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JOHNNY REB
And the Maverick Men
In
‘The Clockwork Atoll’ Part 6.
Character Created by Tim Frady / Story by Wayne Clayton.
Somewhere out in battleship row Johnny Reb found himself buried beneath torn and twisted girders. A tangle of electrical cabling snaked around the sharp jagged fragments of what had been the side of the ships hull. Now it was a gaping hole which framed a picture of the atoll where Johnny had just been standing. He felt the tell tale trickle of blood run down his cheek. To ordinary men this might of sent dread running through their veins but fate had robbed Johnny of his mortality long ago. The only thing coursing through his blood now was anger. Anger at been cast aside by both friend and foe.
During the war he had finally begun to feel he had a place in the world. He was no longer the outcast rebel but a symbol of the Liberty and Freedom he craved so much. And he had let himself believe that all his fellow men believed in the same cause as he. But as he heaved the shattered beams to one side and broke free of the chains of twisted steel he saw that his definition of Liberty was not the same as theirs. To them Liberty meant Power. And now they thought they had found the greatest power of them all next to God. And like Johnny had done so many years ago they were now testing the limits of that power they found themselves endowed with. He only hoped they’d know what to do with it once they had learnt all its secrets.
So here he was caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. Only this time the devil better watch out for Johnny Reb.
Back on the beach Travis’s barrel was spitting hot lead, as the creature continued to watch him without stirring. The bullets rained down on the black woven liquid flesh of the beast’s torso, like rain on a windshield and causing the same amount of damage. Finally the bullets ran out and Capt’s trigger finger squeezed nothing more out of the glowing barrel.
It was then the goliath finally stirred once more and suddenly like a cat toying with its prey it scooped both man, water and sea bed up into the air.
Jones looked on helpless as he saw Captain Travis thrown up twenty feet into the blue, before falling back to earth with a deathly thud along with the rest of the debris thrown up by the giant’s hand.
Shutterbug let go of Vinnie’s jacket and left him still struggling to free himself from the sand.
Without a weapon by his side he ran up the beach towards the fallen Captain, whose arm he could see stuck up in the air. He could also see the cloven beast begin to close in on the Captain position as well. Without thinking he grabbed his camera and held it high, his finger clicking down on the button again and again. Each time he did so the camera bulb exploded into bright white light.
The flashes of the camera finally caught the invisible eye of the mysterious beast and it stopped and turned in its tracks and began to move towards its new found toy.
With one final heave Vinnie finally pulled himself out of the pit. He hurriedly searched for his rifle but it was gone, lost beneath the layers of golden sand. He heard Jones begin to shout at the raging monster, taunting it to follow him away from their fallen leader. He began to scramble to his feet and pulled off another of his grenades. As he did so he saw out of the corner of his eye some thing hurtling towards the beach from the lagoon. Jones too saw the strange object blaze through the air. He cried out with joy when he saw it was Johnny Reb speeding towards them. Dragging behind him one of the massive gun batteries he had ripped from the deck of a condemned captured German battle cruiser. Jones waved wildly forgetting that the creature was now bearing down on him.
Back up the beach Vinnie yelled franticly for Jones to lookout but it was too late. Shutterbug looked up to see the giant hand of the beast come crashing down on top of him.
“NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!” cried Johnny as he saw Jones disappear under the black deadly span of the creature hand.
In that split second his anger turned to white rage as he raised the battleships gun back and then with all his strength, swung it at the domed head of the beast. Caught by surprise the creature found its self lifted off its cloven hooves and sent crashing into the ground. With beast left prone Johnny began to slam the makeshift iron club over and over into its shell like skull.
Dazed Captain Travis got to his feet, his arm hanging limp and smashed, once again it seemed luck was on his side. He saw Johnny raining down blow after blow until his rage had finally forced the barrel to sheer away from the gunnery housing. The gunnery spun up into the air and drove itself into the churned up sand.
With his club now smashed Johnny threw the twisted barrel carelessly away. His rage now spent on the unmoving monster. Then as silence fell all three men heard the sound of the radio, which Jones had left still wedged in the sand carry across the beach.
“This is Dave’s Dream the ‘KING’ is now leaving the building”
Fifty-two seconds away the release mechanism fired and the bomb fell away into the big blue yonder. The King began to fall, cutting a path through the air down towards the awaiting battleships below.
Johnny turned towards the remaining Mavericks, his mind racing to find a way out of the danger they faced. Even he could not outrace their approaching doom. But he could try. Even as he made to gather the men up the great beast began to rise up. Its defiant cries once more echoed out over the island.
Johnny gritted his teeth and launched himself at the hulking monster, forcing the two of them to crash down into the white foaming breakers.
Travis saw Johnny disappear into the cloud of sand and spray. It was up to him now, quickly he began to run towards the discarded gunnery and to the door hanging loosely on its side. He called out to Vinnie to do the same. Time was running short. He was almost at the hatch when he turned to discover Vinnie was standing staring out towards the battleships, his arms out stretched in welcome.
Without any thought for himself Travis forgot the beckoning hatch and ran towards Vinnie. Making up the ground he flung himself at the oblivious soldier. Tackling him in midair the two fell into the sand.
“DUCK AND COVER SOLDIER” cried Travis and he lay on top of the struggling Private.
Distraught Vinnie began to protest wildly.
“No, no go back. Capt. You, you don’t understand Capt I’m……”
But Vinnie’s words were lost in the blinding ball of light which appeared to balloon out of nothing over the bay. And in less than a heartbeat the racing maelstrom of fire and boiling ash crashed upon the shore of the atoll, bringing with it the flotsam and jetsam of burning iron and molten steel.
Then silence fell over the island like the warm ash which drifted on the stolen breeze.
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Awesome story Wayne!
