Story : Giant Kang

The man tousled his long, blond mane trying to shake off the early afternoon drowsiness. The caravan had just started its slow moving again after a quick repast and gotten under way for yet another day. P'ter was impatient, he felt like he had been traveling for years. He betrayed his employers in thought many times but a man lived and died by his word, especially someone that hired out like him. Rumors, like in any other society and any other time, traveled very fast, "Faster than this dam caravan, that's fer sure", the humanoid mumbled.

The warm wind on his face and his full gut reminded him just how he had gotten himself into this mess. P'ter wanted to get to the Lantic coast; he had heard that a man with his skills could do very well in that part of Meriga. He had just finished a small fetch in a 'droid infested forest and he longed for a change. The closest path to Lanta was across the deadlands and then through the grassy plains. He had been warned that it was a dangerous journey by an old trapper he met at an inn. For one, the deadlands offered no food or water. Everything in there was 'tainted' or 'cursed' and there was supposed to be some sort of 'living metal' worshipping cult to watch out for. He needed food both for himself and his mount so latching on to a caravan seemed the next best option. He remembered the old man again, "Then after the deadlands, come the plains. Them plains is fine, good game to be had and water too but problems is the Giant Kang Raiders." Pt'er smiled, "The what raiders?" 

The old man seemed annoyed, "Don't yee laugh at me boy. Ain't you ever seen a Giant Kang? No, I guess yee ain't? Well, let me tell yee. They is big, big enough to be riden. I'd say about as tall as a brutorz but meaner! Them kangs have fangs and claws and..." P'ter interrupted him, "OK, I got it, They are big and mean but so is everything else out there in the wilds. So what else is new? Tell me 'bout them raiders." It was the old man's turn to smile now, "I see I got yer attention. Good. It just may keep yee alive. Yee just do what I tell yee. You see there is no way to get away from them raiders. They even got some ancient weapons and artifacts and they be a bloody bunch. They is smart though and are in it for the money it seems. I heard that they won't bother a lone rider unless he looks really rich." The man looked P'ter over and snickered, "You be fine out there, boy." The trapper's belly trembled with laughter and tears trickled down his weathered face. The humanoid didn't seem to mind and let him have his fun, "So what is yer recommendation then?"

"Oh, yeah that. Well, yee get yourself hired as an outrider. I take it that green bitch out there is yer podog right? Well, after yee crosses the deadlands then yee breaks the contract and continues on by yerself towards Lanta, got it? I'd go with yee but they won't hire me." It was P'ter's turn to snicker, "I wonder why old man? I wonder why?"

A soft growl from Britny brought P'ter out of his daydreaming. He extended his hand to pet the podog reassuring her. "It's all right girl. You are young and it'll be your first litter but you'll be fine, I promise." The mutant had taken advantage that his mount had entered in heat and the availability of both a male and female podog with the other outriders. His bitch had started driving the male podog crazy and P'ter was persuaded to let Britny have her first pups. They should be reaching Lanta in a few days and a litter of podogs always brought good money. He should know, he paid dearly for his mount. She was not them telephatic dogs and that suited P'ter just fine. He didn't want his dog in his brain and Britny had proved her worth many times already. Her excellent smell and hearing were also something that the hunter learned to trust from the onset. 

The other two podogs started a soft growling that suddenly turned to a high pitched howl. The last and fourth outrider's mount, a large brutorz, stomped his front hooves nervously and shook his mane. Shila calmed him down and stood up on the stirrups scanning the horizon for any trouble. It took P'ter some time to become comfortable with a woman in charge. But Shila made sure that everyone knew who was in command and P'ter found it hard to say no to a 6' tall amazon. Shila was dressed in a kevlar vest, her tanned arms writhed with muscles and her long legs were taut but not overly so. Her brutorz was outfitted with hardened leather barding with metal strips on the front and Shila made it clear that she could throw her heavy spear as well as swing her battle axe either mounted or on the ground. Although outfitted for war, P'ter found himself attracted to her right after he got past her strong front. Her voice was strong and oozed command, "All right. I can't see nor hear anything yet but my bet is that's it's not friendly. We're in Kang Rider country so let's prepare for the worst."

Slowly but surely everyone felt rather than heard the rhythmic thumping that signaled death. Shila yelled while patting her mount, "Get missile weapons, bows, spears whatever you have and be prepared to fight." She turned to address those riding inside the wagon, "Last time I checked, it was all able-bodied men in there so you six better help us out if need be." She dug her heels into hermount's rump and sprinted ahead, "Outriders, let's flank the wagon and take some distance; I want them to have some time should the raiders get past us. The kangs are coming from yonder, I can hear them now." P'ter took the right flank next to the woman while the other two men made their final adjustments to their slug-throwers. P'ter didn't trust them things, he had seen them jam and became useless countless of times so he trusted his own musket. He took pride in his weapon and made damn sure that it was always clean. His 'power' bag hung around his neck and his bag with ammunition weighed down on his side. "Yes it was old and yes it slow loading it up but no, it never jammed!"

Shila just took her heavy spear and cocked it back. P'ter knew her style from fighting off them critters back in the deadlands. She would throw her spear, and then get close with her large mount to swing down with her heavy axe. P'ter checked his own spear and patted his long knife. He would try to stay on Britny but he had a trick or two literally up his sleeve should things go otherwise. Unfortunately, the tall grass covered everything not on the road; somehow no grass ever grew on that hard surface the ancients built their roads with. There was no more time to speculate as the kangs bounded clear from the grass and showed their ugly faces.

Four riders bounded in unison as the giant kangs' muscular hind legs sped them on. The kangs broke formation and turned to a series of short leaps and bounds that made them very hard targets indeed. Nevertheless, shots were fired. P'ter's own shot buried itself in one of the kangs but the beast never slowed down even though the hunter could see blood seeping from the wound. One of the smaller slug-throwers from the outriders hit with even less of an effect than P'ter's and a scream of rage and disgust was heard from the other outrider as he threw away his jammed rifle. The raiders fired their own volley of missiles and P'ter was mesmerized for a second just thinking how they could hit anything with the untimely gait of their mounts. They had slug-throwers and theirs didn't jam at all. One of the outriders was hit as he struggled with his jammed rifle.. P'ter moved Britny away from the line of fire hoping to draw one of raiders for him. That he did, unfortunately a precise shot from the man's rifle yanked a yelp out his bitch. 

Shila yelled at the top of her lungs, pulled her arm back and let her spear fly at close range. Her throw was true and the raider was thrown of his kang from the force backing the metal shaft. He writhed in the ground with 4' of steel protruding from his gut. The kang continued on its path and closed in with Shila and her mount. The beast lashed out with its front claws that had been fitted with metal blades for added slashing power. Her brutorz was well protected and kicked out with its powerful hooves. Crunching noises culminated the colt's kicks and Shila added her own by swinging down with her large battle-axe. Her horse snickered as the kang slashed out with its muzzle and ripped part of the brutorz's muscular neck. The stretch of the kang's head to bite at her mount brought it within close range. That was all Shila needed to split the beast's head with a mighty two-handed swing. Her mount kicked the animal one last time to help dislodge it of its rider's axe and then the brutorz continued on towards the other kangs. Shila reached down and felt the horse's neck for any significant wounds; she breathed easier as she felt that no major arteries were ripped apart by the kang's fangs.

The kang that had been wounded was in a nervous wreck and it was all its rider could do from keeping the beast from bolting. The outrider that still had his slug-thrower kept shooting with mixed success. It was hard to hit as the beast jumped erratically about and when he did hit, it wasn't always the rider. Still, slowly but surely, its rider was brought down and the maddened kang run away into the brush. The outrider whose rifle had jammed had to deal with his own nightmare. And it had fangs, sharp claws and shot lead slugs at him. His podog had gone down from a couple of shots from the kang's rider and now the man stood his ground. His kevlar vest protected him from the shots while he kept low to present the smallest target. Now that the kang was close, he stood up and thrust its spear at it. The kang swapped the point aside with one hand while the other slashed at the man's body. The man was as if frozen from the proximity of the large beast and could only stare at his own blood seeping out. Thankfully, he was put out of his misery soon when two sharp fangs bit through half his face. The kang pulled back its bloodied muzzle with a piece of the man's mouth hanging from one of its fangs. Its rider laughed and turned the beast to face another enemy.

Another shot from the kang rider and this time Brinty buckled. The podog yelped in agony and her front dipped; she could no longer stand on her left leg. P'ter jumped off and cursed his luck; he wanted to heal his mount but there was no time. He threw his spear in a vain attempt to even the odds as the rider approached. The shaft flew wide of its mark just as P'ter prepared to sell his life dearly. His bloodshot eyes filled with tears as the hunter looked upon his prize mount. Britny yelped in unison with the other podogs and snarled at the coming enemies.

Two arrows hummed near P'ter's head coming from the wagon behind him. The first shaft bit deep into the kang's side while the other one buried itself in the side of its neck. Blood tainted the brown-striped yellow fur and the kang started to bolt. It seemed the rider could handle the beast's rage but then the kang leaped and jumped throwing his rider off. The man landed deftly on his feet and looked for another mount. He brought three fingers to his mouth and issued a long, ululating whistle. P'ter could not believe his eyes and he felt his heart skip a beat, there were more riders within view, about eight more coming down the road towards them.

The raider wasted no time, whipped out his stun-stick and rushed the humanoid. P'ter saw the gloved hands handling the meter-long numb-stick with great ease. He had felt the sting of them before; the mere touch of the stick would give you a jolt up your spine that threatened to stop your heart cold. He had heard of that happening but the most common effect was the numbness and lack of control of whatever limb the stick touched. It also left a good-sized burn mark wherever the wielder 'kissed' you. One outrider was down; Shila and her mount were battling the last raider mounted among them while the other raider had retreated back to the wagon. Britny growled defiantly as a loose kang closed in on her after it had made short work of one of the podogs. The raxoken bellowed in pain as the slow-moving wagon started to pull away from fray. P'ter shrugged his shoulder and yelled at the top of his lungs.

The man strode confidently up to him, the stun-stick never stopping in one place and his hands danced in front of him. The afternoon sun glinted of P'ter's long blade and the mutant pulled out another item from up his sleeve; it was round, about 10 cm long and fit snugly in the palm of his hand. The stun-stick's throbbing was heard as the two men got closer and P'ter's blade came to life. A thin, vibrant red light shimmered and beat much like a heart; the light formed a thin stiletto. The raider closed in swinging his energy stick in a two-handed overhead chop as if he possessed a battle-axe. P'ter raised his metal blade and stepped aside trying to disembowel the man with his energy stiletto. Sparks flew from the contact between the stick and the metal long knife and the numb-stick continued down P'ter's naked arm. The humanoid yelled and dropped his metal blade; his arm hung limply by his side. P'ter's vibro dagger cut the man's armor as a hot knife sliced butter but it barely touched his flesh.

The raider looked about and smiled as the rest of the kang raiders closed in on the scene. He spat a curse towards the humanoid and charged again wary of the energized weapon. P'ter waited for him and plunged his pulsating stiletto deep into the man's midsection. The raider deftly stepped aside and lightly touched P'ter with his stun-stick. The hunter's hand unconsciously opened letting go of the man's last chance for survival. The raider grinned showing a gaping hole where his front teeth should have been and closed in for the kill just as P'ter tried backpedaling out of the way. The hunter had a sudden vision of Shila galloping towards him ahead of four kang raiders but she was much too far away to affect the certain outcome of the battle.

On hindsight, P'ter would have never call it bravery since there really wasn't much more for him to do. He taunted the raider with curses inviting him on for the kill. Unfortunately, the man kept his cool amidst and slowly closed in. P'ter welcomed him and rushed forward to hug him with his good arm. The mutant bit hard while willing forth his strongest power. Electricity coursed deep from within his body and shook both men for a couple of seconds. The mutant almost passed out from the strain; he had a sudden vision of the grass coming up to meet him.

The mutant must have been out for only a couple of seconds; he woke up just in time to see his podog bitch go under the onslaught of two giant kangs. He grabbed the stun-stick but dropped as soon another discharge jolted his hand. At least six more kangs with riders were heading his way and towards the wagon but Shila kept ahead of them. The huge brutorz was actually widening the gap. The amazon woman raised her weapon and yelled for P'ter. The horse's white pelt soiled red-brown with the amazon woman brandishing a bloody, two-handed axe galloping at full speed towards him looked like a scene from hell. Shila slowed down just enough to help P'ter up. A muscular arm lifted him from the floor while the mutant screamed and complained about his weapons, his dog and his promise to protect these people. It was useless, Shila picked him and the two thundered away towards Lanta leaving the carnage behind. The mutant left many things he treasured back in the battlefield; some he would replace or forget with time except a promise he would take to his grave. He mumbled through smashed and bloody lips, "They is gonna pay, gonna pay for Britny and her pups, my weapons and these here people. They is gonna pay for all of this...in blood."

March 2000.
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