Nicholas Smith - Captives

X slowed and came alongside the long speedboat with the octopus logo. A dolphin poked its head above the surface, gazing at him the way an old friend might. It was as if the creature knew he was a friend and wanted to wish him well in the fight against the monsters that ate its species.

Rhino jumped out of the boat.

“Come on!” he yelled.

X looked away from the dolphin and followed Rhino up the side of the airship, using a rope for support. At the top of Deliverance , the right flank of Cazador soldiers moved away from the prisoners to face the onslaught of militia and Hell Divers.

X climbed quickly, his wet bare feet slipping on the airship’s curved hull. Portholes provided windows inside, but he didn’t check for any people looking out. Screams sounded above, and when he finally summited the airship, he saw why.

El Pulpo brought a double-bitted axe down on Bronson White, splitting his head and spraying the deck with blood. Ensign Dave Connor was already dead from multiple stab wounds.

The bastard was killing the crew one by one.

“No!” Ada yelled.

Layla held the crying girl in her arms.

Other prisoners were here, too, including Magnolia and a woman X recognized from the banquet room. Both were in bad shape, their faces battered and swollen.

But where was Miles?

The Cazador soldiers looking in his direction started to step away from the group when they saw X and Rhino. One of them, not wearing a helmet, smiled a jagged grin.

“Sofia!” Rhino shouted.

The girl with Magnolia looked up.

The king turned, his axe dripping with blood. He moved away from the prisoners, dragging Miles on a leash. The dog wagged his tail, and his eyes brightened at the sight of his master. X almost shouted his furry friend’s name.

“El Pulpo!” Rhino yelled, beating his chest once, then twice.

El Pulpo heaved the axe up over his shoulder and walked away from the prisoners. He grinned, but the ugly smile vanished when Rhino raised a sword and leveled it at the octopus logo on his chest armor.

It didn’t take El Pulpo long to realize that his lieutenant hadn’t returned to help kill the sky people. He had come to kill his king.

The raised sword wasn’t a show of respect. It was a challenge.

X handed Rhino his sword. “You’re going to need two,” he said.

El Pulpo snorted, realization apparently setting in. Then he lifted his axe and turned it on Miles.

“NO!” X shouted.

Before the Cazador king could bring it down on the dog, someone burst through the cordon of soldiers and slammed into el Pulpo so hard, he fell down.

The man was wearing Hell Diver armor but no helmet. Long hair, pulled into a ponytail, hung to his shoulders.

X couldn’t believe his eyes. It was Michael, and he had a robotic arm.

El Pulpo screamed from the deck, giving his soldiers orders. They all fanned out, but the Hell Diver wasn’t alone. His small team and the militia soldiers and Hive civilians had taken down the soldiers on the other side of the ship and were making their way up to the top.

X pulled his pistol out and ran to join the fight, with Rhino by his side. Michael managed to get on top of el Pulpo and slugged him in the face, but the massive Cazador king slipped a hand around Michael’s neck and lifted him into the air like a sack of potatoes.

X lost track of them in the scrum of armored bodies and prisoners. He fired point-blank against a Cazador’s skull, then swung the pistol into the next man’s nose, smashing it. He followed up with a bullet to the chest as the guy went down on his knees.

A break in the chaos gave X a glimpse at Michael and el Pulpo. The octopus king still held Michael in the air in one hand. He used the other to smash him in the brow, opening a cut over his eye. He dropped Michael to the ground and went for his axe.

“Michael!” X shouted.

The disoriented diver staggered to his feet and put his fists up like an old-world boxer. He threw a wobbly punch with his robotic hand, which only drew a laugh from el Pulpo. He easily moved away from the blow and grabbed Michael by the ponytail.

He brought the axe up in his other hand and swung downward, only to have the blade deflected by Michael’s robotic arm. The two men separated, and Michael threw an uppercut that knocked several of el Pulpo’s teeth out and sent him stumbling backward.

Attaboy! X thought.

Again the crowd blocked X’s view. He ducked under a spear and shot his last bullet into the belly of the man wielding it. Then he unslung his rifle and smashed the butt into the helmet of a Cazador soldier with his back turned.

The man dropped, providing X a window through the fighting. Michael was on his feet again, and so was el Pulpo.

X smashed another Cazador in the side of the head, then jumped over a downed militiaman. The Cazador king drew a long knife from a sheath on his belt. He thrust it at Michael, who moved out of the way only to catch a glancing blow in the back of the head from a Cazador’s hammer.

Michael sank to his knees.

“Tin!” Layla shouted. She tried to make her way over but went down in the melee.

The man with the hammer lifted it high to bring it down on Michael’s head, but X darted over and swung the rifle butt, unhinging his jaw. Then he turned the other end on the man and shot him in the chest.

Bringing the muzzle around, he pointed it at el Pulpo, ready to finally end this. But before he could pull the trigger, another titan of a man grabbed the king.

X lowered the rifle, remembering his promise to Rhino. He moved over to Michael while the two behemoths went at it.

“You okay, kid?” X asked.

Michael held a hand to his bleeding scalp. “X… You came…”

As X helped Michael to his feet, he heard a bark. He looked for his furry best friend in the chaos but didn’t see him. He watched Rhino throw his king to the deck. He brought an elbow down on el Pulpo’s face, then went to work with his fists, pounding him over and over.

Blood splattered the deck and teeth rolled out. The octopus king twitched several times and then went limp as Rhino finally stopped the onslaught. He remained on top of his former master, chest heaving, sweat and blood dripping down his battered face.

X’s and Rhino’s eyes met, and the two men exchanged a nod of respect.

A flash of fur bounded over several corpses to reach X.

“Miles!” X shouted. He bent down to unfasten the collar with the inverted spikes and was rewarded by a wet tongue slapping his face. But X didn’t have time to celebrate the reunion.

A guttural scream came from Rhino, who gripped the hilt of a knife that el Pulpo had jammed into his gut.

The sneaky bastard had played dead.

El Pulpo pushed the big man, and Rhino slumped on his side, eyes still locked on X. They exchanged another nod—weaker this time, but confirmation enough that it was now on X to kill the king of the Metal Islands.

X waved Miles back. “Stay, boy. I’ve got one last thing to do.”

The dog barked as X waded through a group of militia soldiers battling Cazador soldiers. He pushed several soldiers out of the way before he saw their leader.

Just ahead, Cole Mintel raised the double-bitted axe that el Pulpo had dropped. His muscular, tattooed forearms flexed as he swung it and split open the back of a Cazador warrior.

X reached out, and Cole tossed him the axe. He caught it in the air and gripped the shaft in his callused hands. A militiaman aimed a revolver at el Pulpo and pulled the trigger, but nothing happened.

The Cazador king grinned and grabbed the man by the head, turning him toward X. It was Monk, the bearded old guard who used to stand outside the armory. He tried to scream, but nothing came out as el Pulpo twisted his head and jerked it sideways, snapping his neck.