Inside Straight

“Sweetie,” she said. “We have to get these bubbles in the air, or it’s only going to be Simoon’s sandstorm to stop all the planes and helicopters they throw at us. So it’s not really me you’re hitting. It’s them. Just think of it like that, okay?”

Rustbelt smiled, but the expression seemed forced.

“You ready to try again?” Bubbles asked.

“Sure,” Rustbelt said. “Let’s try it.”

“Okay. Beat the shit out of me.”

Rustbelt closed his eyes and swung. The impact sounded like a car wreck. Bubbles put on another thirty pounds.

“Much better,” Bubbles said. “Do that again.”

“Okay,” Rustbelt said. “You know, this is really uncomfortable, though.”

Bubbles nodded. “That speaks well of you, sweetie. Now hit me.”

~ ~ ~

Well, folks, we didn’t know what dam they’d cross at, only that we had to hold them off at the places where they’d only be able to get at a few of us at a time. Lohengrin, Curveball, Earth Witch, and Simoon were south with almost a hundred of the followers of the Living Gods, ready to get to the High Dam if they came across there. Holy Roller, King Cobalt, Fortune, Rustbelt, and Bubbles were at the Low Dam where they actually attacked. I went with all of them.

The Egyptian army came at us right at dawn. I always thought that was a cliché, you know? “We attack at dawn.” Turns out there’s a reason. The sun really does get in your eyes. Well, not mine, since I was mostly bugged out by that point.

~ ~ ~

The boats chugged out from the east bank, dark marks in the sun-bright water. Hardhat and Sobek squatted by the shore. The croc-headed joker hunkered down, his hand shading his eyes.

“This could be a problem,” Sobek said. “If they reach the island—”

“Those dick-lickers have about as much chance of getting out here as I’ve got of ass-fucking Mother Teresa,” Hardhat said cheerfully. “Watch this shit.”

The first girder appeared across the bow of the first boat, forcing the craft lower into the water. There was the distant sound of voice raised in alarm. A second girder appeared. The boat rode lower, water lapping up over its sides.

The other boats hesitated as the lead craft tried to turn back to the shore. A third girder appeared. The boat sank. The boats idled and then turned back.

Sobek chuckled.

“Elegant,” he said. “Could you do that to all of them? If they all came at once?”

“Probably not,” Hardhat said, folding his arms, “But I could fucking sure get the first two cocksuckers, and then let the pussies fight it out who gets to go third.”

“They’ll have to come by land, then,” Sobek said.

~ ~ ~

It started with a few boats putting out from the east, back toward the islands. That was just a distraction. The big push was at the Low Dam.

It’s eighty feet from the top of the Low Dam to the river north of it. The top of the dam is about as wide as a two-lane highway and about two miles long. We’d put some barricades across it—an old bus parked at an angle, a pickup truck Rustbelt tipped on its side, some cars we’d commandeered. Every hundred yards or so, out to almost the middle of the dam, we had something to hide behind. And on the far end, the army was making cover of its own.

That was where they came.

We didn’t keep everyone. You should know that now. We lost one right off. But he didn’t die a stupid death. Honest to God.

~ ~ ~

“It’s a bulletproof shield,” King Cobalt said, leaning against the upended pickup truck. “Like riot police use. I just hold it toward them like this, charge in, and when I get there, I’ll rip ’em apart.”