Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports

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The electric net topping the castle walls could keep stuff in but not out, interestingly. I was pushing through the crowd, tossing off a quick punch or kick here and there, trying to get to Ari, when suddenly a large rock flew over the castle wall. It hit a mutant on the head, and she sat down abruptly.

I looked up. An actual arrow, flaming like in the movies, was flying overhead. It streaked right through the net and buried itself in the back of a Flyboy, who promptly caught fire. What else?

When humans catch fire, they run around screaming, or possibly remember to stop, drop, and roll. When a Flyboy catches fire, it just stands there looking stupid until it turns into a tall, flaming statue. Apparently, once a Flyboy is really aflame, its joints and pulleys quit working and it can't move. Useful info I tucked away for future use.

More rocks began flying overhead.

Getting Ari would have to wait. I had the living ones to take care of now.

"Angel!" I shouted. "Nudge! Total! Stand next to the wall!" I hadn't noticed Total in a while, and I was glad to see him bound out of the crowd toward me. He was limping, holding one paw up, but leaped into my arms and licked my face.

"Bleah. Blood," he said, and quit licking. Bleah right back atcha, I thought.

"Who's throwing the rocks?" Nudge asked, as we pressed against the wall.

"I don't know," I started to say, just as Angel said, "Kids."

"What do you mean 'kids'?" I asked. More rocks flew overhead, and several more flaming arrows.

"I think it's kids out there," Angel said. "It feels like kids."

I watched as another large rock hit a Flyboy in the knees. The robot buckled, and then two mutants fell on it, punching it and pulling its hair.

"Kids or, like, cavemen?"

"Kids," said Angel.

"Save the flock! Kill the Flyboys! Destroy Itex!"

My eyebrows lifted as the growing roar outside became more distinct. Slowly, the noise in the courtyard stilled, and the roar outside grew louder. More and more rocks, some as big as melons, and flaming arrows streaked over the walls.

"Save the flock! Kill the Flyboys! Destroy Itex!"

I looked at Nudge and Angel. "Wonder if they're blog readers?"

"Chase them away!" the Director's voice boomed over the loudspeaker. Her angry face appeared eight feet tall on the screens around the courtyard. Some of the screens were now broken, and all had dirt and blood splashed on them. They had probably cost a lot too.

"Chase them away!" the Director shouted again. "They are vermin! They are here to destroy you! Chase them away!"

As always, the Flyboys jumped to do her bidding without question. There were maybe sixty left, and as one they shot out their wings and took to the air.

"Uh," said Nudge, watching.

Yes. Oops. No one had turned off the electric net. Sixty Flyboys rose quickly upward, and sixty Flyboys instantly shorted out when they hit the net. They fell to the ground in perfect unison.

"That was poor planning on her part," Total observed, and I nodded.

Bam! Bam! Bam! I heard the squeal of an engine outside, and then bone-rattling thumps against the tall gates. The people outside were trying to drive a vehicle through, trying to break down the gates.