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Chapter 8 |  |
Chapter 10 |  |
Fun For All The Family
Silently, Thjorska unclipped his battleaxe from his belt. He turned to
the others and pointed the tip at the stairs.
"Let's get out, now. That pocket nuke may have just... bought us
the time we needed."
The rest nodded silently, and ran hurriedly down the stairs.
Thjorska waited for a moment, glaring down at the tiny corpse of
Kajiro. He snorted, and spat with amazing accuracy at it.
"So long, you shax-head. I hope you spin for eternity. You'll pay
for the lives you took."
He turned and ran down the stairs, taking the steps two at a time.
The tower seemed much quieter now, without the noise of gunfire. The
shadows seemed more malevolent, so Thjorska quickened his pace.
"I need the antenna on a Beserker to boost the signal to the
Honour. They should have survived that blast, even without shields
up," Bjors said, banging the radio. Thjorska sighed.
"Let's go then," he said. "There's no point sticking around. Some
of those things might still be alive."
The area around the blast was molten and twisted. Steel, tarmac
and stone had been fused into a desolate grey wasteland. Spires and
mountains stood where rides once were. It was even more forbidding
than the empty park behind them. The robots had their shields on full,
hidden behind blazing walls of energy. So far it was quiet. Too quiet.
The sort of quiet that means something is always going to try to eat
your head. The scary sort of quiet.
From a ledge far above them, a shadow lurked. It was a survivor
from the blast, though warped by a flood of radiation, it lived.
Realising some deep, dark need that all evil creatures have, it
watched the Jotun from the shadows. Then, when the time was right, it
leapt down on them, fangs bared. Something inside it spoke out,
whispering to it. Go for the head...
There was a clank, and the sound of teeth on metal. There was
short pause, and Odan picked the creature off his head. After
regarding it struggling futilely against his unmovable grip, he
applied some more pressure. The creature squealed, so he squeezed
harder. It exploded, showering him with gore. He stopped, sighed and
threw away what was left of the creature. He turned to the robot next
to him.
"Got a cloth?"
Lying sprawled on the paved slabs that surrounded the Mega-Shujo
tower, Kajiro's corpse twitched. It shook with spasm again, and the
dead CEO slowly stood up, pushing his joints back into place. Looking
around, he found his missing jaw on the ground and pushed it back into
place. There was a sickening click, and it popped back into place. He
worked it up and down until it moved properly. He tried to speak, but
coughed up blood instead. He tried again, once his lungs were empty of
blood.
"That... hurt..."