Part 17 (1/2)
32.
Well, one good thing finally happens to us. Kane's explosive ambush rings out through the s.p.a.ce. The concussive blast echoes around the cavern following the detonation of the Claymore, killing some of the incoming soldiers. Anguished filled screams of the survivors can be heard before a quick round of gunshots silences them, putting them out of their misery. We continue moving forward, towards the last location where we heard Dad, the stone forest thinning as we advance.
”Well, that worked out better than expected,” Kane says looking back towards the spot where he laid his trap.
”Better than expected?” Nicole asks in revulsion. ”We are now responsible for at least four men's deaths-maybe more!”
”Better them than us,” he replies with little remorse. ”If they catch us we're dead.” He ejects his magazine and replaces it with a new one. ”Your jobs are to figure out where the h.e.l.l we are. Mine is to keep you guys alive.”
”Oh, d.a.m.n...”
They both spin around twin guns drawn, searching for a target, but find none.
My face must look like I saw a ghost, because I get the same question in unison.
”You okay?”
We have entered the courtyard in my dream. Everything is the same. The dark gray and black color, the pillars, the empty pedestals and the pyramid...
Wait a second...empty pedestals? I run over to the closest one and stop. ”They're empty?” I say confused. ”They weren't empty in my dream.”
ROAR!.
I snap towards the familiar sound and stumble away. One of the Minotaur creatures that should have been frozen in time on a stone base, steps out from behind a pillar and reveals its full height and girth and...its breed.
ROAR!.
”What the...?” Nicole says stammering, taking a step back.
The half human, half rhinoceros slowly rounds the large column, advancing towards us. I'm guessing it stands about nine feet tall and weighs nearly half a ton, and like a person, walks on two legs. Its legs are that of a rhino, strong and powerful. Its body is humanoid and built like a Mr. Universe compet.i.tor. The Minotaur's arms are mostly rhino, like its legs, except for the hands. They are most definitely human...and huge...with claws. Perfect for tearing us apart, I think.
Its head is the most terrifying feature. The skull is all rhinoceros and so is the snout and foot-long horn. But, the eyes...they are 100% human, and they are watching us, studying our every move. Which isn't much right now since we are unmoving, gripped by fear.
It stops and lets out a snort and growl so low it sounds like the late Michael Clark Duncan is wearing Darth Vader's helmet. The monsters eyes focus on me and never waver.
Dang.
Then I see something in the creature that I didn't notice before.
”Its stone-obsidian I think,” I say surprised. ”But alive?” The jet-black exterior of the stone giant glistens in the low light, like moonlight reflecting off the surface of an oil slick in water.
”You said the sculptures in your nightmare were stone too, right?” Nicole asks never taking her eyes off of the thing.
”Yes, they were, but they weren't alive and ready to kill us.”
”Look at the chest,” Kane directs.
Nicole and I finally take our focus off the face and look down at its chest and abdomen. What we see is strange, but recognizable.
”Are those bullet wounds?” I ask. They pock the monster's body like tiny meteor craters.
”From your father, I'd guess.” Nicole replies. ”I doubt Omar had the where-with-all to even draw his gun let alone go one-on-one with rhino-boy.”
Hearing the mention of my father sends me into a panic and I scan the area quickly, but happily find no blood or bodies.
”Looks like they got away,” Kane says noticing my frantic search.
I look back to the brute and see something odd. It twitches its head a few times, like it has a nervous tick or like it has a kink in its neck.
ROAR!.
The creature charges, horn down.
We react the only way we can...we open fire.
”Aim for the knees and try to slow it down! I'll try for its head!” Kane yells as he dives right and brings up both Eagles, opening up with a cacophony of cannon blasts. Thankfully, he is still wearing his arm braces or he'd be running around like Gumby, arms flapping about.
He lands on his back, just feet from the rhino, and fires off two more rounds, striking it in the shoulder. The monster swings a beefy fist in a downward arc, like an oversized sledge. The hammer blow smashes into the ground, pulverizing the spot were Kane had just been. If creature had found its mark, the big-man from Montana would have just turned into a big red smear of blood and guts, forever a stain on the rock hard flooring.
But Kane had seen the killing blow coming, diving away again, this time instantly rolling to his feet, weapons again blazing.
The giant blocks most of the projectiles with its forearm, sending chunks of obsidian shrapnel everywhere, and roars again. Kane is actually frustrating the thing. No surprise there, I think. The man could probably infuriate a brick wall.
Nicole and I circle around the thing's right flank, gawking at the golem-like beast's tenacity and its apparent thirst for making Kane into his own brand of ketchup. We stop and let loose a healthy bombardment of lead, unloading as fast as our fingers can twitch.
”If we concentrate our fire on its knee...” I yell over the rapid fire thunder clap produced by our weapons. ”...we should be able to at least hobble it and slow it-”
ROAR!.
THUMP!.
BANG!.
As we reload, a cras.h.i.+ng sound and a grunt echoes through the courtyard. We look up and see the beast knock Kane off his feet, swatting him away like a pesky fly at a barbeque. He slams into one of the empty pedestals and flips up and over it cras.h.i.+ng hard on the other side.
33.
”Kane!” Nicole and I scream in perfect harmony, fear gripping our bodies. We know he can take a licking, but that was beyond a brutal blow.
Luckily, we hear him mumbling expletives on the other side of the pedestal, not sounding at all pleased with being tossed like a rag doll in a clothes dryer. But at least he's alive. If he was. .h.i.t in the face and not the chest, the outcome would have been a lot worse for sure.
”Now what?” I ask rhetorically, a little too loud.