“He’s out of operations right now, but he’ll be ok… it’ll take time, but I can work with this…” Eddy sighed. I took the moment of peace to run over to the Sci’Lyk “village”. It was still in pieces, but a few of them survived; they were huddled against each other, but I felt a sharp jolt of anger and agony when I saw the charred or mutilated bodies of a few. A few cried out, and the others tried to tend to who could be saved. Some carried the bodies over to the smaller, safer fires to cremate their dead. All around was the smell of death, burning on a land once peaceful. I dragged my feet back to the others, but fell to my knees and choked on tears along the way, damning the world. Danni ran up to me and threw her arms around me, holding tightly as if she’d never let go.
In the beast’s wake was a tiny note was on the ground. Eddy picked it up and read it aloud.
“Terrorists simply won’t be tolerated in America! This is not the last time Jahnged will give you payback! The disease’s effects have been used to positive effect in my army, and we’ll decimate any in our way!” the note said.
“SON OF A BITCH!” Eddy smashed his foot into the ground and threw his arms up.
The worst of the war was yet to come.
Chapter 4
WAR ON NO MAN’S LAND
Eddy somberly began work on Tank, seemingly concentrated on the communicator. It spoke out with a dull, fuzzy tone. He had been trying to receive news from other U.S.P.L. locations for the past few minutes, but with no luck. Danni and I shared a blanket and watched in anguish as both the U.S.P.L. and Sci’Lyk mourned their dead and cremated them both out of respect and fear that their bodies would be further mutilated by Jahnged if they were buried. The night was merciless; it never seemed to end. Each star flickered, each one a memory of a life lost in the war that had only just begun. Then, the static on Tank’s communicator hissed loudly. A message was coming through! The few of us who were left huddled around the device, hoping it would announce good news.
“If… lines… call…” The voice was audible, but it was stabilized after a few moments of Eddy fiddling with Tank’s circuitry.
“Hello? Can you hear me?” a man’s voice called out; it was familiar, but we couldn’t quite place it. He sounded older, but had a clean and professional tone. We all gave a resounding “Yes!”
“Good! I believe this is a U.S.P.L. zone I’m speaking to?” he spoke with such confidence and prestige! We all looked around at each other curiously, and kept listening.
“Yes, I believe I am. Anyhow, I’ll say something that I’m only giving you one chance to hear: Jahnged paid you a visit already, I know that much. If you thought that it was a nightmare, believe me, that’s only the beginning of it!” he smugly disclosed. Mixed with that smugness was malevolence by the time he spat his last word.
We stayed silent.
“I’m not wasting a single second that I’ve been given. It’s my duty to run this country now that I’ve been given just the right opportunity to do it, and if that means exterminating your little group and any like it that even think about stopping me, then so be it!” he declared.
“I’LL HAVE YOUR HEAD ON A PLATE!” Eddy’s face was bright red, and we had to do our best to calm him down. The rest of us just couldn’t believe that Miller was still preaching in his political tongue for the few who were around to listen to it. He was Stalin. He was Hitler. He was Caesar. He was a man taught to fight the violence of anarchy with brutality through order.
“I doubt that. I’m using the buala to my advantage as we speak. Lay down your weapons for the greater good of us all, or risk fighting a war you can’t win!” Miller proclaimed before the communications flatlined.
“So how did Miller get the name ‘buala’, huh?” Eddy asked through gritted teeth as he stared at Beich through eyes of rage. Beich looked horrified; he was without an answer.
“It doesn’t matter now! He must’ve gotten into your network. That’s the only way we could’ve listened to him just now.” I butted in, just to try and avoid any unnecessary violence. Eddy gave me a filthy look before Miller opened up the lines of communication again.
“Don’t think I can’t hear a word you animals are saying! You’ll be among the first I deal with. I’ll personally make sure that you’re wiped out just like your precious little town was.” he arrogantly snarled.
Now, I was the one who had to be restrained. I felt the blood boil up in my face, ready to burst. What a cowardly strategy; trying to rule by fear with an iron fist. What he didn’t realize was that his iron fist was about to slam itself onto the sharp end of a resistant iron nail. The communicator screeched out static one last time, and all was silent besides the blaze behind us dying out. The sky was beginning to be repainted from a deep black-blue to gentle orange-yellow. The sun was rising on this new day, and I feared that it would bear witness to more bloodshed than it had seen yet.
“Well… if anyone has anything to say to anyone, it’s about that time.” I spoke when I sat down next to Danni. Everyone in the group was silent for a few moments when Danni recalled something that may have just saved us from imminent slaughter.
“…Oh! I’ve got something! Ok, um… don’t look at me like a freak after I say this, alright?” Danni asked us.
Beich, Eddy, and I nodded.
“…0100110101101001011011000110110001100101011100100010011101110011001000000101000001101001011011000110110001100001011100100010011101110011001000000110000101110100001000000110110001100001011101000010000000110100001100110010111000110011001100100011010100110001001101110011100000100000011011000110111101101110011001110010000000101101001101110011010100101110001101110011001000111000001101110011011000110000.” she watched straight ahead as she recited this. We all gave her a blank stare. She jumped in the same way a person does when they need to explain themselves quickly.
“I just said not to look at me like that! I—it’s what was on the paper! In the doctor’s office, the guy ended up working for Miller and stabbed Leo!” she casually reminded me as she informed Eddy and Beich of the betrayal earlier. It came together like a puzzle.
“Eddy, that’s—”
“Binary!” he grinned his same old toothy grin. He ran inside the facility, and ran back out in a few minutes with another small device. By now, the sun was peaking over the horizon to see what was on the other side.
“Danni, say that again…” he mumbled while he got out a small keyboard and attached it to the small screen.
“0100110101101001011011000110110001100101011100100010011101110011001000000101000001101001011011000110110001100001011100100010011101110011001000000110000101110100001000000110110001100001011101000010000000110100001100110010111000110011001100100011010100110001001101110011100000100000011011000110111101101110011001110010000000101101001101110011010100101110001101110011001000111000001101110011011000110000.” she panted.
“Miller’s Pillar’s at lat 43.325178 long -75.728760.” Eddy read aloud, pulling another cigar from his pocket. He lit it, and shoved it right into his mouth.
“Latitude and longitude!” Beich happily yelled out. We each gave him the slow clap. His face turned red, coming to the disappointing realization that he was the third wheel (or in this case, the fourth wheel).
“The doctor who gave us that was even more psycho than Miller. He thought Danni and I would be dead by the time we even realized those numbers were binary.” I started to relax. Knowing where Miller hid was a start. Now, it was a matter of capturing him. After that, what price could he possibly pay for his actions? Was death the only way?
“For all we know, Miller could hop back on there any minute and hear what we’re saying. Locking him back out’ll be tougher than it sounds…” Eddy let out a large puff of smoke and pointed to the communication device on Tank with his pinky finger.
“If we’re gonna do anything, we have to do it NOW.” I suggested. The other three inhaled deeply, and then nodded in unison. Our little group was silent until Danni made another suggestion that likely ended up saving us all.
&n
bsp; “Hey, I know someone who can help us…” Danni whispered to me. She continued to me privately, and a small, nervous smirk spread across my face. She had one hell of an idea, but it was at least worth trying.
“What is it…” Eddy arched a brow and asked with suspicion in his voice.
“If we told you, you wouldn’t want to try it. You’ll just have to trust us.” I responded to him. Danni was already walking back in the direction we came from the night before. Eddy and Tank would have to come, but Beich would need to stay behind and salvage what he could. By the time our voyage began, the sun was already taking more than a peek at the landscape. It started repainting the sky once more from the fiery red-orange to the calm deep blue mixed with a light gray we were so used to. A few clouds further out on the horizon tried to collage themselves into this picture, and we’d see later on just how successful they were.
The sun was in the center of the sky, staring at us with its burning, glowing eye by the time we arrived at the destination Danni had in mind. We dared to travel down one of the roads that Ortiz told us just the day before to not go down, and so far, it paid off.
We stood on the outside of a ring of wooden fortifications in the middle of nowhere. We seemed to be in a ghetto; behind the gates, there were dogs barking and scuffling. Trash burned, sending up heavy puffs of smoke. Danni and I knew this place as the old junkyard, but it had changed dramatically since we had last seen it. We saw a steel fence, the only open spot in the ring.
“We have to see Ortiz!” I shouted over the fence. A guard walked by the fence, his suit’s build towering over it. I prayed that he recognized Danni and I, and it seemed that prayer was answered. He silently motioned to one of his comrades out of sight. Seconds later, a part of the wooden fortification was rolled back, revealing the junk yard. It screamed of the stereotypical “lean and mean” junkyard construction. Tires were piled high, each one waiting for its time for sacrifice, waiting to be useful after a lazy life. The scent of their immolation not only made the inhabitants more aggressive and prone to psychotic behavior, but also acted as a warning sign for any who stumbled into the guerilla fortress. Well, a fortress of trash. Around the pillars of tires were sloppily-constructed homes. They had roofs of tin, and were held up by bare wood. The favela homes had no windows, and were so cramped that I hoped that they were just “decoration” and not true living spaces. The pathways were carved from dirt; most were invisible under the tracks of mech footing. The entire slum reeked of a poverty brought upon itself.
We were accompanied by a nameless, speechless guerilla. The only words he grunted the entire time we were with him was that Tank was to be kept outside. Eddy, Danni and I passed through the makeshift gate. There were the sounds of children playing but none in sight. In a far-off corner, bulldogs fought over a scrap of meat. The air reeked of burnt rubber and smoke. We were led through hallways comprised of high stacks of every kind of material, ranging all the way from cardboard to plastic to metal. We were led to a small “room” in the center of the shantytown. It was open to the gray, sinister sky above but enclosed by walls of steel otherwise. At the end of the room, Ortiz sat upon a rather non-symmetrical throne of steel. Beside him was his mech, as sinister as ever. He seemed to have been waiting, as he stood right up the second we entered his “throne room”. The guard left and slid the heavy door closed so we could speak in private.
“I thought you would come back.” he grimaced. It was difficult to tell exactly what his intention was; was he testing us, or was he legitimately furious?
“Give us a chance. I think you’d be happy to hear what we have to say.” Danni pleaded. Eddy and I let her do the talking. Eddy scowled at me, as if he was saying “you were right to think I wouldn’t like this plan”.
“I’m listening.”
“We know where Miller is.”
That was all he needed to hear. Ortiz stepped forward, suddenly interested.
“Tell me!” he was far too proud to ever beg, but this was as close as he would get.
“I will on one condition…” Danni trailed off, looking back to Eddy, then back to Ortiz.
“I’ll hear it…”
“Your men will have to team up with U.S.P.L. to fight Miller. Neither of us could realistically take him on by ourselves.” Danni forced the words out and bit her lip. I couldn’t tell who was more shocked by this development, Eddy or Ortiz. Both had their eyes wide open, jaws dropped, staring at the other.
“Impossible. You,” Ortiz pointed to Eddy, “are a threat to our way of life. There can’t be an alliance between us.”
“Miller’s a bigger threat to both of us than each other.” Eddy dared to utter a firm response. The shock shifted to Danni. She seemed taken aback that he responded to the claim. The negotiation was left up to him now.
“That’s true, that’s true… how do I know you won’t shove a knife in my back? How can I know that once this is over, you won’t attempt to force my men off of our land to fit your vision of what’s best for this land?” Ortiz mulled over this out loud, expecting a response that pleased him. Eddy clearly wanted a minute to think over his answer, but if he hesitated, that would only prove Ortiz’ point. His only choice was to say what would earn his trust.
“We don’t have what it takes to fight you, and even if we did, it isn’t a fight worth having. We really just have to worry about Miller for now.” The way Eddy danced around the question made me a bit suspicious, but considering the situation we were in, we were essentially cutting a bomb’s wires.
Ortiz seemed satisfied by the compliment. Unfortunately, we quickly found out that his satisfaction was false.
“So you send two… children out here, let them do me a favor, and expect me to die for you because of it.” he spoke in a condescending tone. Eddy was ready to defend himself, but Ortiz held up one hand.
“I’ll go. Just realize that I’ll always have an eye on you. If you even think of laying a finger on my men, I’ll know long in advance.” he warned. We didn’t risk responding with a single word that may provoke him.
“You have nothing to fear as long as you fight for what you say you do. Be ready to leave soon.” Ortiz smirked as he walked back to his mech and got inside. Eddy, Danni, and I turned to each other. I could hear a very low “Score!” escape from Eddy’s mouth. I just knew that everybody in that area felt a sense of pride bubbling up. An alliance had been formed, no matter how shaky or unstable. Now we were David and Goliath, U.S.P.L. as the slingshot, the guerilla forces as the stone, and Miller’s deviations as the evil about to face its downfall.
“If we’re going to get going, we have to do it now. We can’t give him any time to prepare if he finds out about this.” Ortiz grimly reminded us as he ran his fingers over the panels of his craft. He pulled a few levers from within, the machine whirred to life, and the glass panel slowly closed over Ortiz’s head.
“I’ll recruit fifteen men. We’ll meet outside the gate in fifteen minutes. You call your own soldiers and we’ll all meet along the way. You know how far it is, so plan accordingly.” Ortiz commanded.
Fifteen minutes. We had fifteen minutes to prepare for a short yet arduous war. One that we may win, but blood will be shed either way. At this point, anything could happen. Luckily, the alliance that was formed had the experience and weaponry that wins wars.
Eddy, Danni, and I hurried back out of the junk yard. We met Tank who was still outside in an idle mode. There, we could hear rallying cries, a widespread and encouraging call to arms. Every passing moment brought something out of the gate, whether it was another mechanized warrior, weapons, ammunition, or vehicles. Eddy took the free time to re-route the U.S.P.L. soldiers who were ready to fight a lone war against Miller, and sent them to the coordinates of the place that Miller was seemingly hiding in. Within a few minutes, a ragged militia of guerillas was standing outside, waiting for orders of conquest and victory. Ortiz walked out of the gate last, ready to lead the pack. I felt goose bumps creep along under my skin�
�� his presence was undeniably warrior-esque. If Miller was Hitler and Stalin and Caesar, then Ortiz was Napoleon and Alexander. All eyes were on him, prepared for whatever words he had for the rally.
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