Keeping to the shadows of the trees, I skirted around the cleared land that housed what Miranda called the 'Village': a quaint, drab-looking settlement that housed at the most, two-dozen buildings and small squares of farmland. Taking a quick scan, I noticed the inhabitants were dressed in mostly dark, simple clothing that bore similarities to a traditional 1800s mining or farming settlement: mostly relying on horses and oxen for the majority of outdoor work, though I did spot several old tractors and rusty flatbeds scattered among them. Ignoring my sudden hunger as a breeze brought with it the scents of some delicious-smelling meals being prepped, I picked up the pace to gain as much distance as possible before I could risk being spotted by any wandering eyes.
As much as I wanted to positively shred something to alleviate my violent mood: decimating a Village full of harmless souls wasn't my cup of tea, not when others were far more deserving and in dire need of flaying. 'Who the absolute fuck does that bitch think she is?! Thinks she can just…just collar me like a god-damned pet?! Like HELL I will roll over for anyone, least of all a deluded witch with a 'Mommy' complex! Just you wait until I get this fucking parasite off…because my gloves will come off with it!' I mentally snarled, baring my teeth and keeping to the path on my right as soon as it forked: catching the scent of water and the repetitive, 'grinding' sounds of a mill on the left-hand side. Keeping the pace, I jumped through the trees and over a wooden bridge that had served as a crossroads between the forest and the crumbling ruins of the Stronghold.
Coming to a stop on a sturdy branch, I glanced through the colorful leaves of the tree and took in the absolutely massive murder of what had to be thousands of crows: all flocking around the ruins and all screaming over each other in a deafening noise that made me nearly unable to hear anything else. 'Well…there's only one reason why they would be doing that.' I thought, scrunching my nose in disgust as the breeze brought over the scent of rotting meat and old blood: the telltale sign of decomposing corpses left to rot in the sun. Crouching on the branch, I sent out an invisible pulse that was similar in nature to a bat's echolocation: using my Sonar to confirm that yes, I had company: and no, it wasn't friendly.
'Perfect, just the thing I needed to cool off.' I noted, leaping quietly from my branch and continued on: keeping myself downwind and out of my 'company's' potential line of sight and made my way to a better vantage point at the top of the cliff that bordered the crumbling ruins. Glancing around, I was glad that, regardless of what it was: nothing looked up when searching for a potential threat. At first, I thought the mixed scent of human and canine meant that I was dealing with hostile hunters and their hounds…only to find that that…wasn't the case. 'What kind of shit-' I thought, mind not fully comprehending what my eyes were seeing as I took in the living, breathing Werewolves that clearly made the Stronghold their home.
In the facility where I came from and have since decimated to the ground: I had seen a lot of scary, weird shit that could only reside in the twisted minds of the worst kinds of people, as well as plenty of new nightmares since my escape. This though, this was new: not some hideous, deformed monstrosity that didn't quite know what it wanted to be, but it was enough to see that whatever the hell made them…was not something to brush off. In hindsight, I probably shouldn't be surprised that Werewolves were somewhere on the list of things that people wished to create: as they sure as shit didn't have a problem with mixing things together and injecting it into some poor sod for the hell of it. 'Probably got off on it, actually.' I noted, taking in the humanoid creatures as they patrolled, rested, tussled and feasted on any crow that was stupid enough to get close: eating and acting very much like the legends described.
''Lycans'. That's what Heisenberg called them.' I thought, internally correcting myself as I watched from my perch and saw that the vast majority of them carried weapons: a clear showing that they bore at least some form of intelligence, primitive as their weapons were. Standing at different heights and body types, they all were covered in short, shaggy fur that was an ashy-grey color: with some with a full head of human hair, while others were balding: a telltale sign of the gaps in their age groups. Another thing I noticed, was the difference in the amount of shredded clothing they still wore: some still had pieces of coats covering their backs and arms, while others only wore what barely remained of their pants, while a very scarce few somehow managed to keep a single shoe. Taking a quick headcount: I tallied the numbers to be in the high double-digits…and I haven't even gone inside the Stronghold yet.
'This pack is massive, with a very clear, strict hierarchy: just like an actual wolf pack.' I noted, mildly impressed by the extended lengths whatever the hell infected and changed them went to, in order to secure its place in nature: unnatural as it was. With that fact in mind, my indigo eyes thoroughly scanned each one over again: searching for the Alpha of the pack, knowing exactly what Miranda's plan was by now…and I was not amused by it. 'So, it's going to be like that, huh? Jokes on you, I don't need my abilities to win a fight: so, you can forget about seeing any and picking out weaknesses from it.' I thought, glaring at the oblivious Lycans as the realization for why she sent me to stay here became apparent: she was testing me, wanting me to show her my abilities, show her the full extent of my potential: and she was not about to have it.
With a quiet 'hiss', I scowled to myself as I couldn't pinpoint the Alpha from my position: meaning either they were inside the Stronghold itself, or was out on a hunt…if they even left to hunt in separate groups. Looking over them again: I noticed that while the pack was massive, I had yet to see any females within the masses…lovely. Because I knew how pack dynamics worked: I actually dreaded having to assert myself and essentially knock the shit out of the Alpha, as that meant that their animal natures would make me a high-ranking packmate in their eyes, but if I were to prove myself right in my hunch that I would be the only female in the Stronghold: that fact would also mean they would never leave me the fuck alone. 'As if I didn't have enough bullshit to deal with.' I thought, mouth twisting into a 'snarl' at the disgusting thought of these creatures competing amongst themselves to attempt to get any kind of attention from me.
Just as soon as I was about to get it over with and pounce: a sentry that had been patrolling what remained of the ramparts suddenly perked up and lifted its head: catching my scent on the wind as it changed direction and alerted it to my presence. Glaring up at me with glowing silver eyes, it parted its jaws full of bloodied, jagged teeth and released a raspy, dry-sounding 'howl': catching the attention of every single Lycan and alerted them to my presence. "Time to go to work." I sighed, rising from my crouch and jumped down onto the top of a pillar as they readied their scythes, spiked hammers and bows with savage, hungry growls. Baring my teeth back at them, I dropped from the high ground and landed solidly on the ground: scattering the leaves and uncovering the bleached, splintered bones of old meals: something that they clearly wanted to make of me.
When none of them charged me outright, I glanced upward at a Lycan that had been wielding a bow and a healthy supply of flaming arrows. Glaring at it as it knocked one, I side-stepped the projectile and snatched the shaft out of the air as it made to strike where I had just been standing: snapping the wooden arrow in half with a well-placed amount of pressure to the middle of the shaft, never breaking eye contact with the creature as I did so. "I don't have all god-damned day, come on! C'mon!" I challenged, throwing the broken arrow aside and watched as they all snarled in near unison and made to charge me: cause me to start towards them with a slow walk in return.
Picking up the pace, they matched my speed with their own: with groups trying to flank on both sides as well as the front. Fixing my gaze on the closest one, I took off in a dash towards it in a blinding sprint: feeling the biomass that made up my body suit rise and writhe along my outline in an organic aura. Dodging the creature's swing, I grabbed its wrist and twisted it to the side: forcing the Lycan to drop its scythe with a pained 'yelp'. Not letting it recover, I slammed my boot into its leg: shattering the femur and snatched the scythe from the ground, flipping it in my gloved grip and decapitated it in a single motion with lethal precision. Grabbing the arm of its body, I lifted its corpse and swung it in a wide arc and smacked those closest to me with it: gaining distance and staggering a few.
Clenching my fist, I took a swing at another's jaw: breaking it on contact and slamming my heel into a flanking pair with a jumping roundhouse that knocked them off their feet. Hearing a 'snarl' from behind me, I whirled around on my heels and snatched the arm of another one as it tried to take a swing at my neck: shattering its arm over my knee and sent the protruding bone from the shattered limb back into its own eye socket and sent the seizing corpse crashing into the dirt. Grabbing its discarded weapon, I used a nearby rock as a springboard and grabbed the first archer Lycan's foot and 'yanked' its leg out from under it: sending it on its back as the combination of physics and gravity threw off its balance and allowed me to bury the head of another's spiked hammer into its chest cavity, leaving its torso as nothing more than paste.
Growling as a group of four decided to charge at the same time: I ducked under the closest one's swing and threw my elbow back in its throat: cutting off its air supply just long enough for me to drop to the ground and sweep the others' legs out from under them. Pouncing on the first, I grabbed it by the ankles and broke both its legs with a sickening 'crunch' and buried my boot in its face in a savage curb-stomp as soon as it opened its jaws in a scream. Snatching the next pair by their hair, I brought their heads together with enough force to shatter both their skulls and break necks and even allowed parts of their brains to be seen through the blood-matted fur.
Staggering forward in an unsteady 'flinch' as one managed to strike the back of my shoulder, I bared my teeth at the thing and grabbed it by the wrist: effortlessly picking it up and slamming it into the ground repeatedly until it was little more than a broken ragdoll, using the weight of the thing's corpse to stun three more as they took their chance: aiming for their heads and striking them as if I were using a baseball bat. Taking a deep breath, I charged after one and grabbed it by the face: smashing its head against the side of the stone wall like an overly-ripe melon: coating the mossy stone with a healthy coat of gore and splintered bone. With another 'growl', I jumped up into the ramparts after another archer as it tried to set me ablaze with its flaming arrows: only for me to slam my knee into its jaw and send it sprawling onto its back.
Before it could get back up, I took one of its arrows and buried it deep into its silver eye socket: not caring that I was slowly getting my fair share of blood and visceral on me as a result. Snatching the right arm of another one: I twisted its scythe in its grip and made it decapitate itself with its own weapon. Despite the number of hostiles trying to engage, I myself was barely winded: as my virus allowed me to have a high amount of endurance and stamina…not counting the nightmarish, barbaric methods the facility used to train me. Tilting my head down and squaring my shoulders: I glared each of the remaining Lycans down as they 'snarled' and circled me: trying to find a weakness and attack as a group. And while they were pretty respectable in their maneuverability: they were still no match for the Blacklight virus's enhanced reflexes and inhuman strength.
And while having the abilities was tolerated after a while, I could do without the screaming voices in my head: which have on more than one occasion, rendered me with severe, blackout-inducing migraines and fierce nausea that left me feeling like living death for hours. Which I was glad that I wasn't being plagued with one at the moment: as they tended to happed at the worst, inconvenient times, and getting struck with one during a combat situation was something they were trying to use against me for years. Shaking the thoughts away before they became a distraction, I followed along the edge of the ramparts in a predator's pace, feeling my coattails and fabric tail follow along in an aggressive 'swish' with the movement: daring them to come closer and join their brethren in a nasty end, only for the remaining Lycans to slowly back away and out of my immediate reach.
Before I could even question why or move to give chase, the massive, wrought-iron and wooden doors of the Stronghold crashed open and slammed into the stone walls with a deafening 'crash': giving way for the Alpha of the pack, and I was not disappointed by that obvious revelation. Having to wait only a minute and a half at most before I actually saw him: I suddenly understood why the lesser Lycans quickly gave their Alpha all the space possible in the crowded courtyard we found ourselves fighting in. Standing at an imposing ten feet tall: was a Lycan that was vastly different from its brethren, from the full suit of intact clothing and riding boots tailored just for him, to the gigantic, rusty meat tenderizer that served as a two-handed hammer.
Feeling the ground literally shake as he leapt from the ground and landed firmly on the top of the wall: I met his glaring silver eyes that I was able to spot through his long, shaggy mane that covered all but his eyes and face: accenting his bloodstained mouth, making him appear all the more frightening. "The hell kind of videogame Boss Fight is this?!" I said to myself, staggering backwards with a 'hiss' as my hands flew to my ears as the Alpha threw his head back and let out a deafening bellow of a 'howl' and leapt high into the air with his spiked hammer raised high. "Shit!" I yelped, shaking the stars away just in time for me to dash under the Alpha's boots in a roll: ducking behind a pillar as his hammer completely destroyed the section of the ramparts I had just been standing on, sending the crumbling stone in every direction with a deafening 'crash'.
Jumping from my hiding place, I just barely-avoided the hammer's backswing as he pulled it loose from the crater in the ground: causing the rest of the pack to howl, snarl and growl like some sort of cheering audience watching a Gladiator Fight in the Colosseum. Ignoring them, I leaned forward and bared my teeth: standing in a hunched-over fighting stance that made the fabric wings on the backs of my shoulders appear to be flared. More of an intimidation tactic than anything, it served as something for the Alpha to be distracted by as I looked over him again, and judging by the calculating, intelligent look in his beady, silver eyes: there was no question he was doing the same.
'Large, slow moving but hits like a fucking truck, takes several seconds to regain control over his weapon after each swing, inconvenient: but shouldn't be a problem.' I thought, analyzing him and picked out several weaknesses that I fully planned on using against him, but first... "Don't suppose that's you under all that fur, is it, Heisenberg?" I called, somehow knowing the creature could understand me: but wasn't sure if the deep, resonating 'chuff' he answered with was a 'yes' or a 'laugh'. Either way, the tightening of his grip on the handle of his hammer told me that even if it was: he clearly didn't give a damn about what was or wasn't, and that was perfectly fine with me.
"Oh good! I was almost worried about having to explain to 'Mother Dearest' the reason why I had to break your face for trying to squish me!" I chirped, feeling adrenaline kick in to the point where my snarl turned into an almost playful grin: feeling the virus 'sing' as it was granted the chance to fight something that actually proved to be a challenge, something that hasn't happened in a long time. Tilting my hood down, I started forward in a slow walk: internally grinning to myself as I heard him copy me with a 'snarl': picking up the pace with long strides that each made the ground shake.
Increasing my pace to a jog, I suddenly took off towards him in a sprint: clearly throwing off his expectations and reared his hammer back for another swing. 'Not this time.' I thought, smirking to myself as I quickly jumped to the side and used a crumbling section of the wall as a springboard: launching myself over the creature's swing and retaliated with a swing of my own. Instead of aiming for his face, I had a different tactic in mind: flying over the handle of his hammer, I swung for his right wrist, landing a solid hit and shattered the bone with a sickening 'crunch'.
Clenching my jaws as he threw his head back with an enraged, pained 'roar', I used my smaller size to my advantage and jumped out of the way as he threw his hammer at me out of rage: the hunk of rusted, bloodstained metal forgotten as he glared hatefully at me and flexed his broken wrist. 'Okay, he's got fast healing too, good to know.' I noted, hearing the shattered bones mend themselves with a disturbing 'grinding' noise: making it apparent to me that this was a fight where I couldn't stand idle for too long. With that in mind, I lunged for him again: cutting off his wild swipes and threw my knee up into his jaw, bracing myself for the automatic reflex of him reaching for his face. Grabbing the collar of his jacket, I used the momentum to swing myself up onto his shoulders: holding on like the parasite around my neck as he did everything in his power to shake me off.
Charging for the nearest wall, he tried several times to slam me into the stone: much like a wild horse being trained and broken in, only difference was: that's exactly what I wanted him to do. Gripping hard onto his mane, I mentally counted down the seconds until he was within touching distance of the wall: quickly letting go and jumping from his shoulders as soon as he was close enough. Using his broad back as a springboard: I shoved my boots into the center of his gravity, sending him staggering forward and headfirst into the stone in a large cloud of dust.
Landing in a crouch, I watched intently as the dust gave him just enough cover to hide the fact that I had apparently pissed him off enough to actually rip one of the sections of the walls off and throw it at me: sending the stone into the wrought-iron gateway that served as the entrance to the Stronghold itself. "Well alright then." I muttered, tensing my legs and got ready to charge again as he grabbed up his hammer, crouched low to the ground, and jumped at me with his hammer raised high. Ducking under him, I threw my boot into his knee: trying to break his leg and slow him down even further. It was here that two things happened: as soon as his boots landed in the leaves, my foot made contact with the side of his knee: dislocating it at the very least.
Unfortunately, the result of doing so had made him stagger: overshooting his swing that was intended to flatten me like ground beef and into the support wall instead. As soon as the metal hammer made contact with the crumbling stone: the force caused the ramparts above to collapse onto the giant Lycan's head with a loud, crumbling 'crash'. Squinting through the cloud of dust and leaves: I was suddenly very glad that none of the old stone or the Lycan had landed on me, and had only missed my coattails by six inches at most. Shaking my head to clear my ringing ears, I noticed that the rest of the pack had fallen silent: waiting in anticipation for their Alpha to stand and finish what he started.
Ignoring them, I jumped back several feet and readied myself to charge again: only to pause as I realized that the deep, reverberating 'snarl' that rumbled from the buried Alpha, was in fact a snore. 'After all that…all it did was knock him out cold?' I wondered, not trusting the Lycan not to pull some trick and rise to attack me while my guard was down: though I couldn't help but respect his tenacity. Keeping the surviving others in my peripherals: I felt a frown tug at my mouth as I saw them ready their weapons again, only to hesitate with an air that looked and felt as if they were rethinking their decision. 'Try it. You won't win.' I thought, mentally challenging them in order to get the rest of the fight over and done with so I can put an end to the incredibly shitty day: only to raise an eyebrow as they started snarling, grunting and barking at each other, smelling the air with nervous body language.
Before I could try to figure out the possible reason why they all decided to have an attitude change at the same time, the obvious reason became apparent and made itself known: and it was not pleased by the mess I made. "The fuck did you block the path for, Dipshit?! Are you trying to piss me off?!" an angry yell sounded from the other side of the wall of crumbled stone, and it didn't take a genius to figure out who decided to tail me out here: which only served to aggravate me even further than I was already. "Huh. Guess you weren't Heisenberg, then." I muttered, glancing at the limp form of the Alpha as he continued on with his unexpected nap.
"Oh, I'm sorry! I should absolutely be respectful of the terrain when its literally being thrown at me, shall I? Yeah, that makes perfect sense! I'll go ahead and ask gravity and physics to be considerate of 'His Majesty' for his convenience next time: keep the path clean!" I yelled back, smirking to myself at the long stream of growls and curses that sounded from the other side of the crumbled ramparts: that I had just noticed had blocked the entrance to the pathway that led back to the Village. "'Considerate'?! I'll fucking show you 'considerate'! Made me chase your freaky, glowing ass all the way out here to make sure you're not dead and this is the thanks I get!" Heisenberg yelled, reminding me very much of a child having a tantrum: though I would be lying if I said pissing him off wasn't fun.
"The only ones you need to be concerned for are your god-awful pets! Thanks for the 'warning' by the way! Hope you all enjoyed the show because I will not be doing it again!" I called, tearing my eyes away from the pile of rubble and picked off chunks of gore and visceral from what parts of me it had gotten stuck to: too mentally tired at this point to be disgusted by the task. 'Now I understand what Alcina meant.' I thought, rolling my eyes and focused on cleaning myself: which would have gone by much faster if I had access to a shower and some soap, but I doubted I would be granted such luxuries any time soon.
In the middle of reaching behind me to grab some bloodied hide that had gotten tangled on the shredded wing: I very nearly jumped out of my skin as the pile of rubble was suddenly blown away with a loud, metallic 'clang' and a cry of exertion: exposing the pathway that led back to the Village, as well as a highly annoyed Heisenberg. 'Round two?' I wondered, raising an eyebrow as the man stormed his way through the cleared space with an angry scowl on his face: only to pause in his warpath as he apparently caught sight of the aftermath of what had happened a few minutes ago. Unfortunately, I couldn't see his exact expression from this distance, but even from this far away: I could tell he did not expect to walk in on a massacre of Lycans.
"Well, well. Tough little shit, aren't you?" he questioned, dropping what little remained of his cigar into the dirt and stomped out the few embers that remained. "Have to be. Considering Miranda's 'exquisite' taste in real estate." I replied dryly, gripping the shredded, bloodied hide and tossed it aside: turning to face him with another 'swish' of my coattails. "That so? At least you were smart enough to figure that shit out, Miranda doesn't send anyone into this shithole unless she wants them dead: sent you to the wolves, yet you're the one still standing. I admit, I fully expected to find your ass shredded and decorating this place like fucking party streamers: sure as shit surprised the fuck out of me to see you making yourself right at home." he said, hinting at a potential compliment: but the mocking tone of his voice also suggested otherwise, making it difficult to get a read on what he actually meant by that.
"So…what? She send you over to test me too? Mad that I'm not 'showing my full potential'? Because I will tell you right here and now that I am NOT playing her bullshit games. I'd prefer not to fight you, if it's all the same to you: but should you decide to test your luck, you won't like how it goes." I warned, keeping him in my sight as he adjusted his grip on his hammer and shifted his weight: not at all threatened or intimidated by me, if anything…the mocking 'smirk' he sent me proved that he found it amusing. "There's the fire. And here I was worried Miranda's little game knocked that shit right out of you. Good. See that fire you've got? That defiance? Keep it. It's the only thing keeping you alive aside from Miranda's curiosity. Lose that, and you've lost your Ace: trust me kid, the last thing you want is for Miranda to get bored, that's when the 'imagination games' start." he replied, not at all concerned with my threat: nor was he making any moves towards me, instead: gave me a warning of his own. 'Lovely.' I thought, knowing exactly what he was getting at…not like I already figured that out too.
"And here I thought I was done with the 'Cat-and-Mouse' bullshit, thanks. And for the record…you don't need to worry about me: I know the game, didn't survive as long as I did by being stupid. I've learned to adapt, and can handle myself just fine, even without my abilities: as your 'friend' found out the hard way. Shame he couldn't keep up, I was actually starting to have fun with him." I said, tipping the beak of my hood in the direction of the Alpha Lycan's boots: drawing Heisenberg's eye to the same spot, only for him to raise his eyebrows above his glasses as he regarded the snoring behemoth. "Well fuck me, you actually managed to put 'Urias' on his ass…" he muttered, shaking his head in disbelief: as if he couldn't believe I had managed to decimate at least a quarter of the Lycan pack and render the Alpha unconscious, essentially unarmed.
'He's got a name…of course he fucking does.' I thought, rolling my eyes at the subtle 'twitch' of a boot that disturbed several leaves before falling silent again. "And to think, the thought that he was you crossed my mind." I said idly, feeling a smirk of my own tug at the corners of my mouth as he whirled around and glared through his glasses at me: apparently offended by that notion. "Do I look like a fat, hairy fuck to you?!" he snapped, looking positively appalled as he squared his shoulders and tightened his grip on his hammer with an angry scowl on his face. 'Don't say it, don't you dare.' I thought, clenching my jaws shut to keep myself together: as it literally took all I had to keep myself from laughing, hoping he couldn't see the slight 'trembling' of my shoulders as I struggled to keep myself from saying what I truly wanted to, just to see how red his face could get.
"If it makes you feel any better, it was the hammer that gave me the idea for that connection." I replied, watching as he shook his head with grumbled curses slipping from between his teeth as he used his free hand and pulled out another cigar from his coat pocket. "For your sake, that better have been: I'd kill you for that if it wouldn't land me in a world of shit with Miranda, best keep that in mind, 'Red'." he said, and I didn't even need to see his eyes to know that he wasn't joking: however, I wasn't easily wounded by much of anything…the facility made damn sure of that. Tossing him a flat look at the name, I glanced over at the Lycan: now dubbed as 'Urias', as he started to stir: signaling that he was starting to finally wake up from his nap.
"Show of good faith, the Lycans won't be an issue anymore: best get your ass inside the Stronghold before this fucker gets up, he doesn't take kindly to losing." he said, pointing his unlit cigar at me before casually flicking his wrist: cueing the sounds of the wrought-iron gate going up and rubble shifting: making me whirl around and see that the gate had opened by itself and pushed the rubble away enough to walk through it. 'The fuck?' I wondered, slowly turning back around and making hidden eye contact with Heisenberg: who simply smirked in return, giving me all the proof I needed.
Frowning thoughtfully at the charismatic infected, I held eye contact for several more seconds before turning on my heel and walked through the surviving Lycans as they stepped back without a fuss: allowing me free access to the pathway that led to the Stronghold, but opted to jump over the wall instead of going through the gate just to spite the man. Even through deafening noise of the screaming crows, I could hear him laughing: which did nothing to put a stop to the questions beginning to burn in my head alongside the constant screams of agony and meaningless death threats, a mantra of damned souls screaming and howling for a vengeance they will never get.
'How the fuck did he do that? Why even bother coming all the way over here other than to potentially spy on me? Was this Miranda's doing? What sort of abilities do they all have? What's the Endgame? What'd he mean by 'The Lycans won't be a problem'? God-damn, I need a nap.' I thought, nearly overwhelmed by the bombarding questions that I couldn't answer: adding to my irritation as I stomped up the dirt path that twisted through a rocky and ominous pass and led to the crumbling fortress. Too mentally exhausted to deal with any of that bullshit anymore today, I decided to put the questions on hold until tomorrow: after I scoped out a spot to camp and potentially sleep for a week, but first: time to see what fresh hell was beyond those doors, wanting nothing more than to be done with this god-awful day. Only trouble was, how many of those days was it going to take to get this parasite off: and what would happen to me once it did? And more importantly: what would happen to me if it didn't?