Emanuelâs POV
There she stood. A new, fresh and horrifying brand of Giantess. I wondered if the wall could withstand a Colossal like that. Or better yet: how this would end for us. Most of us would vouch a quick death right there, as a stain under one of their feet, than to be taken with them. You would either end up at their camp for all to enjoy, sold off for their own profit to slaver caravaners or taken with them personally as a spoil of war, back to their homelands.
The same could be said for the other party that left to secure the central line. My friend Vinson was there together with the Party leader Rick, and the rest of them. They managed to make contact with us and the artillery regiment for a few seconds and warned about an ambush. And just at that moment I heard cannon fire in the far distance. That meant that whoever was attacking them had managed to break through the turrets into the three-mile line of range for the artillery.
âHow unfortunate for you to be sent outside. It shows the desperation youâre all in. The last hideout for all you little humans. Like fish in a barrel, waiting for us to pluck you out, and counting the days until the walls fall and my horde enters.â
Her voice was loud and echoed hundreds of yards across. We were surrounded in a chain circle of Titans with at the center this âColossalâ.
âWho are you?!â My friend Felman, usually the uncaring about life one, shouted.
None of the others would dare to say anything. I couldnât even reach for my walkie-talkie in that frozen state. But he seemingly wasnât as scared as the rest of us.
âTell General Marsh that Amanda Heuvels is coming for him and everyone he seeks to protect. Tell him that I will personally make certain of your fall, and that there is no way to run.â
The Colossal looked behind her.
âThat is, if one of you makes it back. My platoon will let you return, but the same cannot be said for my other soldiers.â
She pointed at the distance in front of us, as a group of about a dozen Titans was walking about in group formation.
âA good timing for the patrols to arrive. Lieutenant, tell the patrol each of them will receive ten of the Australian POWs for every one of these humans here they bring to me.â
The âlieutenantâ, the same Titan who addressed us before the Colossal, emerged.
âYes maâam.â She replied.
All the titans walked away, and the lieutenant went to the patrol group that happened to pass by in the far distance.
We wasted no time. Most of us didnât even pick up the guns we tossed to the ground. Marcius grabbed me by right arm and pushed me onward.
âQuickly! We need to get to the safe line and contact the watchmen!â He shouted.
âHey, Emanuel! Contact the watchmen that we need fire support!â Someone yelled.
I quickly uncovered my walkie-talkie and tried to reach a signal as we ran past the first trees. I clicked on the signal button and received a static noise. I looked over my shoulder and noticed movement. Fast movement. To add to that, the closer the silhouettes came, the more apparent the sound of running footsteps and the vibrations from the ground became.
The rushing footsteps sounded like 2.000kg lead weights falling on the ground from above in the far distance. They were coming with aspiration at our direction. Half of their group went straight for us; the other half cut in a circle behind us and ran to the other side to attempt a flanking.
I hit the button again â again static. We were sweating and running with everything we had, trying to at least make it past the turrets that could provide us with cover fire. Two people â whom I did not know by name â were in front of the entire group. Me and a large number of others behind them and a few dangerously lagging behind.
âHave you gotten through to them?!â Maurice shouted.
I clicked again. At last we heard a voice.
âIs this team Beta?!â
I recognized the central artillery regimentâs officer Kentâs voice. The voice was covered by static noise and loud cannon fire and shouting. I could hear orders being given, presumably where and when exactly to shoot.
âWhat is your status, team Beta?â He asked.
âWeâre being cornered by a group of titans on your north-east, we need artillery support!â I shouted.
The officer gave some orders and returned to us, shouting all his words to make it reasonably understandable.
âOur mortar and cannons are busy fending of thirty of them against team Alpha! Iâll try and set three cannons and a watchman on your position, but youâll have to keep them off of you for a minute!â
Felman tapped me on my shoulder and pointed to our left. A few Titans slowed down their sprint and carefully moved to the center. I realized they were trying to surround us.
âI know of a bunker nearby where we can take shelter!â
Some girl in the center right next to me announced.
âWhere?!â I shouted.
Then with the speed of a jaguar, a Titan from the right sprinted right through the center, only yards away from me. She bended down while running, and scooped the two men in front of the dirt in a mere second, as she disappeared into the other side of the forest. The ginormous hand struck so close that the wind of the movement blew me and the others back.
I looked up at the exact spot where the two soldiers ran, and saw only large and deep fingerprint lines in the dirt with a sunken footprint in front of it. We stood up and heard the Titans all around us. Some in the distance, some close enough to hear mumbling through the distant cannon shots. Smoke and fire arose from above the trees, and the cannon fire reduced.
âThe first turret is right around the corner!â I yelled as we stood up.
I could already hear its motors and gears. Then it appeared. The metal casing, its four inches thick and two foot long barrel. Suddenly three Titans came out from behind the cluster to catch us.
âDuck!â
We duck and covered as the turret detected the three approaching Giantesses and started to fire bullets the size of half an arm at ferocious speed. As the bullets pierced through the titanium skin of the attackers they fell down and tried to run or crawl out of the line of fire. Two managed to get away â severely injured â and one trampled down and became a bullet sponge for the turret until she lay dead in her own blood.
I had never seen one of these turrets in action â as it was a very recent creation â and hadnât thought of it as such an efficient weapon. The Giantesses who stayed hidden were shocked as well. They stared at the machine that took down two and killed one of their kin.
âLetâs go!â Felman screamed as we still had the element of surprise on our side and we dispatched through the trees.
The turret noticed movement behind the trees and we heard it firing as the Giantesses were chasing us again. I tried to make contact with the watchmen but no one answered the call. I cursed and looked around. We were still running in a group with me and Marcius at the front with eleven other soldiers behind us.
I felt absolutely awful and knew our chances got smaller with every Giantess who appeared as long as we werenât helped by artillery. A Giantess jumped out from behind the trees and snatched a woman who lagged behind. We didnât even turn to see it.
Then another came out. She hadnât the intention to scoop one of us from the ground; she purposely cut right through the formation as she ran right through our center. We all flew back and I landed against a tree. The dust blew away and all I was left to see was a ginormous footprint with a man lying critically injured at the center. He moaned with pain but didnât otherwise move.
The Giantesses slowly emerged out of their hiding spots. All wore simple leathery clothing as protection and a few were armed with simple melee weapons. I looked at my fellow soldiers who had all been blown back too. We sat motionless as we realized there was without a doubt nowhere to run too. Four of the Titans gathered around the footprint and looked down at the coughing and (now that he saw the 100 foot tall monsters gathering above him) crying injured man.
âI told you not to run through them!â
One of them exclaimed at another Giantess standing there â the same one that crushed that man with her bare left foot.
âWell the idiot froze up and I caught him under my sole. Think he can survive?â
The other three titans sighed and moved away from the powerless man, except for the perpetrator, who was obviously unsettled by her blunder.
âHow many are there left? Minus the dead guyâ
The âdead guyâ, still not dead, would simply be left to die in a pool of blood with a broken body.
âTwelve, I think.â One said.
âAnd fourteen when you count the two I just captured.â
She opened her hand and revealed the two men crawled up in the mud-filled hand.
âWhat the hell?! Theyâre bleeding, Catharine!â
By that time we had, like when we were cornered by Amanda Heuvel and her own regiment, been circled by the Giantesses. We all sat there waiting for anything to happen. The two men in the palm of her hand, barely conscious, were covered in dirt. One of them had a head wound and the other one was bleeding quite severely from out of his mouth. From the looks of it the first guyâs head bumped against his mouth which caused a lip- and or teeth injury.
âWe are talking about twelve humans per capture, remember? They cannot die.â
Another said when the titan was taken aback by the sight of blood on her hands.
âGive them here and I will keep them safe.â
An Indian (angry and annoyed) woman picked up the man with the head injury, and lifted him onto her tong. I was immediately struck aback and felt my heart beating at incredible speed. I span my head around and saw the Titans looking at their prey with lust. The Indian Giantess pushed the man slowly in as he tried to climb out and then pulled her tong back in. She took a deep breath and swallowed the man whole.
I gasped and hyperventilated. I had never witnessed anything this gruesome, my imagination only filled by horror stories of the human-hungry mutants. The others were dealing with the same symptoms of shock; both mentally and physically. We were not soldiers at that moment. We were animals seeing someone eaten alive by the giants who prey on our very kind. Cornered by trees, clusters and human-hungry predators who looked at each and every one of us in the same way the Giantess treated the man: as prey.
I remembered at that moment about what lieutenant said. That âsmall special operation regiments like ours had very low survival ratesâ. All of them, I realized, ended up similarly to our situation. Marcius, whom I realized, sat close to me, started to hyperventilate and cry, as a Titan set her foot next to him, hardly noticing him, as she looked down at the humans that they were to deliver for the grand price.
Then my walkie-talkie went off: âWeâve set the location. Keep them there for another sixty secondsâ came out of it.
My heart skipped a beat once I heard Officer Kentâs voice. I looked nervously around me to see if any of the titans noticed it. But none of them had noticed it. The Giantess rubbed her belly as he entered her tummy. As she went back to the other man, who still sat in the womanâs hand that had harmed them, another one snatched her target before the titan could even touch him.
âI remember the last time you âconservedâ a human. He came out three weeks later as a dump from the other end.â
A pretty milky-white and blond titan snarled at her and placed the kicking man in her mouth and closed it. The Indian rushed over to her with the attempt to force her mouth open to steal the man from her. But the blond Giantess blocked- and pushed her away.
âDamnit. You know that was an accident! I was starving and forgot about him!â The Indian Titan said.
With her mouth full, the blond woman shrugged her shoulders and swallowed the defenseless man. To add insult to injury she remarked: âHmm they do taste good, donât they?â And followed it up by giving her fellow soldier a quirky smile and burping needlessly hard.
âLetâs just get on with it.â A German accented Giantess said, and picked up a female soldier who sat right between her feet.
She, too, placed her into her mouth and, while the womanâs screams went up completely against deaf ears, she swallowed her whole. Then they all went for it; I saw all of my fellow soldiers being picked up. My friends Marcius and Felman as well with the other men and women. Then my turn came.
I turned around to see a titan suddenly appearing from behind me. I saw some dried up blood and a few bullet holes. I looked at her, and recognized the woman to be one of the three Titans that the turret had saved us from. Her wounds had already closed up and she indeed seemed to have enough strength left to walk that length, although her face looked pale and she clearly suffered from lack of blood. I looked up and her face bended over me.
âGotcha!â
The Giantess thrust with great speed and strength her fingers deep into the ground around me. I was suddenly locked up tightly against the dry ground. Her fingers served and looked like iron prison bars. I heard the muffled voices of the other Giantesses and a few hysterical voices from my fellow English-men and women. Her fingers lifted up from the ground and left five four-foot deep holes. Once the fingers had risen they slowly wrapped themselves around my body and lifted me up. I struggled and tried to free myself. As I was slowly lifted higher and higher up until I reached as high as trees, I saw that all the others had all already been lifted into the hands of these monsters.
I froze up once I saw another young lad put into the mouth of an Afro-American Giantess. This one hadnât struggled or cried. He didnât move a muscle as she placed him in her mouth and then closed it. She licked her fingers and giggled. From the tiny movement in her throat and the more obvious bulge that swung from check to check, we saw that she was playing with her help- and defenseless prey. She took a deep breathed, and, presumably on purpose, loudly swallowed the man alive.
I knew that they needed us alive â at least until delivered to the Colossal. I didnât know how they worked, but I realized they wouldnât digest their prey. Or from what I got from the Indian giant: they would try not to digest. They were doing that to conserve us â and for their sick taste and amusement. Some of the stories we heard throughout our lives, is how the Giantesses could control their digestive system. Turn the acid on and off at will. While many Giantess stories were little more than childrenâs bedtime horror stories, I knew now that this one was indeed true.
I looked down and was surprised to see him still alive. The man buried half into the ground after being stepped upon. The footprint was still showing, and I could still see him breathing. I thought he might not even be nearly dead.
âI donât want to be around here when they see and bombard us. Letâs just do it quickly, alright?â
One of them remarked. Out of nowhere a Chinese-looking titan started to laugh. Her left hand was open and a young lady was sitting there, crouching away to the edge of her finger tips as she tried to get away from the enormous finger that was poking her. The Chinese woman had the biggest and most joyful smile on her face. Big enough for her teeth to show, which she undoubtedly did consciously. The woman was screaming and pleading from the absolute top of her longs.
âOhGOD please donât kill me!â
She cried and was absolutely hysterical. The Giantess laughed and held her close to her face.
âHey, Iâm gonna put her in my junk!â She laughed the hardest from everyone there. The others just stood there and sighed.
âDonât waste too much time here, I want to get away from those cannons! Youâve seen what those things can do.â The Indian woman said, obviously annoyed by the slowness of her fellow patrollers.
âOkay, okay. Fine.â
The girl screamed as she was moved down against the Giantessâ bellybutton. The giantess pulled on the front elastic of her torn and worn-out panties, revealing her bushy, private area. The woman was hanging right above it. The screaming abruptly stopped as she let her fall down. The giant hand followed her and pushed and rubbed her against her junk. She sighed.
âIf I get over a hundred people, Iâm not going to play it safe like with this one. I couldnât help it, she is totally my type, and Iâd hate it if any of youâd claim her.â Her hand rubbed softly over her panties. âA perfect little pet for home.â She said and smiled.
âSure sheâll stay there locked and tight?â One asked. She nodded.
âIâm experienced with this, donât worry.â And she gave the other one a reassuring wink.
The other one didnât look convinced. The Chinese woman rolled her eyes, went down with her middle finger, and with a lot of gasping and moaning pushed her victim gently in. The terrible wet and slimy sound that came with the insertion made everything far more terrible then it already was. Aside from that were the muffled pleadings of the woman which became less and less clear the deeper the Giantessâ finger went in.
âHmm, I think Iâm in loveâŚâ She snarled exhaustingly.
âHey, I think theyâre moving the cannons!â One of the titans said.
I felt a reassuring chill going down my spine.
âWe have at least another minute. No more games. Just eat your person, conserve them and quickly go back to Wellington where General Heuvels is so we can claim our reward.â She said.
I knew it wouldnât take that long. They had already set numerous cannons â these were just reinforcements. âOnly a matter of secondsâ I thought, and hoped it would be enough.
âIn you go, you tasty man.â The girl that captured me said.
I heard her sticky and wet mouth opening with a âsmackâ sound. Her breath was hot and moisty and yet it gave me a deep cold shiver. I heard her tong leaving her mouth and then felt it touch my leg. The combination of steaming hot breath, slime and the strong muscle made my stomach twitch. It felt like a giant hot slimy snail was maneuvering itself around my skin. My throat shot down and I entered hyperventilation. The closer I got the more steam covered my already moisty body.
I fell onto her moving tong and she closely closed her mouth. The snapping of her teeth created an echo inside her mouth. I rapped myself around her tong in a desperate effort to stay right there⌠when I heard a shot. Very muffled but clear. A whistling noise became more apparent, until it impacted like a meteorite. I was launched out of her mouth with a hundred miles an hour.
I would not have survived that impact on the ground if I hadnât bumbed up and bounced of against the large butt of a Giantess who was standing with her back turned to my near-consumer. I landed on the ground with little more injuries than bruises. I looked back and saw the Giantess who tried to eat me had been hit straight into her stomach. As she collapsed to the ground, more cannonballs appeared. All precisely targeting well above the ground to keep us from as much danger as possible.
Apparently I had been the first of the final group of soldiers to be nearly eaten, as I saw all remaining soldiers still being held. Nearly every second another ball hit. The Chinese woman who had inserted a female soldier kept another screaming woman in her mouth, and as she looked up a cannonball hit her right on her head. She collapsed unconsciously on the ground with an injury so big that she probably died instantly. The woman managed to squirm himself between her nearly-sealed off lips.
I rubbed my eyes to see who it was, and to my relief I saw Marcius coming out of a white and brown haired Giantess. I looked around again and found most of the soldiers were now on the ground, whether their titans had dropped them when the impact of the cannonball hit them, or dropped and abandoned them while fleeing. The African-American titan who had eaten the young frozen-up lad earlier kept Felman with her until a cannonball hit her straight against her knee.
Felman fell down with the titan who screamed in agony. Her knee had clearly been broken. Felman got himself loose from her grip and ran towards me and Marcius, exhausted from the entrapment. The three of us and the remaining soldiers gathered as the sky rained with artillery fire.
After merely twenty seconds they stopped as there was not a living or conscious Giantess left on the spot.