Once in her room, it took her only a moment to find what she needed and less than that to pull on her bandana and loop an ammo belt across one shoulder. One minute after the metal giant came over the hill, the Immortal Warrior dashed from the kitchen door.
She could hear her mother’s voice through the open windows of the house behind her, calling. She ran harder. No time to turn back now, there was a mission to accomplish.
The giant metal man, the BattleMech, was standing next to the big oak. It did not move. It just stood, watching the house while two other BattleMechs — one that looked just like it and another that looked different — fired their lasers again and again at Grandpa’s crops. The AgroMechs and tractors were all smoking masses of twisted metal dotted about the burning fields.
The BattleMech had to see her, but she hoped the Immortal Warrior’s armor would frighten it as she ran across the open ground. It did not fire. Or step on her when she ran in front of its toes. Her heart was pounding as she reached the base of the tree.
Looking up through the branches, she tried to find her brother. She knew Billy was up there, but she couldn’t see him.
“Billy?” she called, straining to catch sight of him. “Billy!”
After a moment her brother’s head appeared over the edge of the broad branch the tire swing was tied to. His eyes were red and puffy and he looked like he had been crying.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
“I’m here to rescue you,” she answered.
“Jessie, get out of here,” he said. “This isn’t pretend.”
Jessie glanced over at the BattleMech, though from under the canopy of the ironwood all she could see was its lower legs. It was so big, and the house so far away. For a moment she couldn’t breathe, it took a shuddering gasp to pull air into her lungs. She felt her eyes sting as tears threatened.
Jessie shook herself. The Immortal Warrior would not be afraid.
She looked back up at her brother, still watching her from the branch above.
“Get down here right this second, soldier,” Jessie ordered in her best Immortal Warrior voice. “We’ve got a mission to complete.”
“You’re crazy, Jessie,” Billy said. “Get out of here.”
“Not without you.”
Billy pulled his head back out of sight and for a moment Jessie thought she was going to have to yell at him again. Then his leg appeared over the side, swinging back and forth until his foot snagged the rope holding the tire swing.
In less than a minute he was standing beside her.
“That’s a Quickdraw,” he said, pointing to the BattleMech near them. “It’s fast. There’s another and a Lynx over there. That’s three. Number four’s got to be somewhere.”
Jessie was uninterested in what the BattleMechs were called or where they were. The Immortal Warrior was on a rescue mission, focused only on the objective.
“We’ve got to get back to the storm cellar,” she said.
“We can’t,” Billy said. “They’ll see us.”
“They saw me come out here,” Jessie said, proud her voice stayed steady. She settled her Immortal Warrior helmet more firmly on her head and started toward the house.
“Wait.”
Billy caught up with her and took her hand. Above them, the Quickdraw stood immobile, but they both felt it had eyes watching their every move.
“Don’t run,” Billy said. “Maybe they won’t ...”
At that moment the fourth BattleMech stalked around the corner of the farm house. Lower and wider than the Quickdraw, it looked to Jessie like a giant crab or bird. It swung toward them, fire flickering around little black tubes on its chest.
“Run!” Billy yelled as the ground between them and the ‘Mech began to churn with machinegun fire.
Jessie spread her arms wide, shielding her big brother with her Immortal Warrior armor, and ran for the house. She shrieked her battle cry at the top of her lungs as flying clods of dirt spattered against her chest and helmet.
Ahead of them the cellar door by the kitchen stairs flew open. Grandpa was there, running towards them as pieces of the ground seemed to jump and shatter. She could see her mother behind him, calling something she couldn’t hear. The world was full of a sound like thunder and gravel and the house seemed so far away.
Suddenly she was scooped from the ground, one of Grandpa’s strong arms around her waist. She caught a glimpse of Billy, tucked under his other arm as he ran back toward the house. They were almost safe, but not yet. Something screamed through the air over their heads. A wave of hot air, like Grandma opening her oven, only hotter and meaner, swept over them.
Jessie kept her arms spread wide, protecting Billy and Grandpa as best she could.
Grandpa swung her up and around. The world seemed to tilt crazily and she saw a corner of the house and roof fly to pieces. Then her mother grabbed her, pulling her down into the cellar, hustling her toward the shelter. Behind her she heard Grandpa slamming the outer door and her brother’s voice.
“I was trapped in the tree,” he said. “There was a Quickdraw right next to me. Jessie came and got me.”
Above them there was a great cracking and splintering. Jessie heard windows breaking and dishes crashing to the floor. The kitchen was going to be a mess.
Mother, holding one arm, half carried her and half shoved her down the shelter stairs. Billy came stumbling close behind, almost falling on the steep wooden steps.
“Everyone here?” Grandpa asked.
All around Jessie her cousins and aunts said “yes.”
The room was big, but everybody was crowded close to the stairs, helping her and her mother and Billy get safely inside. Some held flashlights so they could see.
Grandpa slammed the thick metal door, throwing the lock and turning the wheel that slid bolts into
