by M. A. Owens
Projectiles erupted from the colossus’s shoulders, first firing up into the air, and then righting themselves and moving straight toward Kerdy.
“Thirteen missiles incoming, Kerdy! Look out!” Joy shouted.
19
Kerdy reached out and touched the rope wheel on her chest, and a hook shot from it, piercing the armor of the colossus. She tapped it again, and it pulled her toward the thing with so much speed it was difficult to keep track of her. The missiles curved behind her, but couldn’t make the sharp turn, instead diving into the ground and creating a massive explosion. The colossus seemed to roar as it turned and attempted to find its target again, only the horrifying glow of its red eyes cutting through the smoke.
When at last the smoke cleared, I could see Kerdy again, her sword buried into a narrow slit along the neck. She ripped it out, and I finally understood the shape of the sword. She must have had it made specifically to fight the colossus. Her movements were so much more precise than I’d ever seen her with normal weapons. She must have devoted so much of her life to training just for this fight and refusing to use the armor for anything else.
She had to yank it several times, as it became stuck. With one last magnificent pull, several cables and hoses ripped out with it, spewing liquids down its giant body.
It was as though the beast screamed in pain, sending out another sound attack. I felt as though my ears were going to burst again.
“Trigger, we have to get further away. Even here, we’re too close,” Nightshade said, speeding further along the cliff, until we neared the end. I was relieved to find my eye could still maintain the zoom at this distance.
The colossus brought its hand up to swat her away, but she quickly pulled herself toward its face and slapped one eye, making a crack. Using her sword, she severed a section of the rope where another hook was attached and fell before the arm could slap her, instantly engaging the device again and flying toward its side.
Link ran toward the foot, swinging his hammer in a wide arc, but it only bounced away. Still, this didn’t discourage him. He continued bringing his hammer down on the foot as Kerdy commanded its full attention.
She repeated the same movement as earlier, driving her sword through a small opening in the colossus’s armor, and yanking it free, pulling severed cables and hoses through again, more fluid spewing onto the ground and the rest of its body.
“Your strategy is working, Kerdy! That fluid must be vital to its movement,” Joy’s voice carried over the radio.
“Not yet!” Kerdy replied. “Too many times we thought we won, only for this thing to pull out some new trick. Watch carefully. Don’t miss any opportunities.”
She severed the rope again near another hook, this time landing on the ground.
An opportunity, huh? I lifted my rifle and pointed it toward the cracked eye. It raised its leg, ready to stomp Kerdy, or try. I fired a shot, hitting the cracked eye. It didn’t break through, but it made a lot of new cracks.
At the peak of raising its foot, Link took a leap back, then forward again, putting everything he had into a blow on the grounded foot. This time, it shattered, and the colossus fell forward, landing hard onto the ground. The red eyes moved directly over Link, but then darted around again.
“Morel, are you seeing what I’m seeing?” I asked.
“My genius surpassing everyone’s wildest expectations? Why, yes. Yes, I see that. Come on, Link, you must not be hitting that thing very hard if it still won’t acknowledge you. Put your back into it!”
Link took several leaps back, waiting for the dust to clear beside Kerdy. “Do you mean the cloaking device strapped to my back?”
“Umm,” Morel started.
“Look at my body. You don’t think I know what something like this is?”
He knew, or Kerdy told him, and he wore it anyway, even though he said it was cowardly? Winning this fight must be that important to him. He’d rather win it as a coward than lose it as a proud warrior. Maybe he wasn’t so unreasonable after all.
Before the dust could clear, I could see the eyes again. Carefully, I aimed, releasing another shot on the same eye. This time, it went dark.
A fast-moving projectile passed through the dust, returning fire, slamming into Nightshade’s bike. We didn’t have time to react before it sent us flying off in two different directions. I landed further along the cliff in the direction we came from, and Nightshade gripped the cliff’s edge, slipping.
“Nightshade!” I shouted, struggling to my feet. I made it back to her just before she lost grip, and struggled to pull her back up the cliff, barely succeeding.
“Thanks, Trigger. Keep an eye on the fight. I need to check on the bike and get it moving again. We’re dead if it does that again and we can’t move from this spot.”
Thankfully, as the dust began to clear, Link and Kerdy commanded all the colossus’s attention. Link plunged his hammer into the other eye, making it dark as well, while Kerdy decimated the thick run of cables that ran along the entire length of its neck. Link began slamming his hammer into one side of the head, continuing just as he’d done with the leg, hitting it repeatedly.
“Just a little more. Unbelievable! I think you’ve got it!” Morel shouted.
Just as I was agreeing with them, a burst of air shot from the chest, sending Link and Kerdy flying away. Link rolled helplessly on the ground before steadying himself with his hammer. Kerdy reacted almost instantly, plunging the hook from her chest back into its frame to anchor herself, closing the lost distance in no time. She continued slicing and ripping, covering herself in oils and whatever else, screaming in pain as smoke bellowed from her suit.
“Kerdy, you’re overloading it. Slow down. You’re going to blow the suit.” Morel pleaded.
She grunted and made one more pull with her sword, and the head dropped from the body onto the ground with a satisfying thud. It didn’t move.
Stunned silence followed. Kerdy sliced the rope, stumbling back. She steadied herself, ripped off her helmet, and held up her sword, screaming at the top of her lungs. Link ran toward her, picking her up, suit and all.
“We did it! You did it. You fought nothing like that before. I mean, you’d be nothing without the suit, but… look!” He laughed, as he pointed to the severed head of the colossus.
Two small red lights appeared on Link, and the sound attack bellowed again.
It was even louder this time but lacked the deep boom it had before. What was happening? Some kind of malfunction? I concentrated on the head and saw something small emerging from it! Was that… a hand?
Instantly, the top of the head flew off, so quickly it looked as if an explosion sent it flying. But I didn’t see or hear any explosion. When I looked back toward the head, a smaller figure emerged.
“Kerdy, what is that? Is that… it looks like they designed it to look human!”
“It’s the pilot,” Link shouted, shoving Kerdy away from him. “Watch out!”
It charged him and swung its fist at his head. Link was fast, grabbing the fist mid-strike. However, he couldn’t even slow it down. It slammed his own hand into his face and sent him through the air, landing on the ground with a harsh thud. He didn’t move.
I took aim with my rifle, and shot, but it side-stepped the attempt, making me miss completely. It locked eyes with me for a moment and took a single step in my direction before Kerdy charged, swinging her sword at its head, only a little higher than her own. It ducked under and punched her chest, bouncing her off the ground twice before sliding to a stop.
“Nightshade. Trigger. You have to… run… Evacuate the city!” Kerdy struggled to speak, choking as she did. She tried to get up, but her suit was smoking so much now and didn’t appear to be working anymore. She must have been in agony inside.
“Got the bike running again. Trigger, it’s your call,” Nightshade said.
“Emergency release the suit, Kerdy. It’s going to overheat and kill you! You’ll burn to death,” Joy demande
d.
“I don’t take orders… from you… Joy,” Kerdy said, finally struggling to her feet as the machine slowly stepped toward me again, apparently not considering me enough of a threat to be in a hurry. It wouldn’t be the first time someone underestimated me.
“My thoughts, exactly,” I said, aiming the rifle.
Kerdy pleaded, her voice breaking. “Listen, Trigger, you have a choice to make. Die here with us, and everyone dies, or run to the city, and save enough to live on and save your species from extinction. You saw what we saw. It’s over. We did our best. Gave it our all. It wasn’t enough, again…”
I fired another shot. A direct hit to the chest! It sent the machine stumbling backward, dropping to one knee, smoke rolling from its chest.
However, it stood nearly as soon as it fell, without even a scratch visible beyond the scorching of the metal. Hard as it was to believe, the shots were doing more damage to me than the monster. Each shot felt like it was shaking my insides. I wasn’t even supposed to be firing it off the bike.
“Kerdy! Link! I’ll put what’s left of this gun into it. To your feet. Almost there!” I yelled, firing off another shot, sending it stumbling back again, but not falling this time. A weaker shot? No… it’s already adjusted to the impact. It’s compensating.
Kerdy ran toward it, grabbing it by the arm. It reached its other arm around and as casually as swatting a fly, swatted her arm away. Kerdy gasped in pain. That hit must’ve broken her arm, judging by the damage done to the suit. She dropped to one knee, wincing in pain, but still gripping her sword. I had to get closer. A shot from this distance didn’t have enough power.
I ran along the cliff, finding a shallow enough slope that I could slide down to where they were, and slid all the way to the bottom.
“What are you doing, Trigger? Run! Nightshade, stop him!” Joy shouted.
Nightshade didn’t answer. No doubt she was considering doing that very thing but was holding back. She might’ve even trusted me.
I pointed the rifle again and fired. I fell onto my back, and my paws were burning against the hot metal. One more shot. I had to make it count.
It stumbled back, and Link’s hammer appeared above it, coming down in a powerful arc. He took advantage of the situation perfectly.
One arm shot up, and the machine grabbed the head of the hammer, squeezing it. The surface where its hand gripped, the hammer glowed bright red, cracking, with the cracks spreading throughout the entire hunk of steel. A moment later, it shattered. Then, it turned and kicked Link. I couldn’t see what happened to him, but it couldn’t have been good.
It reached for me, it’s hand still glowing red. My rifle’s final shot. I’d have to make it count.
I aimed instead for the arm that was glowing and fired. With that shot, the gun broke apart, a piece of shrapnel hitting my shoulder, another hitting my chest, and a third piece grazing my cheek, nearly taking out my new eye. My paws had burns all over, and my body felt almost as bad as it did after falling into the Arc River. I couldn’t move anymore, out of breath. I gazed up at the machine and was pleased to see it was missing the arm I shot. Link was standing behind it, an enormous chunk blown from his metal side, he now gripped the remaining arm of the machine with his own, bringing his normal arm to the back of its head and forcing it face-first into the ground with a mighty howl. He brought his elbow down on its back and wrapped his own legs around the machine’s. Blades erupted from its body, stabbing Link many times. But, determined to make his last moments count, he did not let go.
“Now!” he barked.
Without hesitating, now mostly obscured by smoke from a suit that must have been cooking her alive, she leaped through the air, bringing the sword high above her head. As she descended, she growled, some from the pain, and some from the effort, and with everything else she had left inside her heart. She brought the blade down with all of her spirit, and with the combined weight of every life this monster had ever taken. All those goodbyes, too early given, powered a final, ultimate attack. For a moment, the blade was stopped by the thick armor, but Kerdy continued her scream as she leaned into the attack. Link grabbed the back of the blade, and added his own strength to hers.
The machine’s head was severed from its body, its brightly lit eyes going dark, and its body still.
The battle, at last, was over.
20
Kerdy dropped to one knee, her fur singed, her skin smoking as the pieces of the suit fell off around her, broken and destroyed.
“Link…” she said, her voice weak.
Link pulled himself from the blades and kicked aside the now lifeless body of the machine. He stood to his feet, then fell to one knee.
“Save your… strength, Link,” Kerdy said. “You did your people proud.”
Link swayed, trying and failing to stand again, grabbing the handle of his broken hammer and using it as a crutch. He used it to stand to his feet, took a deep breath, and dropped it to the ground. One arm went behind his back, and the other snapped to his chest in a fist. “It was an honor, Commander.”
“My honor, you old fool,” Kerdy said, smiling up at him as he towered above her.
I could see it in his eyes. Those were his last words. He was gone. A hero his people now would never know, who sacrificed his last days to save them. Kerdy buried her face in her paws. A goodbye she’d been putting off and hoped to delay forever.
“Kerdy, just hang in there. I’m bringing an injection to you. Just hang in there for a few minutes!” Joy pleaded over the radio.
Nightshade brought the bike down the hill to where we were, and ran to me, helping me to my feet. I looked down and realized the coat had saved me from any kind of serious damage. Other than the burns on my paws, I was mostly in one piece. She pulled a box from her bike and started first aid on my paws.
“What are you doing, Nightshade? Help Kerdy first. She’s barely hanging on.”
“Kerdy’s different, Trigger. You’ll see. When Joy hits her with that juice she made from Kerdy’s blood, she’ll be as good as new in almost no time. Just a few days.” Nightshade nodded, reassuring herself. “Right. Sorry. Back to bandaging. This stuff is like magic on burns like yours. They’ll heal soon.”
She rubbed something on my paws, then fumbled with bandages.
A bike rolled up with Morel driving, and Joy on the back. Joy jumped off before it stopped, nearly falling, squeezing the needle as she ran until a drop of fluid dripped from the tip. She dropped to the ground with the momentum of her run, sliding next to Kerdy, and plunging the needle into her neck.
“Made it!” Joy shouted, rubbing tears from her eyes with her other paw.
Kerdy reached an arm up, wrapping it around Joy and pulling her close. “Pulled me from the jaws of death yet again. You’ll never let me forget this, will you?”
Joy rubbed her eyes again and changed her tone as though Kerdy had flipped a switch.
“You better believe I won’t let you forget this, you reckless idiot! You were told to drop the suit when it started overheating. You should’ve listened…”
As Joy and Kerdy were talking, Morel retrieved the head and hugged it like she would a newborn kitten. “What secrets do you hold, ancient machine?” she asked it before looking up at Link, still standing tall. A sadness seemed to grip her as she placed the head in the bag on her bike, then walked over to stand in front of him. “He’s equipped with so many cybernetics, that his body didn’t even fall. Or maybe… he was just that strong.”
She snapped into a salute in front of him, and Kerdy gripped Joy’s shoulder. Joy understood what she meant, and helped her to her feet, her burns already miraculously looking better than before. Nightshade and I walked over beside them, and we all saluted Link for what seemed like a long time before we finally stopped. Though, not as long as he deserved.
I spotted a length of rope with a hook attached to the end and nodded to myself. Should be just about the right length. I walked over and rolled it up, slinging it
over my shoulder. I glanced over at the large body the true monster had pulled itself from. Moss was going to find many treasures inside that thing, no doubt. Maybe enough to call it even. Maybe enough to finish a flying machine.
“Where do you think you’re going, Detective? You won’t need that rope for our celebration. Like it or not, you’re one of the biggest reasons things happened this way. If we’d done things my way, your city would be rubble by now, and we’d all be dead. Everyone’s going to want to meet you. To shake your paw.”
“Yeah, no thanks. Never was one for parties, or attention. That’s more Nightshade’s thing. Arc City’s that way, right?” I asked, pointing in the direction the colossus was walking.
“About a day’s walk, sure. You know…” She paused. “You’re welcome to stay. Welcome any time. You’re one of us now.”
“Thanks, Kerdy. Means a lot. But if all of this is going to mean something for Arc City, I’m afraid I can’t wait any longer. So long,” I said, waving as I began walking toward the city.
Nightshade shouted after me. “I know you’re stubborn and all, but how about you let a girl give you a ride halfway?”
I turned and nodded. “I suppose I can do that. Thanks. Goodbye, everyone. Thank you, Joy. Thank you, Morel. Thank you, Kerdy. Thank you, everyone. We’ll meet again someday.”
I sat on the back of Nightshade’s bike, and we drove away. So many worries for Arc City went through my mind, but I pushed them down. For this moment, I wanted to live in only the moment. I paid attention to the breeze flowing through my hair and the surrounding forest. Birds flying from the tall grass as we rode past them. It was good to be alive.
After about an hour’s ride, we passed a large village. Must’ve been the agricultural village Rick mentioned, not far outside the city. Everyone dropped what they were doing and jumped up and down, waving, cheering with everything they had. They were cheering for us.
A few minutes later, we arrived at the well-kept road that connected the village to the city.
