Junkers Season Two

by Benjamin Wallace

  “Let’s get him out of here first,” Jake said, and looked around at the machines. Even with Glitch thrown over Thorne’s shoulder, they were oblivious to their presence. The Mad Hatter trudged through the rain pulling a cart spilling over with colorful fabric. The Big Bad Wolf followed behind him with an armload of scrap metal. A princess—he wasn’t sure which one since she was in rags and not a trademark dress—was headed the other way with an empty basket in her arms. They all had their tasks and were focused on their assignments. Only one looked their way briefly. Jake hadn’t recognized the character. He was tall and broad and wore a thick black Stalin-esque mustache beneath a thick brow and cute little red bear ears.

  Jake tried to stare the machine down but he quickly realized the man wasn’t looking at him. He was watching Thorne.

  Jake stepped closer to Thorne and spoke softly. “Someone’s eyeing you up.”

  Thorne began to turn to search the area but Jake stopped him.

  “Don’t look.” He pointed to a curve in the pathway. “Turn here. We’ll just leave him wondering.”

  Jake went first around the corner and glanced over his shoulder to make sure Mason and Thorne followed. Both men had followed but stopped. Jake turned back around and saw why.

  A line of machines blocked the path ahead of them and Jake recognized them all. Bulk, Jayson and the other TraceRacers formed a wall of pastel fur in front of them. Bite and Mite growled at the men.

  The three Presidents turned as one only to find the mustached man with red Bearberry ears standing in front of them. The machine smiled and pointed at Thorne. “I knew I recognized you. You may wear the clothes of a man but you’re still an animal underneath.”

  “Yet you are the one with little fuzzy bear ears, Blaxxton.” Thorne hissed the name.

  “Blaxxton? Once, perhaps. But, no longer. I’ve seen the evil of my ways, Thorne. Before, I lived only to plunder the world of its resources to no other end but to enrich myself. But I’ve seen the error of my ways. I’ve been shown that money does not lead to happiness. Happiness does. And unlike oil and money, happiness is useless when it’s hoarded. Its true power comes when it is shared. So we’re going to share it with everyone.” Blaxxton’s grin was as evil as ever. “Isn’t that great?”

  “Blaxxton, you’ve been had. These demon bears—”

  Blaxxton struck suddenly. His right arm swung up and caught Thorne across the face, forcing the savage gentleman to reel backward and drop Glitch to the pavement. “Professor Thaddeus Blaxxton is no more! I’ve been enlightened, you savage, and with enlightenment I’ve adopted a new identity.”

  He struck Thorne to the ground and stood over the fallen machine. “My name is Cuddlewhumpkins!

  “Eat this, Cuddlewhumpkins.”

  Blaxxton turned to see the initial spark from Mason’s disruptor. The team watched as the blast spread across Cuddlewhumpkins’s face and through his mustache, freezing a rather surprised expression on the Professor’s face.

  Jake drew his own disruptor and yelled at Thorne to grab Glitch. He turned and fired a shot at the TraceRacers as they stepped forward. The shot was intended for Mite but his loyal sidekick Bite leapt into the air and took the blast.

  Mason dropped the Jaysonbear with another shot and missed Bulk as the giant TraceRacer lumbered forward with his massive hands outstretched. Mason fired as he backed away from the machine. But he bumped into Cuddlewhumpkins’s frozen body and the jolt sent the blast high.

  Jake fired his own disruptor at Mite and Melina. The two smaller TraceRacers were quicker and much more nimble than the team’s brute. Melina fell but Mite, angered by the loss of Bite, reverted to his feral kid backstory and the child-sized bear scrambled up the nearest wall and dashed across the roof. Jake fired several more blasts that did nothing but send several wooden shingles flying into the air. Mite leapt from the roof and growled as he flew through the air at Jake.

  Jake, surprised that he had time to wonder how much the kid weighed, flinched and braced for the impact. But it never came.

  Thorne grabbed the childbear out of the air by the throat. Mite snarled and struggled but Thorne was too strong. The jungle savage reeled back and threw the child back into the air. When he came down, Mite crashed into Bulk and sent both machines crashing through a nearby wall.

  Mason had been moments away from being flattened by the bruiser and he turned slowly, slightly pale. He pulled the trigger on his weapon several times to show it was empty. “Thanks, Thorne.”

  “Of course, friend Mason.” He swept Glitch from the ground and put him over his shoulder once more. “I fear our presence has been noticed.”

  “Ya think?” Mason pulled a thick set of gloves out of his presidential pants pockets. He pulled them on and connected each glove to a lead he pulled from his sleeve. “This is going to get bad.”

  “Danger! Danger! Danger!” The boy who cried wolf had snuck up behind them and shouted his alarm.

  The boy made no move to attack but he continued to scream and level his finger at the intruders. Mason walked over and punched the kid in the face. The gloves were insulated, so he didn’t feel the charge run through metal plates on the back of the fingers. The boy did.

  The machine screamed "Danger!” once more, but the word warbled and faded in the middle.

  Mason examined the gloves and chuckled. “That felt better than it probably should have.”

  A chorus of giggles caused all three men to turn. For the first time since he’d been programmed, the boy’s calls of danger had drawn a response. Three Bearberry Bears stood among several of the Fairyfolk. Jake didn’t recognize any of the bears by name, but he was sure they were something stupid.

  A lime green Bearberry Bear squealed, “Let’s make them happy!”

  Jake shot Pinocchio in the face and the puppet fell back into Little Bo Peep. The tiny shepherd kicked the puppet’s corpse aside and continued to march forward with the others.

  Thorne readjusted Glitch on his shoulder and whispered to the others, “Friend Jake and friend Mason. We cannot stop them all. I suggest we run for the walls of Kandallaha.”

  And so they ran. They abandoned the pretense that they were Benjamin Harrison, Ulysses S. Grant and Rutherford B. Hayes, and they raced for the front gate as all of Enchantasia gave chase.

  Most of the characters in the park were easy enough to outrun. Tweedle Dee and Dum both wobbled more than walked. All of the bears were designed to walk upright and gave up considerable speed without the ability to race on all fours. Tom Thumb and Thumbelina were both trampled before they made it four feet. And it was nearly impossible for the princesses to eat up much ground in heels.

  The real danger came from what lay between them and the gate.

  The Big Bad Wolf leapt out from behind a withered bush and blocked the pathway. The villain roared, then huffed, then puffed, then got shot in the chest. The machine’s synthetic fur charred and smoked as Thorne bowled the wolf out of the way.

  Little Boy Blue lay in wait around a corner and blew a charge on his horn that signaled several of the Lollipop Guild to attack. Jake was knocked down by an oversized sucker. Mason rolled to one side to dodge a three-foot wide purple and white lollipop. He came up under the swing and struck the assailant. The diminutive attacker shrieked as Mason’s glove sent a charge through its Animatomatic body before it fell over. Thorne snatched a peach and cherry lollipop from another guild member and took a swing of his own. The baritone bellowed as he flew through the air and crashed into two others.

  Jake stood and got his bearings. “Is everyone okay?”

  “I just punched a Munchkin in the face,” Mason said. “I’m not sure how I feel about that. Kind of guilty. But kind of good.”

  Thorne dropped the giant sucker and repositioned Glitch on his shoulder. “It’s not much farther.”

  A few more blasts from Jake’s dying disruptor kept the Enchantasians back as they approached the exit. Jack B. Nimble made it past a couple of shots with some fancy
footwork, but Mason ended the threat with a couple of gut punches.

  The giant trolls were waiting for them at the gate. Tuggles stood between them, shaking a finger at the men. “I knew you weren’t a real pirate,” he scolded Jake.

  “Stand aside, foul creature!” Thorne shouted.

  “Or what?” Tuggles asked. “I’m the one with the trolls. And the rule is, he who has the trolls makes the rules.”

  “There is no such rule, charlatan!” Thorne screamed.

  “I just made it up!” Tuggles fired back. “And I can do that because I have the trolls!”

  “I will not play your games of twisted logic,” Thorne said.

  “Fine. I don’t want to play with you anyway,” Tuggles crossed his arms and turned his back. Then he poked a fat thumb at the group. “Get them, trolls!”

  The trolls answered with a grunt and started forward as more machines arrived behind the group.

  Jake pulled the trigger on the disruptor and Lucas would have been so proud. The weapon squeaked, shot a little puff of smoke out of the barrel that rose into a wisp, and drifted away like so many fleeting hopes of not getting crushed by trolls.

  Tuggles found it particularly funny and fell to the ground with both hands on his belly. The Bearberry Bear rolled around in hysterics as the trolls trudged forward.

  “Mason!” Jake shouted.

  “What? You want me to punch a giant troll? That’s quite the step up from the Munchkin.”

  “I’m out. Do something!”

  Mason raised his fists as if he and the trolls would be honoring Queensbury rules.

  The troll on the left raised his club to strike and got eaten by a dinosaur.

  “Jambha!” Thorne shouted in delight. “Good girl!”

  Jambha raised her head and flung the troll well outside the boundaries of Enchantasia while several Fengali raced through the gate behind her and tackled the second troll.

  Tuggles screamed as the white apes joined the fray. “This isn’t fair!” The tiny bear pouted and punched the ground. “This is my game and you’re not playing right!”

  The Fengali roared as they engaged the growing army of Fairyfolk while the three “Presidents” stepped under Jambha and made for the gate.

  Past the wrought iron arch, Hailey and Kat arrived on the backs on the last two Triceratops. Kat dropped to the ground and ran for Thorne. As she neared, she reached for Glitch. “Is he okay?”

  “He has not come to,” Thorne said.

  “We have to get him back to the camp,” she said and led Thorne to the dinosaur. Together they placed the cyborg on the back of the Triceratops and Kat jumped back into the howdah.

  “Everyone get on!” Hailey shouted as Jambha roared once more.

  This time the T-Rex’s roar did not go unanswered. The call that bellowed back stopped everyone in their tracks. The Fengali looked for the source of the sound. Jambha tilted her head as if she were about to ask a question. Tuggles giggled and whispered with delight, “Here comes the Cragosaur.”

  The ground shook with the footsteps of the unseen creature and the Fengali backed away. There was a tremendous crash and the newly formed rubble of a building rained down on the group gathered near the gates.

  Mason and Jake ducked under Jambha but were quickly forced to move as the Tyrannosaur screamed back into the park and stepped forward to meet the threat.

  Another crash crumbled another building and the world’s largest teddy bear stepped into view. It was covered in yellow fur and wore a giant smile but lurking beneath the Bearberry exterior was something much more terrible.

  “What the hell is that thing?” Mason asked.

  “It was Blaxxton’s Cragosaur,” Thorne explained. “Gods, what have they done to him?”

  “That doesn’t look like any dinosaur I’ve ever seen.”

  The creature stopped and stood to its full height next to one of the last buildings near the gates. It stood taller than Jambha and had arms more like a man than a dinosaur. It stuck out its arm and turned up its palm to the building’s balcony.

  Brexbin giggled as he hopped into the beast’s palm.

  The giant bear lifted him up to its shoulder where Brexbin climbed up and onto the beast’s head. The tiny blue bear looked like a growth on the machine’s nose as he waved to the crowd and yelled, “Hi, everybody!”

  “Brexbin, you piece of shit!” Mason yelled.

  “Now, we don’t approve of that kind of language here. Please try and remember that this is a family place.”

  Mason looked around at his feet and then to Hailey. “Give me something to shoot him with, please!”

  “And speaking of family,” Brexbin continued. “Glitch is a part of our family now and we’re not going to let you take him. He’s special, you know. Thanks to him we’re going to turn everyone into Bearberry Bears so they can all go on great adventures and be happy.”

  “What did you do to him, foul creature?” Thorne shouted.

  “He’s one of us now, Thorne. Just like the Presidents and the TraceRacers and Cuddlewhumpkins and soon, everybody else in the whole wide world.”

  “Jambha!” Thorne screamed a command that only the T-Rex was trained to understand and the dinosaur lunged forward.

  She collided with the Cragosaur and the two giants stumbled back through the building’s fairytale façade. It collapsed around them as they shoved back and forth. Jambha’s charge had given her the upper hand, but the Cragosaur’s longer arms soon came into play and pulled the T-Rex off balance.

  Both creatures roared and snapped back and forth, trading blows and bites. Brexbin raced back and forth on top of the Cragosaur, laughing as he fought to keep his balance.

  Thorne shouted more commands and one of the Triceratops raced in to help. The beast lowered its head and charged at the Cragosaur’s legs. Its horned face collided with the titan’s ankle and brought the behemoth crashing to the ground, flattening Humpty Dumpty and sending Brexbin tumbling away in the process.

  Jambha pounced on her fallen prey and bit into the machine’s neck.

  The Cragosaur screamed and tried to pull itself out from under the T-Rex, but Jambha kept up her attack, chomping at any limb that was unfortunate enough to come near her mouth.

  Soon the fur was hanging from the Cragosaur, exposing the lizard skin of its original form. The giant bear landed a couple of weak punches that only enraged Jambha further. The T-Rex reared back and roared at the sky.

  The momentary distraction proved fatal.

  The Cragosaur seized Jambha’s right arm and pulled it from her body.

  “Yay!” Brexbin cheered. “Go Craggy!”

  “Jambha!” The dinosaur’s pain could be heard in Thorne’s cry.

  His scream caught the Cragosaur’s attention and the beast threw the arm at the group gathered by the gate. It landed limply in front of Thorne and bounced at his feet.

  Jambha stepped away as her shoulder sent sparks into the rain. The loss of the limb confused the machine’s balance, and the T-Rex stumbled about as the Cragosaur struck back. Jambha roared with each blow and tried to pull away but the Cragosaur pressed the attack.

  The Triceratops crashed into the giant bear’s legs once more in an attempt to bring it back down, but the beast wouldn’t fall. A second charge drew the Cragosaur’s attention away from the fight and Jambha struck. The Tyrannosaur locked its powerful jaws on the Cragosaur’s arm and twisted. The titanic teddy bear roared in pain and tried to wrench its arm free.

  But Jambha’s bite was too strong. The T-Rex shifted its weight and the Cragosaur was forced to its knees.

  The Triceratops charged into the creature’s calf, exposing the inner mechanics to the world. It backed up and struck again. Cables snapped and pneumatic hoses hissed as the Triceratops’s horn wreaked havoc on the mechanics. It backed up and charged again. It built up a full head of steam, bounding into the air with each step. It raced into striking distance and dove for the Cragosaur.

  The yellow monster re
acted in an instant and swept the Triceratops into a headlock. Before the Triceratops could try to pull away, the Cragosaur twisted and drove the horned dino’s face through Jambha’s stomach.

  The T-Rex roared and the Triceratops squealed as the Cragosaur gutted Jambha. Oil and cabling spilled onto the ground and mixed with the puddles of rainwater.

  “Holy shit!” Mason pointed to the scene as Jambha collapsed on top of the Triceratops. “That thing just stabbed that dinosaur with another dinosaur!”

  Kat rushed to Thorne’s side as he watched his friend and fellow defender of Kandallaha fall. She put her hand on his shoulder, but he could only stare at the carnage before him.

  The Cragosaur turned to the group at the gate and charged. A blinding flash exploded from the machine’s damaged calf and it collapsed on its side.

  Thorne kneeled down and picked up Jambha’s severed limb. He cradled it in his arms as the rain continued to fall.

  Brexbin scrambled over the fallen bear and looked into his eyes as the rest of the Enchantasians gathered around. “Get up, Craggy,” Brexbin said. “You can do it.”

  The giant bear tried to comply but its busted leg couldn’t bear the weight and it fell back to the ground.

  Brexbin spun and pointed a sopping wet paw at Thorne. “You hurt Craggy!”

  “You will die for this, Brexbin!”

  “I don’t think so, Thorne.” The blue bear turned to the machines around him. “Get them!”

  The Fengali retreated and grunted for Thorne to follow but the defender of Kandallaha stood his ground and stared at his pint-sized enemy.

  “We have to go, Thorne,” Jake said.

  “I’m sorry,” Kat whispered as she took Jambha’s arm. “But we have to go. We can’t beat them like this.”

  Thorne grunted, turning away from his fallen friend and companion, and ran with Kat and her friends back to the safety of the gates of Prehistoria.

  25

  Glitch awoke laid out on a hard surface and refused to open his eyes, so he squeezed them tighter. It helped with the pain in his head but mostly, he didn’t want to see Dr. Butterfingers or that horrid nurse any more. A ratchet twisted away somewhere in the room and he wondered what they were going to do to him next. He sniffed and could tell that it was raining. It had really freshened up the air in the tower.