I had this feeling for a while. Too scared to say it or it may as well be true. Now I know. They confirmed it only when I least expected it. Just how they wanted. For days I've spent in their heads knowing so confidently they didn't know I was listening. The one advantage I had, only to have it crushed right before my eyes. I should have known sooner. The tripod in New York that saw me, long before I saw it. Then the others hiding from me like ghosts. It didn't make any sense until now. That my ability to see into minds wasn't only mine. That these things. These apathetic and mysterious beings. They share the ability, too. And they weaved it into my safety net with deception. Waiting for all of my defences to crumble so they could finally strike and take the people I care for. Shiva, Riley, and Robbie. What am I to do? Just stand here and watch as all of these people scream? Do I do anything? Do these things know how scared I am? Of course they do. They're celebrating it.

Webb's bark roared so loud it threw Lilja from her state. The noises all crashed together at once, making her flinch. The scream of the tripod engine outside, the wails of the refugees, the voices of those she cared for. Shiva and Riley called her name in the darkness. Then Robbie ripped at her hand.

"Everyone! The back of the building, now!"

Robbie pulled her with Webb's orders, and gradually the entirety of their party fled with him and the soldiers to the storage area. A loud crash broke through behind them, following multiple crashes from the tripod tentacles looking for victims. There was no mechanized weaponry, no strategy. Worse yet, the tripod knew for certain they were there. There was nothing left to do but run. The chaos of almost forty individuals collided into a mob – pushing each other through to the nearest exit out the storage area. Webb led to the door, and stayed with it to make sure every person in their group ran out before he did. Shiva and Riley were the last, prying panicked eyes for Lilja and Robbie. However, the two were in the pit of refugee's and soldiers.

"Where are the kids?!" Shiva squalled to Webb.

"Go! Go!"

"No! Until I know they're not in there!"

Then Lilja's voice cried closer, "Shiva!"

Riley pulled Shiva with him and Webb at seeing Robbie and Lilja out the building standing among the fleeing refugees and soldiers. Their hands tightly weaved together in shared terror. Even so, they wouldn't leave without Shiva and Riley.

The tripod trumpet blared so loudly it was disorientating for the scrambling survivors. No order was assembled in heights of hysteria. An 'every man for himself' fight or flight. Their collective was now a fraction of what it used to be as many fled on their own. The only grim benefit was it was distracting the tripod from them. Laser beams demolished buildings and the indoor skatepark, itself. Their party pushed through the hamlet. Through stores and homes – any shelter they could find before another set of three headlights came over the town. It brought double the quake of movement and wail of engine. Double the terror to the fleeing survivors. Webb still shepherd a few refugees including Scarlet and Jack. As well as Stamos, Riley, and Robbie. Most importantly of all, Shiva and Lilja. Their party could already hear the harrowing cries of others being plucked off the ground and preyed on. The laser beam would every now and then strike a waft of dust. Surely the many Lilja had rescued in those cages were now being decimated and captured again. Any who did not stick with their group. Webb was fixed on making sure they would not join them.

They hid inside a café, but the tripods outside were making short work of the other survivors. Their intents solely on one thing. Lilja knew they had to move on.

"They're looking for me." Lilja whispered to Webb, catching a few surprised stares from the others. "We need to run."

"How do you know that?" Webb withdrew the question in an instant. Of course, she knew. The other tripod started to come around the end of town, hugging the borders with its lights to avoid any of them leaving town unnoticed.

Then Stamos hissed a whisper to them all. "There's a tunnel not far from town here. We can lose them through there."

"They'll notice us!" Riley hissed. "Shiva, can you?"

Before Shiva could think, Lilja chimed quietly, "I can." She lifted her hand to an apartment building across the street. The doors slowly started to build into a swing. Eventually their lights shined over it. As the tripod approached, it started to bend its limbs to hunch down over the apartment. A probe went inside a window. The engine whirred loudly, and exhaust pillowed from the head – giving their group the confidence to sprint from the café. They raced from Chester, listening to the tripods in town still searching. They came to a hilling, following Stamos up the plateau and towards a grove.

Then searchlights grazed passed their darting party, flicking back to focus in. The blare of the tripod call followed swiftly after. Their fragile hope of getting away unscathed shattered away in a moment.

Shiva screamed, "Fucking go!"

Their footsteps started to march to the border of town by the time Webb's party reached groves. Every foot forward from then on was a fight to survive. A claw into their lungs with every push of endurance through thick woods – hearing the behemoths behind them. A head start meant nothing against their calamity. Their height carried a stride half a yard. They could see the tunnel ahead, the tripods headlights were set over it. As if they knew that was exactly where they were going. When trees started to buckle and crack from the ground behind them, their time was surely borrowed. Any flourish ahead now were their last moments.

They're all going to die. Because of you. You were the only one who could see them. You weren't smart enough to think maybe they could see you, too? They're far smarter than you. Far stronger. Now they are going to take you, and kill your friends. And all you can do is run when you're the only one who can stop them. No. No!

They were encroaching on the tunnel in hands tightly wound and heartbeats pounding in their ears. Jack started to wail like he knew it was only a matter of time before they caught up. Then the beam ripped through the tree line just behind, following up to their party at speed. Their searchlights blinded them from above. Robbie felt Lilja slow then rip her hand back – nearly toppling him into the leaves at her resistance. Riley kept pulling him to the tunnel and tore at him against it, until he realized why.

Then suddenly, the growing laser beam path stopped, but not the sound. As if it stopped and kept at one spot. Eventually the following quake of their limbs started to clutter and stomp. Startled at first, then growing more frustrated. Their peril to reach the tunnel was stalled to the overwhelming surprise of the tripods not following, not firing. They were stuck only metres away. Their headlights so glaring above they could barely see Lilja behind. Her hands raised to the two goliaths undaunted, and every attempt they made to fire their weapon or stomp forward was pushed back by an invisible force. When the machine tried to stomp around, the force would push them right back. So, they furiously endured through Lilja's shield. Confused and vindictive. Their hunted just below their superior technology – only to be made utterly useless.

Shiva wanted to lunge her away. Scream or cry, but she knew Lilja's goal. She was giving them time to run. Setting the fate of herself uncertain and dire for the party's favour.

Webb wouldn't waste another moment in awe. "Let's go! Everyone, get to the tunnel!" He made sure to lead the rest, including Scarlet and the boy. Shiva, Riley and Robbie were hesitant. Especially when Robbie did lunge forward to try and grab Lilja. He wouldn't think about what would happen if he did. If the shield would break, giving the tripods their goal. If he'd die alongside her. He was solely focused on Lilja's efforts for their party. Her selflessness to give herself to them in order to secure their safety. He would mask it in turn. The sacrifice he wouldn't dare accept. Even if it was for the greater good, or to save his own life, he couldn't leave her. Riley pulled him back in a scuffle, breaking a ripping cry from Robbie. Against the full strength of an irate teen pumping in adrenaline and fear, Riley managed to drag him to the entrance of the tunnel.

The power was not summoned lightly. Nor was it usually in the realm of her possibilities. It was completely jarring and untouched potential. Creating a force to keep two gigantic tripods at bay was beyond anything Lilja had ever felt. As if she was holding them back with each arm. Each thrust of their power against her own was a shred in every nerve. A wallop in her head. Bringing the veins in her pale face fit to burst. Her eyes boiling in her sockets. Their intelligence was cunning and merciless. Knowing full well her capabilities would tear and crumble with enough strength. They ceased their endless and desperate maneuver around her shield and focused in on it. Shooting their laser beams against the barrier. Lilja clenched her teeth and roared through the pain. Burying into moments deep and dour to stay upright and keep the barrier flourishing.

In size she was a grain compared to them. But in power, she truly commanded their attention. The creatures inside those machines were rueful against it. They threw their entire mass into Lilja's push with as much strength as they could deliver. Lilja's face spidered with black and bruised veins as she wailed an agonized scream – taking the full brunt of force like a wall that would not relent. With each wallop was an instinctual need to release, but she could not. If she was to die, it would be from her own ability's exhaust. She would hold the shield until she couldn't anymore. With each attempt from the machines, her eyes would black and fall to near unconsciousness. The bite to give them as much time as possible was sparking enough life to wake her each time, and keep the shield cemented. Time was scarce, and soon she would fall.

Riley fought with Robbie still, pulling him into the darkness of the tunnel with Webb and the other's footsteps echoing ahead. "Damn it, Robbie! She's trying to save you!"

Robbie wasn't accepting it. His voice bellowed into the tunnel, "I don't give a shit! Who's going to save her?!"

Then Riley caught Shiva still standing ahead the tunnel, staring up to the warping chaos. Riley called to Stamos then, "Hey! Take him! Take him now!"

Stamos ran back without a second thought. Even regarding the global peril, their rank was never something to disregard or disrespect. Riley was still a lieutenant, and if the boy needed to be pulled to safety, then he would be. Stamos gripped Robbie by his coat and roughed him forward. A lot less firm than Riley, but firm enough. Riley ran back to Shiva then.

"Shiva, come on!"

She snapped back, "Go!"

"What the hell are you doing?!"

Shiva's arm was up to her chest and head bowed. The veins slowing spreading down her jawline was enough to answer Riley's question. She was doubtful it would even work. They were cunning and undoubtedly aware of Shiva and Lilja's tricks by now. But doing nothing would be leaving Lilja to her fate indifferently. She promised she'd do anything in her power to keep her safe. Anything.

"I'm getting them far enough away. Get ready to take her."

It was a trick that had been repeated time and time again. Surely the invaders were aware of it. There was a good chance they'd see it and exasperate at the lack of imagination. Go back to destroying Lilja's resolve like ruthless predators. She could barely see Lilja over the blinding light of the constant ray beams, but she could see her frame. Hunched and frail, buckling to fall face first. Yet the shield keeping the tripod length from herself fortified. She was taking all her strength – all of her being to keep the shield up. The faces of the three overlaying the fatigue. The comfort of Shiva, the guidance of Riley, and the humanity of Robbie. The three instruments of her purpose to protect. Even if that purpose was her last.

What are you to pain? Is a weapon supposed to fall to something as simple as pain?! You're no stranger to pain, Lilja. You are pain. The blood still stains your hands. Even the lives you saved to make up for it are dead because of you. Because you let yourself get comfortable. Because you let them in. Least you can do is save them. Shiva. Riley. Robbie. One last good thing to make up for so much bad. It could never make up for it. Ever. You deserve this. Monster.

One tripod turned their gaze from Lilja, then. The other followed suit. Lilja was none the wiser. She was waged in a war of endurance with herself. Letting every fabric of her ability reap her like poison. She didn't even notice when they started to charge the other way. They relinquished their tiring exploit with Lilja to seek new prey. A gaggle of terrified humans running through the tree line. Or so they perceived.

Shiva could hear them divert their attention to the mirage. She was certain it was just hopeful thinking. She loathed the tripod's bloodlust for human life. Detested their malice and unsympathetic ambition. But at this moment, she couldn't have been more grateful for all of it. It was their bloodlust that diverted them from Lilja. Their need to exterminate all human life like a compulsion. So strong it was able to pull them away from a human they specifically hunted. Lilja did not release the shield until Riley grabbed her. When he did, all the lights faded to black. She fell into his arms flaccid before he sprinted back into the tunnel with her. No time to check the heartbeat or breath. Just escape. He came up to Shiva still in her stance.

"Shiva? Shiva! Let's go! They're gone!"

"Not until they're far enough. Take her."

Riley didn't argue, despite the gnawing to grab her, too, and high tail it on a prayer. He stayed in trust with Shiva's plan. Seeing for himself many times in the Middle East and the last few days her abilities weren't to be underestimated. At this moment, they were saving all of their lives. Riley darted into deeper tunnels – almost pitch black if not the glare of Webb's flashlight ahead. It was once a railroad for transit and was passing through underground. There was no telling where the tunnel ended, and at that moment, the cover was relief. Whether the tripods would have the drive to excavate for the lives of a few wasn't certain. The beings were ruthless and thorough. The odds were still never in their favour.

As he caught up, he could hear the wailing of Jack echo. As well as Robbie's heated battling with Stamos.

"I got her!"

Riley said it aloud for Robbie to hear, hoping it would bring him relief. And surely it did – or more accurately - amazement. Robbie pushed through Stamos with a grunt and darted to Riley.

"Is she alive? Riley? Riley! Is she alive?"

"I don't know."

Robbie's voice raged then, "What're you talking about?! You don't know? Check!"

"Just… hold on!"

They reached deep enough in the tunnels to feel safe. Safe enough to at least breathe and find their bearings. Riley laid Lilja down on the gravel by the rails, Robbie knelt to her other side. He had already laid his hand on her chest and panicked. "She's not breathing!"

"Stop! Just wait!" Riley snapped, feeling into her neck for a pulse. Lilja had been leeched of blood. Bruised around her eyes as if she received a wallop in each one. The veins spread to her face and neck still there and swollen. Some even bursted under her skin and starting to bruise. Webb came over after making sure Scarlet and the boy were alright. When he did, Riley sighed a bout of air. "She's alive. There's a pulse but it's… faint."

"Faint?" Robbie asked sullenly, "What do we do? Do we…"

"We don't do anything." Riley stated grimly, "We just wait. Last two times she woke up on her own. All we can do is hope she does it again."

"Where's Shiva?" Webb asked in a low gruff, still settling his breath.

Riley replied, "Getting them away from the tunnel. She'll catch up…" Riley finally had time to dourly observe the scarce number of survivors they had left. "This is us, now, huh?"

Two refugees, a middle aged man and a younger woman. Scarlet and Jack. Stamos and three soldiers from Scouts 84, including O'Malley. Robbie, Webb, and the three of them. Twelve to their previous thirty. Likely that the others were captured or dead. Another bite of sadness knowing they were meant to protect them.

Footsteps lazily ran up from the darkness, greeting Shiva. She was sweated and fatigued, her eyes bloodshot. "They're definitely pissed and coming back."

"How deep does this tunnel go?" Riley asked aloud, hoping someone had an answer. No one did.

Webb raised a fair statement, "It doesn't go farther than a mile. It can't. I wouldn't be surprised if they forgo digging and wait outside the exit. They may even block us in."

Scarlet asked weakly as she consoled Jack, "What do we do, General?"

"It's too hot now to keep moving. Without Lilja, we can't risk being caught by surprise. At least she can let us know if they're out there. I say we stay put. Wait it out."

O'Malley sat to the edge of the tunnel and sighed, "Like sitting ducks." Stamos took a seat next to him, both accepting the stagnancy. Even so, they waited on Webb's orders. Riley would obey for a time, but he knew they couldn't stay there for long. His worry was too fixed on Lilja to dwell on it for long.

The woman, Darla, looked like she was plucked straight from her office job and put in a war zone. An unkempt blazer and pencil skirt. Torn blouse. And ashy blonde hair that was barely keeping in her hair tie. She stated timidly as she pulled a small first aid kit from her purse, "I have smelling salts. Would that… help wake her?"

"No," affirmed Shiva. "Even if they did, she needs this time to rest and recharge. Each time she falls, she wakes up stronger. We want a fighting chance, we need to let her sleep."

The man, an older man, was a roughneck sort. Scruff down to his neck, messy greyish black hair and a plaid button up and denim jeans. "Now that's it's just us. You gonna tell us what in the hell she is? We deserve to know."

Riley was almost set back by that. "You deserve to know?"

"If you want us to keep on trusting, we need to know."

Darla added, "I agree. What happened out there? How did she do that?"

Stamos and O'Malley wouldn't show it, but discreetly were listening in for the answer. As was Scarlet with a silent Jack in her arms. Robbie glanced to Shiva and Riley. He already knew most of it. He was mostly curious if they would answer it.

Shiva said it plainly, "She's human. Just like all of us."

"That didn't look human to me." The man grumbled.

There was a string of silence. The occasional rumble of tripods above ground, but not much else. Then Webb spoke, abruptly and confident. "She's a psionic. As is Shiva. As of now, they are the only two we have knowledge of. Certainly now."

"What is a psionic?" Darla asked in a fleck of disturbance.

"Telepathy, telekinesis, perception bending, to name a few."

O'Malley asked, "Like… Stephen King?"

"Sure. He wasn't way off. Lilja was engineered in a laboratory in Russia. The United States seized her when we had the chance. Her abilities can range from reading minds, psychokinesis – like moving things with her mind, to keep it in simplest terms. Shiva was… born with it naturally. We don't exactly know how, it's possible it was from a paternal mutation or perhaps something else. She can make us see whatever she wants. Hallucinations vivid enough they feel real. They came with our former unit to help in the tripod threat. Shiva would distract, Lilja would disarm the shield, giving us the opportunity to fire. It was like that for a short time… but eventually these things caught onto it. Now we're here. Using their abilities simply to survive. When we thought they'd be used to avenge…"

Stamos was most disturbed, but he had seen her abilities for himself on the hill. O'Malley exasperated, "Jesus… are ghosts real, too?"

Shiva replied wryly, "More than likely."

"Our weapons and devices failed. Lilja and Shiva were our last resort. Their existence was meant to be secret from public knowledge but… when the invasion began we were desperate. Seems even that wasn't good enough…" glowered Webb, wiping the relinquished sweat off his brow.

Lilja suddenly moaned in pain, shuffling her feet through rocks. She winced and groaned, bringing her hands to her head.

"Lil?!" Shiva exclaimed, "Thank God… Hey, kiddo. You hear me?"

She opened her eyes in a grimace before it slowly curdled to a confused scowl. Her eyes glanced to Shiva but her glare stayed. So much so it confused Shiva and Riley.

"You alright?"

Robbie helped her off her back and kept her sitting up as she slowly gathered consciousness. Lilja was awake in full. Having listened to their conversations for some time before she finally had the strength to get up. There wasn't a fleck of anything else but anger in her face. For a girl that barely showed emotion, it was daunting.

"I got them distracted long enough Riley pulled you away. We'll be holding up here for a few hours." Shiva explained, trying to find a reason to why Lilja was upset. "You okay?"

Lilja curved a glare her way, a silent and begrudging answer. The other refugees stayed quiet not out of respect or thought. But fear. They gradually went to corners for rest. To address the mortality of danger. To loathe their situations.

Lilja pushed away from Robbie and Shiva, pulling herself to the wall of the tunnel before muttering, "Leave me alone."

"Right, then. Ya'll heard her." Riley added, "Let her be."

Robbie was a bit reluctant to do so, but Lilja's avoidance was obvious. Overstepping the equivalent to taunting a bear. He went to sit with Shiva and Riley, not able to control the constant glances of worry her way from across the tunnel.

Webb was less considerate. "You need to tell me how many are out there and what they're doing. It's possible they're waiting for us. Possible they're about to blast through the tunnel. We need to be…"

"No." Lilja's flat reply left him without words for a moment.

Webb finally growled. "Why?"

"I will not look in their heads again."

Webb was about to battle, but considering Lilja's anger and the display of her malice especially in anger, he reserved a more subtle approach. "Okay. It puts all of us at risk. So, can I at least ask why?"

"Because they found me that way. All of you. There's a reason I can see them so clearly. They do it, too. With each other. Every time I looked for them, it was a beacon. All they had to do was watch silently and plan. Wait for my guard down and they would strike. They did."

Webb furrowed his brow. He contemplated it, and if Lilja knew it to be true, then it was. Another advantage of theirs surely wasted away. He asked, "You let your guard down?"

She didn't return an answer right away. She snuck a discreet glance to Robbie from across the tunnel. She let her voice quake into a sullen whisper. "Never again."

A few hours came and went, the throttles of earth above had finally died down. The scarce air in the tunnel was finally starting to overwhelm. Webb knew it would be an hour or more before his flashlight died, then they'd be left in darkness. He gave them one more hour to rest, then surely it was time to leave.

Lilja's solitude was compressing her worse than the density in the air. The failures stacked up and contemplated now that there was nothing in her head. No minds to read, no faces to follow and words to distract. What a glaring realization she favoured staying in other people's minds to avoid her own. Now there was no choice. They were left to twelve and she was certain she could not save them. She could not save the others. The crowds at Hudson Ferry. The refugees and soldiers at Whistler Valley. The lives she saved did not make up for the lives she lost. Lives she stole. Each scream and crack of bone in the Russian lab coming back like a punch. Throwing her back into the insatiable need to hurt. Shuddering in the knowing it wasn't scary or sad. It felt freeing. Good. Maybe because I have always been the monster.

"Lilja?"

Robbie's voice struck her from her state. No nerves or giddiness from his approach now. In fact, she was annoyed. Even so, she wouldn't show it. "What do you need?"

Robbie sat with her then. Harbouring their own seclusion in the tunnel. "I don't… need anything. Just want to make sure you're okay." She didn't reply, she kept her head down to her knees. "Are you okay?"

"No." Her flat reply was cold.

Robbie was still so soft and consoling. No intentions or agendas behind any of it. He was genuine in his worry. "Why? Are you still hurt?"

"I am fine."

"Then what's bothering you?"

"I can't talk about it with you," she stated. He was far too innocent and benign to trouble himself. He wouldn't understand. All he was at this point was a reminder of everything she wasn't. A distraction.

"Try me," he muttered, "I'm sure it can't be worse than anything else going on."

"You don't know that," said Lilja darkly. "You don't know me."

"I…" Robbie struggled for words. "You're right, I don't. I want to know you. I like you, from what I know so far. I like you a lot."

Any other time, hearing that from Robbie's mouth would have leapt Lilja's heart in her throat. Made her a statue without a pulse. Too excited to move or breathe. Now it was only shattering her far worse. She whispered weakly, "What is there to like about me?"

Robbie scoffed a smile, "You kidding? You're… brave, you're caring. You don't speak with words but you speak with action, and it's says so much more than you know. You're the strongest person I've ever met. I mean… you're basically a superhero. You are. You saved us today. There isn't a single reason why I wouldn't like you."

Lilja could feel small tears swell in her eyes from a rip in her gut. All the lovely things he said falling dead in her truth. He was right, he did not know her. "You're wrong."

"How am I wrong?"

He is important to me. Very important. A piece that wants to set in your life and stay. Will you protect him from yourself, Lilja? What if he knew the truth? Would he still think so much of me? Would I still be the hero in his story?

Lilja didn't ask, she didn't give him time to refuse. She turned her gaze to him and glared into his eyes for sometime. Then she raised her hand to his cheek. He took it, waiting, hoping, for tenderness. But it was something far different. Robbie's face flushed white. Veins spread faster with a wallop in his head much stronger than last time. This time it wasn't his memories. It was her own.

With every flicker turned Robbie's surprised and vacant glare to horror. The bones snapping of each doctor, nurse and soldier in the laboratory heard like he was there. The blood cooling the soles of her feet like they were his own. The stone and plaster crumbling, silencing their desperate cries into nothing. The smell, the horrible smell of cooked flesh from sparking electric cords constricting around bodies. The uncontainable rage she felt. The disturbance of a five year old girl who wanted to feel better. Worse still, she did. She did.

Robbie ripped her hand away in a panicked gasp. He threw himself back from her, taking time to fully understand she just showed him a part of her life. Her memory. The worst of them all. Robbie didn't want to believe it. Maybe she was just scaring him. Maybe she wasn't showing the full story. Her cold and unfeeling glare said otherwise. Lilja didn't have to read into his mind to see his paralysis. The first bout of denial before he'd run the other way. If he wasn't then, certainly he was now. Just like everyone else. For the first time she expected it. She deserved to be feared. Even by him.

Lilja fought the tears. Practicing a skill she had known her entire life since after that day. To not feel. She was no stranger to pain. But she'd numb herself to not feel this. His eyes shook into her own. She finally raised even though she knew the answer.

"Do you still like me?"