Yellow Submarine
Chapter 2
Annabel's POV
We raced through the woods at a speed that would be almost invisible to humans. Normal humans. We could now hear the fighting, about a half-mile ahead. I heard and older girl shouting from the air, sounded harsh and powerful, she was ordering someone away. Then I heard the tiniest most angelic voice yelling something about help is coming. She cant be talking about us?
We broke into the clearing to see two teenage bird-kids in the air and one younger bird kid above them fidgeting with something in his hands. He yelled "Fire in the hole" and everyone ducked and covered as flaming robot parts landed all around us.
The girl was fighting two robots at once dodging and throwing punches like a wild woman. She had blood coming out of her mouth and her nose had just started to bleed.
The boy, a very dark boy, was in the middle of spinning one robot wildly in the air and throwing him into two of his mechanical buddies. All three went plummeting to earth, but only one remained down. I quickly averted my attention to the ground where I saw two young girls.
The first one was maybe 7 or 8. She was just standing there staring at a robot, who started to back away from her and pick a fight with one of the robots that the dark one had thrown to the ground.
The other girl, an African-American maybe Sienna's age, was kicking one robot in the chest and held out her hand to his head and concentrated. He immediately flew to her hand and she began to spin him like the boy had done. She let go and sent him flying into a tree, cracking it.
The third grounded fighter was a tall strawberry blonde boy who -despite his bloody lip and the bruise forming at his left eye- was very good looking. He was fighting off two robots at once, dodging every punch and kick they threw at him. When he saw an opportunity he took it, smashing the face of one robot with his fist and kneeing the second one in the gut. As he was fighting these two, a third one tried to slip behind him. I wasn't going to have that.
"Oh no you don't." I yelled throwing one arm over his shoulder and hooking it with my other one which I had slipped under his arm. I kicked his feet out from under him and he landed flat on his stomach with me straddling his back. I hooked both of his arms behind him and said, "It isn't nice jump people from behind. Where are your manners?"
"Must have forgotten to program those in." The strawberry blonde boy said in a sweet and carefree voice. I noticed his sightless eyes and realized that he was blind. Wow, blind and he can kick ass, not bad. I quickly knocked out the robot and went on to find another one.
"Who are you?" The mystery man shouted over the various punches and kicks to the robot he was fighting.
"A friend" I yelled back. We were fighting back to back now, yelling over the robots continual drone that sounded something like 'Come with us if you want to live.' But I was a little too preoccupied to find any humor in that at the moment.
"Riiight." The boy said sarcastically, landing another kick to a robot's head.
"Alright," I said dodging a punch. "How 'bout an ally then?" I gave a series of punches to a robots face, one successfully breaking its nose.
"Ally?" he asked incredulously.
"Yeah you know, a member of an alliance: a person, group, or state that is joined in an association with another or others for a common purpose." I recited the definition to him while kicking a robot in a very crucial area. "I hate these stupid robot things just as much as you do, maybe even more."
"I doubt that." he said with an umph as he put all of his strength behind a punch that found its way to another robot jaw. Its head spun around and he fell to the ground unconscious. "Flyboy's." He added as an afterthought.
"What?" I said confused, ducking as a mechanical fist came at my face.
"We call them flyboys." he said matter-of-factly.
"How original." I replied landing a kick to a robot's, sorry 'flyboy's,' torso.
"About as original as 'stupid robot things.'" He coughed, being choked by a flyboy. I planted a roundhouse kick to the one I was fighting and spun around to tackle the one that had the boy by his throat. I quickly knocked him out with a blow to the head and jumped up to take out another one.
"I could have handled him." he said absently as he fought off another one.
"A simple 'thank you' would suffice." I said getting back into the rhythm of things after a very lucky punch landed on my jaw. I spit out blood and lunged at the flyboy, punching him in the gut and when he doubled over I repeatedly kneed him in the face until he was unconscious. Okay maybe I kept going for a couple more seconds after I felt his body go limp. Do you blame you?
"Thank you" he said begrudgingly.
"Now," I said as I punched another flyboy in the face with enough force to kill a normal human, it only threw him backward a few feet. "Was that so hard?"
"Actually, yes it was." was his reply.
"Would you guys quite arguing and start kicking some ass?" came Sienna's voice from across the clearing. She was fighting off two of her own flyboys.
"Sienna!" I snapped. "Language!"
"Yeah, yeah." she replied lazily.
"Yes." When was this girl going to learn to speak properly.
"But 'yes, yes' just doesn't sound as good." She said upper-cutting a flyboy.
"She has a point." chimed in Ryan hitting a flyboy with the branch of a tree.
"You know kids," I yelled at them dodging a hairy mechanical fist. "Your proving to be much more trouble than your worth."
"Yes," Sienna annunciated, kicking a flyboy in the chest. "But you love us."
"Yeah, yeah." I said dismissingly.
"YES." yelled Ryan, and both of the children giggled still battling the towering flyboys.
"Damn," I muttered. "Knew that would come back to bite me in the ass."
"Language." I heard the blind boy chuckle.
"Oh now your gonna pick on me too, mystery man!" I threw back at him.
"Mystery man." he chuckled. "I like that. It almost makes me not want to tell you my name."
"You were actually going to tell me your name? I thought you didn't trust me?" I said sending a chop to the flyboy's gun/hand. Immediately breaking its wrist.
"I don't. Not entirely anyway. But I figured the only way you would tell me your name is to tell you mine first."
"Keep your name." I yelled back kneeing a flyboy in the gut and elbowing him in his kidney when he doubled over. "I'll tell you mine just because I trust you. And I like calling you mystery man. My name is Annabel L. Dylan, at your service."
"Let me guess," he said punching a flyboy in the jaw. "The 'L' stands for Lee."
"You know Poe?" I asked pleasantly surprised. Cute and he knows poetry, not a bad find.
" A little:
It was many and many a year ago,In a kingdom by the sea,That a maiden there lived whom you may knowBy the name of Annabel Lee;And this maiden she lived with no other thoughtThan to love and be loved by me."
I took up where he left off punching a flyboy repeatedly in the jaw,
"I was a child and she was a child,In this kingdom by the sea:But we loved with a love that was more than love - I and my Annabel Lee;With a love that the winged seraphs of heavenCoveted her and me."
We were circling each other now, still back to back -it had to look like we were dancing- waiting for the next attack. It came as he continued, dodging punches as he spoke,
"And this was the reason that, long ago,In this kingdom by the sea,A wind blew out of a cloud, chillingMy beautiful Annabel Lee;So that her high-born kinsmen cameAnd bore her away from me,To shut her up in a sepulchreIn this kingdom by the sea."
I ducked under a fist and punched the flyboy in the gut in the same motion. I took up a rock when I was crouched and sprung up to hit him in the head. He crumpled to the ground and I continued the poem waiting for another opponent,
"The angels, not half so happy in heaven,Went envying her and me - Yes! that was the reason (as all men know,In this kingdom by the sea)That the wind came out of the cloud one night,Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee."
He dipped and dodged gracefully as he recited the next verse,
"But our love it was stronger by far than the loveOf those who were older than we - Of many far wiser than we - And neither the angels in heaven above,Nor the demons down under the sea,Can ever dissever my soul from the soulOf the beautiful Annabel Lee;"
I planted a roundhouse kick to a flyboys face, causing him to stagger backwards. I began my favorite verse of the poem, trying to speak as beautiful as my mystery man, but I know it came out sounding scratchy and gargled,
"For the moon never beams without bringing me dreamsOf the beautiful Annabel Lee;And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyesOf the beautiful Annabel Lee;"
We continued our dance back to back still fighting off the last two flyboys, while he continued,
"And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the sideOf my darling -my darling -my life and my bride,"
We finished together knocking out the remaining flyboys, me with a swift kick to the back of the neck and him with a punch to the lower back, right on the spine.
"In the sepulchre there by the sea - In her tomb by the sounding sea."
We faced each other smiling at our accomplishment, panting slightly. "Reciting poetry while fighting for your life, interesting." I said smiling. He chuckled, making a beautiful lighthearted sound, which I didn't think was possible from one so rugged.
I was broke from this thought by an awkward applause coming from in front of us. I turned to see the younger children from both groups standing together clapping wildly at our little show. I felt the blush coming on and I gave a shy awkward smile about to change the subject when I felt the boys hand grab mine and force me into a bow.
"Thank you, thank you. We'll be here all week." he said teasingly. I looked into his sightless eyes and smiled, I faintly heard a clicking in the background and the next thing I knew I was being thrown to the ground by my mystery man as a shot rang out. He screamed roughly and collapsed on top of me.