I am pushing the fist away, but the juggernaut’s other hand smacks into me, hurling me clear across the street, through the first floor of a department store and onto the next street. A maglev car swerves to avoid me and crashes into another storefront, bursting into flames.
My body is aching and it is feeling like metal is broken inside me, but I am not feeling fear when I struggle back to my feet and wipe oil from the side of my mouth.
Gunfire. It is pistol. Small-caliber, and bullet is pinging against too-strong surface. I am knowing just from the sound that it is Grace shooting at juggernaut, and I am running back and jumping though department store, over counters and through broken windows, and when I am coming back out onto first street, I am seeing juggernaut holding Grace in the air by her neck and her legs is flailing and she is soon not breathing. So I am running even faster and jumping and curling into ball that is hitting the back of juggernaut’s knee. Juggernaut is falling to one knee. I am skidding to a stop on my feet, then I am running and leaping into the air and punching juggernaut in the helmet with all of my force. Helmet is not denting, but juggernaut is staggering backward and raising arm that is still holding Grace, and then I am kicking that arm at the elbow so that it is snapping and short-circuiting and finger is letting go.
Grace is falling into my arms and coughing and when she is seeing who is saving her, her body is tensing. But I am saying, “It is okay,” and running away and scanning empty building that is burning on both sides of the street. And I am scanning and scanning and my brain is telling me how many floor each is having and where furniture is being and what it is being made out of. Then I am seeing building to my left with basement and I am running into it, even though upper three floors will soon be falling down. But basement is safe and empty and is having food and water in it. I am crashing through broken front door and running down first stairs, then I am running down underground stone hallway until I am getting to steel door with passcode scanner. Grace is climbing out of my arms to go to passcode scanner, but I am going straight to door and finding groove with my fingers and pulling and pulling and pulling, even until my arm is paining me, and pulling some more. And at first door is not moving, then slowly, it is groaning against the stone floor, and I pull it open just enough for Grace to get in. Then once she is inside, I am pushing it closed with my back. Then I am smashing my fist into passcode scanner so nobody else is opening door and bringing harm to Grace.
As I am going back upstairs, I am realizing that Grace and I are not speaking words to each other, but she is knowing to be letting me carry her to safety and I am knowing that I am to be keeping her safe, even though no one is telling me to do this thing and no one is telling her to be trusting me. And I am thinking that maybe it is like this when I am speaking to the synths and we are not moving our mouths but we are still speaking. Maybe this is how it is for the red-bloods when they are not moving their mouths but are still speaking. And understanding. I am glad that Grace is trusting me. And I am hoping that I am keeping her safe.
I am walking quiet quiet back to the street where is juggernaut, but I am not seeing it. Even with all the information that my braincase is sending to my retinal display, I am seeing no juggernaut. Then I am listening through the hiss and crackle and pop of building on fire and the faraway shouting and shooting and I am focusing. Then at the last moment, I am hearing the whirr that is telling me machine gun is soon firing. Then CHUDCHUDCHUDCHUD as bullet is chewing up the ground where I am standing. And I am running and running until I am jumping into abandoned home and leaping over furniture and finding cover behind wall while bullet is chewing chunk out of it.
In front of me is stairs, and I am hurrying up and up two floors until I am getting to attic. Through window, I am seeing where bullet is coming from. Then whatever is shooting is sighting me and bullet is crashing through window and I am flinging myself onto the floor and clinging to it. All this time, I am not seeing juggernaut but I am knowing that it is shooting at me. While bullet is firing, I am counting second, because I am knowing that it is needing to calm down soon to keep from overheating. Then I am hearing the slowdown and I am leaping through the window and sailing through the air. Wind is caressing me as I fly, and I hit the ground and roll forward in time to hear FWOOMP and see grenade speeding toward me. I roll away and it explodes, and ground around me is shooting up into the air like fountain water made of dirt.
I am still not seeing juggernaut, but I am knowing that it is near, and I am knowing too that if I am being too close, it is not firing because it is not wanting to injure itself. As dust and smoke is clearing, I hear FWOOMP. Another grenade is flying toward me. I jump to it, scoop it out of the air, and spin so I can throw it back at where I am knowing juggernaut is standing. Loud BOOM is crashing through the street, and building not far down the road is collapsing, and I am knowing that it is falling on juggernaut. But I am also knowing that it is not killing juggernaut, so I am crouching and making myself ready for when it is coming.
The rubble explodes outward and juggernaut stands, then charges toward me, STOMP STOMP STOMP so that the ground is shaking. It is winding up one fist and when it punches, I am moving to the side to dodge. But its torso swings all the way around. I catch the fist with my hands but it sends me flying into the air. I flip and land on my feet but when I look up, juggernaut is almost on top of me. It slams both fists down, but I scramble through its legs and climb onto its back. It is swinging and fighting and trying to shake me off, but I am clinging fast and beating its armored back with my fists and making small small dent but still making dent so making progress. I am banging and banging, but then it is reaching behind and grabbing my shirt and flinging me in a circle before throwing me so hard I crash through the window of an empty bus that is on fire.
It is taking me too long to get back up. I cough black oil onto the pieces of glass under me. The seats are black and torn from fire and violence. Before I can come all the way to my feet, bus is shifting underneath me. Juggernaut is picking it up and shaking it in the air like it is toy, then it is throwing it down the street, and my body is crashing back and forth and side to side as bus is rolling to a stop with me in it.
Many thing is broken inside me so that I am seeing static every three seconds and I am not being able to move. Giant hand crashes through the bus frame and wraps around my body, then pulls me out and I am not being able to move as juggernaut is pulling me close and squeezing and there is being static and static, but I am also seeing crack in its helmet and oil leaking from face that is having nose.
I am damaging it.
Pain is shooting through me as it is squeezing, and my legs is dangling, and it is squeezing and squeezing and I am knowing soon that I am going to be dying. It is raising its other fist to be crashing onto my head, and I am not being able to move. It is going to kill me.
I close my eyes, then squeeze my arms tighter to my body. It is causing my whole chest and stomach to feel on fire, and I am hearing many thing snapping, but I am sliding out of its grip just as other fist is coming down. I land on the ground in a crouch and tear open the skin over my ribs to pull out a broken metal rib bone, then, through the pain that is knifing my whole body, I run and slash at the armor over the juggernaut’s stomach. It reaches for me and I slide behind it and slash the back of its heels to make it to be falling, then I am stabbing my rib bone into its spine and pulling it up and spark is flying and it is squirming and moaning and we are both being covered in oil as I slice open the back of its helmet that is coming away like calabash bowl that is breaking.
It rotates its torso too fast and I fall to the ground. I am too slow to get up because juggernaut is then palming my head and lifting me off the ground. It is on its knees because it is not being able to stand, and it is holding itself up with other hand, but it is squeezing my head and I am seeing and hearing nothing but static and I am knowing that thing is breaking in me that is not going to be fixed. But when I am not seeing static, I am seeing misshapen face and mouth that is opening, and I am knowing that this is where grenade is coming from.
In between bursts of static, I am hearing the sound it is making as it is preparing to fire grenade at me so close, and I am barely moving, but I am able to raise my arm that is holding my metal rib bone and I am jamming it into the juggernaut’s mouth so that grenade is not firing at me.
I hear thunder and feel nothing but fire and the feeling of one million ocean waves breaking over my body.
I am not knowing where I am landing. Somewhere far away. But my face is on the ground, and no matter what my brain is telling my body, my body is not doing. So I am lying there as sound is fading and sight is fading and fire is raging all around me, and then I am seeing small small body trapped under burning building and body is not moving. And tear is coming to my eye, because I am knowing it is Uzodinma and I am saying to myself, You are dying too, and it is question and answer at the same time, like I am knowing that I will never be seeing him again and yet hoping that is a lie.
Then darkness.