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JOHNNY REB
And the Maverick Men
In
‘The Clockwork Atoll’ Part 5.
Character Created by Tim Frady / Story by Wayne Clayton.
The sky was bright and clear, as the silver machine known as Dave’s Dream entered into Bikini air space. The pressurized cabin did little to fend off the cold the crew now felt. Below them they could see the target hove into view. The drop site was marked by the ring of warships lying vacant. A navy made up of the decommissioned and the captured. And at its heart was the Saratoga.
Circling the island chain observation planes hummed like insects in the air. All focused on what was to come. The countdown was fixed and the monitoring stations were looking on in hushed silence, waiting for the green light to flash. ‘A-day’ had come at last.
In the belly of the B29 lay the ‘KING’, about to follow the hallowed footsteps of the ‘FAT MAN’ and the ‘LITTLE BOY’. Little did the King know what awaited him as the trumpeting sirens began to herald the start of his regal procession into history? If as the bomb bay doors began to swing open he had eyes to see he would have witnessed the shining seas reflect the yellowing light of the sun through the halo like clouds formed above the islands below. If he had but looked more closely he would have seen the figures on the foreshore oblivious to the gifts he was about to bestow upon the waiting world.
“SON OF A BITCH!!!!” yelled Travis as the huge palms exploded into deadly shrapnel as they fell from the sky around him, staggering he almost fell into one of the craters left by the beasts mighty cloven hooves. Through a rain of sand Travis saw it stride out of the trees, tearing great swathes of timber up into the air with the sweep of its hand. He saw too its dark shimmering domed head flash with white sparks as Johnny Rebs fists railed against it like bare flint against stone. These same fists which he had seen driven through the layers of steel wrapped around the hearts of King Panzers in the killing fields of France. But here they failed to even scratch into the surface of the great beast. It’s smooth and unyielding flesh alien to the touch.
Below Vinnie ran through the chaos firing his rifle in the direction of the approaching giant. Its shadow seemed to swallow up the beach in front of him. Each round struck its target true and straight but the strange armour like skin remained whole, the bullets ricocheting off into the ether. He in turn ripped a grenade from his belt and hurled it into the path of the beast, watching as the metal ball buried itself into the sand. Three seconds later Vinnie ducked and watched it rip apart as it struck the left foot of the towering titan. Its metal shards ripping though all they struck except for the oily black flesh.
But to Vinnie’s surprise the creature swung his powerful leg back and swiftly drove its fist down towards him. He barely escaped its blow as it rammed into the ground. Its impact forced Vinnie into the air along with a wall of earth which engulfed him as he fell back onto the beach.
Johnny meanwhile continued to beat down onto the creature. Although he seemed to inflict no damage his blows through their sheer number were forcing the cloven beast back towards the waters edge.
Captain Travis wrapped the strap of his Thompson machine gun around his wrist and charged forward to help Johnny, leaving Shutterbug to race over to where Vinnie was now buried. He began to dig his hands into the sand trying to find some signs of his Maverick comrade. Finally he felt the touch of coarse army fatigues and began to pull on the material, revealing Vinnie’s squirming right leg.
“I’ve got you Vinnie don’t worry Jones’s got ya” He breathed as he began to heave great clumps of sand away from Vinnie’s face. Gasping Vinnie coughed and spluttered as he was free to breathe once more.
In the wash of the crashing waves Travis lay down covering fire as best he could for Johnny. He was sure Johnny was already working on a plan to stop this thing in its tracks, he just needed time. And he was right Reb was trying to think on his feet. He had battled great apes and mechanical giants before but this thing was different. For its size it moved as quickly as he did. Not only that, but its outer skin was also impervious to his attempts to breach it. Close up it seem to be like woven plastic which stretched like skin about its hidden muscles. Even Johnny’s electro magnetic charges failed to affect the creature, his bolts flickering like lightening merely reflected off the inky surface back into the air.
Suddenly, the beast’s massive frame lurched to one side and caught Johnny unaware, left hanging in midair he found himself open to attack. Before he could react the things massive hand slammed into Johnny. Travis watched opened mouthed as Johnny disappeared. Jones too looked up in time to see Johnny go flying out over the lagoon.
“HOLY MOLEY!! It’s knocked Johnny out of the park!! ” He cried in horror as he watch the silhouetted form of Johnny spin out of control into the out field of waiting ships, before seeing a billowing cloud of debris exploding up from one of the decks of a destroyer.
Captain Travis was left standing waist deep in the water, alone before the arcane monster. All fear of what was about to befall the island were pushed to the back of his mind. He knew he and his men had been sent here as an unwitting sacrifices, just to see what would happen to men like Johnny Reb if the worse came to the worst. But he was a soldier and a Maverick Man and his duty at this moment in time was to fight. Maybe he couldn’t fight the bomb but he sure as hell could fight this devil in front of him, or at least die trying. One thing war had taught him was that as long as you fought you always had a chance to survive no matter how slim the odds.
“HEY YOU” yelled Travis as he rammed in another clip in to his water logged machine gun. His eyes staring up at the towering black mass as it slowly swung back around, and for the first time it seemed to stare back at him. Its domed head leaned forward and although he could see no eyes Travis felt them looking deep with him as if it was searching for his very soul.
A second later the beast let out an inhuman cry, the sound filling the air like a choir of air raid sirens. Upon the dome the wail was mirrored by wave of electrical energy which seemed trapped beneath the surface of the creature’s skin.
“CLOOOOOOOVVVVAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNN”
“AHHH, SHUT UP” spat Travis and he let loose the fire from his muzzle.
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