Previously….

The final cat leaped towards them. John shot its foreleg off, so when it landed, it slid towards them. Just as it came to a halt, John blew its head off.

The way seemed clear now, so the group walked up to the house and into the gate.......
…………………………………….
…………………………………….Continued……………..
The gate was still open, which caused John some concern, so he was on his guard.

Sure enough, as soon as the small group crossed the threshold, a loud grinding noise caused them to turn. It was too late to help one warrior who was too slow and off-guard.

As he was sent flying, a good twenty feet across the courtyard, hitting the wall, leaving him is a battered heap on the ground. There was no point checking him, as the awkward position of his head and limbs showed them he was dead.

Standing, resolutely still, yet menacing by its very presence was an enormous gorilla. It was obviously a robot, as had the panthers and tiger, but of a scale far bigger and more powerful. John felt it was larger than a bull African elephant he had seen in a zoo. It was simply massive. It also appeared to be quite old and battered, as it was covered in dents and the metal showed rusty in places. In short, it looked as if it had been in a fair few battles.

The survivors all shoulkdered their guns as one and commences firing.

However, at 40% power, the beast simply stood there with its eyes glowing faintly. It was not harmed in any way.

“Turn up the power to full!” shouted the tracker.

John recalled the almighty kick he received when he fired it in practice.

“Is that not too much?” he asked.

“Possibly, but if you brace yourself against the wall, then you should be fine,” said the tracker.

They moved back, watching the beast warily as they increased the power on their guns.

“Fire only short burst. Otherwise your weapon will over heat and your energy will be wasted quickly,” said the tracker, as they took up defensive positions against the wall.

Obeying the man’s instructions, John he backed against the wall and aimed his gun, firing as soon as he had a sight-picture. The recoil was still as bad as it was the first time, but as he was braced against the wall and prepared for it, he was able to deal with it. He smiled wryly, thinking that his shoulder was going to sport a lovely bruise if he survived this fight.

Despite being on full power, the energy bolt slammed in to the side of the gorilla’s head, sending a shower of sparks, but only leaving a few more dents.

Realising that this strategy could not work, John looked for an alternative. Thinking quickly, he changed hands, grasping the gun’s hand-grip with his left hand and drawing his sword with his right.

Running in a zig-zag pattern towards the beast, he dodged the flailing arms and leapt high up its back, slicing with his sword as he did so.

He took a small slice off the very top of the skull, but enough to ram the gun’s muzzle into the hole and pulled the trigger.

There was an almighty bang, and John was unable to retain hold of the gun as he was sent flying over the wall. Much to everyone’s amazement, the top of the gorilla simply exploded, a sight John was unable to see, as he landed in a painful heap on the other side of the wall.

Never having seen anything quite so brave, or so stupid, the tracker took a few moments to understand what he had just witnessed, then he and the remaining two warriors went to check on John.

They found him face down on the ground. Half expecting to see him dead or dying, they were pleasantly surprised to find him relatively unscathed. He was unconscious, but was showing signs of coming round.

The larger warrior picked him and carried him back through the gate. The tracker collected John’s gun from where it lay on the ground some distance from the wreckage.

They stood for a moment staring at the wrecked animal. Then the tracker led the way up some steps to an open door. Cautiously, they entered, just as John regained consciousness. The warrior gratefully helped him stand, as the man was tired and John was no mean weight.

They found themselves in a long gallery-type hall, lined with display cases. In the cases were many different weapons and parts of robots. Many were the heads of familiar beasts that they had faced recently. As the group walked through the hall a voice came over the intercom system.

“I see that you have made it past my beasts. That is such a shame, for the gorilla was one of the first and best creations of my youth. I’m amazed to see it destroyed quite so easily. Now let me see you handle what I have in store for you inside the house!”

An erie silence reigned as the intercom cut off, leaving the group looking at each other.

“Who the hell was that, the mad-man?” John asked.

“It seems he knows we’re here, so we have lost the element of surprise.”

John laughed.

“Yeah, surprise is kind of hard when you cause explosions like that. Mind you, I’m amazed that I wasn’t badly hurt.”

The tracker looked sheepish. Ah, I suppose you’re right, but it shook me to hear his voice like that,” admitted the man.

“Well, no point worrying, let’s get on and finish this!” said John, hefting his sword and leading the way.

The hall ended at a door, which was unlocked. Wary of attack, they opened it to look down a long and empty corridor. They went down one at a time, with the last warrior facing backwards in case of attack from behind.

They were all surprised when the floor gave way, as it was a simple trapdoor.

All lost consciousness in the darkness.

John was the last to come round.

He was on the floor of a room with a locked door and no window.

“Where are we?” he asked.

“Somewhere in the basement. All our weapons are gone,” the tracker said.

Aware that without his sword, he could not get home, so John became angry. He walked over to the wall and punched it.

It hurt his fist, but he was staggered when he saw the four inch deep mark his fist had made on the metal wall. This was enough to calm him down.

“What the hell, how did that happen?”

The tracker and the warriors came over to examine the dented metal. All looked at John in some wonder.

“You’re stronger than you look. This might explain how you can kill those beasts when even our guns hardly scratched them.

“I didn’t know I was that strong.”

John wondered how this could be. Perhaps this world was less dense than Earth, or perhaps the laws of physics were different. It could be that the sword had empowered him in some way. All he knew was that he had never been this strong before.

He walked over to the door and punched it, just as he had done to the wall.

The result was the same, so, taking a few steps as a run up, he took a flying kick at the door and knocked it clean off its hinges. It laned with a crump on the floor outside..
The tracker and warriors looked at each other in amazement.

“Ah, we have a way out, it seems,” said the tracker, grinning.

“We need to find our weapons, and then we can take care of the lunatic,” said John, leading the way again.

John dodged right back in again, as a monster with a gaping mouth lunged at him.
Upon examination it was a squat hippo, only made of metal.

The hippo attacked again, so, using the tusks as apivot, John grabbed them and vaulted over the hippo’s back.

“Stay in the room,” he yelled.

Once more the hippo attacked, and John felt the cuts on his shoulder re-open painfully.

Managing to clamber onto the hippo’s back, he repeatedly punched the top of the robot’s head until he breached the metal skull. However, just as he had made a hole big enough to grab some of the internal wiring, the hippo shook him off its back. Unaware of its vulnerability, the hippo charged again. This time John slid under the stubby legs and used both his legs to send it flying with a powerful double kick. It landed in its side a few feet away, so John walked over before it could get up and ripped its circuit-board out of its head.

Breathing hard and feeling the sharp pain from his old wounds, John leaned against the wall to recover.

“Okay, come out now. I think it’s dead.”

Seeing the wrecked animal, the others came over to him, obviously worried by the amount of blood that now flowed from his open cuts.

“Let me fix your shoulder. Sit down,” said the tracker, opening his own shirt.

“I’m not sure I can walk, as my ankle cracked when I kicked that bastard.”

John slid down the wall to end up sitting on the ground. He watched at the tracker took something from a small bag that hung around his neck.

“What’s that?”

“Don’t worry about that. It will heal you, that’s all you need to know.”

It turned out to be a syringe and a small vial. He watched as the tracker inserted the needle into the vial and drew the liquid into the syringe. The tracker injected most if it into johns shoulder and the rest into the sprained ankle.

John watched in disbelief as his shoulder healed before his eyes.

“What the hell is that stuff? My shoulder is healed up, and my ankle feels as if nothing happened.”

“We call it Healitall. It’s a synthetic drug that will cure just about everything.”

“Why didn’t you use it after the first cat fight?”

“For the same reason as the guns. It’s technology and we always try to do things naturally if possible. We should get out fo here,” the tracker said.

Testing his ankle, John shook his head in wonder.

“Okay, let’s go!” he said.

Weaponless, the four men sought a way out.
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