A Creature of War, Book 3, CH11 (Patreon)

He walked around the room, talking with the soldiers who needed it. There were barely enough of them to cover all the openings, but it was important that no matter where the enemy came from, there be a welcome comity for them.

He did three slow circuits before Stevenson called him, and by now the gunfire sounded like they were right outside the building.

The machine the two Crazies had built looked like a giant funnel, with controls on each side. The large side was pointing away from the generator, with the narrow one pointing at it.

“You stand here,” Milton indicated. “You’re going to push as much air as you can in there.” He indicated the large opening.

“Once you start, don’t stop,” Stevenson added. “Any drop in pressure could throw this off.”

El nodded. “Just tell me when to start.”

“Now.”

El pushed all the air in, creating a whirlwind in the room, the corridors and throughout the floor as he drew more and more air in.

“Ten percent,” Milton said.

In the distance windows broke, moments later his back was pelted with shards. He didn’t feel any pain so his armor took it.

“Twenty.”

The gunfire was much closer now. Just outside the building. He could sense them now, even if his attention was on moving all this air.

“Fifty!” Milton had to scream over the wind. “Sixty! Seventy-five!

El was panting. He could feel his soldiers retreating closer to them, enemies pursuing them. None of the scientist at the Freak Lab had ever pushed him this hard.

“Ninety!”

The gunfire erupted at eh edge of the room, barely audible over the torrent of wind.

“One hundred percent! Go!”

El caught movement at the edge of his vision. Stevenson turning to look at him. El turned his head to look back.

“What are your orders, Sir!”

“Destroy it!”

“No!” Milton was running toward him, but stumbled and fell before he got close.

“Keep the air flowing. This is going to take a while!”

El closed his eyes and pushed. He pushed with all his might. He had no idea how long he could do this. None of the tests the scientist had done on him had ever pushed him close to his limits, but he was afraid this might. If he faltered here what would happen?

He ached everywhere. The wind pummeled him, trying to force him into the funnel with it. Flying debris hit him. His armor couldn’t absorb all of it. He felt like he might fall to his knees at any moment, but he forced himself to keep standing. To push, he had to scream to keep himself going.

Then there was a moment of silence as the pressure equalized. Before he understood what had happened, the blowback hit him and he flew across the room.

He landed at Vee’s feet. The bull looked down at him, then went back to firing. El’s concentration had shattered, so the wind was gone. The only sounds were bullets and screams. He didn’t know what had happened, and couldn’t get enough focus to bring the wind back.

Someone grabbed his leg and pulled him away from the firefight. It was Stevenson. He sat next to him and began building something.

El managed to force his elbows under him so he could look around. The generator wasn’t there anymore, neither was the machine Stevenson and Milton had built. Nor was the floor in that part of the room.

“Turns out the forcefield was the only thing holding the floor in place. When it went, everything went crashing down. You got blown back far enough. You were safe, but I had to run like a maniac.”

“Milton?”

“He got lucky. The blast also caught him and rolled him far enough he didn’t fall.”

El saw him, at the edge of the broken floor. He looked to have an arm dangling over the edge.”

“Get him away from the edge.”

Stevenson looked at him in disbelief, then indicated what he was working on.

“That’s an order.”

With an exasperated sigh, the man stood, grabbed Milton by the collar and pulled him halfway to where El was lying. He let himself drop back down.

“Happy?” Stevenson asked as he got back to his work.

El wasn’t able to answer. The darkness claimed him.

* * * * *

When he woke up he was pressed against someone. Someone taller than he was, with an arm Wrapped around him.

“Welcome back,” Vee said.

El snuggled against the bull. “What did I miss?”

“A good deal. Stevenson cut a lot of the enemy soldiers down with the laser glove he has. We were able to catch the soldiers inside the building in a pincer when our people stormed their rear. Now the fight’s outside. Leech and me have been switching between staying with you and giving orders.”

“The forcefields down.” El yawned. “Reinforcements will be coming.”

“They’re on their way. The radio’s working again. The Corporal is on his way. We’ll hold here until he gets here. We’ve been able to resupply our ammo from what the dead had. You’ve got to love standards.”

El made a noise that could mean anything, pressed himself against his lover and fell asleep again.

* * * * *

When El woke up again, it was because someone was shaking him. He let out a jaw-cracking yawn and sat up.

“The day’s savior finally wakes up.”

The lynx fixed his eyes on the lion, opened his mouth, but a yawn happened, instead of words.

Leech laughed.

“Where’s Vee?”

“Seeing to the troupes. It’s my turn to keep you company. He just called to say the corporal’s here.”

El got to his feet. “Time to go then.” He stretched. “What?”

The lion grinned. “Nothing. I’m just wondering if you realize how much you’ve disrupted things.”

“What do you mean?”

“Can’t you feel it?”

“Well, it’s raining.

Leech laughed. “Rain might be understating it a bit. It began not long after you started pulling all that wind in the contraption the Crazies built, and it only got worse the longer you did it.”

They made their way to the building’s lobby, which was full of drenched people. Outside, El couldn’t see more than a meter because of how much rain was falling.

“Any chance you can stop it?” Corporal Battleford joined him at the wall.

“If I knew how I did it, maybe.”

“Low-Pressure system. According to what I’ve been told, you used a lot of air to destroy the forcefield generator. It’s what caused the storm.

El felt in the distance and was able to sense the difference in air pressure. He pushed on it and it moved. He hadn’t even known his control was that fine. He let it go.

“The storm should end soon. The air is rebalancing.” He felt the speed at which it was happening and looked at the time. “I think I was keeping the pressure low while I was unconscious.”

“Why?”

El shrugged. “No idea, but it’s been hours since I stopped pulling at the air. This should have ended a lot sooner.”

“Then, as soon as the weather’s better, you’re heading back. You guys have done enough. We’ll finish it up. It’s too bad you couldn’t let Milton take a look at the generator before destroying it. We could have used that technology.”

El frowned. “Sir, the orders you gave us was to destroy it. If you wanted it studied, you should have said so. I would have tried to make it happen.” He was happy those hadn’t been his orders. He didn’t think anyone should have something like that.

Arnold watched for a moment, then nodded. “True. You executed your orders admirably. I wish I could promote you over this, El. You deserve it.”

The lynx shook his head. “I’m not a leader. If you don’t mind, Sir. I want to go check on what’s left of my people.”

El did the rounds, giving them the news they were heading back to camp.

He found the human on his own seated against a wall.

When he saw him, his face hardened. “Fuck off.”

“Eric,” El said, picking up on who was sitting there by the heat in his anger

“Don’t fucking ‘Eric’ me. You had no right to do that to me.”

“We were in the middle of a fight. You weren’t helping. I needed Stevenson.”

Eric snorted. “That’s me, useless.”

El Sat next to him. “I doubt that.”

Eric glared at him. “Did you know that I almost managed not to get drafted? I can’t do what that other…what Stevenson does. I’m good at research and fixing up stuff. I can even make things, but nothing that breaks the laws of physics like his stuff does. I’d gone through almost all their tests while keeping him under control, ignoring his demand to be allowed to make stuff.”

Eric closed his eyes and leaned his head back. “Fuck, what got him loose wasn’t even one of the tests. It was just this thing someone had found, some broken thing in an old tomb, maybe. Hell, I don’t even know what it was doing there, but I just glanced at it and the design just….” 

He fell silent. “I didn’t even feel the transition. Stevenson was in control. He loved that thing. He screamed and howled when they took it from him. He was making something that would blow them all away. He was going to get it back no matter who died in the process.”

He sighed. “They subdued him before he was done and I was drafted.”

“So there’s two of you?”

Eric shook his head. “No, it’s always me. I just don’t like who I become when I go Crazy. I’m arrogant, insufferable. The only thing I care about is the things I can create.”

“That isn’t true.”

Eric snorted. “You aren’t in my head. Don’t think you can tell me how I am.”

“That’s true, but I've seen you under duress. You’re arrogant, I’ll give you that. I’m certain you don’t even think about the consequences your creations can have, but you saved a lot of lives.”

“They were just an aftereffect of saving my own ass.”

“Then who was it that asked for my order, Eric?”

Eric looked at the floor.

“You didn’t have to ask me. You could just have destroyed the thing. You had the controls. Or you could have done what Milton wanted, cut the power, let Milton study it.”

“It would have fallen through the floor the moment it shut down.”

“You didn’t know that. So why Eric? Why wait for my order? I know it isn’t because you respect me.”

“Damn it! I do respect you. How many people have you seen take the time to talk to me? Not him, me. Most people can’t see the difference, and those who do? They don’t want me, they want him. That’s why I’m angry. I thought you were different, but you’re just like them. You couldn’t let me be. You had to bring him back.”

“You would have died.”

When Eric spoke his voice was soft. “Maybe that’s what I wanted.”

El hesitated, then squeezed the man’s shoulder. “I’m sorry I did that. But I’m here now, talking with you.”

“I know.” He closed his eyes and sighed. “Fuck. Do you have any idea how many ways I can destroy the world? I have designs in my head that no one should ever see. I would have destroyed the generator no matter what order you gave. I couldn’t bear the idea that someone like Milton might study it.”

“You haven’t told the Corporal you can rebuild it, have you?”

Eric shook his head. “Do you have any idea the kind of weapons he—I can turn that into? Without even trying, I can see three ways I could modify it, and literally shatter the world to pieces.”

“So you were back to yourself when the Corporal arrived?”

“No, I was still Crazy. It’s once things quieted down that he went away.”

“Then explain to me why Stevenson didn’t tell the Corporal. I can understand why he didn’t want Milton to have it. The two of you can’t stand each other. I think Stevenson would destroy a pencil if he thought Milton wanted it.”

Eric smiled.

“Stevenson shouldn’t care about the consequences of what he builds. So why didn’t he tell the Corporal about it, or any of the other things you say are in your head?”

Eric didn’t say anything.

“You said it yourself Eric, there isn’t two people, just you.”

“You’re giving me more credit than I’m due. I’m selfish. If I show it to them, it isn’t going to be mine anymore.”

“Then why do you make anything for them? I think that you decided only a monster could do the things war forces us to do. You don’t want to admit you’re a decent person, because then you have to admit that there are things you don’t have a choice in doing.”

“Is that how you cope?”

El shook his head. “This is what I was made for. The only things I was taught before I woke up were battle related. Everything else I learned on my own, and with my friends’ help. Do I like fighting like we had to? I do. Will I want to do something else one day? I don’t think about that. The odds are I’m going to be dead in a few years, and that will take care of the future for me.”

“How can you be okay with that? Don’t you want to live to a ripe old age? Have kids? Live?”

El shrugged and stood. “I’m a soldier, Eric. It isn’t all I am anymore, but it’s at the core of who I am. I’m not sure there’d be anything left if that was removed. There’s more to you, but being Crazy is part of it. I think you should try to find a balance between the two. I don’t believe you have to live at the extremes.”

He offered him a hand. “Come on, the rain’s about to end. We’re heading back to base, and then probably away from this place for good.”