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"Sensus Divinitatis"Written By: The Plotting Housewife Disclaimer: Gundam Wing belongs to Bandai, Sotsu
and associated Parties. This work is written for pleasure not profit. Rating: NC 17 Warnings: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements,
Ghosts, Demons, Apocalypse, Major character death, blood, gore, violence Pairings: 1x2, 3x4, 5x6 Summary: It begins with a prophecy and ends with
Judgement Day. What happens in between will determine the fate of
the human race. The murders of the Gundam Pilots was only the catalyst.
The beginning of the end. " Sensus Divinitatis" Chapter 21: June 24th, AC 206,
11:14am The sky to the east of Preventers Headquarters had become an ominous dark with swirling clouds that extended far beyond the horizon. To be honest, Une had never seen anything quite like it and she'd seen a lot in her time. They appeared to be rotating around some kind of core that was invisible from her vantage point. Her first thought was that it was a cyclone, or tornado of some kind, but those things were unheard of in their neck of the woods. Regardless, the vortex was far larger than any cyclone, or tornado she was aware of. It reminded her of a massive whirlpool she'd once seen while traveling over the Pacific. Only this was inverted, the spinning rotating upwards as if it was going to suck up everything in its path. They'd taken quite a scare a short time ago when an ear-shattering screeching had been heard coming from that same direction. Une had stationed her people at the windows, prepared to shoot, not knowing what was coming. She'd been completely gobsmacked when the sky went black with thousands of birds, fleeing God only knew what. Her Preventers had looked at her with expressions that probably matched her own with the added bonus of "What do we do?" She'd told them to hold their ground and shoot anything down that took an offensive stance against them. The birds were not the threat, they were fleeing it. Whatever the threat was had yet to come. When the flocks passed, their frantic screeching fading into the west, they stood their ground, watching through the boarded slats on the windows and doors, their weapons ready. Une counted thirty minutes on her watch since the flock had gone overhead and still nothing. Some of the Preventers had abandoned their posts and were milling around, checking their guns, pacing, trying to use the phones which had gone out some time ago and still had not come back on. There was no longer any word from the outside. The internet was out and the radio had been nothing but static for the better part of an hour. It was unnerving not knowing what was going on out there, or what was coming, but there was something in the air. Something was coming. She could feel it. Her eyes were glued to the outline of the forest a quarter of a mile to the east. The rotating clouds appeared to be above Sanq, or possibly one of the surrounding areas. Her guess was ESUNH which, as far as she knew, was the only thing left of the area surrounding Sanq unless something had happened already. She had no way of knowing, couldn't reach Sally, or Cambridge. She could only hope, if they were attacked that they could hold their own. Out of habit, or desperation, she wasn't sure which, she checked her phone again and huffed when the readout still displayed 'No signal'. She irritably stuffed it back into her pocket again. "Billings." "Sir." The assistant had woken from her Valium-induced nap and appeared much calmer, more subdued, which Une figured were the after-effects of the drug. The woman was hunched over her desk, her forehead resting in her palm, her gun propped against her leg. "Make yourself useful and check the radio again." "Yes, Sir." She reached for the tiny, analog radio that Une was now happy she hadn't gotten rid of. She lifted the portable device to her ear after extending the long, metal antennae and slowly spun the tuner. Her eyes closed as she strained her ears to pick something, anything out of the static. "Check all bands, all frequencies and listen carefully. Even if you can't understand it, I don't care. As long as someone is still talking." She just wanted to know someone was still alive out there because right now it felt like they were the only ones. She'd contemplated sending a few of her people out to scout the area to see if anyone was still around, but if what Sillian had said was true, she needed all her people here. They're coming for you, too. Une shivered, remembering the look in Sillian's eyes when she'd said that. She'd seen abject terror before and that was it, but it was a step beyond any of the terror she'd ever seen before. Maybe even several steps beyond. It was the look of unprecedented fear. Fear of something that only existed in a person's wild and most frightening imagination. "What's coming," she whispered. "What's coming for me, too?" She already knew the answer to that, though. Treize was coming. Whatever he was, it didn't matter. He was coming and his intent was to kill them all. That was what mattered. She had no idea if the bullets would do any good, but she was damn well going to use the shit out of them. She had no intention of dying. Not today, or anytime soon. "Sir!" "What is it, Billings?" Instead of answering, Billings turned up the volume on the radio. Through the static she could pick out a word here and there. The language was possibly French and she strained her ears, calling up her high school days when she'd taken French for three years. She picked up a word that she tentatively translated as 'Monsters' and shivered involuntarily. Billings was more fluent and stared, wide-eyed at the wall as she listened to the broadcast. "What's he saying?" Billings shook her head. "It's hard to string a coherent message together. I can only pick out a few words here and there, but...he keeps saying the word 'monsters'. Also 'demons', he calls them." "Does he say where they are?" Billings glanced over at her, her eyes still huge. "He says they're everywhere." Une suppressed a groan and turned back to the window. That wasn't very helpful. She paused, her eyes catching rustling among the trees a dozen meters from the edge of the woods. They were moving, something within moving through them. Something big, or plentiful. She lifted her weapon, propping the muzzle on the window sill. "Stations! Something's coming." The Preventers scurried into action, back to the remaining windows and doors, guns at the ready. "Steady. Hold your fire until you know what's coming. We don't want to shoot innocents." Her heart pounded as the shorter trees continued to wriggle and sway, moving along the canopy of the forest and straight towards them. She rested her finger next to the trigger and loosened her jaw. "But if anything looks even a tiny bit threatening, take it the fuck down." "Yes, Sir." She held her breath as the movement got closer to the edge, her finger lightly resting over the trigger. She peered into the woods, trying to see what was coming before it emerged. Whatever it was, it was almost free of the tangle of trees and it was only a few more moments before what looked like a large group of people appeared at the edge and walked towards them. Une lifted her head up, frowning. What the hell was this? Her Preventers glanced over at her in confusion. "Sir?" "Just...wait. Don't move from your positions." "But, they're just people." Une wasn't so sure about that. She watched their approach and lowered her head back down, peering through the scope of her rifle. There was something off about them. She scanned the group, taking special notice of their faces. There was nothing outwardly noticeable; they looked human. But upon closer inspection, she could see a strange black substance on the sides of their faces. On all of them, which was odd. She focused in on a woman who appeared to be limping, her gait almost a shamble. The black substance was blotchy on her cheeks, but tiny tendrils curved up and around her nose, looking almost like webbing. Another thing that was odd were her eyes. While outwardly she looked disoriented, there was a strange darkness in them that made Une tighten her finger on the trigger. They weren't the eyes of a survivor looking for shelter. She watched as one collapsed, narrowing her own eyes, instantly suspicious. Before she could even say anything, Wyatt jumped up, slung his gun over his shoulder and began pulling at the boards that covered the door. "Wyatt! Stand down!" "Someone's hurt, Sir! We have to -" He pulled a board loose and squeezed through the small gap. "Have to help." "Wyatt, get back here! That's an order!" "I got him." Henderson, Wyatt's partner, started to wedge himself through the narrow space and Une pointed a stern finger at him. "No you do not. Stop right there." Henderson paused with one leg sticking out through the door, then pulled it back in and stepped back. Une shouldered her rifle. "I've got the stupid shit. I'll get him. Stay in your positions and be ready to fire at will at the first provocation." She gave them all a cursory glance and pointed through the door. "I don't think those are people and I'm damned sure they don't need help." "How do you know that, Sir?" She didn't answer. Instead, she squeezed through the boards, cursing Alistar Wyatt as the jagged edge of the top board scraped across her back. "Stupid kids and their hero complexes. I'm so glad I didn't breed." She made it out the door without further incident and took off after Wyatt, shouting his name to come back. She slowed down, then came to a halt as the kid reached the group and bent down to help the injured party. What happened next was so fast, Une wasn't even sure what she saw. Though if she had to describe it, she would have said the person, or whatever it was that appeared injured, lunged up at Wyatt, swiping and snapping at him. A moment later, he staggered back and dropped to his knees. Une's heart skipped as she watched the blood pour from his mouth, the front of his torso seemingly torn open, before he dropped face first onto the concrete. "Fuck!" Une turned on her heel and sprinted back towards the building when the group not only broke into a charge, but did so in a way no human had ever done before. Their backs extended and hunched over on suddenly unnaturally long limbs and took off towards her, looking like angry baboons. Despite the bright sunlight, she didn't miss the inhumanly glow to their eyes and Une didn't waste any time high-tailing it back to Headquarters. "Fire at will," she shouted. "We're under attack! Fire at will!" The crack of gunfire whistled past her ears over the strange and terrifying sound of the things that were coming at them. It wasn't anything human, or animal that she'd ever heard before. It was a bone-chilling, high-pitched screech, overlaid with a deep, vibrating rumble. Two-toned, like there was more than one set of vocal chords. She reached the building in record time, her limbs moving like lightning from the adrenaline. She quickly shoved herself through the boards and ran back to the window, pulling her rifle off her shoulder and aiming it at the still advancing creatures. Though she noticed some of them had been taken down, many were still still getting too damned close. She unloaded her gun into the crowd, struggling a little to hit the targets at first. They moved so fast! She quickly emptied her clip, relieved to see she'd taken some down and reloaded her rifle. While a large amount had succumbed to the hail of bullets, she knew there were just too many of them, more spilling out from the edge of the forest. Some of them were going to reach the building. There was no stopping that. How many of these goddamn things are there? "Keep firing! Kill as many as you can! They're almost here!" She pulled back on her trigger, desperate to minimize the impact when they inevitably reached the building. She pushed the fear of death into the back of her mind. If it was going to happen, it was going to happen. But she was going to fight until her last breath. Her ears buzzed and rang from the constant blasts from the guns and she shouted over the din. "Here they come! Brace yourselves!" A man, or what had once been a man, or had been masquerading as a man, launched himself against her window. His once pristine white button down shirt was torn open and filthy. Spatters of blood dotted across the shredded remains. He pressed his face through the gaps in the boards and Une was momentarily frozen in place as she looked into the eyes of the creature. They were colorless, the eyes of a cadaver, but with an eerie yellow glint where the pupils should be. He snarled and rasped, snapping at her face with three rows of razor sharp teeth. The same teeth she'd seen on Treize's face. She stepped back a pace when clawed fingers swiped at her, the tips catching the fabric of her uniform. She curled her lip and cocked her gun, shoving the muzzle through the gaping maw between the two bottom rows of teeth. "Eat this, fucker." She pulled the trigger, squeezing her eyes shut and blanching as black goo splattered against her face. "Ugh!" She spat the disgusting mess that had gotten into her mouth and glanced up. The thing was dead, but what was left of its head hung from the end of her gun. She yanked it back and heard the splat as the creature dropped to the ground outside. There were screams echoing around her, some of them were the creatures, but she could also hear the shouts of her Preventers as they were overcome by the herd. She was unable to look and see how they were fairing because more of those things were throwing themselves against the window. There were sounds of glass breaking and wood being torn apart, the screech of metal. She fired at the creatures as quickly as she could, stepping away from the window as clawed hands, webbed with black splotches, tore and pulled at the wooden boards that keep them away from her. She chanced a glance behind her, caught the sight of her Preventers in various stages of fighting off the attackers. The creatures were inside now. Some of her Preventers were already dead, scattered across the floor. Blood was everywhere, much of it the red from her people, the rest an oozy black from the monsters that were being taken down. Billings was screaming as she dispatched a creature that went for her throat and Une was impressed to see the woman actually holding her own. Henderson stood several feet away, his mouth open in a war cry as he unloaded his machine gun into an advancing group. "Henderson, watch out!" Une pointed her rifle at the creature that went for his back and blew its head off, but not before it sunk those three rows of teeth into the side of Henderson's neck. The blood sprayed from the severed jugular and strangely, Une could hear the gurgle over the deafening screams, howls, and the sounds of the building being torn apart around her. She shouted as he dropped to his knees, then collapsed, his body twitching for a moment before going still. The boards on her window were finally wrenched away, splintering and snapping in half as they were yanked with superhuman force. She pulled back, shooting a few more as she made her way to Billings' desk. The two women hunkered down, back to back, firing their weapons as the creatures advanced on them. "Shit, we're not going to make it. I'm sorry, Billings." She popped a bullet into a snapping face and loaded her last magazine into her gun. "I don't have enough ammo." "I don't either," came Billings' shaky voice. "I have to say, Sir. It's been a pleasure working with you these past five years." Une reached for the grenade in her pocket, shooting off another round before she pulled the pin out with her teeth. "You don't regret it?" Billings fired her gun and flinched when she was sprayed with black goo. She laughed, the sound one of genuine humor. Death did funny things to a person. "Not at all, Sir. I'd do it again in a heartbeat." Une waited exactly three more seconds before she rolled the grenade beneath the feet of the herd. "So would I." She threw her empty gun down and dove under the desk. "Take cover!" Billings dropped down beside her and they curled up as small as possible, covering their heads with their arms. The explosion rocked the building, the roof collapsing down and hitting the metal desk with sickening force. The walls blew outwards, taking much of the demonic mass with them, ripping their bodies into unrecognizable pieces. The remaining few dropped to the floor, their bodies nothing but burning husks. Une heard Billings scream beside her before her hearing shorted out and briefly wondered if her ears were bleeding. The heat was intense, the flames licking over them, burning holes into their uniforms and singeing the skin beneath. The smell was horrific, burning rotted flesh and hair, the chemical odors of melting plastic and metal. A second explosion went off when the fire reached the armory, the pings and pops of the remaining ammunition going off like fireworks. Une's body lurched as the heat ignited the rest of the grenades and curled herself in even tighter, gasping when the desk collapsed on top of them, knocking the wind out of her. She closed her eyes tightly, trying not to feel disheartened that Billings had gone quiet beside her. There was the heavy press of something across her calves and had no idea if it was the desk, or the ceiling. The last of her hearing began to tunnel and fade along with her consciousness. Before her awareness disappeared completely, she thought she heard Billings speak, though her voice sounded calm, almost monotone. She realized she must have been hallucinating and idly wondered if that was common when one was on the brink of death. "Sensus Divinitatis..." That's odd. What does God have to do with any of this? Again, she heard Yuy's voice, speaking as if he was right there, whispering into her ear. The chaos faded away and her body went limp. Absolutely nothing, General. God is not here. He never was.
~ * ~ Chapter 22 |
