Chapter Text
Phil was tired of following Techno around the forest. It was too late, and they were both supposed to be home already. Yet, his pseudo son marched onwards dragging Phil behind him without even a pause.
When Phil almost tripped on another branch he finally snapped. “Techno is this really important? What is it you need to show me this late?”
Phil watched as the younger man in front of him paused. When he turned his face held an unusual emotion.
He looked nervous. Techno was never nervous.
A cold breath puffed out in front of him.“Nothing good Phil. Nothing good.”
Phil laughed anxiously and fell back in line with the younger man, “Oh great.”
This time all he received was a small nod.
In front of him Techno swung his blade into the tight clumps of tree branches around them. They were almost suffocating with how tightly they wound around each other. Just their size was intimidating; everything about the forest was.
The difference between their home and the forest was massive; it was as if someone had taken everything and stretched it out making it gangly and frightening. Everything was huge…Even the grass was longer, the almost black tendrils wrapped around their ankles as if they were trying to pull them in.
Before this it had just been a normal night shift for the two. They had met up with the rest of the guard around 10 pm, decided where each guard member would observe, and then reconvened after a couple hours. Usually they would go home afterwards, but this time Techno had pulled Phil aside. He wouldn’t say what the problem was but generally Techno was more relaxed about the forest than Phil was…so Phil didn’t really want to know what was worrying the younger man.
However, as the head of the guard it was his duty to check. So as much as he hated the feeling of being helpless, he returned back to the woods with Techno.
“Almost there,” Techno grumbled after a couple minutes.
Phil looked around cautiously but it didn’t look much different from anywhere else in the forest. The branches still hung around them uncomfortably and he could barely see the moonlight from above.
“Sure we’re not lost mate?” Phil laughed trying to lighten the tense atmosphere around them.
All he got in response was a quiet huff.
Great.
Phil barely even noticed when Techno slammed to a halt in front of him. Thankfully he was able to stop himself before he ran right into Techno’s back.
“It’s here,” Techno whispered.
Phil was about to ask what he meant when his mouth fell open.
Right in front of them a gigantic footprint was engrained in the dirt. It was almost the size of their entire house, and the claw marks were bigger than either of their whole bodies. Not even to mention how deep it was; Phil thought that if he stood in it it would go up to his waist.
And god it was so much bigger than last time…
“Holy fuck…” Phil whispered.
“Yeah…”
“It can’t…I mean it’s not recent right,” Phil stammered, “It looks old.”
It was true but even then the sight of the massive indent caused fear to swirl in his gut. They weren’t even that far from town meaning a giant had actually come that close. And not too long ago.
It was far too close to his family.
“Maybe a couple months,” Techno hummed, “But that means it’s here. In the forest I mean; we need to watch out, warn the rest of the guard.”
A breath left Phil’s lips. “Yeah…”
Phil slowly knelt down by the footprint and let his hand brush over the dirt. It was dry and the dust left a stain on his sleeve. Where the imprint was grass had stopped growing, making the hellish mark stand out even more against the green landscape.
Techno slowly knelt down next to Phil, “Are you okay?”
Phil’s eyes were trained on the footprint. He barely even heard Techno speak over the crazed thoughts in his head. How could he have let a giant get this close…again. How would he even be able to stop it from coming back, they didn’t have the supplies to make the walls bigger and they didn’t have enough trainees in the guard in case of an attack. All of his family was still in town and he didn’t know what to do. This giant was much bigger the footprints form the last one where maybe half this size. If it wanted it could break down their walls, maybe destroy the whole town.
“Phil.” Techno’s interrupted his swirling thoughts.
“They’ll be fine,” he reassured, “We’ll monitor it…make sure it doesn’t come closer. Who knows, it might’ve left.”
“You know better than that dont you?” Phil laughed sadly, “We’re being hunted Techno. It knows where we are…”
Techno slowly shook his head beside him and stood up. His hand reached down to help Phil, but he could barely find the strength to straighten his legs. He felt dizzy.
When he was finally up, Phil leaned his weight against Techno. “What are we supposed to do I can’t…I can’t lose anyone else.”
“I know,” Techno consoled, “And you won’t. You won’t Phil.”
“How?”
“Extra trips, higher security, more groups going out,” Techno listed off, “It’ll be okay. We’re more prepared now…”
Phil nodded half heartedly and let Techno slowly lead him back home. Every few steps his gaze turned backwards, back to the footprint, back to the sign of a monster in their midst, and Phil prayed to every god he knew that his sons would be safe.
He would tear that monster limb from limb if it ever came close to his family.