CHAPTER 39: SLAY THE DEMON.
"With the advent of genetic engineering the time required for the evolution of new species may literally collapse." -Dee Hock.
At first Wayland's mind was a blank as the wrecking ball closed in. But he quickly snapped out of his daze and lunged himself forward, pulling Splitter down with him, causing it to drop the AK-47 and sent it sliding away from their reach. The wrecking ball went flying over and smashed into another section of machinery too old to recognize even before it was destroyed. Wayland was safe for the moment before Splitter's axe came swinging for his head again. He rolled just in time for the blade to only leave a cut on his cheek. The ammo backpack slid off his back and went flying to the floor. The straps had come undone during the fall and struggle and left Wayland completely unarmed now.
Splitter hopped back onto its feet and started swinging wildly. Wayland crawled, rolled, and lunged across the floor to avoid the axe from lopping him to pieces. The Behemoth started pulling its wrecking ball back into its hands. While its back was turned Ezrah went on the attack with another barrage of lasers. It roared as its back was pelted with burning holes and spun around again, pulling the chain over its shoulder. The wrecking ball flew over its head and right towards Ezrah. Once more he predicted its attack with ease, yet the weapon bounced around after it landed which made it hard to predict where it would go.
Doug gritted his teeth as he watched Ezrah and Wayland continue to struggle in the losing battle. "That does it! I can't sit on my ass any longer!" He picked up his Winchester and chambered a round. "I'm going in and helping!" He leaped over his cover and ran before anyone could stop him.
"Stop! Are you out of your mind?!" Chloe called out to him.
"Wait, Doug! Goddamn it!" Joe shouted next.
Doug ignored their calls and pressed on. At first he wanted to attack the Behemoth before realizing that was suicide and decided to go to Wayland's aid. And as it turned out he made the right call as Splitter stomped its foot down on Wayland's leg and pinned him there. Doug quickly stopped and got in a stance and aimed his Winchester right at it.
Splitter grinned like that of an axe murderer. The missing section of its lip showed all its teeth and gums in that area with drool dripping out. "I've had enough of you! I'll make your skull into a helmet!"
Wayland tried to pull his leg away, but his body was too weak from the gunshots and blood loss. The only thing that came to mind was to sprint up and try to tackle Splitter by the legs and pull it down to the floor. Before he could make any moves, four rapid gunshots barked out and Splitter staggered back and fell to its knees screaming. Wayland turned his head to the shooter and saw Doug approaching them with his rifle pointed and ready to fire again.
"Need a hand, big guy?" he asked him.
With a pained groan, Wayland managed to sit back up and then get on one knee. "Thank you, Doug. I'll get up on my own."
Splitter looked down at the wounds on its chest. It struggled to breath thanks to a punctured lung from one of the bullets. The flimsy armor did little to protect it as well. The second in command looked up as Doug tried to help Wayland to his feet, despite being way too heavy to actually help in lifting. Splitter curled its ruined lip in anger and grabbed the hilt of the axe and twisted it loose.
"You love humans so much?! Then watch that one die!" it shouted while pulling the hilt out from the metal cap.
Doug and Wayland turned their heads and saw Splitter holding its axe up. It flicked its arm forward and sent the axe spinning through the air. It flew straight for Doug, too fast for him to get out of the way in time. All he could see was the blade heading right for his face. On instinct his eyes slammed shut as he expected the end, yet the wet thud he heard wasn't him being hit. He opened his eyes to see Wayland's big left hand a foot away from his face, the lower part of the axe blade caught and blood dripping heavily from the palm. He slightly groaned in pain and stood up, grabbing the hilt with his right.
"Are you okay?" he asked Doug, ignoring the stinging pain.
"Uh," Doug struggled to find the words for a moment, "still a bit in shock. My heart feels like it's about to burst from my chest. And I think my life flashed before my eyes. But other than that, I'm good."
Wayland turned his attention to Splitter, who now realized in its blind haste it threw away the only weapon it had left. "You have nothing to fight with now." he spoke darkly.
"Wait! Please, let me follow you!" Splitter pleaded pathetically. "You be new leader and make a new army! And I will be your second in command! We just have to kill Demon!"
The angered Super Mutant held the axe hilt tight in his good hand. "Your leader won't be far behind you!"
He raised the axe up in the air. Splitter screamed and begged while trying to defend itself with its good hand. It wasn't enough as Wayland brought it down, sliced through Splitter's forearm like wet paper and buried the blade deep into its head down the middle until it stopped just after the nose. Blood poured out, ran down the body and quickly pooled around the legs. Splitter's body fell over to the right with a squishy thud, eyes still wide open with the left one hanging out from the socket.
Doug wiped a stray streak of blood from his cheek. "Well...that was brutal. You okay?"
"It had to be done." Wayland replied as he looked back to the fight Ezrah was dealing with. "I can't believe they have another one of those giants."
"Yeah, we saw the body of the first one." Doug said. "But for now I suggest you get your weapons back. That's your AK on the floor, right?"
Wayland nodded and picked up the ammo backpack and secured the straps back on and fixed the swivel arm of the Avenger minigun and than picked up his AK-47 and took the remaining magazines from Splitter's pouches. Once he had everything back and ready, they turned their attention to Ezrah.
The former Brotherhood member leaped to the side as the wrecking ball landed once more not to far from him and only ended up shattering concrete. The Behemoth showed a surprising change of tactics once it pulled the wrecking ball back. Instead of tossing it yet again, it loosen the chain around its arm and lashed it like a whip. That attack threw Ezrah off. The big heavy links hit near him quick and suddenly, almost hitting his Gatling laser, and the last thing he needed was that broken again. The chain came whipping back like a metal snake, lashing the concrete as the last few links brushed against his armor. Ezrah was fully on the defense now, the wrecking ball was easy to figure out, but the chain came in too fast for him to aim and fire.
Louis and Victoria came out from the hall entrance with Cavall right behind them. It only took them a moment to see the other Behemoth towering over Ezrah. "We leave for little more than an hour and come back to find you guys fighting another Behemoth?!" he said in surprise to them all who watched.
"Where were they keeping that one?" Victoria asked next, not expecting to get an answer.
"Don't know." Joe spoke to them. "The leader came in after Wayland and Ezrah mowed down the rest. That thing came smashing through and the leader ran off. Which brings us to our current predicament."
"One thing after another." Victoria sighed. Cavall barked as if he was agreeing.
"Never mind us, how did it go with the prisoners?" Inez asked, fearing there was a new horde of Super Mutants right behind them. "Where's Radcliffe?"
Louis figured that would be their biggest concern. "Don't worry, we got them out just in time. We'll fill you in on the details later. Radcliffe stayed behind to guard them until we send someone to get them."
"Which is why we need you and your people, Hiromi." Victoria looked to him. "There's hundreds of them. They won't survive very long in the Wasteland. They only have the ragged clothes on their backs."
Hiromi thought to himself for a moment. He figured they would end up having to house the captives once it was all over. Give them a place to stay and help them return to whatever place they came from. "Yes, I figured we would end up sheltering them. I just didn't think there would be so many."
Louis heard Ezrah cry out, the chain lashed him in the chest and rattled his helmet. "Dammit! Almost forgot about him! We gotta help!" he grabbed his AN-94 hanging from his back.
The Vault dweller ran past everyone without much of a plan in mind. Cavall followed right beside him and barking his head off. Louis went up to the Behemoth's side while keeping his distance. He started off with a quick burst to see if that would get a reaction from it. And it did, the Behemoth felt the bullets prick its left arm and side of chest. That made it quickly turn and whip its chain at him. It fell short a few feet and only lashed against the floor, but it was enough for Louis to back away as Cavall barked, antagonizing the giant even more. It bellowed out some kind of incoherent grumble that sounded like it was trying to say something but only choked out another roar.
Doug and Wayland attacked it from behind in short bursts, the Super Mutant used his assault rifle to not waste anymore minigun ammo. Once more the pricks angered the Behemoth as it turned around and started whipping its chain towards them. Joe, Asimov and Chloe joined in and spread out to surround it more. Soon the giant was being shot up from all around as its anger grew because it was too slow to pick a target and attack. But their attacks came in short bursts also thanks to their dwindling ammo, only Ezrah and Asimov still had plenty because of their fusion core powered laser weapons.
Ezrah charged in with his Gatling laser firing off and pelting the Behemoth's chest. It felt the stings and turned its attention back to him and hurled the wrecking ball, Ezrah leaped to the side as it came crashing down to his right. Asimov aimed his arm lasers right at the Behemoth's knees, figuring it was the best area to attack to make the giant fall.
Louis' mag ran out and backed away to start reloading, he turned his head and saw Joe doing the same with his Sako rifle. "Well isn't this familiar? Deja vu and all that, right?" he asked him with a nervous chuckle.
"Don't remind me." Joe loudly grumbled as he finished loading. "We got to make that thing fall over!"
Louis waited for a moment before attacking again to watch the Behemoth and figure out a pattern to its attacks. "We should do what we did last time. Just a whole lot better!"
The Behemoth finally had enough of standing around and being shot. It evened out the long chain, one end with the wrecking ball hanging from one hand and the end of the chain dragging on the floor. It charged forward, the ground under its feet rumbled as it closed in on Ezrah. He stopped firing to avoid its massive foot that was coming down on him. The concrete shattered in a spider web pattern and the impact sent Ezrah staggering back and almost lost his footing as the wrecking ball loomed over his head. While the Behemoth was about to attack, Chloe aimed at its head and fired. The plasma shots hit its mark on the side of the giant's head, even hitting the area where the ear hole was. The burning pain enraged the Behemoth and turned around and started running her way, spinning the other end of the chain above its head. Asimov quickly circled around while charging his head laser. Once he came to a stop, the Assaultron unleashed the full blast. The streaking laser hit the Behemoth in the back just above the rear as he quickly raised his head upward, leaving a long and deep burn of bubbling flesh across its exposed back.
That finally made the Behemoth go berserk. It grabbed the end of the chain and threw the wrecking ball out as far as it would go. After it landed the Behemoth started to spin around, pulling the chain around and around until the wrecking ball was spinning in the air, hitting anything in its way.
"Get back! Everyone get back!" Ezrah shouted as the wrecking ball swung his way and almost hit him.
They quickly backed off as the Behemoth raised its arms above its head, twirling the chain and gaining more speed with each rotation. Sometimes it would grab the chain to make sharp pulls that sent the wrecking ball flying everywhere, amazingly never ending up smacking the Behemoth in the process. The giant started stomping around while keeping the momentum of its weapon going, making it impossible for anyone to get a clear shot at it, not that any of their weapons were having any real affect to begin with.
Louis and Doug ended up in the same hiding spot, a section with crumbling machinery. "That thing just won't stop! It's almost worse than the first one!" the Vault dweller said to him.
Doug reloaded his Browning and scoffed. "Our ammo is just tickling it. We're gonna run out soon!"
"I only have a few mags left, myself." Louis looked off to where Hiromi and his squad rested. He could see that they were getting ready to join the fight. "But first thing's first. I need to have a chat with them. Stay here and keep that thing busy!" After that he ran off to meet them.
"I seriously can't tell when you're joking sometimes!" Doug shouted to him before he took aim and started shooting.
Louis ran with his rifle over his shoulder and called to Victoria to follow him as he passed her by. Hiromi was about to turn around and lead his group into the fight before the Vault dweller came to a stop in front of them.
"Planning on helping?" he asked, panting to catch his breath.
"We couldn't sit by and let you guys fight that thing by yourself." He answered him. "You guys need every able bodied fighter you can get."
"Actually, I came here to ask you something else." Louis lowered his gun to the floor. "We need you and your squad to go find the prisoners and get them out of here. Take them to your home, you're their only hope of survival!"
"Are you insane?! We can't leave you behind to face that monster alone! This is our fight and we need to see it to the end!" He protested, getting the same reactions from some of the others.
"Getting those people out is important!" Louis pointed out. "This will all have been for nothing if we can't even save anyone. You still have injured that need to get taken care of. We'll keep that thing busy until you guys get out." He turned to Victoria, standing next to him. "Vic, I need you to guide them to the prisoners and bring Radcliffe back. And...don't tell him what we're doing..."
She nodded. "Alright. I'll be quick."
Hiromi looked back to his squad, they stood waiting for his command while those injured laid or sat on the floor still tending to their wounds. "Fine. But I'm staying. They can get the people out. It's a few hours until night, they should get back before that."
"Fine." Louis repeated. "We'll consider this as meeting halfway."
"Look out!" Doug screamed from across the room.
The Behemoth sent the wrecking ball flying their way. It came in so fast that no one had time to get out of its path or move the injured. Louis and Victoria were gonna end up as the first ones hit with Hiromi literally right behind them. The wrecking ball landed a few meters away as the impact sent it bouncing through the air. It hovered over the two, almost seeming to pause for a moment as it came down to crush them.
They heard a rough scream as Wayland came running in as fast as he could. His body collided with the big weapon, using his broad shoulder and curled arm to shove it aside with a pained cry from hitting it head on. The wrecking ball smashed into the floor and rolled a few inches to the side. Wayland almost fell to his knees thanks to the throbbing pain in his right shoulder and arm as it hanged limply, but thankfully unbroken.
"You guys okay?" He asked them as the pain started to go away.
Louis needed a moment before he could find any words. "Well, my jumpsuit is still clean, for the most part."
"That...was too close..." Victoria said after releasing the breath she was holding.
The Behemoth started pulling the chain again, dragging the wrecking ball back. Wayland quickly lunged forward and grabbed the large thick ring that held the weapon together. He held on tight as the chain went tight and the wrecking ball dragged on the floor. His grip didn't loosen as he widen his feet out while also getting dragged towards the angry giant.
"It's now or never, get going before it's too late!" The Vault dweller said to get Hiromi back on track.
Hiromi placed a hand on his chest as his heart hammered against it. His squad stood frozen in place after their near brush with death. He silently agreed and gave the order. "Louis is right, all of you go get the prisoners and get out of here. We'll return once this is all taken care of."
His squad regained their nerves and got mobilized. A man with a bandanna around his head took the lead as those strong enough carried the injured on their backs, leaving just enough for defense. Victoria showed them the way down the hall and looked back for a moment with concern before continuing to show them the way.
Louis and Hiromi turned their attention back to Wayland, who had been pulled several feet across the floor. The Behemoth finally grew tired of trying to pull the wrecking ball back and charged after Wayland instead, lumbering all the way across the floor as the chain went slack and dragged around.
"I think that giant is getting tired!" Louis said as he noticed its sluggish movement. "I guess even something that big will eventually wear itself out."
"True, but it doesn't change the fact its still coming our way!" Hiromi shouted out and aimed his assault rifle.
The two split away from each other and fired at it, hoping that would distract the Behemoth as it closed in on Wayland. It ignored the shots and reached its massive hand out to grab the wrecking ball once it was close enough. Wayland quickly pulled it across the floor and the Behemoth only grabbed thin air and almost fell forward. It tried to grab again and Wayland pulled it out of reach just in time. He was pushing himself harder than ever, every muscle in his body ached and his injuries only made it harder, but he couldn't let the Behemoth take back its weapon. While they ran around, the chain dragged across the floor as the Behemoth's feet kicked it everywhere.
Louis watched as the chain jangled around and start to twist around the Behemoth's ankles as an idea came to him. One that was dangerous and insane but possibly their only chance to bring it down. "We gotta trip it! Use the chain dragging on the floor!" he shouted, hoping enough of them will hear him.
"That thing will whip us with it if we try grabbing it!" Hiromi said, thinking the plan was suicide.
Ezrah ran at full speed. Whether he overheard Louis or just came up with the same plan was a question the Vault dweller could ask later. He reached down and grabbed the end of the chain and started pulling. The Behemoth still had its attention on Wayland, it held the middle section of the chain and tried tugging its weapon back with powerful pulls. Wayland's arms felt like they were about to rip out at the shoulders but he still never let it be taken away from him. The Behemoth was about to give another tug until it felt something wrap around its ankles and looked down to see its chain getting tight around them.
It turned its head and spotted Ezrah pulling the chain and went after him with the chain still clattering around its ankles. It reached down to grab the section Ezrah was holding and started yanking him over. His armored feet scraped against the floor before another sharp tug sent him falling to his knees as the chain started to slip from his grip. Sparks shot out from between his mechanical fingers thanks to the friction.
The Behemoth was about to give another pull on the chain that would send Ezrah flying forward before a missile flew through the air with a loud whistle, hitting the Behemoth dead center in the back. Its roar of pain was the only thing that drowned out the explosion. The one who shot the giant was Louis, and thanks to the recoil of Wayland's missile launcher it threw him down to the floor on his back.
"Ah, damn! That thing nearly tore my arm off!" He moaned and rolled onto his side, slightly curling up. "Someone must have messed around with that thing..."
After the missile was fired, Hiromi ran out to do his part of the plan they came up with. "Everyone! grab the chain and trip that thing! Bring it to its knees!"
The wanderers ran for it as Ezrah stood back up and pulled, hand over hand as it started getting tight around the Behemoth's ankles again while Wayland did the same on his end. The group came up and grabbed a section each and lined up behind Ezrah. As the chain started growing tighter the Behemoth staggered around, still dazed by the missile explosion before it realized what they were doing. But everyone gave one last hard pull on both sides, causing the chain to go tight as the Behemoth raised its right leg and snagged in place.
That finally sent the Behemoth crashing down to earth. It landed with a mighty flop that shook the room and shattered the concrete floor under its body. It laid there in a daze, its head cracked against the floor hard and left a deep gash on the side of its forehead. The wanderers threw the chain down on the floor with aches in their hands and arms from pulling it so hard. The Behemoth grumbled deeply and started thrashing on the floor to get back up.
"Okay, it's down," said Doug, "what now?"
"I don't think Louis thought that far ahead..." Joe said with a sigh.
Wayland looked at the wrecking ball and figured out Louis' plan. His hand reached out and grabbed the big ring and hoisted the wrecking ball up and over his shoulder and started ran awkwardly for the Behemoth. From the hallway, Victoria and Radcliffe came back just in time to see the Behemoth down on the floor and the rest of their friends near it.
"Oh, you lying redhead!" Radcliffe snapped at her. "You didn't tell me there's another one of those fucking giants!"
Victoria gave him an indifferent half smile. "I know. That's why I didn't tell you..."
Wayland ran faster as the Behemoth placed its hands on the floor to push itself back up. His body felt a brief warm rush as his wounds started to close and stopped bleeding. A deep growl escaped from the Behemoth as it turned its head up and about to move its legs as Wayland finally stood in front of it. With a strained grunt he hoisted the wrecking ball from his shoulder and up into the air. The Behemoth seemed to piece together what was about to happen as its big eyes only went wider. Wayland let out a rough scream until his lungs ran out and brought it down. A protesting scream was all the Behemoth could make before being silenced just as quickly. The weight of its weapon made easy work of its head, smashing it like a big rotten green pumpkin and splattered blood, brains, and pieces of skull all over the floor. Its body flopped back down, the legs and arms twitched and the massive body trembled before finally going still.
The room went dead quiet as they approached the Behemoth's body. Wayland looked down at the wide splatter of blood seeping into the concrete and saw one of its eyes looking up at him as more blood slowly flooded out from the body.
Ezrah approached Wayland, surprisingly quiet despite the weight of his armor. "It's over. The Super Mutants will never bother the settlement ever again." He said to him.
Wayland snapped out of his light daze, wishing it was that simple. "Not until Demon is gone. Then it will be over."
"That one with the metal piece in its head?" Radcliffe asked. "Isn't that the last one? What can it do to us now?"
Cavall suddenly turned around to the other entrance at the end of the room. His ears flicked low and the fur down his head and back stood on end as he began to growl deeply, alerting all of them to him.
"What's his problem?" Chloe curiously asked.
The answer came in the form of a bone chilling roar that seemed to make the dark hall shake. Next came the sound of heavy grunting and wheezing breathing, as if the thing in the hall was struggling for air. Finally it emerged from the hall, knocking out the left side of the wall and the wanderers looked upon the creature with fear running down their spines.
"Dear god!" Ezrah's voice synthesizer couldn't hide his fear either. "That's the leader! What happened to it?!"
Demon stood completely transformed before them. Its skin was discolored, a mix of light green, dark yellow and even dull red. Its entire body had grown in size, now standing over thirteen feet with a hunch and the only thing left of its armor hanged around its waist in leather tatters. Its chest had broadly swollen, on the left side half its rib cage jutted out and healed over but still left the bones exposed. The right arm had grown immensely in muscle mass, at least five times larger than it was before with the shoulder almost equal in size with the bulging head. The left arm was skinnier but much longer with wiry fingers. The legs were the opposite, the left was far larger and gnarled like an old tree trunk with the right a little thinner with the foot at least double in size with long toenails that looked like claws. Bone shards poked out from its entire spine length like sharp fins. The head was the most disfigured, the jaw hung heavily with foamy saliva dripping from its lips. Its left eye bulged out and was so bloodshot it almost looked red in color while the right eyelid just wouldn't stop twitching.
The leader stood, its body never stopped swaying as it seemed to be in a confused state. "Where...where all my kin?" it said gruffly, looking around and didn't seem to notice them or the bodies of its dead kin at the entrance. "I am...strong! I am stronger than before! My head, it no longer hurt! Nothing hurt anymore! I am leader forever!" it raised its arms up and laughed a choking, wheezing laugh.
"The scientist. He must have done this!" Wayland said with a shudder.
"Dammit!" Inez cursed, feeling really inadequate with just a handgun. "It's one thing after another in this place!"
Ezrah reached for his Gatling laser and started charging it. "We can't let that thing get out! There's no telling what damage or harm it will cause!"
"We're almost out of ammo as it is!" Doug pointed out. "And we're still exhausted after fighting the Behemoth."
"Just leave it to us! We're the only ones strong enough to fight it!" Wayland got ready by arming his minigun.
"Radcliffe, help them out." Joe called to him. "You still got a lot more ammo than all of us!"
Radcliffe cursed and held up his LMG. "I should have got blackout drunk last night! At least then I wouldn't have been able to get out of bed."
Demon then jerked its head towards them. "You! All of you, still alive?! Metal man! I crush you like can of food! And eat everything inside!" It began to beat its pulsing chest with its right arm and started marching their way. "I kill you! I kill all of you! Than every human in that settlement will die!"
The leader charged forward at such an awkward gait that it looked like it was gonna trip at any moment. Ezrah ran ahead of them with his Gatling laser firing away. Demon raised its right arm up and blocked the laser bolts that only burned a few inches into its flesh. The two ended up a few feet from each other as Demon swiped its massive arm out as Ezrah stopped firing and leaped out of the way, only for Demon to lash out its longer left arm and grabbed him by shoulder. Ezrah bashed it away with his Gatling laser and freed himself. Demon then started swinging both arms clumsily to land a hit but only swiped air or smashed its massive fist into the floor.
As the two fought, Wayland circled around until he was at a safe enough distance from behind. His minigun spun to life and unleashed a hail of bullets, filling Demon's entire backside. The leader screamed and turned around to him with anger burning in its eyes. It stormed after him, forgetting Ezrah for the moment as it raised its massive fist up in the air and brought it down and missed Wayland by a few inches but almost broke the six barrels of his minigun. After that Wayland and Ezrah continued the attack, firing at it from both sides. Everyone of their shots did nothing to slow Demon down as its wounds healed almost as fast as it was shot. Demon's rage only grew and grew with each passing moment as it threw its arms up in the air and slammed its fists into the floor, creating a powerful shock wave.
The grouped watched as their two heavy hitters battled and already they were beginning to lose the fight. Louis then decided to act and reached for his Mossberg shotgun. "Guys, we've stood back long enough. We have to help them bring that monster down!"
"What can we do?" Doug asked him. "We're pretty much out of steam."
"It's better than doing nothing!" Louis quickly checked to make sure his shotgun was loaded. "We took down two Behemoths in one day, we can do this too!"
Joe turned his head to the Raider and asked. "Hey, Radcliffe, why aren't you helping them fight like we thought you were?"
"Uh, that was before I got a good fuckin' look at the freak up close! That's why!" Radcliffe retorted snidely.
"Then we'll attack it at once! How 'bout that?" Victoria said to break up the fight. "Hit it from all sides like before, then Wayland and Ezrah can finish it off."
Chloe gave her weapon another check before they charged in. "Well, third time's the charm..."
The wanderers ran and spread out across the floor in hopes that it will be their final fight for the day. Louis closed in and attacked first with a few shots to Demon's wide back as Cavall ran around barking as a distraction. Joe kept his distance using his rifle and aimed for the stomach area. Doug ran side to side while shooting with his handgun. Inez and Asimov worked together as they always do, firing their volley of bullets and lasers. Radcliffe kept his distance as the casings piled up near his feet and shouted an endless stream of cusses. Victoria was one of the few that got closer and unloaded using her 12.7mm SMG. Chloe also got in closer too while unleashing bolts of plasma into its back. Hiromi fired away with little care for his safety and only wanted the fight to finally end.
Their attacks mounted up on Demon as its focus remained on Ezrah and Wayland. Each shot was barely felt but that didn't stop the lone leader's rage from getting worse. It screamed and threw its giant fist up and smashed the floor. The concrete shattered and it grabbed a huge chunk and tossed it right at Ezrah. It missed him by inches and landed right in front of his feet, but it still shattered into pieces and sent chunks of concrete flying and pelting his power armor. It didn't cause any damage but it still left him dazed. Demon grabbed another chunk with its longer arm and spun around with incredible force and hurled it across the room almost like a discus. It flew right over Joe's head as the powerful gust nearly knocked him over. Demon tossed another chunk towards Inez and Asimov, the Assaultron quickly wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled them both to the floor just as the chunk struck the area they were just standing. More chunks flew aimlessly through the air, smashing anything unfortunate to be in their paths.
Wayland ducked another chunk as he closed in. Finally after what like crossing a hundred miles, Wayland stood under Demon, who easily loomed over him. He could feel its heavy, musky breath hovering above him as Demon reached its hands down to grab him. But getting in close was what Wayland planned in the first place as his gun barrels spun. Before Demon could wrangle him, Wayland shoved the six tips into its stomach and fired. Red hot bullets pumped into Demon's guts, making it freeze up in pain with its hands only inches above his head. He kept firing even as blood and chunks of flesh splattered on his minigun and himself. Finally after a good thirty seconds or so of continuos shooting, he stopped and trails of smoke billowed out from the tips.
Demon stood there in a daze, slowly swaying back and forth as its blood spilled all over the floor. The bullets left a gaping hole in Demon's stomach, a mess of minced muscle and flesh. The leader grumbled as its body twitched while bits and chunks of its entrails slid out and splattered on the concrete.
At first everyone thought Demon died on its feet. But to Wayland's horror the wound began closing up. The bleeding stopped and new issue grew over the opening in its deformed abs. The last thing Wayland saw before the wound finally closed up was Demon's intestines and other organs starting to reform.
The leader made a throaty chuckled and looked down on him with a twisted grin. "Nothing you do can kill me!" it licked its lips with a swollen tongue. "I am Demon! I can never die now!"
"That's impossible!" Ezrah said, almost unable to believe what he saw. "How could it survive being opened up like that!"
"Nothing until now." Chloe commented.
"Wayland! Get out of there!" Louis shouted to jolt him from his shock.
He heard the Vault dweller's voice, but it was too late as Demon grabbed his minigun and yanked it out of his hands. The ammo backpack came off next and went flying across the room. Demon's big fist then grabbed him around the waist and picked him up like a small child. Everyone moved in to attack, but Demon's focus was on Wayland as it drew him closer. The leader opened its massive mouth and licked across its upper teeth in hunger. Just as Wayland was in close enough, he acted quickly and kicked his legs out and placed one foot against Demon's massive right shoulder and the other against its throat to avoid its mouth. Demon reached its skinny arm up and pulled his leg away from its throat and held him with both hands. It chuckled deeply and opened its mouth again, ready to bite his head off. Wayland was inches from Demon's big mouth before realizing his arms were still free. Instead of Wayland's head, Demon got a balled fist thrown in its mouth and shattered the front of its top teeth. Two of them shattered against his fist, with a third twisted and a fourth one knocked loose in the gums. That pain made Demon drop Wayland as it cried out. He landed back on his feet with a painful sting and fell over while Demon staggered around covering its bleeding broken teeth.
It was opening the group needed to start attacking again to little affect as Demon's wounds healed and teeth started regrowing. Once more its focus went back on Wayland with a crooked grin that showed its teeth almost reformed. Demon raised its fist for another ground pound as Wayland got up and ran right for it. He slipped past the fist as it hit the floor and got in close and punched the kneecap of the skinny right leg, causing Demon to stagger again. He then started a flurry of heavy punches and some haymakers into Demon's legs, causing it to stagger around more in hopes of making it topple.
Thanks to Demon's uneven size and top heavy body, it struggled just to stay standing when it was being attacked so heavily against its lower body. Demon reached out its skinny arm since it was longer and not as cumbersome as its other and wrapped its long fingers around Wayland's neck and squeezed tight to the point of breaking. He reacted quickly and grabbed the pinky finger and snapped it like a big tree branch. Demon screamed and let go, the finger hung crooked at the knuckle but was already starting to regenerate back in place. Wayland was about to throw another flurry of punches into Demon's legs just as the leader lashed out with its big arm and backhanded Wayland to the floor. He laid there dazed as Demon raised its fist again to finish the job before feeling a stabbing pain in the back of its gnarled left leg.
Ezrah came up from behind and drove one of his arm blades into the massive leg. "Get away from him you monster!" He drove the other blade not too far from the other. Demon barely had a chance to scream before Ezrah twisted both blades and pulled them sideways, ripping open a deep gash.
Blood spilled out all over the floor and Demon finally lost strength in its twisted leg and fell to its knee. The deep cut started to close as Demon whirled around to lash out with its skinny arm, fingers curled like claws. Cavall charged in before Demon could claw Ezrah and leaped through the air and snapped his jaws around the index finger. The large canine bit down hard as Demon tried to shake him off. Blood filled Cavall's mouth as his hold got tighter and tighter until finally a bone breaking snap was heard and Cavall fell and landed on his feet with a twitching finger in his maw. Everyone closed in more as Demon struggled to get back on its feet.
Louis watched as the gash closed up, but more slower than any of their gunshots ever did. "Hey! I think Demon's wounds heal slower when they're cut!" He shouted out to them. "I'm not sure, but the cut Ezrah made is still healing!"
Ezrah turned his attention back to the wound he made and saw that it was true. "He's right! Everyone, he's right! Cut wounds don't heal as fast!"
He started attacking again, this time he went towards the waist and drove a blade in and slashed across, cutting deep and even scraped the tip against what he assumed was the pelvis bone. Demon screamed out and started thrashing about, it seemed that the more pain it was in the more it went into a blind frenzy. Asimov followed their advise and quickly came in with his arm blades out and ready. He got in close and climbed up onto Demon's back, carefully balancing himself to not fall before driving his blades into Demon's thick flesh and slashing deep. That sent Demon into another rage as it finally got back up, flinging the Assaultron through the air. Asimov landed safely several feet away with blood dripping from his blades.
After that, Demon raised its massive hand to swat everyone away. Just as its hand came down, Ezrah stepped in its path and drove his blades right into the big palm and stopped it from hitting the floor. His legs buckled and he heard some gears grind, but his armor showed no signs of immediate damage. Demon screamed as the blades went easily through with the tips poking out on the other side. Ezrah twisted his arms to turn the blades and keep Demon from pulling away. While Demon struggled to free its impaled hand, Wayland went after the skinny leg once more. This time he wrapped his big arms around the leg and started squeezing. Demon was now caught by two people holding it back and preventing it from moving. It tried kicking Wayland off, but he held on tight like a child hugging their parent's leg, only Wayland had a much different idea. His hold got tighter and tighter around the skinny leg, it was around the diameter of a telephone pole. Demon started to feel its leg go numb as the flesh began to discolor. It tried once more to shake Wayland off to no avail as its foot came back down just in time for the bone to snap.
The leg sounded almost like a tree trunk breaking. Wayland quickly backed off as the leg bent and Demon fell yet again to the floor with a thunderous crash, its leg crooked from below the knee. Rage boiled in Demon, its vision started to get hazy as its heartbeat pounded in its head. Ezrah slashed away at the side of its stomach area with Asimov on the other side doing the same, only with more shallow cuts since his blades were thinner. Louis took a bold step and drove his machete into the side of Demon's neck, earning him a spray of blood that splattered on the lower legs of his jumpsuit and boots.
Doug took an even bolder step and charged with his fire axe raised. "Oh, fuck! Why am I doing this?!" He shouted to himself before getting in too close for comfort and swung.
The blade of his axe went deep into the top of Demon's head on the left side, almost right across from where the metal shard stuck out. It looked almost like a tiny splinter now that Demon's head had grown in size like the rest of its body. Doug's hopes of delivering the finishing blow went away as Demon turned its head up, yanking the hilt from Doug's hands since the blade was stuck in the skull and looked at him with hungry, angry eyes. Its leg began to heal along with its other wounds that were sliced open. The enraged leader began thrashing around on the floor, knocking both Ezrah and Asimov away with its arms. Louis fell sprawling to the floor after Demon's massive right shoulder bumped into his chest. That forced everyone to back off before they could be hit by flaying limbs. Demon pushed itself up in a kneeling position and raised its fist into the air and quickly swatted at Doug before he could even think of getting out of the way.
Doug's mind went blank as he felt a heavy push against his chest. At first he thought it was the massive palm before realizing it was actually Wayland's hand that pushed him aside just in time as he was struck. The force of the blow was incredible, even with Wayland's weight he was still launched from the floor and landed on a terminal station many feet away. His chest stung, no doubt some ribs had to be broke, and as he shifted he coughed up blood and struggled to breath.
Demon flicked out the axe stuck in its head using its regenerating finger and landed on the floor. It pounded its chest a few times while getting back on one knee. "When will you all see?! I can't die! I will never die! But you all will! I make necklace out of your skulls and chew your bones!" It screamed at them boastfully. They noticed that its voice seemed more deeper and echoed in its throat, along with muscles all over its body starting to twitch and convulsing strangely.
Wayland got back up and used all his strength just to stay standing. His legs gave out and fell to one knee, every breath he took made his lungs burn as he coughed up more blood into his palm. A pipe laid next to him as he looked back at Demon while it tried to stand up again with more strange convulsing to its body. Instinct and adrenaline took over as Wayland picked up the pipe and noticed the end was jagged and pointed.
With a deep breath he bolted for Demon, his mind still a bit foggy from being thrown across the room. On the last few steps he stumbled but still got in close enough just in time for Demon to reach out and grab him once more and lift him off the floor.
Demon brought him in close, not realizing the metal pipe in Wayland's hand. "You weakling! You die first, then the metal man and all the others!" It shouted right in his face and opened its mouth wide.
Wayland flipped the pipe around and lifted it up in the air. "I'm sick of hearing your voice!"
He gripped the pipe with his other hand and drove it straight into Demon's head near the area where Doug's axe was plunged in. The jagged tip punctured with ease as Demon screeched, before Wayland was dropped he hammered the pipe in further with a balled fist, sinking more than half of it into the brain.
After that he landed once more on his feet, this time not as hard, Demon sprang up onto its feet screaming. It clenched the sides of its head and stormed around, the entire group backed off to not get trampled. Blood spilled out of the pipe like water from a fountain as Demon's muscles began to twitch all over and the veins all over swelled to the point of bursting. It tried to reach after them feebly, grabbing at nothing but air as its vision went blurry. Finally, Demon collapsed to its knees cracking the concrete before its body fell to the floor, head twisted to the right. The wanderers came together in a loose group, slowly approaching Demon's body in case it was only pretending to be dead. Yet its body laid motionless and they couldn't see any signs of breathing.
"Anyone got a mirror?" Radcliffe quickly asked, causing some of them to jolt from his sudden voice. "That's what they would use for the fighters back in Paradise's Raid to see if they are still breathing after getting knocked down."
"Why, you gonna check?" Joe asked him snidely.
"It has to be dead," Louis spoke. "Wayland, you did it! You killed it!"
Ezrah stood unsure. "Strange, after everything we did a pipe finished it off?"
"Hey, don't look a gift horse in the mouth as the old saying goes..." Doug said to him.
"Guys, we're tired as it is." Inez spoke next. "Stop fighting."
A deep gasp escaped from Demon's mouth as its eyes shot open, even more bloodshot than before. It slammed its hands down on the floor and slowly pushed up until it could get on its knees and stood up so fast in the blink of an eyes despite its uneven size. Wayland held his hand out for them to back away as Demon started staggering after them. It raised its hands up, slow and sluggish as if it didn't have any strength left in its arms. It tried to say something but only ended up chocking before heaving forward and hurled. Blackened blood erupted out of its mouth and splashed on the floor, earning the combined disgusted groans of the wanderers. After it finally stopped vomiting, Demon raised its head back up as blood stained its mouth and chin. A light rasp escaped from its lips once more before falling backwards to the floor for its last big flop. The leader spat up some more blood as its body began to jerk and twitch violently before suddenly stopping and going limp.
Wayland quietly walked over despite some of them asking him not to. Slowly, he looped around the massive body, stepping carefully in case Demon still had some life left in it. After a minute he stood in front of Demon's head, the eyes had turned milky white and the veins in its head and neck had ruptured all over the skin. He let out a sigh of relief and slowly fell to one knee from exhaustion finally settling in.
"It's over. Demon is...dead...we finally killed it." He spoke, unable to believe his own words as he looked at the body once more wondering what had happened to transform the leader into such a grotesque monster?
