The World Ahead

by Chucho Jones

  “Connor, answer me,” He yelled with difficulty. He reached for a grenade but he was all out. The female foe and her escorts got menacingly close, Leon crawled away from them and towards Connor, leaving a bloody trail from his broken tibia.

  “Connor, come on get up girl!” He demanded with a deferential shout. The tight embrace around his chest lurked down and around his left leg. A single tug got his leg back in place. His world spun around and he saw every color of the spectrum right before him. For a moment, he became breathless. A shiver up his spine triggered his nervous system and burnt it with pain. Leon wanted to shout out of his lungs but instead, he gagged due to the excruciating pain emanating an array of gurgling sounds – quite unflatteringly.

  A white blast from beneath the IFO flipped it up in the air. The wrecking ball twisted over onto the dark menace. The evil eve spun around and with a single blow she cut the vehicle in two. The collateral damage of the IFO rendered two of her escorts destroyed. Leon had just enough time to limp over to the armless maiden. Together they took a stand to the menacing lady.

  Leon held a worrisome expression at the site of the mangled beauty as he stood by her.

  “Are you ok” he asked her. The synthetic perfection began to decompose some of her parts into reconstructing her arm. The change in mass made her appear as if she had taken off her high heels to Leon’s eyes.

  “You know, I’m really starting to get sick of fighting crazy mutant ladies, why don’t you take this one.” He joked at Connor as he felt the tide turn. She grinned and winked at him in approval, she gave him his bat and a hand full of grenades.

  “Fine, cover me Captain Thunderbolt”, She said in a flirtatious manner. Leon couldn’t help to feel confused but he enjoyed the adrenaline rush for a quick change. He began to knock a few disks left and right bringing some of the scarlet escorts down. He did what he could to keep a straight fight between the two ferocious women.

  The Omnimaiden turned her arms into tentacles and began to whip away. The shadowed menace parried every single blow the maiden threw at her. The gliding darkness took a retreating stand and threw mercuranium Kunai at the synthetic beauty. Connor dodged most of the attacks except for the one that punctured her right shoulder.

  She turned her tentacle into a pincer, pulled the Kunai out, and threw it back at her foe. Omnimaiden took a blow with her Left whip but the evil eve slashed straight through the maiden’s attack. Leon took a chance and knocked a disk straight to the glider’s chest. The maiden saw her opportunity and shot an energy blast straight at the grenade.

  BOOM!

  The explosion knocked the glider thirty feet back onto debris. Leon’s leg prop began to decompose and fell quickly on his right knee. The maiden’s body began to malfunction.

  “What’s going on? are you ok?” Leon asked concerned. The maiden turned her head to Leon with trouble.

  “I’m running out of time,” she slowly replied.

  “What do you mean you’re running out of time, I thought you had six hours a few hours ago,” he answered back.

  “Yes, but I’ve used most of my power towards this encounter. I have failed you and I apologize. I will use the remainder of my power to keep you safe until family show’s up, I’ve already sent an emergency distress signal.”

  The dark glider crawled out of the debris. She disposed to attack. Leon hopped in front of the maiden to protect her while holding his last grenade. he took his PCCP helmet off to see better, exposing his human look. The menacing woman in black yielded in hesitation for a second. A red and orange thick blast hit her from behind and got knocked on the ground hard. She promptly got back on her feet and turned to oppose her new foe. Leon couldn’t believe his eyes. It was Oliver, wearing nothing but an oversized poncho covered in feces accompanied by his kidnapper.

  A red manta drone grabbed Leon from his shoulders and began to gain altitude. The dark glider took flight as she threw yet another flurry of Kunai towards the Mime, her demeanor showed no concern towards the young boy. Leon’s heart rushed for a second, he threw the grenade at the hag in mid-air. She deflected Leon’s throw and the thing went ricocheting straight towards Oliver.

  “Master Hawke, No!” yelled the synthetic beauty. The Mime quickly grabbed hold of the boy and protected him from the blast. A red manta drone got destroyed in the explosion. Some of its debris pierced the Mime’s back around the vulnerable parts of his armor. He tossed Oliver to the side and turned over to the dark glider. He reached his gaiter’s side pocket and pulled out a foot-long blade with a Tesla shocker in a ballpoint resting on the hilt. He went after his prey.

  The dark menace flew straight to the maiden, Leon tried with all his might to free himself from the robotic grasp but he was too injured and too far off the action to be of any help. Oliver’s kidnapper shot his grappling hook at the gliding rogue, grabbing her by the foot. He was quickly pulled at, but reacted just in time. His arm gleaned an indigo sheen from his shoulder toward to his fist as he got the strength to pull her down hard. She hit the ground and used her bladed sides to cut down the Mime’s cable in a quick reaction. The blow sent a magnetic shock up the cable and into the Mime’s wrists leaving him stout and immobilized. Leon saw the approaching moment of the femme fatale going after Connor from a high distance feeling helpless. In an attempt at doing something to stop the menace, he reacted.

  “Oliver, shoot this damn thing down,” the scoundrel yelled at the boy without thinking of any possible consequences. Oliver was busy fighting a manta drone of his own. He was taking cover under a couple of metal sheets, keeping safe from the robot’s grasp. The boy heard the cry for help and charged his blast. He lifted his hand upward and shot. The metal covers blew out destroying the scarlet drone. Oliver quickly shot a second blast at Leon’s oppressor. The mechanical thing went spiraling down. The rebel lost grasp from its clutches. He swung along with the falling drone and, as best he could, he aimed for the dark glider. She stuck the needle end of her mask into the maiden’s chest sucking all the white glowing fluid from her translucent entrails.

  Leon held his bat tight over his head with both arms as he fell fast towards the synthetic girl and her female prowler. He felt the shocking hit, he swung the mightiest blow that he could. His whole body felt as if a string puppet had suddenly lost all its strings, but it was worth it. Once more he proved that he could react in the nick of time. The maiden’s body fell to the ground. Leon’s body grabbed momentum from the fall as he hit the femme fatale. He stopped rolling and he quickly realized the agonizing pain his body was going through.

  “Ahh! I can’t move, I can’t feel my body,” he yelled in desperation. All three bodies laid on the ground after the fall. There was no time to think about pain just then. The dark glider got on her feet and looked straight at the fallen rebel. He felt faint, he knew his end was coming, he felt sorry that his young nephew had to witness him not going the distance.

  Leon caught a glimpse of the evil eve’s face, half her mask was broken. she looked almost human, Leon saw the evil in her eyes, her face showed most of her humanity had vanished. He was ready to face his end, what best way to go than at the hand of a woman. Oliver shot at the evil eve but she kept a fast getaway and glided off into the distance.

  The boy continued to shoot in frustration, Leon feared Oliver would feel guilty about his mangled body.

  He ran straight to his uncle and placed his arm over his uncle’s chest.

  “Holy hell! You’re all broken why would you do that?” he asked in grief.

  “Don’t ask stupid questions… what happened to you?” Leon said in shock after noticing his nephew’s new appearance. “Never mind that now, go help her. We can’t lose her.” It wasn’t a request, it was a demand. The Mime dragged his body with what strength he had left and pried the geo-thermal battery off Oliver’s arm. The boy tried to prevent it to help his uncle but the pale rogue quickly grabbed Oliver and neutralized him with a Tesla shock from his knife’s hilt. Oliver laid next to his uncle.
They were both helpless and unable to move. The rogue stranger got close to the dying maiden. His face showed deep pain. He grabbed hold of her tenderly.

  “Hey, leave her alone,” Leon yelled.

  The Mime looked at his wrist pad to evaluate his nano-gauge. He reached inside the maiden’s entrails with his fist.

  “Don’t touch her you freak! Leave her alone,” the scoundrel yelled in desperation. The pale stranger’s skin shined an indigo shimmer from the top of his head, down his arm and into the maiden’s core. Her entrails illuminated briefly, the Mime fell unconscious.

  Suddenly, the maiden’s core began to glow intensely and a beam of light shot upward. Leon worried too much attention was being called towards them. He suddenly felt the weight of the world on his shoulders, he failed his nephew, and he had failed his sister. More importantly, he finally accepted he failed himself. The muffled sounds echoed as it became more difficult to breathe with each passing breath. A blinding white light gave him the feeling of moving forward, yet his body remained still. There was nothing else to think about.

  7

  Chapter 7

  The subtle chirping of birds announced morning, while a breeze sounded through the trees. Early morning sunshine entered through the window’s translucent drapes, filling the room with warmth. Victoria opened her eyes to the shimmery light, rising up, trying to recognize where she was. She looked around, noticing the room’s walls – a pleasant baby blue with white décor, the look appeared southern in style. Through the window she saw big chestnut and apple trees along the lawn, beside the country cottage.

  “Laura?” she yelled for her new guardian. For a second, a sensation of lonely wonder overcame her. Her eyes reddened, she had no time for fear; she remembered the strong words of her father – they were of comfort:

  “You can never back down in the midst of battle, even when the times are calm,” she thought over the mantra. She breathed deeply and walked out the room, into the various hallways.

  “Laura, where are you?” her heart began to pound, yet her demeanor remained calm. She couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling overcoming her body as she walked the idyllic hallways, the walls were dressed with pictures of flowers in rustic white borders. She came down the stairs, alert to the absence of any sound, through the house. This was an unexpected change in environment from her welcoming committee. Prying open the front door, she gazed briefly at the porch. She saw a barn with the doors open, and through the garden flowers, across the yard, she heard a familiar screech from the bushes adjacent the barn.

  “Chuggy,” she whispered excitedly. She cautiously took a step out of the house and began running across the yard following the sound of her furry friend.

  She found her short primitive friend gloating and munching on the flower shrubs that sat on the side of the barn. Seeing Chuggy fooling around put her heart at ease.

  “Chuggy, get over here girl,” she called. “Ya ya guam!” replied the creature, referring to Victoria. They embraced each other, and the girl felt the warmth of the creature’s hands on her face, until it became distracted with a butterfly passing nearby. As the pygmy jumped to catch the butterfly, a flurry of winged beauties burst from the flower shrubs. Chuggy went chasing after them, and Victoria followed the creature. One after the other the butterflies would dissipate into a blue haze as the creature reached out to them with her stubby fingers. The remaining butterflies made a blue tint haze, and then flew off the distance. The primitive pygmy jumped after them but got knocked back by an invisible force, a loud thud echoed all throughout the barn’s surroundings.

  Victoria looked around once more and realized the sky looked like a domed ceiling. She began to fear the worst – like they had been tricked by their captors. The sunny horizon was replaced by shaking ripples on the curved walls. The walls opened and through the malleable opening the chaos and destruction of the world was projected. Massive and clunky industrial structures loomed in the distance, giant domes of gold, silver, and green. Victoria couldn’t believe her eyes. Just then in her mind she relived the chaos that her crew had just gone through at their arrival, her heart pounded. A grand silver UFO approached the barnyard through the rippling hole. The girl grabbed her small companion and ran for cover by the barn’s walls.

  The atom shaped UFO’s revolving rings stopped at a crossed position which resembled an ‘X’. From beneath the silver cockpit in the center of the rings, the metal melted, turning into a walkway. A man and a woman dressed in colored form fitted overalls rushed out pushing a vita-capsule, the pod carried the remains of the Omnimaiden’s body inside. A second and third capsule brought out the mysterious stranger that took Oliver and a gravely injured Leon. Victoria coiled between the shrubs and the barn’s walls, she wondered about her lost friend; she was worrying about Oliver. Suddenly, the boy came gliding down in a floating medical chair wearing an oxygen mask, Victoria rushed towards the boy and he quickly took his mask off at the sight of the girl getting up. The girl was shocked at the sight of the overgrown boy. She tiptoed and embraced the boy properly.

  “Oliver, what happened to you?” She said in surprise. The boy raised his modified arm.

  “Seems like the wielder was feeding off my energy. It aged me rapidly,” he said. His voice sounded with a newly discovered confidence. Victoria caught a whiff of Oliver’s crusty attire.

  “What’s that smell?” She asked.

  “I had to crawl through the sewage, we were being chased by flying robots.” Said the boy with tone of excitement. Victoria realized that Oliver’s change was more than superficial. Her heart pounded strongly for him, but something inside made her hesitate about Oliver’s new confidence.

  “Where are we? Leon needs help.” Oliver said with some concern. Victoria was relieved to hear a shred of the sentimental in his words. The boy’s demeanor was different, alien to how Victoria had recognized him before. She felt a rushing sensation.

  “We’re in our old barn house,” Laura shouted, she was inside the wooden structure, slowly walking around with her Beretta shotgun. She cocked the weapon and firmly walked toward the crowd.

  “Don’t move! or I’ll blow your fucking feet off!” She shouted. The color-coded men and women escorting her brother’s medical pod and her family into the cottage, raised their hands in the air, and halted.

  Victoria’s blood rushed at the sight of the showdown. From inside the cottage, a floating robot carcass with an egg-shaped torso began to approach. The mechanical marvel raised its arms at Laura.

  “Please General Hawke, calm your senses. Those weapons were not designed to work. Let’s be civilized,” said the robot, in a pleasant monotonous voice. Laura squinted her eyes at the robot, she took a shot at the machine’s left kinetic shin, then cocked the weapon again and shot the other shin right off. The robot fell, crashing against the ground.

  “I made it work,” she replied. Victoria saw the madness in Laura’s eyes. She was worried about the crew’s present situation – she wanted it all to stop.

  “Laura please, they’re trying to help us… can’t you see?” she said, in an attempt to reason with the wild lady. “Look at them, they’ve gone through hell,” she continued. Victoria had a keen eye when it came to reading people’s demeanor, but in this case, it was more a reflection than intuition.

  Laura looked at Victoria, then she gazed at her son. The mother ran crumbling down to her kid, she embraced him ever so tightly. Victoria was filled with warmth at the site, although she longed for such an embrace from her protective father. Her eyes watered, but her heart felt strong and proud. She had the leadership qualities of her father; they were worth more than any embrace. She cleared the tears from her eyes, the crew walked into the house along with their escorts. Oliver floated by the robot on the ground as he was being pushed by F.A.M.I.L.Y.’s medic. His arm’s display shown a blueish sheen.

  “Gr-3g?” the boy asked the robot. The robot propped-up his body, placing his mechanical hand-claws on the ground. The mechanical
structure elongated its tentacle arms, and began to walk alongside Oliver.

  “Gr-3g was my last serial name. The entry data shows derivatives that contrast with my new protocol. I wouldn’t like to be reminded of such feats. I’m still looking for a new serial name. The name Grendel computes,” the robot continued. Victoria looked at the robot’s frame on its chest. ‘Gr-3g’ shown in a chromatic light, contrasting the matte metal of the rest of the frame.

  “It almost reads as Greg. How about we call you Greg? It almost sounds like Grendel and it will not make you think of the past,” Victoria said. She noticed the crippled legs on account of Laura’s attack.

  Victoria feared that between all the commotion someone had to become the crew’s civil ambassador. This was a feat she took close to her heart – as soon as she lost her father.

  “Children, don’t trust it. It’s not safe,” said Laura to both kids as she put her arm around Victoria and held Oliver by the shoulder while he floated on his medical chair. Victoria walked into the house feeling the warmth of Laura’s arm around her. For a moment, she distracted herself with accepting the fool’s notion of the false reality she was living in; if only for a brief time. She took a few deep breaths and imagined the meals that could be had in that lovely place, the brief sentiment allowed her to move on with a short smile on her face.

  The sentiment was quickly lost after what came next: The medical crew was rushing to tend to Leon. Everybody was moving back and forth on what would be the home’s kitchen. A variety of sleek round edged consoles where laid along the room. An ergonomic form fitted piece of furniture with energy fields to the side of it became Leon’s operating table. He was laid up on his backside, multiple operating tentacles worked on his body under the control of two F.A.M.I.L.Y. medics.