The Crimson Phoenix

Monster Rampage and Power testing.

ROAAAAAAR!

The giant, muscular chimpanzee roared as it tore a soldier into two before dropping the body on the floor. The whole scene was totally messed up and both complete and incomplete bodies filled the ground. Most of the vehicles on the road were either upside down or burning... or both at the same time. Lots of blood and detached body parts were scattered around and the smell of blood was enough to make someone with a weak stomach puke.

Sergeant Reyes was panting sat on the floor and leaned his back on a fallen van. He was badly injured and he was bleeding. As a master sergeant who had war experience, this scene was not too surprising to him but even this was too gruesome.

The giant chimpanzee kept looking around and sensed that someone was hiding behind a van. It growled and walked slowly to the van on all fours. Noticing that the monster was approaching him, sergeant Reyes’s heart skipped a beat. His heartbeat suddenly became fast and he held his breath. He didn’t move a single muscle and tightened his grip on his gun, which was almost out of bullets. He was already too injured but the adrenaline coursing through his body as a result of extreme fear, gave him some time to live. Besides, his injury wasn't too grievous, at least not enough to kill him.

The chimpanzee was already extremely close to the van and its wide nostrils were blowing out hot air. Sergeant Reyes was in a state of panic and was already saying his last prayers. Just as he closed his eyes and expected death, a loud engine was heard approaching from afar and closing in on their position. The sound of the engine came from a gunship helicopter. The lamp of the gunship shone on the chimpanzee and attracted its attention.

The pilot was a bit shocked when he saw the giant chimpanzee. ‘What kind of animal is this?!’ He thought to himself. The black face of the monster had a few light wounds on it and it bared its teeth at the gunship pilot. The pilot went through the controls of the gunship and activated the weapon system. He flipped the cover of a joystick-like control, which had three red buttons on it. He aimed at the chimpanzee.

“Target is still alive and standing. All men on site are dead. There are no survivors I repeat there are no survivors.” The pilot reported back to his headquarters through the communication device in his helmet.

In a room filled with screens and computers, security operatives were monitoring the giant chimpanzee transport operation. With a commander supervising them. The commander was a burly man and he had white beards and white clean-cut hair. His face was filled with wrinkles and he was a man in his late fifties. He shook his head and sighed. Thirty minutes prior, they had received a distress call from Sergeant Reyes saying that the package had broken out. They were supposed to send more men but sergeant Reyes reported that ordinary guns did not affect it so they decided to bring in the big guns and send a gunship helicopter to the scene. Hearing that there were no survivors, the commander and all the operatives monitoring the operation at the war room were disheartened since this meant that sergeant Reyes was dead too.

“This is commander Liston. Destroy the target, I repeat, destroy the target.” The commander ordered through a microphone on one of the desks.

The pilot nodded, “Orders received and confirmed.” He replied and gave the monster on the ground a fierce look, “Looks like it’s nighty night for you sonofabitch.” He cursed and he pushed the button. The machine gun barrel on both sides of the gunship began to rotate and then started to spew out red bullets.

DUDUDUDUDUDUDU!

The giant chimpanzee roared but the painful bullets didn’t stop so it tried to cover its face with its hand. The gunship didn’t stop firing and this greatly annoyed the giant chimpanzee. Sergeant Reyes hoisted his gun and seeing that the chimpanzee was busy with the gunship, he decided to make a run for it. The pilot was just about to fire a rocket but noticing a head pop out, he didn’t shoot.

“Whoa, I’ve got a survivor on site!” He reported to the base and looked closer only to find out that the head that popped out from behind the fallen van was Master sergeant Reyes himself. “It’s Reyes. He’s still alive.” The commander at the base heaved a sigh of relief. He was happy that Reyes was still alive and so were the other operatives in the room. He then issued new orders.

“Okay, lure the target away from Reyes. This should allow him to escape. Do you copy?” He ordered. If Reyes was to make it back alive, he wouldn’t get too much of a scolding from the upper echelons.

“Roger that sir.” The pilot replied and he increased the intensity of his shooting before he now started to back away. This annoyed the giant chimpanzee and it began to run after it. Seeing that he had gained its attention, the pilot turned and went full speed ahead, in the opposite direction from where sergeant Reyes was. Reyes breathe a sigh of relief and strained himself to get up. There was still a van that was still good, so he used that one to drive away after seeing that the giant monster was already far enough from him.

After seeing that there were no more restrictions and that sergeant Reyes had escaped successfully, the pilot controlled the gunship to face the chimpanzee and empty its ammo clip on it. He fired rockets at the monster.

BOOM!

The giant Chimpanzee was just about to jump when two rockets blasted it back to the ground. It fell and tumbled for a while before stopping. The rocket injured it heavily and it groaned in pain. It tried to get back on its feet but the pilot didn’t give it any chances and he just kept on firing, causing more wounds to appear on its body.

RRAAAARH!

The monster gave out a loud shriek before collapsing to the ground and lying there lifelessly. The pilot moved the helicopter a little closer and seeing the monster not move, he believed it to be dead.

“Target is down sir. Kill confirmed.” He reported. The commander and the remaining personnel in the room all felt relieved and happy. The monster that took the lives of many soldiers was finally dead so this was good news to them. The gunship didn’t linger there any longer and it returned to base.

Meanwhile, the deep wounds on the giant, muscular chimpanzee’s body were beginning to heal. The holes in its back began to close until the monster looked totally unscathed… well, except for some scares which it already had on the face since a very young age before it was taken away as a test subject. It opened its eyes and it stood on all fours. It looked around for the gunship that shot it but it couldn’t find it so it entered the woods. It kept moving and suddenly got to the top of a hill, where it saw a cluster of lights afar. The monster looked at it for a while before it decided to go full throttle in that direction. Where it was headed, was Sky Hills.

************

Leo was busy playing with a lit match. They kept using the flame to project different objects and he was getting pretty good at it. He was just trying to get proficient with his power and he suddenly thought of something. ‘If the flames don’t affect my outsides, what about my insides?’ He thought to himself. He then decided to try it out with his tongue. He stuck it out and controlled the flame to land on his tongue. He didn’t feel pain but he felt better. It was like he was tasting something sweet so he swallowed the flame but what he didn’t like happened. He felt his stomach itch and when he opened his mouth, a little ball of flame burst out so he was forced to cover his mouth again.

Seeing that he needed to expel the fire from his belly quickly, he opened the window and like a dragon, breathed out a fire that came right from his stomach, lightening up the vicinity.

WHOOOOOOOOOOSH!

The neighbors were all surprised as they all felt a sudden heat and a strange sound like the sizzling of a welding torch. They saw a bright orange light through their window so they all looked out to investigate but Leo had already closed his mouth and closed his window and gone back to bed. His stomach was still itching and he really wanted to expel all the flames in his belly so he waited patiently for the neighbors to return to their houses and rooms before he quickly expelled the remaining fire inside him. The neighbors were all alerted again and they went back outside to check while some other ones peeped through the window but they didn’t see anything.

Leo felt better now and he went back to sleep. It was still midnight and he would have to wake up early for school.

“Logan will not believe me if I told him that I literally breathed fire. He’ll be like, ‘wait, so you’re a dragon now?!’” Leo mused before going back to sleep. He couldn’t feel hot even if he was in a volcano so he wasn’t too uncomfortable.