The huge flyer wasn’t alone. In moments the rumbling and dust from ground mechs accompanied the thunder. Even though the ground mechs should have worried Goa more, the gleaming structure hanging in the sky was what drew his attention, its great thrusters blowing hot air down into the snow covered city. It was slowly moving towards them, turning as it came, searching, it seemed. Ejecting smaller flyers from its many dark ports.

He knew what that meant. The cannibal’s did too. And they seemed they were just as interested in protecting themselves as they had before with him and Kel.

They had weapons. Even some impressive ones, considering the squalor they were living in. But against mechs, against that?!

He wondered how many greggas they had lured down here, how many they had killed to gather such a collection.

The children and the women who had become visible briefly when his eggs had exploded were gone now – disappeared back into the building, and if they had any sense, were using whatever escape routes they had.

More men, who hadn’t bothered to check him out like the others came out, and not with their hands empty. Goa was impressed. They were willing to sacrifice themselves for their families, for their children by taking on the giant mech, and they we doing well, all things considered.

The weapons the men had were impressive and the offered impressive fire against the approaching mech. They had rocket launchers they held on their shoulders, and even some kind of a beam weapon.

The men shouted, then they fired again in unison. He could also see spurts of ground fire further away.

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Streaks of light flew out into the sky towards the flying mech battering it with explosions as they impacted, filling the sky with billowing fire and smoke.

Could they have actually done damage to a flyer of that size? Goa had never actually seen that done before, and he’d had more than one run in with mechs. Normal, sane behavior was – fist run, then hide, finally pray. Often that was all mixed together.

But, unfortunately, still tied up as he was, an unwilling audience to the battle, Abek was left to only the last of the three. And he was aware prayer alone was usually the least effective way of surviving a mech attack.

He could see something did fall from the smoke and fire. Something blew off the thing. Something small, however. The main body of the mech seemed completely intact, despite the fire from below.

Goa struggled, managed to get the post to move in the ground, actually move, not just shift a touch. The mech’s thunder surrounded him, as it began firing back at the cannibals. He could feel a hot wind blowing down at them, him.

It was not the best of places to be caught; but Abek struggled as best as he could. He almost got the post to move out of the ground when the main blast got too close. If he could just lift the post up a little, then at least he could get down on the ground and not be such an inviting target.

A building to the right was hit and exploded. Fire blew out into the air. Shrapnel blew around him, hit the surrounding posts and the ground. Abek shut his eyes, then opened them. It didn’t look like he was hit, yet. At least not by anything lethal.

Steady bursts blew the open ground ahead of him with dirt and snow and flying parts of blasted bodies.

Frantically Goa tried again to free himself, felt the post finally beginning to fall forwards. It was working. He was just about to get himself free!

A screaming roar filled his ears, he looked in the direction, seeing a sustained beam of light cutting through the ground towards him, blasting earth, metal, stone into the air. Then there was a deafening peal of thunder and he was thrown backwards. As he hit the ground, he was again bodily wracked with pain. Then again, everything went completely black.