124
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.
125
Westfield, England
The regional director of this School looked over the tops of his glasses. "Holloway? What's that noise outside?"
His assistant moved to a window. A look of alarm passed over his face. "It seems to be some kind of demonstration, sir," he said.
"Demonstration? What the devil do you mean?" The regional director moved to the window. What he saw made his mouth open in astonishment. Hundreds, maybe thousands of people were protesting outside the School's gates. They were...they looked almost like children. But that didn't make sense.
"Is this some antinuclear demonstration?" he asked Holloway. "Do they have signs? Perhaps we should call security."
Holloway listened at the window. The roars outside became more distinct. "Save the flock! Destroy Itex! Save the world! Destroy Itex!"
The two men stared at each other. "How could they possibly know we're an arm of Itex?" the regional director asked.
Crash! A softball-sized rock flew through their window, showering them with glass shards.
Now they could hear the chanting clearly:
"We want...what's ours!
"You belong...behind bars!
"Itex is an evil giant!
"Us kids ain't buyin' it!"
The regional director looked at Holloway, who had several scratches from flying glass. "Call security."
Martinslijn, Netherlands
Edda Engels looked up from her lab bench and listened. Odd sounds were coming in the window. She went to investigate, only to dodge a heavy glass bottle, tipped with a burning rag. Wha? Was that a Molotov cocktail?
Boom! It exploded just as Edda dove beneath her desk. What was going on? Outside, it sounded like hundreds, maybe more, were surrounding her lab. What were they saying?
"You've ruined our water and our air!
"You're evil and you just don't care!
"Fang is right: the time has come
"For us kids to claim our home!"
Who was Fang? Edda wondered. And more important, how could she get out of here? The fire was spreading.
Woetens, Australia
"What's all that dust, then?" The chief operating officer of the Australian branch of DelaneyMinker peered out the window. Miles and miles of desert stretched away as far as she could see. On the horizon, a wide, low dust storm was coming at them.
"Hand me those binoculars, would you, Sam?" she asked her assistant.
Sam handed her the binoculars.
"Is it...School Day?" asked the COO. "Are we expecting field trips?"
Sam looked at her. "We don't get field trips here. It's a top-secret facility. Why?"
"Well, it looks like...children! On motorscooters, apparently. And some of those four-wheel thingies."
"ATVs?" asked Sam. He took the binoculars and looked.
A line of small vehicles stretched for at least a mile. It did look like children. Was this some sort of nature club? He squinted and adjusted the focus slightly. They were carrying signs. He could almost make one out...
DELANEYMINKER = POLLUTING STINKER
"You may want to go into lockdown," said Sam, sounding far calmer than he felt.
"Iggy!" Fang yelled. "Gasman! Follow me!" Wheeling through the sky, Fang worked his wings powerfully, racing across the gray ocean toward the horizon.
Risking a backward glance, he saw that Iggy and the Gasman were behind him and closing fast.
"Dive-bomb," Fang said. "On my count."
The Gasman looked down, frowned, then drew in a deep breath and nodded.
"Oh, God," said Iggy. "Talk about cold..."
"We are here to destroy you," said the Flyboys, sounding like an angry swarm of mechanized bees.
"One!" Fang called, heading away from shore as fast as he could. He hoped there was a steep drop-off along this part of the coast. "Two!"
"You will recant!" the Flyboys droned. "You will recant!"
"Three!" said Fang, and tucked his wings in tight against his body. He aimed himself downward, right at the water. From this high, going this fast, hitting the water was going to feel like hitting concrete. But it couldn't be helped.
He heard the Gasman's and Iggy's jackets flapping as they accelerated downward.
"This is going to be bad!" Iggy called.
"Yep," Fang agreed, his voice snatched away by the streaming wind.
"There is no escape!" droned the Flyboys, who were, of course, following them fast.
Yeah? thought Fang. This is true.