1.16: biggest Little Monsters
The children instinctively formed a phalanx as the gremlins surrounded them. Billie stood in the middle, shouting and waving commands, such as “Watch that one! There’s one over here too!” More and more gremlins appeared all around them. The little monsters were waving jagged metal and broken shards of glass. They slobbered and howled in hatred for the young gnomes.
Among the gremlins was their pack-king. He was the biggest of the gremlins, almost as big as Fimf, and his head was like a battered tire: notched and round and deformed. The gremlin chief held, what must have been a marvel of gremlin craftmanship: a heavy stick, with a block of jagged metal pieces tied to one end. The gremlin lord wore a thick and frayed multi-color blanket. The colors of the blanket had faded with age, neglect, and the general ickiness associated with the life of a gremlin.
Behind the gremlin mob came the roaring contraption. It was a gremlin war-machine, standing as tall as a door, and it looked like a series of metal rubbish cans had been refurbished to make a deadly robot. It was created from disposed and rusted industrial parts from the abandoned factory floor. Gremlins couldn’t create moving machine parts like gnomes could, but they were excellent at finding, stealing, and repurposing parts. The machine had dynamos and hydraulics, in various states of repair, and the interior purred and sputtered with a sloppy, mechanized terror. Some components were in well order. Some puttered and shook, giving the contraption a jagged and janky movement.
The machine was operated by a team of gremlins on the inside, protected by the metal armor. However, the coordination of the gremlin team was lacking. The machine raised its sword very slowly and then the blade fell swiftly as the machine walked. It razed a path through the mob of gremlins, crushing and decapitating unobservant gremlins as it stumbled.
The gnomes were surrounded, and Billie began crying and screaming, “Don’t let them get near me! One of you, do something!”
Groawn and Fimf raised their weapons. They had no chance of survival, and the fear of death made their ears ring and the throats burn.
As the gremlins charged the children, Gerbs flew in above their heads. The mechanized rodent magnified his vision of Mag, who was thrashing his rusted wrench at any gremlin that got too close. Gerbs remembered seeing the look of shock on Mag’s face, back at Magical Production Supply, and he knew that Mag was good, in contrast to the fierce gremlins he saw beneath him now. Despite his condition, Gerbs had an urge to help the young gnome, who was now in apparent danger.
Gerbs lifted his arm and a tiny laser shot from a small hole in his fist. The laser hit the large Gremlin contraption, burning a needle sized hole in the metal of the trashcan-like armor. A “yipe!” from inside the contraption was clearly heard, but the hulk continued on its path toward the children. The speed of the laser attack was notable, but the damage was lacking.
Groawn noticed that the gremlin contraption was operated by internal gremlin drivers. While a team controlled the legs of the machine, it seemed like only a single gremlin controlled the sword arm. Pinpointing the sword arm was the most efficient attack. Using the remaining managerial magic he had, Groawn magically commanded the gremlin inside the tank to “STOP!”
Growan’s authority as a manager was supreme, and even Billie paused for a moment when Groawn made his magically-enhanced command. The word, “stop” rang like it had been stated from a siren, and it echoed through the empty and ancient material racks all around them. Immediately, the contraption’s sword arm ceased. While the contraption continued on its path into the middle of the children, it was no longer swiping its jagged and massive blade. The juggernaut had been pacified, for the moment at least, which allowed the children to focus on the mob of gremlins and their king.
Author’s note: This page was created because my friend Jason commented on Instagram that he was reading and following this website. Before Jason’s statement, I had given up on making new content. As an artist, I am always trying to find an audience, even if that audience is a single person.
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