Noble had been so close to reaching the ship that the thought of not making it in time had never occurred to her. The pain in her shin brought the surreal moment into reality.
The boat was leaving without her.
Noble screamed.
She screamed in pain. She screamed in fear. But mostly she screamed for help.
The last of the screams was the first to be answered.
Out of nowhere, a hand came out from the darkened doorway and took hold of her arm, slamming her legs and body against the side of the ship. The wind was knocked out of Noble, but she didn't care.
Trying not to think too hard about how close she was to dying, Noble threw all her effort into tossing her bag into the opening. Then, with the energy she had left, she used the man's help to pull herself safely inside.
The last of the ropes attached to the dock released, and the boat swayed as the engines were thrust to full power. Those onboard shifted away from the entrance, wary of falling out when they had just made it in.
Noble didn't care about any of that. Like a puddle, she collapsed on the floor, panting.
At last, she caught her breath and looked up at her rescuer. "Thank you. You saved me."
The man didn't answer. He stared out at the pier with a complicated expression.
The people still on the dock were crying out and begging for the boat to return. But the ship was now partway into the harbor. The was no going back.
From the military installation, more people were fleeing to the dock, filling the piers beyond their capacities. Noble sat up to see just how bad things had become. "No!"
Among those left behind, Noble spotted a familiar face. BB was on the edge of the pier, holding her trampled bag in his hands. Her heart sank.
"Board another boat!" she screamed.
There were other boats in the harbor. While none of them had crews aboard, surely floating in the water and being rescued later was better than staying on land with those...those things.
An explosion drew Noble's attention. The ammunition depot inside the port was suddenly engulfed in flames. Whether this was a tactical retreat or an accident, the girl could not say. The result was a mushroom cloud of black smoke and debris being thrown in every direction.
The ship was already putting distance between the land and itself, but still Noble could feel the heat of the flame.
"They are buying you time. Hurry and get on another boat!" The girl hoped against hope that her cousin could hear her. There was nothing else she could do.
"You shouldn't be watching," the man who saved her said flatly. "No one should have to see this..."
He seemed in a daze. This all seemed like a bad dream. Maybe, Noble thought, she had been infected by the Spell early and this was her Nightmare test. But the Spell took people to another world and relived times of the past.
This was here and now. It was really happening.
From the fiery chaos, a being arose. It was taller than the buildings and just as wide. With the blaze of the explosion in its wake, everything the hideous creature touched caught fire.
The barracks, the mess hall, and even the empty plaza were consumed with unnatural flames.
But the Monster was not content with destruction, it sought to annihilate every human life. Scores of gelatinous hands shot out from its nebulous body and grabbed every living being in sight.
Noble watched some of the people who had probably been on the train with her be crushed like grapes in the massive hands. Others were taken back into the gelatinous body before the hand shot out to seek another victim. Hundreds of people died in minutes under the Great Nightmare Creature's power alone.
But it wasn't alone.
From the fire, little things that Noble would have called goblins from her fairytale books were scurrying in their leader's wake. Their long, sharpened teeth in their oversized mouths ripped at the flesh of the living and the dead.
Noble wanted so badly to help them. If only she could fly and bring as many as she could to her ship and to safety, she would do it in a heartbeat.
Starting with BB.
The young man had somehow managed to get off the pier and was heading for the next ship. The repair ship there was much smaller and hopefully easier to untie from the dock. With a little luck, he could get onboard and ferry out to join the main ship.
"Go!" Noble crouched, holding her knees. She didn't have time to wonder where the rest of her family was. All that mattered now was the person she could see. He was so close.
BB leapt on the boat and turned to help others inside. He laid out a ramp to get as many onboard as he could. Another started to untie the mooring line.
"Go!" The girl continued to call. They were not being quick enough. And too many were piling on the boat. It wasn't meant to hold so many passengers.
The repair ship bobbed up and down, coming free of its tether. Noble let out a happy cry.
"He did it!"
But then...
The Great Creature finally made its way onto the docks and lifted to its full height. It was taller than any of the ships, blocking out the sun for over half of the small bay. Arms shot out in every direction.
With two of those hands, the monstrous horror took hold of BB's boat and lifted it high into the air. The metal vessel soared at an awkward angle as those on board struggled to hold on. The creature allowed the dripping seawater to bathe its nebulous body. It studied the fleshy occupants for a moment. Then…
It swallowed the boat whole.
The creature did not even chew the alloy ship as it fell into its gaping maw. There was no crunch, no sound of finality. Just the form disappearing into the black blob.
Noble moved forward and reached out as if she could grab the boat and save it from its fate. She screamed until her throat was raw. But that did not change anything before her.
More human-laden ships were swallowed without a second thought. Before her eyes, the entire dock...the entire port city was entirely consumed.
"No! Please, no!" Noble sobbed. Tears streamed down her chubby cheeks.
The man who had already saved her once took hold of the girl again. This time it was to console her.
"They are gone," he confirmed. His face was wet. He had lost people also. "They have nothing to fear anymore."
"Mom! Dad! I need to find them!" Noble had been so worried about her cousin that she hadn't even looked for her parents. They had been ahead of her when things went wrong. She assumed that they had made it aboard the ship. But maybe she was wrong.
She stood suddenly and looked around the ship's interior for any sign of them now.
The man shushed her frantic energy. "Just wait until things settle a bit. We will look for them together or I can find a family for you to stay with and seek them out for you. For now, the best thing you can do is stay put. Most likely they are looking for you also. If you go traipsing around, you may miss each other."
As much as the child hated to admit it, what he said made sense. Noble sat back down.
She leaned against the nameless stranger and looked out at the destruction and knew in her heart…
Not even two Masters could defeat that otherworldly thing. If there were more Great creatures like that one coming out of the Gate...
...North America was lost.