by Tom Harem
"Now what?" Maggie asked her.
"I don't know. If he's there, we can't go back. What if he tells everyone? What if they're waiting for me? I'm still wanted." She said, "Damn it. I hate this. I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I'm sorry I screwed up."
"Easy, Elisa. We're going to figure this out." Victoria told her, "He's a level A. We just need to keep an eye on the lobby. And he only saw you sideways, I doubt he'd tell anyone without being sure." She added.
"Victoria's right. I know this isn't the best time to say it, but we better focus on the beast. We are minutes away from my town."
"Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm ready." Elisa said and closed her hand with the glove, "Let's do this."
"Any plans?" Maggie asked, "I can burn all the grass all the way to the metal."
"That's a good idea, but we need more. It's a level 7 beast, we can't even relax around it." I answered him.
"What if we use the same technique as last time? That jump you made... The one that impressed the kid. Do you think it could work?" Maggie asked me.
"I only have acix bullet left. If it fails, we won't have another chance." I answered her.
"Well, you better not fail then," Victoria said and winked at me.
Elisa was listening to us but didn't say a word. She was too quiet for someone who liked to always have the last word.
My cell phone had started ringing. I asked Elisa, who was next to me, to take it out of my pocket. At first, she didn't hear me, and I had to repeat it.
"Yeah, I'm sorry. Your cell phones?" She said and stretched her hand into my pocket, "It's your mother."
"Put it on speaker," I told her, hitting the pedal. I was already going 80 miles an hour and kept increasing.
My mother's voice burst through my cell phone. She was sobbing, her voice weak and low, and she was pulling her snot up. It took a few seconds before she could articulate a phrase that we could understand.
"We need help, son. The beast has already knocked down Mr. Kintas' grocery store. It's close to our house and the preschool. The police bullets are... They're all bouncing off his body."
"We're about five minutes away. Hide until we get there." I told her, "Tell me you didn't call Keno."
"He's coming too..." She answered me and I could hear the hesitation in her shaky voice, "I didn't know what to do."
"It's okay. Stay on the phone until we get there." I told her, "We have to overthrow the beast before my brother gets here. He'll want to help. Even if I ask him to be quiet, he'll ignore me. Damn it."
"I don't think it's going to be that easy." Victoria said, "Let's do our best." She answered me after I crossed the sign that indicated the entrance to the city.
Remnants of the debris were flying and falling on the jeep, the ground, and even other buildings. The beast tore down everything he could without stopping. My mother begged me to hurry. My heart rate was running high.
"We're already in town. Are you home?" I asked her.
"Yes, I can see the beast from afar. Why did you and your brother have to follow your father's work? Why was that? I don't want anything to happen to you."
"Stay right there, Mom. Don't worry, it's going to be okay. I have a good team with me. I'm hanging up now. I'm on my way." I told her.
She said she loved me, asked me to be careful and waited for me to hang up. The loud breathing and the grinding teeth vanished like a long whisper that distanced itself until it was no longer heard.
I turned to the right. I immediately saw the rusty green gate of the daycare center. There were pebbles on top of the metal fence bars which protected the place from unwanted people. However, to the beast that defense would be like plastic that he could knead easily.
"Maggie, go into the daycare and check if the kids are still there. If so, help them out. Saving them is our priority right now. I and them are going to buy you time." I told them.
I stopped the car outside the building. Someone was peeking through the fogged glass. The beast's lasers split and sliced the buildings in half and the metal tail wrecked them. He had two black eyes on his hexagonal face with a curved bottom end. He had a toad face but a tortoise-body. There were still people exiting the buildings that persisted nearby; some with only a backpack on their backs, others with nothing and there were those who looked like they were going on a trip. And yet they all had something in common. Fear was stamped on their faces. Some were tripping, scraping their hands on the sidewalk or on the road, others were rubbing their eyes and dripping nose, but all of them were trying to get out of there as soon as possible. They ran over each other without regard for anyone, the instinct of survival prioritizing them over all the others.
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 normal 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 had 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 XII
A shadow ran through the left-over buildings' rooftops and as soon as it could it jumped to 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. Tha
t 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."
