<meta name="LineWrap" content="true"><TITLE>SR_Bk1 0038</TITLE><A HREF="SR_Bk1-0039.txt">Next (Page 39)</A><BR><P><P>"These are difficult times for my people," Emmerdine said, holding his hands out in front of him as if pleading. Then, standing up, he said "Our struggle against the tyranny of Dramptica unites us."<P><P>In the next instant, an object dropped from the ceiling neatly into Emmerdine's hand--a pistol.<P><P>"We judge our strength by the strength of our enemies!" Emmerdine yelled, and then began firing the pistol at Granticaine--shot after shot--spent shells clinking onto the wood floor. But Granticaine stood firm, wearing a calm expression as he took bullet after bullet into his chest, apparently unaffected.<P><P>Emmerdine's eyes widened, and he continued to fire. After all 30 rounds were spent, the President clicked the gun half a dozen more times before giving up.<P><P>The smile returned to Granticaine's lips.<P><P>Emmerdine dropped the gun and looked straight into the camera.<P><P>"My fellow Rovlanlampians, we are defeated. Surrender peacefully, for now," the leader said, holding his hands out again. "There will be time to continue the struggle--oonf!"<P><P>Granticaine sprang forward and shoved Emmerdine just as another gun was dropping from the ceiling. The gun clanged onto the floor as Grant spun Emmerdine around and easily ripped his arm off. He shoved the President forward, and brandished the arm like a baseball bat.<P><P>In the next instant, Grant savagely bashed Emmerdine in his head with the arm.<P><P>Emmerdine fell backwards over his desk and disappeared from view behind it. A moment later he emerged, a bloody mess, struggling to prop himself on the edge of the desk. Grant leapt forward and grabbed Emmerdine, lifting him partially up onto the desk.<P><P>Emmerdine's lips were moving, and his bloodshot eyes seemed to be pleading with Grant to listen. Grant turned his ear toward Emmerdine's lips, and nodded several times.<P><P>Then, still nodding, Grant made a sudden motion, and a look of surprise, then of death, passed over Emmerdine's face. <P><P>Grant heaved the President onto the desk, sans the lower half of his body. <P><P>The bloody mess landed clumsily on the desk and then rolled onto the floor with a splat. Grant then grabbed the side of the desk and shoved it aside with such tremendous force that it was propelled through a large window, resulting in a hail of broken glass. Viewers worldwide saw the camera shake as the crew tried to shield themselves from the flying shards.<P><P>Granticaine knelt down, raised his fist, and then brought it down hard onto Emmerdine's dead face. He propelled his fist through the head and into the floor, splintering the wood into a gory mess.<P><P>Then the soldier hero lowered his head and paused a moment. The cameraman stood up and backed away a little, trying to get a good shot of the enemy leader's destroyed face. Then Grant looked up into the camera, an unearthly fire burning in his eyes.<P><P>"Next," was the word heard round the world, a word that would soon be the latest catch phrase and T-shirt favorite.<P><P>The reporters dropped the camera and sound equipment and bolted away. The sideways image of Grant kneeling over Emmerdine's ruined form remained for a few moments, then sputtered into snow and static.<P><P>Granticaine clicked his remote and shut off the TV. The words Emmerdine had spoken to him--the words of a man who knew he'd be dead in seconds, were "Strip mine the blue hill in True, god." His tone had been almost mocking, challenging. <P><P>Grant wasn't sure why, but he'd lied about what those words were. He told the press and his superiors that the enemy President had said simply, "My family is no part of this--do not punish them." And oddly enough, this lie of Grant's almost certainly saved the life of Emmerdine's son, a military leader.<P><P>"Oh, again Grant!" said Joy, one of the naked girls at either side of the war hero.<BR><A HREF="SR_Bk1-0039.txt">Next (Page 39)</A>