Chapter 51 – Preparation
The timer didn’t feel real at first.
It sat at the edge of Jack’s awareness, counting down in clean, steady numbers that didn’t match the way time usually felt. There was no sense of urgency in it, no pressure built into the system itself.
That came from everything else.
00:19:42
Jack stood at the outer line and looked over what they had.
Not what they wanted.
What they had.
The ground was uneven beyond the shaped paths, but the central approach was clear enough to move through without breaking formation. The space Hanna had turned into a training area now served as the forward line, with the stone boundary acting as a rough marker more than an actual defense.
It wouldn’t stop anything.
But it would give them a point to hold.
Hanna stood a few steps ahead, facing the Sisters.
“Spread out,” she said. “If you stand on top of each other, you’re just getting in each other’s way.”
One of them shifted sideways immediately.
Another didn’t.
“You too,” Hanna added without looking.
“…I moved.”
“Not enough.”
The woman took another step.
“That better?”
“Less bad.”
That seemed to count.
Jack watched the spacing adjust.
Still uneven, but no longer clustered. There were gaps now, small but intentional, enough that movement between them wouldn’t turn into collisions.
Better.
He stepped forward.
“Front line holds first contact,” he said. “No chasing. If something breaks past, let it go.”
That got a few looks.
“We’re just letting them through?” someone asked.
“No,” Jack said. “You’re letting them live long enough for someone else to kill them.”
A short pause.
“…That makes sense,” Eli said from somewhere off to the side.
Hanna didn’t react to the comment.
She stepped in, adjusting one of the stances again.
“If you turn like that, you lose your balance,” she said. “Keep your weight centered.”
The woman nodded, correcting it.
Jack shifted his attention back.
Behind the line, the mid-zone was forming.
Not formally.
But clearly.
Adelaide had set up near the Cathedral side, where the ground was more stable and the effect of the structure was strongest. A few people had been pulled into her group already, not fighters, but not idle either.
Support.
“You’re with me,” Adelaide said, pointing at two of them. “If someone comes back injured, you don’t ask what happened. You stabilize first.”
“What if it’s bad?” one of them asked.
“It will be,” Adelaide said.
That ended the question.
Jack watched her for a moment.
Efficient.
No wasted words.
His sister stood nearby, listening more than speaking, but already moving when Adelaide pointed at something. Not hesitating. Not asking for confirmation.
Good.
Further back, the civilians had gathered closer to the inner structures.
Not packed together, but contained.
Greta was there.
Jack hadn’t noticed when she started organizing them, but it was obvious now. People were grouped in a way that made sense—those who could move quickly near the edges, those who needed more time closer to the center.
No one had told her to do it.
She saw him looking and gave a small nod.
Jack returned it.
That was handled.
Tomas and the builders were still working along the outer edges, dragging heavier stones into place. Not walls, not barriers, but uneven lines that would slow movement if something pushed through too quickly.
Eli stood nearby, holding a piece of wood and looking between two different placements.
“If I put this here,” he said, “it either blocks us or them.”
Tomas didn’t look up.
“Then don’t put it there.”
“…Right.”
Eli moved it.
Jack stepped closer.
“Angle it,” he said. “Slows them, doesn’t block you.”
Eli paused.
“…Oh. That’s better.”
He adjusted it again.
This time it worked.
Jack stepped back.
00:12:18
The time was moving.
He opened his system briefly, not for the timer, but for something else.
Territory.
It wasn’t a full map, but his awareness stretched across Sanguina more clearly now than before. The outer line. The mid-zone. The core. It wasn’t labeled, but it was there.
Defined by use.
He could feel the weak points.
Not exact.
But enough.
Left side—less reinforced.
He turned slightly.
“Hanna.”
She looked over.
“Shift two people left,” he said. “Spacing’s off.”
She didn’t question it.
“You two,” she said, pointing. “Move.”
They did.
Jack watched the adjustment.
Better.
Adelaide stepped up briefly.
“Rotations?” she asked.
“Short,” Jack said. “Don’t let them stay out too long.”
She nodded.
“Understood.”
Then she was gone again.
Jack exhaled slowly.
It wasn’t clean.
Still rough.
Still new.
But everything was in place.
The Sisters held the line.
The mid-zone was ready to catch what slipped through.
The core was stable.
Hanna stepped up beside him again.
“They’ll hold,” she said.
Jack looked over them.
“Yeah,” he said.