James Axler – Gaia’s Demise

Walking to the edge of the roof, Nathan gazed upon the hustling ville. “Not necessary. Sullivan can use gloves and cosmetics to hid his green skin, and wigs to cover his bald head, but there’s one thing he can’t alter. His height. Take troops, ten-on-ten formation. The second group stays away from the first to give cover fire. Then go through the ville and strip naked anybody you find over six feet tall. Men and women.”

The remaining sec men murmured in apprehension.

“We’ll also double-check any crips,” Clem added. “Pretending you don’t have legs would be a good way to hide height.”

Nathan nodded. “Consider anybody sitting a potential enemy, and be ready to act.”

“Oh, we’ll capture him, Baron,” a sec man stated confidently, brandishing his blaster. “Have no fear of that!”

“Capture? Don’t even try,” Nathan retorted, turning away from the ville. “When you find a bald man with greenish skin, chill him on sight. Which means a head shot, one in each eye. Then set the body on fire.”

Then Nathan added softly, almost as if speaking to himself, “Hopefully, that will be enough.”

Chapter Four

Shuddering and clanking, the APC crept along the smooth shore of the North Carolina river basin. The soft sand rose high, almost to the rims of the seven tires. The eighth hung in tatters off the rim, flopping about uselessly as the wag forged onward with ever decreasing speed.

With the tip of his knife, Ryan removed the damp rag from an ob port and looked outside. On the horizon, black clouds filled the sky, and orange flames licked upward from the raging inferno of the cornfield.

“Far enough?” Krysty coughed. The interior of the wag was misty with smoke and reeked of pungent human sweat.

“Yeah,” he decided. “We’re a good mile clear of the cornfield. Stop here and let’s see how much of a wag we still have.”

“Sure,” Krysty grunted, fighting the clutch to shift into park. The gear refused to cooperate, so she tried neutral and managed to kill the engines. The cacophony from underneath the metal floor receded and finally stopped.

Climbing into the turret, Doc threw open the top hatch, and cool fresh air flooded into the APC. “Ah, ambrosia of the gods,” he said, inhaling deeply.

Fanning herself, Mildred sported a smile. “That’s redundant.”

“Yet still true, madam. Pro veritas Libertas!”

Rising from his seat, J.B. pulled at the sticky clothes clinging to his body. “I’m going to see what the damage is,” he said, getting a tool kit from a storage locker under the seat.

“I’ll cover you,” Ryan stated, removing a canteen from the wall. “Krysty, prime the chain gun in case we get visitors. Doc, Dean, start transferring the gas from the external cans to the fuel tank. Mildred, Jak, you two stay right there. That was a hell of a knock you took.”

“N-never better,” the teenager whispered weakly from the floor, moving his arm to expose the bloody bandage on his head. His normally pale skin was flushed pink, his shirt damp with sweat. Mildred had given the teen two aspirin for the pain, and checked the focus of his vision. She said it had to do with concussions and brain damage.

“Glad to hear it,” J.B. said, undogging the aft doors. ‘”Cause you look half-dead.”

“F-fuck you.”

As J.B. exited the wag with Doc and Dean right behind, Ryan exchanged a look with the physician.

Mildred nodded, waving him on. “Go fix this thing.”

Stepping over the youth, Ryan took an AK-47 from a stack and checked the blaster. There was a full clip in the breech, and he had a good dozen loose rounds in his pants pocket. Climbing out, Ryan walked around the wag checking for any signs of external damage.

The armor plating was dirty and scratched with blurry streaks from where soft-lead bullets ricocheted off the hull. Blood was splattered everywhere from the blue shirts they had crushed. While Dean stood guard with his Browning in hand, Doc was busy untying the fuel cans from the charred netting. On the ground, a pair of legs jutted from underneath the vehicle and J.B. could be heard muttering curses to the sound of metal hitting metal.