Chapter 11: Barrel Equals Object of Mass Destruction
As the truck rode on, I had time to put two and two together on the situation. Apparently, the people capturing the civilians were members of the Japanese Army. It had stayed organized, even with the disaster, and now were capturing all the transformed citizens of Tokyo. I couldn't really blame them on doing so; the people were rioting. With the army out and about trapping the civilians, it was no wonder that we didn't see any on our way into the city. They obviously were hiding out, so they would not get captured by the army.
I also determined, by eavesdropping from the bottom of the truck, that the citizens caged in the truck bed above were just kids around my age. They didn't sound hostile or mad, thanks to their change. They certainly weren't happy, but they seemed like themselves. I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask them what exactly happened while I was knocked out in the forest. They'd certainly be the best to talk to.
Which raised a new problem. See, we were likely going to an army base. And the kids were likely going into a prison when we got there. What would we do, walk into the prison and tell the guards, "Hi! We're just some creatures you don't know, and we'd like to talk to some of the prisoners."? That would get me and Ro thrown in the jail, too!
I filled in Ro of my assumpions. He pondered it for a moment.
"Well, dat's interesting..." he said.
"Gives you any ideas?" I said.
"Naw, none yet. How're you doin', holding onto the pipes like dat?" he asked, emphisizing my grip on the bottom of the vehicle.
"Now that you mention it, it's killing me." and it was. I could hold on for the remainder of the ride, but it would really, REALLY hurt until then. Ro was quite a weight.
"Well, it not too good for me, either." Ro responded.
"Yeah, why? All you have to do is make sure you don't fall off my stomach."
"Well, de engine noises are really killing my ears." Ro covered his ears with his paws to prove his point.
"Yeah, I guess it is pretty loud." I admitted.
We rode the rest of the trip without any conversation. I tried to think of any more leads, but none came to mind.
Finally, the truck slowed to a stop. I breathed a sigh a relief and carefully dropped to the ground on my back. I knew that if we made any noise, we could get caught. I motioned Ro to get off my stomach, turned over, and watched to see what would happen to the kids from under the truck.
We heard the sound of several soldiers unlatch the cage gate, and tell the kids to get out in a line. Watching the back of the truck from our location, we saw the kids get out. They were escourted by the guards to a deep and noisy pit close by. The hostages were thrown into the pit, then the guards walked off.
"What now, Xaiver?" Ro looked at me with a concerned look.
"Oh, man...Didn't expect this....let's get a closer look at this pit." I said, crawling out as far as I could without being revealed.
What I saw was amazing. The were hundreds of creatures, obviously all civilians, in the pit. The place was kind of makeshift, as far as pits go. It was lined with trucks acting as walls. On top of the trucks were several guards, armed with assault rifles. In the open places that the trucks were not at was quite a bundle of barbed wire, also with guards standing by. I then realized what this place was: a shopping mall. The large area most of the creatures were at was the parking lot. The prisoners were given tags by a flying guard...well, more like forced. All the prisoners were entering the mall now, through what would have been the front doors. The doors were ripped off, however. We could no longer see what was ahead.
"Ha ha ha ha!" Ro laughed.
"Ro! Quiet down! What's up?" I said urgently.
"I was watching da kids! The little ball bounced around and the gerbil thing picked him up in the air and flew around a little bit! Too bad dey in da building now; dey probably are doing more fun stuff inside. You missed it?" he snickered.
"I was examining the topography of the area." I said, irritated.
"What's togophatty?" Ro looked at me, puzzled.
"Topography. It means landscape."
"Sounds stupid." Ro bluntly said.
"Look, do you want me to burn you with my tail? Be quiet." I muttered.
"What we do now?" asked Ro.
"Well, this is all much different than I thought....I have no clue what's going on in that mall."
"We going to find out?"
"Bingo." I said.
"Oh, I get it." Ro started. "We gonna get along da mall and enter through dat vent right there."
I looked where Ro was looking. Sure enough, there was a vent on the corner of the building.
"Great idea, Ro! The ventalation probably goes through a lot of the building. And we won't have to worry about guards if we're careful."
"You didn't know? I mean, yeah! I pretty smart!" Ro said, caught off-guard.
"We better hurry. Let's move." I said.
We were in a dirt parking lot that was about a football yard length away from the mall entrance. I knew we could crawl underneath the trucks used as a wall to get to the mall, but there was a significant gap between the 'wall' trucks and the truck we were at. We could definitely be spotted while moving to the wall trucks by the guards with the rifles. There wasn't much in the area we could be seen at, except for a barrel within arm's reach-if I were human. With my reduced arm length, I couldn't reach the barrel. And Ro certainly could not.
"If we could just push that barrel over, we could roll it down to the pit, and create a distraction long enough to run under the line of trucks. But it's out of reach." I summed up to Ro.
"Humn..." Ro mumbled, and looked up at the bottom of the truck we were under. "Use your tail and burn off dis pipe, den use it to push the barrel over."
"Ro, where would I be without you?" I said while grabbing my tail and putting the flame at the pipe.
"Dead or someting." Ro responded.
"...............Won't burn?" I said, confused. My flame seemed real enough, but it wasn't doing anything to the pipe.
"Maybe you gotta will your tail to burn the pipe." Ro suggested.
"Ah......worth a try." I agreed. "Okay....burnburnburnburnburn burnburn!" It worked! After singeing the pipe in two places, I pulled at it. It gave way quickly.
"Yay!" exclaimed Ro.
I slowly but firmly pushed the barrel to its side. It was very heavy, but I was able to push it over without making much noise. I got out from under the truck just far enough so I could give the barrel a hard push with my foot. It began to roll toward the pit.
"Awight! It worked!" Ro said as I got back under the truck.
"Um....not quite." I pointed to the barrel. Thanks to the angle of the pit, the barrel was now going to the trucks furthest away from us. It looked like we messed up big time, as the truck rolled past the trucks silently. But then....
The barrel somehow bounced backwards VERY high in the air. Several guards noticed it and actually started shooting at it. The made all the prisoners frantic, and alerted all the guards. Several guards said things like, "It's a missile!" and, "We're being attacked!" The big finish was where the barrel landed: right on top of a guard standing on a truck.
"Let's-Ha ha ha!-go, Ro!" I dived out, laughing at the scene, to the first truck in the line as Ro followed close behind. We quickly crawled our way to the vent on the building.
"Dat was silly! How you do it?" Ro asked me as I pulled out the vent cover.
"Just lucky, I guess." I said simply. "Maybe getting turned into a lizard increased my luck!"
I got the cover off as the prisoners and guards started to figure out that it was just a barrel. We crawled in the surprisingly large vent, and crossed our fingers-or claws, actually-that we would continue to have good fortune.
As the truck rode on, I had time to put two and two together on the situation. Apparently, the people capturing the civilians were members of the Japanese Army. It had stayed organized, even with the disaster, and now were capturing all the transformed citizens of Tokyo. I couldn't really blame them on doing so; the people were rioting. With the army out and about trapping the civilians, it was no wonder that we didn't see any on our way into the city. They obviously were hiding out, so they would not get captured by the army.
I also determined, by eavesdropping from the bottom of the truck, that the citizens caged in the truck bed above were just kids around my age. They didn't sound hostile or mad, thanks to their change. They certainly weren't happy, but they seemed like themselves. I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask them what exactly happened while I was knocked out in the forest. They'd certainly be the best to talk to.
Which raised a new problem. See, we were likely going to an army base. And the kids were likely going into a prison when we got there. What would we do, walk into the prison and tell the guards, "Hi! We're just some creatures you don't know, and we'd like to talk to some of the prisoners."? That would get me and Ro thrown in the jail, too!
I filled in Ro of my assumpions. He pondered it for a moment.
"Well, dat's interesting..." he said.
"Gives you any ideas?" I said.
"Naw, none yet. How're you doin', holding onto the pipes like dat?" he asked, emphisizing my grip on the bottom of the vehicle.
"Now that you mention it, it's killing me." and it was. I could hold on for the remainder of the ride, but it would really, REALLY hurt until then. Ro was quite a weight.
"Well, it not too good for me, either." Ro responded.
"Yeah, why? All you have to do is make sure you don't fall off my stomach."
"Well, de engine noises are really killing my ears." Ro covered his ears with his paws to prove his point.
"Yeah, I guess it is pretty loud." I admitted.
We rode the rest of the trip without any conversation. I tried to think of any more leads, but none came to mind.
Finally, the truck slowed to a stop. I breathed a sigh a relief and carefully dropped to the ground on my back. I knew that if we made any noise, we could get caught. I motioned Ro to get off my stomach, turned over, and watched to see what would happen to the kids from under the truck.
We heard the sound of several soldiers unlatch the cage gate, and tell the kids to get out in a line. Watching the back of the truck from our location, we saw the kids get out. They were escourted by the guards to a deep and noisy pit close by. The hostages were thrown into the pit, then the guards walked off.
"What now, Xaiver?" Ro looked at me with a concerned look.
"Oh, man...Didn't expect this....let's get a closer look at this pit." I said, crawling out as far as I could without being revealed.
What I saw was amazing. The were hundreds of creatures, obviously all civilians, in the pit. The place was kind of makeshift, as far as pits go. It was lined with trucks acting as walls. On top of the trucks were several guards, armed with assault rifles. In the open places that the trucks were not at was quite a bundle of barbed wire, also with guards standing by. I then realized what this place was: a shopping mall. The large area most of the creatures were at was the parking lot. The prisoners were given tags by a flying guard...well, more like forced. All the prisoners were entering the mall now, through what would have been the front doors. The doors were ripped off, however. We could no longer see what was ahead.
"Ha ha ha ha!" Ro laughed.
"Ro! Quiet down! What's up?" I said urgently.
"I was watching da kids! The little ball bounced around and the gerbil thing picked him up in the air and flew around a little bit! Too bad dey in da building now; dey probably are doing more fun stuff inside. You missed it?" he snickered.
"I was examining the topography of the area." I said, irritated.
"What's togophatty?" Ro looked at me, puzzled.
"Topography. It means landscape."
"Sounds stupid." Ro bluntly said.
"Look, do you want me to burn you with my tail? Be quiet." I muttered.
"What we do now?" asked Ro.
"Well, this is all much different than I thought....I have no clue what's going on in that mall."
"We going to find out?"
"Bingo." I said.
"Oh, I get it." Ro started. "We gonna get along da mall and enter through dat vent right there."
I looked where Ro was looking. Sure enough, there was a vent on the corner of the building.
"Great idea, Ro! The ventalation probably goes through a lot of the building. And we won't have to worry about guards if we're careful."
"You didn't know? I mean, yeah! I pretty smart!" Ro said, caught off-guard.
"We better hurry. Let's move." I said.
We were in a dirt parking lot that was about a football yard length away from the mall entrance. I knew we could crawl underneath the trucks used as a wall to get to the mall, but there was a significant gap between the 'wall' trucks and the truck we were at. We could definitely be spotted while moving to the wall trucks by the guards with the rifles. There wasn't much in the area we could be seen at, except for a barrel within arm's reach-if I were human. With my reduced arm length, I couldn't reach the barrel. And Ro certainly could not.
"If we could just push that barrel over, we could roll it down to the pit, and create a distraction long enough to run under the line of trucks. But it's out of reach." I summed up to Ro.
"Humn..." Ro mumbled, and looked up at the bottom of the truck we were under. "Use your tail and burn off dis pipe, den use it to push the barrel over."
"Ro, where would I be without you?" I said while grabbing my tail and putting the flame at the pipe.
"Dead or someting." Ro responded.
"...............Won't burn?" I said, confused. My flame seemed real enough, but it wasn't doing anything to the pipe.
"Maybe you gotta will your tail to burn the pipe." Ro suggested.
"Ah......worth a try." I agreed. "Okay....burnburnburnburnburn burnburn!" It worked! After singeing the pipe in two places, I pulled at it. It gave way quickly.
"Yay!" exclaimed Ro.
I slowly but firmly pushed the barrel to its side. It was very heavy, but I was able to push it over without making much noise. I got out from under the truck just far enough so I could give the barrel a hard push with my foot. It began to roll toward the pit.
"Awight! It worked!" Ro said as I got back under the truck.
"Um....not quite." I pointed to the barrel. Thanks to the angle of the pit, the barrel was now going to the trucks furthest away from us. It looked like we messed up big time, as the truck rolled past the trucks silently. But then....
The barrel somehow bounced backwards VERY high in the air. Several guards noticed it and actually started shooting at it. The made all the prisoners frantic, and alerted all the guards. Several guards said things like, "It's a missile!" and, "We're being attacked!" The big finish was where the barrel landed: right on top of a guard standing on a truck.
"Let's-Ha ha ha!-go, Ro!" I dived out, laughing at the scene, to the first truck in the line as Ro followed close behind. We quickly crawled our way to the vent on the building.
"Dat was silly! How you do it?" Ro asked me as I pulled out the vent cover.
"Just lucky, I guess." I said simply. "Maybe getting turned into a lizard increased my luck!"
I got the cover off as the prisoners and guards started to figure out that it was just a barrel. We crawled in the surprisingly large vent, and crossed our fingers-or claws, actually-that we would continue to have good fortune.
