Deathstalker 03 - Deathstalker War

itself over him as he struggled, and raised a cloth hand holding a long machete. The doll snarled at the Bear, and then swung the machete down with savage speed. It was only a few inches from Bear's head when the energy bolt from a disrupter tore the cloth arm away from its body, and sent the burning arm flying through the air, still clutching its machete. The Sea Goat stuffed the gun back inside his trench coat, and hurried forward. The Bear and the doll were still struggling furiously. Bruin Bear rolled over suddenly, pulling the doll beneath him, and sharp metal claws erupted from his paws. He tore into the rag doll with vicious strength, and shreds of cloth flew through the air. The Goat had almost reached them when the earth under the broken tracks boiled and seethed, and a dozen more rag dolls came clawing up out of the ground, like the undead from their graves.
    "Don't just stand there!" Edwin the train cried to the stunned humans. "Do something! Help them!"
    "What the hell," said Finlay, starting forward with his sword in his hand.

    "Anyone who hates Bruin Bear has to be one of the bad guys."
    The others moved quickly after him, and soon a battle was raging furiously around the dug-up tracks. The rag dolls were incredibly strong and unbelievably limber, their limbs and bodies bending at impossible angles as they launched their attacks. They all had swords and machetes of some kind, the jagged blades crusted with old dried blood. The rebels' swords cut deep into the cloth bodies and out again, but did no harm. Stuffing flew on the air, but the rag dolls just smiled their awful smiles and kept pressing forward. They bobbed and weaved in horrible contortions, attacking without pause for breath, filled with an endless savagery. Julian stabbed one where its heart should have been, and the doll just snarled at him, pulling itself along the blade to get at him. Julian put his foot against the doll's yielding chest and forced it away as he withdrew his blade. The doll grabbed at his ankle, and he had to jump back to avoid its grasp. It came after him, grinning remorselessly, and Julian wondered where the hell he could hit the damned thing and do some damage.
    Finlay and Evangeline fought back-to-back. Evangeline's skill with a sword was strictly limited, but Finlay's speed and skill were enough to keep the dolls at arm's length, while she guarded his back. She cut and hacked doggedly, and tried to keep her horror to herself as the dolls just kept coming back for more.
    Finlay gutted one doll with a savage sideways sweep, and was surprised to see dark fluids that might have been blood oozing from the tear in its rag stomach.
    The doll screamed furiously, and fought on, as strong as before.
    Giles Deathstalker opened up a wide space around him, his great strength and long sword picking up the rag dolls and throwing them aside. A sneer curled his lip. As a man who'd once been Warrior Prime of the first Empire, he felt fighting a bunch of dolls rather beneath him. Until he realized that for all his
    efforts, he wasn't doing them any real damage, or even slowing them down much.
    He was facing an enemy that refused to lie down and die, and a slow chill went through him as he realized he didn't know what to do to stop them.
    Toby and Flynn stayed well back, getting it all on film. Flynn's camera hovered above the fray, close enough to get all the details, but high enough to be out of reach. Toby had a feeling he ought really to be joining in, but comforted himself with the thought that if even these trained fighters were having a hard time, the odds were he wouldn't be able to contribute anything useful anyway.
    But he still felt guilty.
    "Go for the heads!" he yelled above the roar of battle cries and screaming dolls. "They must have some kind of control mechanisms; go for them!"
    Finlay beheaded one of the dolls. The head went bouncing away across the grass, still grimacing, and the body just went on fighting.
    "Of course," said Flynn, "Since these are automatons, there's no guarantee their brains are located in their heads."
    The human fighters were slowly being forced back together in a tight knot, fighting off their ragged opponents with desperate strength. No matter what damage they took, the dolls just kept pressing forward. They were screaming endlessly now, full of rage and hatred, the horrid sound continuing long after human lungs would have failed. Giles had boosted, but even that extra strength and speed wasn't