Before y'all get excited, no hiatus sadly isn't over. I just had ch. 31 and 32 over 75% complete before I had to drop off the edge. I'm doing semi better, but it got bad enough I can count on one hand the number of times I slept more than 4 hours straight in the past two weeks. Also dissociated quite a bit so that wasn't fun. I may have partially figured out why my brain goes into fight/flight mode when I think about the Bad Batch show, but I'm not sure yet. I've still got to be careful with how much time I spend in the Bad Batch fandom area, but I got a random burst of inspiration the other day so I finished the two chapters. I also got the ranking of #63 of 58.1k in OCs on Wattpad so... that helped lol.
The next chapter, Stitches, should be out decently soon but after that I'll probably vanish again.

This chapter title is a reference to my friend TheSilentium's fic Murphy Day on AO3! :D

Content Warning: Violence, strong language, non-sexual partial nudity (very end)

"Here I thought the jungle was bad!" I growled, shooing away a damn skeeter. "This is a skeeter war zone! Hellfire!"

It'd been maybe an hour since we ate and we'd ventured down into the very center of the crater. Of all the ways my fancy shmancy trail tracker could take us, it'd taken us into this cess-pit swamp where the air was soup and full of ravenous vampire bugs. Aka, hell.

Or South Carolina on a summer day.

Same difference.

"You are sure this is the route we must take?" Tech ventured, walking beside me.

"Sure I'm sure, why?" I grumbled, smacking a bloodsucker and grimacing at my blood splattering across my hand and arm. "Pete's Sake, I need that blood!"

"Well, there was a way back at the top of the cliffs."

"You heard that Hee Hee as well as me! I ain't dealin' with no Ayuwoki!" I retorted.

"Still in the dark as to what that was," Hunter remarked from my other side.

"We could take it!" Wrecker boasted from the back where he walked alongside Crosshair.

I still couldn't believe how… touched the sniper seemed to be at my food gesture.

What a tricky twig that man was.

But I just… couldn't shake that defeated expression from the fire. That struck deep, nearly knocking the breath from my lungs. Never thought I'd feel… sorry for Crosshair but…

First time for everything.

But what I saw only affirmed my suspicions; Twiggs truly did want to change. Was trying to change.

I would not give up on him.

I glanced back at him before turning my attention to Wrecker. "Maybe, big guy, but I personally didn't feel like dealin' with a possessed man-piranha who scuttles around like a demented humanoid crab-spider and cackles 'Hee hee' in a demonic auto-tunned voice."

"And there is no chance that this swamp hides something more sinister?" Tech asked.

"Hey, as long as we don't run into a Howler, we'll be fine!"

Drums sounded in the distance and the corners of my mouth sank into a scowl that could give Twiggs a run for his money. "Osik."

"Wait, you didn't mention you knew that word!" Wrecker exclaimed.

"Was savin' it for a special occasion," I grumbled. "Such as now."

"What am I lookin' for?" Crosshair growled, pulling his rifle from his pack and peering through the sights.

"Big ass reptilian tauroid with a long muzzle full of big nasty teeth. Maybe… five meters in length" I replied. "But not here. Too confined of quarters for a Howler to fit."

"That the… third trial or something?" Hunter asked.

"Basically."

Tech flipped his visor down and scanned the environment. "There are various lifeforms scattered in the swamp, but none as big as what you describe."

"Like I said, they're probably deeper in. I'd say keep your eyes peeled, but that's second nature to y'all." I paused. "Charlie, want you up here with me. Tech, you too. Hunter, Wrecker, can y'all cover the rear?"

"Orderin' my team around, Shadow?" Hunter teased, falling back.

"I said I wanted. Up to y'all if you follow through or not," I retorted.

"Sounds like a plan!" Wrecker announced, happily taking up a rear-guard position.

"Twiggy? You cool with the arrangement?"

"Fine," he replied, coming to my right.

"Let me know if those super-eyes catch anything. Tech, watch for a big heat sig."

"Understood!" the engineer chirped.

"Right, here we go."

Deeper into the swamp we ventured, trees stretching high above our heads with their branches burdened by heavy clumps of grey spanish moss. Cypress knees rose above the murky, stagnant pools of dark water turned brown by the leaching tannins from the surrounding trees. By some bizarre coincidence, we found a fairly intact boardwalk and were able to continue even deeper without getting our feet wet yet.

How we ended up in Congaree National Park, I had no idea.

I wasn't going to look closer at it either.

Bad idea in this fanfiction where things could change on a dime because the writer said 'fuck continuity'.

"How is there a boardwalk here?" Tech asked.

Of course he'd question it.

"No idea. We don't question these things. We just take the rules, and we run with 'em. All there is to it," I retorted, hyper aware of Cross on my right. I was certain he had enough space to walk without me brushing him but…

No, he did have enough space.

He was sticking close on purpose.

Apologetic wasp back at it again.

Accepting his proximity by bumping his arm with my own, I strained my ears for any noises that may give warning that we were about to get jumped by one of my bastard brain's franken-monsters.

Frankenstien was the doctor!

I know that!

"Hear anythin', furball?"

"Not yet, Charlie."

He really took a liking to that nickname. Swear he stands a little straighter whenever I call him that.

"Don't see anything… wait."

I stiffened. "Whatcha got Twiggs?"

"Two clicks ahead. Somethin' big. Could be it."

"Can't see that far, so will take your word for it."

I heard guns being drawn behind me, and I told them over my shoulder, "Time to use them fancy skills of y'alls. Most of the scales are too thick to pierce with regular bullets."

"So, what's the plan?" Hunter asked.

"Y'all the soldiers with a perfect success rate, think of somethin'. Besides, I did the last trial. Your turn."

Back and forth they went about plans as we drew closer to a rather large gap in the canopy above a large section of stillwater.

My tail began to bristle, worsened by Crosshair loading one of those heavy duty shot canisters from his belt. "Those things powerful?"

"It'll work."

Don't talk too soon.

"I'm definitely getting a reading on something big," Tech announced, tapping away.

"Goodie," Crosshair grumbled.

"This'll be fun!" Wrecker laughed.

"Careful what ya wish for," I retorted as the boardwalk ended and a flat expanse of mud crisscrossed by roots and marked by holes spread before us before the next section of boardwalk.

I did… not appreciate how I sank to my ankles when I stepped into the mud. Hellfire did it reek. The occasional skeleton or clump of half rotted carcass did not help matters.

"Footprints," Hunter remarked, scanning a hole beside us.

"Grand," I groaned.

A low, bone chilling rumble rose from the center of the murky cove, filling the air and rattling my chest.

I'd heard dogs growl before.

I'd heard gators growl before.

But I had not heard a gator-dog growl before. And I quickly decided I never wanted to again.

I scanned the black water.

Log, log, log, log…

Log with ears.

"Bingo," I growled.

Golden eyes blinked before the slime covered ears shifted up and forward. Another growl as the beast emerged from the murk, water cascading down moss and dark olive fur. Standing taller than Wrecker even before it stepped out of the water, the thick muscles on its arms left no doubt that those twelve inch claws could puncture steel.

Note to self.

No more combining wolves, gators, and spinosauruses!

"Oh, that's a Howler…" Hunter said, pulling his knife out.

Trying to stay atop the foul smelling quagmire that clung to my fur and squished unpleasantly between my toes, I slipped off my pack and tossed it back on the boardwalk. Something told me I'd be jumping around quite a bit, and that pack would only drag me down.

"Come and get some!" Wrecker taunted, opening fire on the Howler.

The shots, predictably, just bounced off the thick hide beneath shaggy fur.

"Think you made it worse," Crosshair hissed.

The Howler seemed to agree, opening its mouth wide in a furious hiss and revealing an arsenal of big nasty teeth.

At least Crosshair got a shot into the creature's maw.

Bad news was…

Now that gator-dog was charging us.

For those who don't know… gators are actually pretty damn fast when they want to be.

Especially when their legs are half-canine.

"Scatter!" Hunter yelled and we all dove in different directions.

Now covered head to toe in swamp gunk and… who knows what else… I got to my feet and turned to face the beast. It currently focused on Tech and Hunter instead of Crosshair, Wrecker, and me, but with those taur arms plus the lethal tail it had no issues fending off against both commandos.

I quickly turned to Crosshair. "Twiggs-!"

"On it," he said with a sharp nod, backtracking and heading for a tree before quickly scaling the lower branches to a fork high above the Howler's reach.

I turned to Wrecker beside me. "Let's rush it!"

"Speakin' my language, Squeaky!" he cheered before releasing a war cry and lunging for the Howler's tail.

The Howler, unsurprisingly, was not a fan of that and began turning in circles to try and dislodge Wrecker.

"Hang on, Wreck!" I yelled, running forward with my blades ignited.

"Don't need to tell me twice, the other end's got teeth!" he yelled.

Hunter dashed forward, knife aimed for the softer underside of the monster's jaw.

But Howlers… they were smarter than they looked.

A vicious slash of the arm and Hunter sailed a few feet and slammed into a tree, deep gouges marring his chest plate. Had he not been wearing armor…

But I was less worried about the scratches and more worried about the fact Hunter… wasn't moving.

The impact knocked him out.

"Hunter!" Wrecker yelled as the Howler swung around again, now focusing on Tech.

Not the nerd!

"Hey! Dragon-breath!" I yelled, throwing a handful of mud at it.

At least, I really hope that was mud.

There was a rock in the muck, at least, and it caught the Howler's attention. Turning towards me with a rather unhappy hiss, it left Tech alone and instead charged me.

Long as it wasn't focused on the unconscious Hunter, that's all that mattered.

An explosive shock shot from Crosshair dragged the beast's attention away from me, but as it turned around to attack the sniper it flung Wrecker off his tail.

Wrecker crashed into Tech, both men falling down.

Then Tech screamed.

Suddenly the Howler didn't care so much about Crosshair or me.

Instead, it's attention now focused on the wounded Tech.

Wrecker's weight must have damaged his leg!

Shit!

A telekinetic shove bought me enough time to get between the downed troopers and ignite my blades. Swinging them in a wide arc, I tried to fend off the Howler or at least give Wrecker enough time to move Tech.

"Back off!" I snarled. "Wrecker, get 'em outta here!"

"Squeak, not leavin' you alone!"

Another electro shock shot embedded itself into the Howler's front leg, blue bolts racing up and down across its back.

"I'm not alone!" I reminded him. "Crosshair has my back!"

"I'll be right back!" Scooping up Tech and racing to Hunter, Wrecker ran deeper into the trees to the next segment of boardwalk.

"Me, you, and Twiggs, let's go, Howler!" I snarled, slashing at the beast again and again while trying to keep my footing in the slick mud. Dancing in circles, trying to get close enough to slice off an arm without losing my head, I hissed in frustration as suddenly a cramp seized my right side.

Staggering back, cursing the sharp stabbing pain, I grit my teeth and tried to keep fighting.

I needed to buy Wrecker time!

He had to get Hunter and Tech out of here!

My foot sliding one way while I went the other told me I should worry less about the boys and more about myself. Rolling quickly to the side, narrowly avoiding snapping jaws followed by slashing claws, another telekinetic shove forced it back just enough for me to dodge a swing of clawed hands.

"Get away from her!"

Wrecker slammed into the beast from the side, driving it further away from me and giving the demolition expert time to pull me to my feet.

Still out of breath, I felt my knees wobble and threaten to give out and send me back into the mud.

"Run, Squeak!"

"I… I can't run!" I gasped, hanging on to the demolition expert.

A roar from the approaching Howler shook the trees and Wrecker yanked a flare out of his pack.

"Back! Back, I got it!" Wrecker yelled, waving the flare at the beast.

"Wrecker! Don't!"

"Don't worry, it's scared!"

With those words, the beast lunged forward and bit off the tip of the flare.

Wrecker glanced at the remaining piece in his hand and gulped, "That's emascualtin'."

Of course, now we got "Journey Two: The Mysterious Island" going on.

The question was…

Would Wrecker use the "Thundercookie"?

A scream and a charge later told me nope. Wrecker decided against a punch and went straight for the freight train.

His charge knocked the Howler back into the water and as it struggled to steady itself, tail violently sweeping side to side and sending water high into the air, I made my move.

Gathering up the last of my telekinetic strength, I launched myself up and over the beast's head.

A spectacularly dumbass move in hindsight, but alas. We were running out of options and I was already in the air.

Landing on the Howler's back, claws sinking into the slimy and algae coated fur for a better grip, I lashed my own tail to keep balance. Jumping on its head, grabbing the thick mane, I hauled myself up and wrapped my legs around its neck. Claws tore a gash in my right thigh, but I refused to let go. Unsheathing my blades, I raised them with a scream and copied my Porker Takedown; blades directly into the eyes.

A bloodcurdling roar of agony.

The lurch of the beast beneath me.

Razor sharp claws in my back.

Remaining strength used to rip me off its neck.

Flying through the air.

Screams from the Batchers.

Slamming into a tree.

Crashing into the water.

Dark, murky green.

Golden light fading.

Sinking…

NO!

Forcing myself up, I cursed. My damn leg wasn't working! It wouldn't move!

I wasn't gonna die by drowning of all things!

My claws scraped bark and I drug my way to the surface. A gasp ripped from my throat as I broke through.

"There she is!"

Panting, my leg still refusing to work, I looked over my shoulder at Crosshair and Wrecker on the shore line. The Howler was no more, claimed by Death, but unless I got on dry land soon I'd be joining the beast.

"Hang on! I… I can make it!"

But could I?

An arduous swim to the next closest tree proved that maybe I couldn't.

The impact of the tree must have broken my leg.

Bugger.

"Shadow!"

I strained to keep above the water as I looked up in time to see Crosshair kneel in the shallows by the Howler corpse, attach a grappling hook to his rifle, and point it directly at me.

"Don't move!" Wrecker yelled. "Cross is gonna help!"

Cross… I hope you know what you're doing!

Bit of bark flew as the hook embedded itself a foot above my head. I yanked the hook free and held on to the cable as Crosshair reeled me back in. Feeling sand beneath my knees, I tried to haul myself the rest of the way out.

"Got you."

Remaining still as Crosshair slipped an arm around me and pulled me up onto the bank, I panted hard for breath.

That was… unpleasant.

"Squeak!"

"Let her rest!" Crosshair snapped, laying me on the ground and shooing Wrecker away.

I grabbed his arm as he started to pull away. "Thanks, Twiggs," I wheezed.

A lean hand gripped my forearm and squeezed before Crosshair let go.

"Shadow!" Tech yelled, he and Hunter limping over with each other's support. Tech's ankle looked funny and Hunter's eyes seemed unable to focus. Dislocation and concussion most likely.

The sergeant quickly stumbled over with Tech in tow. Falling to his knees beside me, he gasped, "Shadow, blood is welling out of your back!"

"Well, fix it!" I snapped. "What you expect me to do about it?!"

"Don't you feel any pain?!" Wrecker exclaimed.

"No."

Tech squinted and tilted his head. "Does Alphian saliva contain a painkiller?"

"I'm droolin', aint I?"

"Very much so."

I groaned. "Sexy."

"We need to get your wounds cleaned and stitched as soon as possible," Tech chattered, pulling at my shoulder. "There could be who knows what in that water! All number of deadly bacteria and parasites and-"

"Less talkin' more healin'!" Wrecker interrupted, grabbing for Tech's pack.

"Wrecker!" I exclaimed as Tech yelped in pain. "He's hurt too, don't make him worse on my account!"

"It's most likely just disolacted!" Tech assured me as Wrecker fished out some medical supplies.

Just?!

I shook my head at Wrecker as he reached for my leg. "No! Don't waste it on me!"

"But your leg! I…" Tech swallowed. "I believe it's broken."

"Hellfire and damnation, ain't nothin' goin' right today! Gettin' beat up more than a damn piñata!"

"What is a piñata?" Tech asked.

"Tell ya later," I groaned. "Look, the leg will heal, just can't put weight on it for a while. Wreck, can you carry me?"

"Course, Squeak!"

"Not yet though, bud," I said. "Need to fix my back, or at least clean it. That way I can focus my healin' on my leg. If… you can spare more bacta…"

"Of course we can," Hunter stated firmly, a hand on my shoulder.

"Just use enough to disinfect it. At least one of you can sew, right?"

I was… not a fan of the way they all glanced at each other.

Hunter said slowly, "Tech isn't gentle with wounds, and I better not while my vision is swimming like this. Wrecker doesn't know how."

The hidden meaning was clear.

Only Crosshair can stitch your back.

My tail tip twitched as I glanced at Crosshair.

"Faster I fix, faster we get movin'," he said, but with that helmet I couldn't tell his true expression.

I cast a worried glance at Hunter, receiving a comforting look in return. No way around this, huh? "Fine, but y'all gotta move off somewhere else. Gonna need to strip from the waist up so he can reach my back."

"That's not necessary-"

"I'm less concerned about my tits and more concerned about the fact I still have copious amounts of blood drainin' out my back," I grumbled.

"Then we'll… head further down the trail," Hunter said, slowly staggering to his feet.

"Yes. I need to check Hunter for a concussion anyways. Crosshair, make sure her back is cleaned and disinfected before you-"

"Done this before, Four Eyes," he growled, digging the needed supplies out of Tech's pack.

I hope you've done this before, Twiggy…

"Gonna be ok, Squeak," Wrecker promised, trying to find the best way to hug me without messing up my back.

"I'm sturdy, Wreck, don't be so alarmed," I said with a tired smile, fighting down the building nervousness.

"Yes, but you are also afraid of needles," Tech pointed out as he dragged himself over to me.

My tail bristled as he took out a vial from his belt. "Whatcha think you're doin'?"

"You said I could have some blood if you got cut again."

"Tech," Hunter growled. "Not the time."

"But-"

"Leave her alone," Crosshair hissed.

Wow, someone got possessive…

"Now… ain't the best time, Techie," I agreed.

Grumbling, Tech nevertheless relented. His expression then softened as he reached forward and gave me a cautious hug. "Crosshair will take care of you, Shadow."

I said nothing, still uneasy, but offered a weak smile. "Thanks, Techie."

Wrecker, carefully this time, picked up Tech plus Hunter and carried them farther down the trail.

Once they were almost out of sight, I tried to limp to the boardwalk back on ourselves so we could sit on flat ground. My leg wasn't too keen, however, and I almost collapsed back into the mud.

Crosshair caught me before I fell and pulled my arm around his shoulder before his other arm wrapped around my side to take the weight off my leg. "Shouldn't walk with a broken leg."

"What a concept," I muttered, every nerve in my body on fire now.

Boy howdy were we close. At least there was hard armor separating us.

"Don't get smart."

"It's my specialty," I retorted. Relief swept through me when we reached the boardwalk and I could let go of Twiggs. Not that being close wasn't… nice…

But I was vastly unprepared for that.

Sitting down, I adjusted my leg which thankfully wasn't in pain. Carefully pulling the soaked shirt over my head, followed by my sports bra once Crosshair was behind me, I sighed. "Alrighty, Twiggs. Let's get this over with."