AUTHORS NOTE: Yeah, I'm not going to do the cheesy disclaimer thing everytime, only every now and then. Everybody knows I don't own Horizon or Dead Space. By the way, have you ever been chased down a dark corridor, screaming for your mommy? Never had that call returned? That's the nightmare that inspired what you're about to read.
Chapter 7
Puker. Run. Now!
Tsukasa held his ground, as did the two pukers. Tsukasa could feel their hollow eyes staring straight into his soul. That horrible face left in a blank looking stare. He couldn't believe how horribly augmented the people of Musashi were in such a state, in this… necromorphed state. They didn't even look like they used to be people of Musashi, let alone people.
"Psst, Hituro… are you ready?" Tsukasa asked.
Hesitantly, the samurai nodded. "J-jud man." He then turned his head to look at Tsukasa. "I can't do this, those things-"
"Fierce gaze Hituro, fierce gaze," Tsukasa said, not looking his direction.
Immediately, the boy focused back on the pukers, being sure to wear a determined look. He hated them, those things. All they did was kill… kill without remorse. The very thought of all that was going on brought him back a bit, back to IZUMO, when that happened. He gritted his teeth, he had to shake it off; but any sudden movements could set those things off. He then eyed Tsukasa. "When are we going to do this?"
Tsukasa focused in. His eyes met with the eyes of the hollow ones. How did they even see? "Now!" He suddenly shouted, throwing himself at the creature with his fire arms raised. He let off two rounds, and shouldered it. The puker got knocked over and fell over one of the tables. "Hituro!"
The boy snapped back, and then threw one of his chrome spheres at the other one. At impact, a strong concussion went off. The puker was thrown over the same table, and landed next to its friend. Tuskasa was busted to the door way, at which he quickly regained his balance. Hituro ran to the impact area and quickly retrieved his sphere, then bolted in Tsukasa's direction and both exited the room. Looking back, the first puker was just then regaining balance.
The group ran as fast as they could, even the captain was expressing some form of fear. Tsukasa wondered, do automatons truly not feel anything? "Hey captain, a question."
"Ask away, over," 'Musashi' let out, obviously keeping her breathing labored so she could run effectively.
"If the situation arose-"
"If such a situation arose, this unit wouldn't think twice about sacrificing its life for you children. You are much more precious. I am just a machine. Over." That was the captain's answer.
Tsukasa furrowed his brows. "That's what I figured. Then allow me to make a request, don't do that. Your life is valued by many of us, and you we could never get back as well, so don't throw yourself into something you know you won't get out of." Tsukasa looked back, already seeing the two monstrosities running down the hall. He looked back at her. "Besides, you're the captain; if you die, everything will go to turmoil; anarchy will break loose and nobody will know what to do."
"That's already happening, over."
Tsukasa then looked ahead. Darn right about that.
Neito was practically up at the front. She took seconds to look around and saw that there were many things lying around. She then started collecting some thoughts together. With all of this junk lying around, what's to stop me from chucking it at those things? She looked back to see she was practically ahead of everyone. Yes, that I must do. As a knight, it is my sole duty to protect my loved ones. Without warning, she started skidding to a stop.
"Neito!" Masazumi yelled.
Hituro's eyes shrunk. "Neito, what are you doing!?"
"Buying us time; don't worry: I don't plan on getting left behind," said the half wolf. She then let out her chains and wrapped them around a container filled with water. She let the others run past her, and focused her gaze on the closest of the pukers. "Take this you sick fucks!"
With a ferocious toss, the container hurled its way at the creatures. They did not make any quarter, and took the full impact of the blast. The container exploded, and water flew everywhere. Neito smiled and returned to running with the group. She looked back, but didn't find what she'd expect. She thought that such pressure would knock them around or maybe blow them up, but no, sadly it only made them stumble.
With a panic she caught up to the group. "Did we say those things are tough? I think we should say they're freaking invincible!"
"Agreeing with you there wolfy!" Ichijou yelled.
The two looked back, the pukers slowly catching up. Somehow, those dead beats could run faster than live people were. Neito grabbed a box with her chains, and proceeded to chuck it at the creatures. The box flew and flipped, and then broke into pieces upon impact, spilling the contents. Again, this only made them stumble.
Then, one of the pukers stopped, and reared back, emitting a loud trumpet like sound.
"What is it-" Neito started.
Then, in a flash, it spat something out, and that something flew fast, and straight for the wolf. "What the-" In an instant, she was knocked over, and flipped violently upon the ground. Ichijou stopped, as well as Hituro, and ran back her direction.
"Hey, get up Neito!" Hituro strained.
Ichijou quickly took a pose similar to Futayo's bind, and unsealed Maken. "Maken!" The sword then spun rapidly, creating a sort of stasis bind, slowing the creatures down. He was sure to keep trekking backwards, as the creatures were only slowed. "Hey Neito, you okay?"
She could feel it, the foul stench, and the burning from the acid. She shook from the shock of the impact. "Oh-h-h, I don't feel too good." She tried getting up, but the bile was keeping her from moving too fast. Steam rose from her, she felt like she had been hit with two hundred and fifty pounds of slowness. Trying hard, she got to her feet.
Hituro panicked. No way is she going to be able to run like this. "Ichijou, we have to help her!"
"We!?" He said. "Can't you see I'm busy?!"
The gravity samurai -in training- then threw down another one of his chrome spheres, busting the creatures back once again. Ichijou was also knocked back by the concussion, this time not expecting it. Ichijou landed hard on his buttocks.
"Come on," Hituro said, running by him; now grabbing hold of his uniform. "Let's get moving!"
Ichijou tried hard to recover. "Man, those or some strong things- hey, you left it-"
"No, I got it right here. Just get going already." Hituro started to stress."
Ichijou then got on his feet, and proceeded running as before.
Queen Elizabeth watched out of the balcony as Danik marveled in his own amazement; the amazement of the Marker XIII.
"You…" started the voice of Juana, of Tres Espana. "You monster! This was supposed to be a peaceful meeting. What have you done!?"
Danik turned her direction. "I'm starting the evolution of mankind, my dear Juana. Infact, I think you of most people should enjoy it. I've never seen how an elf reacts to the effects of the Great and Almighty Marker."
"You are one sick individual!" Juana continued. "Stop this, now!" She looks at Felipe. "Felipe, detener este Diablo."
Felipe looks at her, then at Danik. "I-… I believe there's nothing I can do Juana. He's the one in power."
"You know," Danik said, "I don't like it when people talk in a different language than I'm familiar with. However, I do recognize the word Diablo from my Spanish class. God I hated that class." He then leans over and grabs the Alcala de Henarespresident by hair, and quickly yanks her up to his eye level. "Grab her."
Two of the unitologists quickly take a hold of Juana. Felipe then tries to rise and fight them, but another unitologist quickly notices this, and stops him by talking a quick aim for his head. Felipe freezes, knowing there is nothing he can do to help her. Reluctantly, he complies and lowers his head.
Takakane grips his hand tightly. Seeing this man do this to Juana was infuriating. "You… bastard."
"Hey now, now cursing," Danik tells him, simply waving his finger left and right. "I don't think you're in the position to start calling me names. Now…" He eyes Juana. "You don't like the way I do things?"
Trying to keep her dignity, she pride fully thrusted her chest in defiance. "Absolutely, this is wrong. What do you hope to gain from crashing all of these ships?"
Elizabeth simply watched. Clearly there had to be something more to that shock wave, right? Something else was brewing, something clearly evil.
"My dear Juana, it's not about crashing the ships. It's about mankind's rebirth, our ascendance! Everybody must join the cycle of rebirth sooner or later, and quite frankly, I'm getting tired of you and your constant bickering."
He then threw her head back, his guards keeping a good hold of her. He then turned around, and pulled out what looked like a carved knife in the form of the helix structure. He then turned back to face her. "Don't worry, it only lasts a couple of seconds." In a quick motion, he took the knife and stuck it straight into the woman's forehead. The sound of bones cracking and breaking, and the oozing sploich made Elizabeth's stomach turn. Juana's face had completely gone out, and she fell over.
"There we go. Ready for rebirth!" Danik said aloud, empty of remorse.
Felipe's eyes shook from what just happened. "No…" He couldn't believe it. This man just killed his fiancée. "No…" He then reached out for her. "Juana!"
The guards didn't do much regarding him now, he was broken. They allowed him to crawl next to the woman, and hold her. He then cradled her and silently wept.
"You bastards!" Takakane bellowed. "You will get yours! You're going to get yours!"
Elizabeth sat back, dumbfounded. Clearly this man was insane. He just killed Juana, just like that. What's to stop him from killing her? Will those kind people from Musashi ever turn about? What happened to the pope president? All these questions she asked herself, but there was only one thing she truly did know at this point: keep her mouth shut, and Danik won't kill her.
"Oh I love happy endings," Danik said to nobody in particular. "I only wish it could've been that way, but you all saw: she forced my hand." He took the knife he had, and stuck it back into his pocket. "It can't be helped now. Come, we must leave. It's time we transport the Marker back to our base on the Lunar Horizons Colony. Soon, we'll be able to share everything about its wonders with the whole universe!"
Neito continued to throw canisters at the creatures, but they would not stop. The effect of the bile had worn off. It appeared that as long as it was hot, it done it's job; fortunately, it cools down within two minutes.
Ichijou was constantly toppling over whatever he could find standing to slow the creatures down, but to no avail, they didn't stop. "Crap."
The group then reached a door, and proceeded to open it. It lead to a singular room filled with ether tanks. In the middle was some sort of cryogenic device. Labeled above it were the words STASIS APPURTURE "DO NOT REMOVE". They then closed the door, leaving the pukers outside.
Collectively, they releases a sigh of relief. "Thank God Almighty that's over," Masazumi said. "But they'll find a way around, and if not that, there's not really anyway we can completely avoid them. There's bound to be a whole lot more of those pukers."
"And slashers," Hituro said.
Ichijou perked a bit. "Slashers?"
Tsukasa inspected the stasis appurture, and then looked around. There appeared to an armband strap of some sort. If he could remove the appurture, and get the pieces to an engineering station, maybe he could create some sort of weapon. The question was, what was stasis?
"Yeah, you know… slashers," Hituro continued.
"Where in the world did you come up with that?" Ichijou asked him, obviously interested. "You nick naming them now?"
Hituro shrugged. "Yeah sure, why not. It's a lot better than calling them them, and the term zombies wouldn't work because they're not simple zombies. As far as that name goes, I say slashers fit for the other ones."
"Why's that?" Neito asked, obviously fatigued.
"Well, they got bone saws for hands, and they slash at people with them. Slashers." Hituro explained.
'Musashino' shook her head, then straigtened up. "That is by far the most uncreative and ridiculous name for a creature I've ever heard."
"Well then," Hituro started, "how about you try coming up with a better name miss smarty pants."
The co-captain thought for a bit. "I retract my last statement, I can't really come up with anything."
"Not just that," Hituro kept on. "Why do you pick on my name, slashers, when Masazumi's pukers sound even worse? Do you have something against me?"
'Musashino' shook her head. "No, I just like messing with you."
Hituro kept his head low. "Me and you… we're going to have to talk."
"Hey guys," Tsukasa said. "Take a look at this. What is this thing?"
The group looked, and 'Musashi' jogged towards him.
"That there is a Stasis Storage Module. It's used for transporting liquid ether, to keep it in liquid state. I'd advise you don't mess with-"
Tsukasa pulled a couple of wires, and then the module sparked. Tsukasa backed away, quite surprised it'd spark. The module then fired off a stream of stasis energy, enveloping the impact area in a cyan tint.
"Wow, didn't think that'd happen." Tsukasa expressed.
Then, he heard something. It sounded like something was crawling from the walls. It busted and bounded against the metallic walls of the vents. And then, several seconds later, the vents on the roof busted open, and one of the pukers falling from it. At another vent, the other puker emerged in a similar fashion.
"They look pissed," Neito blantly said, surprised they found a way into the room.
Hituro drew his blade. "Rule #1, my ventilation ducts will be too small to crawl through."
Ichijou too drew Maken, and looked Hituro's direction. "I thought Rule #1 was "No talking in my classroom.""
"That's a different Rule #1!"
Tsukasa drew his blades. "Guys, now is not the time for your antics. It's time we get ready to fight."
AUTHORS CONCLUSION: Yeah, these chapters are only 8 pages long on Word, but still seem short. I would focus on making them longer, but I don't have that much free time in school to work on it. Yeah… Anyways, looks like a boss esque fight next chapter. I would like to say that it too would come out on the day I write it, but I don't think so, I want it to be epic!
