Chapter 51: Sabre Jet, Part 6

"I would say it's got a face only a mother could love. But then I'd be lying." Auger muttered as he saw the looming form of Gagoyle draw closer to the assembled Earth Corps.

"Well, looks aren't everything. Maybe it'll get an award for its wonderful personality-" Bombardier began.

Gagoyle's claws swept out, grabbed the two who had insulted it, and swallowed them whole.

"That was unexpected!" Sandra exclaimed.

"Understatement of the epoch." Bright retorted.

As if on cue, Gagoyle spat its victims back out.

"Never going to do that again." Bombardier whimpered.

"Lucky you that those suits are resistant to acid. Otherwise, you two would've been digested alive." Herc said as he helped his two cohorts up.

Just then, Gagoyle turned around and picked up a cargo truck.

"What is that thing doing?" Tank asked.

As if to answer Tank's question, the monster swallowed the truck whole.

"How- what- why?" Auger sputtered.

Suddenly, Gagoyle turned to the ground and dug a large hole like some giant eldritch gopher.

"Where's it going?" Herc asked.

"Probably the base. After that, I'm going to say it's going to make tracks for the Rhine and then the North Sea." Tank answered.

The members of Earth Corps shuddered at the thought of Gagoyle making its way into the world's oceans.

"Liquidator, any ideas?"

"One. Remember the story of Daniel and the dragon?"

Auger nodded.

"We feed it a bomb- no more Gagoyle." he added.

"Yeah, but how are we supposed to give it the bomb?" Herc asked.

Bombardier shot his hand up.

"We shoot it right into the beastie's mouth."

The rest of Earth Corps nodded in agreement.


AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Liquidator's mention of the story of "Daniel and the dragon" is a reference to a work out of the Biblical apocrypha- "Bel and the Dragon", one portion of which involves the prophet Daniel killing a dragon by feeding it highly combustible material (or in some versions, straw mixed with nails).