RIOT DAWN_Attack of the Space Druids

by Anthony Thackston

  Hick winked at her from under her cyber arm and plunged his fist at her solar plexus. Riot deflected the blow and tried to counter but Hick was faster. His next hit landed a boot to the inside of her leg, driving Riot to one knee.

  Hick swung his leg up, preparing to axe-kick her in the head but Riot rolled backwards and popped back to her feet. She didn’t give him time to reorient himself and leaped back into it, throwing a flurry of punches. That time, he decided to phase and her strikes hit nothing but air.

  Finally, he solidified and merely shoved her backward. “I think that’s enough. We’ve proven our point. And now, I and we think it’s time you left us. I tried to bring our team back together but you were just too stubborn.”

  “Stunner,” Riot said.

  “Well, thanks but I’m pretty sure I know what I look like.”

  “Stunner,” Riot repeated. She could hear the motor sound start up in her arm but there was still no further activity.

  “I don’t know what you’re on about but goodbye, Sarge.” Hick held his hands out and they crackled with electricity. He blasted a lighting bolt at Riot.

  “Stunner!” she yelled, her metal arm up to block the lightning heading her way. It was a futile attempt. The bolts would hit the metal and course all around her.

  But the motor turned and two metal prongs popped up on the back of her hand just as her arm was hit. The prongs pulled the lighting between them and the tendrils arced back and forth between them.

  “Well, don’t that just make you the luckiest girl in the world?” Hick asked before changing tactics.

  The temperature in the room quickly dropped but Riot didn’t wait around to see what was next. She’d experienced the cold attack already. She rushed forward and took a swing at Hick with her metal arm. He tried to phase out but the electrical current struck him, preventing him from phasing. The rest of her fist plowed into his head, hitting him hard enough to spin him around.

  Hick stuck an arm out, keeping balance on the wall. “What? What happened?”

  Riot aimed her gun and shot Hick in the knee. The surprise impact dropped him to the floor.

  “I don’t get it,” Hick said. “Why can’t I—”

  “Funny thing about electricity,” Riot said. “It has this weird way of locking up muscles. I guess that includes your little phasing trick.” Riot drove her knee into Hick’s head. He tried to phase again but it didn’t work.

  He fell to the floor and spit up blood.

  “I guess you can still bleed,” Riot said.

  “I coulda told you that,” Hick replied. “Thing is, I can bleed. I just can’t be hurt!” He swung his combat knife at her shins but Riot jumped back.

  She fired at him, emptying the rest of her gun and riddling Hick with bullets. His body jerked as he was struck but he still got to his feet.

  Riot tossed the useless gun. Now it was just her and whatever still worked in her arm.

  Hick cracked his neck. “That phasing was a neat little trick. I’m gonna miss it but I didn’t need it.” He looked down at the bullet holes in his body as they closed up. “Between you and me, Sarge, I’m not sure I need these guys either. I mean, look at me. Beat up, shot up and I’m still standing. Got you to thank for that, what with resurrecting me and all.”

  “I’ll be sure to rectify that,” Riot said, coldly.

  Hick sighed. “Even though you’ve seen it, you still don’t get it. I can’t be hurt. If I can’t be hurt that means I can’t be killed!”

  Riot flexed her metal wrist and the fourteen-inch blade slid out from her forearm. “We’ll see about that after I cut your damn head off.”

  Hick smiled at her and held his combat knife in front of his mouth. “Alright, Sarge. Alright.” He blew on the blade and Riot looked on as the silver weapon began glowing red hot.

  Chapter 32

  The two blades clashed together, sending off white hot sparks. Hick swiped at her but Riot dodged the attack and came back in with her own. Hick blocked it and the two locked blades. Riot pushed Hick toward the wall, her cyber arm far stronger than his own. Hick only smiled at the show of strength as his back slammed against the wall.

  “How long you think you can keep this up, Sarge?”

  “Till you’re dead.”

  Hick narrowed his eyes and refocused on his hot blade. The burn was causing Riot’s to heat up where the blades ground together. He stuck out his tongue and put the tip on the edge of his knife. The sight was lewd and grotesque but effective.

  Riot shoved off him and held her blade up defensively. Hick had proven his point. He didn’t even react to what must have been a searing and incredibly painful burn. He just flicked his tongue in the open air, shaking off the burn. The whole scene reinforced two notions for her. One: that Hick really couldn’t be hurt. And two: that he was as crazy as she’d always suspected.

  He didn’t let her think much more about it as he rushed her, knife ready to strike.

  She ducked the first attack and parried the second all while staying mindful that he could use a magic attack at any time. It was a costly thought as his knee got her in the ribs, shoving her to the side. Then he slashed her waist. The wound was opened and cauterized all at once by the scalding hot blade.

  Riot could smell the burned flesh before she felt the actual pain from it.

  Hick walked away, knowing there wasn’t much she could do but bite back the pain. “I’ll bet that hurts. Like touching momma’s stove. Lucky you, the temperature on this thing kills all the nasty space bacteria. No way that’s getting infected. Of course, infection is the least of your worries.” He refaced Riot to find her gone. “Hide and seek, huh? It’s been a long time. I hope I remember how to play. Count to ten, right? One…Two…”

  Riot ignored the counting as she hid behind the same pillar that almost crushed her into the ceiling. The pain in her side had her vision blurring. She shook her head and refocused on the digital display from her arm. She swiped through the weapons menu, searching for anything that might give her a tactical advantage. There was only one weapon listed as active. The rest of her offensive abilities were offline, including the blade that was already out for use— ineffective as it had been. “You better be able to fix this, Lynch,” she muttered. She selected the one weapon that was purported to work, though she knew it could still malfunction.

  “Ten,” Hick said. “Ready or not, here I come!”

  Riot didn’t wait for Hick to come to her. She stepped out from behind the pillar, her real hand holding her side and her cyber hand pointing at Hick.

  “Y’know, I admire your resilience, Sarge. I really do. Most people would—”

  “Fire!” Riot yelled.

  Her middle finger shot off and hit Hick right in the eye. It was the most anti-climactic moment Hick had ever encountered. He watched the digit fall to the floor and looked up at Riot. She now had three fingers left on her cyber arm.

  Hick clutched his sides as laughter burst from him. The whole room reverberated with the sound. It was a laugh that even Riot had to admit, she missed. Despite his betrayal and even his attempts at killing her, he was a teammate. Or, at least, he used to be. She smiled sadly. It was more from pain. Not from the wound in her side but that even if she made it out of this, he was more than just lost to her from a death perspective. His mind was completely turned. No resurrection spell was going to bring him back.

  “Sarge!” Hick shouted, regaining his composure. He picked up the metal finger. “And it was your middle finger? I gotta thank you for that one. I ain’t laughed like that in at least five years.” He held up his hands and small blue flame appeared between them. “Y’know, it’s kinda fitting that your last attack was that one. I mean, seeing as how you did the same thing to Sarc when we first met him. And now you basically did it again. It’s like that was your hello and your goodbye.” The flame grew larger. “Well, this here is my goodbye. Goodbye, Sarge.”

  The flame suddenly flickered out as Hick was shoved forward, his arms
pinned to his sides.

  “Sarge!” Jessica yelled. There was something in her hands as she fought to keep her hold on Hick.

  “Now, just what are you up to?” Hick asked. “This ain’t the time to get grabby.”

  “Get out of here, Sarge!”

  Riot looked at the red timer on the C4 block in Jessica's hand. It was down to seven seconds.

  “Jessica, don’t!” Riot called out.

  “Don’t bring me back!” Jessica said.

  Hick looked down at the charge. “No, Jessica! Remember what I told you? We gotta stick together. We’re the same” He tried to push her arms off him but Jessica moved them up around his neck.

  “We were never the same, Hick,” Jessica said.

  “No!” he yelled again, struggling to free himself.

  “Goodbye, Sarge!” Jessica shouted as the timer reached zero.

  Riot rushed back behind the pillar and dove for the ground as the explosive went off.

  There were no chunks of rock or debris raining from the sky. Nor were there any bits of clothing floating down. She stepped from behind the pillar. The blast had vaporized both Hick and Jessica. Only a crater in the floor was evidence that anything had been blown up at all.

  Riot slammed her real fist on the pillar, bruising the side of it. But she didn’t care about the pain. Nothing hurt her worse than losing her team for the second time. And this time, she knew it was permanent.

  A loud shifting snapped her out of her shock and Riot turned to see the giant druid raising its arm and pointing its hand at her. A blue flame ignited just as it had from Hick. Riot rushed back around the pillar as the stream of fire hit it. The blue flames moved around both sides of the stone, blackening it.

  Riot dashed to the second pillar to escape the heat. She pressed her back up to it and glanced around the room for anything useful. Her eyes dropped to her gun on the ground. It was too far away. And empty.

  What were you gonna do, throw it at him? She thought.

  The flames stopped sizzling. She heard the druid shift again. This time, there was an orange glow coming from it. Riot thought it was another flame attack until she peered around the pillar and saw swirling tendrils of light circle around the giant Sarc’s hand. One of the tendrils lashed out, grabbing her and pulling her into the open.

  Riot tried to push the trapping off her but her hands went right through it. Yet, somehow, it still maintained its grip on her.

  She looked up at the giant. It shared the same features as the others but those same features were larger and somehow more grotesque.

  There were no more good plays or strategies for her to rely on. She didn’t know what the giant Sarc had in mind for her. It was all but certain it would finish what Hick had tried to start.

  “Sorry, Lynch. I guess you were right. Every team sent to these things ends up dead.”

  The druid opened its mouth as if ready to consume her.

  Riot closed her eyes. “Maybe things will be better this way.”

  “Rocket active,” her arm said.

  Her eyes popped open. “What the hell?” she asked, shocked. Her shock switched to determined acceptance. “What the hell? Probably won’t work anyway.” She held her arm up, aiming right at Sarc’s face. “Fire!”

  Suddenly, the arm switched targets and aimed for the black mass in the bubble.

  “No, not—”

  Her hand opened and a purple plasma grenade shot out from her palm.

  The grenade hit the bubble and exploded in a flash of purple light, breaking a substantial hole in the bubble. The burning plasma hit other areas of the enclosure, creating smaller holes while the rest fell to the floor, charring the stone.

  The orange tendril holding Riot faded away, dropping her to the floor. The giant druid turned to the black ball, the look on its face one of sheer terror.

  The pillars shook and began leaning toward the black mass. Riot looked on while the druid’s arm was pulled toward the ball. Horror gripped her as she watched the druid’s hand get pulled into the opening of the bubble along with parts of the nearby wall.

  Chapter 33

  Riot was frozen in shock at what she was seeing. Light from outside of the tower was breaking through as more of the stone walls were sucked toward the ball.

  The top half of the giant Sarc had already been sucked into the bubble surrounding the ball, the rest of its body following.

  “Rocket fist, offline,” her arm said, snapping her out of her stupor.

  Not understanding what was happening, Riot spun around and dashed for the tunnel entrance as more of the center room was pulled toward the ball.

  She leaped over one of the dead druids as far as she could, wanting to make as much ground between herself and the pull of the black mass.

  Riot skittered to a stop in the front hallway. Lino still stood, slumped over, just as she’d left him. She ran to the android, her metal fist banging into his chest.

  “Lino! I don’t know if you’re still in there. If you are, we have to move!”

  The hallway began rumbling with the sound of grinding stones and the light from that space was pulled toward the center of the citadel.

  “Lino!”

  The android remained silent while the room crumbled around them. Riot heard a sound from behind her. It was different from the stone grinding of the tower. She turned to see Carlos’s body sliding toward the center. Riot dove for the dead soldier and grabbed his arm. He’d made the ultimate sacrifice following her, just like Jessica. She couldn’t bring Jessica home but she was determined to get Carlos there.

  The pull of the ball was too strong. Riot tried grabbing one of the uneven floor stones but it was already shaking, ready to be sucked in like everything else.

  “Please,” she whispered, praying for a miracle.

  A hand clamped around her wrist. Shocked, Riot looked back to see Lino staring at her.

  “Secondary systems activated.”

  “Lino!” Riot shouted, tears in her eyes.

  “Gravitational anomaly detected. Planetary core implosion underway. We must evacuate, Sarge.”

  Carlos was suddenly lifted into the air, almost taking Riot with him. The sound of thrusters blared as Lino’s jets pulled opposite the core.

  Even with her cyber hand gripping Carlos’s wrist, she was still losing him as the bones in his hand were crushed, slipping through the metal grip.

  “Carlos!” she yelled as his body was ripped away from her.

  “Sarge! We must evacuate, now!’ Lino yelled with more personality that ever before.

  The android pulled her into him even as the gravity well dragged them both toward it.

  Riot was carried in his arms as Lino’s jets expanded, maxing out their thrust. His feet hovered just above the stone floor as it was ripped toward the core.

  The drawbridge leaned inward, forcing Lino to fly around it. Everything outside was being ripped apart. The towers that were left surrounding the center citadel crumbled inward toward the core. The pull of the gravity kept them from hitting the ground as the stones were pulled off, one by one. Riot watched the druids on the ground try to flee from the pull. Those closest to it barely advanced a single foot away before they were lifted off their feet and dragged to the center.

  Lino veered left then right, trying to dodge smaller tower stones and larger pieces of the planet itself. A herd of monsters appeared before them—the same beasts that had chased them before. They could not outrun the gravity well either.

  “What is this?” Riot asked.

  “Scanners indicate the star’s core. That is why it was missing from the center.”

  “Star?”

  “Affirmative. The Space Druid home world is a dead star. Its core is a black hole.”

  “The magic must have kept it from pulling everything in!”

  “What happened during my reset?”

  “We won!” Riot yelled. “Now we have to survive!”

  Lino rocketed forward. Their elevation i
ncreased as they traveled up an incline. Lino ramped off the piece of land as its end rose, pulled by the black hole. Lino launched over more of the stampeding herd that tried, unsuccessfully, to get away.

  Lino fell back to the ground where he continued veering around beasts and sections of the dead star. The whole trip reminded Riot of a roller coaster, except there was no track to follow. Only the wild, random risk of colliding with parts of a dead star or being pulled in and crushed by the gravity of a black hole.

  They finally cleared the dry lake bed which was rapidly disappearing. Everything around the black hole was pulled in. The towers and center citadel were long gone, along with the beasts and the druids. The only thing standing in their way was the rest of the trip forward.

  The path turned upward toward the cave through which they’d arrived.

  “Almost there, Lino!” Riot shouted, eager to put the danger behind them.

  More stones swept past them. Suddenly, Lino jerked to a stop.

  “What was that?” Riot asked. She looked at the ground. They were no longer passing it and she could no longer feel the passing air. “Lino?”

  “I am sorry, Sarge, but we have been caught in the gravity well.”

  “Can’t you go faster?”

  “My thrusters are at maximum output. You must escape while there is still time.”

  “No! I’ve lost everyone! I’m not losing you again! Re-route systems or—”

  “All power has been diverted to thrusters. This is as far as I am capable of going.”

  “Lino,” Riot muttered as the world, literally, fell apart around them.

  A clanking sound came from both of Lino’s arms and a metal bar slid from his wrists, connecting them together.

  “Hold on tightly, Sarge,” Lino said.

  “There has to be another way.”

  “Do androids receive medals?”

  “What?”

  Suddenly, two rocket bursts fired out from Lino’s shoulders. Out of instinct, Riot grabbed onto the bar as both arms pulled her the rest of the way, leaving Lino behind.