LOCKED (16 page)

The moon drifted lazily over
us. The fire had dwindled down to a struggling spark. Most of the makeshift
camp was asleep, but Danni and I were still awake. We lied down side by side
and stared into the dark sky, as if this was the most freedom we would feel in
a night ever again.

"There's Gemini...
Capricorn... Leo..." she smiled and we caught each other's eye.

"Can you tell my
fortune too?" I inquired. Danni took a long, thoughtful look at the stars
before making a conclusion, looking for a record that hadn’t been touched in
ages, hiding somewhere deep within the recesses of her mind.

"You're in a tough
spot. You're afraid. Don't be; you have your friends and those in unexpected
places to help you through." Danni recited with her eyes closed. I felt
more at peace, and closed my eyes, wrapping an arm around Danni. I nuzzled up
to her, and let sleep take me over again...

I woke up to the smell of dirt suffocating me. I
hacked and coughed, rubbing my eyes and standing up at the same time. The rest
of the convoy was already moving along once more through the near-barren
plains. All of Ortiz's men were back in their
mechs
,
but none hopped along like they did in combat; they simply dragged their heavy
feet.

"It's about time!" Danni called. She
patted my back, and helped me walk until I was awake enough. I heard whispers
on the wind from the front of the crowd that we were almost there, and that
reinforced my understanding of just how powerful Miller was; not even Ortiz
dared to attack without a substantial army behind him. His guerilla forces
weren't enough; he was waiting for the perfect time, which he would soon get. I
managed to catch up to him, and ask about what was next.

“So…after we..
y’know
,
‘get’ Miller-“

“Kill. Slaughter. Annihilate.”

“Ugh…after we…do all that, well, what’s next?”

“After that, we establish order again. We’ll
make it clear that the city is ours. You and only a few others are allowed to
freely roam over it. Besides that, we’ll secure perimeters, and be more
cautious about who we deal with.” He explained. I nodded, and went to find
Eddy. He was walking side-by-side with Tank, sure enough.

“Eddy!” I called, “Hey Eddy!” I had his
attention.

“Leo? What do you want?”

“Well…what do we do after we… ‘get’ Miller?”

“Establish order. Ortiz and his guys will work
with us, we all want the same thing. We’ll be the legal stuff and they could be
the physical order, so to speak.”

“Did you TALK to Ortiz about this?”

“Well, no, but it’s an offer he has no reason to
refuse.” Eddy shrugged. I tried to brush away any worry that this new
revelation may have brought.

The sun beat down on us from
above. Dust rolled in from behind us. The grasslands were ripped from their roots,
and all that was left was a never-ending expanse of dust. The dunes were quiet,
not ready to tell the secrets of what lay over the next. A strange scent
lingered on the black sands, one of decay and burning. Without warning, the
smell of burning land turned to burning gunpowder. In the front of the convoy,
shots rang out!

A savage growl accompanied
the sound of tearing flesh, and everybody scattered. Out of instinct, Eddy, Danni,
and I got behind Tank, who was already engaged. His eyes beamed red once more,
and his drill thirsted for blood. Ortiz pushed his way through the crowd and
found us. He pointed to us with the spidery fingers of his mech and we were
barely able to hear his voice over the chaos.

"We're being attacked
by guards! Just keep going, we should be close by now!" he demanded. With
a mighty launch off of the ground, he sprang into the air and landed somewhere
in the crowd, where we saw black blood splatter around him.

The winds were unconfident
in who they wanted to favor; they kicked up dust, making it impossible to see
far ahead. Being a machine, Tank already knew the way, and we followed closely
behind, clinging to his metal exterior. All around us, bullets and screams rang
through the air. Without warning, Tank was mobilized into an attack! He grabbed
something out of sight with his massive left hand, drilled into something with
the right, and slammed the two together in the middle. More black blood drenched
the obsidian sands, but we didn't have time to take a look; we had to keep
moving. Fortunately (or not, depending on how one looked at it), the wind
decided to let us have a glimpse for a moment.

We were at the top of
another pile of rubble when the dust stopped flying about. In front of us were
U.S.P.L. and guerilla fighters brawling with monstrous red beasts. Their jaws
were heavy and their spines stuck out of their back. Their skin was
otherworldly and covered in crusty blood. They moved with frightening speed,
spitting some sort of venom at anything they could. This was sticky enough to
trap their victim, giving the monstrosity enough time to leap at their victim
and utterly destroy it. As horrid as the monsters were, watching the U.S.P.L.
soldiers and guerillas help each other was something more than inspiring. In
one particular scene, a U.S.P.L. soldier had been sprayed by the red monster's
venom, and as it was about to leap, a guerilla fighter grabbed it with his long
arms, and yanked at opposite ends until it was split in two, more black blood
staining the ground. The guerilla leapt over to his fallen comrade and carried
him to safety. Tank absolutely barreled through the scene, clearing a path for
us. At one point, I saw one of the violent creatures in more detail than I ever
would have liked: from behind Tank, one leapt right up to me. I could see the
slits of its grotesque blue eyes, and feel its hot breath on my face. Every
groove on its red body was lined with blood or scratches. It opened its jaw to
show dozens of knife-like teeth and a beating heart at the base of its throat.
I had no time to react, as Tank quickly disposed of it by throwing one of his
heavy legs backward and impaling it into the ground.

The winds decided I had seen
enough; dust blew up once more. Ortiz even landed right in front of us, half of
one of the beast's jaws in hand. He tossed it aside, and ran up to us from
behind Tank.

"We're doing well!
We've lost a few, but Miller's fortress is in sight!" Ortiz reported.

A fortress? As clichéd as it
seemed, it would make sense; any other sort of shelter wouldn't truly be safe
enough in times like these, especially for a man so wanted. Miller must have
realized that he needed a labyrinth to confuse any rogue mutants, or any who
would dare challenge him.  

As soon as those thoughts
ran through my head, the bullets stopped screaming. The shouts of warfare ended
so that they could be replaced by the shouts of victory. The wind stopped
churning, and Ortiz was right: in the distance, I could make out a tower. It
seemed to be about the same size as the HQ for U.S.P.L. Ortiz got closer to us,
covered in the fluids of the monsters Miller employed. We waited to see if he
had anything to say, but he didn’t. The aristocrat-turned-guerilla-general turned
away to continue leading the cold voyage. The convoy was ready to follow, ready
to forget their dead and pay their respects in more peaceful times.

The tower seemed to double
in size as we approached. Our feet were aching when we finally found it among
more guards and fiery orbs of light. The orbs acted as both a way to find any
intruders or to act as a capricious beacon for those unlucky enough to wander
towards it.

"There's more security
around here than that. We’ll spring the trap, try to hold off whatever jumps
out, and you and Danni will have to go inside, got it?" Eddy whispered.
Our entire convoy hid behind a dune that was only about a half-mile from the
tower.

“Got it.” Danni and I
nodded.

"I really can’t tell
you what to expect, except that it probably won’t be fun to try to get through.
If you manage to find Miller, throw this at him," he handed me a small
black sphere, "It’ll fill the room with gas that’ll knock him out, but you
should be fine. The guys told me this should only make someone middle-aged pass
out... science really is one hell of a thing, huh?" Eddy let a wicked grin
adorn his face.

Ortiz turned to his men, and
Eddy to the U.S.P.L. They both made last minute plans with their respective
clans, then with each other. It was agreed that the U.S.P.L. would handle
ranged attacks, and that the guerilla fighters would handle any hand-to-hand
combat. As the snipers for U.S.P.L. began to position themselves, my hands and
legs began to shake, my nerves unable to control themselves. Were we really
expected to rush in there after the bloodbath commenced? How would we get up
the tower if there were no stairs or anything of the sort? I was forced to
figure all of that out on my own when I heard the first sniper's shot.

Every member was mobilized at
once. The land around me was charged with the sounds of mechanized beings
moving into action, the scream of gunfire, and the pit-pat of running soldiers.

"CHARGE!" Ortiz
pointed to the tower. He declared this with the same passion for warfare that
he had seen since we met him, but also with a hint of arrogance in his tone.
How could he not when he was closing in on one of the most fearsome villains
the world has ever seen?

We were left in the wake of
every fighter heading to the melee; even Tank had gone to fight. Eddy, Danni,
and I were the only ones who stayed with two snipers nearby. We watched the
battle from where we were, and immediately knew that we had the upper hand that
would become a fist and crumble Miller's regime. One by one, the red beasts we
had seen before had their deathly blood spilt, the bones sticking from their
back ripped out, and their heavy jaws torn away.

"You two, get moving!
It'll be clear by the time you get there!" one sniper called out to us
after beheading one of the beasts from half of a mile away. We all nodded, Eddy
stayed behind, and Danni and I began running to our destination.

We were about quarter of a
mile there. We could make out Ortiz's figure waving to us, signaling that it
was completely clear. A few fires were around, and Tank was putting them out
one by one. The other soldiers were scouting the area to make sure there were
no stragglers. I couldn’t believe it... could this madman’s entire line of
defenses be decimated so quickly, even by an alliance as strong as the iron
hearts of the guerrillas and as tactical as the ingenious minds of U.S.P.L.?

That question was answered
against my will. A vault in the side of the tower slid open! It revealed a
fierce array of massive machine guns. The barrels started spinning quickly,
revving up for a split-second genocide. Their very first victim was Ortiz, who
didn't even have time to react as he wasn’t facing the turrets; he was savagely
gunned down as his mech exploded into a fiery ball. Time seemed to slow down
when I felt my heart skip a beat.

I was firmly rooted to the
spot. It felt as though a jolt of electricity was passing over my body, and I
was powerless to move. A lawless hero had fallen in the most pitiful way, and
the blame lay with a man who was too cowardly to look his victim in the eye
when he struck him down. 

The others tried to scatter
away, but they were also caught by the machine guns’ desire for extermination.
Only those that were able to get behind Tank were able to avoid doom; as
always, Tank stood resilient and marched forward. The cackling machine guns
adjusted themselves to point towards Tank and annihilate him as well, but all
that they received were their bullets back as they bounced off of his metal
hide. Sparks flew from his body with every shot, and the few soldiers that were
crowded behind him were ready to run, but he kept his lethal advance. Once Tank
was so close that the pounding of bullets sounded like one long shot, he revved
up his drill and drove it straight into the guns at eye level. They exploded in
a symphony of sparks, and Tank fell to his knees the moment he knew his idle,
cowardly foes were defeated. He was far from finished, but his internal repair
system was immediately hard at work.