by R. B. Tetro
Daniel and Juggernaut herded them fast, putting themselves between the children and the carnage behind them in the cavern. Many of the older people were stopping, turning around and looking for their family members and friends. What they saw was enough to turn them around, head down, heart-broken and pissed off.
Over Watch citizens prided themselves on having an advanced, groundbreaking society, where peace was sought at all cost. Now all that they had worked and bled for was destroyed. There was no one clamoring for a peaceful resolution anymore. It was time for blood.
CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE
A little bit later, Chloe found Daniel in the medic tent, trying with four other men to hold Juggernaut down, while the terrified field surgeon tried to stitch a four-inch long, bone-deep gash in his forehead. He was almost half way though with the job when his needle hit bone, and Juggernaut shrugged off Daniel and the others like they were rags, bellowing like a wounded hippo and swinging at anything that moved.
Chloe laughed as Daniel jumped up on the field table before leaping on to Juggernaut’s back, choking him out before letting himself drop to the floor. Everyone stood open-mouthed and breathing hard. “You better hurry, Doc. I don’t think he’ll be so easy to take down next time,” Daniel joked.
Everyone busted out laughing. Daniel noticed Chloe and went to her, following her out of the half torn-down tent, and down the walkway to a small bench. She sat down, but Daniel remained standing, looking around at everything at once.
Chloe looked up at him, studying his handsome, powerful face for what might very well be the last time. She patted the bench. “Please… sit with me, if only for a moment…”
Daniel, looked perturbed but sat down rigidly, still looking around.
Chloe took one of his hands in hers, both of them sitting in silence for a while, neither one of them wanting to break the treasured moment of peace. “I have some things that need saying, so I’ll just say them,” Chloe started.
Daniel looked at her, smiling sadly, before nodding.
“I love you, Daniel Brady. I have loved you since the first night we spent together and I will always love you.”
Daniel’s brilliant blue eyes locked onto her, drawing her into him. They kissed and Daniel whispered into her ear. “I love you, too. No matter where the hell I go or where the hell I end up, I will always love you.”
They embraced and held each other, as the world continued on around them.
“Please…let me go with you,” Chloe begged.
Daniel wanted to say yes more than he had ever wanted to say yes, but he knew the Keep held only misery and he didn’t want her anywhere near it. “I’m sorry…it’s too dangerous. Bedside’s, your place is with the children. Go to the Star Towers with the others. I will meet you there…when it’s finished.”
Chloe sobbed and held him tighter.
Daniel wanted to tell her that everything would be okay, but they both knew it would more than likely not be okay, and probably never would be okay. “I have to go. We have to get ready.” Daniel kissed her briefly, squeezing her, before heading off to find Reverend. He’d only made it a couple of feet when the great cavern was filled with the sound of static, and the sound of the Red Robin filled Over Watch, mesmerizing her frightened citizens.
“This is the Red Robin;
People of Over Watch…my friends.” The Red Robin’s voice broke. There were a few moments of silence while he regained his composure.
“People of Over Watch… rally and fight. My heart and soul is with you. If you are still alive after the battle come to the Star Towers. Together we will fight for the last safe place in the territory.
If Over Watch should fall, and you have to cross the Griddle, my thoughts and prayers go with you. I’m not going to bull-shit you people. The Griddle’s an Easy- Bake oven from hell, and you have to go through Dead Stone and Hog Trough to come out on the other side.
My heart and prayers go out to all true American’s. Fight until you can’t fight anymore, and then fight some more. And after you have drenched yourself in the blood of our enemies, come to the Star Towers. There, we will fight together.
Goodnight true Americans. Hold on…stay strong…and fight on.
There were a few moments of silence followed by the powerful, Star Spangled Banner sung by Whitney Houston.
As one, the folks able to stand stood and put their hands over their hearts reverently until the end of the song. After the last squelch of the radio had faded away, they all stood in silence, remembering their dead and dying. They had lost so many that they were having trouble coming up with places to put their dead friends. The wounded were moaning and several of the children were crying.
Daniel and Reverend were getting things ready for the inevitable second attack. It was their plan to hold on to Over Watch as long as they could; giving the children, and the ones not able to fight a chance to escape.
After everyone was settled and most of them sleeping, and Daniel had checked the watch for the tenth time he went and lay next to Chloe, each of them holding on to the other as tightly as they could.
The remainder of the night they spent whispering promises to each other that they both knew they would never be able to keep, but they whispered the promises anyway, because that was all they had left to sustain them.
CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX
Scout and Tinker stayed up late, waiting for the citizens of Over Watch to fall into an exhausted sleep before quietly checking the charges on the explosives Tinker had placed. The entire Over Watch structure was set to blow- and the sun was showing promise before they were finished.
While Scout sat smoking a cigarette and sipping on a bottle of brandy, Tinker carefully inspected the detonator that would bring Over Watch down around and on top of whoever was in there when the charges went off. Nodding that he was finally satisfied, Tinker sat down stiffly beside his long- time friend.
Scout could see that Tinker was suffering. He’d lost many friends at the wedding. He went into his back pack, pulling out Mr. Mean and set him up- facing himself and Tinker.
Tinker watched with a blank expression on his face. He was numb and tired of fighting and tired of losing his friends and tired of the way the world had gone to shit.
“Mr. Mean says he’s sorry that you’re sad. He says to tell you once we get to Star Towers, things won’t be so bad,” Scout rhymed cheerfully.
Tinker almost smiled. Nodding his head, he gently patted Scout on his shoulder. “Mr. Mean said all that, did he?”
Scout nodded emphatically and smiled. “Mr. Mean says the bad guys can’t win, because eating people’s a sin.”
Tinker chuckled at that. He looked at Scout the way one would look at a special needs child. “Mr. Mean’s talkative tonight. What else does he say?”
Scout looked hard at Tinker, making sure he wasn’t making fun of him. Tinker met his gaze, to let him know that he wasn’t. Satisfied, Scout turned back to his faded green friend. For a few moments, Tinker could hear him whispering. “Mr. Mean says don’t be sad for your friends, you will see them all again. He says to snap out of your funk or me and you will be sunk.”
Tinker looked at Mr. Mean and for a moment he forgot he was talking to a plastic replica of an imaginary super hero. “Why don’t you tell Mr. Mean to mind his own, damn… business…”
Scout looked stunned and hurt. He grabbed Mr. Mean, stuffing him quickly into his pack. He was crying, without noise, but crying none the less. It made Tinker remember when he was younger and he used to snap at his sons, and the way that his sons would look at him like he betrayed them. “I’m sorry, brave Scout. Mr. Mean is right. I should snap the hell out of this funk, and get ready to fight.”
Scout brightened, instantly forgetting Tinker’s harsh words, offering him a drink off his brandy. “Mr. Mean makes me mad. He’s rough like a dad. But he’s often times right… we should get ready to fight,” finished Scout. He stood slowly, looking past Tinker at the place the Blood- eyes had come into the
cavern earlier.
Tinker had known Scout long enough to know that the boy could hear things no one else could hear. He took the whistle he was wearing and was able to blow it hard and loud three times before the rocks in the breech were blown apart and Blood- eyes and snogs came rushing in on them once again.
Daniel, Reverend, Juggernaut, Basher, Chains, Tinker, Scout, Pops and his sons were the first to meet the invading eaters. Then there were people fighting and dying everywhere.
Chloe and the other women, along with a small detachment of Over Watch soldiers, lead the remaining wounded away from the fighting. Chloe had time to look over her shoulder just once. She saw Daniel up to his ankles in blood, swinging his battle axe like a mad man. There were a lot of hacked up enemies lying around him, dying. He saw her and winked at her before expertly decapitating a snog.
Chloe kept the children and the wounded moving as fast as they could. This time there would be no hiding in the fortified inner chamber. This time they would go through the tunnels until they came out to the surface on the back side of Over Watch. There they were to wait, for the rest of the Over Watch survivors…if there were any.
CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN
General Blood watched, fascinated, as Daniel and his friends slashed, hacked, and shot their way through his forces. It was really quite impressive the way they seemed to move as one, flexing and gathering themselves together while Daniel shouted out orders.
Blood blinked and he was in front of Daniel. He was astonished at how fast and strong the man was. Up until lately, Blood had been the biggest baddest warrior in the territory…well, except for Magnus, and he was a radiation soaked mutant.
Blood’s broadsword clanged off Daniels double bladed axe, making Blood’s teeth rattle, and his hands numb. Daniel swung again and again, driving Blood backwards. Blood gathered himself, countering Daniel’s attack with one of his own, pushing Daniel back, and slicing his shin bone open.
Daniel didn’t scream, instead he reached behind his back, spinning away from Blood’s frenzied rush. He jumped on Blood, plunging a knife hilt deep in his impossibly thick back. Blood staggered and dropped to one knee, bringing his sword up just in time to avoid being decapitated by Daniel axe.
He managed to regain his feet and engage Daniel again, while the blood from his wounds splashed out on the ground around them. Daniel stopped for moment, shouting something over his shoulder to a tall, thin man with two, Colt Python pistols.
Blood took the opportunity to catch his breath. He was shocked. His forces were being decimated. It didn’t seem real to him.
Finally, they both nodded at each other. Raising their weapons, they clashed once again. It didn’t take long for Blood to realize that the wound Daniel had dealt him was a lot worse than he’d thought. His blood was pumping out of him every time he raised his sword, and he was starting to feel weak and faint.
Daniel could sense his weakness. Pressing his attack, he whirled and spun with his axe, taking skin and bone with each blow until finally, the great General Blood faltered and fell to his knees, dropping his sword on the ground.
Daniel looked like a blood-covered maniac as he stood in front of the general with his axe raised high to deliver the death blow.
“Well fought…” Blood managed to gurgle.
Daniel nodded. He raised his axe a foot higher but right before he brought it down, Blood started ringing a small, red bell. It froze Daniel momentarily.
Blood was grinning from ear-to-ear. Daniel looked down at the bell and shook his head at Blood, who started to laugh. Shouting incoherently, Daniel swung, cutting off Blood’s bucket-sized head, sending it rolling. A gory fountain of blackish red blood sprayed Daniel. He barely had time to wipe his eyes and find the bell and stomp on it before a second wave of snogs and Blood- eyes entered the cavern.
Daniel shouted for his men to fall back. He knew they would have to hold the enemy off for a little while longer, if Chloe and the rest of them were going to have a chance of escaping. His men formed and fought with him. Most of them were wounded but still fighting valiantly. For a brief moment, Daniel though they might have a chance. That’s when the ground opened up, and the rock demons were amongst them.
CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT
The first thing Siros saw as he and Magnus watched the battle of Over Watch was that the man that had decapitated General Blood was the same man he had been seeing in his nightmares. “That’s impossible,” he whispered as they watched General Blood’s head rolling around and being stomped underfoot.
Magnus, on the other hand, was pleased as he could possibly be. In one fell swoop, one of the most powerful threats to his throne was eliminated by the angry warrior. He clapped his hands together, chuckling at General Blood’s misfortunate, but when he saw the man’s face that had killed him, he stopped. Something about the man seemed disturbingly familiar to him. It was as if he knew him or knew someone that looked an awful lot like him.
Siros was sweating, and he smelled like puss. Magnus put his hand over his nose to smother the stench while he watched the warrior hack and slash his way through one after another of his Blood- eyes and snogs which he’d sent in just after Blood’s loyal followers were eliminated. Both Magnus and Siros felt something neither one of them had felt for a very long time. They felt fear… a lot of it, like a bucket of it had been thrown on them as they watched Daniel and his men slaughter their troops and the snogs unlucky enough to attack them.
“I don’t understand…how is this possible?” Magnus hissed.
“It’s simple, nephew. Our soldiers fight because they are told to fight. These men and women fight for their very survival.”
Magnus looked at Siros, “How do we overcome such resolve?”
“With sheer numbers,” Siros chuckled, pointing back to the wall-sized looking glass. Their forces were forcing the blue-eyed warrior and his friends back further and further. They saw Tinker and Scout fighting for their lives against overwhelming odds. They watched as Tinker was wounded and dragged into the tunnel entrance and a massive boulder was sealed in front of the entrance.
“Those are two of the men that escaped me!” Magnus growled and snapped his fingers. A servant appeared, bowing low.
“Make things ready to journey to the Cavern of the Light straight away!” Magnus snapped.
“As you command, my king,” the servant answered, bowing his way back outside.
“That’s that then,” Magnus gloated. Finally, the Cavern of the Light would be his and the bothersome Over Watch had fallen. He looked at his uncle and wondered why he wasn’t celebrating. Siros was staring at the image of the Blood-eyes fighting with the snogs to see who would move the boulder from in front of the tunnel.
“Something’s not right…” was all he had time to say before the expansive, packed cavern was buried under tons of rock and rubble. The looking glass cracked down the middle, throwing Siros back and away from it, breaking his looking spell. He lay crumpled in a heap in the corner, upside down and stunned.
Magnus was outraged. All of his hard work and planning were ruined. They had blown the roof off of Over Watch, burying hundreds of his Blood-eyes, rock demons and snogs alive, ruining any chance he would ever have to rule from there. “No!” Magnus screamed, tearing the intact remains of the looking glass off the wall, hurling it across the room at Siros.
Siros barely had time to throw up a shield spell before the three-hundred-pound mirror crashed into the rock wall above him. He rose and mouthed the words to another spell while Magnus drew his sword and stepped toward him.
Suddenly the door was flung open. “Enough!” Constance’s voice cracked the deadly tension, snapping them both out of their disappointed killing frenzy. “Whether it stands or not, Over Watch has fallen and the rebels are on the run,” she soothed both her husband and her former lover.
Magnus and Siros looked at each other, slowly starting to smile, slowly lowering their arms. Soon all three of them were laughing together. What, if anything, wa
s left of Over Watch and the Cavern of the Light was theirs for the taking.
CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE
Daniel sounded the retreat, and he and his men started to fight backing up toward the tunnel that would take them to the backside of Over Watch. It took several minutes to make their way to the tunnel entrance. Once there, they took on all comers as their remaining forces fled down the tunnel.
He heard a whistle and turned to see Tinker standing at the tunnel entrance, fighting for his life with a spear. Scout was beside him, darting in and out with his long knives, killing everything around them. Daniel managed to get near enough to Tinker to grab him and carry him while shouting for his men to fall back into the tunnel.
Once inside, Juggernaut, Chains and Basher moved a huge boulder in front of the entrance. They could hear the sounds of the wounded screaming, and the snogs clawing at the rock, but for now they were safe. “Let’s move…” Daniel shouted. As one, they made their way down the long tunnel, hunched over and panting.
Daniel and Scout were the only ones left to see Tinker stumble and fall. They were beside him in an instant, helping him sit up and lean against the wall. Both of their hands were covered with blood. Tinker’s entire torso had been ripped open by a rock demon’s claws. His exposed chest bone gleamed garishly white in the glow from their torches.
“Oh no, oh no! My dear friend Tinker, please don’t go…” cried Scout, hugging Tinker tight to his battered body.
Tinker grunted and moaned. Daniel gently pried Scout away. Outside he could hear the sounds of someone ordering someone else to move the rock.