Tex slowly sat up and shivered in the cold air. She opened her eyes, looking around, though she really couldn't see anything. There was no light source, but from the feel of it, the floor and wall were stone.
She used the wall to help her stand, frowning as she felt leather. Last thing she knew she had been wearing armor, not leather. She was going to have to kill whoever had thought it was funny to dress her. In truth, the leather would likely allow her to make people fear her easily, but it wasn't really all that comfortable. She was glad, though, to feel the familiar weight of a shoulder holster and firearm. She reached under the jacket, pulling out the pistol to inspect it. It was the standard M6C. Not her favorite choice, but it would have to do.
Heavy footfalls and the sound of rusty metal parts moving alerted Tex to an approaching person. She right away moved flat against the wall, gun at the ready. She fought to keep herself from gagging as she caught the scent of whatever was on the wall. From the smell, it was some sort of mold, like what would grow on a pizza left in the fridge for too long. The steps got louder and louder, though the echoing affect of the stone walls made her unsure of where they were coming from.
"Estás despierto?" a cold machine voice asked out of the darkness in Spanish.
Tex searched for the name in her memory. "Lopez?" she guessed, moving away from the wall and slowly toward the voice. She was sure it was the Red robot, there wasn't anyone else that was metal and spoke Spanish that she knew of.
Bright red light flooded the room. Lopez held up a fresh flare which he'd likely stolen from one of the road kits from a broken down vehicle. "Si, soy Lopez," he said, taking a step closer so that Tex was more in the light.
Tex raised her gun, aiming it at the robot, and he stopped. "Not another step, red-bot," she said, watching him carefully. "Where's Church…and Caboose and Tucker?" she asked.
"No los vieron," Loped said. "Sólo tú y Sheila." He acted as though his words were perfectly understandable.
"Sheila? What about Sheila?" Tex asked. She was cursing having passed up Spanish in High School.
Lopez simply turned and pointed down a hallway.
"She's that way?"
Lopez nodded.
"All right, lead the way," Tex ordered, not moving her gun from aiming at the robot's visor. Lopez simply shrugged and started down the hallway.
It was a long and awkward silence as Tex followed the machine. She supposed it was better than the one sided conversation that would be the only other choice. The quiet, though, left her very aware of the sounds around them. The hall echoed with the sounds of dragging claws running over stone, and something screaming in a half-human way.
The sound of a tank's engine was very welcome as something she knew and comforting as it grew louder. The hallway led to a door that was barely hanging on one hinge, as though whatever had left the building had been in a very big hurry. Sheila was waiting outside in the center of the road.
The tank's long barrel turned to face the two. "Oh, Tex, you are awake!" the tank said, sounding cheerful.
"Yeah. Hey Sheila, have you seen the others?" Tex asked, looking around. The road was littered with potholes and the buildings were all decrepit. She didn't recognize anything, but somehow it still felt like an improvement over Blood Gulch.
"I haven't seen any of our other team. I did see Sarge and Donut earlier, but the things took them away," Sheila answered.
"Things, what things took them?" Tex asked, unsure of what had happened while she had been out. "How'd we even get here?"
"The creatures that are here. They don't really like the term monster, so I call them things," Sheila answered. "I don't know how we got here. The canyon got all misty and the next thing I knew I was here."
"We've got to find the others. This place really doesn't look like somewhere we want to be, or somewhere that the others could survive for that matter," Tex said.
"We can't leave, god won't let us," Sheila said. "God controls everything. God even gave you that body. Why would you want to leave god?"
Tex was silent for a moment. "I have no idea what you're talking about. All I know is we've got to find the rest of our team."
"I'm sure the things took them to the same place as they took the Reds," Sheila reasoned.
"Well, can you lead me to where the Reds are?" Tex asked, hoping that even though the tank had seemed to have become religious that she would still be of help.
"I am too big to fit where they are," Sheila answered. "I cannot go where they are, so I cannot lead you there."
Tex turned to Lopez. "Do you know where she's talking about? Can you lead me to my team?"
Lopez paused to think. "Sí," he finally said. "Pero no te llevará allí. No quiero que los Rojos de encontrarme."
"I have no idea what he said. Sheila, did you get any of that?" Tex asked, turning to the tank for help.
"He knows where they are but won't take you there. He doesn't want the Reds to find him," Sheila said. "I think he likes it here, like me."
"So you hate Red team. That's no reason to doom my team," Tex pointed out. "You wouldn't even have to go into the room they are in. All you'd have to do is just take me and point me to the door. Sheila's a part of Blue team, so why doom Blue team?"
"I do not think I am a part of our team any more. I am part of god's team now. I follow only his orders," Sheila said.
"That's all right; no one gives out orders on Blue team. You can follow god's orders and still be on Blue team," Tex told the tank.
"I do not think so. Not with the orders we have been given. We are supposed to keep the teams here and I think that would be bad if I was on Blue team," Sheila said.
"Well, I can see the problem that you would have," Tex said, turning back to Lopez. "So, what do you say? You want to take me to where they are. You don't have to go in and if you want I'll even kill a Red for you in order to make up for helping me," Tex bargained.
Lopez paused, thinking it over. "Sí," he finally decided. "Mata a los granates un primero, luego la Roja."
"Good, then let's get going. The less time we spend here the better," Tex said. "Who knows what's happening to the others."
~with the others~
"How's that escape plan coming, Sarge?" Donut asked, walking over to the Red sergeant.
"Not good, Donut. I don't have the parts we'll need to make the Grif-ram," Sarge replied, rather frustrated.
"Please tell me someone else has been coming up with a plan," Grif groaned, wondering why the Red leader was determined to splatter him onto a wall.
"Sorry, I'm a lover not a planner. Besides, I hate plans," Tucker said.
"Were we supposed to be coming up with plans?" Sister asked.
"Church always tells me not to plan because he doesn't care," Caboose answered, though that was his answer for most things.
"Tell me you have a plan Simmons," Grif said, turning to the soldier who he was arguing with 70% of the time.
"I'm actually partial to the Grif-ram, but I did come up with a backup plan," Simmons answered. "I figured we'd just try to reach one of those windows." Simmons pointed to one of the stain glass windows above them.
"How do we reach it?" Grif asked, staring up at the windows and trying to figure out how high up it was.
"Make a human pyramid or something. Do I have to do all the work?" Simmons asked, irritated.
"Yes, how have you not gotten that yet?" Grif replied.
"A human pyramid? Like cheerleaders?" Tucker asked.
"Yeah, like a pyramid of male cheerleaders," Simmons answered.
"Aw, that sucks, can't we get any chicks?" Tucker asked, hopeful.
"We have one girl," Sister said, striking a rather slutty pose.
"Stop embarrassing the family," Grif scolded.
"Embarrass the family? You're the children of a fat bearded lady. Being a slut I think makes her the pride of the family," Simmons stated.
Tucker looked at Sister, confused. "No way that's true. Something that hot doesn't come out of a fat lady with a beard."
"It's true, that's why me and Grif live alone," Sister said. "Our mom joined the circus."
"This doesn't make sense. Can we just drop it?" Tucker asked. "I mean, it's starting to make my head hurt."
"There's one thing we can all agree on. Let's get back to getting out of here," Grif said, glad to be off the subject of his family.
"What are you all doing?" Sarge asked as he and Donut joined the others.
"We're going to make a human pyramid and get out of one of those windows," Tucker answered.
"But what about the Grif-ram?" Sarge asked, sounding a bit hurt.
"It was a good idea, but there just isn't a jet engine anywhere in this room," Simmons replied.
"I call being the top of the pyramid!" Donut said happily. "I was always stuck on the bottom of the pyramid back in high school. Now it's Donut's time to shine!"
"How is being at the bottom of the pyramid a bad thing?" Tucker asked.
"Because the girls were clumsy. I always ended up with a pile of girls on me," Donut said.
"It's Donut, that's all the answer you need," Grif stated.
"Yeah, I don't know why I asked the question," Tucker said. "All right, let's get to the pyramid."
~Five minutes later~
"I've almost got it," Donut said, pushing on the window. "Maybe I should use a rock to break the window."
"I'll get one," Caboose said from the bottom of the pyramid. The blue soldier moved over toward the destroyed snake statue, causing the other soldiers to come tumbling down.
"Caboose, when you're the base of a pyramid you can't move!" Tucker scolded.
"Whose hand is that?" Grif asked, horrified.
"Donut, get off me!" Simmons nearly shouted.
"This is way better than high school," Donut said happily.
One of the large tiles on the floor lifted up and Tex looked at the pile of soldiers. "I'm going to regret coming to help you, aren't I?"
"Dispara a los Rojos ahora, antes de que puedan salir," Lopez said, looking up from his place at the base of the ladder. "Usted no tiene que dispararles se pueden matar con un objeto contundente."
"I still don't understand you," Tex said, looking down at him.
"He said that he missed us," Donut said cheerfully.
"I doubt that," Tex said, looking at the robot, who was searching for a good sized bit of pipe to give the Freelancer.