Clouds of Tyranny (28 page)

The front entrance was now Empireless with
minimal casualties from the Returners and Velxeer. “Okay! Ruthie
take half the soldiers to the rear entrance. Terra, take Eve and
the other half and head for the side entrance with Velxeer,” said
Locke as the Velxeer archers climbed down from the roof, “Me and
Alex will be there in a minute.” They all did as they were told and
Locke looked to Alex, who was standing at the gate staring into the
distance. “Alex? Are you okay?” asked Locke standing next to her
looking at her face. “Go,” said Alex robotically. “What?” asked a
confused Locke as he looked into the field. Locke saw a bizarre
looking man atop an animal he had yet to see; a large lion-like
animal with four tusks protruding from its cheeks that all curved
inward around his mouth like pincers. “Mold 17,” said Alex, “A
genetically mutated human with remarkable strength and power.” Mold
17 is eight feet tall wearing knight’s armor complete with iron
helmet and a long trident spear almost as tall as he was. “What’s
he riding?” “An Oblar. Go Locke, I have to use the power.” “I’ll
keep people away, good luck,” said Locke touching the small of her
back before going towards the rear of the town. Alex walked out
into the field so she had room to work and waited for Mold 17 to
make the first move. Mold 17 snapped the reigns of the Oblar and
began trotting towards her. She drew her sword and gripped it with
both hands as she channeled her energy into her dragon blade; a
yellow hue began emanating from it. Mold 17 was less than one
hundred yards away. She swung the sword and a blast of light shot
threw the air and hit Mold 17 in the upper regions of his chest and
he flew off the Oblar; his iron helmet rolled away after he hit the
ground. The Oblar didn’t realize that its master had vacated it’s
back and kept trotting towards Alex who had stuck her sword into
the ground. She dropped to a single knee and placed palms down
against the cool stone path leading into the town. The beast was a
stone throws away. Alex flipped her hands around so her palms were
pointed up and then lifted them violently into the sky as her body
leapt a few feet off the ground. From beneath the ground a stone
pillar erupted ten feet into the sky as the Oblar ran into it,
instantly taking it’s own life from the impact it’s head had
against the unmovable stone. She peeked around the pillar and
smirked at her handiwork.

Locke was almost to the rear entrance when
he noticed the Doc’s safe house; the soldiers designated to guard
the door were not fulfilling their duty, one lay dead on the floor
and the other one missing. Locke could see violent movement inside.
Locke drew his sword and ran to the large window on the side of the
shop and jumped into the air and cannonballed through the window,
cutting his knees and the top of his forearms. He saw three men in
front of him as he decapitated one, stabbed another in the heart,
and grabbed the third by the back oh his head and jammed his face
into the jagged glass along the window sill; the flesh around his
eyes being ripped apart and blood pooled along the window. Locke
turned from his victim to look for the Doc and was now looking at a
tall muscled imperial. Locke swung his sword but the large man
blocked by hitting Locke in the inner elbow causing him to drop the
sword. The man wrapped both hands around Locke’s neck and began to
squeeze, but punched him as hard as he could in the stomach; the
grip loosened. The man growled and grabbed Locke’s waistband and
flung him over his head into the wall. Locke’s back hit a framed
glass picture, then fell on his side to the hard wood floor; he
felts his elbow twist the wrong way. Locke slowly tried to get to
his feet, but was meant with a boot in the face. He couldn’t see
straight, just blurred images of blood and his dead soldiers with
the Doc and nurses in the corner. The man gripped Locke’s vest and
pulled him up. Slowly Locke’s vision returned and he saw the ugly
mug of the large imperial. “You die, scum!” growled the man into
Locke’s face. Locke spit a huge gob of blood into the imperial’s
eyes, blinding him. Locke dropped his injured elbow down on the
man’s arm to release the grip and felt a shooting pain in his arm.
He groaned, then stomped his foot down hard on the front of the
imperial’s left ankle; he heard it snap in half. Locke quickly
pulled out a combat knife and jammed it into the large man’s
stomach so hard and deep Locke could feel part of his own hand
enter the man’s body. He moved his hand up and down inside the
man’s belly as he felt the imperial’s blood drip down his left arm.
When Locke was satisfied, he pushed the man’s body away from him
and it landed atop the man that had been decapitated. Locke was
exhausted and collapsed on the floor and leaned against the walls,
“Fuck!” Bridget, Helena, and the Doc ran over to Locke to check
him. “How’s your back?” said the Doc looking into his eyes for
injury that might have been sustained from the choking. “A little
sore. Is my arm broken? It hurts like hell!” said Locke while
Bridget rubbed his leg. The Doc squeezed several parts of his arm
looking for a break, “Can you bend it?” Locke bent his arm and
cringed as he did so, “Yeah, it just stings.” Helena began wiping
the blood from his nose while Bridget treated his cuts from his
entrance through the window. “Okay, straighten your arm,” said the
Doc examining further, “Does it hurt when you move it or all the
time?” “Just when I move it or flex the muscle,” said Locke. “Good,
it’s not a damaged nerve, at least. You’ll be okay in a couple
days. Put this on your gums,” said the Doc handing Locke a tiny jar
with some kind of paste inside. “What is it?” Bridget finished the
last gauze application on his knee and said, “It’s ointment to stop
the bleeding in your mouth.” Locke wiped it over his top and bottom
gums and started rising to his feet. “Come on Doc,” said Locke
walking over to his Damascus, “Time to check on the injured.”

Alex gingerly walked over to Mood 17 with
sword in hand, who was already to his feet waiting for Alex. She
was ten feet removed as he signaled at her with his hand as if to
say ‘Let’s party’. Alex ran towards him and neglected to notice
that he still had his trident’s spear; he swung it from his left
hip and grazed her across the belly cutting threw her shirt and
drawing blood. She swung her sword towards his left kidney, but his
large hand grabbed her right forearm before she could connect and
threw her towards a large boulder. She flew through the air and
landed on the jagged rock, cutting her side and landed on the
grassy floor. He walked violently toward her and prepared to throw
his spear at her. She used what strength she had left to raise her
palm and the trident’s spear disintegrated in his hand as he
growled at the frustration. Mold 17 pointed his right hand at her.
Alex felt the gashes on her stomach and side burn like someone was
holding a fiery torch against them. Alex held her wounds and
screamed in unbearable pain, “AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” The pain was so
intense; tears dripped through her now closed eyes, until it just
stopped. She looked over at Mold 17 who had a cord wrapped around
his neck with a spearhead dangling over his right shoulder. Past
Mold 17 was Pearl pulling her cord tight, trying to either strangle
him or hold him back. Mold 17 looked at Pearl and curled the middle
of the cord around his wrist and jerked it hard towards his own
body. Pearl was dragged through the air headed for Mold 17. When
she got close enough, Mold 17 extended his right arm straight to
clothesline her in midair. The impact felt like someone had hit
Pearl in the forehead with a large piece of timber. Pearl lay
sprawled on the floor dizzy and confused from the attack. Mold 17
looked down at Pearl whose eyes appeared as if they were swirling.
Alex saw her opportunity and leaped onto the man-beast’s back and
he struggled and jerked around like an unbroken horse. Alex managed
to grab Pearl’s spearhead and stick it in the center of his throat
before he grabbed her head and flipped her in front of him. As she
flipped through the air she repositioned herself and landed on her
feet and turned to him maliciously; she had regained her composure
thanks to Pearl. Alex’s hands glowed blue as spider webs of
electricity swirled around them. She thrust her ten fingers towards
Mold 17 and lightning shot out of her fingers as Pearl looked on in
amazement at the blurry vision she saw. Mold 17 shook violently
from the power of the spell that electrified his organs, but was
able to lift a hand. The hand glowed crimson red, until more
crimson erupted from his chest and blood flowed, splattering on
Alex’s face. From within the humanoid’s chest peeked a razor sharp
blade, then Mold 17’s eyes went dark and he fell forward. Sticking
halfway out his back was Retriever’s tri-blade chakra. Alex looked
at Retriever, who was walking towards them to ‘retrieve’ his
weapon. Alex and Pearl got up and Alex waved to Retriever in
appreciation. Pearl began unwrapping her cord from around the man’s
throat. “Are you gonna tell?” asked Alex picking up her dragon
blade and placing it inside it’s scabbard. Pearl thought for a
moment, “No. But you can’t keep it a secret forever. It can only
help Alex.” “Your wrong about that.” Retriever pulled his tri-blade
violently out of Mold 17’s back. “Your not gonna say anything, are
you?” asked Pearl to Retriever. Retriever attached his weapon to
his belt, then gave her a wide-eyed look as if to sarcastically say
‘Very funny’.

Locke walked with Doc and his two nurses
towards the rear entrance expecting the worse; which is what he
got. Locke saw nothing but death. Every single soldier was dead,
Clyde holding his stomach in pain mumbling incoherently, Sam’s body
bleeding from it’s headless neck, and Ray faced down with a puddle
of blood under his chest. The Doc ran over to Clyde seeing as how
he had the greatest chance of living among the soldiers with
intestines falling out their chests and appendages yards away from
their bodies. The two nurses began work on Clyde; applying
pressured to his stomach wounds. “I…was…supp…osed…ta…protect her,”
mumbled Clyde to himself. Locke looked over at Clyde in confusion,
“Her? There weren’t any girls back he-“ Locke stopped speaking at
his realization,
I sent Ruthie back here!
Locke ran over to
Locke and pushed the nurses aside and grabbed Clyde by the sides of
his head, “Ruthie! Where is she?” “I…was…supp…osed…ta…protect
her…They…took…her,” mumbled Clyde again who was obviously
disillusioned due to the massive blood loss that seemed like a mote
around him. Locke banged Clyde’s head against the wall he was
leaned up against and began yelling hysterically, “Where the fuck
is she!!!” The Doc grabbed Locke and tried to get him off of Clyde,
“Stop! You’ll kill him!” “Dammit!” yelled Locke crawling away, his
emotions too intense to allow his to stand, “Ruthie! Oh Ruthie!
FUUUUUCK!!!” Tears oozed through Locke’s eyeballs as he slammed his
head into both of his hands. After several minutes he realized
something to his left, Ray was breathing. “Doc,” said Locke
abandoning his emotions for a second and pointed to Ray’s body,
“Ray’s breathing.” Doc ran over to Ray and flipped him over gently
and saw that the only part of his body capable of movement was his
mouth and lungs. Doc peeled back his shirt where it was cut and
noticed the coloration of the wound, “A rabid blade.”

Eve, Terra, and Julius arrived at the rear
entrance and saw the carnage. Eve immediately ran to Ray and began
stroking his forehead, “Ray, talk to me. Please?” “He’s been
stabbed with a rabid blade. It paralyzes your entire body making
your allies think your dead, so they wont bother to help and you
eventually bleed out.” Eve began to sob, “He wouldn’t want to live
paralyzed.” “Don’t worry,” said Doc pulling a syringe from his bag,
“He’ll get better over time. A few weeks and he’ll be fully
recovered. Helena, bring the gauze.” The Doc rolled up his left
pant leg, poured some beige liquid, and then stuck the syringe into
Ray’s right leg and pressed the plunger down. Locke sat on his
knees with his head down scared to death as he punched the hard
ground repeatedly in anger. “Locke?” said Alex who was bloody
herself, “What happened?” Alex knew something was wrong. “Bridget!”
said the Doc pointing to Alex. Alex waved off the young nurse,
“I’ll live.” Pearl kneeled next to Locke along with Alex. “What
happened?” asked Pearl sincerely. “They got Ruthie!” said Locke
grabbing Alex with one arm and Pearl with other and began just
holding them for emotional support. Terra just stood in shock over
Ruthie, she hadn’t moved a muscle since she heard. “Shit! The
bleeding wont stop,” said Doc sounding flustered. Terra snapped out
of her trance and rushed over to Ray and placed her left palm on
top of his wound. The Doc wasn’t sure what she was doing, but when
she removed her hand the wound was sealed and the bleeding had
ceased; Doc was in awe. Terra looked over at Locke, who was being
consoled by Pearl and Alex, and wondered how Smith would want to
handle this.

The shining sun was
directly overhead when the smoke cleared and the smell of gunpowder
began to evaporate from the blood soaked town of Harmon. The
Returners were preparing for the trip home while the Doc assessed
injuries for those who managed to sustain their own lives. Ray and
Clyde had no choice but to stay behind with their injured brethren.
Locke stood there at the west entrance waiting to leave, counting
less than a third of the soldiers they had arrived with. He saw the
look in everyone’s eyes, not knowing what they were going to do
next; Locke knew exactly what he was going to do. Terra stood with
Locke in shock of what had happened to Ruthie,
Is she dead? Will she be dead?
“What
will they do to her?” asked Terra to Locke. “I don’t know, but I
know what I’m gonna do,” answered Locke being ambiguous. “What?” “I
vowed to protect her from the second she was born,” said Locke as
he began leading the troops home to HQ.