"It's too risky Snipes."
The time was nearing 11 PM, and Scout hadn't given up yet, much to the surprise of the team.
They didn't confront him about it, due to a mix of liking the change or the lack of positive effects of confronting him. That's not to say of course he became a mute, him, Solider, and Demo had been talking for hours, but not to the extent of Scout's usual ramblings.
Sniper, who took a break from half-sleeping in the back of the RV, came over to the booth near the kitchen to heckle Scout about, anything really. Some members of the team tried to throw Scout off the rails of his promise, but to no avail.
"Ya gotta do it mate, it's foolproof"
"Whateva, ey Engie, back me up on this." He called over his shoulder into the kitchen.
Engineer who was resting on an armchair near the cabin, glanced up from his beer. "I wasn't paying attention, say again?"
Scout just sighed and turned his attention to a smirking Sniper. "Already told you, not happening."
Engineer scooted into the booth next to sniper. "What are we talking about?"
Sniper swiftly replied, "His date"
Engineer rolled his eyes to Scout, who was leaning forward on the table, still juggling his baseball. He tried to get his sentry to play ball with him since the team didn't want to, but he could only train it to shoot it down rather than catch. Scout wasn't happy that day.
Solider, who was snoring on another armchair, was awoken by the tap of his shoulder by Demo, who was holding a very large bottle of "Scrumpy" as he called it. Yet, this bottle was almost triple the size. They both waltzed over to the booth and sat down, with Demo setting his drink the center.
Engineer noticed right away. "You really want to do a drinking game?" he said to the pair, the answer which he knew before they could respond. He fetched out 5 shot glasses that had the state of Texas inscribed onto them and set them down on the table.
Demo filled each shot glass, and once each was full each team member chugged their own, reacting it to their own way. Mostly wincing at the strong concentration of alcohol.
"How do you drink this anyway demo?" was the reply of Scout, as he gave up his shot glass to be refilled.
"Ya all just cowards aye." Replied Demo sheepishly.
They each took another shot, and when Scout got up at first, he was yanked down by Solider. Demo shot up with a shout. "We do not smile upon deserters to the cause laddie!"
"I aint deserting, just going to the bathroom is all" he said.
"Fuck ya bathroom break commie!" cried Solider. Scout caved in and sat back down, downing another shot in sync with his team. Then, in walked Medic.
"Scout is drinking that and surviving? Fascinating!" he joked. He quickly scanned the room. "Have you seen heavy?"
"He's in his room" said Engineer, who was refilling the shot glasses again. "Normally Drinking games are prolonged, but we are no mere mortals" he said with a contagious laughter that infected his other coworkers.
Scout, who was already buzzed, stopped Medic short. "Hold on Doc, I'll use echolocation!" he made "waaaaaa" sounds around the room, getting a laugh from his coworkers. "Are you some fucking dolphin?" yelled Engie.
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
WaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAARRRGHHH!
Scout tripped over an armchair, falling face first on the ground. "Yep, he's in his room!" his voice was lost in the laughter of his teammates.
Scout found his way back to his seat, and the team got two more rounds of alcohol in. Now, this is where the fun begins.
Scout downed another one of his glasses and began to shift around. "uhhh…" he began to mumble slightly.
Solider perked up "Remember what I said about deserters private!"
"I'm not- I- I'm not"
"Pussy!" cried Medic from the sink.
"I'm not a fucking… pussy fuck you." He said silently to himself.
"Remember that time of HighTower Scout?" said Engineer to help keep him alive?
Scout perked up a bit. "Oh yeah right so I got... uhh I got, neeh."
Sifiling a laughter, Medic sat in an armchair. "Come on Scout, get the words out."
The entire table was now giggling like schoolgirls from their drunkenness. It was going to be a fun night.
Engineer, who was slowly sinking in the booth, pulled himself up. "Scout, your already pissed, aren't you?" he said while laughing.
Medic laughed from his chair, "A lightweight I presume!"
Scout, who like the team was doubled over in laughter, cried out "I think- I think this alcohol is a bit to STRONGGG." His last word coming out as more of a wheeze than anything.
At this point, the rest of the team showed up, including Spy, and the RV was filled with contagious laughter.
Solider tried to take control of the situation. "Alright mag-maggots, listen up!"
Engineer quickly called out "Listen down!" At this point, they were beyond saving. The shots began to pile up, and the night faded in and out. On multiple occasions, Scout fell out of his chair from laughter. When the next shot was announced, Scout called out.
"No man, please"
"PUSSY! PUSSY! PUSSY!" the team was chanting in singsong as a way of mocking Scout.
"Yo-You don't understand, I-I'm gonna fucking hurl"
The team practically collapsed with laughter, and the next shot wasn't reached. "I'm magnanimous" Scout slowly said.
Heavy boomed with laughter. "Tiny man can't hold alcohol. Funny to me!" Scout, still laughing, replied. "You shut up you're a fuckin- fat fuck" he wheezed out, before they both were drawn out by everyone's laughter.
Medic came over, "Scout, say really slowly, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious." Laughter filled the room, but Scout shot up. "I can do that, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!" he said with ease.
Medic was unimpressed. "You're still drunk." Scout challenged him again with laughter. "I could pronounce the world difficult for you all to pronounce now because I am not dunk!"
Laughter filled the room once again. "This is just, a form of communication, to help me understand you, better!" he said to Medic, who was barely containing his laughter. Pyro was jumping up and down from happiness in the background.
As the laughter persisted, The RV thundered with the crash of metal. On the barren, desert road, the tires shifted in different directions, swinging the rear end of the bus to the left side of the road, before coming to a screeching halt. Inside, the team was shoved around, and had to brace to hold themselves together. Once the screeching stopped, Medic fetched his Medigun and briefly over healed each mercenary.
The team realized over heal cured drunkenness, something Medic had planned to market if he had the time. Ms. Pauling swung the door to the cabin open, breathing rapidly, the team rushed over.,
"Ms. P, what happened?" said Scout, and he fetched his scattergun from his duffel bag on the kitchen counter.
"No, I- I just, The bus hit something. I think it was some deer." She said nervously.
"Scout, go check the engine and tell me if I need to fetch my tools from my room."
Scout nodded, and made his way out of the RV, closing the door behind him. He switched on a flashlight he kept in his duffel bag, and made his way to the front of the RV.
He was greeted by the sound of… nothing.
He expected crickets to be chirping through the air, but the air fell silent. The air was still with no wind, and the only sound was the thumping of Scout's own heartbeat in his ears.
He began to feel uneasy. The only illumination was from the inside lights of the RV, emitting a small area of safety for Scout. Beyond the illumination were the silhouettes of cactuses and rocks for a short distance, and then the complete void of darkness.
His feet dragged on the cracked highway, which besides their RV, was completely devoid of any other life. He hadn't seen a car drive past for hours, and no lights were visible to him.
His shoes slowly stepped around to the front of the RV, which displayed a horror beyond which Scout had seen before in his life. The torso was mangled and stretched, with insect-like legs coming out of the chest of it. Its head was covered in a thin layer of unknown slime, which wrapped around the entrails of its former organs. Blood was covering the entirety of it, and its head was in the form of a wild dog, brandishing sharp teeth.
The organism, whatever it was, was frozen in place. Scout slowly scanned the horizon. He swore there were more silhouettes of cactuses.
The silence was broken by the RV door pushed open by Medic, who was putting on his white medical overcoat. He followed the steps of Scout as if to ask a question, but his face was frozen upon discovery of their roadkill. The rest of the team followed outside.
"Ms. Pauling, what the hell did you hit?" said Scout, who was still scanning the horizon with nervous eyes, ones that eventually found their way to Ms. Pauling, who alike Medic, was staring at it.
"I-I don't know, I wasn't paying attention Scout, the road stretches out in a straight line for miles, I didn't think…" her voice fell silent, running out of words.
Medic took a step closer to, it. Thick, short fur covered the head of it, but stopped at the torso. "Fascinating" Medic mumbled to himself. "A combination of beasts that are different… but how?"
Medic knelt on the pavement and closer examined it. "Doctuer, it might still be alive" popped the Frenchman, who was on the other side of the team, leaning against the RV. Medic gestured toward Heavy, who went into the RV and returned with a small medical kit. The Russian set it down next to Medic, who opened the cold latches to reveal several Syringes, bandages, etc.
Upon further notice, Scout realized the skin of the organism was thin, as if peeled off layer by layer. Engineer adjusted his hardhat while speaking. "Doc, this some kind of mutant? There's no way a creature like this could survive so long."
Medic glanced towards him, and then the team. "That is what perplexes me. I'm going to further examine it, blood tests, zhe whole nine yards. Zhats what Americans say, ja?"
With a nervous chuckle from Engineer, Medic pulled out a small syringe. He turned towards the organism and eased towards it. The team watched Medic with nervous thoughts. Scout and Sniper looked around the horizon.
Scout wasn't too fond of their situation, and he could tell Sniper wasn't either. His ring finger shook slightly, the adrenaline pumping through his fast-moving heart. The darkness engulfed the RV, as if trapping them on a deserted island. The absence of crickets and the wind produced a terrible silence.
Ms. Pauling shook with nervous hands. She hadn't seen what the RV hit, and if only she paid attention, she might have not hit it in the first place. She glanced through the team, swearing they were silently judging her. The darkness didn't help her anxiety.
As Medic eased the syringe into the skin of it, the blood began to slowly drip into it. The cold air was still on their noses, all watching the transfusion unfold.
The heartbeats were the only sound that filled their ears. Each contraction and relaxation bringing an almost pain to their eardrums, Inhaling and Exhaling becoming alien to their senses. Whether the inhaling and exhaling of the team,
Or the unnoticed inhaling and exhaling of the organism.
The areas around the syringe ripped apart, as long, yellow-green ropes thrashed around. The body of the organism began to shake uncontrollably, and the canine head began to thrash about the gravel, biting at the thin air between it and the mercenaries. Medic launched himself backwards onto the pavement as the group of mercenaries broke into a panic. Scout turned around of the dark horizon to see the yellow ropes wrap around Medic's neck and tighten, pulling him closer and closer to the open cavity, which began to seemingly grow jaws right before their eyes. Scout unloaded his scattergun into the chest of it, throwing green and red blood through the air.
The beast began to drag itself towards Medic, seemingly unaffected by the shells entering its skin, as they were quickly ejected in different directions. Pyro ran into the RV to fetch his flamethrower, as the cries of help by the German were being unanswered.
Medic pulled away with all his might, but the organism came closer and closer, the yellow ropes around his neck became tighter and tighter. The long, thin insect like legs of the best began to stand upright, walking towards Medic on the ground.
Sniper shredded the rope's connection with the beast, while Solider tossed a grenade into the chest cavity of it. The resulting explosion launched flames and body parts into the sky, as the mercenaries ducked for cover from the flames and shrapnel.
Medic was still on the ground, suffocating by the yellow ropes. Sniper hacked them off with precision, as pyro returned and torched both the remnants of the beast and the yellow ropes that were once on Medic's neck.
The team, surrounded by the flaming corpse of the beast, yellow ropes and blood seeping into the cracks of the hard pavement all turned their attention to Ms. Pauling.
Scout asked the question all on their minds.
"Ms. Pauling, what the hell did you hit?"