Bonecrusher: A Kaiju Thriller (The Armageddon Tetralogy Book 1)

by Ambrose Ibsen

  It was gravely mistaken, however.

  Silvio sucked back a few sobs, his body shaking like a leaf. A little chuckle formed in the back of his throat, easing its way out slowly as he recognized the creature's inability to crush the mech like a bug. He was alive. A little shaken up, but alive.

  And he was pissed.

  The mech twitched slightly as Silvio fought to reestablish the powerful mental link he'd shared with it only moments before, and as it did so, the Colossus' attention was captured. Like a monolithic house cat whose curiosity had gotten the better of it, it squatted down just a bit, its hideous, jagged face lowered in a narrow inspection of the fallen machine.

  It was with no little effort that Silvio willed ARTEMIS to rise. Flexing at the core, he loosed the mech from the earth and then used its arm to lift it into a handstand position. Then, in the next instant, ARTEMIS' legs were tucked in and a donkey kick of tremendous proportions was delivered to the face of the leering tyrant.

  Silvio buried both of ARTEMIS' heels in the Colossus' face, knocking it several feet back and making it lose its balance. It fell to the ground with a sharp roar of pain, and something was knocked from its face in the impact. A large spike which had protruded from its jawline had been loosened, broken by the hammer-blow that was dealt by ARTEMIS' feet.

  “How do you like the taste of that?” roared Silvio, righting the mech and willing it to stand up. He palmed a mixture of sweat and blood from his brow and leaned forward in his seat, focusing on the form of the fallen Colossus in his display. “It's go-time. No more playing around. It looks like you can bleed, so let's get on with the blood-letting!”

  Without wasting a moment, Silvio tore forward in the mech, delivering a firm straight to the stunned creature's jaw and catching it by surprise. A hit to the head proved more effective that a body shot had been, and the Colossus shook his head something fierce as the stunning blow registered. Not to be overtaken however, the creature's tail sailed into view, bumping into ARTEMIS' side and sending her into the other warehouse. That it'd remained standing up to that point was a miracle. It fell apart all around him like a house of cards.

  Pawing away the mounds of rubble, Silvio scanned his surroundings and spotted an abandoned crane. The place had emptied out; anyone with any sense in their heads had hightailed it out of the area when the Colossus reared its head. Anyone else, unfortunately, was probably dead. Reaching out for the crane and standing ARTEMIS back up, Silvio sized up the beast afresh. “Well, I don't think anyone's gonna mind if I take this little crane for a spin.”

  Wielding the crane like a flail, ARTEMIS gave it a mighty swing, the thing's bulk catching the Colossus clean in the head. It was a relatively small blow, and the crane dissolved against its dense plating as though it were nothing, but it slowed it down as it advanced again upon ARTEMIS. Barking aggressively, the creature's wounded face could be seen to sizzle as the crane's guts erupted into fire.

  In a rage now, the beast surged forward, reaching out and slugging ARTEMIS hard in the head. The momentum of the blow knocked the mech to its knees. Silvio was thoroughly jostled, the harness he wore digging into his flesh. It was going to leave some serious bruises. Before he could stand ARTEMIS up, the mech's one hand was batted away by the Colossus and a black set of claws hit her straight in the center.

  It wasn't his own body that'd been struck, but Silvio's breath was knocked out of him all the same. When ARTEMIS was thrown to the ground, the entire cockpit fell into a disarray. Electrode patches were ripped free, the harness pressed into him so hard that his bones creaked and, once again, he hit his head on a nearby panel, drawing yet more blood. He felt suddenly nauseous, his mouth filled with a metallic taste. It was probably blood. Or maybe some new drug was coming through the spinal pipeline. Or maybe it was both.

  Licking his lips languidly, he looked to the display.

  He found he couldn't see straight, though.

  “Ah, fuck...” That last blow had given him hell. His one good eye was still functioning, but his connection with ARTEMIS had weakened sufficiently to cut off his extra-sensory sight. His depth perception was demolished, and his remaining eye was a little blurry.

  Fighting the creature one-armed had been one thing. Up until just a second ago, he'd been faring marvelously well.

  Fighting the Colossus while dizzy and injured was another thing altogether. He wasn't even sure he could fully control the mech anymore. Some of the electrodes had been knocked off of him with that last hit. The apparatus on his back itched and burned; had it come loose? Uncertain just how much he was still linked with ARTEMIS, Silvio sat upright and tried to stand the thing up.

  She complied, albeit, jerkily.

  ARTEMIS stood, swaying very slightly, and Silvio tried to raise her arm in a strike. The arm remained limp at ARTEMIS' side, however, as if all of the joints in it had broken. “That's not good,” he muttered, kneading at his brow and trying to center his vision. He focused hard on his blind eye, trying to seek out the connection he'd had with ARTEMIS just moments ago. If he could link up with the sensory system again, then he'd be able to hold his own. Probably.

  There was no time.

  The Colossus was charging at him.

  Tensing up, Silvio tried in vain to bring ARTEMIS' hand up in a feeble defense. It was pointless, however. The link between them had been weakened tremendously.

  He was about to get knocked on his ass again, and this time, he might not get back up. There was no telling just how many hits of that kind he could take. Though ARTEMIS was apparently unbreakable, he was still just a sack of meat getting thrown around within. Funny how Conway hadn't devised some way to keep the operator safe during the heat of battle. Really showed where his priorities were in the design.

  Suddenly, he heard what sounded like cannon fire.

  Turning drunkenly from the rushing form of the Colossus, Silvio spotted a line of green tanks firing away at the monstrosity from a spot near the hill. They'd rushed in from just beyond the fallen warehouses and were giving it their all. There must have been at least a dozen. Their rounds did nothing to harm the creature, though they did make for a perfect distraction. The Colossus stopped in its tracks and roared in what could only be perceived as annoyance, its body pelted in rounds of cannon fire.

  Flailing about the cockpit, Silvio doubled down on his focus and willed ARTEMIS' arm to move. The limb started to life with a jerk like a live wire had been pressed to it, and he found himself capable of balling its massive fist once again. “There we go! That's what I'm talking about!” he shouted. Forcing ARTEMIS a few wobbly steps forward, he reached out and delivered a lightning-fast jab to the distracted monster's throat.

  The Colossus sputtered mid-roar and fell back, thrashing violently against the ground and causing the tanks to bounce into the air. Then, unexpectedly, it turned and fled as quickly as its four limbs could take it.

  The Colossus was running away.

  Silvio burst into laughter as he watched it sprint off, tearing a solid path of destruction into the earth as it went. Everything in its way was utterly devastated, but as it scampered off it looked not unlike a frightened dog. Its powerful tail lagged behind limply as it went.

  It was probably heading back to the lake to lick its wounds. It hadn't been properly defeated, but it'd suffered enough in this bout to wound its pride. “That's what I thought,” sighed Silvio, leaning against the control panel. “Run far, far away, you piece of shit.”

  He took a few wobbly steps in ARTEMIS after it, but she dropped to her knees soon thereafter. He was whipped, too tired to even think about a pursuit. And besides, his control over the mech was slipping again. He struggled just to keep it upright, to keep it from slamming into the ground like a hunk of impotent metal.

  Looking around the cockpit, Silvio found things were in a terrible state. Wires-- wires he'd never even seen before-- were sticking out of breaks in the paneling. There was a sound blaring in his ear, which he hadn't noticed till right then for
the pounding of his pulse, that sounded like an alarm. It chirped incessantly, not a sound he remembered hearing in ARTEMIS before, and it refused to quit even as he batted different buttons on the console. Whatever it was, it sounded important. It was evidently something he was supposed to take notice of.

  Another sound, this time a familiar one, broke into the chaos of the cockpit. It was Dr. Deal's voice. Where she was calling from was uncertain.

  “Silvio!” she said, her voice crackling over a recessed speaker. “Don't move. Don't you dare move. Didn't you hear the alarm? You were supposed to retreat. Don't move an inch.”

  “Why not?” he asked with a smirk, closing his eyes and leaning back in the seat. “It's all taken care of. The monster ran off on me. It'll be all right for now.”

  “No, Silvio, you need to listen to me. Stay still, don't try and move the unit anymore, got that? Your vitals... they're out of control. You could stroke out at any moment, do you understand me? Your body has been put under too great a strain-- you could die in there!”

  “Huh,” he replied. Something tickled his sweaty upper lip. Tracing it with his finger, he studied his fingertip blankly. It was red with blood. “Whoa, doc. Looks like I've got a serious nosebleed going on.” Then, for reasons he couldn't name, he began to laugh uncontrollably.

  “Silvio, hold on! We'll get you out of there soon, I promise!”

  His nose was positively gushing. He felt a steady stream of blood hitting his bare chest, soaking his flesh and seeping into the harness that'd so cut into him during the fight. He was no stranger to nosebleeds, but this one was quite the gusher, the worst he could recall.

  “I'm, uh... I'm...” He tried to form the words, but his voice disappeared into his throat.

  His vision went black.

  The last thing he remembered was ARTEMIS crashing to the ground, landing with an earth-crunching thud.

  22

  “It's over here.” The recovery specialist ambled over to the jagged piece of black material that'd embedded itself into the ground. He waved his geiger counter around a few moments, making sure it wasn't emitting deadly radiation, and then turned to the rest of his team. “We're going to need some equipment to drag this thing back to HQ. Think it'll fit in a truck?”

  Another team member nodded. “It should. We'll have some of the grunts bring us a few vehicles. I'll phone the commandant now.”

  “Shouldn't we call the CDC guys, first, before we get this close to it?” asked another among them, eyeing the piece of the monster guardedly. They'd been informed by the troops that a piece of the Colossus had been discovered in the field. Dispatched by the NDC to collect the sample for research, the government recovery team had tracked it down without much difficulty. It was hard to miss, sticking out of the ground awkwardly amidst the destruction and acres of felled trees.

  “Should be fine. We need to get it out of here and see what it's made of,” said the first, picking up his radio and giving McCoy a call. “We found it,” he said. “We're going to need a little help to get it out of here. It's about the size of a telephone pole, probably pretty heavy, judging by the way it's buried in the ground.” His breath fogged up the hood of his hazmat suit as he spoke.

  The commandant replied. “Give me your location and I'll send some guys your way. Get that thing outta here, quick,” he added. “Can't stand having even a piece of that sumbitch on my turf.”

  “No problem. We'll haul it off to a lab as soon as we're able.” Appraising the black spike, he frowned. He'd seen the beast lumbering across the field, had seen the destruction it was capable of, however to get a close look at a piece of it in this way disgusted him immensely.

  “We'll see just what you're made of,” he said, tapping on it with his gloved hand.

  Whatever it was, it felt rock-hard, tough as diamonds.

  ***

  Something prodded his face.

  It felt cool against his skin.

  He pictured Leah, one of her chubby fingers toying with his lips, a toothy grin plastered on her chubbier cheeks.

  He opened his eyes with a smile, but his daughter wasn't there. Blinking hard, he spotted a piercing white light in the corner of his eye that bathed the entirety of his surroundings in the sort of sterile glow one might expect while getting abducted by aliens. Silvio let his head droop to one side, spotting a fluttery wall of green.

  Where the hell am I? He thought, his body so weak he couldn't even bring himself to turn his head the other way. He stared on for a long while, mystified at the flapping of the walls, only to realize he was in a tent. From somewhere nearby, he heard Dr. Deal speaking to him.

  Though he should've been relieved to be alive, the sound of her voice reminded him of where he was, and of the battle he'd been fighting when the lights had gone out. The image of the Colossus flickered through his mind and made his stomach lurch. When the vomit surged up his esophagus he didn't even try to stop it, and unloaded his belly over the edge of the gurney.

  “Silvio!” Dr. Deal was upon him in the next moment, helping him sit up. Even after he finished heaving he felt his gut writhing and contracting. His throat ached, as did his head, and as he turned his teary gaze to the rest of his body he found some trouble in finding a body part that didn't hurt like hell. The color of the bruises on his limbs were intense. Even after getting clobbered in the ring he seldom took home bruises of that kind. There were needles in his arms, hooked to IV tubing and bags of fluid. He could hear dinging now, as of a telemetry monitor, after the sounds of his retching died out.

  “Still alive,” he managed to mutter, slowly laying back onto the gurney with Dr. Deal's help.

  “Just barely,” she corrected him, crossing her arms and taking on the air of a disappointed schoolteacher. “You pushed yourself way too hard, very nearly killed yourself. The entire ARTEMIS project was almost cancelled just now. Without a pilot, the unit would have been shelved for months, and...” Her eyes softened. “We were worried,” she added, seemingly as an afterthought.

  Silvio grinned a little, bringing a palm to his forehead. Worried about your robot and your investments, that is. He cleared his throat and scanned the tent slowly. It was a threadbare space, featuring only a handful of apparatuses. Judging by the sounds of choppers that reached his ears from high above and the pervasive scent of oil, they were still in the hot zone.

  “So, what happened to me out there?” he asked.

  Flipping through some paperwork, Dr. Deal sat on the side of the gurney. “Well, what didn't happen to you? You had some very light internal bleeding from being tossed around the cockpit. Nothing life-threatening, but it's not going to feel good or look pretty. Aside from that, it seems we administered too much of the steroid through the infusion device; the chaos in the cockpit led to an error in its dispensation. It made your blood pressure skyrocket. You narrowly avoided a stroke. If not for your general good health and youth, you would surely have died. Count your lucky stars, Silvio.”

  “Huh.” Silvio clicked his tongue. “Surprised Conway didn't bring me any flowers. He's usually such a softie.”

  The doctor chuckled. “You're lucky he didn't finish the job and kill you after the Colossus fled. He was mighty angry that you took his precious baby out to battle with only one arm.” She glanced up at the telemetry monitor, then put away the thermometer probe she'd been holding. So that'd been what he'd felt poking him in the face. “What you did was heroic, but next time you'll need to exercise more caution, Silvio. Otherwise... there might not be a next time.”

  He tried to wrap his mind around that, the concept of his dying at ARTEMIS' helm. He hadn't considered it a whole lot up to that point, feeling too unstoppable to worry about his safety. Meeting the Colossus head-on, though, had changed his perception. It was a formidable opponent, not the kind of thing he was willing to fuck with. The next time they met in battle-- and he knew it would be sooner than he liked-- it could definitely be the end of him. ARTEMIS hadn't been built with the safety of its opera
tor in mind. For that matter, it hadn't been built to get thrown around like a rag doll by some giant lake monster. There was no way for him to stay safe in the cockpit, save to weigh his moves more carefully and avoid the heavy hits.

  It was no different from what he'd always faced in the ring.

  Someone entered the tent. “I see you're awake,” came a voice tinged with no little sharpness.

  It was Conway.

  Silvio grinned, sitting up in bed and nodding. “I hear you were real worried about me.”

  Conway was just about to bark at him when someone else entered from behind. It was Commandant McCoy.

  “There he is, the man of the goddamn hour!” said McCoy clapping his hands. “I tell you, kid, you pulled some serious weight out there!” He laughed loudly, placing a hand on Conway's shoulder like they were old friends. “Wouldn't you say so? He sent that fuckin' monster packing in a hurry!”

  Conway brushed the commandant's hand away and sneered. “And almost ruined years of work in the process. What he did was imbecilic. He could have gotten himself killed, and worse, destroyed ARTEMIS.”

  “Ouch,” muttered Silvio. “Tell us how you really feel, doc.”

  Shoving a finger at him as though it were a spear, Conway grimaced. “You repelled the beast, but I warn you I won't allow such carelessness again. It was a one-time deal, Mr. Echegaray. And taking such risks with my technology is unacceptable. Is that understood?”

  “Crystal clear,” replied Silvio.

  Conway stormed out, shaking his head. It would probably be a long time before he let this one go.

  McCoy walked over and took Silvio's hand firmly, shaking it. “I gave you a lot of shit, but you came through for us, kid. Glad to have you fighting on our side through all of this.” He slapped Silvio's arm so hard that the bruises on it began to throb with renewed vigor.