"There is a word in our language. Chuen. "
Chiun looked interested. "Yes?"
"It means monkey."
"Pah," said the Master of Sinanju.
"You ask me-" Winston Smith laughed "-you looked kinda like a chuen when you were up in that tree."
That was enough for Remo and Chiun. They decided right then and there that Winston Smith needed an emergency bath. Smith was apprised of their decision when they picked him up bodily and tossed him into a scummy jungle pond, rucksack and all.
When he emerged, Smith stood trembling and dripping while he bestowed several colorful but uncomplimentary new titles upon their persons.
The Master of Sinanju decided he wasn't as thoroughly clean as they thought and took it upon himself to wash Smith's Mouth out with a bar of Lava soap taken from the rucksack.
After that, Winston Smith became a much more agreeable traveling companion.
Chapter 42
En route to Oaxaca, Comandante Efrain Zaragoza encountered a sight that filled his patriotic soul with rage and fear.
Refugees. Mexican refugees. They were a mix of city chilangos like him and rural mestizos.
"The monster!" they cried, weeping. "He has taken Oaxaca."
"Then the monster is doomed to die," Zaragoza returned.
The refugees dribbled down in colectivos, mopeds and taxis. The thin trickle became a river and soon a flood. The road became impassable.
Zaragoza rode in the turret of a light armored vehicle. It ran on six huge tires like an APC but sported a formidable 25 mm Bushmaster autocannon. It was very nimble.
"Leave the road to the refugees. Take to the ground," he radioed to the column at his back.
The column left the road and moved on.
The ground was open, growing increasingly hilly, then mountainous. But they would make it. They would retake Oaxaca and end the madness that had been unleashed on a perfectly civilized nation.
Farther along they encountered the straggling remains of Montezuma Barracks.
They limped down in blistered Humvees and APCs.
Linking up with his counterpart, Zaragoza demanded, "Why do you flee?"
From out of his turret the commander of Montezuma Barracks lifted a portable television set. It was on, and on the screen was the incredible sight of the demon Coatlicue herself, surrounded by circle upon circle of indio warriors and adherents.
"We were outnumbered," the commander said.
"You have modern guns. I see only sticks in the indios' hands."
"I am not speaking of the accursed indios. La Ponderosa herself outnumbers us in her sheer enormidad. She crushes tanks under her stone tread. She smites helicopters from the very sky, after first shrugging off their rockets. There was no stopping her."
"I have orders to vanquish her."
"Prepare to be vanquished. Adios. "
The APC's engine roared anew. It lurched forward.
"Where do you go?" Zaragoza demanded.
"Chiapas. Perhaps Yucatan. It may be safe in Yucatan."
"This is desertion, Commander."
"The capital is a shambles, and Oaxaca is ruled by demons and indios. There is nothing to desert unless a miracle also springs out of the wounded earth."
As he watched the armored column with its demoralized crewmen rumble south to the relative safety of guerrilla-held Chiapas, Comandante Zaragoza gave fleeting thought to joining the parade of survivors.
But he was a soldier true and loyal to his nation, and he had visions of making general one day.
"Onward! " he cried. "We drive on Oaxaca. "
The column moved on, trembling because the aftershocks continued at irregular intervals.
It seemed as if the whole world had gone mad with fear and panic. It was no wonder that the old gods walked again.
Chapter 43
In a village whose name Remo couldn't begin to pronounce, they were told in no uncertain terms that Subcomandante Verapaz was marching on the city of Oaxaca.
"What's in Oaxaca?" asked Remo after Assumpta had translated the words for them.
Assumpta answered the question in Spanish. "La Monstruosa."
"What monster?" Chiun asked sharply.
"The monster that has escaped the capital. It is being said the upheaval has opened a pit and unleashed her from the fires below."
"Her?" said Remo.
"Si. The monster is female."
Remo looked at Chiun, and the Master of Sinanju looked back.
"You don't think..." Remo started to say.
"It cannot be."