The day was hot, the sky was bare, and Kabir desperately tried to keep his hands from trembling.

"Where's the kid," Kabir urged as he propped himself up to look over the top of the trench. He screwed his eyes and peered through the minor whirlwind of sand that blocked his view of the terrain, anxiously searching for any hint of movement. "He's supposed to be back by now."

"Don't tell me you're scared of a few Titans, sir," Ali sneered, a small smirk plastered on his face. "I never would have thought a bunch of oversized dolls would get you so rattled." Ali eyed Kabir from the corner of his eye. He leaned against the trench with his hands loosely clasped behind his head. He had abandoned his army jacket hours ago and lounged about like it was a normal summer's day.

Kabir rolled his eyes at the young man. Kabir was old, and had seen his fair share of war. He wasn't going to allow a boy, who'd probably never even seen a pint of blood, get a rise out of him.

"Titans should scare you, boy," he said. "You're a fool if they don't."

"Am I?" Ali asked smoothly. "They're just a bunch of mindless beasts. It shouldn't take much to just shoot one of 'em down."

"Ah. So you've never actually seen a Titan." Kabir scoffed. Glancing to his right, Kabir saw Ali's face scrunch up and felt his eyes burn a hole into the side of his own. "I should have known. No one who's actually seen one would be acting the way you do."

"And you have?" The boy tried to challenge, and salvage what was left of his pride.

"Yes, actually. Me and Omar both have," Kabir said as he gestured to the short man that crouched next to him to his left, who had his head bent down as he tried to avoid being dragged into another one of his squad mate's arguments. Seeing that he had no choice, Omar let out a deep sigh and relented.

"Yea, I've seen them." Omar muttered. His eyes empty as he stared up at the sky. "They're...demented things, really. Titans." His grip tightened around the butt of his rifle and a storm gathered in his eyes. "And they're not easy to kill," Omar said pointedly. Casting a firm glare Ali's way, mercifully letting up only when Ali seemed to crumple in on himself. Shifting his attention back towards the desert, Omar leaned his weary head against his rifle. "One gun shot can't take them down. A boatload of grenades can't either. We tried."

"Then what can?" Ali asked, sitting up, his interest piqued. "I heard the artillery's have been working pretty well against Titans."

"Only to slow them down long enough for us to escape." Omar paused. His voice getting even quieter. "Or, most of us anyways."

Omar had been one of the first to join the war effort the second Marley declared war. His parents held high seats in the government, and were very outspoken against Marley's desire to expand its borders. It only makes sense that Omar would take up his parent's cause. He didn't act like a solider, though. He was always well dressed, proper, and seemed like he'd be be better suited for government, but nevertheless, no one could fire a round like Omar, and it didn't take long for the General to pick up on his talent. He was often shoved to the forefront of the grimier battles. The hard won fights, and the ones where there are barely any survivors. Don't know how he does it, but Omar always managed to come out of those battles alive. The rest of the troops call him a lucky bastard. Kabir prefers call it the devil's luck.

"But you survive," Ali said. No doubt trying to bring some hope to our hopeless situation. "That ought to count for something."

"I barely escape with my life," Omar paused and took a large swig of water, "and more than half the camp usually don't." He added bitterly.

A heavy silence descended upon the group as the sun reached its peak in the sky. The wind started to blow harsher and harsher whipping the desert sand back and forth until the formerly calm landscape began to resemble an impending desert storm. Kabir was thankful for the distraction, however. Talks of Titans always created tension in the air, but thankfully, a pair of light fluttering footsteps broke the growing uneasy quiet.

"General says there's still no sign of 'em," Kabir heard behind him. "But we're to stay put and on high alert for now." Abdul, a fresh recruit, crouched down next to Omar. His wide eyes scanned the three men, analyzing the silence between them. "Did I miss something?"

"Just more of Ali running his mouth," Kabir grumbled.

"So nothing unusual," Omar mumbled tiredly.

"Hey!" Ali shot to his feet like he'd been burned. Abdul smiled apologetically at Ali as he kicked the sand went on a tirade about getting no respect.

"We're all just tired," Abdul interrupted. I think it would be best if we just focused on the mission."

"Fine by m-" Kabir began. But a violent flash of yellow cut him off mid sentence.

After a moment of silence, suddenly a burst of lightning struck the ground, and Kabir's heart stopped in his chest. For a second, he couldn't even breathe. The blast shook the ground and tossed the four men onto their backwards. Scrambling to his feet, Kabir and swallowed curses as he saw three more golden lightning strikes in the distance.

"Lightning! Why the hell is there lighting!" Ali screamed, grasping for his gun.

"It means-" Omar sat frozen on the ground, all color drained from his face.

"-Shifters," Abdul's voice cracked like a teenage boy's and his eyes flooded with fear.

From the fort, a single, loud trumpet echoed and vibrated. That was all Kabir needed to hear. He jumped to his feet, forgetting the stiffness in his own bones, and grabbed Omar by the collar pulling him to his feet.

"Get the kids to the Fort! And arm the artillery!" Omar didn't move a muscle his eyes glued on a gigantic womanly form that sprinted at them from within the whirlwind of sand. Her icy blue eyes fixed in their direction, and behind her, a hoard of Titans followed. Kabir grabbed Omar's chin. "Go! I'll stay with the others to try and hold them off." He shouted. Omar looked like he was about to protest, but the thought died on hid lips. Hus eyes cleared and within moments, he pulled both Ali and Abdul back towards the Fort.

Kabir frantically tried to load his gun, but as the Titans got closer and their deafening footsteps got louder and louder, he could hardly keep his footing. Kabir lost his grip on the ground when behind him, an ear-splitting stomp echoed through his ears and threw him into the air, and his vision clouded when he landed back down with a thud. Coming to, it didn't take him long to realize that a huge shadow surrounded him and felt hot breath ruffle his hair and whip through his clothes.

Shaking, but willing himself to look upwards, he eyes met cold, empty blue ones. The Shifters blonde hair filled with sand. Kabir prayed to any God that would hear him as the womanly form slowly lifted its foot overtop of him.

* * * * *

Omar didn't stop running until he was well into the Fort. Until he was sure he out as much distance between himself and the Titans as possible. Only a handful of soldiers made it inside the Fort before the General ordered it to close. The shrill cries of those who didn't reverberated around the outside if the Fort. The remaining solider's scratched and banged at the fort walls, hopelessly begging to be let in. But the door stayed shut. And their voices turned to sheer terror as the Titans reached them. The cracking of bones and tearing of flesh filled the air. But the silence that followed was much, much worse.

"We should be safe here," Omar said as he pulled Abdul and Ali behind a wall of tanks.

"B-Bu-But... Mr. Kabir," Abdul sobbed into his sleeve.

"He's dead." Ali angrily spit out. "Those fuckers killed him."

"Calm down. Both of you. We need to-" Omar started, but a faint echo of scratching nails made the words get caught in his throat.

"Who's there? Don't come any closer!" Ali called out as he cocked his gun and aimed it towards the tanks, where the scratching was getting louder and louder. "Show yourself!" Omar heard the shakiness in Ali's voice, and followed suit. His trigger finger, tense and ready. They all stopped; They listened; They waited.

Omar heard movement behind the tank, and a moment later, a small boy peeked out from behind it. His small brown eyes crawled over each of them. Oddly calm, yet he eyed the guns pointed at him suspiciously.

"Put the gun down, it's just a child," Omar said sternly. He grabbed the nose of Ali's rifle and jerked it away from the boy's head.

"Well, what the hell is a kid doing out here in the middle of a warzone!" Ali yelled but still all the tension left his body.

As the two of them argued, Abdul walked over to the boy and got on his knees. He set his gun on the ground and gave the kid a warm smile.

"It's okay. You can come out. We won't hurt you." He promised.

The boy slowly fully emerged from behind the tank. He was small, and wore a standard military uniform. His hair was covered in sand. His long face drawn into a frown and his eyes had a far away, empty look.

"What's your name? What are you doing out here? It's dangerous."

Silently, the boy took a few more steps forward, and wordlessly lifted his pointer finger up towards to sky. Blood gushed from a freshly cut wound. One last lighting bolt fell fell the sky, and the last thing Omar heard was a fierce thundery clap. The last thing Omar felt was his skin melting off his bones.