Chapter 5
A/N: Hey howdy hey! I'm back, and this time, The Doom Slayer is getting wound in an adventure in Yuma Flats, New Mexico. A place where "The Hills Have Eyes", and the Doom Slayer is itching to rip them out! So, without further ado, let's begin! Remember: I own none of this!
David "Napoleon" Napoli sat down tiredly on a protruding rock face. The sun was starting to set on the jagged rock hills, causing the shadows to lengthen across the dusty landscape. Napoleon glanced over to Amber, who was currently helping Missy settle into a better position. Missy was still injured, and Napoleon and Amber had supported her on their trip down the hill so far. Napoleon felt a sense of urgency as we watched the shadows lengthen even more. If they didn't hurry, it would be dark before they could make it back to the road. Since the truck had been burned, there was no other way for them to make it out of this desert. They would have to get to the road and hitchhike their way back to Yuma Flats. Unfortunately for them, the town was still at least 40 miles away, and he knew if he were a truck driver, there'd be little to no chance he would pick up 3 people in blood-covered national guard uniforms.
Sighing, Napoleon ran his fingers through his hair as he tried to rationalize the day's events. His team had been sent in to resupply the scientists that had been conducting research in the rocky hills in New Mexico, and when they had arrived, the camp had been completely deserted. They had later discovered that everyone in the group had been killed by the mutants that populated the hills, and in turn, they began killing everyone in his team too. Missy had been captured by them for breeding purposes, but Amber and himself had shown up and saved her, killing almost every single one of her captors in the process. And now they were attempting to get back down the hills before they stumbled around in the dark all night.
Napoleon shook his head in exasperation, even he had trouble believing his own story. Amber seemed to pick up on his distress, and the blonde patted Missy on the shoulder before walking over and sitting next to him.
"You doin ok?" she asked, looking at him intently.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm alright. Just having trouble believing that all of this is really happening." He said, looking at her briefly before looking back to the ground.
Amber's eyes drifted back to the ground for a moment too before she spoke.
"I guess none of us signed up for this."
Napoleon laughed lightly despite his lack of energy.
"Yeah, my recruiter neglected to mention this part to me."
Amber smiled back briefly before patting Napoleon on the shoulder as well. Standing back up, she walked back over to where Missy was propped up on the ground. Napoleon watched them for a second, then turned around to survey the area. If he craned his neck just a little bit, he thought he could see a slope that they would be able to get Missy down with little to no issue.
Napoleon turned around to tell the other two but stopped short as he saw that both women were no laying on the ground. They were not moving, almost like they were asleep. Napoleon frowned, his senses instantly on high alert.
"Guys?" he said, jumping to his feet. He heard slight rustling behind him, but before he could turn around, there was a hard crack against his skull. Napoleon saw a flash of white, and a bolt of pain shot behind his eyes before everything went black.
…
Napoleon awoke with a start, and he suddenly became acutely aware of a searing pain behind his eyelids. He immediately tried to grab his head in pain, but he couldn't move his arms. Napoleon opened his eyes, and immediately felt slightly nauseous as his head throbbed again. He felt a knot forming at the back of his head, and it didn't take a genius for him to figure out that was the cause of his pain. He groaned as he tried to remember how that knot got there. The last thing he remembered was seeing Missy and Amber lying on the ground…
Shit! Where were they?
Napoleon immediately snapped his head upright to attention. Unfortunately for him, the back of his head struck something hard, and he exhaled through his teeth as his head exploded in pain.
This time Napoleon slowly brought his head up as his vision began to clear. The first thing that he noticed was that it was dark, extremely dark, and he blinked to try and adjust his eyes. Slowly, more details came into focus.
From what he could see, he was indoors. The room he was in wasn't very big, so there wasn't much to go off of. If he squinted, he could slowly start to make out what appeared to be two beds. They appeared to be against the wall opposite to him, and as Napoleon squinted harder, he could see that the beds weren't empty. There appeared to be a figure in each one, but Napoleon couldn't see anything beyond that until he caught a flash of familiar blonde hair…
Napoleon immediately tried to stand up, but he was cut short as something again kept him from doing so. He examined himself, and he realized that both of his arms were tied behind his back, and that he himself was tied to a large wooden post. Napoleon struggled to get free from his bonds, but they were secured tight.
"Don't struggle too much, they might hear you."
Napoleon jumped at the sudden voice, and he looked to his immediate right to see that there was someone else in the room with him. Upon closer inspection, Napoleon saw that this person was tied to a post in a sitting position as well, his arms tight behind his back.
"Who…who are you?" Napoleon asked as the man came into view.
"My name is Doug. Doug Bukowski," the man said back. He had long hair, and glasses on his face.
"Where are we?" Napoleon asked, trying again to break free of his bonds.
"In one of the makeshift villages, the ones they used for testing," Doug replied. "This village is used by the Neptune clan."
"Clan? What are you talking about?" Napoleon asked, shaking his head in confusion.
"They used to be one united people, all of the ugly fucks," Doug said. "But when conflict came up, they split off into different parts of the hills. The testing villages, the mines, anywhere they can find shelter and people to prey on. There's usually only about six to ten in a clan, and from what I've heard, you guys took out almost an entire clan on your own."
Napoleon thought back to what had transpired previously.
"Wait a second, how do you know that?"
"They've got the surveillance equipment that your science team was using, they've been tracking you guys from the start. You guys wiped out the Hades clan, not bad. I heard that Hades himself was pretty big."
Napoleon shook his head, every answer Doug gave prompted at least two more questions.
"So, how…who…why are you here?"
"Two years ago, my in-laws decided to go to California for their silver anniversary. It could've been a nice trip, except they had the brilliant idea of taking a trailer instead of flying. We came up this way and got stuck, then they attacked. Killed my wife and her parents, I barely made it out with my baby and siblings. After we made it back home, the Army took us in for questioning. Asked us about how they lived and what they were, then they ordered the search and destroy missions to this area."
"So, you're the ones…" Napoleon said, almost to himself. He had heard rumors about the operations, but nothing about why it had happened. Doug nodded.
"I told them that mutants would hide. They know these hills better than anyone, and there would be no way that the Army could exterminate all of them, but they didn't listen. And so of course it didn't work. The only way to kill them all for good is to blow the entrance to the mines, then glass anything that moves in this area."
Napoleon listened patiently.
"Then I heard that they were sending a team out here to set up surveillance equipment, but they were only sending a one-man escort out with them. I came up here to warn them, to convince them to stay away, but I was too late. They killed them all and brought me here shortly afterward."
"But why you? Why didn't they kill you like they did the others?"
"They recognized me. I killed almost everyone in the Jupiter clan, and now they want revenge. I'm guessing they've got big plans for you guys too."
Napoleon wanted to say something, but at that moment, Missy and Amber stirred on the beds. They both looked around groggily for a second, then they both saw that they were restrained. Missy immediately lost her composure.
"No! NO! No, please!" she cried out, sobs escaping her throat.
"Missy!" Napoleon called. "Calm down!" But Missy either did not hear him or didn't care. She began thrashing against the bed, trying everything she could to escape.
"Not again! Not again!"
Napoleon wanted comfort her, to say something, but he understood her fear. She had been strapped to a different bed not long before this, and Napoleon knew that nothing good had happened because of it. He glanced sidelong at Doug and realized that Doug knew more than anyone what that was like. Doug had fought back by himself two years ago, and now the nightmare was real again.
Missy immediately quieted as the door burst open, and through it stepped a massive mutant. At least as big as the last one Napoleon killed, if not bigger. His face was wrinkled and contorted horribly, like something from a nightmare. A malicious sneer appeared on his features as he looked from the women on the bed to the men tied to the posts. His breathing was heavy, and he grunted constantly, making him seem even more of a monster than he was.
"You…kill…Hades" the behemoth said, pointing at Napoleon. His voice was slow but loud. Napoleon said nothing and stared back at him. This seemed to anger the massive mutant, and he clenched his fists before increasing his voice to a yell.
"You…kill…my brother!" he yelled out. He then looked at the women viciously. Then back at Napoleon, pointing at the women on the beds.
"Take from me…I take from you!"
Napoleon yelled out in rage as the massive mutant started towards the beds, but another smaller mutant suddenly appeared in the doorway. Its horribly contorted face was even more contorted with fear.
"Papa! Monster…outside!"
The larger mutant turned around and yelled in anger and dismissal at the new arrival. The smaller one flinched at his leader's yelling but stayed where he was in the door way.
"No monster!" The behemoth roared. "Go away!"
"It real! It…it metal!"
The smaller mutant's head suddenly exploded with a loud bang. Blood and brain matter splattered everywhere, including the larger mutant, who bellowed in surprise and stumbled backward. Heavy footsteps sounded from the end of the hallway, getting louder and louder until a figure stepped into the doorway. Napoleon didn't know what to think as he took in its strange appearance. The smaller mutant had been right. The figure was covered in a suit of metal armor, and Napoleon felt a vibe of war and combat coming off of the figure in waves. That also could have been due to the shotgun that rested in the figure's hands.
Napoleon watched as the figure looked from him and Doug tied to the posts, to Missy and Amber tied to the beds, and finally to the mutant standing in the center of the room.
The mutant then yelled out and charged forward towards the figure.
"Look out!" Napoleon yelled, but he soon discovered that his words were unnecessary as the armored figure reached out and kicked the charging mutant directly on his kneecap.
The mutant cried out in pain as his knee shattered with a sickening crunch. He crumpled to the floor. His knee was bending in the wrong direction, and he bellowed in agony as he writhed on the floor. The figure then stepped over the blubbering cripple and into the room. Napoleon remained silent as the figure walked over to wear Doug sat, still tied to the post. In one motion, the figure reached out, grabbed a handful of the ropes that restrained Doug, and pulled. Napoleon's eyes widened as the ropes snapped under the strain the figure was applying. A feat of strength like that should have been impossible, and Napoleon concluded that he must have been hallucinating from exhaustion.
Once Doug was free, the figure walked back over to the crying mutant on the floor and dragged him out into the hallway by his shattered knee, causing the mutant to cry out with renewed vigor. Napoleon heard the cries grow faint as the distance increased.
Doug wasted no time standing up and shaking off his now useless restraints. He ran over to Amber and Missy first, producing a knife from his pocket and cutting their bindings. Once they had been freed, Doug ran over to Napoleon and cut his ropes as well.
"Who was that?" Napoleon asked as Doug slashed through his bindings.
"That was Papa Neptune. Papa Hades was his brother, but I'm sure you guessed that already."
"No! Who was the guy with the gun?" Napoleon yelled impatiently.
Doug put the knife in his pocket and helped Napoleon up. He stood back as Missy and Amber walked over, rubbing their wrists where the ropes had dug in.
"I don't know," Doug said. "I thought he was with you."
"I sure as hell hope he is," Missy said.
"Whoever he's with, it's definitely not them," Amber said. "It almost feels like he hates them."
"Either way, we need to get out of here," Napoleon said.
Doug pulled the knife back out of his pocket. "Ok, let's go."
The three of them followed Doug as he led the way out of the dark room and into the hallway. The first thing Napoleon noticed was that they were indeed inside a house. At least, that was what it seemed to be. Pictures of people were on the walls, and the walls themselves had decorative wallpaper. As they continued down the hallway, Napoleon heard the wailing of the crippled mutant. It was getting louder. Doug turned right, and the four of them were suddenly in what appeared to be a large living room with windows to the outside. Which was were the wailing was coming from.
Napoleon cautiously walked over to a window and peaked outside. It was dark out, but the moon was full, so Napoleon could see fairly clearly. He realized that Doug had been correct, they were in a village. Other houses sat nearby, each one almost a carbon copy of the next, and Napoleon assumed that the one they were in was no different. Through the middle of the village ran a dirt road that twisted and disappeared out of sight. But Napoleon paid little attention to that as he saw the figure and the mutant a little way down the road.
The figure had dragged the hollering creature into what appeared to be the direct center of town. As Napoleon watched, the figure reached down and twisted the mutant's broken knee, causing it to scream even louder. Napoleon cringed at the noise, and he felt the others join him at the window.
"What is he doing?" Amber asked, her voice shaking slightly.
"Giving that fucker what he deserves," Missy spat.
"No," Doug said. He was silent for a moment, seemingly contemplating something. Then he spoke again. "He's luring the others out."
Napoleon, Missy, and Amber all turned to look at Doug, and he turned his head to look back at them.
"I said before that they know these hills better than anyone, and that means that they can run and escape. But they won't do that until their leader is dead. And it's obvious that he is still alive, so they are obliged to fight to protect him. Some of them are cowards though, they will stay and hide until the leader is dead, but they won't fight, even though they are obligated to. They'll make a break for it after Papa Neptune is dead."
"And…and he knows that too?" Napoleon asked.
"Honestly, I doubt it," Doug said, looking back to the scene outside. "But he knows that he's caught the head honcho, so his best chance of getting them to come out is to keep doing what he's doing."
As Doug said it, Napoleon suddenly saw movement in one of the houses nearby. Then his eyes caught movement in another house, then another, then another…
"Uh…Doug? How many did you say were usually in a tribe?"
Doug gulped. His eyes had been on the houses too, and Napoleon was sure that they both were thinking the same thing.
"I may be mista…"
The dark street was suddenly alight with gunfire. The deafening sound of multiple rifles firing at once pounded on Napoleon's eardrums, and he was momentarily blinded by the muzzle flashes that suddenly erupted from every house at once.
"Get down!" Doug cried out over the noise, and Napoleon felt Amber throw him to the ground unceremoniously before falling down next to him.
The gunfire continued, though thankfully the mutants didn't seem to be aiming for the house, as no holes appeared in the walls or ceiling. Napoleon stupidly lifted his head and stole a glance out the window. There were still the sounds of gun fire, but the only muzzle flash was coming from the house across the street, and it appeared to be firing inward, not towards the house they were currently in. Looking back to the middle of the street, Napoleon saw Papa Neptune lying motionless and dead on the ground. His body had been peppered with bullets, but the figure was nowhere to be found. Napoleon turned to look at Doug.
"Doug! We need to get out of the line of fire! Does this place have a back door?"
"Most do, let's go!"
The four of them started crawling towards the back of the house. Suddenly, the front door slammed open, and the four of them turned to see a large mutant lumber into the house, a rifle resting in his hands. Napoleon froze in fear as the mutant turned his head slowly towards the three of them. It took him a moment, but once he registered fully what he was seeing, the mutant roared and pointed the rifle towards them, but Doug was already there.
Napoleon felt bafflement as he realized that Doug had already been moving when the front door opened. The knife had reappeared in his hand, and Doug buried it to the hilt into the mutant's neck. The mutant attempted to cry out in surprise and pain, but all that came out was a strained gurgle. Doug then pulled the knife out and stabbed again and again. The mutant stumbled for a bit, then fell hard to the floor and went still.
"Holy shit!" Missy yelled. Doug was now covered in the mutant's blood, and he now looked a lot more feral than he had been just a few moments ago.
Without hesitation, Doug slid the knife over to Napoleon before picking the rifle up from off the floor.
"Let's go," Doug said again, slightly out of breath.
Napoleon froze for a moment more, thinking about the sudden change that had come over Doug just now. How badly must he have been hurt by these monsters to suddenly switch gears like that. Doug motioned for them to follow him, and Napoleon and the girls didn't argue as they followed Doug to the rear of the house. Napoleon held the knife ready in his hand, determined not to be caught off guard again. The sounds of gunfire still saturated the air around them, but there seemed to be less rifles making noise than before.
"Is he…winning?" Amber asked.
"I don't know much about that guy," Missy said from behind. "But I get the feeling that he doesn't lose very often."
Napoleon silently nodded in agreement, more to himself than the others. Doug quickly led them through the back door and out into the night. Doug turned right outside the door, and the group followed single file, keeping in the shadow of the house.
When they reached the corner, Doug silently motioned to them, indicating that they were going to make a break for the next house over. They all silently nodded back, so Doug turned and ran across the open ground, the others following behind. They had made it about halfway across the gap when a shot rang out. Doug cried out in pain and fell to the ground.
"No!" Napoleon yelled, immediately grabbing Doug and dragging him the rest of the way.
"Quick! Inside!" he yelled as he struggled to bring Doug through the back door of the next house. Amber and Missy helped him through then shut and locked the door as Napoleon dragged Doug to a corner and propped him up.
Doug was still conscious, but his teeth were grit in pain and his eyes were squeezed shut.
"The leg! In…In the leg!" Doug spat, grunting.
Napoleon checked his legs and found the wound. The bullet had entered through his right calf, and blood was now oozing from the area. Napoleon quickly applied pressure to the area and turned around and yelled at Amber.
"Get a towel! We gotta wrap this up!"
Amber nodded frantically and ran into the next room, disappearing from sight. Missy quickly followed. Limping slightly on her bad leg.
"Just hold on," Napoleon reassured Doug. "We will get you patched up."
"I really hate those ugly bastards…" Doug said back, causing Napoleon to chuckle a bit.
Amber and Missy returned with a few towels and a bottle of what looked like peroxide. Napoleon nodded his thanks, then quickly ripped open Doug's pant leg and unscrewed the cap from the peroxide.
"This is gonna hurt," he said to Doug.
"What?" Doug said back, but Napoleon was already pouring the liquid into his wound. Doug growled through his teeth but did his best to keep the noise to a minimum.
Napoleon then wiped off the excess blood and peroxide from the area and began applying a basic tourniquet with a towel, getting Amber to help him make it tight. When he was finished, he sat back and took a deep breath.
"That will hold it for now. But we need to get you to a hospital once we are clear."
Suddenly, Napoleon realized that it had grown very quiet. Eerily so, in fact. No gunfire, no screaming, no wind even. He could hear his heartbeat reverberate through his body. Slowly, he turned his head to look at Amber and Missy, and both of them stared back, unsure of what was happening.
Then the wall next to them exploded as a huge mutant went soaring through it. Amber screamed as the mutant crashed to the ground, grunting in pain. Through the new hole stepped the figure, momentarily glancing at the four of them before turning back to the mutant writhing on the floor.
Out of nowhere, another mutant appeared through the hole with a metal baseball bat. With a yell, the mutant swung the bat at the figure. Despite the mutant's obvious brute strength, the bat clanged harmlessly of the side of the figure's helmet, and Napoleon saw desperation appear on the mutant's face as seemingly no damage was done. The figure then turned around and grabbed the mutant by the throat with one hand. The mutant gasped for air as the metal enigma hoisted him high in the air. The mutant then began kicking and thrashing, dropping the baseball bat in an attempt to relinquish the figure's grip on its throat. In one brutal movement, the figure slammed the mutant back down to the ground. The mutant exhaled and moved no more.
The figure then turned its attention to the other mutant, who was now propped up on one knee in its attempt to stand. The figure took a running start towards the mutant, then brought its knee hard into the mutant's skull. The momentum of the strike overwhelmed the structural integrity of the mutant's head, and the skull caved and exploded as the figure's knee went through it. Fresh blood splattered on the walls and ceiling as the mutant's now headless corpse toppled to the floor.
The figure stared at the body for a moment before lifting its head up and listening for a moment. Napoleon listened as well, but there was no noise. The night had fallen silent again. The figure seemed content and turned to look at the four of them, its gaze traveling across each of them in turn. No one said anything.
The figure studied them for a few moments more, then lifted its arm and gave them a thumbs up with its right hand. A bright blue flash suddenly flooded Napoleon's vision, and a loud bang was heard. The light vanished suddenly, and Napoleon blinked away the afterimage as his eyes struggled to adjust to the sudden changes in brightness.
After his vision cleared, Napoleon looked to see that the figure was gone. He looked questioningly to the others, but they seemed just as baffled as he was. The group remained silent for a few more moments, then Napoleon slowly stood up and hoisted Doug up under his shoulder. Nodding to Amber, who was supporting Missy, the four of them dusted themselves off and slowly walked out of the front door and into the night.
A pair of eyes watched from the distance…