Trash Rising Part 4

Trash Rising Part 4
A Story by Scott W. Taylor


Last Time in Trash Rising: technology has been discovered that can transform the entire human race. The team of scientists and explorers that were sent to find this ancient weapon fell foul of this technology, mutating into five of Earth's most powerful entities, and are at present locked in a toxic battle with their former employer, Harold Zarkmann A.K.A. Major Malice. What shall become of the world now that this evil has spread all over the world, bringing with it chaos and confusion..?  

The muscles on Danny Mult began to grow and increase in mass as he picked up one of the large computer stations, uprooting it from the very ground. A mass of severed cables and sparking wires hung, suspend around him as he lifted the computer station above his head, and then hurled it at Malice.

The vicious creature fled in a quick burst of panic. The computer terminal landed square in the centre of Malice’s control panel. A direct hit!

Suddenly the satellites on the view screen were deactivated, and one by one began to explode in the vacuum space. But had the world been saved?

Our heroes were not out of the woods yet. A reaction in the core of the machine began to create chain reactions in and around the complex.

‘Lets get out of here!’ Commander Trash shouted the order.

It didn’t take the five mutants long to reach the room they originally appeared in, and there, sure enough were the two serpent head sceptres, the very artefacts that had magically whisked them to their destiny moments earlier. 
'How do we activate them?' Dirk questioned as he picked up the two traitors, Bob and Goon, lifting the two unconscious and placing them both under each arm as if they were luggage. 
'Bob and Goon just touched them' Cinderella replied as she inspected the two gold sceptres. She touched one of them and instantly a bright vortex of energy spun and materialised in the negative space between the two artefacts. 
'Come on!' ordered Johnathon Trash. 'Let's het out of here!' 
Dirk, with Bob and Goon unconscious under each arm, brought the two across the threshold, and returned with the rest of his colleagues.

Malice watched from the shadows as, one by one, the five disappeared back through the magical gate, back to the realm of Earth.

‘I will have my revenge' he vowed. 'You meaningless trash, you putrid flotsam and jetsam. You scum! You….I have to get out of here!’
That last explosion sounded too close for comfort.
 Malice quickly moved away to safety.

Back on Earth, the heroes stood for a while, trying to absorb everything they had witnessed, as well as everything they had achieved.

To say that it had been a very strange day seemed to be an understatement.

'We're back outside the temple' Dirk witnessed, looking up at the great structure that had supposedly been constructed centuries before even the first documented civilisation. 

'Indeed' agreed Commander Trash, soberly. 'But things cannot be as they were. We are in new territory now. Who knows what Malice's machine has done to the human population of the planet.'

The others remained wistfully silent.

'We need to take the transport and head for the coast. We need to get to civilisation and fast, and assess the extent of the damage. In all likelihood we are going to have to prepare for the worst. Worst case scenario, people everywhere are going to be scared; they're going to be frightened. In that eventuality we five will have to get organised, and recruit aid, and make sure a level of government and leadership is established. That will likely be our first priority. It won't be easy, but we will have to make a stand.'

'Who's with the Commander!' shouted Cinderella. 

The other four placed their hands on top of their comrade's hands as they all took a vow. 

As the vehicles reached the coast it became more and more evident that their fears were well founded. The towns had been abandoned. All authority too, it seemed, had absconded leaving behind the remnants of civilisation. 

The vehicles stopped. In what appeared to be a small, but once thriving resort, all seemed to be deserted. Shops and supermarkets looked like they had been looted and vandalised. 

'The people have fled in fear' Commander Trash postulated as he emerged from the driver's side of the vehicle. 'Who knows how far this condition has spread.'

'Could be the entire globe as far as we know' Denny added, rather shocked and surprised. 
'If Lima is anything to go by...I seriously hope not' Cinderella offered.
'Come on!' Commander Trash ordered. 'Lets find a gas station, fill our tanks, and move to the next town. Surely this can't be the situation everywhere.'

The next town they reached a bit further up the coast told a different story. Here, the vandalism was already being carried out...not by human beings, but by those who had undergone the change. Gun shots echoed through the streets as the screams of the terrified and the confused followed. It appeared that no one had been spared the mutating effects of Malice's machine. The town itself was crawling with the most unusual and bizarre individuals. A humanoid with tentacles reached out and grabbed a bench, uprooting it and sent it hurtling into the crowd. Another Humanoid had a head like a lizard and breathed fire over a school, bringing the entire structure tumbling to the ground in moments.
'This whole place has gone mad!' Denny Mult exclaimed.

'Sadly true' added Commander Trash. 'The same thing's happening here. The criminals are loose. Innocent people are rightly afraid. We have to put a stop to this!'
In the distance an explosion vibrated through the air like an Hiroshima bomb. The heroes stopped and looked. So did everyone else in fact.

What had caused such an explosion? Did it really matter? Under the circumstances it was hardly the most news worthy of circumstances to have occurred that fateful day.

Quickly, the Trash Commandos used their mutant abilities to round up and subdue the troublemakers, then hurried back to their vehicles and decided to leave. An hour or so went by. They arrived at an empty beach and began to prepare for the coming nightfall. They needed shelter, shelter enough to work, to prepare. They soon came to realise that, when the world was at risk from a dangerous threat, when there were billions of people, their lives in peril, there were five changed individuals the huddled masses could rely on, and count on to save the day…

They were The Totally Freaky Trash Commandos!