The Takers: Book One of the Oz Chronicles (21 page)

"The warrior?" it said.

Its thick throaty voice startled me. The tone of it rattled from its vocal cords and vibrated through the air like the sound of a horrible crash.

"He's too small." The Keeper reached down and pulled me up on the stage by the scruff of my shirt.

"Hey," I heard Wes shout. The other gorillas held everyone back at the perimeter of the theater. Wes tried to break through, but he could not get by the powerful apes.

"This is a boy," the Keeper tossed me about as it examined me.

Ajax continued to sign, and the Keeper continued to treat me as if I were a rag doll. He held me by my feet and lifted me above his head.

"This one saved the Storyteller?"

"Put me down," I said.

"Shut up!" The Keeper growled. "I should eat you and wait for a real warrior."

I swung J.J. at its hand, striking it on one of its huge knuckles, but it only flinched the tiniest bit as if it were just struck by a gnat.

Nate began to yowl from his sling around Lou's neck. The Keeper directed his interest on the pained cry. "Bring him to me," the Keeper demanded.

A female gorilla reached for the sling, but Lou slapped her hand away. The gorilla protested with a high-pitched screech. Another gorilla grabbed Lou by the hair. Wes punched it on the nose, causing a chain reaction that resulted in a melee between the apes and humans. Ajax stood and pounded his chest. The apes took heed and backed off. They clearly had the advantage and could have disposed of their human counterparts with ease, but at the behest of Ajax they showed restraint and retreated into the theater. Kimball had stayed out of the fray. He was unusually tranquil.

The Keeper held me upside down to his eyelevel. "I want the Storyteller."

"No," I said.

"The gorillas promised this to me…"

"It was not their promise to make," I said. "He's my responsibility."

The Keeper gnashed its teeth and tossed me to the back of the stage. I landed with a thud on top of three agitated orangutans. Had it not been for Ajax running immediately to my rescue, the three gangly-armed orange apes would surely have torn me apart.

The Keeper leapt off the stage and stormed towards Lou and the others. He was determined to get his hands on Nate.

"Stop!" I yelled, battered and bruised from the fall.

Amused, the Keeper turned to me. "Such a loud voice for such a little boy…"

"We came here to finish the book."

"What book?" With his hands curled under his wrists, the monster stomped toward me with an ominous glare.

"Stevie Dayton's book."

Fear smothered his menacing expression. He had not expected this. "You have the book?"

Ajax signed, "Read book now!" He pointed to the purple crack in the sky.

The Keeper peered upward. "That is why the Délons do not come." The white creature began to pace. "They are waiting for you to read the book."

"I don't understand," I said.

Ajax signed again, "Read book now."

The Keeper barked, "We cannot!"

"What's going on?" I asked Ajax.

"The Délons need us to read the book," the Keeper answered. "They are in allegiance with the ones like me."

"The ones like you? You mean the Take… the Greasywhoppers?"

He smiled at this name. "The Greasywhoppers? Ahhh, yes, you cannot speak their true name. We are a brother race, not of this realm. They are here to conquer your world. We are here to restore it."

"You can restore our world?" This heartened me.

He looked toward Lou and the others. "We cannot do it without the Storytellers." He looked back at me. "Nor can we do it without the warriors."

"Why did this happen?" It was hard to hide the immaturity in my voice. I wanted to sound authoritative and commanding, but instead I sounded like a little kid asking his mommy if Santa really existed.

"Because he was afraid."

"Stevie?" I asked, hoping against hope that the Keeper meant somebody else.

He nodded. "Your kind always seeks solace inward. Most of the time you find peace there. The one called Stevie did not. He found bitterness and fear. He became so afraid that he could not hold back his inner world any longer, and the Takers escaped his mind. They are here to find others like Stevie, Storytellers to bring forth legions of dark warlords. To rule the outer world as ruthlessly as they rule the inner world of those like Stevie."

"It was because of me," I whispered.

"Yes," the Keeper said, simply, unapologetically. "This is your burden to bear." He smiled. "And your wrong to set right." He looked at Ajax. "There is no turning back if the book is read."

Ajax signed, "Gorillas always know. Read book now."

The Keeper turned back to me. "I'm afraid Ajax may be right. You have to understand by reading the book you are opening the gate between the two worlds. The Takers will enter freely, as will the Délons. Their numbers reinforced, they will seek out the other Storytellers with little resistance and a renewed vigor."

Hollis interjected. "It sounds like the prudent thing to do is not read the book."

The Keeper huffed. "In order to vanquish the inner world, you must face it." He scanned our group and the apes. "The book will show you the way, but understand, you may not like where it takes you. You must trust that the journey is a small price to pay for the destination."

I could see my troops giving the Keeper's remarks deep consideration. We all had survived the end of the world. Nothing seemed so awful to us to keep us from bringing it back.

Wes stepped forward. "Let's stop this yapping and get on with it."

Pepper raised his fist and let out an ear piercing war cry. The others, including the apes, followed suit.

***

Lou sat in the middle of the stage surrounded by the gorillas and orangutans. She needed all the protection she could get. There was little to no chance the Takers could get to her. The book was face down on her lap. She sat anxiously, waiting for the denning moment.

Ajax paced in front of his band of simian brothers. He was as majestic and noble as any general I had ever seen in history books or on television surveying his troops. The apes were his to send into battle. They fought at his command. It was really a spectacular sight to see.

The rest of us huddled together on the opposite end of the theater. We were all well armed. Nate was in his sling around my shoulder. The Keeper approached.

"It is time you entrust the Storyteller to me," he said.

I hesitated.

"The Takers will come en masse this time. If they find the Storyteller, they will open a new gate and others will come, a different race, more brutal than you have ever seen."

I nodded. Opening the sling, I fought back tears. "Okay, little guy, we'll see you when this thing's all over with." Nate's eyes squinted in the late afternoon sun. He stuck his tongue out and cooed. I handed him to the Keeper before I began to bawl like a baby.

The white giant cupped Nate in his enormous left hand, and trudged to the entrance of the theater.

Pepper called out. "Hey, big guy, where you going? We could use your help."

The Keeper paused. "This is not my war. I cannot help. I can only protect the Storyteller."

He was about to exit when I shouted, "What's your name?"

He stopped, and his eyes brightened. "I am Tarak, son of Zareh."

"Well, Tarek, son of Zareh, if they harm one hair on that kid's head, I'm holding you personally responsible." I puffed out my chest in an effort to intimidate. It was a comical attempt.

The Keeper bowed its head and exited the theater.

Devlin cleared his throat. "You sure about this, Oz?"

"No," I said. "But what choice do we have?" Valerie and Tyrone were visibly shaken. Even though they wanted no part of the coming battle, they stood by us valiantly. I knelt down beside them. "I've got a special mission for you guys." They looked at me nervously. "I want you two to protect the elephant."

"But I want to stay here and fight," Tyrone said.

"Me, too." Valerie tried to stand tall and look brave.

"I know," I said, "but the elephant is very important to us. We can't afford to lose him. Do you understand?"

They both reluctantly nodded their heads.

"Good, now go back to the entrance and wait there until somebody comes and gets you."

They started to run out of the theater.

"Be sure to find a place to hide," I said standing.

When they were gone, Devlin asked, "What's so important about the elephant?"

Miles snickered. "Nothing, dufus. He's trying to get the kids out of the way for their own safety." Miles stuck out his hand. "You're alright, boss."

I shook his hand and nodded without comment.

"He's a coward," Reya said.

Wes peered at her. "This ain't the time. If we don't fight as one, we all die."

She glowered at Wes. "Unlike him, you can count on me."

"Enough," Pepper shouted. "Let's get this thing started."

Reya and I exchanged an awkward gaze. I turned to Lou and yelled. "It's time."

She closed her eyes, breathed deeply and turned the book over. Quickly she flipped through the pages to where she last left off. The apes' posture stiffened. Kimball began to pace in front of the stage. They were bracing for action.

We stood in a circle, our backs to each other. I held J.J. with both hands. Wes gripped his knife tightly. Pepper, Reya, Miles, and Devlin readied their crossbows. Each wore quivers filled with arrows. Hollis clumsily held onto the nozzle of the flamethrower. The small tank was strapped to his back. We had all stuffed our pockets with firecrackers.

A wind blew through the open-air auditorium. Thunder rolled and shook the ground. Lou read. She flipped through the pages. She was racing to the end, one page, two, three, four… The wind suddenly stopped. The air stood still as though we were in a vacuum.

Miles stepped out of the circle. "They chickened out."

With that, the theater bleachers to our left exploded into the air. A single Taker crawled out of the ground. Chattering, it grabbed Miles by his throat. I lunged at it with J.J. striking it on the arm. It screamed and dropped Miles. A second taker crawled out of the ground and then a third. Four more popped up in front of the stage. They came in bunches, dozens of them. The apes furiously assailed the Takers that advanced on Lou with little trouble.

Pepper, Reya, Miles, and Devlin fired their crossbows. Three hit their targets, one did not. They quickly reloaded. Wes rushed an oncoming Taker. The monster backhanded him and sent him crashing into the broken bleachers. Another Taker sprung on top of him. I hurried toward him, but a Taker behind me took hold of my shirt and yanked me backwards. It grinned, flashing its pointy teeth. I thrust J.J. into its chest and watched with euphoria as it dropped to the ground. I turned back to Wes and was pleased to now see him standing on top of the Taker, pulling his knife from its throat.

"These suckers ain't so tough," he screamed. He hooted and jumped on the back of another Taker. He frantically stabbed it in the head.

Pepper pulled another arrow from his quiver. Before he could load it, a Taker leapt from twenty feet away and landed on top of the former linebacker. Its claws ripped across his chest, and Pepper screamed in pain. He squirmed from under the Taker and rammed his thick muscled shoulder into the monster's knee, knocking it to the ground. He quickly raised the arrow and drove it into the Taker's chest.

A Taker stalked after Hollis. The sports psychologist hunched over and with shaky hands repeatedly tried to ignite the flamethrower. He could not get it to work. The Taker backed Hollis to the exit. The doctor gave one last useless try at the flamethrower, and then turned and ran out of the theater. Before the Taker could pursue him, Kimball tore into the Greasywhopper. The monster screeched in pain as the canine warrior ripped it apart.

Miles and Devlin were teaming up on a Taker near the theater entrance. They fired their crossbows simultaneously, hitting the creature in the eyes. It reeled backwards, screeching, groping at the arrows' shafts.

I turned to strike at the nearest Taker and was surprised at the sight of an arrow pointing at my chest. Reya stood, hate in her eyes, finger on the trigger of her crossbow.

"Reya…"

"You killed my brother," she said, applying pressure to the trigger. As she fired, she was jerked backwards by a nearby Taker. The arrow sailed over my head and struck a Taker sneaking up behind me. The creature fell to its knees, pulling the arrow from his temple. It struggled to stand and then collapsed lifelessly to the ground.

The Taker that had grabbed Reya held her up by her throat and opened its mouth. Its teeth folded down. I ran as fast as I could and plunged J.J. into its groin. It wailed in pain and dropped Reya. I quickly helped her to her feet. Furious, she ripped her arm from my grasp and ran to the theater entrance.

Waiting for her there, I could see a single Délon. It held on to the reins of a familiar horse, Mr. Mobley. The Délon was Roy. It looked nothing like Roy, but by the way Reya greeted it warmly, with a familial fervor, I knew it was him. They hugged. The tentacles on the Délon's face began to pulse and thrash. They clasped onto the back of Reya's head. The pinchers shot out of the Délon's mouth and clamped down on her face.

I ran to the exit, but my legs were swept out from underneath me half way there. J.J. flew out of my hands. A battered Taker lifted me in the air, its mouth open and its teeth folded in. I squirmed and jerked about trying to release myself. Its grip was too tight. I dug through my pocket and pulled out an M-98. I pulled a pocket torch from my other pocket and frantically tried to light the firecracker. My hands were too shaky. Without warning, the Taker doubled over and dropped me. I fell hard to the ground.

Wes yelled in victory and pulled his knife out of the Taker's chest. "That's the way you do it, boy! That's the way you gut a Greasywhopper…

He went down with a crash. A Taker pulled its massive fist back and sent it down on Wes again. I scrambled to get up and find J.J. The Taker hit Wes once more, knocking him unconscious. The evil monster smiled and held the inert Wes above its head. It opened its huge mouth.