War

When the sun’s rays started to hit the horizon, the little band of handcrafted vehicles drove across the sand in a hurry.  8 vans, 3 motorbikes speed toward the tall walls of Plastic Beach. Ren and Bandie lead the little fleet, bundled up in blankets and goggles.  Bean sat in one of the vans, bouncing around nervously.  Horne was talking to one of the adults, worrying about the triplets they left behind at the Oasis.

As the forehead of the rose, they were on the compound.  The blankets flew off as a signal.  Like a well oiled machine, everyone got into positions; Bean climbed into a small compartment, opening up a smaller box.  Horne climbed up a ladder, throwing open a hatch and holding their hands on a built-in machine gun.

The van that held Bean sped up past Ren and Bandie, jumping over a dune.

“NOW,” Ren shouted into a hidden headset.  Bandie stood in her seat, her grey afro blowing in the wind.

“Not yet,” the children whispered to themselves.

As the van sped closer to the walls.

“BEAN, WHAT ARE YOU DOING, FIRE.”

Bean saw the walls were 50 yards away.  The van hit the breaks hard and started to skid.

“FIRE,”  Horne yelled.

Bean pressed a button.  A rocket flew from the side of the van and into the wall, creating a dust cloud and debris.  When the rocket soared, Ren sped up as well and hit the breaks.  Bandie jumped up and screamed bloody murder at the dented wall, causing the hole to cave in.

Sirens rang through out Plastic Beach.

“Light ’em up!” Ron said, putting two wires together, causing the homemade bomb to blow up.  The hole that opened up lead right to one of the hangers that housed the ships.  Teams of 3 scattered to various ships, Ron finding the one he had called home.

A few others started to open the hanger doors.  Bullets rang through the hanger.  Security rushed in, about 10 or so, opening fire on people.  Some were grazed, some weren’t so lucky.  Ron was fumbling with the controls, telling the two on his team what to do.  He tried to ignore the gunfire and screaming.  The power came on in 8 ships.  Engines started to roar.  Bullets kept flying.  A giant metal rod came flying through the air from the entrance of the hanger, hitting one of the security in the chest, pushing bits of lung out their body.  Another one soared, knocking into one of their heads.  Charger and 3 others rushed into the hanger, swinging giant hammers made from metal and concrete.   They swung them a knees, chests, heads, stomachs, leaving carnage behind.  2 more of Charger’s people entered, helping people navigate the ships out the hanger.  When Ron left his ship to find Charger, there was a dead body at his feet.  He stared at the body, remembering it was the person who translated the book.  He bent down and closed their eyes, before rushing to Charger.

“You ready?”  She asked, getting into one of the vans that was housed in the hanger.

Ree and Sasha were in the resort, helping other people make their way to the hanger in hidden tunnel.  Ree was guiding people into the tunnel while Sasha was trying to gather people to safety.  Sasha saw security trying to fight through the waves of people.  She whistled loudly and started pushing the people she was herding into the tunnel.  Just the hatch to the tunnel closed, security showed up.  Sasha looked at Ree.

“I’m gonna go to the next floor.  Get these people to safety,” she said, taking a left out a fork.  She must have gotten turned around at some point because she felt like she was going for far too long.  As she rounded a corner and opened a hatch, she was snatched up by a red hand.

“LOOK AT WHAT YOU’RE DOING,” Raz roared, shoving her face roughly into the glass window.  To the east, smoke bellowed.  To the west, the giant tree that once stood tall was gone.  Sasha smirked.  Raz threw her to the ground and started to pace.

“I can’t find my cousin.  People are pulling my funding to keep this place going.  I will NOT have this place shut down, do you hear me?!” he bellowed, kicking Sasha in her stomach. Even with the wind knocked out of her, Sasha couldn’t stop laughing.

The vans drove through the empty streets of Plastic Beach, looking for people to round-up.  They were close the hanger before Ree dashed out in front of them.  She waved them down.

Ren pulled up and Bandie ran up to her.

“Ree!”

“BANDIE!”

They hugged and squeezed, Bean and Horne rushing out.

Ree hugged them all, kissed their heads.

“Now isn’t the time.  Sasha is missing.  I think she’s still in the resort, but it’s locked down!”

Bandie and Bean looked at each other and ran up to Ren.

“We need to go to the resort!”

“What!?  But the hanger–”

“RESORT, PLEASE.”

Bean walked back to Horne.

“You gotta come too.  You have that sweet hand gun.”

Ree took Horne’s place for machine gun duty and rode off to the hanger.

Ren’s little motobike squealed through the resort, rounding its way to the pool area.  Bean looked around, looked up and spotted Sasha.  Well her hair.

Raz had her pressed against the window again, two hands around her neck, two hands holding her hands up against the glass.

Bean pointed to his siblings before making Ren stop driving.

“How do we get up there?”  Bandie asked, watching the window.

Ren looked around and saw a giant slide and a bad idea.

“Ohhhhh, boy.  Okay, bops.  Hold on.”

He revved the bike up before taking off toward a flight of stairs.  They rode them to the walkway.  The zipped and zoomed by lawn chairs and tables.  Ren jumped the bike and sidecar over a railing, landing on a wide water slide.  As they rode the slide down, the screws that held the sidecar to the bike came out.  As they peaked over the ramp at the end of the slide, Ren’s bike took off to the left, while the side car made a shot toward the window.

Raz’s hands suddenly fell off Sasha’s body as he fell back, seeing 3 children in a sidecar, bust through the window.  Where glass should have been, it was harnessed in a ball of blue.  Bean’s eyes were wide, hands holding an invisible ball in front of them.  Bandie stood behind Bean, her eyes sparkling.

“Fire!”  Horne shouted.

Bandie screamed, Bean let go of the ball.  The shards of glass threw themselves into Raz’s body.  Raz stared wide-eyed at the children, falling over.  Everything seemed to move in slow motion to him.  The twins made their way to the lifeless body of Sasha, trying to move her.  Horne was walking to him, drawing a gun.

Horne placed the barrel to Raz’s forehead.

“W-Wait–”

“No.”

The gun clicked.  Purple blood sprayed into Horne’s face.