Watching from the now ruined museum, Mary observed the fighting as it spread across the city. "So this is the real world," she thought to herself, smirking. She found it hard to believe that only three years earlier, she saw this world as some sort of promised land and would have done almost anything to come to it. Now, she saw the real world as it truly was, and today she entered it not as an immigrant, but as a conqueror.
The playful gleam that once inhabited Mary's eyes had since disappeared. It died the same day the old Mary – the Mary who idolized and aspired to join the human world – died. It died when Ib and Garry killed the old Mary for having had such aspirations. It died when they showed her the truth about human nature and "friends." Now, Mary's eyes instead burned with a desire for vengeance. Like her father, she saw humanity for what it really was and scorned it as such. However, much more so than Father, her anger was directed at a very specific portion of humanity. For Mary, "humanity," referred first and foremost to the two humans who betrayed and murdered her.
Besides her stood a small pedestal, reaching no higher than her shoulder. An iridescent glass orb floated above it. It was Father, or rather how Father established his presence in the real world. Lacking a physical body, he could not directly travel through the portal per se, so instead he used this artifact as a way to project his will into the real world. Through this simple setup, Father maintained his entire command and control system.
The invasion was off to an excellent start. Father's forces had secured the area around the gallery and were rapidly fanning out through the city. Resistance so far consisted of lightly armed police officers, and their small arms fire was no match for the monsters. Sooner or later the human military would arrive and slow the advance down considerably, but by then Father's foothold would be firmly established. There was only one thing that had not gone as they would have liked: opening up the portal to the real world had somehow disrupted Father's ability to track Ib and Garry. He would have to hunt them down the old fashioned way.
A headless statue approached Mary and the altar. Ib's and Garry's location had been reconfirmed. The two of them were still in the city but appeared to be trying to flee. "Very well then," responded Father. "Ensure that they do not escape."
Mary listened to the brief exchange intently. She clutched a crinkled piece of paper in her hand with several crayon drawings on it. Making heavy use of the color red, the drawings detailed everything Mary would do to Ib and Garry once Father had his hands on them.
"We need to get out of here!"
Hastily slamming down the rough approximation of the restaurant bill on the table, Ib & Garry bolted out of the diner and ran to Garry's car. The art museum was only a mile or so from their current location. They could see several plumes of smoke starting to form and heard gunfire coming from the gallery's direction. "Of course, they only put out a bulletin after the situation is out of control," Garry muttered as he and Ib dove into the vehicle.
"There's that army base an hour's drive from here. We should be safe there!" Garry said in an urgent tone as he started up the car. The sounds of battle seemed to be coming closer. "Do you know how we'd get there, by any chance?"
"Wait!" Ib cried in alarm. "What about my parents?!"
"The route would be too risky! Guertena's monsters could cut us off and we'd be sitting ducks!"
"But, but...!" she started to reply. In a sickening moment of realization, Ib recognized that Garry was correct, and she gave in.
"Okay, I think I remember the base's rough location! We're out of here!" Garry said as they sped off. To his frustration, he found that other drivers were still following basic traffic norms despite the emerging crisis, impeding their getaway. "Come on, go! Turn already!" Ib heard him growl to himself at a stoplight. The sounds of gunfire were starting to come too close for comfort. Garry was not normally one to get impatient in traffic or experience road rage, but his sense of urgency felt more than justified given the situation. The moment the light turned green, he floored the accelerator and shot through the intersection significantly above the speed limit.
Garry turned on the car radio and set it to the local news channel. Updates on the situation flowed in, however inane or regurgitated they might have been at times:
"… The attackers, who witnesses have described as alien and surreal, are continuing to push throughout the city in what appears to be an effort to take and hold territory. Law enforcement officers have so far been unable to contain them..."
"… There is no word yet on the status of the visitors and staff of the Guertena Art Museum, but according to Police Chief Daniel Nash, this is anything but a normal hostage situation, and he has every reason to fear the worst…"
"… The mayor has called for the city's evacuation and asked for any and all assistance from neighboring towns' police forces as well as from the military. 'This is no mere shooting rampage or terrorist attack. This is an invasion of some sort,' he told reporters at hastily organized press conference…"
"… This just in, the governor has declared martial law in the area affected by the attack, while an army spokesman said that the military is mobilizing as fast as it can and will send in soldiers as soon as they are ready…"
As they approached the end of the downtown area, traffic rapidly began to build up. Other people were attempting to flee as well, and together they were clogging all the roadways out. Before long, the flow of traffic had ground to a halt. "Crap!" Garry exclaimed. The sounds of battle continued to come closer. Ib turned around and looked out the rear window. In the distance she saw inhuman figures coming towards them. In particular, a stout, three-legged monster the size of a tank was approaching. It was almost crab-like in appearance, and Ib could make out what looked like a trio of gun barrels sticking out of the monster.
Seeing that they were going nowhere, Garry stopped the car completely and closed his eyes. "Okay, don't panic, Garry. Don't panic," he said under his breath as he gathered his courage. After a moment of silence, he turned to Ib and said, "Okay, if we want to live we're going to need to go on foot! Let's go!" The two of them abandoned the car and began running.
Before they could get too far, the tripod-like monster shot what could only be described as an artillery shell of some sort at them. It landed in the middle of the traffic jam and exploded, flinging Ib and Garry onto the ground. Ears ringing from the blast, Ib slowly picked herself up off the shattered pavement and looked around. Chunks of asphalt and burnt-out cars littered the roadway. She briefly panicked when she couldn't find her rose but then remembered that she was still in the real world. Seeing that she had escaped the blast with only minor scrapes and bruises, Ib ran over to make sure Garry was okay. He had thankfully also avoided any major injuries and was getting back up onto his feet as well.
At that moment, an immense, eight-foot gargoyle landed in front of them, sending up a cloud of dust and crushed asphalt. It began to approach the pair menacingly. Terrified, Ib and Garry tried to backpedal but found themselves cornered amid the wreckage of destroyed cars. There was nowhere to run, and before long the monster was within striking distance. Releasing a fearsome roar, the gargoyle raised its claws up to smash Ib and Garry like a pair of bugs. A crude picture of two corpses appeared on the ground – one male, one female.
Suddenly, before the gargoyle could strike, a hail of heavy machine gun fire tore into the monster's stone body, cracking it to pieces. Amazed, Ib and Garry looked up and saw an attack helicopter flying in their direction. In their panicked state, they had somehow not noticed it approaching earlier. "The base's garrison!" Garry exclaimed with joy. "They're here!" A pair of fighter jets swooped down and performed a strafing run against Guertena's vanguard. In the distance Ib could see soldiers – human soldiers – approaching. The tripod monster turned to face one of its cannons at the attack helicopter, but before it could fire, the gunship shot one of its unguided 70mm rockets at it, striking it in the leg and enveloping the tripod monster in a large explosion.
Waving their arms, Ib and Garry ran over to the attack helicopter, shouting "Over here!" at the top of their lungs. The gunship appeared to notice and started to turn, but before anything else could happen, a shell shot out from the cloud of smoke where the rocket had exploded and struck the helicopter, tearing through it completely and destroying it in a ball of fire. Burning wreckage rained down onto the ground. Although badly damaged, the tripod monster had survived the gunship's rocket and had managed to line itself up for a new shot. More gargoyles landed in front of Ib and Garry, and behind them rows of headless statues advanced, bulkier than the ones from their first encounter with the Fabricated World and equipped with claws and what looked like arm-cannons.
For a moment, Ib and Garry thought they were doomed, but they then realized that the monsters were more focused on the arriving military than on them. Seizing the opportunity, the pair bolted away towards a nearby building. Several of the statues broke off and gave chase, firing their arm cannons at them. Otherworldly bullets whizzed over Ib's and Garry's heads. Right as the two of them reached the entrance, a shot grazed Garry's left arm, causing him to wince in as he ducked into the doorway. Thankfully, it was unlocked. Inside, the building seemed deserted. Spying several tables and chairs, Garry immediately pushed them in front of the door to form a makeshift barricade, buying precious time.
"Ib, do you recall any monsters like this with guns from the Fabricated World?!" Garry panted as he pushed one final chair into place. Ib shook her head. "Neither do I," he stated, "and that only freaks me out even more for some reason." He was about to say something else when the statues began pummeling the door, trying to break through the barricade. It would only be a matter of time before they succeeded. Looking around the room, Ib spotted an emergency exit in the back of the building, tucked away in a small hallway marked for restrooms. She signaled her discovery to Garry, and the two of them made their way out of the exit.
Several seconds later, the statues burst through the barricade, saw the exit their targets had escaped through, and resumed the chase. By this point, though, Ib and Garry had already turned a corner, doing whatever they could to avoid being in the statues' line of fire. For a period of time it seemed like they were beginning to lose their pursuers, but just when it looked like they had gotten away, Ib and Garry ran straight into another group of headless statues, which promptly began firing at them. Panicking, Ib and Garry ducked into an alleyway, and the pursuit began anew.
The chase continued for several, painfully long minutes. Ib and Garry found themselves increasingly out of breath. They couldn't keep going much longer and had to find a way to lose the statues. Rounding another corner, they came across a row of dumpsters and immediately knew what they had to do. Praying for there not to be anything sharp at the bottom, Garry lifted Ib into the one of the dumpsters and then clambered into it himself, shutting the lid as he did.
For a brief second, a sense of relief washed over Ib and Garry, but it quickly came to an end when they heard the sound of unnaturally heavy footsteps coming in their direction. It was the statues. Falling completely silent, Ib and Garry held their breath and listened with dread as the footsteps came closer and stopped in front of the dumpsters. There was a pause. They heard the statues open one of the nearby dumpsters, and then another. Ib and Garry dared not even breath. The pair was sure that this time it really was the end. Another moment of silence ensued.
The footsteps resumed, becoming quieter and quieter as the statues walked away. They were apparently convinced that their prey had continued running and had lost them. When she could no longer hear the statues, Ib released an immense sigh of relief, gasping for air and panting from exhaustion at the same time. Out of shape and completely out of breath, she simply wanted to curl up and pass out, but she knew that she couldn't let that happen – not again. Garry, who wasn't in a much better state, slowly opened the dumpster's lid and checked the surrounding area for monsters. The coast was clear.
Ib and Garry nonetheless remained in the dumpster for the time being, letting themselves recover. Although they were far from comfortable, the pair was at least out of sight from any new threats. To ensure that they didn't suffocate and to let in a little light, they propped the dumpster's lid open slightly with a piece of trash.
Finally, after an hour or two of waiting and hiding, they felt ready to get out. Checking again for any danger, Garry hoisted himself out of the dumpster and then helped his companion get out as well. They looked around in shock as they took in their surroundings, realizing the full scale of the situation. The place looked like a warzone; it was a warzone. The buildings bore various scars of battle, with several being damaged quite significantly. Not a living soul was in sight; they were all either dead or had to be hiding. Given the level of destruction, it was evident that Guertena's monsters had not bothered to differentiate between the military and police who actively opposed them, and the civilian population. Ib and Garry could hear the sounds of intense fighting in the distance. Judging from how far away it sounded, they could tell that the monsters had pushed the army back from where the pair initially saw them.
To get a sense of how far the monsters had pushed, Ib and Garry entered an abandoned multistory building and made their way to the top level, keeping an eye out for danger the whole way. The building had access to the roof, offering a relatively unobstructed view of the surrounding area, at least compared to what they could see from the ground. Ib and Garry saw that Guertena's forces had already seized the entire city and surrounding region. The small base at which they had hoped to seek refuge had fallen. So too had Ib's neighborhood. She could only hope that her parents had managed to evacuate in time. The flashes of explosions and the sound of artillery fire marked the current line of battle and as such the de facto border of the territory under the monsters' control.
Suddenly, an immense, transparent purple barrier of some sort appeared in the sky above them. It appeared to be emanating from a building not too far from the Guertena Art Museum. "What… What is that?" Ib asked, somewhat alarmed.
"I don't know," Garry could only reply. A few seconds later, their answer came when a fighter plane attempted to perform an airstrike on the gallery. The plane launched a missile at the museum, but the missile slammed into the purple field and exploded harmlessly. The barrier was clearly protecting Guertena's monsters from aerial attacks or bombing runs – a prudent move no doubt.
Shortly afterwards, Ib and Garry began to descend from the top of the building. As they did, they had a sickening realization: With Guertena's front lines standing between them and the safety within the military's lines, the two of them were essentially trapped in the area under the monsters' control.
(So there we go. Part of me worries that I might have given Garry too much dominance in his relationship with Ib, but I'm not sure. Regardless, I don't imagine either of them having any combat experience, so there is going to be a lot more "flight" than "fight." If you are looking to see Ib and Garry suddenly turn into action heroes who take down dozens of mooks every minute, this might not be the story for you. Finally, this is my first time in many years trying to write an action scene, so any feedback on what worked or didn't work would be greatly appreciated.)