Clio and Cy: The Apocalypse (22 page)

“Never trust a demon. He has a hundred motives for anything
he does ... Ninety-nine of them, at least, are malevolent.”

― Neil Gaiman, The Sandman

Russ and Clio returned home with the thoughts of the
smoldering RMB weighing heavy on their minds. The old woman was difficult for
Clio to forget.

“I need to take a nap,” Russ announced, walking toward his
room as if pulled by an invisible force.

Clio didn’t answer him. She was tired too, but sleep, Clio
knew was impossible. Lapping out of her bowl, the dog sloshed the water over
the kitchen floor. “I bet you’re hungry,” the thirteen-year-old announced.

Clio wanted to do something good. Wanting to forget, the
girl needed some kind of escape. She wanted to do something useful and feeding
a hungry dog was about as good as it was going to get right now. Besides,
eating wasn’t a bad idea for her either. If she were to find her mother, she
needed to keep her strength up.

Clio had convinced herself that her mother was still alive.
She was one of those taken. No other answer could be accepted, although, even
at her age, she knew how dangerous such a hope could be. She’d already dealt
with the disappointing idea of never finding her. Maybe the hope would drive
her mad. People have been known to look for loved ones until it broke their
spirit, killing them.

“You hungry girl?” Clio asked. Lady anxiously looked up,
wagging her tail.

42 minutes later
:

After feeding the dog and herself, the girl fell asleep on the
couch. Dreaming of the RMB, disjointed images rummaged through Clio’s mind.
Scene after scene, the ruin wasteland of her old home drifted through her
subconscious. Now dreaming of flesh eaters, she tossed on the sofa’s coarse
material. Lady was barking in her nightmare and
the
sights and sounds were coming in faintly through invisible walls. She began to
wake…

Clio’s eyes opened and she caught the old man’s shape at the
front door. Smelling a cake, the thirteen-year-old noticed a small candle
flickering on top of its frosting, all of it scrounged together by Russ. She
rubbed her lids and saw the old man as a blur, yawning. Russ walked toward the
entrance and opened the front door to let Lady inside. Violently crashing
inside, the sight of something lunging on the old man snapped her sharply
awake.

Russ flew back inside with a demon on top of him,
desperately fighting it off. The dog attacked. Lady was biting into the
creature’s arms and legs, snapping and flailing her head. Rearing back, the
monster smashed the K9’s face, sending her across the living room. Clio could
hear the mumbles of the old man, bleeding as a battered mess on the oak floor.

After jumping off the couch, Clio lunged forward and ripped
a massive rifle from the wall display. She aimed and pulled the trigger.
“Click” Nothing happened. Lady came back, charging. “Ssshhhhaaa!” the monster
hissed straddling over the old man. Lady slid to a stop, staying low and
growling in a sound as terrifying as the monster’s hisses.

Untrained on the weapon, Clio fumbled with the heavy rifle
and found the safety switch. Lady pounced and the creature grabbed her, sending
the Husky into orbit. Flying through the air, the dog cleared the counter and
smashed into the kitchen. The Husky smashed into the higher doors, breaking
porcelain and glass inside the cabinets, yelping.

Suddenly, the monster looked at Clio. The beast stared deep
into the child’s eyes, working things out through its yellow sclera, mouth
open, hissing, and revealing its blood soaked fangs. The girl aimed… Lady
appeared again, limping out of the kitchen, growling - still determined to save
her master.

“Move girl,” Clio instructed. “Move!”

Lady was between Clio and the monster and acted as if she
didn’t hear a word of the girl’s request. Snarling with her fur standing on
end, the dog began to circle, staying low. Russ lay still without a sound. The
Husky cleared. Line of sight opened…

“Crack!” Clio fired and the kick sent her reeling back while
she heard the creature howl. Stumbling backward into the hall entrance, she
tried to keep her footing, unable, and falling on the floor. Her head smacked
the wood and she lay dizzy from the impact, looking at the ceiling. Lady barked
in loud echoes through the house as Clio sat up. It came into focus. Like a badger
to honey, the demon was locked on to her, moving toward the hall entrance. It
jumped in the air and stretched its claws out, reaching for girl flesh.

Using pure instinct and watching the monster sail toward
her, Clio grabbed the rifle
in front of her and
pulled it to her lap. The creature closed the distance and brought its foul
stench as it descended within inches of the girl. “Crack!” Clio fired at point
blank range just as the monster landed on top of the barrel, smashing into her
like a ram. Clio’s breath was stolen away from the impact and the demon’s
weight pinned her down.

Clio gasped for air. Lady’s tearing bites on the creature’s
skin ripped through the hall with violent aggression. Trapped beneath the
stench, as if a gorilla was draped on top of her, Clio labored to breathe from
its colossal weight.

The monster’s prickly flesh felt primal as she wiggled to
free herself from underneath. She looked behind her, almost blacking out from
the lack of oxygen, and spotted the rifle that slid down the hall toward the
bedrooms. Clio pushed her hands off the narrow walls and turned away from the
monster wanting to retrieve the weapon. Lady followed the thirteen-year-old,
and suddenly turned, jumping over the creature and returning to Russ, licking
him.

Clio aimed the rifle
at the
demon’s motionless body lying on the floor. She hadn’t felt the pain from the
recoil in her shoulder yet. Ready to shoot again, she looked down the barrel,
but the beast didn’t move. The girl dizzied. Air slowly came back to her lungs
as she kneeled down, putting the rifle’s
butt
stock on the floor and used the weapon like a walking stick for balance. Energy
vibrated through her
body as she leaned against
the narrow wall. Clio glanced at the old man lying still and bleeding out on
the floor. Respirations came hard as she bowed her head.
Finally…
Clio paused and closed her eyes.

“Ssshhhhaaa.” Clio jumped to her feet aiming. The monster
twitched its arm and reached for the wall. It clung to life as Clio ended the
ordeal. “Crack! Crack!” Determined to keep hold of the weapon, she fired twice,
dropping it after the second shot. Now, she began to feel the pain in her
shoulder, grabbing it as she kneeled down, sobbing from the recoil and the
trauma of horrific events. She raised her head and kept her teary eyed stare
fixed on the creature. Wiping them away, Clio noticed where the first round
exploded out of the creature’s
back and the
other that pierced through the hamstring.

“The racing bug is never going to go away.
It's like the Mafia.”

-Davy Jones

RMB Pendleton:

The copilots and crew chiefs were already removing the
camouflage netting and both Captains were firing the engines when they arrived.

Ready for lift off, b
oth
Vulcan Helicopters were
twirling their rotors.
Deines and Woolridge jumped inside a helicopter as both war-birds lifted off
the ground like dragonfly. Shooting skyward, the helicopters banked in opposite
directions, sending Lance Cpl. Woolridge tumbling and crashing against the
bulkhead.

“Man that cannon Marine!” Deines shouted to the confused
door gunner.

The door gunner began strapping himself to the weapon and
paused… the Vulcan rose higher. And so too did the fire and lights raging from
the warzone, burning up from inside RMB Pendleton as if was the pit of hell.
“Get ready Marine!” Deines shouted, prompting the gunner to finish securing
himself into position. Focusing on the carnage below, jaw dropped, the door
gunner finished strapping himself into his harness.

Woolridge rubbed the knot on his skull and ran between the
cockpit, shaking the cobwebs out. “Keep your elevation! They’ve got heavy
firepower!” Woolridge shouted at both pilots.

 
“What the hell is
going on!” the copilot shouted as the Captain concentrated at the controls.
“Ker!” Woolridge screamed. “And… There’s something huge with…” Woolridge didn’t
finish his words… the Vulcan pivoted and rose higher in the air. Coming sharply
into view, they witnessed bionic insects massacring their brothers on the hallowed
ground below them.

The massive Super Destroyers Woolridge was about to explain,
now, needed no introduction. Insects a hundred feet below and their bug images
spoke thousands of words. In the moment, all were speechless… The mechanical
bugs were unspeakable forces of destruction.
Let’s see what they got
, Deines thought. Ready to engage, the
Vulcan helicopters separated and flew into battle formation. “When we circle
back around, drop the fucking hammer on them!” Deines shouted in his door
gunner’s ear.

The second helo stayed low and circled the battle.
“BBRRRRrrrr! BBRRRRrrrr!” Before they could unleash Marine Corps pain, Deines
watched from the side door, seeing the other Vulcan get first dibs, firing on a
single bug.

Outlining the human’s silhouette in a flickering strobe, the
door gunner shot from the side of the helicopter’s dark hole, rocking back and
forth like a jackhammer while glowing in canon fire.

The door gunner fired 40mm projectiles and lit up the night
sky like a flamethrower. Shredding into the giant bug, rounds sparked and flew
off its dented exoskeleton. The Super Destroyer was damaged but not killed. The
Vulcan opened up again on the massive insect again, trying to finish it off.
“BBRRRRrrrr! BBRRRRrrrr!” the second barrage of rounds separated parts from its
bug body as it crawled across the ground, flipping and flopping, now, as a
useless piece of junk.

“Drop the fucking hammer! Fire!” Deines shouted at his
gunner, slapping the Marine on his shoulder while pointing at another bug that was
locking on to them. Aiming its railgun, the Super Destroyer’s detection system
tracked on to the Vulcan’s weapon getting ready to blast its way.

“Kill that fucking thing!” Deines shouted. The Vulcan’s
gunner opened up. “BBRRRRrrrr! - BBRRRRrrrr!” Earth flew up as rounds hit the
dirt in a line heading toward the bug’s feet. The Vulcan’s cannon hit the metal
insect as it fired its railgun back at the warriors
.
Spinning in a pirouette, the bug fell down amidst a dust storm from the 40mm
rounds striking its chest, and peppering the ground all around where it was
standing.

Seeing the giant insect topple, the Vulcan banked, sending
Deines and Woolridge flying and crashing into the bulkhead once more. “Wham!
Wham!”

“Jesus Christ! That’s starting to piss me off!” Woolridge
barked. Electrifying with energy, the hair on the men inside the bird stood on
end as the railgun’s projectiles narrowly missed, swooshing by with hurricane
force wind. The Vulcan Captain struggled to keep the helicopter under control,
battling the cyclic stick.

They regained pitch and roll and leveled off. Woolridge
joined Deines after staggering behind their gunner and watched as the second
Vulcan swooped down, attacking, banking and firing on the injured bug. Nosing
up and breaking hard, “BBRRRRrrrr! - BBRRRRrrrr!” Trails of fire shot from its
cannon as it hovered low
.

A third insect came out of the darkness, creeping up on the
war-bird, sneaking from behind.

Unable to warn them, Woolridge and Deines watched the scene,
anxious and sickened, foreseeing the inevitable. The third bug launch through
the air and grabbed the
Vulcan’s tail rotor,
dragging it toward earth. Deines and Woolridge could only watch.

Suddenly the pilots view out of the windshield changed as
they looked out from the inside their captured helicopter and became
disoriented. Like riding a carnival pirate ship, their stomachs dropped, bodies
frapped, and their heads snapped, looking up at twinkling stars. Their war-bird
plunged from the sky.
 
Nose up and ass
down, they were being dragged to earth by a bug.

Crashing in a fireball, the helicopter sent pieces from its
rotors sailing like IED shrapnel. “Fire! Light that mother fucker up!” Deines
shouted almost being swept off his feet from turbulence.

When it emerged from the wreckage, the door gunner shot at
the metal bug, “BBRRRRrrrr! - BBRRRRrrrr!”

Samurai Sword in hand, the insect did the same after locking
on to the helicopter’s position, “ZZZZWWWppp!”

Vulcan and bugs shot in a crossfire. The Super Destroyer
missed, but now, both bugs were engaging the lone Vulcan. As the massive
insects aimed their railguns, the pilots anticipated their shots and dropped
their war-bird low, then high, jutting away from the blistering projectiles.

Deines and Woolridge were rag dolled as their helicopter
raced away from the battle and out over the ocean, smashing against the
ceiling, floor, ceiling again, back to the floor.

“Hang on!” the Captain shouted.
Holy fuck! Hang on! It’s getting worse than that?
Woolridge
thought, still seeing tweedy birds. Deines concurred as the Captain pulled on
the cyclic stick between his legs, torqueing on it, lifting the Vulcan’s nose
straight up while he kept the jet thrusters firing on full throttle.

Racing toward Orion’s belt, the Vulcan reached the limit, suspended
and stalling. Feeling zero gravity as if they were astronauts in space, scared
shitless Woolridge shouted, “Are we crashing!” Rolling the helo over, the
pilots get its nose pointed south, and the g-forces begin replacing
weightlessness as it angled down like a toboggan on a flume ride.

Both Marines and the SEAL hung on as the Vulcan swooped,
leveling off, surging and mounting till the men were breathless, feeling their
skin sliding and pulling on connective tissue while they raced toward RMB Pendleton
on a kamikaze assault. Below, nothing but carnage was left. There wasn’t a man
alive on the ground; only two giant metal bugs, waiting and aiming.

Perfectly leveled, they stormed over the mountains at almost
230MPH. The pilots stayed a bit wide of the base, giving the door gunner a
clear shot, now racing at 243MPH. “BBRRRRrrrr! BBRRRRrrrr! BBRRRRrrrr!” Firing
as wind rushed against his face and tears in his eyes, no clue if he was
hitting his targets, the gunner couldn’t see a damn thing. The bugs fired,
sending the Vulcan out of control in a three sixty, nearly missing and causing
the helo whirling past the base. Still squeezing the trigger, the door gunner’s
rounds littered the sky to nowhere as the g-forces pinned him against the deck.

Sailing on smooth air, the Vulcan leveled off. “I’m out!”
the door gunner shouted. The pilots banked again, this time, away from the
fight for good. There was nothing they could do now. Out of ammo and every man
on the ground was dead.

Deines walked to the pilots and leaned in between them.
“What’s the range on this thing?” The copilot looked at the gauge. “Bout twenty
five hundred miles,” the Captain answered.

It was twenty-eight hundred to RMB Jackson. “Keep it due
east,” ordered Petty Officer Deines. “Roger that,” both pilots replied. They
weren’t going to argue with the SEAL, even though he wasn’t an officer. They
didn’t want to be left in charge, and by due east; both knew what he was
referring to.

Twelve Hours Later:
Just outside Nashville TN:

Out of fuel, the Vulcan touched down outside the city. Both
pilots were not happy about having to move out on foot... What choice did they
have?