The gentle sunshine of the early afternoon later gave way to an uncomfortably hot evening which had left Anzu with no desire to do much. It was simply too hot and stuffy in her room to even try and be productive. She sat in her room for several lazy hours, her mother constantly checking on her, fussing and worrying over Anzu's wellbeing, did she need drinks, ice, a fan? Her mother was not subtle at showing her affection, even when Anzu politely declined, she'd still come in with drinks on trays, just to make sure. She was always worrying about Anzu's whereabouts and wellbeing whenever she was out of her sight, it could get overbearing at times, but Anzu never complained, her mother only wanted what was best for her.

As she sat idly in the summer heat, Anzu thought about what she might do with the rest of her holidays, the book shelves before her were an option, maybe she could change the display again? She'd spend a lot of time so far in the holidays sitting around during the hot days, thinking about her surroundings as she sat idly, everything was mostly quiet, Anzu only ever speaking with her parents, she liked it this way, although occasionally she'd hear a group of friends pass by her window, or the sounds of work colleagues meeting each other on the street, and Anzu's thoughts would turn to more sorrowful emotions . She'd often think about the friends she might have had if she'd had a normal life, what would that girl be doing right now, not being confined inside her room. Her loneliness could strike her hard and often, even whilst reading a favourite book she might be torn out of her immersion by the heavy feeling of loneliness, and then she would close the book and gently cry. It couldn't be helped, Anzu had been the one behind distancing herself from her class mates. She had always felt alienated, not by any active effort against her, but simply by the circumstances, and she'd isolated herself away as a result. She'd had friends in her own year before, but her movement to the year below had left them out of touch, and eventually, they too had faded away.

She reasoned with herself, trying to gently nurse her wounded feelings and convince herself there wasn't much chance to make friends in her free time, she spent most of her time indoors, in her room, reading. Nor was there much chance at school, where she would sit apart from her class mates, even then reading a book during lunchtimes and other break times. No one bothered her, there wasn't anyone like that, but she still felt a slight barrier between them all, so she would keep herself preoccupied with her own entertainment, living out a lonely school life. Luckily, the book review had kept her occupied today, and such thoughts hadn't crept into her mind that day.

She looked up at the clock, 9pm already. Almost time for bed. She made a mental note to look at the shelf layout, maybe she'd make it tomorrow's activity to change it around. It would be a nice freshening of the room. The interesting possibility planted in her head, she slipped on her pyjamas and made her way to the bathroom to brush her teeth before bed.

It felt like only a few hours later that Anzu was rudely awakened. Ripped from sleep, her disorientation was multiplied by the screeching of the warning sirens shouting over each other from all around. The shrill sound instantly instilled a sense of panic, and she blindly fumbled around the desk beside her bed for the switch at the base of her lamp. Her fingers closed over it, and her surroundings were gently lit, the lamp facing way from her and giving some time for her eyes to acclimatise. Still groggy, she was alert enough to feel the feeling of denial in her stomach, this couldn't be happening, surely the sirens weren't what she thought they were. She had of course been privy to the rumours in her class about the events happening all the world. They had captured the interest of everyone, not just the schoolchildren. natural disasters striking frequently and in great power all across the globe in freak weather patterns, but no one who'd ever told these stories had truly expected to see it affect their own livelihood, Anzu shook her head with denial, again she refused to believe that this could possibly be happening,she didn't want to acknowledge the possability that something was coming to destroy her home, her precious book collection and the warmth she knew everyday.

She was caught off-guard when her mother burst into the room and turned on the room lights without a warning, blinding Anzu. She raised her arm to cover her eyes, once again disorientated. Squeezing her eyes shut, her only thoughts were invaded by the wail of the sirens, the unyielding din filling Anzu with fear. When her sight finally began to recover, she looked around the room in short, rapid movements, still squinting a little. Her eyes fixed on a blurry shape who must have been her mother, frantically pulling several piles of clothes out of Anzu's drawers, Anzu had never quite seen her mother in such a state of panic, she was always worrying and fussing over Anzu's hair or dress, but never anything as serious as the urgency with which she moved now.

"Mother?" Anzu asked slowly, her thoughts still jumbled.

"what's going on?" It was an empty question, she knew exactly what the sirens meant, she simply refused to accept it.

Her mother stopped abruptly in the middle of all that she was doing to rush to Anzu's side and reassure her.

"There's nothing to worry about."

"How are you feeling, are you okay?" she asked, her brow creased in worry.

Anzu nodded, although afraid, seeing her mother panicking filled her with the desire to act calm to reassure her.

Anzu's mother was the spitting image of her daughter, though she'd lost some of the lustre of her blonde hair in later years and had sacrificed the long flowing hair of her youth for a much more practical ponytail. She looked incredibly weary, bags under her eyes and her hair hastily tied up.

"I'm okay" Anzu smiled reassuringly.

Her mother put one of Anzu's regular dresses on the top of the drawers, it was a plain green one, with a few small buttons sewn around the neck, she then added mittens, a scarf, a thick coat, and hat for good measure. The pile looked incredibly uncomfortable to Anzu, stirring thoughts about how hot it had been earlier, it was still uncomfortably stuffy now, and yet her mother had got these warm clothes out for her to wear.

"It's still hot outside." Anzu gently brought up, remembering how hot it had been the previous afternoon.

"It's going to get colder," her mother explained "I don't want you being uncomfortable if we have to stay at the shelter for a long time." despite her earlier frantic activity, she was clearly trying very hard to force herself to talk in a calm manner towards Anzu, who was pained to see her mother in such a state.

So, it really was the case that a tsunami was coming, no false alarms or drills. Widespread destruction was coming, and all Anzu's material possessions, the books she loved more than anything else, would be destroyed, gone forever. Anzu's stomach tightened further.

"Anzu, put these on, your father is waiting for us downstairs."

Her mother turned to leave, but stopped at the frame of the door.

"Will you need any help?"

"I can dress myself, mother." Anzu answered politely, she felt awkward being asked the question, given the sudden state of upheaval however, she could understand if her mother might be worrying heavily, even to the point of ridiculous.

Her mother gave a small nod, her head disappearing from behind the door.

Anzu rubbed the sleep from her eyes, still struggling to recover from the sudden brightness of her surroundings. It was hard to think over the feeling of deep seated terror, a clawing feeling in her stomach that she wanted to run away from. She just wanted to curl up and hide under her sheets. Surely, she'd wake up in the morning to everything being alright, the events had just been a bad dream. Yet she forced herself to get up and go to the drawers, guiding herself with cautious touches of her surroundings. The heat she felt prickling her skin left her averse to wearing the coat, so she slung it over her arm to carry with her.

She began to close the door, yet paused half way to think on what she was leaving behind, despite her situation, she couldn't help taking another look back into the room, noticing the slight bend of a book cover, the small corner of dust that she'd neglected to clean last time she'd sorted...

She slammed the door shut.

She walked downstairs, where her parents were waiting anxiously, her father's face was strained, but he smiled wearily at Anzu as she came down the stairs. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, tired.

"Shall we go then?" he asked quietly, Anzu barely catching it.

Stepping outside, Anzu could see the great bustle of activity as many people making their way up to the shelter in a great migration, passing under the street lamps in a great procession of noise. She looked at her mother, her eyes unintentionally wide, she couldn't help it, she was completely terrified, the huge crowd of people terrified her.

She smiled at her, giving Anzu a small sense of reassurance to help her combat the fear.

"Will we be okay?" she dared to ask in a small voice, her resolve to show calm had been broken, the size of the crowd and the reality of the incoming waves intimidating her.

"We'll all be fine, Anzu." her father reassured her, equally quiet, Anzu was surprised to hear him speaking to her.

"Let's walk together so you can stay close to us." her mother added, her voice full of worry, she held out her hand.

Anzu held the outstretched hand as tightly as she could, maybe others who saw her might think she was being childish, but at that moment she was grateful for the warmth of her mother's hand, a reminder that there was a reassuring adult presence nearby to help her get through the upheaval that had come to them so suddenly.

"It's quite the distance, isn't it?" Her father mused, breaking the silence that was between them, Anzu had been focused on keeping as quiet as possible so not to impose anything, whilst the whole time her father kept making idle chatter, talking to her about how tough it was walking this far, how many people there were, why the evacuation point was so far, a constant stream of small talk, it was awkward to hear the words, her father had gradually drifted away from her, they never knew what to say to each other, both avid readers, it should have been a simple gap to bridge, but Anzu's romance novels were no doubt unknown territory to him, likewise, his books of science and history held no interest to Anzu, sometimes she would read about a history situation in one of her novels, and they would be able to share a few short exchanges about it, but otherwise they had kept to themselves. To hear him trying to overcome the barrier between them calmed Anzu's heart a little, although he was talking to no one in particular, the constant stream of words took her back to a happier time, back when she'd first been learning to read.

Her father's study, a wild and uncharted region of old books and untraceable paperwork, a great series of mysterious documents that only her father really seemed to understand where everything was. The whole room smelled of printer ink. Dust idly floated in the room, lightly tickling the nose. Anzu remembered the evenings spent sat on her father's lap, going through books together.

"Can you read this sentence for me Anzu?" her father would challenge her, and Anzu would fiercely rise to the challenge

"The…cat…" she would struggle, tracing the words with her finger

"very good, the cat, do you know this word?"

"e-expla-i-ned."

"almost, it's ai, not i, expl-ai-ned, let's try again."

"The cat explained, can you say that for me?"

"The cat expl..ai..ned."

"Good girl."

"Let's move onto the next sentence, shall we?"

He glanced up at the clock on the wall

"Ah, looks like we missed your bedtime again, let's finish today by reading this page."

Remembering the scene gave Anzu a sense of warmth in her chest, they were happy days, helping to further calm her nerves.

"You look happy Anzu, did you remember something good?" her father asked offhandedly, distracted by the rising voices that were spreading through the crowd and gaining traction as the alarm came towards them, people turning their heads to the sky.

"Look up!" an indistinct voice in the crowd yelled.

Shocked murmurs arose from those around them as more people turned their faces to look up into the sky. The widespread confusion and noise such a massive group of people creative instilled fear back into Anzu's heart, which had begun to calm down, once more terrified, she dared to look up.

There, falling from the sky, came a myriad of white blobs, growing larger as they approached the earth, quietening, the crowd turned from shock of the unknown to a quiet and passive observation, standing and watching as the objects fell from the sky. As they grew larger, one of them turned towards the crowd during free fall. The formerly featureless object revealed a mouth as it opened, exposing rows of sharp teeth.

Some faces amongst the crowd continued to look on at the phenomenon with trepidation and curiosity, several members began taking pictures on their phones, looking skyward with a sense of wonder. The white objects were drawing closer now, more of them following from the sky in a rapid descent.

Now others in the crowd began moving away from the scene, faster now, down the route they had originally being taking to the shelter, Anzu's father grabbed her free hand and the three of them began to move away from the falling objects, moving at a brisk walk, Anzu could tell he was trying to keep his composition in front of his daughter, the three of them walking under the street lights together, calm yet quickly. The objects they had seen falling from the sky in great numbers, the speed of their walk, and the frantic activity of Anzu's fully alert brain were the only obstacles that prevented this from being a scenic night time stroll.

They had only reached the end of the street when the silence of the crowd behind them was broken by an outbreak of screaming and cries of terror, the sounds of the air buffering off a large creature soaring above the heads of the crowd as one of the white objects passed overhead, level with the roofs of the surrounding houses, as the crowd turned to look at it, shock and horror grasped them, the white teeth were stained red with the blood of prey, tendrils of gore and sinew hung from the creatures jaws, which constantly opened and closed in a mechanical matter as it flew over their heads

Any semblance of order finally broke as people snapped out of the paralysis of fear that had struck them upon seeing the white creature, they began scrambling to escape somewhere, as far away as possible from the street they were stood on. Anzu's parents were no exception, taking off running with their daughter from the creatures that were still descending from the sky. They ran at full pace down the road, Anzu having difficulties keeping up, the slip-on shoes she was wearing weren't designed for running, nor was her constitution strong enough for even these short distances. She soon stopped abruptly, unable to take it any longer, her breathing was heavy and ragged, straining to inhale enough to quickly recover and get away.

Her parents had no choice to slow down and let her recover. The people that had been behind them observing the monsters were now catching up, rapidly sweeping by as they rushed to their destination, wherever they imagined was safe, they bodied their way past Anzu and her family, all courtesies lost as they strove to escape, pushing and shoving each other in their mad scramble. Anzu, caught up in the tide as they passed by, felt her grasp weaken on her parent's hands as they struggled to stay together amidst the crowd.

She felt herself lose control of her direction, she was suddenly thrown backwards and unable to stop herself from falling. She had lost her grasp on her parents' hands, finally landing uncomfortably on the asphalt on her backside, those passing by gave her only the barest acknowledgement, and Anzu made unsteady progress trying to extricate herself from the people passing by, shakily trying to stand up before being pushed back down again as someone passed in their haste to get away. Someone stepped on her hand, causing pain to shoot through her arm, as she tried to rise yet another time, she felt a hand grab her by the back of her neck and roughly pick her up, setting her back on shaky feet.

Anzu tried to look for the individual that had grabbed her, but couldn't see anyone, nor were her parents anywhere to be found.

Anzu was alone.

She blindly stumbled along with the crowd, unable to control the direction they were heading, and barely able to keep herself from being knocked over by the others, she made frequent, frantic looks, each time feeling closer to despair, she felt the tears begin to form, hot on her cheeks as she realised that no matter how hard she was looked she couldn't seem to find them.

Where was her mother?

Where was her father?

Her body shook. Cold and lonely. She wanted her parents, but the crowd gave her no time for respite, she continued to be dragged along in their wake.

Anzu soon lost track of time amongst the escaping crowd. She had no idea when she'd been able to extricate herself from the crowd, but when it cleared Anzu found herself at the foot of some steps. The crowd had completely disappeared now, and she stood alone, unsure of where she was and how she had ended up here, had she left the crowd and wandered on her own? Her sleep deprived brain was struggling to recall the journey, how far had they gone?

Her parents.

She had to find them, she turned back towards the town, from the view below her she could tell it was the outskirts, where the last few houses stood before the trees started, climbing the steep mountains that began here. The town below was a scene of devastation, crumpled buildings brusquely smashed apart by the white creatures below, which drifted lazily through the sky above in great swarms, a cluster occasionally descending below, as if diving for prey.

The destruction appalled Anzu, she looked on with shock at the ruins below, it left her paralysed, unable to act, she couldn't help but imagine the worst, her fevered mind thinking up the worst-case scenario, her parents gone, torn apart by the creatures below, she collapsed to her knees in the street, exhausted as the events of the day caught up with her, she curled into a ball, pressing her face into her knees and sobbing quietly, far too tired to do anything else.

She stayed there, sobbing, until she felt something else stirring in her. Despite the despair and defeat that haunted her, she began to feel a new, small sense of resolve within. It was indescribable as to its origin, but her tears eventually stopped, and she shakily got to her feet, wiping her eyes with her sleeve. There was a nagging feeling inside her, a mysterious pull that was drawing her attention to whatever was at the top of the stairs behind her , although she didn't know what was drawing her to her destination, the courage that had suddenly imbued her moved Anzu's legs determinately, with great concentration, she moved with shaky steps, one after the other, right foot, left foot, up the stairs towards the copse of trees at the top. Her path was dimly lit by thin lanterns hanging from the trees that lined the staircase.

Reaching the top, she looked at her surroundings, in the centre of the gathering of trees was a small shrine, removed from the rest of the town, too small to ever be visited for festivals or New Years, it would have been largely ignored by the rest of society, but right now, with the white monsters lurking outside, it seemed like one of the safest places. Anzu shivered, her mother had been right, it had grown colder, and yet Anzu had lost the coat that had been on her arm amongst the turmoil of the crowd. Despite everything that she had seen outside, she could feel a sense of peace here, of surroundings yet untouched by the devastation.

Anzu didn't stop, she was drawn towards the small shrine itself. There, enshrined within, lay an old wooden repeating crossbow, aged by the years. Gently placing her hand on it, she felt the courage within her grow, the tiny sense of resolve she had felt before was larger now, no doubt her parents were out there waiting for her. With some trepidation, wary of the potential weight, she picked up the crossbow, it was surprisingly light, and Anzu had no difficulty holding it, despite her slim figure. She cradled the crossbow, feeling a little tougher now that she held it.

There was a quiet rustle of leaves, shortly followed by the crashing of branches as several large objects appeared. Bursting into the clearing came three of the predators, large as cars. Anzu stepped back, pressing herself against the shrine to attempt to shrink herself down into as small a shape as she could manage. Whatever small courage she may have discovered when she picked up the crossbow, whatever resolve she had, vanished before being the white creatures, they were no longer as unblemished as they had been when they had fallen from the sky, covered now in rubble and plaster, blood and gore. Anzu could not bear it, these creatures before her had torn through everything in their path, focused only on destruction. It was impossible, there was no way she could fight these monsters, armed with just a single crossbow.

Once more, she felt the embrace of despair and defeat creeping in. As the monsters drew closer, Anzu tried to press herself further against the shrine.

"Somebody help me… please..." She whispered in her head. She didn't want to die.

"Over here huhhh!?" came a yell, much to Anzu's surprise, there was someone else here, what were they doing? Did they want to die as well?

"Run away!" Anzu thought, frustrated with the newcomer, yet too scared to raise her voice.

The white creature which had been immediately in front of her crumpled under the impact of a thrown object, which struck the side of the creature with great force, it let out a bizarre cry as it faded away into nothingness, Anzu watched with wide eyes, fascinated.

Running over, the person who had just arrived retrieved the object off the ground, Anzu could see now it was a shield, the new girl was smaller than Anzu. She was wearing outdoor clothes, like a hiker, her brown hair was tied up in two ponytails, as she stood in front of Anzu, staring down the remaining monsters, she gave off an aura of immense courage.

Someone had come to rescue her, like a prince from a fairy tale.