Giant Solidarity G/T

Chapter XLII. The Ambush

Almost too quickly, the GRUDATs and I were close enough to the lake that the starboard of the Lilliputian gleamed as bright as starlight on the dark water. The rectangular watercraft floated by the end of the dock, immediately observed by Troy. We were blessed they didn't catch on that the ferry was surreptitiously anchored in place, which would have blown our cover. As we planned, the GRUDATs gathered by the waterside vegetation and planned to attack. "Dock's pretty unlit," Troy whispered. "Morton, you and I are the best swimmers, so while we wade out toward them in the shallows, everyone else..."

         Right then, I breeched the whispered huddle with a loud, guttural sneeze, punctuating it with a drawling groan stinging my throat. "Excuse me guys," I told the GRUDATs, sheepishly, but smiling. My forced elongated sneeze was the signal to Harley and the Legionnaires aboard the Lilliputian.

Troy gritted his teeth impatiently at me. "Vic, what the Hades you trying to do man, give away our position?! Whoa!" That was all he was able to mumble before Harley leapt out and bushwhacked them.

         Blue light surged in the dark and electricity crackled from the police taser. Harley jumped out in response to my sneeze and took down Morton with a zap. Yelling and convulsing from the electric current, Morton lost his balance, and collapsed to his knees. Nearest GRUDAT to me was Merle. While Morton spasmed I tackled Merle against a nearby tree, knocking the wind out of him. Gripping his aching ribs, the giant who nearly devoured Crystal stumbled and tripped, falling into bulrush reeds in the water.

         With our scrimmage unfolding so rapidly in the dark, I can't say for certain even now where precisely all the scuffling giants were, or when. Next thing I do remember is Harley triggering the taser again and charging at Ranger Fields, who successfully sidestepped him and landed a karate-chop to Harley's temple. I followed the plan, upon seeing Harley fall, cupped my hands around my mouth and let out an owl hoot to the lake, calling the Legionnaires to action. Gunfire popped expeditiously from the anchored Lilliputian. Bryce informed us our cadre of tiny Legionnaires were skilled with projectile weapons, proven by their aim. Ranger Fields hollered in agony as two BBs struck his posterior from the small pistol Eli left on the boat. A mass of blue liquid then exploded on Fields's forehead, and the force of the paintball knocked away his hat, revealing a bald spot. Another paintball gun from the Pres Society's armory landed a direct hit square in Merle's crotch as he tried to clamber out of the water. Doubling over, he splashed back into the reeds.

         I lent Harley a hand to his feet and handed him the taser back. Looking around, reveling in the pain and disarray of our GRUDAT foes, I noticed one missing. "Where's Troy?" I asked, looking around, not seeing a shadow or silhouette of him in the night. More splashes came from the lake, but farther out than where Merle collapsed. Under the moonlight, ripples disturbed the water in a triangular formation, toward the Lilliputian. Instinctively, I assumed it to be a nocturnal bullfrog or muskrat. But Troy's head broke upward from the water, directly next to the waterproofed ferry. "Shit!" I yelled, remembering too late Troy spent every summer vacation from school as a lifeguard, a phenomenal swimmer.

         Our brave human reinforcements screamed in fear as Troy rose to his full height alongside them. Even though he was very far out on the water, I instinctively splashed in up to my ankles, soaking my socks. I wasn't fast enough. Standing in the water, shallow to him, Troy easily bestrode the Lilliputian, cascades of water splashing onto the mini boat. I wasn't even up to my knees in the freshwater, when I witnessed him grab one of the Legionnaires in his hand. All I could do was scream in protest as I watched the unfortunate, resisting woman be dropped from Troy's fingers, into his gaping mouth. I didn't need the light of the moon or stars to see him swallow her whole, looking exactly like a sea monster. 

          With the boat under siege, another Legionnaire blew a squawking bird call before Troy could harm or devour anyone else. Immediately distracted, Troy looked up, puzzled at the ducks encroaching. In swift response to the call, three of the Pres Society's trained ducks flapped from another nearby shoreline quacking and flexing their bills at him. One flew headfirst into his belly, making him grunt, the two others pawed at his head with their webbed feet. The feathery airstrike caught him off-guard, and he fell back, cursing as the poultry pecked and flapped at him, as if defending ducklings. A small wave erupted as Troy thrashed in the water, and the Lilliputian was turned dangerously far onto its starboard.

         As the topsails touched the water, a male human voice ordered. "Abandon ship!" Seven out of eight Legionnaires cannonballed into the lake just before their boat capsized. Turning my attention to the survivors, I waded through the water, scooping up tiny humans, swimming away from the overturned boat. Paintballs, sporks and other debris from the decommissioned vessel floated around them. Those Legionnaires I was unable to fit in my hand were able to grab my waterlogged shirt for safety.

         "Everyone okay?" I asked the coughing, drenched tinies clinging to me. I got some positive responses and a few nods before an awful guttural honk of distress came from farther on the lake. Another casualty, a duck with a snapped neck floated, limp in the choppy water. "Oh fuck!" I yelled, seeing Troy regain the upper hand.

         A knife was drawn from Troy's beltloop, and I watched in misery as he stabbed the other two ducks repeatedly, yelling in triumph. "Ducks Vic, really?!" he shouted at me with maniacal laughter. "Ducks is the best fuckin secret weapon you got, human-loving dumbass!" He gripped the knife between his teeth, cast the two fowl carcasses aside, and waded with both arms, swimming in my direction.

         Ready to escape to shore, I turned, holding onto the Legionnaires, only to be disheartened by the view of the shoreline. Harley was on his knees, hands behind his head as Merle pointed a handgun down at him. When I was almost to dry land, Fields blocked my way, eyes wide with hatred. "Tread carefully, size-traitor!" ordered the Ranger, streaks of blue paint sprawling from his forehead to his chin. I froze, seeing he held the taser, disarmed from Harley, holding it threateningly over the water, where my feet were still submerged. "Come out nice and slow, or you and your trigger-happy rodents are all getting deep-fried in the lake."

         It took several moments to process that our onslaught had backfired. A click sounded as Merle cocked the gun next to Harley's head. A second later a sopping wet arm grabbed me in a headlock. The sharp tip of Troy's bloodstained knife appeared in my peripheral. His hot breath billowed my hair and his blade pressed into my cheek, keeping me still. "Why don't you hand those humans you got over to Fields, best bud?" sneered Troy in my ear, evilly.

         "Fuck you and your giant solidarity!" I shouted, unable to think of anything else. I moaned, as Troy pressed the blade to my face, drawing blood near my cheekbone.

         While I was at knifepoint, I could do nothing. Ranger Fields tossed the taser onto dryland and began plucking the human Legionnaires off me. "Bring over the spare cage, Merle!" the ranger ordered. He struggled with the resisting humans, who kicked and punched at his hands. "Give Morton the gun, he can guard the longhair."

         When all the Legionnaires were collected and corralled into that cage, our failure truly sunk in. Adding insult to injury, Troy escorted me from the shallow water, sassing me. "Next time you should evaluate your tactical approach, Vic." He thrust me, facedown on the muddy ground. "Don't underestimate your enemies. Morton, you okay?"

         "Yeah," grunted the other crooked soldier. He seemed to still be twitchy from being tased, but kept the gun in Harley's general direction. "I'll live."

         "How many more humans we got, Ranger?"

         "Seven, since you ate one Troy," replied Fields, peering into the mesh cage. One of the Legionnaires spat in his face.

         "Good, let's head back to the minimart," I heard Troy say, before he seized me by the collar, almost strangling me as he pulled me to my feet. "Our rich client Mr. Godfrey owns a medical company. Who knows? Maybe in addition to all these runty humans, his facility will have some use for two giant cadavers, for another fee."