by Al Shield
More sections of road were dug up and hurled at the warwagon and the nearby building started to shake as the shelling got closer. A couple of chunks of ashphelt smacked into Unit M rocking him slightly but he still stood firm as they bounced off him, watching for any nearby signs of life. K’Dian however wasn’t going to take any further chances with their blind firing as well as potential damage to their transport and commanded the Unit to run ahead down the road while he drove the wagon behind and out of reach of the shelling. Once he felt they were a safe distance away, he brought the wagon to a stop, stepped out and retrieved a pair of handguns from the back. Sensing his intentions, Unit M stepped forward.
‘Our orders were to stand guard.’ his throat speaker buzzed.
‘Tell me something I do not know. Are you going to stop me?’
‘Negative. No such order was given.’
‘Then get out of my way. I am going show my father what I am capable of’ K’Dian began to walk towards the centre of town.
‘This unit suggests a rethink.’
‘Nothing you say will stop me.’
‘You are not carrying enough ammunition for the numbers detected so far.’ Unit M lumbered over to the back of the wagon and retrieved an automatic rifle. ‘Suggest this would be a far superior choice of armament.’
K’Dian grinned as he swapped the weapons over, nodded to Unit M and ran off the join the battle. Unit M slowly nodded back then resumed his guard position over the wagon.
With her keen hearing, Nex had heard the Captain’s instructions and had snuck further down the lanes and side roads, circling wide to emerge a short distance behind the group and their barricades. There had been some spotters on the way but she had detected them easily and dispatched them quickly without a sound. With their attention in the other direction she carefully climbed the back of a nearby truck, lay flat on the top of the trailer and took aim at the soldiers she sighted holding the big guns.
Dar'kannag was being far from subtle with his approach, chanting his favorite battle song, knocking over nearby bins, thumping his great fists on passing walls and shattering windows along the way to draw all the attention. On a few occasions shots from spotters on second floors were clumsily fired but he quickly dispatched them by leaping up and wrenching them from their positions, slamming them brutally against the ground. ‘They really do break easily don’t they?’ he spoke to himself after the third one expired messily before him.
Why would these creatures choose to live and work this way, so unnecessarily close to each other? What purpose would it be to be so close to your neighbours other than being within stabbing distance when they turned on you? Dar'kannag didn’t begin to understand the reasoning of this world - the sooner he could turn his back on it, the better.
As he turned the next corner there was a cry of alert and the small group of soldiers, police and volunteers positioned at the centre of the town opened fire. A barrage of bullets screamed through the lane and mostly missed him as he ducked back, rending holes in the nearby brickwork.
A pair of shots had hit his right forearm and drawn a small amount of blood, thick black liquid starting to ooze slowly out of the very minor wounds. Nothing that would slow him down any but the less patching up he needed when he was done, the better.
As he crouched down and waited for the firing to slow down, he thumbed his communication crystal and sent a pulse signaling to Nex that he was in place. Very soon the small group would be very sorry they had ever decided to try and slow him and his family down in their quest for answers.
‘HOLD FIRE! HOLD YOUR fire!’ The Captain screamed as the guns continued to throw everything in their chambers down the lane where the purple one was spotted. Ever since they had heard his noisy approach and the twisted screams of the spotters killed along the way the group was on the edge of panic and ready to fire on the next thing that came even remotely close to the centre of town. So when they saw the flash of purple appear they didn’t wait for an order, unleashing with everything they had. But if they didn’t stop this very moment, they’d run out of ammunition before even managing to wound anything.
‘Hold your fire damnit! That’s an order!’
Finally reason took hold and slowly the gunmen ceased with the echoes of the shots around the small town slowly fading away.
‘Now I want half of you to provide cover while the other half reload. Then swi-’
There was a sharp whooshing sound as something screamed through the air then a grunt as one of the soldiers with the anti tank rifle keeled over. Another whoosh and the second one toppled with a spray of blood before the Captain realised what happened.
‘Sniper! Take cov-’ a third shot cracked out and drilled into his shoulder, spinning him around and down onto the road. Two quick thinking policemen grabbed him and dragged him behind the nearest car.
Chaos ensued as the rest of the men panicked. Some dove for cover, some stood confused in the open, some ran blindly away. One had even tried to go for the anti tank rifle when his head exploded from Nex’s incredible accuracy.
‘It’s on the truck over there!’ Yelled one man, the same man who initially suggested bringing the fight to the four. Many who had taken cover now turned their guns and fired at the big rig while Nex quickly slinked back on the roof to make herself a much harder target.
Only one man in the madness remembered the direct threat just lying around the corner as was very shakingly pointing his gun at the lane when Dar'kannag’s roar broke out and the huge purple beast came racing around and down the lane towards the group. The man got one shot off which glanced off his massive thigh before Dar'kannag’s mighty fist obliterated his skull and flung his body over to the buildings on the other side of the road. He roared a mighty roar once more as he dove into the pack with mad abandon, slashing away with his claws and decimating the welcoming committee quickly as they blindly fired at the truck. As he lifted one squirming soldier high up in the air to crush the life right out of him, a nearby car they had been using as cover exploded in a great fireball.
‘Who dares?’ he spun around confused. He knew Nex wasn’t carrying anything that could cause explosions like this and Unit M was back at the vehicle.
At the end of the street was a large strange dark green contraption that had loudly rumbled into view but instead of on wheels, it moved sets of tracks. Dar'kannag could see that it was as big as he was and heavily armoured with a turret that housed a very long barrelled weapon pointing in their directly. It barked again with a blast of fire out of the barrell and the car nearest to the truck Nex had taken position on was blasted into twisted scrap almost instantly.
‘Run!’ he roared to her as the cannon on the tank swivelled slightly to take aim. She had just managed to jump clear when the front of the big truck exploded from the latest shell, flinging the front half of the trailer up in the air.
‘That should take care of the sniper!’ cheered the tank’s gunner as he watched the trailer crash noisily back down to earth. ‘Now just that big purple fucker to put down!’
‘Don’t forget the other two they sighted! They could be hiding anywhere!’ the commander called out. ‘Keep firing until that big one is down but keep your eyes open!’
The gunner laughed as he saw the big monster start running directly at them.
‘Come to daddy you big purple bitch, I’ve got something here you’re going to love. Just line thi-’ But his sights were suddenly blocked by some kind of material.
‘I’ve lost sight! Something’s blocking the view!’ he cried out. ‘Switching to camera two...wait, who the hell is that?’
The imaging of the closing beast was now blocked by a soldier waving his arms frantically directly in front of the tank.
‘Someone get him the fuck out of the way!’ the gunner screamed.
‘I’m on it!’ the third man in the tank spoke. He raced to the hatch.
‘Stop!!’ The soldier outside yelled as the top of the turret popped open and the third man app
eared. ‘You’ve forgotten something!’
‘What the fuck are you talking about man, can’t you see the-’ He looked past the soldier and realised the beast had stopped in its tracks, watching from afar. What was it doing now? He turned his attention back to the man in front.
‘We’re going to kill that thing, get out the way of the cameras!’
‘You need to do something first!’ he replied.
‘What?’
‘Die!’ K’Dian yelled as he grinned viciously behind the soldiers dark glasses. He lined up the rifle and pumped three shots into the man’s chest causing him to fall unceremoniously back down into the tank body.
K’Dian quickly vaulted onto to the tank bodily but wisely stopped himself in time as a volley of shots were fired up through the opening. Quickly cycling through the items he had picked off the soldier he had slain earlier to create his current disguise, he disregarded the stick that created light and the small box that made noises and concentrated on a small ball.
It came with some kind of ring pull and a slightly curved arm that draped over one side. Given no obvious signs of what it was for, he assumed it was either a food container or a weapon. So he pulled the ring part right out and watched as the arm flung itself through the air. The rest of it certainly didn’t smell like anything edible so he tossed both the ring and the ball into the opening.
‘Grenade!!’ came the panicked bellow from inside.
That sounded ominous to K’Dian and he jumped off the tank just in time as it went off with a big thump and smoke started to pour out of various openings.
He grinned as he realised how effective the little ball was. He turned to tell his father of his discovery but when he spun around he was met by the hammer blow from Dar'kannag’s backhand that rocked all his teeth in his skull and sent him sprawling.
‘Foolish boy!’ he roared ‘Stupid foolish boy!’
‘They are no more thanks to me!’ K’Dian cried out while picking himself out of the dirt. The blow was a fierce one and his head throbbed brilliantly now, feeling like it had been crushed under the tracks of the vehicle he had just stopped.
‘Did you honestly think you could take on a war machine like that by yourself? They would have blown you to bits before you even got close if it wasn’t for my help!’
‘I didn’t need your help!’ yelled Dar'kannag ‘I told you to stay with the Wagon, not get amongst the fighting!’ he moved forward and raised his mighty arm to strike again when Nex lay a calming hand on his shoulder.
‘Enough. The day is won’ she said quietly. ‘We have all played our parts well. Fighting like this amongst ourselves, against your own son is pointless!’
Dar'kannag gave her a long stare and then to K’Dian, before grunting and stomping off in the direction of the wagon.
As Nex helped her son to his feet, he spoke to himself softly.
‘He will regret doing that, striking me...he will..’
Given what she knew he was capable of, she knew it was no idle threat and hoped that she could mend the now fractured relationship between them both before it was too late. For now though it was time to keep moving. The challenges were increasing and it was only a matter of time before they brought out a force too great for the four of them.
CHAPTER EIGHT
‘You treated your son like a soldier.’
‘And you wouldn’t? He is a soldier or at least I am attempting to turn him into one. We are in enemy territory. Anything less and he wouldn’t be alive.’
‘But here you are, chained to the spot.’ Omega replied. ‘Your partner Nex is unconscious and your Unit is completely out of action. He is all alone and on the run and the circle around him tightens by the second. Tell me, do you honestly think he stands a chance?’
‘I would rate his chances far greater than an army of your creatures any day’ the beast spat. ‘He may hate me for now but it doesn’t mean I didn’t teach him well, Nex and I both. He will fill rivers of blood before you even come close to apprehending him.’
‘We shall see monster. We shall see.’
A nearby soldier beckoned for his attention and Omega walked over to speak to the man for a few minutes. Dar'kannag’s keen hearing picked up snippets of conversation including something about unknown visitors and security clearances. The man scurried off and Omega resumed his questioning.
‘You decimated the towns forces and then where next? You headed for the army base yes?’
Dar'kannag nodded.
‘What were you hoping to find?’
‘Someone in charge. A general perhaps. We would work our way through your meagre forces until we got answers.’
‘And so you drove your war machine through the fences as a way to announce your coming? What good did you think that would cause?’
‘K’Dian wanted to infiltrate again using his disguise but after his insolence in the town previously, I was not up for hearing it. Nex wanted to fight from a distance. I got impatient...I wanted answers. In hindsight other plan would have been preferable.’
‘Why?’
‘You know why little mortal!’
‘I want to hear your version of events.’
‘Your warbirds turned up and we were grossly unprepared...’
THE TEMPERATURE IN the Warwagon had reached boiling point as arguments raged over the best course of action while they drove on. Only Unit M kept his silence, scanning for the location of the nearby base that a dying soldier had revealed under duress and then expired messily.
‘You barge in and we all get wiped out!’ yelled K’Dian from the back, his jaw still sore from the vicious backhand Dar'kannag had given him.
‘That force before could barely slow us down and you foolishly think this will be any different? It seems you still have lots to learn.’
‘K’Dian is right.’ Nex interjected. ‘That was a small force caught unaware and you want to march into their guarded nest and start a fire. This is the definition of lunacy.’
‘Lunacy...’ he growled ‘...is going from one pit to the next, hoping to find some answers. We have done that and gone nowhere. This way we climb the chain quickly - if anyone knows, it’s a commander.’
‘But there are better ways than a direct assault!’ K’Dian sighed. This was far from the first time Dar'kannag’s bullish attitude to battle caused massive arguments amongst the group. He was stubborn to the end and it was highly likely he would do it his way with or without his families support.
The giant beast shook his head and clenched his first.
‘I will hear no more from either of you. We find the base, hit hard, hit fast, grab the commander and question them later.’
‘Would you consid-’ Nex spoke but he cut her off mid sentence with a wave of his hand.
‘I will hear no more.’ A split second later the tip of a shiny black blade appeared directly in front of his eye. Nex’s boot blade unwaveringly lined up ready to strike, her arm tensed. He took a deep breath and slowly turned his head to face her.
‘What is this...?’
‘A simple reminder my love. We are not lowly soldiers to be ordered around. We are family, as much as you seem to forget that at times.’ She motioned towards K’Dian. ‘I remind you that I will do what I must if I feel that my family is in danger.’
‘Even against me?’ he raised an eye.
‘Against you. Even against myself. We are all equals here and we shall be heard’ she replied ‘You understand?’
After a few moments of staring directly at her he nodded slowly and she withdrew the blade.
‘Cut me off like that again and you will live to regret it.’ There was no mirth in her words. She was highly unimpressed by his recent actions and there was a cold look of steel in her eyes. Dar'kannag knew it would not be a good idea at all to press the issue.
‘Then how about for this, we shall go in hard and fast, however-’ he quickly added noticing her ire and the blade rising again ‘As soon as we make it through, we will split up and use
each of our strengths. You go for higher ground, Unit M will be on alert. If we cause enough confusion it will be difficult for them to mount a full scale counter attack. Find the commander, alert the rest and we shall escape. Agree?’
‘You haven’t mentioned my part in the plan’ K’Dian interjected.
‘You stay in the wagon.’ He raised his hand to stop any reply, even though he could see Nex’s firm grip on the blade again. ‘You guard it.’
‘But father, I am not a child!’
‘Yes you are.’ He turned to Nex. ‘He is not ready my love and deep down you know it.’
There was a look of fiery determination in her eyes but even after mulling over the plan for a few moments she conceded that her son would be safer if he stayed in the confines of the vehicle. The base and its inhabitants were largely unknown. If they brought out more of the tracked vehicles...
‘Your father is right, you stay here.’
‘But...’
‘Were you a few moons older with more training, I would say differently. But for the here and now, you are better positioned here.’
‘I can fight!’
‘We know you can.’ She said softly. ‘But we don’t know what we face here. Until that picture is painted, you are best to guard our means of escape.’ She shot him a caring look and he was about to argue more but wisely decided not to.
‘I will guard...for now. But only because you have asked Mother.’ he replied. Inwardly he was not impressed at all that his own mother was advising caution. Could she also not see how beneficial he had been so far in their strange journeys in this world?
Listening to the conversation unfold Dar’Kannag thought to himself that it was a start. If the child wouldn’t listen to him, at least he would listen to someone. When they finally got back he would make sure to get K’Dian out of the workshop more, out in the wastelands and become bloodied. Just like his own father had done so long ago.
