Kyla woke up to Josh gently shaking her shoulder. "Hey. It's six. We need to get to the station."
She sat up, disoriented for a moment before reality crashed back. Today was the day. The attack was coming. She'd slept in her clothes on Josh's couch, and her neck was stiff from the awkward position.
"Coffee?" Josh offered, holding out a mug.
"You're a lifesaver." Kyla took the coffee gratefully. "Did you sleep at all?"
"A little. Kept having nightmares about ice monsters." Josh looked tired but determined. "Ready to save the city?"
"Not even close. Let's do it anyway."
At the station, the atmosphere was tense. Officers moved with purpose, checking equipment and reviewing assignments. Chen was in the command center, coordinating with all the defense points via radio and computer screens showing live feeds from each location.
"Martinez, Reeves." Chen waved them over. "You're assigned to the harbor weak point. Dr. Walsh will be there with her team, and you'll have Stevens and six other officers for support. That's where the Herald appeared, so we're expecting heavy activity."
"Understood," Kyla said, her stomach churning with anxiety.
"One more thing." Chen pulled them aside, lowering his voice. "If things go bad—if the creatures overwhelm our defenses—I want you two to fall back. Get civilians to safety. Don't be heroes."
"Sir, we're not going to abandon—" Josh started.
"That's an order, Reeves. You two have already done more than anyone could ask. If this goes sideways, I need you alive to help rebuild." Chen's expression softened slightly. "You're good cops. The city needs you. Understand?"
"Yes, sir," they said, though Kyla knew neither of them would retreat if people needed help.
By eight AM, they were at the harbor. The setup looked like something from a war movie. Industrial heaters formed a perimeter around the dock where the weak point was located. Flame units were positioned at strategic intervals, manned by officers in fireproof gear. Dr. Walsh had set up a command station with monitoring equipment, tracking the dimensional energy levels.
"Current reading is stable," she reported. "But according to the Herald's timeline, we should expect activity to begin around 11:47—the same time they tried to open the portal at City Hall."
"Three and a half hours," Josh said, checking his watch. "Great. Just enough time to get really nervous."
Stevens walked over, carrying two flame units. "Figured you two would want these. They're fully loaded and tested. Just aim away from friendlies."
"Thanks, Stevens." Kyla took the unit, feeling its weight. The tank was heavy but manageable, and the trigger mechanism was simple. Point and shoot. Easy, right?
The morning dragged by with agonizing slowness. They did equipment checks, ran through procedures, and waited. Other officers tried to make small talk, but everyone was too nervous for real conversation. The harbor was eerily quiet, with all civilian traffic cleared out. Just water, docks, and the distant sound of the city going about its morning, unaware of what was coming.
Around eleven, Kyla noticed the temperature starting to drop. It was subtle at first—just a chill in the air despite the summer heat. But within minutes, she could see her breath.
"Energy spike!" Dr. Walsh called out. "It's starting!"
Everyone moved to their positions. Kyla and Josh stood near the center of the defense perimeter, flame units ready. The water in the harbor was starting to freeze, ice spreading out from the weak point in geometric patterns that looked unnatural.
"Here we go," Josh muttered.
The ice cracked with a sound like thunder. And through the opening, they came.
Not three creatures this time. Dozens.
They poured out of the weak point like water from a broken dam—ice creatures of all sizes, some massive like the ones from the restaurant, others smaller and faster. They climbed onto the docks, their hollow eyes scanning for targets, their clawed hands reaching.
"FIRE!" Stevens shouted.
The harbor erupted in flames. Officers opened up with the flame units, streams of burning chemical hitting the creatures. The industrial heaters had already weakened them, and the flames finished the job. Creatures shrieked and melted, their bodies collapsing into steaming puddles.
But more kept coming.
Kyla fired her flame unit at a creature charging directly at her. The fire caught it in the chest, and it went down screaming. But two more took its place. She adjusted her aim, sweeping the flames in an arc that caught both creatures.
Beside her, Josh was doing the same, his movements calm and precise despite the chaos. "There's too many!" he shouted over the roar of flames and shrieking creatures.
He was right. For every creature they destroyed, three more emerged from the weak point. The defensive line was holding, but barely. Officers were falling back, their flame units running low on fuel.
"We need to close the weak point!" Dr. Walsh yelled, working frantically at her equipment. "If we can generate a counter-resonance—"
A massive creature, larger than any they'd seen before, burst through the weak point. It was at least twelve feet tall, with arms as thick as tree trunks. It roared, and the sound made Kyla's bones ache with cold.
"Big one!" Stevens warned. "Focus fire!"
Four officers turned their flame units on the massive creature. It slowed but didn't stop, pushing through the flames like they were nothing more than an annoyance. Its ice body was thicker, denser, more resistant.
"It's adapting!" Dr. Walsh confirmed what they could all see. "Just like I feared—they're evolving resistance to heat!"
The massive creature backhanded an officer, sending him flying into a stack of crates. It kept coming, heading straight for Dr. Walsh's equipment station.
"Protect the doctor!" Chen's voice crackled over the radio from the command center. "Don't let them destroy the equipment!"
Kyla and Josh moved to intercept. They fired simultaneously, their flames converging on the creature's legs. It stumbled but caught itself, turning its hollow eyes toward them. For a moment, Kyla felt like it recognized them—like it knew they were the ones who'd closed the portal.
Then it charged.
"Move!" Josh shoved Kyla to the side as the creature's fist came down where she'd been standing. The dock shattered under the impact, wood splintering and flying everywhere.
Kyla rolled, coming up with her flame unit ready. But the fuel gauge was reading low—maybe thirty seconds of burn time left. "Josh! We're almost empty!"
"I know!" Josh was backing away from the creature, firing short bursts to conserve fuel. "We need a plan!"
The creature advanced on them, ignoring the flames now like they were nothing. Behind it, Kyla could see the battle was turning bad. More large creatures were emerging, and the officers were running out of fuel. The defensive line was collapsing.
They were going to lose.
Then Kyla remembered something Dr. Walsh had said during their research. The creatures needed water to maintain their forms. They were drawing moisture from the air, from the harbor, constantly replenishing themselves.
"The water!" she shouted to Josh. "We need to cut them off from the water source!"
"How?!"
Kyla looked at the massive creature bearing down on them, then at the dock beneath their feet. The dock that was suspended over water. The dock that was old and probably not structurally sound after that massive hit.
"Josh, trust me!" She fired the last of her fuel at the section of dock between them and the creature. The wood ignited, flames spreading fast across the dried, weathered planks.
"Kyla, what are you—"
"Jump!"
She grabbed Josh's hand and they leaped off the dock just as the burning section collapsed. The massive creature, caught mid-charge, fell through the hole with a thunderous splash.
Kyla and Josh hit the water hard. It was freezing—literally freezing, with chunks of ice floating everywhere. The cold shocked the air from her lungs, and for a terrifying moment, she couldn't tell which way was up.
Then Josh's hand found hers, pulling her toward the surface. They broke through gasping, swimming toward an intact section of dock. Stevens and another officer pulled them out, both of them shivering violently.
"That was insane!" Stevens said. "But look!"
The massive creature was thrashing in the water, but something was wrong with it. Its body was breaking apart, dissolving. The salt water was reacting with its ice structure, causing it to destabilize.
"Salt water!" Kyla realized, teeth chattering. "They can't handle salt water!"
Dr. Walsh heard this over the radio. "Of course! Salt lowers the freezing point—it's why we use it on icy roads! The creatures' bodies can't maintain cohesion in salt water!"
"Then let's give them a bath!" Josh grabbed a fire hose that the firefighters had brought. "Everyone, hoses! Drive them into the water!"
The strategy shifted immediately. Instead of trying to burn the creatures, they used the hoses to push them off the docks. Every creature that hit the salt water began dissolving, their icy bodies breaking down. The smaller ones went first, melting into nothing. The larger ones took longer but still succumbed eventually.
Within twenty minutes, the tide of the battle had turned. Creatures were fleeing back through the weak point rather than face the water. The officers pressed the advantage, driving the remaining creatures back.
"The weak point is closing!" Dr. Walsh announced. "The dimensional energy is dropping!"
Sure enough, the crack in reality was getting smaller. The ice on the water was melting. The creatures' invasion route was sealing itself.
But then Kyla heard something that made her blood run cold. Chen's voice over the radio, panicked in a way she'd never heard before.
"All units! We've got a massive breach at Riverside Park! Hundreds of creatures! The defenses are being overwhelmed! We need backup now!"
Kyla and Josh looked at each other, still dripping wet and shivering, exhausted from the fight. But there were people at that park. Families who hadn't evacuated in time. Children.
"Let's go," Kyla said, grabbing a fresh flame unit.
"We're in no condition—" Stevens started.
"People are dying," Josh cut him off, also grabbing equipment. "We go."
They ran for the police cruiser, Chen's voice still crackling over the radio with updates. The situation at Riverside Park was dire. The creatures had overwhelmed the defenses in minutes, and now they were spreading into the surrounding neighborhoods.
The drive took eight minutes that felt like hours. As they got closer, Kyla could see smoke rising from the park area. People were running in the streets, screaming. And through the chaos, she could see them—ice creatures everywhere, smashing windows, flipping cars, attacking anyone in their path.
"There!" Josh pointed to a group of civilians trapped in a corner store, creatures trying to break through the glass.
They screeched to a halt and jumped out, flame units ready. Kyla fired at the nearest creature, taking satisfaction in watching it melt. Josh took out two more, clearing a path to the store.
"Get out! Run!" Kyla yelled to the people inside. They fled, and she and Josh provided cover, burning any creature that got too close.
But there were so many. For every one they destroyed, two more appeared. And her fuel gauge was dropping fast again.
"This is bad," Josh said, voicing what they were both thinking. "We can't hold them all off."
A scream cut through the chaos. Kyla turned to see a little girl, maybe six years old, standing frozen in the middle of the street. Her parents were nowhere in sight. And three ice creatures were advancing on her.
Kyla ran. She didn't think, just acted. Her legs burned from exhaustion, her wet clothes weighed her down, but she pushed forward. She reached the girl just as the nearest creature swung its claws.
She raised the flame unit and fired. The creature melted, but her fuel ran out mid-stream. The other two creatures kept coming.
Josh was there a second later, his own flames driving them back. "Get her out of here!"
Kyla scooped up the little girl and ran, Josh covering their retreat. Behind them, more officers were arriving—reinforcements from the harbor and other weak points where the battles had ended. Fresh flame units, fresh fighters.
The tide was turning again.
Chen's voice came over the radio, slightly less panicked. "All weak points are closed! I repeat, all weak points are closed! Focus on cleanup and evacuation!"
It took another hour to clear all the creatures from the park and surrounding area. By the time the last one fell, Kyla was sitting on the curb, too exhausted to stand. The little girl she'd saved was with her parents now, safe. Around her, officers were doing the same—sitting, catching their breath, trying to process what they'd just survived.
Josh collapsed next to her. "We did it."
"We did it," Kyla agreed. Then she started laughing—not because anything was funny, but because they were alive. Despite everything, they were alive.
Josh joined in, and soon they were both laughing like idiots while the city burned around them.
"You two need medical attention," a paramedic said, approaching them. "You're both showing signs of hypothermia, and you've got cuts and bruises everywhere."
"We're fine," Kyla said, though she was definitely not fine.
"You're going to the hospital," Chen said, appearing behind the paramedic. His voice left no room for argument. "Both of you. That's an order."
Too tired to argue, Kyla let herself be helped into an ambulance. Josh was loaded in next to her. As the doors closed and they pulled away from the chaos, Kyla looked at him.
"We kept our promise," she said. "Both of us walked away."
"Barely," Josh pointed out. "But yeah. We did."
They held hands the whole ride to the hospital, neither wanting to let go. They'd survived an army of ice monsters, saved countless lives, and proven that two rookie cops could make a real difference.
But as Kyla started to drift off, exhaustion finally winning, she heard the paramedic talking on the radio. Something about reports coming in from other cities. Creatures appearing in Boston, Seattle, Portland.
The invasion wasn't over.
It was just beginning.
End of Chapter 16