| From: | "Paul J. Adam" <Shadowtk@********.DEMON.CO.UK> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Tyger, Tyger... |
| Date: | Sat, 31 Oct 1998 10:39:57 +0000 |
>>>>>[TO: D J H Coppinger, Director: Cpt L R W Lynch
CC: Archive
And here's where I end up totally relying on Matt's camera gear, because
I didn't have any and he did so he did most of the recording.
+++++begin video
Ronin mutters to himself as he walks, fighting the hobble on his ankles
and trying to keep his footing on the turned earth. The field hands
ignore him assiduously, the overseers - human, insect and hybrid - often
glare, as he's marched along the road from the _teocali_ to the farm and
its barracks and slave camp.
The three prisoners and their guards reach a slight rise ridge into
another field, this one lying fallow. The grass either side of the track
is long, chest-high to Ronin, and growing with an unnatural vigour and
yet a curious lack of vitality, like a tumour growing across the land.
One of the human overseers, turning from a group of miserable slaves who
are scything back the grass, snarls at Ronin as he passes: when Ronin
snorts, the man flicks his whip, cutting the samurai across the arm.
Ronin stumbles sideways as if from the pain, bringing him close enough
to suddenly whirl and headbutt the overseer: as the whip-wielder drops
his lash and cries out, the samurai crashes against him: both men fall,
Ronin's elbow hitting the overseer's sternum with all his weight behind
it. Bone breaks with a clear, loud snap.
As the overseer lets out an awful choked gurgle, the first of several
guards kicks Ronin in the side, knocking him away. The guard hops back,
clutching his foot and cursing, as another arrives, then a third: these
striking down at the samurai with rifle butts, almost blocking the view
of the overseer drowning in his own blood as they mete out revenge for
their comrade's death.
Near the front of the file, meanwhile, Stephanie stumbles, and gets a
rifle butt in the back for it: using the impact to roll sideways into
the grass, where she is abruptly gone.
Almost instantly, Ronin is pinned to the ground by a rifle pressed
against his chest, Griffyn likewise held at gunpoint.
"Find her! Find her and kill her!" the leader snaps at two of the
soldiers who aren't busy with captives, and they move off into the
grass, following the trail Stephanie left in the stiff stems.
Griffyn chuckles wickedly under his breath. "You don't want to do
_that_..." he says softly. Ronin groans, his bruised ribs obviously
paining him greatly, as the overseer finally finishes the task of dying.
The two soldiers, rifles held at port arms, almost disappear into the
grass, only head and shoulders visible. They follow the trail,
carefully, picking their path: fifty or sixty yards from the track,
though, one of them suddenly vanishes with a scream. There is a deep
whuffing growl, and the sound of a body being dragged, and more screams,
as the second soldier looses off a full magazine at something nobody
else - maybe not even him - can see.
The first man is screaming for help, as the guard commander shouts a
demand to know what's going on: a rushing crackle of something huge
rushing through the grass and the man still standing is bowled over by
an unseen impact, his shriek ending in a gurgle: the other guard manages
a few more screams, then half of a plea for mercy, before his voice is
abruptly chopped off.
There is a long pause.
"Manuel? Anton?" The commander shouts. "Report!"
Stephanie's voice echoes back. "Now I have a machine gun! Ho! Ho! Ho!"
"Luis! Tomas! Carina! After her!" the commander orders. The three guards
shift their feet.
One plucks up courage to speak, "It's suicide, sir. Leave her for the
_diables_. They'll find her tonight and make a meal of _her_." This, the
man who kicked Ronin, is still not letting that foot take any weight:
the samurai's titanium-laced bones can't have been a pleasant surprise.
"The Master wants these people as sacrifices!"
"Then he can command his _diables_ to bring her to him alive." the guard
says with a hint of defiance. "She has weapons now, and the terrain
favours her. You want to send her more ammunition?"
The leader snarls. "Very well. But you, Tomas, you were charged to guard
her. Luis! Take his weapon!" Tomas begins to shake with fear, not
resisting as the Kalashnikov is snatched from his grasp. "Tomas, since
you allowed her to escape, you will replace her. The Master will not be
denied. Any others who allow their prisoners to escape will share the
fate meant for them! Now, move!"
+++++end video]<<<<<
-- Stephanie <10:39:35/10-31-59>
