On Johnny’s advice, the man retreated.
The Reverend then steadied his machine gun and fired a burst in the direction of those Vikings. Two suffered grievous wounds, the other two ran away.
However, as he fired at those aliens, behind him a Wraith climbed onto the rectangular box on which Johnny stood. The creature struck with a bony back hand and sent Johnny to his stomach and his gun sliding out of reach.
The monstrosity gawked at its victim, perhaps savoring an easy kill. Its mouth stretched unbelievably wide, like a snake planning to gobble a meal twice its size.
Suddenly, everything inside the cloak exploded into powder. The sound of rifle fire came next. Not until the empty cape fell to the ground did Johnny realized that someone had come to his rescue this time.
He rose to a knee and saw that the soldier he had saved from the Vikings had returned the favor. The man had climbed on top of a marble-colored box for a clear shot.
“I say there! Thank y-WATCH OUT!”
A crescent-shaped pendulum the size of a yacht and attached to an incomprehensibly long arm arced down from the ceiling behind the soldier. Its pointed end slammed into the fellow’s back, scooping him up and then propelling him off into the air at great speed and height before his body disappeared into the patchwork of machine parts on the level below.
“Lord have mercy.”
Johnny bowed his head in a silent prayer before retrieving his weapon and returning to the task at hand…
…The trio of Wraiths did not see the Viking as he jumped down behind them from the level above. He raised his rifle to shoot the three of them in the back, but a pillar of stone slammed to the floor from the ceiling, crushing him and his now crimson-colored poncho. The pillar then slowly withdrew upwards with the flattened body of the alien stuck to its underside like a crushed mouse on an elephant foot.
The Wraiths-unaware of their good fortune-continued lower, deeper, into the machine toward the runes…
…The diamond-shaped guardian stalked through a field of cables and mushroom-shaped power nodes. Jon and Cooper opened fire from the hiding spots they chose for the ambush. Their assault rifle shots first sparked against the thing’s metallic exterior before finding and goring one of its four eyes.
“That’s the sweet spot! Keep firing!”
Carbine fire cleared away the mess revealing a sick combination of animal organs and mechanical gears. Finally those bullets scored a critical hit. The guardian collapsed…
…A squad of Vikings followed a ramp surrounded by banks of chattering levers engaged in some unfathomable task. The guardian with the spinning blade wobbled around the bend in front of the aliens and sliced in half the two at the front of the unit.
Before the pieces of their bodies hit the ground, the rest of the squad opened fire with their magnetic rail guns. The powerful blasts punched dents in its spherical body but failed to strike a lethal blow.
In the name of the cause, a Viking junior officer activated an explosive device on his ammunition belt and ran toward the beast in a suicidal charge. He and the guardian exploded together, leaving a pile of gore on the ramp and the robot’s big blade wedged in a mass of machinery…
…Jon and Cooper reached the edge of another ring. From their position they could see two more rings of crazy machine but, beyond that and visible through a rare gap in the clutter, they also saw the final destination.
Far below at the center of the descending rings glowed a circle of light. In that circle stood two objects about six feet tall with one round orb on top of each.
Jon stopped and stared at the runes. Could that truly be the end of this crazy mission? Had Trevor actually been right about all this?
“Sir, look out!”
A Wraith shared the platform with the two humans, its mouth wide open and its deadly scream bellowing out from its demon heart.
Vroom-smack.
A massive column shot out from the wall as fast as a bullet, hitting, pushing, and tossing the Wraith off the ledge and twirling through the air where its body disintegrated to ashes and sprinkled down over the gears, sprockets, and flashing lights on the ring below.
From the opposite direction came a group of Vikings, their ponchos colored in a collection of shades ranging from white to blue to tan.
“We need to keep moving.”
“Whatever you say, Sir.”
“That’s the spirit, Coop.”
“Not really. I’m just scared shitless.”
The men jumped to the next level…
…Only three Wraiths remained inside the obelisk because the flying guardian with the buzz-saw midriff had decimated their numbers. It honed in on the trio.
The Wraiths gathered at the edge of a maze of granite blocks linked with shimmering electric cables. The guardian dive-bombed toward the group as their jaws elongated and their song of destruction began to play.
Sharp, spinning blades sliced off a skeletal head as the great machine’s flying sentry made its pass. An empty cloak sans hood fell to the floor.
The two remaining creatures entered the maze as the buzz saw swooped around in pursuit and followed them in.
Just as it closed for a kill, its target darted to the side with surprising agility. The round attacker bounced off a wall, hovered in the air for a second as if dazed, and then continued the chase.
Both Wraiths emerged from the maze onto the open ground overlooking the runes, overlooking the prize. One turned to face the exit of the maze and screamed despite no enemy in sight.
“wwwwhhhhhhahhHHHHAAAAA”.
With a whirr and a clang, the guardian rounded the last bend in the maze and flew along the exit path, into the cone of the Wraith’s scream.
Perfect timing.
The flying machine sparked and exploded into harmless shards.
The victorious Wraith cocked its head, turned to its partner, and gawked its black maw in a devil’s grin of satisfaction.
The two robed creatures descended toward the runes…
…Jon fired his carbine to his right as he ran toward the last ridge of the last ring.
The runes waited below.
He fired at three Vikings running parallel to his sprint. Cooper did the same, a few steps behind his General.
A bullet found its target, causing an alien to stumble and roll over the edge of the ring as its arms and covered head twitched and shook in death spasms.
One of the poncho’d Vikings lobbed an explosive charge. The detonation delivered a powerful concussion. Jon sprawled to the floor and lost his rifle in the spill. He watched helplessly as it slid forward and over the edge.
He heard Cooper scream and turned to see the man rolling on the floor holding a badly wounded knee. At that moment, Jon realized he was on his own…
…In the center of a cone of light waited the runes. Two rough pillars resembling gray stalagmites six feet tall and nearly four feet apart from one another each fixed into a small base of similar material. Whoever or whatever forged the odd device also carved strange symbols on the pillars.
At the top of each pillar was a round silver ball that resembled metal or something similar.
Jon knew what he had to do. So did the Wraiths. So did the Vikings.
The world’s fate…humanity’s future…depended on Jon Brewer-now unarmed and exhausted-reaching the ‘runes’ first.
