Chapter 23+24

CHAPTER 23: THE BIG MOTHER ATTACK!

Drew and the crew reached the basement in a hurry. They saw Leslie confronting a humongous monster. The head of the monster is easily the size of a minivan, with jaws so wide that it can easily swallow a small car in one gulp. The long neck stretches far and is connected to a humongous body, with multilayered scales. Cracks can be seen throughout the scales, revealing layers that are reminiscent of tree-rings, indicating growth. The belly of the monsters filled the basement, and movements of the monsters has shaken the building and displaced some of the pillars. Drew saw that some of those pillars were support pillars. The building is in danger of collapsing at any moment.

"C'mon you sonavabitch!" yelled Leslie. He kept the monsters unbalanced by numerous application of his flame thrower. The monsters definitely looked agitated, but it didn't seem to be too excited in pursuing Leslie.

"Leslie! We're here!" Drew shouted. Leslie nodded.

The monster noticed Drew and the crew and started to become more animated. Leslie walked closer to the monster, and whereas before, he was merely fending off the monster, he then went on to full attack mode.

"Eat fire, you sonavabitch!" Leslie engaged the flamethrower setting to max and let loose a tremendous flame. The monster shrank back from the heat, but otherwise was unharmed. Drew and the crew took various positions around the monster.

The monster took a deep breath. Then it let loose a tremendous flame easily twice the size of Leslie's flamethrower. A gigantic blue and yellow flame engulfed Leslie, burning him to a crisp. His body was flung by the monster's breath blast to the far end of the basement. The monster licked its chops.

Everybody's jaw dropped to the floor. Everybody was stunned speechless and motionless. "It. Breathed. Fire." Somebody said.

Drew blinked. How was such thing possible? What kind of flame is it? Then her engineering mind went to work. What was the color of the flame? Blue? Then it hits her.
"Methane! It breathes methane!" said Drew. That makes sense. A creature that big probably doesn't have a very efficient digesting system. Doubtless some food rots inside and not digested. If the stomach is big enough, it can be its own whole ecosystem inside the belly. Thus, methane gas. The creature doesn't really breathe fire. It burps methane. The fire comes from Leslie's own flamethrower, an unfortunate fate.

Drew was wondering how to attack the monster without collapsing the building, when some more rumblings can be felt. Everybody looked to the side where the sound came from. A section of the wall crumbled and a limb appeared. "That's a tail." said Drew.

"Where's the head?" asked somebody. Drew traces the imaginary line that connects the tail to the head and after traversing the whole basement, came to rest to the monster's head.

"Uh, oh. I think we'd better get out of here!" said Drew. The monster was the size of the whole basement!

Danny protested, "You mean you're going to turn tail and run?"

"Yes." said Drew.

"The captain would've attacked." Danny insisted.

"If you want to be a dead hero, go ahead," said Drew. "Me? I'm getting out of here."

"Makes sense." said Bob.

The monster was coming to them, either for food or for punishing them for disturbing it. Drew ran quickly to the exit. Everybody followed. Drew pulled the guy holding the rocket launcher. "Shoot at that column, then that column." pointed Drew. "Then get out ASAP because the whole building is going to go down!"

"You want to bury the monster underneath the building." said Bob.

"Yes." said Drew.

"That's a great idea." said Bob.

"Thank you." said Drew. "Now let's get out of here!"

And so they retreated, exiting the building out to the open. A couple rocket launches later, and the whole building collapses. Everybody breathed the sigh of relief. They're milling around.

"Any monsters coming after us?" asked Drew.

"I don't see any."

"Kevin with his sensor would know." said Drew. "Too bad, he's not here."

After a few moment of silence, Bob asked, "What do you want to do about Leslie?"

"He's buried under that rubble." said Drew. "I lost a crew member." She became sad.

"It's your first one so far." comforted Bob. "I'd say that's a great job you did so far."

"I still lost one."

"The danger is so great, it's amazing that that's all there is." said Bob. "I wasn't criticizing you. I just thought that you want to say a few words for Leslie."

Drew still felt the loss was unacceptable, but there was nothing she could do. "I guess we can say a few words."

But then some rumblings from the rubble interrupted her. The monster's head broke
through the rubble, and the monster is struggling to exit the rubble.

"I think we'd better run." said Drew.

The monster raised its head high and let loose a tremendous howl that sounded like a ship's horn. Then it struggled some more and finally broke loose from the rubble.

"Spread out and concentrate your fire on it!" said Drew, remembering Adam's lesson.

Everybody moved as a unit, concentrating their fire on the creature. The monster was confused as to who to attack, enabling the guys to keep firing, letting loose a tremendous fire power on it. Alas, their effort was fruitless since the thick scales protected the monster. The rocket launcher did do some damaged, but the creature was so big, it was merely wounded. The blood was spilled to the ground, and given time, the creature would have bled to death.

Time, however, wasn't on their side. The guys carried only so much ammo, and within 2 minutes, they ran out of ammo. Drew fell back to using her pistol. They grouped back to Drew who, with Bob's Gatling gun, managed to hold the monster at bay for awhile.
Drew led them to the next building, seeking shelter. By now, the monster was full of revenge, and started after them. Its huge girth, almost Brontosaurus size, dragged along the ground, leaving gouges on the ground. Bob finally ran out of ammo. Everybody moved into the building. The monster followed.

There was nowhere to hide. The monster managed to box them to a corner. But then it ran out of neck. The body cannot enter the building. It was too big. The head cannot reach the crews. But it can blow them out. It breathed in, and opened its mouth to exhale. Drew furiously shot at inside the mouth. For a time, nothing happened, but then the monster suddenly withdrew its head, puzzled.

"What happened?" asked Drew.

"What did you shoot last?" asked Bob.

"I don't know. The point at the upper throat?"

"Shoot it again." said Bob.

Again, the creature opened its mouth, and again Drew shot the creature at the point of the upper throat. The creature shrank. "Is that a weak point?" asked Drew.

"Looks like it. But it doesn't seem to hurt it."

"What do we do next?"

"I don't know." said Bob. "Pray for miracle."

The creature attacked again. Again, Drew shot at the point. The monster shrank. Again and again, this was repeated. Drew knew that the monster was bleeding to death. She hoped that the monster would die before she ran out of bullets. Alas, it was not to be. Even though the monster was clearly weakened, it can still attack. Drew's gun finally clicked empty. As the last desperate move, Drew threw the gun at the monster. Bob made the sign of the cross.

Time 50 minutes.
Words: 1310

CHAPTER 24: ADAM TO THE RESCUE!

Sitting in the co-pilot seat, Adam saw with terrible clarity what was happening to Drew and the rest of the crew. The big monster was surrounded, but it wasn't slowing down at all. Kevin, who sat in the pilot seat, opted to circle around for an attack run.

"Kev, we need to help them quick!" said Adam.

"We'll do an attack run." said Kevin. "We'll blow the monster to pieces!"

"How are you going to do that?" asked Adam.

"Use the guns!"

"HOW ARE YOU GOING TO DO THAT?" asked Adam, incredulously.

"Use the guns we just installed on the shuttle!" replied Kevin. Didn't Adam remember that they had just installed cannons on the shuttle?

"That was the other shuttle." said Adam. "This one doesn't have any."

"Oh." Kevin did a face palm. "That's right. The shuttle with the gun was in pieces."

"Well, hotshot." said Adam. "What are you going to do now?"

"Maybe we can scare the monster into hiding?"

"Try it and see, just do it quick!"

Kevin maneuvered the shuttle into position, but all they saw then were Drew and the crew running, retreating into a building. Drew was shooting this big, brontosaurus sized monster with a PISTOL.

"Why is she shooting a monster that size with a pistol?" asked Kevin.

Adam didn't know it himself. But then he realized, "They must've run out of bullets! We have to help them soon." The pistol is an ineffective weapon against a monster that size.

"What do you want to do?" asked Kevin.

"Land the shuttle! We'll bring more ammo to them."

Kevin expertly maneuvered the shuttle within eyesight of the monster. By this time, the monster had entered the building, and didn't see Kevin landed the shuttle a few blocks away.

Adam had told the other crew members to break open the storage and pull ammo from the lockers. Adam and 3 other guys jumped out of the shuttle the moment it landed, carrying ammo for Drew and the crew.

"Okay, guys! Double time!" Adam said. "Kev, you just stay here where it's safe, okay?"

Adam jogged out of the shuttle, followed by three other guys, each laden with the packs containing the ammo for Drew. Their progress was slow due to the heft of the ammo packs.

Kevin realized that Adam would probably never make it in time. They were too burdened with ammo. But there was nothing he could do since the shuttle was without weapon.

"So, you think I'm a coward, eh?" said Kevin to Adam, who by this time was well a couple of blocks away. "I'm not a coward. I'll show you!"

Kevin pulled the control stick to lift off the shuttle, and then he pushed the throttle stick to max, activating the afterburners. The shuttle zoomed past Adam and flew straight into the monster!

Inside, Drew was flinging the pistol at the monster. She instinctively tried to shield the crew from harm with her body, like a mother hen, placing herself between the crew and the monster. The monster opened its mouth to spew the deadly gas, but then it was as if the monster was yanked away by a giant hand. Drew was dumbfounded. It was as if a miracle had been delivered.

Outside, Adam saw Kevin flew the shuttle into the monster the flung them both into another block. The shuttle buried itself deep into the monster. Then it exploded.

"Incoming!" yelled Adam. Quickly, they sought shelter from the oncoming bombardment of flesh. Big chunks of meat rained on them. It was as if God had decided to drop steak onto the compound.

"Sushi", somebody muttered. Adam took a deep breath.

Once the rain of meat had ceased, Adam led them out. "Move out!"

Adam met Drew who was walking slowing out of the building. Her face brightened when she saw Adam. Adam felt no compunction to run up to Drew and gave her a very big hug. Then he kissed her. Drew went red with embarrassment, but did not protest. She was all smiles.

"I told you I'd come back." said Adam.

"Yes, you did," said Drew. Max charm here.

"Now we can go off the planet, and be safe back at the ship." said Drew.

"Not exactly." said Adam. "We ran into some problem."

"So? We just go into the shuttle. Lift off the planet. Dock with the ship, and done!" said Drew.

"Kevin stuck the shuttle into the monster. It blew up." said Adam.

"It blew up?" Drew's smile disappeared.

"Yes." said Adam. "Sorry."

Drew was hesitant. "So, what do you suggest we should do?"

"I dunno." said Adam. "Go back to the other shuttle?"

"Can we make it before dark?"

"Sure," said Adam with conviction. "If we run fast."

"Is there another option?" asked Drew. She didn't think she can run fast enough, covering the whole distance.

"I don't think so," said Adam.

"I guess we have no choice."

"Not really. But we'll make it if we're quick."

"And if we're slow?" Drew didn't dare to think what would happen.

"The monsters would be very active into feeding time, and we'll never make it." answered Adam.

"You think so?"

"We have some ammo, but it won't last to do a firefight from here to the other shuttle."

"We can hole up in the armory." said Drew. "There's plenty of ammo there."

"So you want to do that instead?"

"Yes," said Drew. "Let's do that." Even that is beyond my ability, Drew thought. I just hope that I won't cause everybody to die because I can't run that far.

"Everybody has finished distributing ammo?" asked Adam to the guys. They nodded. "Move out!" said Adam.

time: 40 minutes.
words: 937
Total words: 2247