by Tripp Ellis
Zack launched to his feet and focused his attention back on the shield generator. The guards had left their post, scurrying across the tarmac to see what the commotion was. The outpost was in chaos with soldiers swarming about in all directions. It was like someone had kicked a mound of ants.
Zack dashed across the tarmac to the shield generator. All of the soldiers were too busy watching the plume of smoke in the sky to notice him.
Zack pressed a button on the bulkhead, and the door to the structure slid open. He pushed inside and blasted two engineers operating the device. They flopped to the ground, oozing blood. The massive generator hummed with an almost deafening whine. The air was charged, and the hairs on the back of Zack’s neck stood tall. It seemed like the kind of place that would give you cancer and cause your cells to mutate if you spend too much time exposed to it.
In the center of the room was a towering cylinder that was at least 20 feet in diameter. It was essentially a giant cannon that shot the energy beam to the relay in the sky. Dials and gauges monitored the output of the device. Diagnostic screens displayed temperature, throughput, and capacity. Even with insulation, it radiated a massive amount of heat into the compartment.
Zack set his M7 plasma rifle to overload. He wedged it in between some piping that ran along the main beam cylinder. He'd have roughly 10 minutes to get a safe distance away.
Zack unholstered his pistol and moved to the exit. He pressed a button on the entry pad, and the door slid open. He peered out, scanning the tarmac. The mechanized vehicles were beginning to mobilize. Soldiers were scurrying about. Zack dashed back across the tarmac to the supply crates. With any luck, the enemy mech would still be waiting for him.
Xorgon was climbing into his mech when he happened to catch a glimpse of Zack out of the corner of his eye. He climbed into the cockpit of his vehicle and powered it up. The engine spun up and the control panel inside illuminated. Xorgon put on his helmet and lowered his visor, then marched across the tarmac toward the supply crates. His documentary camera crew chased after him.
Flies buzzed around the carcass of the dead Tarvaax warrior. Zack pulled the alien’s helmet from his head. He knew he needed it to interface with the mechanized vehicle. He jumped up and grabbed the rung on the mech’s torso. He climbed up and hopped into the cockpit. He hoped this time he’d do a little better than the last time he tried to drive an alien mech. He powered up the vehicle and the gauges came alive—glowing hues of green and blue.
He activated the switch to engage the neural interface. The rush of sensory input was overwhelming. Combined with his already splitting headache, it sent an excruciating stab of pain through his temples. His vision blurred, and he felt like he was going to pass out.
The disorientation lasted for a moment, then his vision began to clear. He took a wobbly step forward, then another, and finally his gait began to normalize. He planned to casually stroll out of the compound, but all of that changed when two plasma bolts streaked across his bow.
Zack saw Xorgon approaching, unleashing a torrent of weapons fire.
Now was not the time to stand and fight, he thought. The supply crates were the only thing keeping Zack from getting eviscerated by Xorgon's onslaught. Zack took off running in the enemy mech as fast as he could. He barely had control of the vehicle. He staggered and weaved, like a drunk trying to run the hundred meter dash.
Xorgon plowed through the supply crates, sending them scattering in all directions. He followed Zack down an alleyway and maintained a continuous barrage of weapons fire.
Plasma bolts exploded all around Zack, showering dirt and debris. Some kind of warning light flashed on his heads up display, but he couldn't decipher it. It was something about a cracked fuel-cell, but he wasn't absolutely sure. He checked the status of his weapons system and learned that the vehicle was completely out of ammo. Apparently the soldier had been on his way back from the front lines and was heading to the maintenance facility when he came across Zack.
He kept pushing the vehicle as hard as he could, weaving through the ruins of the city, trying to keep out of Xorgon's line of fire. His main concern was to get a safe distance away from the generator before it blew.
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The reticle of Xorgon's sites locked on to Zack’s vehicle. An instant later, a rocket launched, spitting sparks and propellant. It screeched down the street on a mission to obliterate Zack.
A proximity alert sounded inside Zack’s vehicle. He sidestepped in the nick of time, and the missile impacted the building next to him. It erupted in a brilliant ball of fire, knocking Zack’s vehicle to the ground.
Shards of glass and debris littered the road.
Zack scrambled to get the mech back on its feet.
Xorgon marched toward him, no doubt preparing to launch another missile.
Zack righted the machine and kept running, but he didn't get far. He heard one explosion, followed by a secondary explosion that dwarfed the first one in size. The shield generator had exploded in a blinding fury. It was far greater than anything Zack had anticipated. It made the explosion of the charge center look tiny.
A brilliant dome appeared on the horizon that kept expanding. It looked like the sun was coming out of the ground. A wave of hot air ripped through the city ahead of the explosion. Then the blast itself consumed everything in the vicinity. A mushroom cloud of smoke and fire billowed into the sky.
Zack had managed to get far enough away not to be incinerated. But the overpressure slammed his mech unit to the ground. The instrumentation went dead. The glowing dials faded, and the vehicle became non-responsive. No matter what he did, he couldn't restart the vehicle. Perhaps it was some kind of electromagnetic pulse that disabled the mech. But he could see Xorgon's mech, climbing to its feet. Perhaps it was a combination of the blast and the cracked fuel-cell that disabled Zack's mech. But it didn't really matter what the cause was, the damn thing wasn't starting, and Xorgon was marching toward him.
Zack tried a few more times to power up the vehicle to no avail. Then he decided it was best to get the hell out of there. Without power, he wasn't able to get the cockpit to slide open. There had to be some kind of emergency release, he thought. With wide eyes and a pounding heart, he frantically scanned for a manual release as Xorgon drew closer.
Xorgon tried to fire his plasma cannon, but all it did was spark and crackle.
Zack found what he was looking for and pulled the release lever. The canopy popped free. It clattered against the concrete as he launched out of the vehicle on foot. He sprinted as hard and as fast as he could. His legs pumped, and his chest heaved for breath. He could hear another rocket tear through the air behind him. He glanced back over his shoulder and saw the missile slam into the fallen mech behind him. Zack dove for cover behind a parked car.
The blast sent parts scattering in all directions. Twisted bits of metal and electronics spewed into the air. Stinging hot debris rained down all around him.
He took off running again. Bullets exploded at his feet, chipping away at the concrete. Xorgon had switched to machine guns. Apparently those still worked, unaffected by the blast.
Zack dashed into the ruins of a building. He had one advantage being on his feet, he was more nimble. He could fit into nooks and crannies where the giant mech couldn't.
Xorgon unleashed a hailstorm of gunfire, peppering the structure. Muzzle flash lit up the machine guns, and smoke wafted from the barrels. The bullets chipped away at the ragged structure. Zack could hear the projectiles snap past his ears. It was a terrifying sound. He could feel the hot breeze on his skin of a bullet that had narrowly missed him.
Xorgon plowed into the structure, bulldozing his way through, chasing after Zack. Walls collapsed around him.
Zack dashed into the street, racing for cover in another structure.
Xorgon opened fire. Bullets raked the ground at Zack's feet. Chips of concrete and debris pelted him as he ducked through a doorway.
Zack quickly realized it was a b
ad move—the building had partially collapsed and there was no way out but the way he came in. Xorgon was about to come crashing through the wall after him. Zack darted down the dark corridor and made his way to a stairwell. He figured if he could get to the roof, maybe he could jump to the next building—if there was a roof left at all.
He sprinted up the staircase as Xorgon slugged his way through the building. Zack’s lungs ached, and his legs were beginning to feel like jelly. He made it up to the third floor landing when Xorgon swiped a mechanized fist through the stairwell. It felt like an earthquake as the steps below him disintegrated. Zack kept climbing up the stairs, and Xorgon kept swinging. Zack managed to stay a few steps ahead of the destruction, as the stairs crumbled behind him.
He reached the top landing and pushed through the roof access door. Half of the roof was gone, and the majority of it sagged. Zack ran along the solid edge, stepped onto the ledge of the building, and leapt across the chasm just as the entire structure collapsed behind him.
The jump seemed to happen in slow motion. For a moment, he felt like a bird that could fly. Then he felt like a stone.
His chest slammed into the concrete wall of the neighboring building. His hands barely gripped the ledge above. He dangled four stories above the ground as Xorgon peppered the wall with bullets.
Zack pulled himself up and rolled over the ledge, flopping onto his back. Then he sprang to his feet and ran across the rooftop. Sections of the roof were missing. He weaved his way through HVAC units and large pipes, leaping over the missing sections of roof.
Xorgon circled around the building, lighting it up with weapons fire. Clouds of dust flew into the air from the bullet hits. The sound of the machine gun was almost deafening. But then Zack heard the most beautiful sound in the world. Both of Xorgon's machine guns locked out—empty. He was out of ammunition, out of rockets, and his plasma cannons weren’t working.
Xorgon look like an angry ape as he circled the building. He began pummeling the structure with his mech’s fists. He was going to bring it down one way or another.
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With the shield generator down, UPDF forces could begin to move on the city. Strategic targets could be hit from space with plasma cannons, if there were any destroyers left in orbit.
Atop the roof, Zack had run out of options. There was nowhere else to go. The nearby buildings were either too high, too low, or too far to jump to.
Xorgon bashed at the structure, trying to bring it down. Zack peered over the ledge at the crazed alien. Before long, Xorgon would demolish the building and Zack would be crushed in the rubble. That didn't sound appealing.
The top of Xorgon's mech unit wasn't far from the roof of the building—maybe only 10 or 15 feet below. Zack climbed onto the ledge and jumped down, landing on top of Xorgon's mech.
Zack's ankle hit the vehicle’s shoulder at an awkward angle, twisting in a direction that ankles don't normally go. Pain stabbed through the joint. He slid down the vehicle, almost plunging to his death. But he managed to snag a groove in the armor plating and hang on.
Xorgon twisted trying to shake him off. He flailed his arms, attempting to swat the pesky Marine.
Zack positioned himself on the back of the mech's neck. It was the one area the articulated arms couldn't reach. The vehicle's giant fist swooshed over Zack's head, never getting quite low enough to obliterate him. As long as he stayed in that position, he’d be safe from Xorgon's crushing blows.
Xorgon bucked and writhed. Zack did his best to hang on. It was like riding a mechanical bull in a western bar.
Zack opened a maintenance access panel on the vehicle’s back. The compartment was filled with wiring and hydraulic tubing. There were several circuit boards and a diagnostic port for accessing the vehicle's CPU. There was also a release mechanism that opened a back panel that allowed access to the engine.
Zack unsheathed his tactical knife from his utility belt and sliced through several hydraulic lines and wires. Fluid spewed from the hoses, like blood from veins. He jammed the knife into the circuitry. Sparks flew, and a shock jolted his hand. He recoiled involuntarily, and the knife fell away. A few seconds later it clanked on the ground.
By this time, Xorgon's unit began to malfunction. The alien had lost all control. The heavy beast staggered, and the steady hum of the engine ground to a halt.
Zack felt a glorious triumphant rush. He had disabled the damn thing. But his sweet victory only lasted a moment. The giant mechanized vehicle swayed, then began a long, slow fall. It was like a giant redwood tree that had been cut down. The unit tipped, then smashed into the side of the building. Zack bounced around like a rag-doll, crashing to the ground.
The impact from the fall left him unconscious. His body lay lifeless among the rubble, not far from the fallen mech. It was eerily quiet for a moment. Then the canopy opened, and the massive alien crawled out.
Xorgon looked pissed. He pulled off his helmet and slammed it to the ground. His eyes found Zack's body and his face contorted, snarling with rage.
Xorgon's camera crew had finally caught up to them. They fanned out, covering the event from multiple angles.
Zack began to stir. His vision was blurry, and it took him a moment to realize what had happened. There was a momentary gap in his memory, but as soon as he saw the angry alien approaching, it all came rushing back to him.
Before Zack could scramble to his feet, Xorgon grabbed him. The hulking alien heaved him through the air, sending him crashing into the remains of a brick wall. Zack crumpled down with the wind knocked out of him.
Xorgon closed in on him.
Zack scampered to his feet and squared off against the angry beast. One look at this ogre, and Zack knew he was going to take a beating worse than he had gotten from Dean Dully, Darrell Vaughn, or any other bully he had ever encountered.
Zack tried to keep light on his feet. He knew Xorgon had a size advantage, but Zack had speed and maneuverability. Unfortunately, his maneuverability had been greatly diminished. His ankle felt like someone had jabbed a knife into it. Each step sent a jolt of pain into the joint.
Xorgon unholstered his plasma pistol and tossed it aside. It probably didn't work anyway—none of the other plasma weapons were functioning after the blast. Even if it were, he would have tossed it aside just the same. He wanted to kill Zack with his bare hands.
The big beast charged in and swung a right cross. He had fists like a Mack truck that could turn a face into hamburger with one punch.
Zack ducked and dodged as Xorgon's massive fist whooshed overhead.
The alien scowled at him, a tad frustrated with Zack's maneuverability. Xorgon charged him again, faked right, then swung a devastating left hook. It connected with Zack's jaw, snapping his neck to the side. Blood sprayed from his lips as he crashed to the ground. The metallic taste of blood filled his mouth. He spit crimson goo onto the ground, then staggered to his feet.
Zack’s jaw ached. His incisor wiggled as he tongued it.
Xorgon seemed amused.
The two fighters circled each other, like boxers in a ring. This was going to end badly for Zack, and he knew it.
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Xorgon exploded at Zack. His big meaty fist crashed through the air. Zack ducked and dodged, throwing an elbow into Xorgon's ribs as he passed by. It did nothing. The behemoth lumbered to a stop, then pivoted around to look at Zack. He was starting to breathe a little heavier. All of this chasing the little runt around was starting to wear on him.
Xorgon launched at him again. He swung wildly, and Zack ducked underneath. He spun around to face the alien as Xorgon flipped his massive frame to face the little runt. They were standing toe to toe again.
Xorgon sprang forward, and Zack ran to the side. This time the beast was able to snag Zack's arm. He hoisted Zack up, then slammed him down against the concrete.
Zack felt his ribs crack, and all the air rushed from his lungs. He couldn't breathe, and he was seeing stars.
The big ogre dr
opped down, pinning Zack to the ground. He wound his fist back and pounded Zack in the face. His nose shattered and blood spewed from his nostrils. The back of his head cracked against the concrete. It was like two hits for the price of one. He wasn't going to survive too many more of those.
The ferocious alien recoiled his fist, preparing for another strike.
Zack turned his head away, shying from the impending blow. On the ground, the glimmer of something reflective caught his eye. Through blurred vision, he recognized his tactical knife. He reached out and clasped it as Xorgon landed another devastating punch.
Zack could barely see out of his left eye. It was swollen, and a laceration had opened up above his brow. Blood and sweat trickled into his eye, further obscuring his view. Xorgon appeared as a big hazy figure above him. He saw the beast cock his wrist back for another punch.
Zack swung his arm up, jamming the blade of his tactical knife in Xorgon's neck.
Blood spurted from the carotid artery.
Xorgon clutched the wound and tumbled to the side. Zack sprang to his feet as the alien tried to regain his composure. Xorgon pressed the palm of his hand over the wound, trying to stem the tide of blood, but there was no stopping it. He attempted to stagger to his feet, but with every beat of his heart his life force ebbed from his body. He collapsed down to one knee.
Zack kept a safe distance, clutching the bloody knife.
Xorgon mustered all of his strength and sprang to his feet. He plowed forward for a few steps before he fell again. He made one final attempt to stand, then collapsed in the street. His hand fell from the wound, and his body went limp. Blood oozed onto the dusty concrete, and Xorgon's last breath emptied from his lungs.
Zack breathed a sigh of relief. He wiped the blade on his pants leg and sheathed it. With his sleeve, he wiped the blood from his face. He felt the laceration above his brow with his fingertips, wincing as he pressed on it. It felt wide and slick.