It seemed the smell from the long corridor had now also reached their "base camp" as it were.
God only knows how foul this was going to be.
Morgan sighed wearily, dragging herself away from Rook regretfully and went rummaging in some lockers 'til she'd found her own, slightly too large for her.
"...I apologise in advance."
"What for?"
"I will be getting angry." Morgan whispered.
Rook just nodded. in response.
"We will have to be doing much climbing to get out. It is straight up, and will require much endurance. Do you want to hold onto my back again, like when we climbed the tower?" Rook did think Morgan couldn't do it; he just didn't want to take the risk she couldn't. If they were a dozen metres off the ground, and she fell, that would be bad.
I'd be insulted, but we both know I dont have the strength...
"Y-yeah I'd like to hold onto you..."
Rook said nothing further, knowing it was a sensitive subject.
"I am going to assemble the climbing tools now. I will be back shortly." He said, rising to his feet.
Morgan nodded, distracted by the Rad suit. She eyed it with some trepidation.
"Do hurry."
Rook went down to the diner, where he salvaged six Chef's knives. He tore strips of leather from the booths, and then tied the strips around the handles of the knives to make straps to grip with. He then returned to Morgan.
Garry and Heather were suited up and ready to go, though neither of them was looking forward to this.
Morgan swallowed back her distaste and remained quiet. She stuck close to Rook.
"Let us proceed." Said Rook, leading the group back to the plant's asshole.
Garry remained silent, feeling a little indignant about this whole thing. He loathed the idea but it was better than starving to death down here...
Marginally better...
Morgan glanced up, the suit hiding her face.
"Fuck off, really!?"
Rook passed out the makeshift climbing spikes to Heather and Garry.
"Climb onto my back, Morgan." He instructed, before strapping on his own spikes.
Garry winced at the thought of this but... it was still better than starving to death.
No... It wasn't really...
"Alrigh' Heather... You climb up first, I'll make sure you do okay."
The Former Slave didn't respond, to open her mouth would be to risk puking...
Now, Morgan and Heather could also see the light shine through, what's essentially this huge plant's ass. Almost as if it were teasing them with the prospect of seeing the daylight again.
Morgan nodded and hopped up onto Rook. She clung tightly onto him, and pretended they were somewhere more pleasant.
The inside of the stern of the carnivorous plant was slippery and mildly acidic, like stomach lining. But fat enough so that you could press hooks into the 'flesh' and pull yourself up, slowly but surely.
With that, Rook approached the walls of the plant's... rectum, and plunged his knives into the soft pinkish tissue of the plant's interior.
As a reward, a huge dose of undigested parts of flesh of something organic were pressed down as a knee-jerk response from the plant. Covering both Rook and Morgan.
Morgan felt the bits of...stuff...hit off her Rad suit.
Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!
She shook her head and clung on tighter, enough to strangle Rook if he was human. Get me out!
Rook ignored it, and dug the toes of his boots into the walls of the plant. He then began a slow climb, using his knives and feet.
Garry and Heather hung back a bit, waiting for the others to make some progress before they began as they could cause them to slip and hurt themselves.
Horrible burping noises formed, and an uneasy hot wind passed, the tube, was sort of like... a big muscle. A big fat gullet that tried to swallow Rook and Morgan down, by clutching itself around the two, and squeezing them together. They disappeared from view to Garry and Heather.
J-je...God, why me?
Morgan clung ever tighter, swearing she was getting crushed...
The acidic wall licked Morgan's back. Making it warm and wet against her back.
Rook found himself losing his grip as the muscles contracted.
"Morgan." Rook said, his voice absents of the strain he was facing. "My shotgun- shoot the plant."
Morgan blindly fumbled, shuddering heavily as her back got soaked. She reached for the Androids shotgun and cocked it before blasting a round at the wall to their left.
Let us out...
The Plant loosened its grip on the duo. A big serving of puss shot up from the bullet holes though, straight in Morgan's face.
Meanwhile down below, Heather was coated with the same puss, streaming down.
Rook continued climbing, incredibly relieved. He dug his toes in and moved on, moving higher.
"Wrap your arm around my neck. Keep the shotgun free."
Morgan was thankful for the radsuit and its protection of her face. She was now blind though, since the pus covered the screen. She nodded and wrapped an arm over Rook's neck, keeping the shotgun primed.
It felt like trying to climb up a waterslide. And the waterslide stood up 90°. And instead of water it was putrid remains being cast down.
Heather jumped up and dug her climbing hooks into the creature's flesh, it took a great deal of effort to begin her ascent but she wasn't going to let that stop her. She winced as she was coated in the plant's vile substance but pressed on, moving vertically as fast as possible to make room for Garry.
About 30 metres up Rook slipped. His left climbing knife slipped free and tumbled through the air, sailing past Heather and plummeting into the muck off to Garry's left. With all 400+ pounds on Rook's right knife it started to sag, and then dragged down, slicing through the plant's flesh. They were losing inches and gradually were picking up speed.
The plant, clearly in agony, decided to throw everything it got at them. Belching inward, and dropping down its highly acidic reserves. When they hit Rook, it slowly started to eat away at his flesh with a soft sizzling sound. The same was happening to Morgan's protective suit.
Morgan swallowed and reached out, placing her other hand on the wall. her suit sizzled and she was beginning to strain under the pressure, but she dug it in and gripped tightly. "Fucking belch up you stupid fucking plant!" She snapped, firing another blast.
Rook's pain receptors flared up in protest as his bare skin was chewed away. In fact, it was so overwhelming that he felt... something, and cried out in actual pain. But actual pain sent him into a frenzy. He dug his fingers into the plant's soft meat, using all his great strength to get a hand hold, and proceeded to climb upwards again. Faster now, and with more urgency, despite the lack of a second climbing tool.
Morgan and Rook had garnered some height now. If they fell now, it would not be pretty.
On the plus-side. The plant's 'tube' seemed to come at an end up above. Soon they'd be in 'the sack' where it dissolves its meals, after which they'd just have to cut themselves out of the huge thick Petals.
Freedom was so close...
Heather continued her ascent, driving her gear deeper and deeper into the creature's flesh as she fought to stay above Garry and avoid sliding back down into the plant's stomach. She looked up and kept her gaze fixed on the others, hoping that they don't fall on her, that would be the worst thing imaginable, dying in this God-Awful place.
Garry picked up Rook's knife and dropped it in his pack before beginning his ascent, he drove his climbing gear into the creature's innards and made his way for the surface.
"Morgan..." Rook muttered, trying to get a sit rep from her, but the word was drawn out, as he was seemingly in agony. He hurt... everywhere. He tried to focus, putting all his energy into the task at hand and climbing higher.
The Plant would try to do the same to Heather now, by squeezing down on the part she was at, locking her in.
"We're almost there Rook." Morgan shouted over the sound of the plant's noises. She aimed upwards at the sac and blasted the shot gun.
"We're so close. Please, don't..."
G-Get off! Heather thought, drawing her knife and stabbing it, repeatedly in its fleshy blanket-like surface to try and repel it before continuing her ascent, pushing past it with as much force as she was capable of.
Huge parts of dog fell down, the latest meal of the thing.
Rook, whose eyes had been locked on the area in front of him, released the wall hit a steep incline. They'd reached the top of the 'tube.'
"Morgan. We are here." He sounded pained. "Climb up- through the gap."
Heather managed to escape, thanks to the slippery walls. The plant didn't have the strength to keep her captured anymore.
Morgan nodded and climbed as fast as she could. She blasted through the petals and emerged coughing and smoking into the sunlight.
Air! Thank fuck...
Morgan looked back and leaned in, reaching her hand out to Rook.
Garry wasn't far behind her, he quickly entered its fleshy walls, using its fatigue against it as he pushed on through, feeling like his arms were going to break. Heather was nowhere near as muscular as he was, so he wondered how she was doing this...
Heather gasped as she left the crush of the plant's gullet, desperately clawing to reach the surface.
Rook slid one hand through the gap into the stomach, then his second, climbing spike gripped tight. Purely by his arms he pulled his torso through the gap, until everything above his waist was free, and then he sat at the rim of the tube, and pulled his legs up. He copied Morgan's process of climbing through the sack of a stomach fast, running up the rounded wall, and gripped her hand, using it to balance himself so that he could emerge free.
Now exposed to the air, it was clear why Rook was in pain. His jacket was ruined, and his shoulders and forearms were covered in acid burns. His back had been protected by Morgan in her radiation suit.
"I hurt." He grumbled. He felt weird, like his circuits were going awry, and stumbled to a knee.
Above on the surface, the sound of birds and a cool breeze washed over Rook and Morgan.
"Shit..." Morgan exhaled, throwing off the Rad suit and running over. "We got to get you repaired. L-lemme look at you..."
Heather's pick flung over the rim of the creature's mouth, slamming down into the ground as she kept herself supported, she looked up to Morgan and Rook, who appeared to have made it.
"Morgan!" She called out, requiring some assistance.
"Assist Heather." Said Rook, now dropping to his hands and knees. "I will still need repairs in twenty seconds."
"C-cominng!" Morgan fretted, running over to the rim of the plant. She wrapped her hands around Heathers and grunted as the acid from the suit burnt her hands.
"Let's get the fuck away from here." She heaved, pulling Heather with all her might.
The creature wasn't going to leave it at this. In one last attempt to swallow down, It pushed Garry's climbing hooks out of its walls and pressed the wastelander with nothing to hang unto down.
It took a few seconds before the climbing gear tumbled all the way down back into the Vault below. It was a very big drop.
The Former slave toes clawed furiously at the plant as she was pulled out of its maw and was thrown onto the ground, she doubled over and panted heavily as she was dropped to the floor.
"Th-Thanks..." She gasped, taking in several deep breaths before reaching up at her face and clawing the visor off. The Wastelander then coughed and gagged before heaving several times, letting out a small treacle of puke on the ground beside her as the stench played hell with her stomach.
"W-We... N-Need... To H-Help Garry..." She added, panting heavily to catch her breath as Garry grew closer to the surface. She then heard the sounds that his falling climbing gear emitted, prompting her to swivel around and crawl over to the surface as the Wastelander dropped.
"G-garry!?" Morgan shrieked out, before looking around. "G-grab some vines or something. Clothes, the suits, guns! Fuck, anything we can make a rope from!"
Heather scrambled to her feet and rushed over to the nearest tree, she began violently tugging at the vines, quickly drawing her machete as she began to hack away at them, not measuring their length.
Garry kept hold of what little grip he had left, it wasn't possible to tell, through his visor but he was honestly terrified.
C-Can't die now... H-Heather, she's come so far, I can't die on her now! As he thought this he slipped, his fingers wrinkled as he tried to support himself a little more.
"I will retrieve him." Said Rook, moving to the plant's mouth. He looked unwell, to say the least. "We do not have time for such things."
The acidic walls had burned through Garry's radiation suit's gloves. Now eating at his exposed fingers.
"R-rook? Don't!" Morgan pleaded. "I can't risk losing you! We c-can save him without risking you too!"
Garry's grip weakened by the second. Soon there would be nothing between him and the 40 meter drop below.
"It's not much of a risk if we're smart about it!" Heather called, rushing over to them, with the vines in her hand, she dropped them by Rook's side.
"If Rook lowers himself in a little, with the vines, we can pull Garry out!"
"You two will not be able to support me, but I can support one of you." He glanced over. "Heather, are you fit for deployment? I will lower you down to grab Garry." Heather was the logical choice for two reasons: She was not Morgan, and she still had a radiation suit on.
The Wastelander was almost eager to do it but she remembered how Jelly-like her muscles were at this point.
"I... Think so..." She said, shaking her head as she removed all doubt from her mind.
"Yeah, I can do that. I just need someone to lower me in."
"Smart idea!" Morgan agreed.
Why didn't I think of that?
"I will lower you down." Said Rook, approaching Heather with the vine in hand, and tying it in an effective square knot around her waist.
"Jump in. I will control your descent."
Heather didn't exactly trust Rook's strength at the moment, believing that his body was incredibly damaged. She tied a harness around her waist before gently lowering herself in and making her descent.
"Hurry!"
Rook started feeding the vine in, letting Heather gradually drop down to Garry's position.
"Tug on the rope when you're at his location!" Rook called, sounding strained.
Rook started feeding the vine in, letting Heather gradually drop down to Garry's position.
"Tug on the rope when you're at his location!" Rook called, sounding strained.
Morgan darted forwards, noting the strain in Rooks voice. She stood in front of him and grabbed the rope, helping lift the couple out.
Rook pulled them up quite effortlessly, with Morgan's help of course, yanking them up all the way, until they practically flew through the surface hole.
The two of them scrambled to the surface before they collapsed on the ground, rolling over as they panted heavily, unable to move due to exhaustion.
"I... F-F-Fucking hate plants!"
"Th-this one needs to fucking burn..." Morgan agreed, leaning back for a second before shifting attention to her special friend.
"Talk to me Rook. How bad is it?"
Rook plopped down on his butt.
"Very bad."
"Where is it painful most?" Morgan whispered, panicking slightly. "I c-can try do something, but without s-supplies..."
"My arms, shoulders, and neck." He said, pointing to the acid burns on each listed part. He grimaced, a break in his usual stoic appearance.
"I am sorry..." Morgan whispered, looking over to the exposed metallic parts. "I...I can do very little here in this jungle."
"Maybe the ferryman will... H-Have some tools and parts that we can use..." Garry panted, still too exhausted to pull himself up as he and Heather lay there, every muscle ached.
"I need biogel. Or time to heal." Said Rook, looking uncomfortable. In the Commonwealth, he could be as reckless as he wanted, and would always end up repaired. But now he had to make do. He'd have to be more careful.
"We need to go somewhere safe. The ferry is safe, yes?"
"Safe-er yeah..." Garry replied, placing his hands firmly on the ground as he pulled himself up, his legs trembled as he rubbed his bloody hands against a cool leaf.
"F-Fuck, my hands!"
Rook slowly rose his feet and pulled off his jacket, dropping it to the ground. He did away with the top of the Vault suit as well- it was illogical for him to be angry at the fabric, but he was, and it only irriated his back.
"I am sitll functioning." Said Rook, toughing it out. "Let's move."
"Are you sure?" Morgan asked nervously. "It's still a bit of a ways to go..."
"Yes." Said Rook, giving Morgan a firm look. He would not be babied.
Morgan shrank back at Rooks look, shutting up and meekly nodding.
At that, Rook turned and pressed on, leading the group, trying to suppress how much his burns were irritating him.
The jungle was still humid and generally unpleasant, but at least it wasn't Vault 266.
Garry helped Heather up to her feet as he escorted her over to the others, they remained silent as they were too tired to speak. They just hoped that you could lie down on this ferry and sleep the destination off.