by Mark Tufo
“Maybe they had an idea of what would happen after the bomb was exploded,” I said.
“Chaos and war,” Jurtillion expressed sadly. “That one bomb could be our undoing.”
“With Genos declaring war on everything around them, Paul and the military will be forced to act.”
“It is brilliant in its brutality and simplicity. That is most certainly the Progerian way.” Dee looked pissed off. “How could we be so naive as to think the Progerians would finally leave us alone?”
“They are without spirituality, Drababan, and as such only know one way to deal with their world.”
I figured Jurtillion and Dee were about to go down prayer mode so I wandered around a bit before going to the window. I hoped Beth was able to convince Paul to delay his strike or else we were going to be crispy critters soon. A mass evacuation was sort of out of the question. First off we were talking in the neighborhood of a few hundred thousand Genos and secondly, where could I lead them that Paul’s bombers wouldn’t find us? This wasn’t going to be a localized disaster; this one would travel with us.
“Shit.” Cythion was coming back, twirling his street sign like a baton, and he had friends this time. “Um, guys?” No response. I stepped back. “Guys, this really isn’t the time for some meditative relaxation. We (and by ‘we’ I mean ‘I’) have a serious problem right now.”
Jurtillion snorted as he came up beside me. I followed him outside with Dee close in tow.
“What are you doing?” Jurtillion questioned his son.
“I am eliminating the threat that has walked in among our people,” Cythion said brashly.
“Michael Talbot has proven to be our friend. He has freed us from the Progerians.”
“Yes, to live on this reservation waiting for handouts. That is what true freedom is all about. Father, can we leave this compound? Can my friends and I explore this vast land? No! We stay here to rot like unpicked fruit. The humans did us a favor with that bomb.”
“Do not say such a thing!” Jurtillion shouted. I thought I saw Cythion shy away a tiny bit.
“We are now truly free to forge our way into this world—with fire!”
“Why then are you still here, Cythion? Why have you not joined this liberation cause? No, you have stayed here under the guise of protecting our borders. You attack one man and when it does not immediately go your way you run. Now you have enlisted the help of your friends to once again try and kill this one man.”
Cythion looked like he was going to blow some major blood vessels.
“If you are so truly brave and ready to fight for a new existence then why not take on this man by yourself?”
“Hey, wait,” I said softly.
“Just know this is the Earth Champion, the man that defeated all other men on his planet.”
“Well, that’s sort of an exaggeration,” I mumbled.
“The man who had Drababan on his knees!” Jurtillion continued.
“That is most assuredly an exaggeration.” Dee echoed my earlier words.
“Just so you know, Cythion, he also defeated a Star Scout, a Battle Cruiser and a Heavy Destroyer. What bigger way to prove yourself than by killing a hero of this magnitude by yourself?”
“I’m not really liking the line this conversation is taking.”
Cythion looked scared—I could see it in his features. Jurtillion had painted him into a pretty serious corner and in front of his friends no less. As a matter of fact he’d done the same to me. If he was trying to get rid of one of us he had done so very deftly.
Cythion stepped back before stepping forward. “I accept the challenge.”
“Whoa! I never agreed to this,” I said.
“This is madness,” Dee said. “We came here to prevent further bloodshed, not spread more.”
“I had not expected this response,” Jurtillion said with regret.
“Bullshit, you knew exactly what you were doing. What are you going to do when I kill your offspring? You move closer with that stick in your hands and I’m going to blow your fucking head off, lizard boy!”
Cythion hissed. A crowd was beginning to gather.
“Jurtillion, you must gain control of your people,” Dee warned.
“It was my mate!” he shouted.
“Oh, shit.”
“We were attempting the Earth custom of staying together for more than just procreation. I found solace in her nearness, and now she has been taken from me.”
“Jurtillion, your grief is deep and perhaps you are not thinking clearly, but this man had nothing to do with your loss. His death, if it were to come at the hands of your off-spring, would bring you no comfort, only more death.”
“Yeah, what he said.” I was holding my rifle up to my shoulder, scanning the growing crowd for an even bigger threat than Cythion.
“We came here to diffuse the situation not add to it, Jurtillion,” Dee offered. “However, if it is blood you require as payment for blood, then you shall have it.”
“Hey, big fella, don’t you think that maybe we should have talked about this first?” I pulled the rifle away from my face so I could look over at Dee.
“You must, however, bind yourself to the laws of our duels.”
“I do.” Jurtillion nodded.
“If Michael is to win, we walk away with no further confrontation.”
“Done. And when Cythion wins?”
“Well, you will have the blood you feel that you so desperately need. We have naught more to offer.”
“Those terms are acceptable.”
“Dee, man, what did you just get me into?”
“Nothing that I cannot handle, for I will fight in your stead.”
“What?” Jurtillion and I asked at the same time.
Cythion looked like he was going to wet whatever he called the thing he was wearing. Looked like MC Hammer pants.
“It is our right within the guidelines of a duel for a champion to be chosen, and I am just such a champion.” Dee pulled off his rifle, rolled his shoulders back and puffed out his chest. That was the warrior that scared the hell out of me.
Cythion was looking wildly from his father to his friends. He’d really stepped in a big fresh pile of shit this time.
“Hold on, Dee.”
“Now is not the time, Michael. He may be an adolescent Genogerian, but he is still easily twice as strong and fast as you. I will dispatch of him quickly and mercifully. Then we will leave this place.
Jurtillion looked crestfallen and desperate. Dangerously desperate, enough so that I think he was going to “damn” the rules of the engagement.
“I’ll fight him, Dee. If he wants a piece of the human race I’ll give it to him.”
“Michael, what are you doing?”
“Something that needs to be done. You have to trust me on this one.”
Dee nodded, as well as he could sense what humans were going to do it amazed me that he could miss the signals that Jurtillion had been throwing off.
“Weapons?” I asked. Bare-knuckled was not how I wanted to go down, the idea of punching that leathery covered thick boned hide was making my knuckles ache.
“It must be weapons of agreement,” Dee shot out before Jurtillion could make something up on the spot. Maybe he had sensed something.
“I chose this!” Cythion thrust his sign above his head.
“I don’t think I can even lift that.”
Cythion and his friends snorted in derision. The youth had gone from wanting to flee to ready to kill in a matter of heartbeats.
“Puny hu-man. What can you use?” Cythion snarled.
“A grenade would be nice.” Unfortunately they didn’t know what those were.
“Michael, you must take this more seriously.”
“Trust me, buddy, I’m taking this pretty seriously. Bow and arrow?” I asked.
“I decline,” Cythion shouted. “Hand to hand?”
“I decline.”
“Because you are scared of my might!”
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“No. It’s because I’ll bruise my hands on your fat head.”
That got him riled up.
“Steel!”
“He means swords,” Dee explained when I looked confused.
“Sure. Steel it is then.” I probably should have been more specific. The thing tossed my way was a crudely formed broad sword. Weighing in excess of twenty-five pounds, it was like wielding a car bumper. For Cythion he most likely could have spun it fast enough to take off like a helicopter.
I was dragging the point of my sword behind me. Cythion had his held high above his head. The crowd fanned out into a circle. I noted that Dee was standing close to Jurtillion. I knew at some point if things got desperate for me he was going to take matters into his own hands, for good or bad. I might die out here today but I didn’t want my friend to join me. I sized up Cythion. He was bigger, stronger and faster than me, what he lacked was experience. I can’t imagine he’d done any true training.
“The duel commences when my words come to a stop, and ends when only one of you can walk away,” Jurtillion announced.
“So if I was to sprain an ankle and had to hop?”
“The duels are to the death,” Jurtillion clarified.
“Always to the death. Does your kind need to be so serious about everything?”
“Cythion, do not take this man lightly, he is dangerous. I have watched him fight on many occasions,” Jurtillion added.
“I am dangerous, father!”
“I think the lady doth protest too much,” I said as I pulled the tip of my sword off the ground.
The earth was shaking as Cythion pounded towards me. I’d expected Jurtillion to say something like “let the games begin”, I was wrong. For the second time that day Cythion nearly took my head clean off my shoulders. The steel blew past my head; I barely had enough time to pull my sword up to thwart his back swing. The crash of metal on metal rang through the air. The shock of the vibration traveled up my arms and through my skull. I stumbled back four or five feet, trying to regain my footing.
Cythion was faster than I was expecting. He had not the time to get his sword back into a killing position, however, he was able to slam into me, sending me sprawling. The buzz of the crowd was deafening as they began to smell blood. My adversary was coming again. He was going to punt my head like a football and he was attempting an NFL record seventy yarder. I was able to roll away just as his foot swung out, a claw from one of his toes ripping my cheek open. I lost part of my facial movement as he cut through skin and muscle. This was something I would note later as I had not the time to worry about so inconsequential of an issue. A millimeter or two deeper and I would have been able to stick my tongue out the side of my face.
His pursuit of my rolling body was relentless, the only thing I had going for me was that he wasn’t using his “steel”. I didn’t know how long I could keep scrambling without him getting in a kick that would cave in my ribcage. My hands were torn up, small pebbles embedded under the skin. My jeans, which had been relatively new before the day had started, were now bloody and shredded at the knees. I was also suffering the same skin condition on my hands. Then he struck as I got hung up on a rock. I didn’t quite get the distance he’d been hoping for—some but not enough. The front of his foot caught me in the ribs, propelling me up and over my obstacle. The pain crashed into me in waves.
“Michael! Now would be a good time to fight back!” Dee shouted.
If he thought I was playing possum with my opponent he was pretty far off base. However, it did buy me a second as Cythion took his eyes off of me to look towards Dee. I moved further away and simultaneously began to stand. It was nice to finally have a perspective where I wasn’t flat on my back. Cythion again charged; at least he was predictable. I stayed low, as he seemed to have a problem swinging his sword at that angle, and this was no exception. I moved slightly so that I did not take in the full weight of his body as he tried to drive me once again to the ground.
His forward momentum took him past me where he began to pinwheel his arms. He had been expecting to hit me and when he mostly missed, he was leaning too far forward to stay upright. He crashed into the ground head first, ten feet away. I moved as fast as I could and still he was able to spin onto his back, his legs pointing towards me, kicking back and forth. If any of his attempts had connected he would have broken my spine. I had both of my hands on the hilt of the sword down by my hip so that the point was straight ahead of me. I had meant to drive it into Cythion’s back but he’d been too quick. As he lashed out with his right leg, the tip of my steel blade caught him dead center in the foot. Between my running toward him and him kicking out, the blade easily parted flesh, muscle, sinew and bone. He howled, pulling his leg back wrenching the sword free from my hands. I stepped back as he wildly swung his left leg out, seeking purchase. The Genos quickly quieted down as Cythion raged on. Jurtillion moved forward as Dee shook his head.
“He cannot fight anymore, Jurtillion. Is this battle done?” I asked. I wanted it to be, as pain flared up my side.
Jurtillion was tight-lipped, well, as tight-lipped as a being without lips can be.
“Duels are to the death, Michael,” Dee filled in.
I was pissed at my big green friend. I thought I had given Jurtillion an out from this battle and further bloodshed but that didn’t seem to be the case. Fat droplets of blood fell from my face, splashing heavily onto the ground. Cythion was trying to remove the blade from his foot. I had not so much as a knife on me and getting that close to Cythion was still a death sentence. He might be one leg short, but his other plus his arms were more than enough to crush the existence out of me. I circled slowly around; he made sure to follow my movements, never letting me get behind him. His mouth was open in stress and pain and maybe even a little bit of panic. There was Geno-speak going on all around me as his friends tried to urge him on. If I didn’t end this soon, odds were that one or more of them would jump in, regardless of the rules.
I kept my head up as I leaned down and grabbed a decent sized chunk of brick and cement, the heft of it feeling good in my hands. Now I had to get into a position in which I could use it. I jogged around Cythion just to see how quickly he could spin. It was surprisingly fast. I picked it up a notch as I noticed the crowd begin to press in. It would only take one errant elbow or shove to send me into Cythion’s mouth or arms. I was running about as fast as I could in a circle, with Cythion twirling like a friggen top. There was a small rise of rubble that I used as a backstop to change my momentum and direction. I was relatively surprised when I didn’t tear a MCL or an ACL as I changed direction. Cythion was a moment too late as I ran towards his approaching head. He had just stopped his direction as I came down onto his skull with my left knee. That may have dazed him a bit, but it was when I brought the brick and cement rock down on his snout that I changed his outlook on life.
I heard the bones in his nose shatter as I drove the rock down. I was able to get one more powerful hit in before he reflexively tossed me off. I must have been airborne for close to ten feet before landing with a heavy grunt. Blood was beginning to choke Cythion as it flooded into his nasal cavity, throat, stomach and lungs. His screams were muted with the wet, thick fluid, making them sound more like heavy mucous-laced coughs.
“Is this not enough, Jurtillion?” I asked in a shout. If looks could kill, my heart would have stopped at that moment.
“Finish him, Michael. To not do so is an insult,” Dee implored.
My chest heaving, I grabbed a heavier rock and once again brought it over my head. I was ready to smash his skull repeatedly until I heard the bony armor crack and shatter. Then I realized Cythion had let go of his sword to shield his destroyed face. I bent down and reached for it, at this point realizing that his friends were beginning to crowd in. A warning bolt from Dee’s rifle sent them back a few feet.
“If they attempt to impede again you are within your rights to harm them,” Dee said to me very matter-of-factly.
>
I know he was trying to put the fear of Gropytheon into them, but if he thought I could take on even one more juvenile Geno without suffering some grievous wound or wounds, then he had more faith in my skills than I did.
Cythion was mewling, he was in a lot of pain and scared I was about to send him to his after-life. I would imagine he was feeling a large portion of betrayal as well. Here he was, surrounded by his kind about to get murdered by the enemy and none of them were able to lift a finger. I had no doubt that sentiment would change if I lingered too long. I raised the sword above my head like I was going to plant a flag in some particularly hard packed dirt. The tip broke through his skin just above his sternum. There was a sickening crack as the blade broke through bone. He blew blood from his mouth as I forced air from his lungs in a rush from the impact. I could tell I had sliced into a lung as air bubbles made of blood formed around the wound. His chest cavity began to sag down as he thrashed around wildly. He began to slice his hands up as he gripped desperately at the blade, trying to wrench it free from his body. I twisted it back and forth, not in malice but in the hopes that it would end his suffering. I placed a foot against his neck and pulled the blade free. I had a feeling I might potentially need it before we were able to leave.
The crowd slowly closed in. “Is this what your word is worth?” Dee asked of Jurtillion.
I think Jurtillion was about to say ‘to hell’ with honor. I don’t know what clicked or most likely broke in the Geno but he told them to let us leave. I think it was the heartbreaking loss of his offspring. Killing us would do little to bring him back.
“If you are anywhere near here by sundown, we will consider it an act of war. Now go.”
Dee and I looked at each other. We shouldered…well, he shouldered his way through and I followed closely. We left at a decent pace, not taking our time but certainly not running. I think if we had started jogging it would have triggered a chase response in them. We weren’t more than a mile from the outskirts of the Geno city when something dawned on me.
