War Wagon

by Al Shield

  ‘Tell me!’ He screamed at the beast with each blow. ‘Tell me who lurks in the shadows who has been taking out my men!’

  ‘Perhaps you underestimate the one I call “Meat”.’ Dar’Kannag spoke in between blows. A trickle of dark purple blood escaped out of the corner of his mouth after one particularly vicious blow. ‘But then again this would be quite normal for the one known as Jorzan the Asleep..’

  Truth be told, his keen hearing had picked up every report relayed through the radio to the Nameless One and after the first details of strike team bodies found with expertly applied blade wounds, he knew it could be none other than his beloved Nex. She was awake, aware and undoubtedly now on the search for him. But no matter what, he would keep that information to himself. The last thing Jorzan and the guards needed to know was that she was on her way.

  Let them believe that their cherished ‘Omega’ was the one causing the chaos and frustration currently. Although he also realised that he hadn’t heard any reports of any of the teams finding his body either - perhaps too he was also out there causing some kind of grief for the invaders? What a delicious amount of chaos going on around him.

  He thoughts were stopped by the next thundering punch. Then the next, then the next. Jorzan roared like a wounded animal as he continued with the onslaught until he started to tired, his breath becoming raggered. By this time Dar’Kannag’s face was becoming quite bruised and bloody. Breathing quite heavily as he stepped away, he ordered the exo soldiers to focus their attention from Dar’Kannag to each entranceway instead.

  ‘I sense something is coming. It seems something is making its way here. See that whoever it is doesn’t make it past the doors...’

  The soldiers moved into action without a second thought. But soon as they took up positions there was the sound of shattering glass quickly followed up by the buzz of three angry sounding drones flying in through the window of the directors office above, opening fire on the surprised group below.

  The drones were never meant to be more than a distraction however they performed their role admirably as Unit M’s remote control link had them racing all around the available airspace while the soldiers attempted to shoot them down. However there was no discernible pattern in their movements as they would swoop down, fire on a target and then quickly move to the other side of the room before the response fire could hit them.

  One did come too close to Jorzan’s sweeping claws and he gouged the metal on one side of it, causing it to lose balance and ultimate smack into the ground. It still fired it’s small arms indiscriminately until silenced by a burst from an exo soldiers rifle.

  At that moment as they had their guns trained to the sky, Omega slid into the doorway, his heavy machine gun barking as he swept in a wide arc. While the shells met fierce resistance when they clashed against thick steel skeleton frame of the suits, they slid through the lightly armoured plates and fleshy parts quite easily, rendering three of the warriors to shreds instantly. The remaining soldiers quickly turned to face the greater threat but Agent Omega had already moved quickly, putting himself out of range as they filled up the entranceway with bullets and into the surrounding walls.

  ‘Concentrate you fools!’ Jorzan roared ‘Don’t let them distract you!’ Out of the corner of his eye he noticed The Nameless One had tipped over a table and now crouched behind it taking pot shots at the remaining two buzzing drones. He let out a deep growl and raised his arms, the words to conjure up a ball of destructive energy forming on his lips when then was a sudden blur of white above him and he found himself pitching forward as something smashed into the back of his neck at full force. He managed to turn as he sprawled forward, only to see the female - the one he was told was still unconscious, now burying one of her knives deep into the neck of one of his hapless exo soldiers.

  ‘Impossible!’ he raged as he staggered to his feet, the words to the energy ball exploding out of his mouth in quick succession and he threw his arms forward to fire it at her. However she darted out of the way at the last moment and the ball instead impacted with the soldier behind her, the man letting out a gut wrenching scream as he was both shocked and ultimately fried alive in his metal suit.

  On the other side of the room Unit M wasn’t faring so well. He had walked in at the same time as Omega fired and managed to drown one of the unaware soldiers in liquid fire but the two next to the burning man turned and opened fire as soon as they registered the screaming. A pair of the shots had driven themselves in between the plates in his right arm and destroyed the servos, rendering it useless. It swung loosely as he continued to hold them at bay with his flamer while the remaining drones darted in and out as a distraction, like a pair of angry wasps.

  ‘You!’ Jorzan snarled at the soldier closest to Dar’Kannag. The man hadn’t fired yet for fear of possibly hitting a fellow soldier in the outer circle. ‘Do not let the female get close to hi-’

  There was a high pitched whine as something tore through the air and impacted into the man's skull, killing him instantly. Jorzan turned to see Nex with her rifle outstretched, dancing just ahead of two of his soldiers attempting to swing their chattering guns around. She was moving just on the outskirts and cleverly ducked at the last moment, the combined fired smashing into another soldier attempting to shoot down the annoying drones.

  The scene was absolute chaos with bullets being fired wildy and very few of them getting anywhere near the intruders. Although more gunfire had destroyed Unit M’s already crippled leg, he still managed to burn alive the man who had severely hampered his mobility.

  Agent Omega had raced up the stairs and now rained down even more death from the shattered windows above. The Nameless One crawled madly for other cover as the Agent shifted his attention to the table barrier and chewed it up with the heavy machine gun.

  In response, Jorzan hurriedly conjured up another energy ball and pointed it at the opening above. It flew to the window and glowed slightly brighter as Omega quickly tried pumping a few bullets into it before it exploded in a mass of blinding light, blowing apart most of the entranceway and hurling the agent back into the office with incredible force, smashing him against the back wall where he passed out on impact.

  ‘One down!’ He cheered and turned to concentrate on the other intruders. However his blood instantly went cold where he saw the fate of his remaining soldier.

  For he was being suspended in the air, metal frame and all off the ground, held up by his neck. A very strong hand had it’s thick fingers curled around the skull and the man was frantically trying to escape the lethal grip anyway he could as it got tighter.

  ‘I believe this one belongs to you, Jorzan the pitiful?’ A defiant Dar’Kannag stood proudly, the frantically squirming soldier suspending in his powerful one handed grip. Behind him a grinning Nex stood, having freed her husband from the many chains by using one of the tools secreted in her armour as a pick.

  The smaller red creature looked at him in disbelief.

  ‘You...’ he whispered to himself. Then he bowed his head and shook it vigorously, before throwing it back and letting out a huge howl of frustration.

  ‘You....you! You thwart me at every turn but no more! I don’t need my toys to crush you once and for all you fool!’ Jorzan hissed.

  ‘Your fight is over.’ Dar’Kannag spoke to the squirming man and then squeezed his fingers, crushing the man’s head like a ripe melon and dropping the body unceremoniously to the floor. ‘I do hope you will put up more of a fight than your pathetic little army did.’ Dar’Kannag boasted.

  ‘I hope you enjoyed your brief moment of freedom, for it will be your last!’ Spittle flew as Jorzan pushed out every word. He clenched his fists and electricity danced over his hands. However before he could raise his hands to unleash a blast, he found himself staring down the barrel of a long rifle, held perfectly still by Nex’s outstretched arm.

  ‘I would think carefully about your next move Jorzan. For as much as I have looked forward to ripping you l
imb from limb, my sweet Nex does not miss.’

  For a moment as the two locked eyes, nobody moved. The electricity still danced, the gun never wavered. Finally Jorzan un-clenched his fists slowly and the sparks faded away.

  Dar’Kannag’s bruised and battered face smiled without warmth. He had been waiting for this moment as soon as Jorzan had revealed himself.

  ‘Now, let us settle this. Just you and I, a battle to the death as the old ways dictate. If you even think of using your vile sorcery, Nex will shoot you where you stand. What say you?’

  Jorzan looked at Dar’Kannag, then at Nex and then to the torn and bloodied bodies of his soldiers strewn around the room. He could sense The Nameless One still hiding in the corner but in this situation, the creature would be quite useless. Ultimately, he was alone.

  He sighed, before given his answer.

  ‘What say I? I say this.’ And with those words, he spoke three more in an unfamiliar tongue to the pair. There was a whooshing sound and a shimmering wall suddenly cut the space in between them. Nex fired out of instinct but the bullet was caught and held in place in the air by the shimmering wall.

  Jorzan’s cruel laughter was soft at first but rose in madness and volume rapidly and filled the room as a dark look of equal parts hatred and confusion crossed Dar’Kannag’s face.

  ‘You pitiful fool.’ He gasped between laughs ‘Did you really think I would be stupid enough to face you one on one? I didn’t survive this long by sticking to “the old ways.” They, like the world I left behind is dead to me! You are in my world now!’

  ‘FACE ME!’ Dar’Kannag roared and slammed his fist as hard as he could into the magical barrier. Sparks bounced off the near invisible wall where it connected but it didn’t waver.

  ‘FACE ME YOU COWARD!’

  But Jorzan shook his head.

  ‘For so long now I have tortured myself with thoughts of my revenge upon you, for your part in sending me here. I have devised many ways to tear you apart, body and soul, ideas that would keep me awake for days until I finally passed out from exhaustion. I have waited for the day..’ He licked his lips. ‘But nay, this is not the day. Today through her actions, your little soldier toy and that idiot agent I blasted, you have ruined that. This is not how I want this little game of ours to end.’ He clenched and unclenched his fists over and over, generating the dancing electricity and then making it disappear.

  ‘I could bring down this base with a word and crush you fools where you stand..but that would be a hollow victory and completely unsatisfying. No. Your head, your death, your demise. It will be on better terms.’

  ‘I will destroy you!’ Dar’Kannag shouted and again punched the magical barrier for effect.

  ‘No...not today you won’t, not ever. But know this as I take my leave, I will be watching. And waiting. And biding my time. What’s a little more time to achieve the perfect revenge just as I dreamed? I will be looking on as you are hunted mercilessly from one side of this world to the other. And when the creatures of this world have destroyed your soldier machine and your female and left you for dead, then I shall appear.’ He grinned savagely as he spoke next. ‘And you will beg...beg me for death. Beg me for release. And that Dar’Kannag will be the only thing that you will ever successfully ask me of because only then I will provide it.’

  He laughed crazily once more with maddened glee. There was now a fire in his his eyes, blazing with the thoughts of making it even harder now for the larger creature to ever achieve a semblance of victory.

  ‘I look forward to hunting you down.’ Sneered Nex, still pointing the gun at the barrier even though it was pointless. Dar’Kannag was now too full of rage to speak.

  ‘You’re welcome to try my dear.’ Jorzan mocked as The Nameless One came over, stepping over bodies in his wake. Aside from looking a little disheveled, he had survived the battle with no injuries. He whispered something to Jorzan which only made the crazed smile wider.

  ‘Excellent! Prepare transport, we leave at once!’ He responded. He turned back to the pair on the other side of the barrier. ‘One last thing. As you probably guessed, that body downstairs isn’t your son. He was clever enough to leave a decoy in his wake but not clever enough to avoid my agents. They are transporting him back to me as we speak...I wonder what fun conversations are in store for the two of us hey? Don’t worry though, I won’t kill him straight away...’ And with that Jorzan the terrible turned and walked out of the room where Dar’Kannag had been held prisoner for so long.

  This time it was the normally unflappable Nex who couldn’t control her rage and she emptied her gun into the barrier as she screamed madly, tears running down her face. Even as the gun clicked empty, as Jorzan strolled out of sight, her high pitched scream continued until a big hand softly squeezed her shoulder.

  Dar’Kannag stood, the broken sparking body of Unit M supported in his other hand.

  ‘We find our boy, no matter what.’ He said quietly. First they would find a place to hide, to mend and then the hunt would begin.

  She nodded, wiping the tears away from her eyes and then embraced her beloved in the biggest hug possible, like they hadn’t seen each other in over a century.

  IT WAS A BALMY AFTERNOON in the big park with the sounds of birds chirping in the trees and the noise of children playing nearby, mixing in with the low rumble of traffic past the edges of the reserve. On a bench in the middle of the park sat an old man with a small brown paper bag of stale bread crusts that he tossed occasionally to the delight of the pigeons nearby.

  ‘They come from another friend of mine’ he explained as the younger man walked up and sat beside him on the hard wooden chair ‘When the grandkids would come to visit he’d make them a sandwich and cut the crusts off just the way they liked it. Wouldn’t want the rest to go to waste that Henry. And the birds seem happy enough with it.’

  ‘I didn’t expect to find you somewhere like here.’ The new arrival finally spoke after enjoying a few calm moments of the warm sun on his face.

  ‘Aye, not my usual haunt, no. But then it’s been a while now since we both spoke and let’s just say that a lot had changed in that length of time. For both of us, I suspect.’

  They sat in silence for a few moments, the old man continuing to toss bread bits from his seemingly unending supply.

  ‘You’re looking well I will say.’

  ‘Thank you. But secretly I’m feeling worn out. Burnt out even.’ The younger man admitted. ‘Work...work is crushing me currently.’ He thought for a moment about exactly what it was that was giving him the overwhelming feeling of doom and gloom but his mind was suddenly blank and nothing was jumping out at him.

  ‘You always work too hard you know.’

  ‘Look who’s talking!’ he smirked

  ‘Aye, but that came to an end eventually.’

  ‘Not by choice...’

  ‘Aye..but all things have to come to an end sooner or later.’

  A few moments passed.

  ‘You don’t sound like you’re ready to quit though.’

  ‘Maybe I should...I’ve been doing this for so long now. Longer than I can remember. Day in, day out. It’s all I know. I can’t remember the last time I got an invite to something like drinks out or even to a wedding. It’s all work - there is no life.’

  ‘Maybe. But you’ve got a lot of people depending on you. Think of all the good you’ve done. Think of all the lives you’ve saved.’

  ‘And all the ones I’ve ended...’

  ‘The needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few’ the old man quoted. ‘Your tally for good far outweighs the choices you’ve made to get you there.’

  ‘So in that case, maybe it’s time to call it a day then? I’ve already left a mark on the world, good and bad. Maybe it’s time to pack up my bat and ball and call it a day?’

  A woman walked past the pair, pushing a stroller. She smiled at the two as she passed and her face looked familiar but the young man struggled to recall where he had s
een her before.

  ‘Deep down in your heart you know that’s not the case. There’s still too much to do, too much of the good fight to fight. Do you really think you’re ready for what’s next?’

  ‘Which is?’

  ‘Well...’ sighed the old man ‘It’s a lot of soul searching and feeding the pigeons really. Can’t say it’s the most exciting of times but once in a while I run into people who are special to me. That’s definitely a highlight.’

  They both smiled in silence and many minutes passed when the younger man spoke once more.

  ‘So...when will I see you again...Dad?’

  The old man looked to the sky, to the surrounding park and then back to his son. ‘Oh when the fates decide it’s time I suppose. But for now, let this be a gentle reminder that you are far from done. Your light is going to shine for a far longer time to come.’ Ignoring the look of disbelief, he patted the man’s shoulder. ‘But don’t worry, there’ll be plenty of time to hang about and chat with your old man. I love you dearly Alex, and don’t you ever forget that.’

  The men embraced, a solid strong hug.

  ‘Now, before this gets embarrassingly soppy, we best get you back. There are too many people relying on you for you to be wasting time with dear old dad here.’ And with that, he suddenly slapped Agent Omega hard cross the face.

  ‘Wake up!’

  ‘Ow! What the hell was that f-’

  He slapped again, the sharp sting causing his vision to swim and the sights of the park went dark.

  ‘Stop tha-

  ‘WAKE’

  Slap.

  ‘Up!’

  ‘Wake up dammit, you don’t get to stay in bed, there’s shit to be done! Now wake the fuc-’