Full Summery: In the year 2007 the curse that the residence of Happy Tree where under broke and everyone remained dead, 2014 a portal opened in the center of the town and released hellish monsters called Reverends. The year is now 2198, humanity has been living underground and have to send four squads from each city out to gather materials they can't grow underground. Now on the day of the first squad being sent out, the residence of Happy Tree are once again coming back. How will they deal with being in the future or even the fact that the curse doesn't work as well as it used to anymore?
Okay... This story is one I've kinda been wanting to write for a while now, well I've been wanting to write a Happy Tree Friends (human AU) story for a while and post it, but it's also mixed with an old idea/dream I had. No but seriously the dream involved humanity living underground due to creatures that would kill them (originally was zombies but then I created new creatures for this story) and every few months they send out squads of people who get drafted mostly to gather materials they can't grow or develop underground. So yeah hope you all enjoy this:
Disclaimer: I do not own Happy Tree Friends but I do own the story.
Please Read and Review
January 19th, year 2007.
An epic clash between a psychotic war veteran and (barely reliable) superhero was ringing out across the town that never died. Or at least stayed dead for long, due to a curse that ran strong in all who lived there. The veteran was fighting the hero with all his- rather unnatural -might as well as a single bowie knife in hand. Earlier said veteran had found that bullets didn't work very well on said hero so using a smart decision he tossed the gun at the hero, surprising him then throwing a grenade, leaving a fair amount of damage on the nearly indestructible skin of the hero.
The hero on the other hand had injured the veteran quite a bit to the point he was sure the psycho would have died from blood loss at this point. That turned out to not be the case as even though it seemed like he should have ran out… he didn't and kept on attacking. The two man war left the town in ruins… the people who never stayed dead, had been killed. The two men continued to fight until they were both out of steam… and joined the people in death. However this was the day, no the year… no one returned.
"Now class does anyone know why that is?" A teacher asked her class of students. One of said student's raised their hand, earning a smile on the teacher's face.
"Yes Kaylee."
"Because everyone in the town affected by the curse had died. One of the parameters of the curse states that everyone will continue to revive so long as one person survives the whole day. That's why the curse chose a nearly indestructible super-hero to effect as then it would continue to work," Kaylee recited, earning a smile on the teacher's face and a few looks of annoyance from a few of the other kids.
"Correct. Because they all died in the span of one day, the curse was broken. Very good, now who can tell me why this is so important?" A different student raised their hand this time. "Yes Albert?"
"Because it's in the history book," Albert responded as he leaned over his desk, looking more like he would rather be home in bed and asleep. The teacher frowned while his fellow classmates laughed.
"No, if you paid attention you would realize it's more important than you realize." Another hand instantly raised up, earning a renewed smile from the teacher. "Yes Andrew?"
"It's because after the curse ended, so too did the world," Andrew responded as he pushed his glasses up a bit. The teacher smiled at this response.
"That is correct. The curse was in place to keep a strong hold on those flesh eating creatures we now call 'Reverends'. They not only did they crave human flesh… but they also sought to destroy humanity itself. The curse acted as a counterbalance to those creatures to keep them locked away and powerless. The effects of said curse resulted in having to cause the most danger to the twenty two affected people, as well as permanently having them stripped of their original names… but in the end it was more for the good of humanity in itself," the teacher lectured and before she could continue further the bell rang. As the kids got ready to leave the class the teacher stopped them with a warning. "Remember, today is the draft. I do hope any of you that are 16 or older do not get chosen."
The draft, a large scale event that plays out in all underground cities to collect youths as well as able bodied adults to venture up to the surface and collect much needed materials that are unable to be grown or commonly found underground. Each city sends four teams, each lead by a volunteer from a previous draft that survived, and each team composed of at the least nine people and at most up to fifteen. The people who sign up for the draft usually get picked after a few weeks from the day they sign up so they can sort out everyone then also report it to you at your own home. Or, in most cities they hold it in the center and have most people watch it while the others remain at home and watch from their closed circuit TV's as they have trouble getting around the satellite problems of underground.
"Dad do you have to go again?" a young boy, about the age of 8 asked while the man of the house got his personal gear ready, face full of determination as well as a hint of sadness.
"Yeah, someone has to make sure the newbies don't die too soon out there," the man responded as he threw his bag full of necessary supplies over his shoulder.
"I'm home," the voice of Andrew called out into the house, the eight year old and father both sighed and went to greet the young fifteen year old.
"Welcome home Andrew," the father greeted as he went down the stairs, his youngest right behind him. Andrew narrowed his eyes a bit before turning his head away from his father as he noticed the bag over the man's shoulder.
"Where's mom today?"
"She's working late tonight, so you have to keep an eye on your brother."
"Oh come on dad, Tyler is such a downer!" Andrew protested, only to earn him a shout of disapproval from the younger sibling.
"Andrew you have to, so get over it. I have to leave to prepare for the First Squad Draft tonight."
"Dad can't you just tell them you can't make it this once?" Tyler pleaded, making the father frown and turn a sad gaze to his youngest while his oldest scoffed and marched out of the area.
"I already volunteered Tyler, sick or otherwise I can't get out of it unless I'm physically unable to due to paralyzation, coma or death." Tyler looked down at his father's words and remained quiet after that. The father sighed and bent down to hug Tyler. "I promise to come back in one piece like the last seven years I volunteered."
"... Will you bring me back something from the surface?"
"I'll try," the dad, called Commander Anderson among all his troops and fellow volunteers, laughed as he tussled his son's blond hair.
The time was nearing when the draft would be decided when on the surface, in the wasteland that was once the most dangerous place on earth… and the center point of the end of the curse there was a disturbance under a pile of ash. Someone pushed herself up out of the pile while coughing as if she had been holding her breath for a long period of time.
"W-what, is all of this?" the young woman asked, her voice holding a clear french accent even through her coughing, as she waved a hand in front of her face to expel anymore ash from getting into her lungs at the moment. Blinking open here vibrant green eyes the woman took in her surroundings as she slowly stood up. "W-What happened to ze town?"
Fear filling the woman she continued to look around while taking a few shaky steps with her dark purple boots sliding into the ash all around her. She then pulled her arms around her, white fluffy dress not faring too well with the cool breeze blowing through.
"H-Hello? Is anyone zere?" The young woman called out, shivering a bit from the wind… and also the prospect of being completely alone. "C-Come on guys this isn't funny, no more!" still no response to the girl's calls, only causing her eyes to widen a bit at a thought that crossed her mind.
"I-I have to get out of here," she mumbled to herself, brushing a strand of dark purple hair out of her face, and adjusting her white hat slightly. After doing so she quickly turned around and began making her trip out of the long destroyed town.
"Is someone there?" A smooth male voice caught the woman's attention and instantly a wave of relief filled her. She hurried over to where the voice was to see a slightly above average height man wearing a large black trench coat, black pants, dress shoes and a pair of dark sunglasses. His pale hands held onto a white cane and the wind blew through his short pinkish purple hair and pale blue eyes stared blankly through the darkened glasses.
"Monsieur Mole!" the young woman called out to the man, a bright smile on her face at seeing a familiar face, despite the fact he obviously couldn't see her.
"From the accent and tone… Lammy correct?" Mole asked, his free hand adjusting his circular glasses.
"You would be correct… have you heard anyone else yet?" Lammy asked, slight hope seeping into her voice.
"No, I have not… you are the only one I've heard all day."
"Oh…" Lammy deflated a bit then, before pirking up a bit with a burst of optimism. "Well we can't let this get us down! Ze others might not have revived quite yet is all!"
"Perhaps…. Though it is strange how I have yet to encounter even a single wall… or the daily sounds of outsiders coming in through the town…."
"Ah well… zat would be from ze fact ze town is still destroyed…"
"Oh…" Mole trailed off looking in the direction he thought Lammy was. "If that's the case let's get moving then… best find a place out of the cold to rest until the others come back… as well as let the outsiders rebuild as well."
"Ya, zat sounds delightful!" Lammy exclaimed, her face turning a bit red as a new gust of wind blew through making her shiver once again. Before Mole could move Lammy grabbed his hand into her own lightly tanned one and started leading him. "Come along now!"
"I can walk just fine on my own you know…"
"Zat I know… but I just don't want to get seperated just incase."
"... Alright then…"
Commander Anderson walked into the area that all Volunteers went into to see which team they would be leading, and if they were to be the leader of the squad, or a second in command.
"Well, look at what the cat dragged in~" a female voice purred, earning a small smile from the commander.
"And what a fine cat it was Belle," Anderson responded as he turned to face the woman who held her hair in a messy ponytail with a good portion of it covering the left side of her face.
"Oh knock it off you two and go find where you will be placed," another volunteer sighed at the two's playful flirting.
"Thompson is such a kill joy," Belle pouted as she rubbed the back of her neck, while Anderson just chuckled.
"I still remember how he used to be so laid back before he was drafted," the commander chuckled as he made his way over to the board where all the volunteers names would be sorted out on which ones would get chosen and which squads they would be leading if they were.
"Must have been his wife that caused his change then," Belle shrugged, never really knowing Thompson before he was drafted herself.
"No, it was witnessing what one of the Reverends could do that changed him… Oh isn't this a pleasant surprise," Anderson smiled, causing Belle to look on the board and smile as well.
First Squad:
Squad Leader: Commander Justin Anderson
Second in Command: Annabelle Ursa
"Looks like we're going at the front tomorrow morning," Belle commented, already feeling a bit of adrenaline in her veins at the mere thought of going up to the surface once again.
"That it does, try not to get anymore scars this time around. Too many more and it'll ruin your looks," Anderson winked with his playful smirk.
"And you try not to as well. Your wife might just have a heart attack if that were to happen again," Belle responded with a small smirk herself. "Oh and how has Tyler been?"
"He's been good, passing all of his classes at least… though he was upset to see me going off again…"
"Thinking of retiring from volunteer work soon?"
"In the next year or two," Anderson responded evenly. He and Annabelle had known each other since their first drafting, they had met while getting ready to go to the surface for the first time. Anderson had already been in a steady relationship with his wife- who was only his fiancee at the time -Claire, but the two had hit it off almost right away.
"Well, I will miss seeing you here then," Belle responded, smiling a little at the thought of Tyler being happy to have his dad back around when he does retire.
"You can still visit though. Claire admitted to actually missing you sometimes," Anderson smirked, knowing his wife and Belle never really got along very well. Only recently they started to slowly come to a mutual understanding of each other to at least tolerate being in the same room with each other.
"Hm, I suppose I could try to make time…"
"Tyler also said he wants you to visit again." Anderson smirked as a light made its way into Belle's eyes at the mention of his youngest child.
"Well then I'll have to make time won't I~?"
Lammy and Mole,- mostly Lammy- were starting to lose hope of finding at the least a standing building… or even people from outside their town.
"Zose two must have caused more destruction zan I thought…" Lammy commented, her hand slightly tightening around Mole's own. Mole frowned behind the high neck of his jacket as he felt the girl's shaking hand around his. Instantly he stopped, causing the French woman to stop and look to him with a confused gaze as he made quick work to take his jacket off and offer it to her.
"You feel cold… take it," Mole said as he held it out in the direction he thought she was, his turtle neck sweater being more than enough to satisfy his need for warmth.
"B-But don't you need it?"
"No… now take it," Mole attempted to shove but was facing the wrong way from the woman. A light giggle escaped her lips as she walked around him and grabbed the offered jacket.
"Thank you Monsieur Mole," the woman smiled as the man once again adjusted his glasses.
He's such a gentleman… almost like Mr. Pi- Lammy started to think only to shake her thoughts of that. After all her doctor warned her that thoughts about the imaginary killer/friend would possibly bring him back for more destruction.
"No need for thanks… I heard death from hypothermia is long and cruel anyways," Mole responded, causing Lammy to blink at him but still caused her to smile anyways as it was the thought that counted.
"It's still very nice of you to-"
"Hey, you two are from the town right?" A cold voice caught the duo's attention. Lammy turned in the right Direction while Mole turned in the opposite direction for the voice, only for the girl to spot a man wearing a bright red track suit, dark red hair, a blue mask that brought out his ruby colored eyes and a familiar looking face.
"Z-Zat we are… do I know you?" Lammy asked as the red clad man huffed slightly.
"No, no you wouldn't…. but you probably know someone like me… by the name of Splendid correct?" the man asked while Mole's face scrunched up a little, trying to figure out if he remembered hearing a voice like his or not.
"Oh, zat we do! But… he was one of ze ones who destroyed the town…" Lammy answered before trailing off into her memories. The man huffed once again.
"I figured as much…. I have unfinished business with him, so tell me where to find him."
"I would gladly tell you… if I knew where he was zat is…" Lammy trailed once again, not registering the tone of dislike in the man's voice when mentioning the (barely reliable) resident superhero.
"Questions first though… One, who are you?" Mole asked, pointing his white cane the wrong way, causing Lammy to sigh and turn him the right way. The man quirked a brow at this before realization set in to him and he signed himself.
"Splendont is my name," Splendont answered the blind man, a serious look on his face the entire time unlike the (idiotic) resident hero that the two were used to.
"Alright then… next question is, what are you doing here?"
"As I stated earlier I'm here to settle a score with my opposite. However before I could that… glowing stone acorn thing hit me square in the face, made me sick and zapped my powers completely away," Splendont answered turning his head slightly as he spoke of the painful memory before he blacked out completely.
"Ze Kryptonut? I once heard from ze twins zat it's Splendid's only known weakness… and zat it can be deadly to him," Lammy thought out loud as Splendont's eyes widened a bit before they turned back to their normal glaring position.
"Impossible… if it was deadly, the only way they would know is if it killed him. As far as I know with what you told me he's still around," Splendont reasoned, only to get a little annoyed from the sound of the girl laughing a bit, and from the Mole just smirking a little.
"Well he did die from it once. But thanks to ze curse he was brought back ze next day like ze rest of us," this explanation earned the young woman a skeptical look from Splendont.
"A curse? I don't know about the two of you, but curses don't exist… don't even get me started on the topic of being brought back to life, that's as impossible as demons coming up from hell to kill all humans during the so called end times," Splendont explained with crossed arms, only to have the two residence in front of him shake their heads with a sigh.
"Okay, if tell you what, if you have an answer for this one simple question we won't bring it up again and be convinced you're right," Mole offered while Lammy gave the blind man a skeptical look herself, as she was 100% sure the hero in front of them was wrong. "What is your real name?"
"Why should I tell you? A hero never reveals his true identity without consequences," Splendont retorted, however this was brushed off by the blind man.
"Simple, one of the implications of the curse is the loss of one's true name as well as memories of family not affected by the curse themselves." The red hero frowned a bit at this information, still not finding any reason to believe in things like curses quite yet.
"Alright then, you two have to swear not to tell anyone though."
"We swear Monsieur Splendont!" Lammy chirped with a big smile on her face while Mole simply nodded in confirmation.
"My real name is… it's…" The hero started only to start trailing off as he held a hand to his head, trying to call up the normally accessible and most common information ever… only to keep turning up blank and struggling to even keep the information he knew he had in his head. "G-Give me a minute I almost got it."
"Just give up already… trust me it's no longer there," Mole commented as Splendont seemed to be giving himself a headache at this point trying to find the information he desperately knew he had. Just as the struggling hero was about to retort an unearthly roar startled all three people.
"W-W-What was zat?" Lammy stammered, her legs shaking underneath the large trench coat the Mole had given her.
"Sounded to me like a tiger with a scratched up throat… mixed with a lot of gravel," Mole commented, being the one to remain visibly calm. Splendont frowned at this explanation but decided to investigate, as well as making sure the two civilians,-as he dubbed them to be- where kept safe.
"Stay close and don't wander away," Splendont commanded, not once noticing Mole's expression that read, "Yeah because I will know if I wander away from either of you."
"For good measure, miss could you hold onto your boyfriend there?" Splendont asked, causing Lammy's face to heat up a bit.
"He's just a friend… b-but alright I will."
The names were being called out for the draft. Anderson and Belle were both checking over their supplies they were provided with to be sure nothing was missing. They were also using this time to check their ammo supplies and coming up with a rationing plan.
"If the trip takes longer than a month, we will have to ration only one meal a day to save the supplies we take back," Anderson commented as he counted through the preserved food items they were provided with.
"With ammo, we can't afford to be too trigger happy with this amount… Gotta beat it into the rookies heads to be careful with their shots," Belle continued as she counted the ammo cartridges.
"What about the charges in the Lazers?"
"Same thing, but if we do run out we'll have to let them recharge," Belle responded as she played with a strand of her hair. Anderson nodded as he continued on with the checklist, occasionally sneaking glances of the second in command. The woman had yet to change into her armor and that left her with a bikini like top, exposing her toned midriff as well as a few scars she obtained from the surface, short pants over fishnet like leggings and a pair of slip on shoes.
"Belle, perhaps you should get changed soon. The naming sounds like it's near its end," Anderson commented, earning a playful smirk out of the woman.
"Oh? You think I'd be too much for them to handle?"
"That much is certain to happen anyways," Anderson smirked back. Belle chuckled a bit at the man's words before sauntering off to get changed.
"You should get changed soon as well then~"
"I will be sure to do that when I finish the supply check," the commander smirked as he went back to checking the supplies. Belle rolled her eyes at him as she took a side long glance at the man. He was wearing a dress shirt that covered a good amount of his muscular build, simple pair of jeans and a pair of dress shoes.
"See you again soon."
"See you soon."
At the end of the draft, eleven people stood before the two volunteers,-who were both clad in their armor by this point- waiting for their introductions.
"Everyone, welcome to the First squad. As the First, we are the ones who will gather both supplies and information for the rest of the squads. That being said I am your commander, Justin Anderson, but call me Commander Anderson. This here is Annabelle Ursa, but if you want to survive long call her Belle," that comment earned the commander a playful jab in the side from the mentioned woman. "Moving on the the pressing matters, all of you who think this is going to be an easy go… Throw that thought out with the wastes because trust me, it won't be. Many people have died going up to the surface because they were mentally unprepared, or they didn't listen to their squad leaders. If you want to survive, follow our rules and orders to the letter."
Some of the drafted members were shifting around uncomfortably at the commander's words, while others tried to stay in place and only swallow their discomfort. Belle smirked a little at how the newbies were reacting while Anderson tried his best to keep a straight face as he continued.
"Our first and foremost objective is to gather as many materials we need from the surface within the period of one month. If unable to complete our objective within that month, due to complications or interferences, we will have to prolong it for however long is needed. Our second objective is to help the rest of the squads by letting them know where to find more materials or even the areas in which to avoid for this season. You seem to have a question there…" Anderson addressed one of the rookies who held a slightly confused look. Startled about being put on the spot the rookie shifted around a little before finding the right words.
"W-Well… Don't you all already know the danger zones and material zones having been going to the surface for years?"
"Good question, yes we do for the most part, but what you fail to realize is danger zones change every year. Some years a zone we mark as dangerous turns out to be a safe zone the following year. For material zones, sometimes in the dangerous zones, turned safe there are untapped materials that we find and then take," Anderson lectured as he eyed all of the rookies before him, sizing each one up so he can choose their positions. "Anymore questions?"
"I have one for Belle!" One of the rookies exclaimed. Motioning for the newbie to tell them, the boy started his question. "Why does she have her hair in that style? Isn't it impractical for fighting from the blind spot it will create?" Belle smirked at this question while Anderson sighed.
"I don't think that will be much of a problem," Belle said as she moved the hair from her face… revealing a gouged out eye with scars around the socket. Many of the recruits flinched and one screamed at the sight of it. Anderson shook his head.
"You sure love to scare the rookies with that don't you?"
"Of course, it helps prepare them for what might come."
The trio were cautiously looking for the source of the roar they had heard, Lammy clinging tightly to the Mole in fear, Mole not feeling to comfortable with being held for so long and Splendont in front of the two to ensure they would stay safe should the creature that made the sound come running towards them. Splendont then proceeded to stop in front of them when he saw the figure of the creature and then quickly motioned for the two to stop. The Mole of course couldn't see this but stopped when he felt Lammy stop moving herself.
"Did we find it?" Mole asked only to be shushed by Splendont. Lammy was shaking at the imposing figure of the strange creature while Splendont narrowed his eyes at it in an attempt to get a better view of it with supervision. When he did see it his eyes widened and he took one step back from shock. The creature looked like it came straight from the depths of hell with a charcoal black appearance, it was bipedal but it hunched over with large forearms that ended in scythe like claws, a large tail swished back and forth behind it for balance, the head was a pure monstrosity in itself looking like some sort of mutant with beady little eyes, a maw full of jagged teeth and two exposed nose holes.
"Back away slowly…" Splendont commanded as he subconsciously curled his hands into fists. Lammy followed the hero's words with shaking steps while Mole squinted his eyebrows in confusion, but followed the command nonetheless. As they backed away the creature looked in their direction causing the ones who could see to flinch, while Mole simply didn't understand what was going on. The creature growled at the trio and Lammy then took to hugging Mole tightly in fear while Splendont remained in front of them in a protective stance. The creature let out the same unearthly roar they had heard not to long ago, but this time it was practically ringing in their ears as it charged at them, teeth flashing at them as it did. Splendont didn't let up from his position for even a second, that is until the creature got closer then he shifted his stance as he brought his right arm back. When it leaped at him, earning a scream from Lammy in the background, Splendont punched the creature in the chest with enough strength that would kill a normal human… however it seemed to crack the surprisingly tough skin and send it flying back in pain.
Shit, I'll have to use more strength next time one of them gets closer, Splendont cursed internally and was about to go forward to finish the creature off… only to see more rushing over to their direction. Shit!
"Is there a herd of stampeding horses coming?" Mole questioned as he heard the creatures rushing to their direction.
"N-No zey are monsters coming!" Lammy screamed, and soon after she let out a startled noise along with Mole as Splendont picked them both up and ran at inhuman speeds. "M-Monsieur Splendont?"
"I'm not taking a risk with your lives to fight those things!" The red hero replied as he continued running, knowing he could also take to flying but didn't want to take a risk of dropping them should either take to struggling in his grip.
It was the next morning and the First Squad was preparing to mobilize to the surface. A few of the rookies were tired as they didn't get much sleep, it also didn't help they were leaving for the surface at 4:00 in the morning.
"Alright, everyone ready?" Belle asked with a grin, only a few responded with words while only a few others responded with yawns. "Well ready or not it's time for departure, we have a surface rover set to help with carrying supplies. Now get moving everyone!"
The whole squad slowly made their way into the rover, positioned in front of the door leading to the surface. Anderson was sitting in the driver's seat while a few people jumped right in and took their seats. A few of the rookies were in awe at the large vehicle as they have very minimal amounts underground due to risks of air pollution that they couldn't afford.
"Everyone settle down, into your seats now," Anderson commanded just as Belle jumped on in, being the very last person to do so for the squad. The woman then flashed a thumbs up to Anderson who nodded back to her and started the rover. "It's going to be a rough start so everyone stay seated and no moving about until Belle or I give you the all clear!" The command entered the rookies heads as they all settled down into their seats, a few squirming a bit as they did. When everyone was seated Anderson pushed his foot onto the gas pedal and they began moving. It wasn't until they got to the gateway leading to the surface that Anderson started to speed up and their way started to get more ragged and a few people clung to their seats like their lives depended on it. Belle laughed a bit at these rookies, while Anderson kept focused on the path ahead of him.
The Gates opened quickly, as the rover itself launched out of the underground and landed to the terrain with a thud. The gate closed soon after them and they were on their own from that point on.
"Alright everyone, in two hours look to the east for a sight you can see a beautiful sight only the surface can provide!" Belle announced with a smile on her face, Anderson glanced over at her with a smirk.
Yeah, but I don't need two hours to see it already, the commander thought, feeling it was a good idea to keep that one quiet for the moment as he continued the drive.
Two hours passed and the sun was beginning to rise, the rookies all gasped in amazement at the colors that came from the raising sun while Belle and Anderson smiled in content with it. The commander took in one deep breath before looking to his right and seeing something coming for them… something that didn't look like it was a Reverend. Anderson stopped the rover, put it into park and stood up to see if he could get a better view of it.
"What is it?" Belle asked as she caught sight of what had Anderson's attention. The one-eyed woman had to squint a bit, due to lack of depth perception, but from what the two could make out without use of binoculars… was the shape of someone carrying two other people.
"What is that commander?" One of the rookies asked as in a good amount of confusion they all wanted to see what had their leader's attentions.
"It looks like people… Belle you stay here to protect the others, Greyson and Nicoli you two are with me," Anderson commanded as he grabbed one of his guns from his bag as a just incase, prompting the two rookies to do the same.
"If it is people why the weapons?" one of the rookies asked.
"A precaution. You don't see someone running while carrying people if something isn't after them," Anderson responded as he hopped out of the rover along with Greyson and Nicoli. The trio went a short distance from the rover, just enough so they could still be seen and waited as the people got closer.
Splendont was tired of running at this point. He had been running for three hours straight with the two civilians in his grasp. He had slowed down a bit from his first hour of running, but now he was slowing down as he finally saw a group of people. The red hero stopped in front of them, taking a few tired breaths as he finally let Lammy and Mole out of his grip.
"Are we in the clear now?" Mole asked, not hearing anything that could have prompted the hero to stop.
"I-I zink so.. zere are people at least," Lammy answered the blind man as Splendont and, what appeared to be the leader of the group stared each other down.
"Who are you?" One of the three people asked, the commander still sizing up the hero and vice versa.
"We could ask you the same thing…" Mole responded, looking in the wrong direction once again, before Lammy corrected him.
"I am Commander Anderson. These two are Greyson and Nicoli. With that out of the way, who are you three and why are you up here of all places?" Anderson asked, earning a narrowed eyed look from Splendont, a confused look from Lammy and a blank one from Mole.
"I'm called Mole, the lady is Lammy and the male is Splendont… as for why we are… Up here as you say, we were running from a bunch of creatures," Mole answered for the three, adjusting his round sunglasses as he did. A few confused looks were thrown his way, but where met with no response to them for obvious reasons at this point in time. Anderson narrowed his eyes while still having a stare off with the blue masked young man.
"Wait a second, another question. How old are all of you?" the rookie identified as Greyson asked, his eyes traveling up the slender form of Lammy, even though she had on the pretty big trench coat from Mole. Lammy flinched a bit at the question as well as the look.
"Zat is not something zat should be questioned at a moment like zis!" Lammy exclaimed, her accent surprising the three men.
"Indeed, I don't see what could be beneficial of knowing our ages," Mole replied, his hands resting on the handle of his cane a bit.
"I have a few questions now," Splendont spoke up finally, his eyes moving away from Anderson finally to the other three as well as the people watching them from the rover, but obviously not being able to hear them from the distance. "First question, where are we? And don't respond with an answer like 'Up here' I need to know the specific location."
"Quadrant 17, one hundred and nine point eight miles due east of the Reverend hot zone," Anderson responded, his face kept straight and calculated while Splendont frowned and scrunched his brow.
"That doesn't help at all… but next question. What exactly are you the commander of and from where?"
"I am commander of the First Surface Retrieval and Intelligence gathering squad of the Underground Hampshire City," Anderson responded, taking the trio's expressions in from all his words and was growing confused himself on how none of them would know what he's even talking about.
"Last question… What the hell are with all the monsters 'up here'?" This one really threw the commander and subordinates off as everyone knew what those 'monsters' were called and what they have done, and continue to try and do.
"Those are Reverends, creatures kept locked away by an ancient curse that caused affected people to never stay dead at the cost of the loss of their own names," Nicoli responded, pushing up a pair of glasses as he thought of the textbook answer to this question. The hero groaned at this explanation while Lammy and Mole where confused by the word ancient.
"Great more people who believe in the superstitious crap!"
"What do you mean by ancient?" Lammy asked, knowing personally that the curse wasn't that old…. or was it? It wasn't like she could remember as that was another thing of the curse, the removal of ones past before the curse.
"Well last it was heard of was about 200 years ago in the year 2007," Nicoli answered causing the two civilians and the hero's eyes to widen at this.
"B-But isn't zis 2007?" Lammy asked in confusion. The soldiers exchanged surprised looks with each other before one shook their head, causing the young woman's shoulders to slump and eyes to remain widened.
Belle watched as the conversation between the three strangers and the members of her squad began to die down and the strangers were brought over to the rover and she started to get a clearer look of the three. One was a woman, medium length wavy hair that was a deep shade of violet in a little white dress under a large black trench coat, the other two were males, one of average looking height and the other a little over it. What she found most strange was that the three had unnatural colored hair… that looked completely natural for them at the same time.
They must be from a city that allows people to play with genetics like that, Belle thought with a slight sneer. Honestly never really liking the idea of playing with genetics or anything related to that.
"Belle open the hatch," Anderson commanded, earning a confused sound from the second in command as the hatch only gets used for injured people to get on easier. "We got a blind man." That caused the woman's eyes to widen as she now knew something was up with these people. She pushed the button, lowering the hatch and the three civilians walked up into it, the girl helping the pinkish-purple haired blind man up into it.
"Zere is a seat right behind you," the girl spoke with a strange accent as the man sighed and sat down.
"I could have found it myself, thank you."
"I'm just trying to be helpful…"
"Anderson, who are they?" Belle asked as both Anderson and the guy who wore too much red waited for the others to get onto the rover before they did.
"People straight from the past," Anderson responded, a lot of confused looks went to him, Greyson and Nicoli before they turned to the three strangers. Before an explanation could be given the sound of an unearthly roar caught their attentions.
"Z-Ze monsters are back!"
"Shit… Prepare your guns men, shoot any that get too close and whatever you do, don't waste ammo and only shoot the ones who get too close!" Anderson commanded as he hurried up into the drivers seat and punched it. A few people were jostled around thanks to the sudden start off, but the soldiers prepared their guns none the less. Belle was one of the few who quickly took their guns out and she aimed carefully as she could. The red haired young man stood up completely straight, narrowed his eyes and looked in the distance.
"I'm counting about fifteen so far, all traveling fast and coming right this way," he spoke surprising everyone there as they couldn't see what he was… until they looked in the direction he was looking in and saw the figures of the Reverends… but they found they were too far away to properly tell what they were, let alone how many there were. The red eyed man then turned his head away from where the far off Reverends where and his brow perked up a bit. "You guys didn't lose someone did you?"
"No…. why do you ask Splendont?" Nicoli asked, genuinely confused by what the hero was asking.
"There's a person in a military outfit combating a few of those things… wait is that…?!" Splendont's look of confusion turned to one of surprise and a bit of anger at the same time. "It is."
"It is what?" Belle asked but instead of getting a response to the question out of the red hero, he jumped out of the moving vehicle and seemed to fly off at extreme speeds to whatever it was he saw.
"How the hell did he do that?!" One of the rookies asked in surprise.
"I don't know but don't question it! We've got civilians to protect with Reverends after us!"
A tall soldier, dressed in the standard camouflage with a green beret atop his head of lime green hair was in a full blown panic mode as he ran from a bunch of Reverends. All he honestly did was wake up from what he could only assume was from being revived again, went looking for anyone who could tell him what happened the other day… or why the town was in such ruins only to encounter a group of what appeared to be demons to him then started to get chased by said demons. Unknowingly to the Reverends that is, their chasing of the veteran caused an ancient evil, even they would fear, to resurface from the panicking veteran.
No, no, no, no, no! I don't wanna die! I don't! No…. no… I won't die…. they will all die. These thoughts ran through the man's head, his scared brown eyes changing into a sinister yellow gaze and an evil sharp toothed smirk crossed his face.
Not to far away from the veteran was someone who looked almost identical to Splendont except everything Splendont had that was red, was blue on this man and the mask was a bright red. He had a lazy grin on his face as he floated right over the heads of the Reverends trying to claw at him.
"Whoa, easy down there. I'm just passing through," the blue (idiot) hero laughed at the enraged Reverends, till a familiar evil laughter reached his ears. "Is that… Flippy?" Before the blue (not really) hero could fly over to it a red blur body slammed right into him, slamming him down hard on a few Reverends, killing them and cracking the ground below.
"Been a while huh Splendid?" the red blur, Splendont asked glaring down at his blue counterpart. The blue hero got up slowly and stared at the red hero for a bit before finally speaking up again.
"Do I know you?" This sent the already bitter Splendont into a rage as he nearly hitting Splendid, who to his own credit dodged this fast, and instead hit the ground creating a small crater and killing a few more Reverends.
"You idiotic… childish… BASTARD!" Splendont shouted in pure anger as he flew head on at his opposite who dodged a few more times before it finally clicked in his mind.
"Oh, you're the other me right? How have you been? Haven't seen ya since you crashed the moon on me," Splendid asked, smiling away like nothing was wrong while Splendont shook with anger, not liking how his opposite was so nonchalant about their meeting.
So how did you like it?