PARAFFIN'S PROFILE

Colonel Trevino put down his binoculars and checked the satellite feed on the screen next to her. It confirmed what she saw through the binoculars - small explosions blossoming throughout Denton district as her troops drove the monster out. A trail of smoke and rubble where offices, factories once stood mapped out the history of the battle. It looked impressive - and no doubt scary, for the residents of the city - but little actual damage had been done. In just a few minutes the battle would be over, and the citizens would be able to sleep well, knowing the glorious military will be able to drive the monsters away.

"Colonel Trevino."
"General McConnell."
"The operation is going well."
"Yes General."
"What is your opinion of the target?"
"The monster? It's not putting up much of a fight. I still have two battalions in reserve."
"Don't call it monster where others can hear you. For now it's been designated Z1. It was explicitly told to hold back."
"It doesn't look like it's holding back. I can see it bleeding from here."
"Colonel, humour me with a hypothetical. What if you're right, and it's not holding back? Then we have a single creature that is nearly the equivalent of a whole battalion."
"We're winning, General, with only one battalion."
"Half a battalion, then. It means that if it is not holding back, it is no longer following instructions, and we have half a battalion of firepower that we can't control. What do you recommend in such a situation, Colonel?"
"Strike now while it is alone."
"Reduce the risk. Now suppose that instead I am right, and Z1 is not just holding back, but holding back too much - now we have a weapon that we can control, but we don't know how big of a weapon we have. That seems like a liability to me."
"Are you proposing that we push it?"
"Indeed. Z1 is by far the more tractable - have you seen the vids of Z2?"

Colonel Trevino nodded.

"Where is the target now?"

The colonel checked the satellite images. "Near the outskirts of the city. We've nearly driven it out."
"Good. I have given the order to terminate Z2. Order your remaining battalions into place. Keep Z1 away from the city, and give me a line to a loudspeaker down there so I can have a chat with the it."
"You're going to tell it you just destroyed its brother?"
"Sister, I think, and yes. Have the battalions ready to..."

The flash of light was small from this distance - far away from the city, behind the temporary command post the general and colonel occupied. They would not have seen it if they weren't ready for it - a small nuclear blast inside a containment vessel. The light was visible from here, but the shockwave would not go far.

"It is done. When your troops are in place I'll deliver..."

The colonel groaned and the general staggered to his knees as a scream as sharp as a knife and loud as thunder tore through the room. Even with her hands over her ears, Colonel Trevino felt like her eardrums were going to burst. She clenched her teeth and fists until the tightness in her chest gave way to a dull throbbing, until she dared take a breath without screaming herself.

Focus. She looked at the general, who was still on his knees, grimacing in pain. The scream didn't stop, didn't waver. It felt like a knife was driving itself into her brain. Focus. The noise made it hard to focus. She shuffled to the satellite image - she didn't trust herself to be able to hold the binoculars - and blinked, hard. Focus. Her brain refused to translate the image in front of her into understanding. Focus. She couldn't see battalion A. She grabbed for the radio. Focus. No, the emergency alert. She pushed the button. There was no response. There should have been an immediate response.

"General!" She shouted, although she doubted her could hear her over the scream.
"Colonel!" He shouted back, and she was surprised at how loud his voice was - she could hear it clearly even through the tempest of noise. "The other battalions - withdraw them here!"

Colonel Trevino nodded, not trusting herself to speak further, and picked up the radio. She steeled herself for whatever noise would come through and pushed the button to open the line.

Nothing.

"Battalions B and C, this is Colonel Trevino. Do you copy?"

Nothing.

"Battalions B and C, fall back to command."

Nothing.

She still found it difficult to focus. The sound of the scream buried itself in her brain, like an icicle inching through her skull. She looked a the satellite image, forcing her eyes and brain to cooperate until she was sure she understood what she was looking at.

Nothing.

None of her battalions. A, B and C were all gone. No city outskirts. No Denton district. Her hands shook. She called up more images. She shut her eyes, and for a brief second, sheer helplessness and panic drowned out the screams. No city. The whole city, reduced to rubble and ash.

"General," she whispered, "they're all gone."

The general struggled to the satellite image, braced his hands on the table and stared at it. "Gone," he mumbled, and Colonel Trevino could hear him, even though the scream should have torn all other sound away.

There was movement. Her stomach tightened as she looked closer. Something in the ash. She couldn't see clearly in the satellite image. She took the binoculars, raised them. Her hands were trembling too much, the binoculars' stabilisation was failing. She braced her elbows on the desk.

It didn't take her long to find it. A humanoid figure, rising like a revenant from the ash. Humanoid, but much larger than human, dark and grey like the ash around it. It pointed up, and a beam shot from its fingertips into the sky. Trevino dropped the binoculars, blinded by the black afterimage.

"Colonel," said the general, "I think we've made a big mistake." He was staring at a blank screen.

She groped for the binoculars again as her eyes recovered. She swept back and forth, looking for the creature, for Z1, but her eyes were still half-blinded and the screaming kept making her want to forget what she was doing and curl up in a corner. She looked past a broken stump of a building, a tornado of fire, ash.

Eyes. Two glowing eyes, staring straight down the binoculars at the command post. At her. The monster was staring at her. Eyes so full of hatred that they burned. It did not stare for long