Page 10 of Game on Askole

“We’re at war. What did you expect?”

“We arenotat war with your planet.” Voss’s eyes were cold with menace.

“News flash. The Jones clan declared war on all Coletti invaders.”

Boom!A propane tank blew up, sending shards of metal rocketing in every direction.

A chunk of the tank hit the saloon’s hanging sign, knocking it loose. It swung down.Thwap!The metal hit Voss in the back of the head. He toppled over like a pole-axed steer.

“Consider yourself rendered senseless.”

Someone shouted, “Tai-Kok! The Tai-Kok are attacking!”

Everyone totally freaked and charged toward the underground bunkers located beneath the Gilded Lily whorehouse, which, unfortunately, was on fire.

The tourists were going to get themselves crispy fried. Using my mind control powers, I herded them toward the parking lot.“Run as fast as you can. Get in your cars and go home,”I ordered mentally.

Except for a few people with natural shields, the tourists obediently ran for the parking lot.

A young Coletti warrior stepped into the street and shouted, “Halt, humans!”

The crowd simply went around him.

I did a fist pump. “Ha! They’re under my control. Beat that, you not-so-scary warlord.”

“Halt, humans!” the warrior shouted again.

A madder-than-hell middle-aged woman yelled back, “You bloody, goddamned alien freak. The only thing you’re eatin’ today is lead!” She yanked a sawed-off shotgun from her rather large purse and started blasting away at the warrior.

The pellets pinged off the warrior’s battle suit.

Oh my God! She was going to get herself killed. Before I could react, the Coletti warrior teleported behind the woman and yanked the shotgun away.

The woman fainted. The warrior slung her over his shoulder and teleported.

A big black guy armed with a TEC-9 pistol fired wildly at the spot the warrior had been seconds before.

I ducked behind a wooden Indian as bullets whizzed by. I needed to find Sam and make a run for the border.

Another explosion rocked the shuttle.

A burning seat crashed into the roof of the train station. The wooden shingles caught fire.Whoosh!Flames flared, golden and greedy. I gaped in astonishment as the inferno raced along the rooftops of Old Tucson. Oh, crap. One of the last remnants of the Wild West was about to become history, and not in a good way.

“Behind you, Sarah,”a female voice called.

I spun around. An Apache princess on a big brown horse galloped toward me.

“Sam?”

“Who the hell do you think would be riding to your rescue? Godzilla?”

My grandmother called Sam her little hellion. Her sweet, innocent, girl-next-door looks were the perfect camouflage for her not so benign nature. My cousin had been part of Central Command’s mobile response team before they turned on us.

Sam didn’t deal well with betrayal. Her now ex-boyfriend, Jed, turned her over to the military police without blinking an eye. Sam quickly escaped custody and blew up Jed’s pride and joy, a ’68 canary-yellow Mustang.Sucks to be him.

Sam held her hand out.“C’mon, Barbie, move it. The Coletti have called for more reinforcements.”

I grabbed her hand and swung up behind her. Ever since she was eight years old, Sam had been calling me Barbie. She said I was the spitting image of her favorite doll. As if.

---