Description

Fire, Sweat, and Rubble, gouache on watercolor paper, 5 x 6 inches

Initial seismic readings had warned of the entity’s unprecedented size, and Director Xiang had responded accordingly. Most incursions required one, sometimes two Lionesses to deal with it; this time, Melinda “Lin” Wells had deployed alongside three others. It was the largest deployment in the organization’s history, and it still wasn’t enough. Half the pride were incapacitated, and now this behemoth was headed inland towards a civilian population that hadn’t yet evacuated.

Lin was tired—tired beyond the mere physical exhaustion of a single disastrous battle. In becoming a shield against this scourge of leviathans, she’d sacrificed damn near everything. Her eye, her relationships. Her place in the world, even. The women she’d deployed with, however…they weren’t so far gone. Not yet, anyway. If they extracted now, they would still have time to reduce back to normal size. To lick their wounds and hang up their claws before they lost the chance to make that choice.

Lin hefted a piece of debris, considered it for a moment. A wry smile crossed her face. Then, she sent the rubble sailing right into the back of the beast’s skull. The impact only managed to draw the creature’s ire, but that’s all Lin needed from it. “That’s right, all eyes on me,” Lin growled. She wiped the sweat from her face and adjusted her eyepatch, then raised her calloused, bloodied fists.