Chapter 36: Clock tower
[ D-day 0 ] [ 00 : 00 : 00 ] [ United Kingdom ]
While the government assured its citizens it's perfectly fine to stay home, they did not listen.
After all, what is freedom but to flout rules that the government tries to wave in every one's face on every media possible !
The yorkshire park, pembroke coast and even the excessively remote northumberland park were filled with campers.
At the stonehenge, it was akin to a pagan religious festival opening. There are thousands of people surrounding it along with the army.
Only difference ? Most of these people are armed, with at least one sort of designer heirloom rifle.
The princes themselves were patrolling the perimeter, looking all spiffy in their brand new uniform and epaulets.
Unlike other countries, The British did not even send an initial foray into their portals. They have no idea what sort of creatures will come out of the portals.
As the clock struck zero, and the big ben's ringing echoed on the Thames, so did a strange thundering from the stonehenge.
The earth jiggled, and every one had a bad premonition.
They always expected the beasts of the stonehenge to be a bumber surprise.
However, even then, they were not prepared for the true surprise that the giant rock assembly gave.
The first mammoth was out of the portal before the people could come to their senses.
It was twice the size of a wooly mammoth.
Given the smallest beast in the portal comes out first, one could imagine the size of the leader from this little babe that ran out first.
The guns blared, and the mammoth lay dead before it took two steps.
A silence descended on the entire field, as people who have become spread out in a greater area due to the land expansion, stopped and stared at the portal.
Then, the thudding sound from inside once more, this time, a lot more intensity.
At that moment, it's like all the pandemonium broke loose.
In a media RV with a gigantic dish antenna, Oliver was waiting along with his secretary Richard Millar.
" Richard ! Do you think Kamala is out there among those running people ? " he asked, looking at his secretary.
" There, sir ! that Gray van with the Royal Banner ! I believe she's with the prince ! " Richard exclaimed.
" Damn ! She's got military power ? " Oliver exclaimed.
" Sir ! There's something more important. I believe she's about to give out safety instructions. We need to begin the broadcast ASAP ! " Richard said.
They did predict the Mammoth's but currently, everything is beyond their predictions.
The portal, which was ten meters in height, still allows for a twenty meter Mammoth to come through.
" Go eastwards. We need to go up the mountain route. I believe the mammoths' will make for either the moors or woodlands. We need to gain higher ground. "
Oliver commanded.
" Hello dear citizens ! This is senator Oliver Bode here. Please head to the higher ground ! I repeat once again ! Head to the higher ground, head to the higher ground ! " the senator repeated.
However, only few of the people following them were affected, the others are still running helter skelter like scared ferrets.
" Damn it ! we need a better way to attract attention. " Oliver exclaimed.
He does have a little military experience, and a little hunting experience.
" The death whistle ! Let's play the death whistle, at the highest volume possible. The Mammoth's might come to us, right ? " Oliver thought, as he looked at the people.
As he watched, A gigantic Mammoth of twenty meters size ran straight for the military truck.
With one hit, the truck was overturned.
Oliver could see the people in the RV, people, whom he greeted every day in the morning as he headed for the houses.
" Play the whistle ,now, at the highest volume. " Oliver commanded.
He was the one to force the decision of not exploring the portals beforehand.
Sure, the land expansion has greatly reduced casualties. However, the situation here is still dire.
He came into politics hoping to change the country. However, the past two years have proven to him it's not an easy task. He does not have enough power, sometimes, he does not have enough guts to make the risky decision.
But damn if he sees people die before his eyes without doing anything.
" Sir ! " Richard exclaimed, knowing full well this piece of whistle is especially researched by Oliver, it is extremely effective on Mammoth's. Or at least so the prehistoric researchers believed.
" We only live once in our life, Richard. " Oliver said, his eyes determined.
Richard's eyes filled with awe, as he agreed.
Yes, they are probably going to become smashed into paste when all those mammoth's come racing after them, but they will at least buy enough time for the rest of the people to escape. If this could clear enough space for the aircrafts to come through, then maybe, maybe they might stand a chance to live.
" On my mark ! Go ! " Richard said, then he played the death whistle.
The horrific screaming reverberated through entire camping grounds.
The mammoths' came to a screeching halt.
Then, as if they were possessed, they started running towards Oliver's truck.
At this point, they still do not know. The death whistle sounded exactly the same as a newborn mammoth baby's death cry.
Everything they did today, they over achieved the effect.
The mammoth's are bigger than expected. The trouble was bigger than expected. The planned diversion was bigger than expected.
Oliver had already let go of all media personnel. Oliver drove the van himself.
He was a dirt track champion.
However, it is one thing to compete with friends. It's entirely another running away from a group of raging mammoth.
Oliver probably had used all of the heart health he has accumulated in his short life.
This ride was more thrilling than running away from bullets in afghanistan.
Fortunately, while there are many mountains around, only one of them is a mountainous cliff. All the rest are gentle slopes, so the RV drove incredibly well, making sharpest turns running over hills.
Five jets flew in the air in a V shape following his RV.
All of a sudden, the leader of the formation reversed his direction, at the same time, coming closer to land.
Another driver might have taken some time to respond, but Oliver was trained for this due to his military experience.
A swift left turn let their RV jump to the next hill, where he took it up the mound once again, while the aircraft came face to face with the mammoths.
There were two flashes at the bottom of the aircraft. The sound arrived later, just as he twisted right, shifting over to the next mound.
" Richard, play the whistle again. " Oliver told him.
These mounds have a strange way of echoing sounds, given all of them are of similar height and the wind is at once free and trapped, due to the sharp ravines underneath, and the widely opening vista up the mounds.
Richard played it once again, as per the senators request.
The entirety of the hills echoed with the sound of screams, almost as if they had entered the valley of death on middle earth.
The recently emerged Mammoths which were about to head for the crowd, stood stock still in their places for a moment.
The next second, they started running a mad rage towards the mounds.
The air force, which had formed a ring around the portal, realigned itself, and formed an arrow towards the raging Mammoths.
Now that he had nothing to do, Richard opened the live broadcast.
" Greetings, Ladies and Gentlemen. I am Richard Millar, secretary to the senator Oliver Bode, currently on a mad dash towards our death by squishing. As you all know, Stonehenge turned out to be a portal for mammoths. What you do not know is that Senator Bode and I had done our research about Mammoth's prior to the opening of the portal. Like most of our patriotic citizens, we arrived here all spruced up to kill the beasts of legend. However, like the old wise men say ~ Man plans, god laughs.
We have grossly underestimated the size and destruction capacity of the Mammoths. They are not just the estimated size of ten meters in height, but there were twenty meters, even thirty meters tall Mammoths. If you are in doubt, I am going to flip the camera, so you can see. " Richard said, pointing to the herd of Mammoths running for them.
" I know, I know ! All you could see is only clouds of dust and black shadows, but believe me, they are as tall as those black shadows. This kind of dust storm only happens when sufficiently large animals run at you with an impossible speed. As for why they are following us that desperately ?
Senator Bode and I came across an implement called Death whistle during our research. It was implied the paleolithic people used it for Mammoth hunting. We brought it with us - Yes, it's antique, and no, we are not stealing it. We grossly underestimated the effectiveness of this whistle. It sounds like an old woman being tortured, but for whatever reason, the Mammoths' are right angry about this sound. Perhaps they find it as disgusting as I do ?
Oh.. ! Damn ! " The camera shook as Richard held it by the skin of his teeth.
In the distance, an explosion sounded.
" Now, it's time for our last message. Gods ! that dust storm is awfully close " Richard exclaimed.
" Richie ! Let's run at our full speed ! " Oliver shouted from the driving wheel.
" What ! Senator ? Aren't we going full speed ? " Richard exclaimed.
Just as the dust storm was about to touch them, Oliver increased the speed to full throttle.
Richard screamed like a little girl, as the RV jumped straight out from top of one mound to another.
Gifts
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received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone