Previously: Twain was shot during an interrogation by Biryukov, the bald Russian, while Digger was falling from a flying ice cream truck. An ice cream  truck that had just exploded with Metalord inside. And now…
As Digger fell, he saw the shards of the exploded truck curve through the air and circle back toward their origin. The cloud of smoke from the explosion was shredded by a thousand whirling fragments. And in the center of the whirling maelstrom, a human figure coated with white-painted bits of metal, some scorched, some still bearing colorful traces of shredded decals advertising frozen treats.
The firing of the AA batteries had stopped with the explosion from the missiles, but as Metalord accelerated down toward the plummeting Digger, he jerked to the side as tracers pounded into him. Digger heard his grunts of pain above the sounds of impact, but Metalord was apparently a lot tougher than Digger thought, because the shells didn’t penetrate. He spun and gestured and the tracers veered around them. Digger felt himself pressing back into the cushioned seat as his fall slowed. He turned his head to see where the anti-aircraft fire was coming from and saw tracers shoot down from the sky to their point of origin. A small cloud of dust rose and the firing stopped.
Metalord had drawn close to Digger’s falling seat by this time. They were still falling, though slowly decelerating. Metalord apparently wanted to avoid any more fire by flying just above the rooftops. Digger looked back over his shoulder and saw the ground closer than he expected and coming up faster than he liked.
“You are going to stop us before we hit the ground, right?†Digger shouted.
Metalord groaned. “Yeah, just give me a sec…â€
[blockquote type=”blockquote_quotes” align=”right”]He turned his head to see where the anti-aircraft fire was coming from and saw tracers shoot down from the sky to their point of origin. A small cloud of dust rose and the firing stopped…[/blockquote]Digger’s chair slammed into the ground. Digger’s head snapped back and smacked the pavement. and everything went black.
He came back to mumbling voices that he couldn’t understand. A small crowd was forming around them. Everybody looked Asian, for some reason.
Oh yeah, China. He groaned and tried to get out of his mangled seat, but he was still strapped to it. A man who had been coming forward with one hand outstretched jumped back. Had he been trying to help, or looking to steal Digger’s valuables? Not that Digger had any valuables for him to steal.
Digger didn’t care. He unsnapped the seat belt and rolled out of the seat with a groan.He climbed slowly to his feet. There wasn’t a part of his body that didn’t ache and protest every movement, and when he touched the back of his head, his hand came away wet with blood. The crowd shrank back from him. Digger heard sirens approaching. They needed to get out of here.
He looked around for Metalord, saw Cole lying naked on the ground surrounded by white metal fragments from several inches long to tiny shreds. The T-shirt and shorts he’d been wearing had burned away in the explosion, apparently. Digger had wondered what limits Metalord had, if any. Apparently, they had been reached. He bent to help Cole up, but everything got twisted and he ended up on the ground beside him, the world swimming around him.
Will Digger and Cole end up in Chinese custody after all? Join us tomorrow for our next exciting episode!
To read from the beginning, click here…
