Chapter 8: Vendetta

Another week has passed. Things have started to slow down between me and Vampy, mostly because of two reasons… Maybe three, actually.

For one, I have my job, which naturally would limit my free time as one would expect. Second, I don't actually have Vampy's number. so it's not like I can just call her whenever I want, and I don't think she has mine either… And third, while Vampy knows where I live, I have no idea about her place. So I'm reliant on her finding me rather than me hitting her up.

I should probably also mention… As of late, whenever I find my mind wandering off, I find myself wondering about how Vampy is doing. Mostly, I try to push it away. Like, what am I, a creep? Geez.

Regardless. We're at the weekend yet again. I'm on my trusty couch, just gaming the evening away. For once, I'm playing a single-player game. Not a huge fan of them. But there will always be exceptions, yes? Like this one: Grand Left (the) Car V. I just love the story of this one. So realistic. So criminal. Something about is just-... I dunno. Cool?

Yeah. Cool. Sure.

That aside, I'm just driving around in the game until I hear a knock on my door—My actual door, not the door of my car in the game.

The game pauses with and with a low hum I toss my controller to the seat beside me. I think we all know who this is. So let's cut to the chase. Vampy greets me as I open the door. Gotta admit though, I'm actually quite delighted to see her.

"Yo," she greets nonchalantly, raising her hand with a bit of a grin. I nod back at her. She didn't even need to ask me to come inside. With a small step, I make room for her to come in and so she does.

Closing the door behind her, I ask her the first thing that comes to mind. "You been doing well?"

She nods and shakes her head at the same time. A strange, awkward gesture. "Kinda so-so, really. Those broads from the Guild are starting to catch up with me, so I might have to cross borders again and move to another nation."

Her sudden remark made me turn to her with a look of surprise. "Cross borders again? You're not from Leanbox?"

Vampy returns an equally surprised stare. "Uh, no? I'm actually from-... Never mind."

I contemplate pressing the matter of where she is from, but for some reason, something else springs to mind first. "So hold up. You're moving out of Leanbox?" I questioned. "To get away from the cops?"

"Pretty much," she shrugged. "Whenever it gets a bit too hot for me, I just bail."

Huh. Well… I guess that makes sense. If she has to run, I probably should just let her go and do that… Suppose that means we'll be seeing each other a lot less and what not. Unfortunate, but what can you do about it?

…

Why does it feel so hollow to think all that?

My voice is raised without me even realising it. "H-Hey. Uhh…"

Her blood-red eyes peer back at me. Crap. What am I even trying to accomplish here? Sure, her leaving doesn't sit well with me… But, well… Alright. I guess I've grown a bit fond of Vampy. There. I said it… I just want one last goodbye…

"How about," I begin, walking to the girl before me, "you and I-... Uhhh…"

"Me and you…?" Vampy repeats, shooting me a blank stare.

"You and I-... Err… Didn't you drop into a pile of feral Dogoos a while ago?"

Why did I bring this up? What am I doing? Someone kill me…

Clear discomfort shown in her posture, Vampy turns away from me. "I-I'd rather not t-think about that, thanks," she stammers.

"Not that… It's just-… Maybe you want to get some revenge on them before bailing. Whenever I'm feeling stressed, beating up some low-level monsters always gets me in a better mood."

Uuuugh. So corny… B-Face, you actual dumbass… Hey! Get that smile off your face! No! Bad B-Face! She ain't gonna—

"Get some revenge, huh?"

—be interested in-... Oh… This is working…

"Yeah… How about it? You and me? Beat down some Dogoos? C'mon. One last time before you get outta here…"

As if she was contemplating my offer, she quietly grunts. "Didn't you have a day job as a waiter? Like… No offence, but how strong are you?"

Can't say I blame her for her concern. With a confident tone, I respond: "Trust me. I pack a punch. Or at least enough to be smashing through some blue blobs with dumb grins on their… smirks? Faces? How does that expression go again?"

"Yeah, great, uh," she dismissively said, "I guess we can give it a shot then. What you got for arms, anyway?"

Weapons. Yeah. I got those. I raise a finger, gesturing for Vampy to hold on for a second. Going back to the bedroom and going under my bed, I pull out my old quantum physics book—I call it the Death Sentences because every sentence in this 356-page book on basic quantum physics is like trying to kill you with mundanity—along with my trusty pistol… They deliver the coldest days in hell with every shot (read: I use some basic ice magic to enhance the bullets).

As I return, Vampy gazes at both my weapons and nods. As expected. Only rookies would judge someone using a book and a gun… I have seen someone use scissors as weapons. And guitars. So how strange would an old book be to use?

"That'll do… Well. What are we waiting for?" Showing no more patience, Vampy just opts for walking out of the door, heading straight back to the dungeon she had her little incident… Probably.

Well… Here we go. Let's see if I'll embarrass myself… again.

I still can't believe that worked. But hey. At least now I get to do one last thing with Vampy… We never did any dungeon crawling or monster-slaying before. Done it here and there with some old friends… They're dead now.

…

I'm joking. Relax… We just don't talk anymore. That's what I meant.

Anyway. Back on track. We're out hunting for Dogoos. And… Well… So far, so good. I've got to show off a bit by smacking and crushing a few of those rascals with my trusty old Death Sentences, as well as blow a few of them straight to the coldest day of hell, while Vampy's been smacking a bunch around as well.

I have to say, though, she is incredibly fast. Sometimes I can't even see her moving. Guess she wasn't lying about not being a lowly grunt in ASIC. No. More than that. She probably was a pretty tight rank with how fast she's going. Not to mention, every single one of her blows just one-shots all of these creeps.

Okay, yes, they are Dogoos. And yes, they are some of the easiest mobs in all of Gamindustri. But that's still pretty impressive.

As I smash another four frozen blobs to smithereens, I let loose a long sigh. "How many was that? Forty? Fifty?" I ask Vampy with exhaustion audible in my voice.

"Eh. Probably. I'm not keeping scores," she responds, crushing a Dogoo underfoot. "I just like pummelling these things. Especially after last time. Damn things caught me off-guard. But not this time…!"

She puts her heel on the head of another one. It lets out a soft, quiet bark, fear lingering in its tone. Vampy's red eyes widen and a wide, sick grin accompanies the gaze. With a hard stomp, she murders another innocent pup. Goo shots everywhere and splatters all over her shin.

… Amazing.

Left in awe for the briefest of moments by the slime gore I had witnessed, I shake it off and turn my attention elsewhere. We basically destroyed the entire field of Dogoos by now. Not a single one is left in sight. All that remains are the sad puddles of blue.

"Hey. B-Face."

I turn to Vampy, my eyebrows raised. "Yo?"

A wry smile on her face, she gives me a thumbs-up. "Not bad… Not bad at all. That really did feel good. Glad to have gotten my revenge on these little bastards."

In response, I nod and give her a thumbs-up as well. "I knew you'd enjoy a bit of mindless smashing." While I feel proud of myself, Vampy's face sours up.

"What do you mean you knew?"

Ah. Err… Out of context, that would sound kind of-...

I raise a hand and defend myself. "I just meant that—" Out of nowhere, a Dogoo leaps at my other hand and swipes my gun away from me! It hops off at high speeds, jumping through the bushes and out of sight.

"Ah! My gun!" I exclaim in shock.

Again, Vampy deadpans. "Dude… You just had a Dogoo steal your weapon. A Dogoo…! We need to talk."

"I-, err… L-Later. I'll be right back!" Quickly, I run after the slime with my weapon. The little thief thinks he can outrun B-Face!? Never!

I push various bushes and branches out of the way in my chase. If this thing were any colour but bright cyan, I'd have long lost it… I can still see it in the distance, jumping rapidly to get away from me. But the longer the chase goes on, the closer I get.

The snapping of branches and the rustling of bushes audible, I grit my teeth as I narrowly avoid tripping over a particularly firm root and skip over an awkward stone lodged in the dirt. My own heartbeat throbs like a drum between my ears as I feel the first signs of exhaustion creeping up on me again.

I'm so close now. That thing's but a few inches away from grabbing range. "Almost there…!" I hiss under my breath. My hand stretches out to grab it…! I felt its slimy skin graze my fingertips. Until…

With one final hop, it goes up and down… but never up again, it keeps going down. Too late, I realise that my foot stepped onto nothing as my entire body leans out of the vegetation. My foot steps down on an awkwardly angled slope, resulting in my entire body to fall forward. A steep slope at that…! I can't even see the bottom. Not before I start to cover my head and roll down the painful slide.

The longer I roll, the more I try to catch my bearings and land on my back, but any time I so manage to stop my roll, the steep slope punishes me with some sort of obstacle like a few thorned branches or a very sharp rock sending me right back to step one.

My eyes catch brief glimpses of the thief I was chasing. It's rolling like some sort of slime ball, looking back at me with the dumbest of smiles and my gun in its mouth. I curse that thing in-between the brief pauses I find where I'm not groaning or crying out in pain.

Even looking became impossible at some point as the dust caught itself in my eyes. My mind goes completely blank as it just tries to bear with everything going on.

One moment you're in constant motion… and in another, you'll find yourself frozen in place. Hard coughing escapes my lips as a hand moves to my face… I rub the sand and dust particles out of my hazy vision.

Slowly, I process what had just happened… My back hurts like all hell and I can't even feel my right leg… Both my arms feel like they are burning and there's an incredibly painful sting in my upper left thigh. If it weren't for my instincts to cover my head, it would've been off much worse. Still, it throbs like hell, as if someone was constantly applying pressure to it with a jackhammer.

I open my eyes and am greeted with that cursed smile of the Dogoo I was chasing. We exchange a glance… Mine was of exhaustion and his was-... infuriating.

It drops my weapon right before my eyes before happily skipping off. I can't even make out where it went. My vision is filled with stars and specks of light. I hear my own voice call after it tiredly, demanding for it to come back, but what good would that do… I needed to call Vampy… She's nearby. She can-...-fix me… Just need to give her one-... call…

One call…

There it is…

My phone…

Just one call…

Just one…

… Call…

I'm back. Kinda... Woo... I tried something new with this chapter. That being stuff that's a bit more serious. Up until this chapter, there never truly was any real tension going on and I felt like making a change to that today. Let me know if you like the sudden tone shift in the story. It would help me actually get stuff on paper if I have a clear direction where this fic should go.

Until next time!