The Shasta Caper, Chapter Sixty-One

                         Chapter Sixty-One

Samuel, Jimbo and Nanny tensed as the Dragon Snake, which it resembled with its vestigal wings and huge scaly snout with blood red eyes, and row after row of pointed scales that alone could kill or crush someone to death, suddenly came out of its trance.

It slithered closer, its snout lowering to get a closer look at them.

The Leader of the Damned raised his mike to his mouth again as more spotlights lit the area of the Tube Battlefield, spotlighting the Dragon Snake and each of the three humans below facing it. "Just look at this site, ladies and gentleman. Mein Fuehrer! They represent the culmination of human history in the Upper Earthers, and what do you see?"

The crowd roared, "DEATH!"

"Exactly. Death and destruction. They are nothing compared to our might and glory. The Aryan race is gloried in us! Now without further comment, I leave you to this brief spectacle of subspecies fighting subspecies!"

Jimbo raised a bone in his hand and shook it at the Leader of the Damned. "You're so damned tough, get your ass down here and fight me man to man!"

The chamber went deathly quiet.

Jimbo thought maybe it was really going to happen.

Then the Crowd roared with laughter.

They began clapping their hands together over and over. "Death. Death. Death!"

Jimbo snarled angrily and glared at the huge Dragon Snake. "It may eat me for a snack, but not before I take a piece of it with me."

Samuel tried to restrain  his friend. "It's not over yet."

"You always say that before the proverbial poo hits the fan, Sammie! It's been nice knowing you. See you on the other side...if there is another side." Jimbo growled, then charged the Dragon Snake.

Before the Dragon Snake could react Jimbo leapt onto its back and ran lightly up its spine, then thrust his bone spur into its right eye. The Dragon Snake roared in pain and frustration, its gigantic tail lashing across the battlefield. 

Samuel grabbed Nanny and threw them both to the left, as the tail swept through where they had just stood. A second longer and they would have been mashed to pieces by the sharp scales of the snake.

Jimbo looked up at the startled Leader of the Damned. "Who's so high and mighty now, you stupid cow dung!"

Jimbo gauged the distance between him and the Leader and leaped. He barely caught hold of the platform as it began to lift, urged on by the Leader, who realized he was in danger.

The crowd began jeering and booing.

The Leader of the Damned stiffened and turned around, just as Jimbo climbed onto the platform. He towered over the Leader, his eyes bloodshot and filled with anger.

"I think you had something to say to me!"

The Leader reacted quickly. He unholstered his weapon to fire at Jimbo, who kicked it from his hand, then slammed a fist into his jaw, sending him plummeting into the Tube Battlefield.

The Leader of the Damned lay there stunned, gathering his senses, his gun several feet away from his hand, when a shadow fell across him. He looked up.

The Dragon Snake was looking into his face, flicking its tongue hungrily.

He rolled to reach his weapon.

CRUNCH!

And just like that he was roadkill for the Dragon Snake as it lifted its head with the Leader of the Damned clenched between its jaws.

The Leader of the Damned look to his fellow comrades. "SAVE ME!" He begged.

Silence.

He looked up. The entire crowd looked up.

Hitler rose slowly and with great effort, then raised a thumb in the air.

Even the Dragon Snake was caught up in the moment, its eyes catching the movement high above.

Hitler's thumb turned downwards.

CRUNCH!

The Dragon Snake tore the Leader of the Damned's body in two, sending sprays of blood and gore across the battlefield.

Nanny screamed in horror.

Samuel pulled her close. He felt the horror as well, knowing that they would be next.

The crowd roared with cheers, then began clapping again.

"Death! Death! Death!"

Jimbo looked at the controls of the platform he stood upon. A lever clearly marked up and one down, and two to the right and left. He played with them as the Dragon Snake upended its head, allowing the remains of the Leader of the Damned to slide down its throat into its stomach.

Then it eyed Samuel and Nanny and its tongue flicked across its snout hungrily.

Jimbo moved a lever left and almost threw himself off the platform.

He caught himself, then pulled it gently to the center again, stabilizing the platform. "Gotcha now, baby!" He snarled with satisfaction.

Samuel and Nanny fell back as the Dragon Snake lowered its snout and slitered noisily across bones, snapping and crunching them as it neared. 

The Crowd kept screaming, "Death!"

Hitler remained standing and watching the oncoming slaughter.

He was too far up for Samuel to get a clear view of him, but he could swear the man didn't look right in some way.

Samuel's attention snapped back to the Dragon Snake as it closed in on him and Nanny.

"Nanny, you have to listen to me." He told her.

She was shaking so violently, he thought she might be having a heart attack or a seizure. 

"When I charge the snake you must run behind it and to the opening on the other side."

"I won't abandon you!" She said through gritted teeth.

"You must try!" He urged her desperately. 

She looked into his face and saw his determination. "You and Jimbo are something else."

She swung her arms about his neck and gave him a quick kiss on the lips, then as he ran for the snake and shouted, "NOW!" She ran around its side for the exit.

Samuel was about to be engulfed by the Dragon Snake's huge mouth, when something from above swooped down and a powerful hand grabbed him by his right arm and swung him upwards, almost wrenching his arm out of its socket. He landed on his side on the platform that Jimbo had commandeered.

"Sammie!"

Samuel looked up and grinned. "My hero!"

"You bet your pretty...blank and blank...I am." He said with a grin.

"Hold on, buddy!" He ordered, and as Samuel gripped at the railing next to him, Jimbo swung the platform around and shot upwards, just as the Dragon Snake hurled itself at them. 

It missed, but barely.

It caused Samuel to be flung off the platform. He caught the railing in the nick of time, but his feet and legs hung dangerously in reach of the Dragon Snake, which whirled around swiftly, its right eye still bleeding from Jimbo's thrust and launched itself again.

Jimbo urged the platform higher towards the nearer balconies.

The crowd cheered and clapped as the Snake barely missed them again.

This time Jimbo dropped lower, then caught the Dragon Snake's good eye. "Here kitty, kitty!"

"Hang on, Samuel!" He warned, then as the Dragon Snake coiled itself to strike, he raised the platform to the same level as the nearest balcony.

Some of the crowd there kept cheering, but others were starting to get nervous. No one was armed. They had never had anything go so horribly wrong before. Some realized what could happen and leaped from their privileged chairs to swarm towards the exits. Before they could reach it, the Dragon Snake  shot upwards at the taunting Jimbo. 

He shot the platform straight up.

The Dragon Snake landed in the first balcony.

SCREAMS!