|
|
Registered User
Currently Offline
|
Posts: 703
Join Date: Oct 2008
|
JOHNNY REB
In
‘Return to the Lost Valley’ Part 1.
Character Created by Tim Frady / Story by Wayne Clayton
As Johnny strode into the fog he was soon lost from sight. Beneath the cloud the floor sloped away and soon he found himself looking up at a ceiling of swirling mist. Before him an eerie light guided his way towards large stone steps which were cut from the rock. All was just as he remembered it, and as he began to work his way further down the steps all the memories came flooding back.
July 1919
Johnny edged his way down the remaining stairs towards the light at the bottom. His hand resting on his old service revolver, despite his great strength he still felt comfort in having a weapon by his side even though its chambers were empty. During the Great War he had found he could channel a strange lightening through its barrel, yet another ‘gift’ of the curse upon him.
Gingerly he stepped into the light and looked out over the scene which met his eyes. Before him stretched what seemed to be paradise. The colours and radiance of the plants shone like jewels in the sweet smelling air. Above the clouds bubbled brightly illuminated by a huge golden orb which stood in lieu for the Sun in this enclosed valley of hidden splendour.
Within the branches of the trees came the sound of birds, their song unlike anything he had ever heard. Insects flitted about the flowers which hung from the great vines strung throughout the lofty canopy. Amongst them giant dragonflies raced each other over shallow pools of crystal clear water.
Carefully Johnny began to explore. Before him he spotted what seemed to of being once a pathway into the heart of this Eden but time had taken its toll and now the golden road was overgrown and cracked by sprawling roots. The further he went the more wonders he saw. The creatures of this forest were unlike the ordinary denizens he had encountered on his journey, there was something primeval about them.
As he entered a clearing he found to his amazement a small herd of what he first thought to be horses but on closer inspection he realised them to be giant Tapirs. Marvelling at the strange beasts Johnny failed to notice the leaves surrounding the clearing swaying as it caught by the breeze. Suddenly from the undergrowth there came a spear darting through the air catching the herd unaware, and in seconds one of the beasts lay dead. Johnny ducked into the foliage his eyes fixed on the scene unfolding before him.
From his hiding place Johnny saw the band of hunters emerge from the forest, their long tangled hair hung heavy upon huge shoulders of thick muscle. Their large brows and flat noses marked them out as more ape than man. These were not the members of any tribe he had ever encountered before. Johnny wasn’t even sure they were even of the human species so different were they in stature, looking for all the world like the Cavemen he had seen drawn in the latest scientific journals.
Armed with stone tools they began to carve up their prize, resting their spears upon flanks of the dead Tapir as they did so. Johnny heard their gleeful grunts as they began to tear at the flesh.
Suddenly they froze as all around the ground trembled. The roar of some new terrible beast echoed through the Jungle. Johnny too jumped to his feet his revolver firmly in his grasp. His senses catching the direction of the approaching menace, as the jungle quaked about him. Then as he watched the trees began to topple before him, the sound of the cracking branches and falling timbers were joined by the grinding of metal upon metal.
To Johnny’s utter dismay he saw that this was no monster but an iron clad machine, one he knew all too well from the hell he had left behind. Backing away into the clearing he watched as the churning tracks of a MkV tank burst through the tree line towards him, follow quickly by two more on either side, surrounding both Johnny and the startled Cavemen in the clearing.
How or why there were tanks here in the middle of the Jungle where there should be none mystified Johnny but one thing was certain he wasn’t going to go down without a fight.
With a great judder the armoured tanks ground to a halt. Their guns trained on the assembled group before them. Behind Johnny the cavemen formed a circle their spears poised ready. They howled and grunted fiercely at the metal intruders of their domain, hoping to strike fear into iron beasts.
But Johnny knew that there must be men at the controls of these steel destroyers.
“Who goes there? Friend or Foe?” shouted Johnny at the top of his voice
There was a moment’s pause before the hatch swung open and a figure appeared through its opening.
“YIELD IN THE NAME OF KING GEORGE AND ENGLAND REBEL!!!” came the gruff reply.
There on top of the tank was a man dress in a bright scarlet jacket, his ancient pistol aimed squarely at Johnny.
Johnny stood aghast.
“RED COATS!!!???”
|
Good story!
