[Win – 2:20 p.m.]
The first Human Locust pulls itself over the edge like it was born from the rooftop itself.
Its eyes are gone.
But it knows us.
Bent arms, spider-like stance, twitching lips pulled back in a half-melted smile.
Then it lunges.
[2:21 p.m.]
Jack screams as it tackles him, shrieking silently.
Palm swings his baton-sword.
Misses.
FahFah hurls her whip.
CRACK!
It wraps around the Locust's neck. She yanks.
Snap.
Its body collapses, twitching.
But it's still not dead.
Kao steps in.
One clean slice.
Through the spine.
Only then does it stop.
[2:22 p.m.]
We don't get to breathe.
More crawl over the ledge — four, six, ten—
All twitching. All silent.
Jack stabs wildly.
Emily shields a screaming Namtan.
Palm yells,
"Break their joints! That's the only way!"
Lin stumbles back, dizzy.
She scratches her arm—
Blood under her nails now.
She hides it quickly.
[2:24 p.m.]
I slam my flute-shiv into a Locust's side.
Nothing.
It grabs me — its fingers dig into my shirt like claws.
Dean appears out of nowhere.
His hands.
He grips the Locust's arm and—
CRACK.
He twists the elbow backward.
Then the wrist.
Then stomps the knee in one brutal snap.
The creature spasms.
Dean grabs its neck.
CRUNCH.
Spine snapped. Done.
He lets the body fall like garbage.
[2:25 p.m.]
Everyone freezes.
Dean doesn't even blink.
Blood splattered on his face.
Breathing calm.
"I told you,"
he says.
"You don't kill them. You have to break them."
Palm stares, horrified.
FahFah looks like she's going to throw up.
I whisper,
"What are you?"
Dean doesn't answer
[2:27 p.m.]
More Locusts come.
Two grab Emily.
Lin slams into them, halberd swinging.
She cuts one across the jaw.
Breaks the other's back with the butt of her weapon.
Then winces.
Her vision blurs.
"Stay awake,"
she mutters to herself.
But her arm's trembling.
Her legs feel like glass.
[2:30 p.m.]
Namtan falls — a Locust drags her toward the edge.
Best grabs it and stabs through its spine with the trumpet-staff.
Namtan cries. "How can we even live? "
"We have to fight them,"
he growls.
"They're real. And they're multiplying."
Palm yells from the back,
"WE NEED TO RETREAT!"
"There's no where to go!"
Jack shrieks.
Dean speaks again.
"Then we have to finish them."
And he runs into the horde.
Bare hands. No hesitation.
Bones break under him.
[2:33 p.m.]
We keep fighting.
They keep coming.
We break limbs. We cut throats.
We snap spines.
But still—
Still—
They crawl.
They crawl until the rooftop looks like an ant nest.
And we're the crumbs they're devouring.
___________________________