Tarnished Chapter 55 (Patreon)

Sorry about the lack of chapter Friday, I didn't have time to write anything Wed, Thur, or Friday last week, so it was a bit of a scramble this weekend to get some words written. I'll try to do an extra chapter of Tarnished this week but no guarantees. I'll also be taking next week off.

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John ducked another slash from the crazed Harc’otti. While the battle was a fight for his life, he couldn’t help but smile. He hadn’t felt this alive in years. The battle against the ship and walkers was perilous, but it wasn’t the same as facing off against people in close-quarters combat.

Another warrior screamed and raced at him with a spear. John twisted aside and the blade sliced along his armored vest. He locked the weapon with his arm, stuck his pistol in the man’s face, and fired.

As the warrior released the spearshaft, John spun it around and rammed it into the chest of the first man who had taken a swipe at him.

With some clear space, John hopped back and reloaded his revolver with the last of his ammo. He had stemmed the tide for a few minutes, but it wouldn’t hold. He emptied the weapon just as quickly, taking out six more warriors as they made it across the bridge and ran toward him. The other side of the bridge was packed with warriors so out of their minds that they didn’t even realize that if they got out of each other's way, they could cross the bridge faster. Whatever drug they were on seemed to have removed their higher reasoning skills.

With the last of his revolver ammo spent, John holstered it and pulled out the pneuma pistol. The weapons may not be as powerful, but at this range, that hardly mattered.

When that weapon was out, he put it away and drew his rifle. He kept backing up as he fired, each shot taking down one of the warriors.

“Dammit, hurry up, Blackwood,” he muttered as he fired off the last shot and tried to reload.

The break in shooting allowed more warriors to cross the bridge and they screamed as they sprited at him, weapons raised. He knocked aside the first hatched and spear with his rifle but grunted as a second spear rammed into his chest.

The weapon was yanked back before John could reach down and grab it. Not that he could as he blocked another spear. He tried to twist out of the way of a horizontal swipe of a hatchet, by the blade thunked into his side. His armored vest saved him from both attacks, but he definitely felt something break from that last blow.

John locked the arm of the hatchet man against his side and twisted into the air, kicking one of the other attackers in the head as he heard a snapping sound come from the arm of the hatchet wielder. When he landed back on his feet, he swung the rifle, cracking yet another attacker across the face. The stock shattered, but the man went down.

More and more attacks landed on his body, and some began to even draw blood as John screamed and fought desperately to survive.

The fighting was so loud that he didn’t hear the first cannon go off. He could only tell something had changed as the pressure on him let up slightly. He heard the second shot though.

Two metal figures raced past him, trampling the warriors in their path. He didn’t know why Seline had joined Blackwood, but he wouldn’t complain. With the number of warriors cut down to a few dozen by those two attacks, John was finally able to go on the offensive again. He threw down the broken rifle and snatched the next few weapons that came for him.

The hatchet wielder had to be persuaded to release his grip, but a quick twist snapped the arm, leaving the weapon up for grabs. John turned that and the spear he had yanked out of another man’s hand and turned it against the remaining Harc’otti like he was a demon from the underworld.

By the time he finished off the remaining warriors attacking him, Seline and Blackwood had killed off the last of the ones still trying to cross the bridge. Not a single Harc’otti warrior had tried to run. He could hear what sounded like rain, but he quickly realized it was all the blood dripping from the bridge and into the waters below.

John tried to rub the blood off his face, but all he ended up doing was smearing it around. His entire upper body was coated in blood, and not all of it was the Harc’otti’s. He could feel flashes of fiery pain from his numerous wounds and every breath brought a stabbing sensation from the broken rib on his side.

Through blood-streaked vision, he watched Seline come riding toward him while Blackwood rode across the bridge, likely going to check if there were any more Harc’otti in hiding.

The young woman said something to him as she rode up, but John could only shake his head. His ears were still ringing from the constant screaming of so many people. He was about to tell her he couldn’t hear her when he saw a flash of metal across the bridge. When he looked up, his eyes went wide.

A suit of steam armor appeared from behind the building nearest the bridge, surprising Blackwood. And it wasn’t the same type of armor that all the others wore, this was different.

Seline must have seen his surprise and she turned as well. Horror was etched on her face when they fell on the suited figure. This armor was close to ten feet tall and sported a much larger cannon arm than any other ones John had seen.

Whyatt must have heard or spotted the automaton because he turned and immediately raced back across the bridge, but it was too late. The suited figure fired its cannon. John heard the Sheriff’s aborted scream over the tearing metal and splintering wood as the solid ball passed right through the old warhorse.

Seline screamed in denial at the man’s death and was about to race across the bridge to try and save him before John grabbed her.

He thought she was going to whirl on him and demand to be released but instead, she fell to her knees and started to sob. The bridge groaned before a loud crack echoed out and it collapsed into the water below.

The massive armored form walked up to the edge and an amplified voice chuckled.

“I guess that one’s on me,” the familiar voice said in amusement. “I should have just waited until he crossed over before killing the old goat. Did you like the little gifts I left for you, John?”

Before he responded to Jacob, he turned to Seline and spoke softly. “Go, I got this. I’ll avenge Blackwood.”

Her tears had been replaced by rage, but the woman nodded and got back on her ostrich. Without a word, she hurried off.

“It wouldn’t have mattered if she stayed anyway, John,” Jacob said with absolute certainty from inside his towering metal suit. “Everyone in this town will die today. Including you.”

John walked over to his broken rifle and picked it up, reloading it as he approached this side of the broken bridge. “You seem awfully sure of that,” he stated. “but you’ve lost at every turn.”

The man laughed again, his voice sounding strange and metallic as he replied. “You only think that because you don’t even know what my goal is. Face it, John, I’ve led you by the nose since the moment I spotted out on that train. A few of my plans had to change because you were involved, but everything is going according to plan.”

“So your plan is to throw all your people away in mindless violence?” John asked as he finished loading the last bullet.

He gestured around to all the corpses littering the area. “These are not my peop-,” John took his shot, aiming for the visor on the large automaton.

The bullet cracked into the opening, but there was a sound like breaking glass, and a sigh escaped Jacob.

“Did you really think I would leave such a glaring weakness of my masterpiece? As I was saying before you so rudely interrupted me. These are not my people. The Harc’otti can barely even be considered human. Their ways are crude and barbaric. It does make them easy to manipulate though. I wish I could take credit for that idea, but alas I can’t.”

“So it was Vernon Hensley’s idea?” If the man was going to talk, John would wring as much information out of him as possible.

Jacob scoffed. “Hensley was a means to an end. The man isn’t competent enough to come up with a plan like this. Do you know what his goal was, John?”

“To build an army.”

The large metal form clapped, the sound making John wince. “Very good, John. I would have been very disappointed if you hadn’t figured at least that much out. He wanted to build an army to oust his family and become ruler over his old country. The man is such a boor. He can’t even see that this land has far more to offer than the old world.”

“And what’s your goal?” John asked while he thought of a way to deal with this armor. It didn’t seem to have the same vulnerabilities that the original armors did.

“At first, I shared the man’s goal. He would get his country, and I would get Fareen. At least that was the deal. I think we both knew that would never happen and one of us would end up dead after we succeeded out here. But like I said, things changed when I saw you.”

“Oh? And why is that?” John asked, still trying to find something to take advantage of.

“Now I am disappointed,” the man’s voice turned dark. I would have thought this part obvious, but then again, maybe not. I did take more after Mother than I did you, after all.”

John froze at the statement.

He was about to ask who this man’s mother was, but the man continued. “Mother, or Jennavieve, as you likely knew her by, was rather cross when you abandoned her during the Irtishian war. Being raised by her was certainly an experience,” he chuckled. There was no humor in this action, it sent prickles down John’s back. “But you know all about her darker side, don’t you, Father?”

“…How?” he asked while glancing around to see if his ex-wife and fellow serum-dosed super-soldier were there as well. She was the only person that had given John pause. And the one to ultimately get him to see the truth of the Irtishiam Empire and switch sides. Her lust for wonton violence and depravity seemed endless. He still had nightmares of what she did to people with her knives.

Another dark chuckle escaped from the automaton. “Oh, don’t worry, Father. I killed that psychopath a long time ago. While I may not have gotten her enhanced strength when I was born, I did enjoy the longevity afforded by the serum she continued to ingest throughout her pregnancy. And I got something even better, intelligence. You asked what my goal is, Father. It’s simply to destroy everything you hold dear. Make sure you do your best to stop me. I want you to know that no matter how hard you fight, it’ll all be pointless in the end.” With that, the form turned away and disappeared between the houses on the opposite side of the river.

John took a few more shots at the back of the armor, but they bounced off without leaving a dent in the thick metal.