift doors slid open and Walker slowly stepped outside he cautiously approached the edge of the ridge that overlooked the city Walker was pained by the sight that lay before him as the air raid siren continued to blare out, in the distance Thunder Wing circled the ruins of the city it shrieked that piercing roar as it weaved the smoke pillars climbing from the fires, it could have been avoided there could’ve been more time to get more people to evacuate, all Walker could do was stand there anger burning deep in his chest and watch as Thunder Wing gradually swept up into the sky disappearing into the clouds leaving the gloom in his wake.

END