She stood, staring at the dirt-crusted metallic doors in front of her.\u00a0 Her breathing slowed as she focused her thoughts and calmed her racing heart.\u00a0 Every time.\u00a0 It’s the same fear every time.<\/i><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Her sharp eyes caught the doors vibrating against the low thrum of noise and violence barely contained beyond them.\u00a0 Her right ear twitched with each muffled boom.\u00a0 Low hanging lights flickered erratically.\u00a0 She shifted her feet slightly – left side of her body leading slightly and now her right.\u00a0 She flexed her hands as she brought her left foot forward of her right.\u00a0 The chain connecting both ankles clinked quietly in the dark hallway.\u00a0 Slow beads of sweat trailed down her back.\u00a0 Her thick black robe trapped the suffocating heat close to her body.\u00a0 She could hear the volume of the crowd rise and fall.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A dim green light flashed behind her and she stiffened.\u00a0 She felt the hard prod before the man spoke.\u00a0 “It’s time.”\u00a0 He said, simply.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The door swung open and she blinked against the harsh light and ferocious noise.\u00a0 Every muscle in her body tensed by reflex and then immediately relaxed.\u00a0 The woman took small steps forward into the light.\u00a0 A loud, highly amplified voice greeted her.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“LAAAAAAAAAADIES AND GENTLEMEN!\u00a0 THE STAR OF OUR SHOW – THE UNSTOPPABLE, THE UNTOUCHABLE, THE LOOOOOVELY<\/i><\/b> IMMACULATE SISTER MARY PAYNE!”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The roar from the crowd was deafening – nearly drowning out the announcer.\u00a0 Some shouted her name, others yelled out sexual acts they would do to her that may or may not be impossible to perform.\u00a0 Mary ignored everything except for the large cage in the middle of the open arena.\u00a0 Faded signs of old corporations lined the walls of the oval building and she wondered whether any of them still existed in some form or another.\u00a0 After another prod from her guard, she began the slow walk to the cage.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
To Mary’s right were the announcer and his entourage – the local Governor and most of his militia.\u00a0 The Governor stood, as always, on the front of a tank liberated the same day his forces captured her.\u00a0 A glitch in the tank’s active defense system showed the mini reactor still online – bits of the sandy yellow tank would periodically blend in with the scenery around it.\u00a0 The Markov 6 Chameleon System would normally render the tank invisible when it was immobile and a queasy blur when in motion but either the system was damaged or the reactor was dying.\u00a0 Mary hoped it was the former rather than the later.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A large brown bear lay on its belly beside the tank.\u00a0 Half of its head gleamed in the unfiltered sunlight – implements to control and enhance linked to a ring on the Governor’s left hand.\u00a0 The thing drooled slightly with unfocused eyes.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Governor himself was dressed in a mockery of a priest’s outfit.\u00a0 A young boy sat near the man’s feet and turned away when Mary glanced at him.\u00a0 She clenched her teeth at the sight.\u00a0 She tried not to think of what horrors the boy was being put through.\u00a0 Not ‘the boy\u2019.<\/i> She reminded herself. Jonathan, taken the same time I was.<\/i>\u00a0 His youthfulness kept him alive where the rest of the captured were killed.\u00a0 His age and his gender.\u00a0 Mary stopped before the single door of the cage to turn and face the Governor.\u00a0 The man touched his small earpiece and his voice echoed loudly over the tank’s speaker system.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“AS YOU ALL KNOW, THE GREAT COUNTRY OF TEXAS FORBIDS ALL RELIGIONS.\u00a0 YOUNG MARY WAS CAPTURED NEARLY A YEAR AGO FROM A LOCAL TERRORIST CELL.\u00a0 WE’VE GIVEN HER EVERY CHANCE TO RENOUNCE HER FAITH AND DIE HONORABLY BY FIRING SQUAD BUT SHE REFUSES!”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The crowd erupted into a chorus of BOOOOOs that Mary ignored.\u00a0 She flexed her shoulder blades, wishing she could bring her manacled hands up to scratch her back.\u00a0 The coarse black cloth and sweat were nearly driving her mad.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“NOW Y’ALL KNOW HOW FAIR WE ARE IN THIS GRAND COUNTRY!\u00a0 IF SHE SURVIVES A YEAR IN THE FIGHTS, SHE GOES FREE.\u00a0 ONE MORE MONTH AND WE’LL CUT HER LOOSE.”\u00a0 The Governor paused to grin.\u00a0 “ALTHOUGH, I HAVE TO TELL Y’ALL THAT THE LADY’S ALREADY LOOSE AFTER ALL THE VISITS I PAID HER!\u00a0 HAW HAW HAAAW!”\u00a0 The Governor’s braying laughter was met with jeers and cheers from the crowd around her.\u00a0 Mary grimaced and felt a loose tooth with her tongue.\u00a0 He’d tried to take her once but she’d laughed at the size of his dick.\u00a0 He’d had her beaten every night instead.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“MARY, MARY, MARY!\u00a0 I’LL ASK YOU THE SAME I ASK YOU EVER TIME – ARE YOU READY TO RENOUNCE YOUR FALSE RELIGION?\u00a0 TO TURN AWAY FROM YOUR FALSE GOD?”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mary looked away from the bear to stare at the man on the tank.\u00a0 She squinted against the sun and glared for a moment before shaking her head slowly.\u00a0 The crowd was even louder with its cheers – they came for the fight.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“SO BE IT!\u00a0 INTO THE CAGE AND FIGHT FOR YOUR FREEDOM!\u00a0 LET PTERO EAT THE REMAINS OF THE LOSER!”\u00a0 The bear let out a yawn at mention of its name.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The cage’s door opened and Mary climbed up the steps to stand on the hard floor.\u00a0 Her opponent this time was a large woman wearing shorts, a simple top and an insane grin.\u00a0 Her head was mostly stubble and scars.\u00a0 Even from the other side of the cage Mary could see the orange tint to the woman’s eyes.\u00a0 Agent Orange.\u00a0 Tonight would be hard.\u00a0 The woman bowed and preformed a slow pirouette while Mary’s guard unlocked her ankle and wrist bracelets.\u00a0 She rubbed her wrists while the guard backed out and locked the door.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“NOW DON’T LET ME STOP Y’ALL – GET TO IT!”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The noise of the crowd cheering faded away as Mary focused on the woman slowly approaching.\u00a0 Agent Orange.<\/i>\u00a0 She thought. \u00a0Deadens the nerves – increased pain tolerance while allowing the user to push their body beyond its own self-imposed limits.\u00a0 Higher speed and strength.\u00a0 Produces a state of euphoria that is increased and extended by its interaction with iron.<\/i>\u00a0 Some users ate bits of metal to push the feeling higher.\u00a0 Most drank blood and turned cannibal.\u00a0 The drug was incredibly addicting.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mary wished she could take off the foolish outfit they’d forced on her – a crude attempt at a nun’s habit.\u00a0 Something not even used when her religion was at the height of its popularity.\u00a0 The thought of showing her naked body to these animals stopped her.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The other woman was in the middle of the cage when Mary took her first step.\u00a0 She shrugged her shoulders and watched the drug addict approach.\u00a0 At ten feet away the woman stopped and crouched, hands wide and to her side.\u00a0 Veins stood out all over the woman’s body as her muscles bunched.\u00a0 Mary stood on the balls of her feet, her stance loose and ready.\u00a0 She took a deep breath of the acrid air.\u00a0 The other woman ran a nearly purple tongue along filed teeth.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Time seemed to stop.\u00a0 The woman’s grin widened sickeningly.\u00a0 Cartilage crunched loudly in the woman’s knees as she rocked back and then launched herself forward at Mary.\u00a0 Her speed was incredible. \u00a0Mary’s reflexes turned her at the last moment and she caught the woman’s out-flung arms, flinging her into the chain walls behind her with a loud crunch.\u00a0 She dropped and rolled as the woman sailed over her head, having pushed off of the wall on impact.\u00a0 Thin red blood smeared the woman’s legs, running freely from several cuts.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mary could feel a cut burning on the top of her head.\u00a0 Apparently she wasn’t fast enough.\u00a0 The training she received from El Coronel kicked in and she gave herself over to it – years of non-stop training in bare handed fighting and weapons.\u00a0 Years for her to come to love the man behind the stern expression.\u00a0 This love is what pushed her on and gave her the will to live.\u00a0 Her love of God and her love for El Coronel.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The addict pulled herself along the ground with hands and feet, cackling like a hyena and spitting blood from a cut in her mouth.\u00a0 Mary snapped out a low kick but the other woman was faster and she felt strong hands grab and pull her in.\u00a0 Suddenly the woman’s hands and teeth were everywhere, scratching and biting and spitting.\u00a0 Mary’s robe tore in several places as the addict’s claws caught on the fabric.\u00a0 They rolled together as she tried to fight the crazed woman off of her.\u00a0 Finally, as she felt sharp teeth bite into her neck; she wrenched one of the woman’s arms and kicked her off with her feet.\u00a0 She could feel her neck burning from the bites.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mary ran, yelling wordlessly.\u00a0 When the other woman landed Mary leaped, the heel of her foot catching the woman just below her ribcage.\u00a0 The woman’s jaw snapped shut, severing the tip from the rest of her tongue.\u00a0 Mary was on her before she could recover.\u00a0 Her robe was hitched up to her waist and she wrapped her legs around the other woman’s chest while gripping the woman’s neck in her arms.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Only then did she notice how quiet the crowd had become.\u00a0 With the woman scrabbling and hissing underneath her, she looked over to the Governor and nearly let go.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Governor stood, shocked, with his hands on his stomach.\u00a0 The little boy, Jonathon was holding something small in his hands.\u00a0 As the Governor pulled his hands away from his stomach, a part of his intestine slipped out of the massive cut in his belly.\u00a0 The Governor screamed in a high pitched voice and reached for the boy.\u00a0 However, Jonathon was already scrabbling up the tank and down the hatch into its belly.\u00a0 The Governor fell, reaching for the opening when the tank’s hatch came crashing down.\u00a0 The scream became wordless as he clutched his left arm to his side, the stump spraying blood everywhere.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Governor rolled off of the tank to fall beside his pet bear.\u00a0 Only now were his guards rushing into action.\u00a0 Rifles were raised and fired at the tank, uselessly.\u00a0 Ptereo stood, shaking himself as if waking from a long sleep.\u00a0 Well fed and eleven feet tall, the bear was a mountain.\u00a0 It took one sniff of the Governor and tore him apart before wading into the panicking soldiers surrounding the tank.\u00a0 Men were tossed and torn as it carved its way to the stands.\u00a0 Spectators trampled each other in their efforts to get away.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mary grinned when she heard a sultry mechanical voice.\u00a0 “…INE.\u00a0 CHAMELEON SYSTEM ONLINE.\u00a0 ARMAMENTS ONLINE.\u00a0 ACTIVE DEFENSE SYSTEM ONLINE.\u00a0 CROWD MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS ONLINE.\u00a0 COMMUNICATIONS ONLINE.\u00a0 TRYING UPLINK.\u00a0 TRYING…”\u00a0\u00a0 A high pitched male voice interrupted the female voice.\u00a0 “STEALTH!\u00a0 GO TO ST…”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The tank vanished.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mary felt a bubble of laughter escape her lips.\u00a0 She whooped with joy as she watched the ground around the invisible tank compress and form the tracks of the tank tread.\u00a0 A few brave soldiers fired at the tank but were dropped when the tank’s crowd management system (Octopus Ink, Version 2) focused on them.\u00a0 Ultrasonic.<\/i> She noted, when blood erupted from their ears.\u00a0 She looked down and shook her head – the addict was dead.\u00a0 She stood and watched the invisible tank make tread marks on its way to the cage.\u00a0 She braced herself when it reached the edge and ran into the structure.\u00a0 Parts of the tank became briefly visible and she ran for it.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“JONATHAN!”\u00a0 She screamed, waving her arms.\u00a0 The robe made running difficult but she was practiced.\u00a0 When the hatch popped on the top of the tank it became completely visible again.\u00a0 She yelled again and leapt on top of it, jumping from piece to piece until she reached the turret.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The little boy peeked over the top carefully.\u00a0 “Psst!\u00a0 Mary, hurry!\u00a0 I don’t know what I’m doing here!”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mary dropped down into the tank, pulling the hatch closed above her.\u00a0 Holographic displays blinked around her.\u00a0 She found the navigation chair and settled in, grinning like a little kid at Christmas.\u00a0 She grabbed the controls and then stopped.\u00a0 Her grin widened.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“Don’t worry, Jonathan.”\u00a0 She ruffled the boy’s hair.\u00a0 “God is with us.\u00a0 Let no man stand before us.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
She stood, staring at the dirt-crusted metallic doors in front of her.\u00a0 Her breathing slowed as she focused her thoughts and calmed her racing heart.\u00a0 Every time.\u00a0 It’s the same fear every time. Her sharp eyes caught the doors Continue reading Nuns, Cages and Tanks<\/span>