Planet Chimera (9 page)

“This is the end, human,” it roared,
charging at me, the axe angled above its head.

This is
it
, I thought,
I
can’t move my body anymore
. I watched the
axe coming down at me, in slow motion, like time was moving in a
gradual manner, and I held my breath in. And within a meter from
me, something exploded in the ground next to me, killing four
chimeras on the spot. Another explosion occurred, taking the lives
of six more mutant chimeras— the source of the noise was coming
from the outpost building. It was the cannons. Someone was
operation them. The bear, distracted and angry, stopped its attack,
turning its large head towards the outpost.

“Who is doing that?” it boomed, pointing at
the building, the back of its head towards me. “Stop them,
now!”

Realizing the open opportunity before me, I
took my dagger, straightened the crooked spine a little, and made a
hasty run for the bear chimera. I took a giant leap, stomping my
foot on its back, and planting the knife deep into the back of its
neck. It growled in pain, moving around, attempting to throw me off
its back, but I wrapped my hands around its neck like my life
depended on it. For the next ten seconds, it swung the axe around,
growling, attacking its own allies in the process. A cannon shell,
to its chest, rocked the foul beast, bringing down the creature to
its knees. Once I felt the creature’s power leave its body, I
released myself from its neck, landing on the ground beside it. Its
bloody axe laid next to it, covered in thick, black blood—my
blood—being engulfed by the snow flurries. Sauntering forward, I
bent down and picked heavy axe, raising it above my head.

“Weren’t you saying it was over?” I asked
the creature, walking behind it, the axe in my hands. “Please, say
those sweet words again.”

“You don’t have it within you,” it laughed,
tracking me with its eyes, both of its hands supporting the
creature from falling. “You are tough, I admit, but you are not a
killer.”

“We shall see, won’t we?” I grinned,
swinging the heavy axe down, cutting off its right wrist. “I want
you to tell me how you feel after.”

“Ahhhh, you stupid human,” it screamed,
bending upwards, facing the sky as it began to laugh. “Cutting
someone’s hand does not constitute for being a killer, you
idiot.”

“Enough of this,” I snorted, swiping in a
horizontal fashion, and taking its head off. “I grew tiresome of
your foul mouth.”

And even as the head rolled to the side, I
could still see his menacing grin, his cold, dead eyes taunting me.
I paced back, a few meters, and ran a little before kicking his
head off the hill, watching it fly down the snowy slope. The
remaining mutant chimeras shifted back, a look of terror on their
faces, and stormed away into the blizzard. For now, the easy part
was over; after all, retaking the outpost was a strategy designed
to offer us the vantage point from the remaining beasts that were
lurking around the madman’s lair. On second thought, my reason for
aiding these people was not really necessary at all. I mean, I
could have just avoided them all, and stormed directly to the
madman’s base. Killing him and all of his followers before stealing
a ship—an easy plan indeed. That would have been far less
complicated, I realized, than aiding these fools.

“Are you okay, Rave,” Salyanna shouted,
plodding towards me, one of the men guarding her back. “Come with
us to the outpost, this area is not safe.”

“Yes, milady,” I murmured, coughing up
blood, as my whole body felt cold and heavy. “Just give me a
minute.”

Dropping the heavy axe into the snow, I
limped forward towards her, keeping my left hand pressed against my
injured leg. My wounds were severe, and for some reason, I wasn’t
healing as quickly as before. I had always healed from fatal
wounds, the whole process taking less than a few minutes, but this
wasn’t the case today.

“Come on,” she whispered, placing her hands
around me, the other man taking my other arm. “We have to go before
they come back.”

“How did you manage to retake the outpost?”
I asked, looking at the brick building, with half of the roof caved
in.

“When you left us at the edge of the hill,
the chimeras followed you, and upon seeing that opening, we stormed
for the outpost, and killed a few of them that remained inside.
Thanks to your efforts, we have retaken the outpost, and we can now
hatch a plan to lay siege to his compound.”

“You make it sound like it’s that easy,” I
smirked, looking at my leg, the bleeding finally stopped.

A man, barely in his late 30s, with a dark
goatee, bushy eyebrows, tanned skin, opened the wooden door for us.
He moved out of our way, his gun anchored in front of him, a long
machete hanging from his holster. It was a little bit gloomy
inside, and a long shaft awaited us, leading to different section
of the complex. Salyanna and the other man assisted me into the
building, moving things out of the way to help me pass easily
through. On the walls, there were mounted cylindrical lambs, a grey
shelf with staked rifles on the opposite end. The wind howled
through the small cracks in the structure, half of the ceiling
tiles missing, and the temperature in the building very cold.

“Have you contacted the mayor, Siron?”
Salyanna asked, facing a green haired man, who was poking his hair
from an open door, on the right. “What news do you bring?”

“Negative! We lost contact with them five
minutes ago, I am afraid,” he whispered, his eyes avoiding hers,
and his gun on his back. “But I do hope they are okay; that is all
we can do for them.”

“I see,” Salyanna replied, lowering her
head, her body tensing. “How many weapons do we have?”

“We have enough weapons, but we lack the
manpower to hold a siege against the madman’s army,” Jutcer
commented, carrying three rifles in both hands, a look of
frustration upon his droopy eyes. “Not to mention, we haven’t had a
good’s night rest at all.”

Salyanna helped me sit down, against the
left wall, and she left with Jutcer, trudging towards the stairs
that led to the second floor. Raising my rifle, I checked my last
magazine, unclipping it from gun, and checking the remaining
bullets in it. Only one third of the full magazine remained, and
the ejection pot appeared to be jammed from the inside. In my
pockets, I had two grenades, a silver dagger, a handgun with two
extra magazines, and two flintlocks. Not my ideal weapons of
stealth combat, but considering the circumstances, I couldn’t bring
myself to complain. Tilting up, I rocked back to my feet, using the
wall behind to stop myself from falling. My wounds were healing
slowly than usual, I realized, and that was not good.

“You shouldn’t force yourself up,” Siron
muttered, leaning against the wall, munching on a green apple. “I
am rather surprised that you are even alive, let alone moving.”

“Do not concern yourself, on my behalf,” I
groaned, wiping sweat off my forehead. “Your concern should be
focused on what lurks in those woods.”

“I know, I know that,” he shrugged, taking a
larger bite into the apple, a look of distress on his face. “I was
just concerned for your safety—there is no need for you to be so
hostile and defensive.”

“I will take my rest now, so please show me
to an empty quarter,” I said, blinking, my eyes staring at the
dusty floor.

“Sure, take that room over there,” he
replied, turning his head around, pointing at a blue door, with a
rusty, golden knob. “I fear our stay here will be brief, so please
take a short nap and be prepared for war.”

“Your advise is duly noted, Siron,” I bowed,
limping towards the room. “I shall see you in a few hours.”

I turned my head down, reaching for the
doorknob with my right hand, and twisting the knob back. The door
squeaked open, a gust of cold wind brushing past me. The small room
was rather dark, a bit of dust on the concrete floor, and in front
of me, there stood a small, wooden bed, a small table, and a stool.
And on the table, there was a strange metal cloak with several
running gears—the table was facing a windowless frames, a cloth
glued on the frames to stop the snow from coming in. I placed my
weapons by the side of the bed, falling on top of the dirty covers,
and closing my eyes. Lying on this dirty bed, smelling the molten
vinegar on the covers, eased most of my pain and fatigue. And
before I knew it, I had dozed off, forgetting all of my troubles of
the day.

8

“Hey, wake up,” a voice rattled, my whole
body being shook roughly. “The time to depart is upon us.”

“What time is it?” I whined, my eyes still
closed, and my hands pressed against my chest. “Has the monsters
returned?”

“It is five o’clock in the morning—the light
of dawn will be soon upon us,” the voice said, and instead of
shaking me up, I was hit in the head by something heavy.

“Ow,” I yelped, opening my eyes, sitting
halfway up, looking at my attacker. “Why did you do that?”

“Because you wouldn’t wake up, Rave,”
Salyanna responded, her eyes locked on mine, holding the hilt of
her gun towards me. “We have been struggling to wake you up for the
last hour. Perhaps, your wounds were deeper and fatal than you
might have imagined.”

“Are you all ready to move out?” I asked,
picking up my weapons, yawning. “Are you all rested enough?”

“I fear rest is the one thing we cannot
afford to have,” she sighed, brushing her red hair back, the muzzle
of her gun facing the floor. “We will not rest until we have taken
the madman’s head.”

“Your words might have power and
determination, but this task will not be easy to accomplish, I
assure you,” I added, looking at her in the eyes, as I was back on
my feet. “I will aid you with all of my strength, but I fear that a
few of you might not make it. In fact, it is a possibility that
none of us will make it out of the horrible place alive, so I will
ask you one more time. Are you prepared for war, for the terrors to
come?”

“Remember, Rave, you brought this war upon
us; however, I always knew that this day would come, and I am
prepared to give up my life for our freedom.”

“And have you recruited many more men to aid
us in the conquest?”

“No, I fear that the men we have are all our
town can spare at the moment. The rest of the men are in hiding,
protecting their family and friends, and they will not risk their
life to venture into the madman’s haven.”

“I see,” I responded, flexing my hands,
testing the limits of my physical power. “I suppose, it is a
reasonable reaction for such a dangerous situation.”

“I saw a light,” Siron cried, rushing in
through the door, panting heavily. “I think, I know where the base
is.”

“Show us, Siron,” Salyanna screamed, pacing
towards him, as her gun rocked in her hand. “Are you sure of
this?”

“Yes, come on,” Siron nodded, his hands
pointing outside, “hurry up, Salyanna.”

Leaving behind my rifle, I
stomped behind them, turning left through the long corridor, and
heading up the stairs. The second floor offered no comfort in terms
of warmth; the walls had many cracks on them, letting in air and a
few flakes of snow, several rubbles of tiles eroding on the floor,
and there were blood stains on the left side of the walls. The
stains looked thick and fresh, about a day or so old.
The chimeras must have moved the corpses of the
victims
, I thought. Siron stopped by the
side of the cannon, looking at us, his hand pointing towards
something outside. Salyanna and I moved in closer, following the
angle of his hand, peering through the spherical opening in the
wall. About ten miles, in the west position, below a mountain, we
saw a tiny glimpse of light. Siron, reaching into his grey coat,
handed me a pair of magnifying binoculars, a faint smile on his
face. I peered through the binoculars, adjusting the strange lenses
around, focusing on the area around the light. I noticed a solid
concrete structure, the stumps of cut trees, and a few mutant
chimeras lurking about. That was his base, I was
certain.

“Take a look,” I whispered, handing Salyanna
the binoculars, “Siron is right.”

“Yeah, that is the madman’s base,” she
replied, exhaling slowly, the binoculars glued on her eyes. “I say,
we strike immediately.”

“But we don’t have the manpower to make such
a bold tactic,” Siron cried, gripping his gun anxiously. “Do you
even have a plan at all?”

“What do you suggest we do, Siron? What is
your plan of action, if you even have any? The best defense, in
battle, is a good offense. If we don’t seize this opportunity now,
they will surely never be another opportunity like this.”

“Well said, Salyanna, well said,” I nodded,
patting her back, with a smile on my face. “The only way to end
this madness is to take the fight to them.”

Turning around, moistening my chap lips, I
spotted a black rifle, wedged behind one of the cannons. It was a
different type of gun, far more modern than the one I was using,
with an extended magazine slot, and a broader muzzle. The muzzle
was pinned against the side of the cannon, with the butt of the
rifle sticking out, within my arm’s range. Bending down, placing
both hands against its grip, I began to pull back the rifle,
attempting to force out the gun with sheer brute force. I coughed
deeply, my hands numb and cold, and the feelings in my toes gone. I
angled my leg, pressing it against the side of the cannon, planning
to use my weight to push off the cannon slightly.

“What are you doing?” Salyanna asked, both
of her arms on her waist, gliding towards me.

“I am trying to pull out this rifle, of
course,” I snarled, putting all of my strength into my legs. “I
want this gun.”