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.
Up on the ramparts, Candace came running up, after leaving her patients to tend to themselves in order to join the fight. At her side was Floyd, Keith, and Rocco, two relatively unknown brothers from down the street. Fire from Hobbes's first shot had since burned out and the sun had no disappeared behind houses to the west, giving an eerie semi darkness around them illuminated by the outside lights of the house now powered by the restored electricity. Even so, they could see their adversaries coming towards them, and let them have it.
Picking up stones from the buckets Candace and Floyd threw over the wall, "Yeh!" "Yeh!" and one goon fell, head splattered apart twenty feet short. A heavy stone tumbled over their heads after being unleashed by Keith and Rocco from their catapult. It struck the ground and began to roll sweeping up those in its way just as planned. Their weapons were proving effective snatching up perhaps ten goons before rolling to a stop by the street. However the swath it generated was immediately swallowed up by the other goons as they continued to approach, inching towards the wall.
Behind them Calvin shouted the command, "Ready, fire!" lowering his arm. Yanking on the laynard, Hobbes unleashed a load of smaller rock that went arched skyward over the wall to the North-West and rained down on their adversaries like hail in a storm. Snow goons began to fall in heaps, their heads peppered sometimes as much as five times the stones pierced straight through their bodies. Their front ranks were devestated and those behind faltered for a moment. Those first ranks comprised of the largest and most hideous looking goons, aborbed the torrent and when they fell the rear ranks faltered then shoot off their hesitation and rolled over their bodies and inched even closer. Their blood flowing rapidly from the excitement of battle Candace threw another handful of small rocks then, after seeing a tall beast crumble, she reached down to fetch more ammunition and something caught her green eyes. All of those large goons were gone, killed by their combined fire leaving only the much small but still deadly in number goons behind charging forth. "God, they were meat shields!" she turned her head to say to Floyd whom was heaving rocks as rapidly as he could though not as accurately. "What's that?" he replied never looking at her.
"Nevermind, just keep at 'em," she shook her head.
Waiting nearby were members of Ryan's company. From behind their lunette and on small ramparts flanking the gates they braced for an attack half were ready with stones and the other with spears. Here, many heads peered over to see nothing but inky blackness. All the action seemed to be going on to their left and many wanted to go to where it was however Ryan kept them in place. The catapult snapped and their heads swiveled back to see a scattered cloud of gray and brown stones soar into the night as the tempo of combined roar and screams from their adversary heightened ever more. Looking at the rampart Candace and Floyd had emptied their first buckets of stones and the girl ran down the ramp to fetch two more that were stacked at the base. On the way up her mouth was open, panting hard, but nothing came out or it was lost in the noise around her.
"Here they come!" Harold screamed.
Goons materialized from across the street charging full tilt giving off a deafening blood curtling roars as they reached the gate. This chilled the defenders even more than the winter weather. Multiarmed beasts, goons four arms or more, came forth their faces bedeviled with crooked smiles and blood red eyes as they began to hurl snow and rock at the walls like a machine gun, pelting the defenders. One struck the edge of the brick wall and struck Harold in his right eye knocking him off his platform. Holding a gloved hand over his eye he screamed, rolled over onto his stomach, and began to crawl towards the house. Ryan jumped the lunette and fetched his friend and carried him to the front door of the house. He was bleeding but he could not take any time away from his position for goons were already starting to scale the wall in large numbers. Beside him Peter and Devon waited still with spears as they watched the gate buckle as goons smashed again and again. Several logs were added to the metal fence to reinforce the lock however they would not hold up. Candace's catapult let loose again and there were cheers as it cut down perhaps twenty of them at once then Ryan's eyes gaze back on the gate, "I wonder how much more it can take" asked Devon clearly scared.
"It will hold as long as we do" Ryan remarked, picking up a stone from a bucket, he watched as the other members of his company at the wall continued to hurl their weapons at them, unflinching, unnerved, they wanted revenge and they let it be known with each scream.
In the south-west corner of the fort Susie charged up to a twin set of catapults with a cluster of children that had varying degrees of experience in operating. "Stick together" she told them, "And we'll make it." She organized them quickly, putting someon the catapults, the others dispersed along the wall as riflemen, albiet not using real rifles. From the darkness came their foe. Charcoal eyes showed anger, their fangs were icicles, their arms reached for them as they charged across the open field towards the ice wall. Steadfast, the defenders waited, waiting for the command to deal a crippling volley. Inching closer, the weary eyes of the children looked at Susie as she stood by her weapons as were bewildered. What was she waiting for?
"Ready!" she screamed, raising an arm up. Her teams readied themselves, some with stones in hand, others clenched the release ropes for the catapult. Snow goons pressed up, almost coming into contact with the wall when the girl finally gave the order. "Fire!" swinging her arm down in a chop. All at once, a volley of rock and stone went from one wall into the wall of ugly fiends, their limbs became severed, heads smashed, bodies fell. Taking up more rock, children showed their heads their parapet, selected their targets carefully as they came onto them then hurled their weapons, then dropped back down to reload as a second group stepped forward to loose their volley. The impact of rocks striking snow, piff piff piff, was soon drowned out, SNAP BAM BAM BAM as catapults came into action. With their deadly loads of canister,they ripped clean through their bodies, often going through two or three with ease. Where once goons were so feared now they were nothing more than targets and the children began to laugh. In just the first three or so minutes Susie estimated that they slay forty goons. So many bodies became piled up in front of their wall it created a second wall that goons had to move around in order to advance. Breaking upon the breakwater of their killed comrades the goons, to the surprise of the garrison they began to back up and disappeared back into the darkness. At their feet lay the withering bodies of dead and dying goons. One continued to claw its way forward over the bodies of the dead but taking up a spear one of the boys stabbed him through the head with a good throw.
A moment of respite, Susie stopped the cheering and had everyone reload. The half used buckets were exchanged for full ones as a deafening roar pierced their ears. Their heads looked back over the landscape and from the blackness came a rumble of heavy gurths moving across the white blanket. Staring, wide eyed, over the wall, Travis O' Rorke, a dark brown haired, brown eyed six year old with Mortimer's group saw as many as five hundred of the biggest snow goons anyone had ever seen coming right for him. Some took after their supposive leader and fled without putting up a fight while others took heart of their work and Calvin's notion that they will survive, if only they stay together. Travis and Oliver were amongst those that joined in the flight, running upstairs and barricaded themselves inside Susie's parent's bathroom along side the sick and wounded. Still, some at least decided to stand their ground and began to throw stone at this emence tidal wave barreling towards them. Their words of warning were drowned out by neverending drone emenating from the hundreds of goons that sailed right up to the wall and began to tear through and up it as if it were nothing. Though their catapult was loaded to the brim with stone when it was unleashed it did absolutely nothing except go over their heads for the crew panicked and did not set their sights correctly by cocking the arm all the way back instead of half or less that would have dropped the rounds short and in their midst.
Taking up their sticks and stones the five relatively unknowns, Vincent, Queens, Polls, Jacob, and Hanson all came with Mortimer. All five were from wealthly families, but their principals were different than that of their fearless leader. Instead of fleeing, they chose to fight, despite the ratio against them. As goons ripped through the palisade and came for them, Craig Queens and Phillip Polls stuck to their catapult and pulled back down the arm again, this time to the right setting, and loaded it up to the brim and unleashed it. Five goons were riddled from head to toe and fell. Next to them the others kept up a wall of hand thrown stone that was accurate and deadly. There were patches in the walls created by the freezing of water that made it too slick to climb upon and when the goons found these patches they began to hack and chisel foot holds in which to reach their enemies. Now close enough to look them in the eye these five brave defenders took up clubs and prepared for hand-to-hand fighting. One climbed over and grabbed Polls next to his catapult, but Queens swung down a bat onto the goons head with a screech, killing it. Kicking his way back backwards Polls stood back up and snatched his wood club as three more mounted the rampart. Raising their clubs above their heads the two let out a yell and charged.
Elsewhere, Calvin, Hobbes, Susie, and Ryan were also holding strong, and gave their besiegers something to remember. Going about his task of unleashing his catapult, Hobbes and his crew did not notice the crisis unfolding behind him until several of Mortimer's men came running back, screaming, eyes full of fright. Looking around the house peering into the darkness where light was dim from a single back door light. He saw the wall manned by Mortimer's men being scaled onmasse, "They're over the wall, turn it around!" he roared above the shrieks and cries around him but when his command was not heard he grasped the front of the weapon and began to do himself before the crew helped rather perplexed that the enemy had breached the wall. Turning the weapon around nearly one hundred eighty degrees and the basket was ordered to be loaded with as much stone as possible. Looking at the shadows running to and away from the fight Hobbes could see that a few kids still there, in the line of fire. Those five were still slugging it out there despite the fact they were becoming surrounded by vastily superior forces. For them it was a school yard brawl. The boys cursed and taunted over a victory and shrieked and cried when they were struck and injured. "We have to help them" Calvin called out.
"We can't" argued Hobbes, "They are too many. Wait till we give them a little of this," patting the cocked arm of his catapult.
Fearful of what it meant Calvin told him that it could hit their own, "It's worth it" the tiger replied. With no other recourse but to fire, Hobbes gave the other. "Fire!"
Bodies, limbs, and heads splattered, severed, and dropped, also did those brave souls. Tagging Bryant to go with him, Calvin dashed through the melee to retrieve the bodies. Running up to the catapult Calvin found a body drapped over the weapon's base. His face was bloodgent but the boy was very much alive though he did not know who it was. Bryant also found a live one at the foot of the ramp his jacket torn to shreds and bruises were beginning to show on his neck and hands. Though dazed from several blows Queens and Jacob staggered to their feet and seeing Calvin come down the ramp dragging a body in tow they followed him and along the way found the body of their fifth friend; Hanson. Moving as quickly as possible around the house unveiling Hobbes's catapult the tiger ordered salvo after salvo as the goons started remounting the walls. Every snap of the arm would clear them away but in just a few second they would materialize again. It seemed that no amount of fire coming from Hobbes could stave them off for long. Dragging the bodies with them to the front of the house Calvin paused to catch his breath as Ryan looked back from his position. He flashed a smile and returned to his work. Jacob came by and told Calvin, "You go and get them inside!" brandishing a stick in both hands, "We'll keep them busy." Queens and Polls helped the wounded inside with Jacobs as Calvin tried to return to his friend's side. A rock struck one of Hobbes' crew members, a youth named Charlie that was a very quiet boy wearing a blue jacket and green blaclava that covered his entire face save his eyes and mouth. The cotton helmet absorbed some of the blow but the boy was knocked to the ground but he quickly climbed back to his feet and in a daze looked around him. "You okay?" Hobbes touched Charlie's shoulder and looked down at him.
"Yeah, yeah" he smiled brushing it off, "It's all good." Hobbes returned to working his piece and when his back was turned Charlie picked up a discarded spear and suddenly sprinted towards the goons that were gathering around Mortimer's position. Hundreds of eyes fell on the boy as he screamed in a suicidal charge that everyone else could only marvel at. Not wanting to see what would become of the boy Hobbes turned away. The fort was breached, they needed to get inside, fast.
Goons in the south were also massing up at the gate and below all of the ramparts. It was becoming too dangerous to even look over the thick walls to lob a stone for goons would reach up, grasp hold their prey, and hurl them over to their side. One struggled over the bodies of its slain comrades and succeeded in reaching the summit only to have its face splattered by a point blank range rock thrown by Devon. Its body slid back down to rest with the others and was trampled by a growing amount of goons. Another roared up and Candace swung a aluminum bat that obliterated that ones face. With two down, four more came up and over. Fighting grew to deadly hand to hand combat. Mere children the four souls battled and killed them all and then their bodies off the rampart to make room. Once those were dealt with eight more came chugging up mounted the wall and spilled into the compund.
Knowing full well that their weapon was useless with the enemy now underneth them Candace placed a hand on the strong arm of the catapult and shouted to her friends to "take this thing down the ramp" but as soon as those words left her lips a skeleton arm reached over and grasped her body. She screeched a high pitch yell as her body was flung over like raw meat to hungry wolves outside the fort. Keith and Rocco, racked by the suddent death of Candace, they froze in place until someone punched their shoulders and their retirement continued heaving the bulky weapon down the snowy slope and into the compound where they lined it up behind Ryan's lunette as the buckets of ammunition stacked at the base of the ramp were snatched up and ferried with them.
Neither one of them realized that in the north the fort was breached until they saw Mortimer's wounded were carried inside and the fright in some of their eyes. In the darkness Keith peered around and then called out, "What's going on?" He was bewildered by the loss of Candance and perhaps many others.
"The fort's been breached" Calvin confessed as he started towards the door. "Shoot them as quickly as you can then fall back into the house." His words were loud but calm and it settled the boy's mind. Reworking their weapons Hobbes continued to use his muscle in loading and firing his tiny weapon as many times as he could until, under all that continual stress, the strong arm snapped like a twig, "Darn cheap import" he cursed kicking its base with his hind paw. Now useless Hobbes direct Keith, and Rocco to go with Calvin into the house as he will cover their retreat.