War with the Deranged Killer Mutant Monster Snow Goons
Disclaimer: I do not own Calvin and Hobbes and all characters associated with the comic. All rights are owned by Bill Waterson.
By nightfall, three new weapons were up and ready. One was placed on the south wall where Hobbes feared the attack would come, one was rolled up to Mortimer's position, but because his rampart was not finished as of yet it was not mounted and the third was placed at the north-west corner overlooking the street. Candance, Floyd and two others manned the south-west weapon as the one to the North-West were operated by Susie and two others. Work parties struggled in ankle deep, freezing water to wrestle up large stones onto a sled and take them back to the fort where, once inside, they were stacked at the base of the ramps or where space was permitted. The idea was that the water rounded stones would turn into bowling balls by the catapults and the goons would be the pins.
Everyone was waiting impatiently for this supposive "second group" to materialize. A messenger was sent out the night prior, and those left behind were left to wonder if he made it through or not. Hoping they would come during the light to detect any goon approach by night fall the group did not arrive and tension continued to rise. An hour pass dusk nothing happened. Two hours, again nothing. One by one, the defenders went inside to sleep until only that lone sentry on the roof, with a hot cup of cocoa in his hands, remained out to watch the fort.
Taking off his coat inside, Calvin sighed, no help was coming for his defenders. With the number that he had no way he could hold against numbers of killer snow men which could count into the hundreds of thousands. Just as the coat came off, the sentry shouted down, "Here they come!" Hurriedly redawning his coat, Calvin rushed outside, then looked up at the guard to show them where. Several others came tumbling out soon after heading to the West wall.
A soft voice called from the abyss, "Anyone there?" No one could recognized it. Unsure that it might be aruse, the defenders inside readied themselves with stones and sharpened stakes. "Who's out there?" shouted Calvin.
"I'm Ryan. Dang it, let us in!"
"Sounds human to me" Calvin looked at Hobbes.
Realizing it was not a ruse, ropes and a ladder were brought up and placed over the wall to permit those outside to get in. One by one the people came in. Unlike the first group these were better clothed and were in better condition. The last one over was a seven year old, short red haired boy identifying himself as Ryan. Smiling and shaking Calvin's hand with both of his Ryan looked at the house and the weaponry around him and let his jaw drop, "I wish I had these babies. We've been trapped in our house for three days by...by...snowmen. Ugly looking snowmen that were ripping up the windows and bashing at our doors. What the hell is going on?" looking at all the blank faces around him.
Hesitant to answer, Calvin told Ryan that he would explain when all members of his group were inside, and safe. One of their number was injured with bad ankles after he tried to run from goons early on and another was sick with the flu from exposure
Neither of them were able to fight. "Candance and I will tend to them" Susie announced taking those them inside as others were hustled in doors to eat and take off their soaked clothes. All their faces showed signs of slight malnutrition, ankles and muscles weak and their skin slight sunken. Cocoa and cheese crackers helped nourish their bodies. Ryan was treated in the kitchen, together with Hobbes, and Calvin, where their words could not be heard. Alone, he told his tale on how his group managed to hide from the enemy as he sipped on his cocoa. "It was horrible. My brother and me were playing in the front yard, then Christopher across the seat came running up, saying that snowmen had devoured Jake, his friend. At first we didn't believe him, Chris was always off his rocker," he nervously chuckled.
Hobbes nudged his friend and snickered.
"Then, we saw one of them, an oval shaped head with pine cone eyes, it seemed he was coming right for us. So, we ran inside, all three of us, and locked door." Pausing to sip his drink, Ryan looked at all of the faces. Hesitant to continue, he waited until pushed on by Susie, "Then, Nick, Sean, and Harold came in soon after. Harold was injured because a snowman chased after him and he tripped over some rocks under the snow. Sean and Nick helped him in but they did not have any coats or boots after running around outside." Susie emerged from the supply closet both arms full of canned food.
"You're safe now" Susie assured them. "We need everyone now to help build our fort"
"Fort?" looking up.
"Yes" Calvin spoke up, "With your help, we can build this place to be better than ever"
Ryan paused for a moment, took another sip, "Ok, where do you want us?"
No work for them tonight, just sleep and hot food. By her count, Susie estimated that there was enough to feed the entire garrison, up to fifty now, for a two weeks. Plenty of time, they hoped, for a rescue.
When the sun rose up everyone was bone tired. Tired of the madness, tired of the snowmen, tired of everything. Still, they went about their work, knowing that someone, somewhere, will find them. Ryan and his wild band of followers were tasked towards the South gate that bordered the street.
Seeing this spunky, older boy, inside the fort now, Mortimer felt a threat coming to him. His group was on it's own, the rich and the lower class. Now with this large group of others inside a small space, he and everyone else knew that an inner clash was coming. Susie and Candance moved the sick and wounded into her parent's bed room on the second floor. Their bed was queen size, able to take all of them. As they were being tended to, work teams went out to gather wood for the fire or to gather more stone. From the shed and from raiding the shed of a neighbor they found some hatchets and began felling sapplings and chopping them up to appropriate sizes.
Neither once were they challenged by the snow goons. Some wondered where they went. Did they run off? Melt? Or find more prey? Working his knuckles raw inside the small shed, Hobbes put the finishing touches to a total of six working small catapults. Though crude and not fancy looking, they were deadly nonetheless. With them mounted on snowy ramparts, the house turned fort began to take the appearance of a fortress. Bristling with prickily walls and protected with "cannon," the defenders begged for an adversary to challenge them. None came. Around noon, lunch was served. Taking up sitting spots all over, some on the ramps, others against the wall, or inside the house, the children ate mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese with milk.
Hobbes rested outside his shed, his work complete when he had run out of 2x4s. Tired of being cooped up inside the walls, the furry creature slipped over the wall, unseen, to recognitor the area and to get some air away from all the others. He reached the bordering hedge and jumped over however, as soon as he landed, he was greeted by groans and moans. "AUGH" he recoiled in shock. He landed right in the midst of several snow goons, spying on the fort. Battling to get out of their clutches, Hobbes rejumped the hedge, sprinting the rest of the way to the fort.
No one pursued him, and Hobbes jumped the wall inside, panting for breath. No one took notice of this event until Hobbes staggered inside to the kitchen where he found Calvin trying to rest and keep warm. When he saw his frost covered feline come in, Calvin was lost for words and after a minute he coughed, "What happened to you?" rising from his seat.
"Oh, just when for a stroll" nervously smirked Hobbes. When his breath finally calmed down enough, lead scout Hobbes reported, "I just ran into our little friends next door. I was unable to give a precise number of goons I saw" Hobbes confessed, "But, I know it's no few than thirty."
Alarmed, Calvin then asked if Hobbes could scout the rest of the area. Reluctant at first, Hobbes then asked, "Do I get a promotion?"
"Yes, yes," throwing up his hands, angry, "Whatever you want."
Outside, Hobbes climbed south wall and headed across the street. Those inside watched as the tiger disappeared from sight for an undetermined length of time. Worried that he may have been captured, Calvin wanted to join his friend outside. "No, you mustn't" Susie restrained him as they watched from the rampart. Kept inside, the boy watched in fear as the tiger was not seen. Minutes ticked by...
"I'm sure he's fine" Susie said, "He will make it"
"That lug nut couldn't win a fight against a girl. He's a sucker for them" mumbled Calvin with crossed arms.
"What was that?" Susie asked, picking up a hint.
"Nothing" gritting his teeth.
Fifteen...twenty...thirty minutes, no sign of the scout.
Then, something jumped a hedge to the West. At full flight came the tiger, as fast as his legs could take him. "There he is!" Calvin yelled, pointing him out. Everyone gathered just in time to see the tiger jump clean over the wall and land wellin side the compound with a heavy thud.
Dusting himself off Hobbes was greeted by his loud mouth friend coming down the rampart towards him, eager to learn what had been seen. Asking for a meeting indoors, out of earshot of the others, Calvin took Hobbes and eventually Susie as well. Sitting around the small table on a tile floor, out of breath, Hobbes took a napkin and a pen, and began to mark out where he saw goons on the same paper that Calvin had drawn out the fort's outline. "Here" he began to sketch out, "here, and here." There were areas that he saw goons, lots of them. All three lines were connected to one another, meaning that they were surrounded at three sides then he added another group to the south, in that outcropping.
"Hmmmmmmm" Calvin thought, "Now we know where the goons have gone. They are waiting to gather up their numbers to attack us," rather ignorant of the fact that he was surrounded and cut off.
Going over the map, the scout traced with his finger, "Here, here, and here" he said, "Dozens of them are grouping up across the street. I lost track after fifty, there are more, i'm sure. By the looks of it I say its a ruse. They will send these guys first, across the street, and have us focus on them and then the others will come from all sides." Sinking into his chair, Hobbes took a sip from his glass and sighed, "Looks like we are surrounded."
As soon as he said that, Ryan stepped in to what the commotion was about and heard the remark. Everyone froze, staring at the red haired boy in the door. He said nothing but left closing the door behind him. Hearts sank. Possibly Ryan would tell everyone the news he heard then panic would spread, possible desertion and abandonment. Even with the added firepower of the catapults, they felt that there was no way they could stand up to the might of the enemy army in the thousands. Stepping outside, Susie and Calvin wanted to confess their predicament to their comrades. Instead, they found the garrison either working or resting, no panic that they thought.
There was no sense in bothering everyone with the bad news now. They might attack or maybe not. Help was coming, so they thought, just hang tight. So, the only people that knew of the enemy was surrounding them remained silent.
Ryan and his comrades took up buckets and prepared their defense. Calvin tasked them to the main gate that faced the road. Already, it was bordered up with a large amount of snow. Before they started their work, Calvin came down to talk to them. "Hey, Ryan" Calvin said pulling him aside from the others, "Listen, I...can't thank you enough for coming to us."
"No sweat" said the red haired boy with a wide smile, "There is safety in numbers. Besides, it looks like you did a good job on this fort. Never saw anything like it" admiring all the defenses that were made."
"Thanks" replied Calvin, "But we still have much to do"
"No problem" said Ryan, "That's why we're here," holding up his bucket. Together, the team began piling up snow behind the gate in a horse shoe fashion. This would be his post. Once enough was congregated, the snow was doused in water to harden, then stakes were added for extra protection. Bryant and Clive broke off icicles that were dangling from the roof, cleared out a patch of snow in the compound behind Mortimer position, and began planting them, tips up. This sort of frozen punji stick trap was concealed by snow.