The Chronicles of Cow-Dolphin

Cow-Dolphin--IV

IV

            There were barricades set up to stop the gang of angry mutants. No one actually knew whether or not they would be effective. But they stood there regardless. The barricades were made of thousands of bags of sand, stacked on top of each other and spanning as far as they could reach while maintaining height. There were no guarantees that the mutants were heading this way, but they were hoping.

            There were hundreds of men and women, armed and dressed from head to toe in black gear. They stood at the top of the barricade, watching the area patiently. They had set up the barricade in a matter of hours. It had taken a lot of man power, but it had worked. They had managed to get the job done. There were similar posts set up all around the city. The cow-dolphin and moose-sloth gang would not be entering the city any time soon.

            Ms. Cuckler was the executive of the assignment. She was settled in a post inside the city, safe from any attacks. She had objected originally, wanting to be on the front lines of the battle, but soon realized that she would have to be there to lead them in case something went wrong.

            “Status report,” she radioed to station one.

            “No sign of them, ma’am,” they reported back.

            “Station two, status report?”

            “No signs, ma’am.”

            She sighed, rubbing her temples. Being in a small office with people constantly hovering had not helped her headache. “Station three, status.”

            She waited a moment, only to hear nothing back. “Station three?” Again, nothing except static. A few moments passed and just as she was preparing to radio another station to go investigate, a voice came through.

            “Station three reporting! They’ve attacked! Send help immediately. Please hur—” The man was interrupted by the roar of the cow-dolphin. It sent shivers of fear down her spine.

            “All units to Station three,” she said into the walky-talky urgently. “I repeat, all units.”

            “Copy that,” she received back. She opened the laptop sitting on his desk and powered it up. The view of the battle appeared in front of her. It was amazing in the worst kind of way.

            Never had she seen such carnage. There was blood spilled everywhere. She could see the elusive cow-dolphin biting through armor and the bullets being fired at it didn’t seem to affect it at all. Meanwhile, the sloth and moose nearby were fighting a separate battle, but with just as much success.

            The cow-dolphin and moose-sloth gang were winning against hundreds of troops.

            There weren’t many left to fight when Ms. Cuckler finally ordered for the retreat. “Pull back,” she told them. “You can’t win.”

            “But ma’am, we must stay and fight!”

            “There will be no victory! I said pull back! Pull back or face death head on!”

            “I’d rather face death than run like a coward.” The brave, stupid soldier looked directly into the camera lens, giving a defiant nod to his commander and he charged. He let out a battle cry and released a shower of bullets at the cow-dolphin, only to die when one ricocheted off of cow-dolphin’s hide and flew back with enough momentum to blow out his brains.

            Ms. Cuckler winced and shut the laptop. Brave and stupid were not good qualities when fighting an indestructible creature that appeared to be continuously mutating.

            “Cartel, bring up the footage of Station three on the big screen,” she commanded. She spun in her chair to face the screen and she watched. She watched silently as the last soldier was ripped apart and the moose-sloth cut directly though the barrier.

            She watched them enter the city, following them with security cameras all throughout. She watched the killing begin. Only those who had refused to evacuate were left in the city, which had been about seventy percent of the population.

            “Ma’am, we’re evacuating now. Are you coming?”

            “I’ll be right there.” She waved them away. Ms. Cuckler spun back to face her desk and picked up the phone. She dialed the number she had memorized specifically for this assignment, one she hadn’t wanted to dial at all. But she knew it was their only hope.

            “Arm the bomb,” she told them. “It drops in exactly one hour.” Then she hung up.

            “Ms. Cuckler, we’re leaving now. Come on.”

            “I’m sorry, Cartel. I’ll be staying.”