Marty skulked at the corner of a hardware store. He didn’t see anyone on the street.


    His bird reported people sitting still in the diner. They weren’t doing anything else


    to show they were alive. What was going on?


    “How do you guys want to handle this?,” he asked into the radio built into his helmet.


    “I don’t like it.” Doug was across the street. He used a column for partial cover.


    “Where are the rest of the people?”


    “One of us should try to talk to the people.” Daryl was on the roof of the local hotel


    across from the diner. “I’ll do it. If it is a trap, I should be okay.”


    Doug didn’t like that. Cortez had come up with weapons to handle their powers. The


    diner could be one big trap designed to kill them.


    They also didn’t have any move where they didn’t try to talk to the people in the


    diner. They were victims and hostages, or they were in with whatever Cortez had


    done. Someone had to talk to them.


    And Daryl was the most invulnerable of them.


    “Go ahead.” Doug didn’t like it, but it had to be done. “Marty, get ready to pull


    something out of your hat if we have to get out of here.”


    Marty nodded. He already had an elephant ready to call. Something came after him,


    he was riding out on Jumbo.


    Daryl jumped from the roof of the hotel. She hit the street and bounced to the roof of


    the diner. She flattened out to keep from bouncing off the building. She dropped


    down and swung in the door.


    Doug scanned the street. He didn’t see anyone rushing to the attack. The diner wasn’t


    turning into some death trap. What was he missing?


    Where were the danger signs he expected from a villain like Emmanuel Cortez?


    Where were the robots, and death rays? What was going on?


    “How’s everybody?” Daryl’s mike sent her words to the others. “What’s going on?”


    “You got to get out of here.” One of the diners waved a hand. “There’s something


    under the town. We don’t know what it is, but this thing showed up and left it there.”


    “Don’t worry.” Daryl tried to smile. “We’ll think of something. Is that why you’re all


    here in the diner?”


    “Yes.” A waitress spoke up. “We were warned if we tried to leave, the town would


    be attacked and wiped out.”


    “Buildings can be replaced.” Daryl looked around. There were a lot of people in the


    dining room. “The question is how to get all of you out of here without letting any of


    you get hurt?”


    “I don’t think you can.” One of the farmer looking customers glared at her. “That


    talking cat made it clear that if we try, most of us will be killed.”


    “You can’t sit here for the rest of your lives.” Daryl frowned at them. “Eventually


    you’ll have to do something. Otherwise you’re going to die anyway.”


    “What do you want to do?” The old farmer bristled his eyebrows and mustache.


    “We have a plane down the road.” Daryl thought about it. She didn’t really plan


    things. “I can go get it, and fly you out of here while the monster is looking for you.”


    “What happens if the monster doesn’t want you to load us up?,” asked another


    customer.


    “My friends will punch it.” Daryl smiled. “They are great at taking care of monsters.


    You can believe that.”


    “So we’re going with this stupid scheme?” The one customer, a woman with too


    much weight, too much bleach, and not enough teeth stood. “This will get us killed.”


    “You’re going to die either way.” Daryl shrugged. “My way gives you a chance. You


    don’t want to spend the rest of your life trapped in a room will all these people, do


    you?”


    “Heck, no.” The farmer looked around the room. “What do you want to do?”


    “My partners are outside.” Daryl threw a thumb over her shoulder. “I’m going to get


    the jet and then I’m going to bring it into town. I’ll load you guys up and fly you to


    safety. If the monster attacks, they’ll fight it off.”


    “All right.” The farmer looked at the crowd. “How long do you think that will take?”


    “It’ll take me a couple of minutes to get back to the jet, and power it up, then a couple


    of minutes to fly back here to figure out how we’re going to do things.” Daryl smiled.


    “Let’s say twenty minutes. If anything happens, jump into whatever car you got and


    head off into different directions. It won’t be able to get all of you if you do that.”


    Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    “What happens if we do that?” The farmer looked at a truck pulled up to the curb.


    “My partners will try to provide a distraction.” Daryl wondered how big a monster


    they were talking about. What had Cortez made this time? “Just split up as much as


    possible. If we can’t hold it, we don’t want it able to pick you off because all of you


    headed in the same direction.”


    “Got it, lady.” The farmer went to the door. He looked outside. “Go do you what you


    got to do. We’ll be ready to move when you get back.”


    “Keep an eye out.” Daryl opened the door. “If the monster is triggered by someone


    leaving, get ready to run.”


    Daryl stepped out on the sidewalk. She looked down the street, before walking to the


    crosswalk. Nothing moved. The people in the diner looked out at her. The farmer


    nodded.


    She headed for the jet, bouncing along for speed. She hoped that she had came up


    with a scheme that would get the people out of the way. Cortez didn’t mind killing


    bystanders.


    She reached the jet. She took a moment to check the locks before opening it up. She


    climbed inside and bounced to the cockpit. She settled in her seat and went through


    the checklist. She hoped she wasn’t making a mistake where she got the townspeople


    killed because they overlooked something.


    At least Doug agreed with her. He had his eyes on the town. He wasn’t happy with


    civilians on the battlefield when they haven’t seen the boss himself.


    Daryl poured power to the jet’s engines. She rolled to a take off and circled back


    toward the town. She would have to set the engines to hover while she tried to get the


    people up to the jet.


    Marty should be able to help with that. He should be able to come up with an animal


    that could lift people up to the roof of the diner. Then she could drop a ladder down


    for them to climb up when she was over the pickup spot.


    She smiled when she saw the diner straight ahead. All she had to do was bring it in


    so she could hover above the place. Her instruments turned red. She turned away from


    the town. The wings came off then. She saw the ground coming up as the plane went


    into a spin. It hit a field and exploded.


    “Daryl?,” Doug ran out in the street. He looked where the fire blossomed in the air.


    “Daryl!”


    “What happened?” Marty stepped out in the street. He looked at the fire in the


    distance. He flung a bird at the site to see what he could do.


    A giant eyeless head erupted from under the diner. It smashed apart the building with


    one shrug of its smooth neck. Residents that had not been caught in the initial impact


    fled.


    “Barry, we lost Daryl and the jet.” Doug called in his radio. He didn’t know if the


    team leader could hear him. “We have a giant hostile thing on site.”


    “Do what you can.” Barry sounded odd. “We have problems on our end too. Make


    sure Daryl is okay.”


    “You hear that, Marty?” Doug picked up a car. He threw it at the head. He needed to


    keep the monster’s attention. Marty was a kid and nowhere in this thing’s league.


    Even an elephant wouldn’t stop what they were facing. “Check on Daryl.”


    “I got a bird on the way.” Marty frowned at the giant snake. “How can I help you with


    this? I don’t think I have anything big enough to knock this thing out.”


    “Daryl has to be rescued if we can rescue her.” Doug picked up another car. “Make


    sure she’s okay and then come back to help me.”


    Marty didn’t like that. Daryl was practically invulnerable, but fires could kill her.


    Someone had to make sure she had escaped the jet.


    He ran around the monster as the car flew. He called up a horse and pulled himself


    on its back. He ordered it to run as fast as it could. There had to be a way to rescue


    Daryl from the wreck if she was still inside.


    Marty rode to the scene, sliding off the horse when he reached the edge of the fire.


    His bird hovered over the wreck. It didn’t see Daryl anywhere. Was she alive?


    He didn’t have anything to fight a fire. All of his animals allowed him to do specific


    things, but firefighting was not one of them.


    He spotted pipes for irrigation. Were they still running? He asked for an elephant to


    rip up the pipes. Water shot out the open tube. He directed the animal to spray the


    water on the fire.


    He needed to get something inside of the wreck to see if Daryl was still inside. He


    might be able to rescue her.


    An explosion knocked him down. He looked at the burning mass. There was no way


    he could get into that. How did he tell Barry he had failed?


    What about Doug? He was still facing that giant snake by himself. He needed help


    too.


    “The plane is gone, Doug.” Marty called his horse again. “I’m coming back to help


    you.”


    “Don’t.” Doug sounded desperate. “This thing is too much. Don’t come back to town.


    Hook up with Barry and Jim.”


    “What about you?” Marty couldn’t believe his ears.


    “I’m done for.” Doug gasped in his radio. “Find Barry and Jim. They’re the only ones


    left. This was a giant trap from the start. Find them.”


    Marty changed course. He held back tears as he urged the horse to head to where


    Barry and Jim had gone to check.


    They had to be alive. Barry had a ton of missiles and stuff. Jim had mental powers.


    They had to be alive.


    Marty rode to the edge of the field. It had been ripped apart by fire and flying metal.


    He dismounted and walked into the broken stalks. He found Barry’s metal skull by


    stumbling over it. All the flesh had been boiled off. He didn’t see the flesh and metal


    body the skull should go with.


    Marty found Jim in a cleared space. The mentalist took panting breaths as he watched


    the boy draw closer. Blood seeped from his chest. One hand kept the wound closed


    as much as it could. The other hand seemed to be missing.


    “Trap, Marty.” Jim gasped the words. “Powers shut down. Ambushed.”


    “Maybe I can help you.” Marty thought a spider could spin a web to seal the wound.


    How much time did he have?


    “Listen.” Jim panted now. “Cortez never here. The trail was laid by someone else


    with access. Find that man, Marty. Find him. They took their dead. They didn’t take


    all of their effects.”


    Jim flopped his handless arm around. He pushed a ring into view.


    “Whomever owns that ring did this.” He closed his mouth to concentrate on


    something other than breathing. “Better run.”


    Marty took his advice. He grabbed the ring and ran from the field, mounting and


    riding his horse away as fast as possible. A column of fire marked the passing of his


    friend.


    He rode to a stop. The mission was a failure. The town was flattened. The civilians


    had been killed, or fled if they were lucky. Fire marked the plane crash and Jim


    Marley’s cremation. The snake monster lay dead. Doug laid next to it. Part of his


    body was gone.


    Marty looked at the ring. He didn’t know what the symbols on it meant. He would


    have to look for it while pretending to be dead. The team had a couple of places that


    no one knew about. He could retreat to one of them while he tried to work out who


    owned the ring he now possessed.


    The last survivor of the Hazard Scouts tossed his helmet down and rode away from


    their last adventure.