Sci Fi, Action, Romance
Eddie’s last rocket cuts a bright slash through the desert sky and slams into the monster’s neck, exploding in a red and green bloom of fire and gore.
“Yeeeehaw!” he yells, pushing his A7 sentinel forward, driving the giant humanoid machine onto the beast, even as power alarms blare inside his cockpit.
The monster shrieks in rage and agony, barbed arms failing to quell the rivers of blood erupting from the wounds criss-crossing its hide. Unleashing a white-hot rant of profanity, Eddie hammers an epic punch into its jaw – entirely unnecessary – but he hates the damn things.
“That’s for…” he thinks, running through places and people and products in his mind. He glances up at the gas station ahead of him. “That’s for Slushees, man. Especially the Pina Colada one,” he says, driving the metal fist into a compound eye. “That flavor was the best.”
The monster crashes to the ground, sending up a spray of dust and blood. It rocks and writhes, a sickening groan unravelling into a quivering growl and then it is still, blood pooling by the sentinel’s feet.
“Great work, love,” comes a soft voice through Eddie’s commlink.
“Thanks Kaya,” he says with a smile, looking at the ring of light on the control panels that shimmers to show she’s listening. “This ugly brute reminds me of the category four we killed outside of Flagstaff. Couple of years ago. Remember?”
“Seven-hundred and eighty-three days ago,” answers Kaya.
Eddie laughs, “You sure? I reckon it was seven-hundred and eighty-four.”
“My records are correct.”
Not a lot of sense arguing with your wife. Especially when it’s not really your wife, just her voice and some of her memories appended to the intelligent assistant of your sentinel.
Paul Alex Gray 