CHAPTER ONE-HUNDRED-SIX
—still there!
Abe stared up at the Keuja. How? The monster stood there in the smoke, its armor plates blackened but not broken, its good eye still glimmering. Many tentacles had been ripped off by the blast, but the monster appeared undisturbed by the explosion, and proved that by grabbing up a Mudokon and stuffing him, screaming, into its mouth.
“Aw, [edited for your convenience]!” Oner swore.
“Don’t worry about it!” Abe shouted, though inside his guts were crawling with terror. “Just keep SHOOTING!”
The Keuja’s tentacles whirred and flailed in complex gyrating patterns. “YOU SPURNED MY MERCIES, WEAKLINGS—NOW TASTE THE FULL POWER OF YOUR DOOM!”
Abe turned and ran, shouting “Everyone get out of here! Get inside the city – we can hold him there!”
He rushed over the field of smoking craters and dead bodies with the grace of a drunken Glukkon, hearing the crackling sound of lightning coming from the Keuja. Presumably it was charging up its energies for a huge blast of destruction that would kill dozens, perhaps even hundreds, of the assorted Mudokons and Sligs.
Abe didn’t have any idea what going into the city would do – but it seemed a much better and easier place to fight off the Keuja than in the middle of an open field. At least the city had security systems that they could activate from in the palace –
Abe suddenly remembered the Snoozers.
He frowned. Were the mechanical monsters still searching for them? He remembered how much trouble they had caused he, Jake, and Stranger as they fled from Munch through the palace, and knew that the army of the Snoozers could be nearly as threatening as the Keuja itself.
Oner ran, panting, alongside him. “Can we…really hold out…in the…city?” the SKRUT gasped out.
“I…don’t know,” Abe said honestly. “We can…only hope…for the best.”
Oner shook his head. “I get it. We’re…all just…fools…groping around…in the dark…There’s no…answer…”
Abe nodded, as he ran through the open gateway. “Yeah, I—”
The Keuja released its energy blast.
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