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| The Return of the Gov'na part six |
Kat woke up Sora at about one in the morning. "We have to get going," she said, shoving Sora off the bed. They got some non-perishables and sodas out of the kitchen, then ventured outside to go west again. "Wait just a minute," Sora said, as they were walking along. "We need to go back east, remember?" Kat turned around. "Right." They headed back the way they came. It was a silent walk, mostly because the girls were on the lookout for Plastic Surgery Victims, but partly because they had nothing to say anymore. It seemed as if this was the last leg of their journey, and they wouldn't be coming back. Kat watched a cactus as they walked past it. That's probably the last cactus I'll ever see, she thought. No, wait, that's the last cac--no. She looked ahead again. So she could wait a little while to start finding her last cactus. What else was there? She looked over at Sora. She was trying to open a can of pop without breaking her fingernails. That's the last time I'll see Sora cry about her fingernail. "Ah, man," Sora said. "I cracked my nail trying to open this fricking can." Kat took it from her. "I'll do it." She popped the tab and took a drink. "That's mine." "Open your own, then." I guess it won't be my last time watching her cry about her fingernail. At midnight sharp, the Plastic Surgery Victims had reached the limits of Salt Lake City. They stood just out of gunshot reach, digging a trench to hide in. Some of them stood up and took out their bazooka guns, firing beanbags at the soldiers on the wall. A beanbag hit a guy standing in the front, and he cried out as a welt appeared on his face. The others beside him caught him before he could fall over. "Why beanbags?" one asked. "Why not bombs?" "Well, would you rather have bombs?" More and more beanbags kept coming. Some of the men took to hiding, while others tried to fire at the Plastic Surgery Victims, but the shots couldn't go far enough. After a while, they realized that if they aimed their guns upward a little, the bullets would travel farther. Soon, Plastic Surgery Victims were also falling. This seemed to make the Plastic Surgery Victims mad, for some odd reason. They started loading hand grenades into the bazookas and shot them at the wall; the wall started to crumble in places. "The weapons of mass destruction!" a soldier yelled to the others behind him. "Where are the weap--" A grenade caught him between the eyes, and his remains flew everywhere as he fell to the ground. The Grim Reapers still flew overhead in their Cessnas. They took to throwing flaming bags of dog shit into the City, which made them giggle even harder. Lily took over for Kari at the desk, and Kari ran to the City Hall to see how Izzy's Brother was doing. Izzy's Father was carrying him down the hall. "Are you going to the hospital?" she asked him. "No. We are going to die together. I release you from my service, Kari from Maine." He walked past her and opened a door that led to a basement. Some of his guards were behind him. Kari quietly followed them and stood on the bottom step to see what they were doing. The room they were in had a pedestal in the middle, and shelves cut into the wall. Long objects lay on the big shelves. In between, torch sconces dimly lit the gloomy room. I'm in a masoleum, she thought, looking at the bodies laying in the walls. She watched as Izzy's Father laid his son on the pedestal in the middle. He ordered his guards to get some vodka and wood, then stood by the pedestal. "Now we wait for him to finally die," he muttered to himself. Kari quickly but quietly ran up the stairs. She had to find Joe. She ran into one of the guards carrying a couple bottles of Smirnoff. "Don't set any fires until I find Joe," she told him. "Hey. I listen to the leader of Salt Lake City. Not some young punk in a Ferrari." "Well, that punk has a lot more sense than your fucking leader!" she yelled, then ran outside and down the street. She ran into Bear. "Where are you going?" he asked. "Lily wants you to take over." "I've been released," she said. "But I'm looking for Joe." "And where's the Lieutenant Governor?" "In the basement." Bear looked at the ground. "So Izzy's Brother is dead." "But he's not!" Kari cried. She told him what had happened in the basement. "Please, stop him from doing anything rash." "I'm on duty." "Well, then you have to choose between your job or to save Izzy's Brother." Bear sighed. "I never thought I'd be taking orders from a 15-year-old." "16." "Fine. I'm going." He hurried into City Hall. Kari ran past the cop shop, then skid to a stop. She hesitated, then jumped in a police car and sped down the streets in search of Joe. The Plastic Surgery Victims had a big army tank with them, and rolled it to the front of the lines. They still fired beanbags as Salt Lake City tried to bring them down with bullets. The tank blast a huge hole in the wall and the Plastic Surgery Victims rushed forward. Someone else also wanted to fight on the ground. The Head Grim Reaper landed his Cessna and casually strolled through the hole in the wall, Sickle in hand. The soldiers in Salt Lake City turned and ran away from him. But one stayed. Joe climbed out of his Ferrari and stood to face what awaited him. "Go back to hell, where you came from!" he yelled, brandishing his 45. The Grim Reaper laughed, a sound that seemed to echo through the ground. "Don't you know Death when you see it? I'm a Grim Reaper. You go to hell." He lifted his Sickle high. Joe didn't know how to handle this situation immediately. He could hear the bazookas shooting their beanbags, and the soldiers' guns that fired at the Plastic Surgery Victims. But he heard something else: engines. Wyoming had come at last. Earlier that day, Davis had asked Mimi to stay in Laramie, along with Yolei, but when Mimi went searching for her, there was no sign of the young girl. Mimi had stood at the city limits, watching the men ride off on their crotchrockets, desperately wanting to do something important. One of the last men, a very young man, stopped beside her. "I will let you ride with me," he said. Mimi looked at him and gasped. It was Yolei. Her long hair had been cut so now it barely poked out from beneath her helmet. Yolei held out another helmet to Mim. She took it and tucked her hair into it before checking for her 9 mm, and hopping onto the crotchrocket behind Yolei. Soon, Mimi could see fires in the forests outside of Salt Lake City. Smoke hung in the air over the city, and the ground was dark with thousands of Plastic Surgery Victims firing their bazookas. Soon, Mimi could even see the gaping hole in the stone wall. Joe had looked up when he heard the engines, for some reason he had no idea. When he looked down again, the Grim Reaper was gone. Well, thought Joe. That takes care of that problem. He jumped in his Ferrari, ready to run over more Plastic Surgery Victims. Davis had sped into the mass of Plastic Surgery Victims before the others, firing his gun at anything that came his way. A Plastic Surgery Victim took out a dagger and pierced the crotchrocket's rear tire as Davis sped by. Davis fell off, his bike coming to rest on top of him. Apparantly, he had gone into battle on a near-empty tank. The other crotchrockets were now in the midst of the Plastic Surgery Victims, also hitting and shooting them. Yolei and Mimi had their tires slashed, too, and all they could do was fire and try not to get hit. Yolei ran to where Davis lay. The Grim Reaper had gotten back into his Cessna and was taxiing it right towards her, wanting to get to where Davis was. She looked up at him in terror. Then she yelled at him. "Leave the dead in piece, you foul, rotting, pile of crap!" She clutched her gun tighter in her hands. The Grim Reaper answered her: "What, should I kill you instead? I think I'd rather bring you to Card Sharp and have you tortured." Yolei lifted her gun. "Not if I kill you first." "Kill me? No man can kill me." Yolei smirked. "Well, that's too bad, because I'm not a man. Are you blind?" "Yes." "Oh." Yolei fidgeted. "Well, it doesn't matter, because I'm going to do whatever I can to make sure you don't touch my friend." Mimi had been watching this, laying on the ground playing dead. She had been playing dead because she was deathly afraid of all of this and didn't want to get hurt. She knew she had to do something, but she wasn't sure what. The Cessna headed toward Yolei, and she fired a couple shots at it. One hit the left wheel, and it veered to the left, the wing dragging on the ground and turning it in a circle. The Grim Reaper hopped out as his Cessna came to a rest in front of Mimi. Mimi crawled underneath it, trying to think of a plan. The right wing of the Cessna had clipped Yolei as it went by, and her left arm now hung limply at her side. Her right hand tried to steady the gun it held. The Grim Reaper walked towards her and raised his Sickle. But before he could reach Yolei, he let out a little shriek and stumbled. From her fort under the Cessna, Mimi had fired a bullet into the lower part of the Grim Reaper's cloak, hitting an invisible leg underneath. While the Reaper stumbled, Yolei aimed her gun, then closed her eyes and squeezed the trigger, sending a bullet right into the dark hole in his hood. He shrieked and wailed loudly, and fell face forward, dropping his Sickle. The Sickle fell towards Yolei and she ducked, but the wooden pole hit her on the head and she crumpled to the ground, unconcsious. Mimi climbed out from under the Cessna, blinking in the sun. There were still some Plastic Surgery Victims fighting the Wyomingans, but most of them were inside the city. She went to Davis, still pinned under his crotchrocket. He opened his eyes slightly. "Mimi," he whispered. "I'm sorry I disobeyed you," she said, looking for a way to lift the bike off him. "I forgive you." He coughed and blood spurted out of his mouth. "I'm dying, Mimi. I want to talk to Cody before I go. He's going to be Governor after me. And someone should tell Yolei." "But she's--" Mimi was cut off by the noise coming from Salt Lake City. A battle was still going on there. She wondered where Joe was and why he couldn't have been here to save Davis and Yolei. Cody drove up and hopped off his crotchrocket, sadness in his face as he walked over. Davis opened his eyes and looked at Cody. "Run for Governor of Wyoming," he said. "Tell Yolei I said good-bye." He closed his eyes and died. Mimi put her hand to her mouth to keep from sobbing. Cody blinked a couple times, then looked at his men who had also ridden up to them. He noticed Yolei laying not far and he went over to her. "Why did you come, Yolei?" he asked in anguish. He knelt in the grass and looked around him. He was at a loss for words. Two soldiers from Salt Lake City drove up in a pickup, and asked if the Governor of Wyoming was over here. They put Davis and Yolei in the back of the pickup to be taken into the city. The guys from Wyoming all jumped in the back with the bodies. Mimi hopped in behind them, and the pickup headed for the city. Mimi looked back and saw many more pickups on the horizon, coming their way. She nudged Cody. "There is someone else with them," he said, squinting at the vehicles. "I recognize those bikes; it's Taichi!" The pickup they were on drove into the city, and the wall blocked Tai from view. Cody jumped off the back of the pickup, along with his guys, running to kill some more Plastic Surgery Victims. Mimi had no intention of fighting again, so she stayed where she was. The guys started shooting at some Plastic Surgery Victims that were heading towards the "death truck," and Tai met up with them. "See? We still get to fight in battle together." "Ah good." The Potato Farmers used their massive pickup trucks to run over plenty of Plastic Surgery Victims as easily as if they were roadkill. |