Scout trembled in fear under his bed, the memory of that…thing replaying again and again in his head. No matter how hard he tried, the yellow-eyed, sharp-toothed creature never left his mind. He was doomed to live with the image of that horrid creature burned into his subconscious for the rest of his life. The sudden knocking noise startled the young mercenary, but the soothing sound of the Engineer's voice calmed him.
"It's only me, Scout," the Texan said calmly, "Just thought I'd check on you."
"C-come on in," Scout responded. The door opened and Engineer entered just as Scout got out from under the dusty bed.
"You alright, son," Engie asked, "You've been in here an awful long while."
"Fine," Scout responded, "Well, considering, at least."
"Good to know. By the by, I don't think you'll have to worry 'bout those hyenas for a long while."
"Why? Are they dead? Please tell me they're dead. Very, very dead."
"No, but the Administrator just announced that for the next few battles, neither team is allowed to use any of their 'advantages.'" Scout breathed a heavy sigh of relief.
"Thank God! Now I can relax."
"Yeah. Maybe you should take a walk. You know, clear your mind."
"That's not a bad idea, Hard-hat. You know, you really know how to make a guy feel good."
"It comes naturally, brother." With that, Engineer turned and left, while Scout pulled on his running shoes and headed outside. The sun was beginning to set when Scout decided to take a break by the bridge connecting the two bases. Personally, this was his favorite spot out of all the locations he'd been to in his mercenary career. It was quiet, calm, and somewhat relieving, when it wasn't being used for battles, of course. And Scout loved it.
The peace.
The calmness.
The serenity.
The-
"How hard is it to find some water around here!?" Scout turned to the sudden noise, and his face froze in horror. It was one of…them, emerging from the BLU base. In a panic, Scout ran for the RED base, hoping that the hyena hadn't seen him. Luckily, the hyena was focused on something else, rather than attacking him. Scout watched as the hyena walked to the edge of the moat that sat between the two buildings.
"Finally," it shouted, "Just gotta ease on down…" But in its attempt to quench its thirst, the hyena lost its footing and fell into the moat. Scout ran to the opposite edge to see what had happened. Down below, the hyena was thrashing violently in the water, gasping for air.
"Agh! Someone help! I can't swim!" Scout just stood there watching, and slowly began to smile.
"Are you kiddin' me," he taunted, "It's only like, six feet deep! Heck, I can swim in there just fine! Well, that's what you get for scaring the junk out of me earlier." The hyena didn't answer, but continued to thrash. "Say 'hi' to Davy Jones for me, you dog-faced freak!" With that, Scout turned to rejoin his teammates in the RED base. But just as he was about to enter, the thrashing suddenly stopped, and the moat became silent. Scout looked back at the moat, slightly worried, but quickly shook the feeling off. "Get a hold of yourself, Scout," he said to himself, "That thing is not friendly, so no remorse." Once again, Scout turned around to walk into his base, forcing all sympathy out of his mind.
Still…
Scout took one look back at the moat, sighed, and walked to the edge. The hyena had stopped thrashing, and was floating just beneath the surface of the water, not moving. For Scout, that was enough reason to dive into the moat, grab the hyena, and swim into the RED sewers. The Bostonian laid the hyena on the floor and sat down, leaning against the wall, breathing heavily.
"Man, why did I do that," he asked himself," That thing nearly killed me today. Why did I save it?"
"'Cause I told you to," Shouted a familiar voice. Scout looked up to see his own mother staring back at him.
"Ma? What are you doing here? How'd you get here?"
"I'm not actually your mother, kiddo," she responded, "I'm your conscience. I look like your mother because you want me to."
"So, this conversation is happening in my head?"
"Bingo."
"Boy, I really gotta take a vacation."
"Tell me about it. Anyway, like I said, you saved this…thing because I, meaning your subconscious, told you to."
"But why? That thing tried to kill me."
"Things aren't always as they seem, Scout. Anyway, I gotta go. Well, not really go, considering I live inside your tiny little head, but leave you for a while. Let me know how things turn out." With that, the subconscious form of Scout's mother disappeared into thin air.
"Great. My own conscience is talking to me in riddles. That's helpful." Suddenly, the hyena coughed itself awake and slowly rose, shaking off any water still on it.
"Jeez," it said, "I can't believe I survived that."
"You wouldn't have survived if I hadn't helped you," Scout said. The hyena looked at Scout with a confused expression on its face.
"You…helped me?"
"Well, I didn't really WANT to, but I did anyway."
"Well…thanks."
"Whatever." With that, scout began the long walk to the sewer stairs leading to the RED base. Suddenly, he heard the sound of footsteps quickly approaching, and turned to see the hyena running after him. "Cripes, what do you want now?"
"I just wanted to-"
"You know what? No. Just…no. I don't want to hear anything you have to say. You know why? Because you are the scum of the earth. Nobody likes you, you hear me? You're doomed to die alone." And so, Scout went on and on insulting the hyena through nearly every single domination line he knew. Once he was finished, the hyena looked at him, and just rolled its eyes.
"Pfft. If I had a zebra leg for every time I heard that, I'd probably die of heart disease." Scout's jaw dropped to the floor. Whenever he insulted someone, they either tried to insult him back, or didn't do anything because they were dead; no one had ever AGREED with him before!
"So…I'm right?"
"Kinda. I'm not that fat. Or mute. Or bald. But that whole 'nobody likes me' thing is kinda true."
"Really, that's gotta suck. Having no friends."
"Oh, I have friends; they're back at that blue place right now."
"Wait, there's more than one of you?"
"Yeah, you didn't know that?"
"Well, no. I just saw one of you, panicked, and hid for a while."
"Oh. Well, yeah. I've got these two guys that I've known for a while, and they're pretty good friends. And for the record, I'm not the one that scared you, that was one of them."
"Well, sorry for the mix-up."
"Eh. Don't worry about. A lot of folks say we all look alike."
"You know, I used to think you guys were evil, demented beings bent on the destruction of the entire world, but now that I've got to know one of you, you're really not that bad."
"Well, right back atcha! You're a pretty nice guy compared to who I've met over the years. After all, you did save my life."
"Eh, I don't even know why I did that. It just happened."
"Well, I'm glad it did."
"Good to hear. Hey, we've been talking this whole time, and I don't even know your name."
"You're right. Well, I'm not good with introductions, so…just call me Shenzi."
"Shenzi, huh? What is that, African?"
"Probably."
"Well, around here, I'm known as Scout. And back home, I'm known as Jerkwad, Dipface, Stretch, and some homeless guy on the street keeps calling me Jerry."
"Yikes. Rough childhood?"
"You could say that."
"Well, I'm no different. Back where I'm from, life is, and was, pretty rough."
"Well, I can imagine. I heard from a nature documentary that you guys are basically nature's Jerkwad."
"You ain't wrong, man. I may seem like a nice girl, but I can be nasty when I need to." Suddenly, the sound of Engineer's voice echoed through the sewers.
"Scout, where are you? It's chow-time, man!
"Well, looks like I gotta go," Scout said to his new friend.
"Same here. It was nice meeting you, by the way."
"Hey, you too." With that, Scout and Shenzi parted ways, leaving the sewers empty and silent.
