by Tom Harem
It wasn't windy and the dust spread throughout the city. The air became heavy, putrid and almost impossible to breathe. It was impossible to inhale without coughing or sneezing.
"Elisa, freeze Victoria's arrows. Vic shot them into the sky. We need to open it. We won't be able to fight like this." I told them.
Victoria removed three arrows from her left shoulder bag, put them in her bow and waited for Elisa to snap her fingers. An ice stream wrapped around the tip of the arrows until they looked like stalagmites. Their trunk was now a thin translucent stick with a frozen, sharp tip. Vic shot them up and they went on their way, piercing the sky, cooling it down until the dust began to disperse. Blue stains sprang up amidst gaps that were getting wider. Maggie had burned part of the door lock so she could get in. She was now knocking on the front door and calling for someone. The beast hadn't stopped. He was just a few meters away from us and opened his huge mouth, swallowing an air pocket with ease. Then he blew it out of his mouth like a dragon's breath, throwing us into the ground. I landed on the front-end of the jeep and Victoria and Elisa were tossed into the bins that were meters away from us, on the intersection between the daycare and the next street.
"This was... Unexpected." Victoria said as she stood up, covered in dirty napkins, "what a horrible smell."
"I think I dislocated something. Damn it." Elisa said, grabbing her arm, "It's sore but it's not broken or anything like it. This beast has pissed me off."
The green that covered the beast looked even brighter when the sun rays reflected on the metal. The families had already put themselves in their cars or fled to their friends' house. Anywhere was better than that place. The nursery school was the same as when I went there. They had painted the walls in the same color, and the rest remained the same except for the brick roof that had disappeared to make way for a modern sunlit roof. It was one of the most peaceful parts of the city. It was five minutes away from downtown and 10 minutes away from my house. If my mother were on the second floor, as I knew was likely, she could see my body silhouette. Mothers can always recognize their kids even in crowds.
"James, James." Maggie shouted, "There are over 20 children and two adults here. What do we do?"
"Tell them to run all the way to the end of the street. One by one. Adults stay for last. We'll take care of the rest." I answered and signaled Elisa and Vic to get ready.
We had to get those kids out of there. It was our duty as Hunters. The beast stepped forward and crushed a lamp. The glass broke against her leg until it was smashed and just over the size of a marble. The buildings tumbled around us, the smell of ashes and molten metal fortified, the smoke was beginning to merge once again, and the clarity was fading. Everything was happening at the same time. The moment was fleeting and there was no chance of holding him so that I could think before we proceeded.
Maggie was crouched, patting a girl with pansies on the back, probably convincing her that she didn't need to be afraid. The girl started running across the open field between the building entrance and the semi-open gate.
"I have an idea. It's not going to be pretty." I told them.
"Your ideas never are," Victoria answered me.
"Elisa, make an ice path from here to the beast's back." I told her, "I'm lucky I learned to skate when I was younger."
"Are you sure?" Elisa asked, "Are you really going to put yourself under the beast?"
"Well, I don't think we have any choice. We need to buy some time."
She nodded. She kneeled on one knee and laid her hand with the glove on the floor. She closed her eyes, and a few seconds later, the ice began to sweep across the road, feet away from us, until it created a path large enough for me to slide to the other side. The beast kept walking, unaware of the existence of a thick pathway under him, the frightful feet smashing the ground until there was only a crater left with the shape of his footstep.
"Vic, fire at the lasers. I can't get under him if he cuts me off with them," I ordered her.
"At your command," she said and picked up three more arrows, "Be ready."
I flexed my legs, lowered my arms and positioned myself at the right place so that by running in a straight line I could slide across the center of the structure. Vic's finger slipped through the thin bow thread and the arrows rolled out towards the beast's face. The first one hit the right laser. It began to spin sideways, tearing down the buildings that were still standing and slashing the clouds in separate white air cushions. The second arrow struck the beast's forehead. The third hit the other laser and had the same effect as the previous one. The lasers were out of control. They lacked direction or course. The red tore the ground, the buildings, everything it touched, leaving behind only a perfect cut.
"Wish me good luck," I told them seconds before I started running down the road. A light breeze grazed my face, the smoke and the ashes moistened my eyes and, just moments before gliding over the ice, one of the lasers shifted towards me. The red light moved up to me, shaking, and yet not leaving the same area. I only had a few seconds to dodge and to dive onto the ice, but not in the way I intended. Instead of riding on my feet or on my back, I slid with my belly down, my shirt going up to my navel and the ice burning my skin. I lifted my feet and stretched out my hands, but it was too late. I'd lost control. I tried to use my elbows to brake, but my skin burnt into blood. The belly was already in bright blood and I was leaving a bright red trail along the way. I heard them screaming my name in the distance. The rest of the words dissipated into the air and never reached me. The beast walked and the splinters and pebbles that leaped off the ground fell on me. I was already under it and I was trying to turn around. I was like a drifting boat, with no paddles and a brief moment away from drowning. I had to twitch all over myself to get the gun and pull the second barrel out.
Finally, I was able to turn around and I kept shooting until there were no more bullets inside the gun. The metal in that region was weaker and thinner. It was just a basic layer of protection. My bullets pierced the beast's shell. A sound of wires and sparks colliding with each other, fuses blowing and spawning small explosions within the beast, propagated across her body. I reached the end of the ice road and rolled out through the tarmac. My belly, shoulders, and elbows were all flayed. My skin was burning, my ears were ringing and even my head sounded like there was a two-plate drum set inside. The beast was standing a few steps away from the daycare and the jeep. I could see a child running to the open gate. Elisa and Vic were next to him. They took the child in and sent her running down the street. I ran to one of the sidewalk's corners, the buildings next to them already shattered, so I could reach the group again.
"Are you okay? You're bleeding all over yourself." Victoria told me and touched my bloody sweater.
"It'll pass. Have you rescued everyone?" I asked them, "I don't think the beast is going to be parked much longer."
I jinxed it. As soon as I finished speaking, the beast started lifting his first leg. It was slower, but it wouldn't take long to regain momentum.
"Three children left," Victoria answered me.
"We don't have that much time. Tell Maggie to get everybody out of there now." I said as I reloaded my gun, "We need a few more seconds."
Victoria walked into the daycare and talked to Maggie. Together, with the remaining children and the two adults, they began to run to the gate. I'd shoot the whole magazine, but the bullets didn't even pierce the beast's armor. Elisa's ice balls had no effect either. They hooked his legs and froze them, the ice spreading amid the holes and even the nails until the beast took its following step and shattered the ice into dozens of shards. It lifted one of its dinosaur feet and stepped on the lateral side of the fence that was ahead of it. It shouldn't even be possible to bend steel like that. The beast was two steps away and there was still Maggie and a child left behind. She cried and screamed that she was afraid, that she didn't want to get out of there. Maggie told her everything was going to be okay and that she could carry her. The dust ha
d already dispersed and taken the putrid smell with it, nearly as bad as vomit. It now smelled like the greasy oil that was falling out of the holes I had made in his body.
"What do we do?" Elisa asked while the beast took another step.
Maggie and the child escaped by millimeters. They stood between the claws of the beast's toes, one false step away from being crushed or butchered.
I looked around. I didn't know what to do. We had never been this close to someone dying. I wasn't ready for that. For a moment, I froze. Everything around me slowed down. Maggie's hand moved smoothly to the back of the child's head, Victoria's mouth would rise and fall as she screamed at them to hurry. Even the beast's thick right leg lifted up so slowly that it was possible to see the liquid flowing from behind it as if it was a fountain and the ice was the water bag into which it flowed.
"James, James!" Elisa screamed near my ear, "Who's that?" said and pointed up.
Chapter VII
A shadow ran through the left-over buildings' rooftops and, as soon as it could, it jumped onto the beast's back, removing the blades knuckles from the scabbard, mid-air, and plunging them into the metallic armor. The beast stopped and began to shake, trying to shove the boy off his back, agonizing as if he could feel all the pain. I knew that it was only interlaced fuses changing the beast's behavior and yet I had never seen one that seemed to be in so much suffering. The eyes seemed to have narrowed from the moment the sharp tips had pierced the armor. The boy's hair, dark as the beast's eyes, told me everything I needed to know. It was Keno. Only he would be crazy enough to roam across the buildings like that, and risk killing himself in order to be the hero. He was almost thrown overboard but his fingers tightened even more around the weapons he had on both hands. The body flew up, the legs were fluttering in the air, the hair was being pushed back and some papers that were in pockets floated until they blended with the dusty debris of the wrecked buildings.
"That's my brother." I said to Elisa, "I knew it wouldn't be a good idea to call him. He should be at the academy."
"At least now we can all focus on the beast." Maggie told me, "The children are all saved."
"Yeah, but how do we get him out of there?" Victoria asked and pointed to my brother who was trying to regain his composure.
"The only way is to knock the beast down or at least bring him to his knees," I told them.
"The beast doesn't even have knees, how are we going to do this?" Elisa asked, and just as she did, one of the beast's lasers hit the daycare center and chopped it in half, also ripping near the jeep, "we have to be quick."
I pulled the main barrel of the gun forward, "I'm going to use the last acix bullet I have. It's the only way."
"And then what? Weren't you going to use it to destroy him?" Maggie asked me.
"We'll find another way." I told her and I moved forward, "Elisa's right. We're here to ascend rankings. We're four people, each with their own abilities. We can't just depend on these bullets."
My brother was still in the same position. The beast flipped his face in all directions, even from the bottom to the top and vice versa, and almost tossed him several times into the sharp, metal cables that dwelt in the ruins. A wind breeze rushed past the beast and struck my hair whirlpools and the black edges of my coat. I raised my arm and fired straight away. That was my brother, I didn't need to think twice.
The bullet whirled through the air, opening up space within the heavy atmosphere until it found the metal in the beast's legs and dismantled it to the core. The bullet went in and out, following the pathway, repeating the same in the back leg. The casing disappeared in the mist. The legs on the right side of the beast dropped to the ground and made a pinhole, different parts of the tar staggered, one on top of the other.
"Come down now, Keno!" I yelled, "Quick."
But he didn't. He got up and began to walk along the beast's back, ripping the beast's armor until he reached the out-of-control tail, knocking down what it could, "Keno! What do you think you're doing? Fight with a team. Haven't you learned anything at the academy?" I screamed, pissed off, with the gun next to my body, making a snap sound every time I pulled the trigger. I didn't have any more of those bullets, but I pressed it even harder till my fingers were bruised.
"Your brother's a bit of a fool, isn't he?" Elisa asked me.
"Yeah, but most of all, he's stubborn," I answered her.
The four of us were standing by the jeep, watching the lasers shift upwards while the two other beast's legs collapsed on the ground. We were just spectators in a scene where my brother was attempting to steal all the limelight. The tail slammed the ground like a seal out of the water. The beast had lost control and was now just involuntary reactions, buzz, and sparks within her.
My brother finally stopped. He was on the other side when he jumped on the floor. He had a cocky smile and walked fearlessly as if nothing could hit him, nearly a cool guy doesn’t look at explosion’s scene. He didn't seem worried about anything. He didn't even notice how the tail swung behind him. We tried to warn him, but with the buildings collapsing, the sound never reached him. In seconds, the metal tail hit my brother in the back and sent him flying meters in our direction. He landed right on the jeep, cracking the windscreen and getting inside, the body scraping on the sharp fragments.
"Keno!" I shouted, turning back and opening the jeep door, "Don't move."
"Leave me alone! I'm okay. I'm fine. It's just a few wounds." He kept telling me as he writhed and put his hand in the bottom corner of his belly, struggling to get out of the jeep.
"You're still the same old fool. What do you think you were doing? You've put everyone at risk and on top of that, you've put yourself at risk."
"Of course, you had to come with the same old crap. Don't worry about me. I'll take care of this. I didn't need anyone's help to drill the beast, did I?"
"And what did you get out of it? The beast is out of control. We can't predict how it will act and we can't stay here. I doubt we have done enough to stop it, not even setting aside the lasers that can slice us at any time. We were lucky earlier, we may not be next time."
"Don't think we're going to work together." Keno told me, "I'll handle this all by myself."
For the first time, I freaked out. I gave him a slap that made his face turn and led him to put his hand on the right side of his face looking at me as if he wanted to retribute.
"Stop being a child. We don't have time for that. We have to work together. It's our city and our mother on the line. Do you really want to risk that on the tiniest possibility of being the hero?"
"Okay, then. Just this time." He said to me, "Just because the teachers are always saying that I have to learn to be a team player. I don't know why. They're all worse than me, and only slow me down."
"You really don't resemble Mom or Dad at all." I said, "Vic, do you have a plan?"
"Maybe. The most important thing now is to stop the lasers. I doubt that freezing them will work. Maybe chop them off?"
"Yeah, cutting them off sounds like a good idea. Keno, why didn't you just cut them off?"
"I didn't remember, okay? I was too distracted trying not to get thrown overboard."
"Okay, well... How do we get him up there?" I asked and looked at the three girls, as beautiful as ever, even covered by a thin gray layer and some bloody scrapes.
There was something strange about Elisa. She was looking at the blood on the jeep seats, but she was doing it as if she had never seen that dark red goo. She had one hand on the open door and the other on the jeep's hood. I didn't think she had heard my heated argument with my brother. I didn't think she was aware of anything but the blood flowing into the back seats. By the time I got close to her, the rest of them had already noticed her spirit absence.
"Elisa, are you okay?" I asked her but I didn't get an answer.
The beast was recovering. It had two perforated legs, an unfolded back, and yet it was working. Maybe he had a survival mechanism, a backup generator, some
thing that kept him afloat. Standing there, looking at it, I wondered if we had done the right thing by accepting the mission that a rank A group might have chosen.
I laid my hand on her shoulder and as soon as I did, she snuck out through the open space between the door and my body and twisted my arm.
"What are you doing, Elisa? It's me!" I yelled at her until she woke up.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I don't know what the fuck got into me. It was like I was back to the day I hurt that Hunter we saw." She said, "I heard everything. You want to put your brother near the lasers, right? I can do it."
"How?" Vic asked her, looking at me. Her eyes screamed, "What's going on?"
"Fewer questions, more action. Keno, that's your name, right?" She asked my brother, who replied with a brief nod, "Get ready. The rest of you, back off."
I wanted to ask her if everything was okay except, she didn't look like her. I didn't know how to explain it, but I had a strange and itchy feeling in my body that urged me to be careful. We all walked away except for Keno, who was only two steps behind her.
"Elisa's acting weird." Maggie said, "She's like I was that time I lost control."
"You think so? She seems to be just a little shaken up after seeing the other Hunter." Vic said, "What do you think, James?"
