Gears of Comedy presents…
The New Man's Best Friend
by Stephanie G., aka MyFantasiWorld
Copyrights: Everything that is Gears of War belongs to Epic Games, People Can Fly, and The Coalition. Other material used here either belongs to me or other creators.
Rating: Rated M for language, violence and mild adult themes.
A/N: After a long period of time, I finally came across inspiration to finish this chapter of the story! Now, I feel that this chapter is the longest from the rest, due to having more description about the battle at Dizzy's place, so I hope you guys will enjoy the read. Actually, I've been reading a lot of a particular Gears of War fanfiction at the Gears of War forums, so much of the action is sort of inspired by it. Thank you for making an awesome collection for your Soul Killer fanfictions, Zilla Junior! Other than that, enjoy and R&R as always!
Summary: Since dogs, cats, and every known animal are now considered as food instead of pets to the human society, will Rockworms instead take over as humanity's new man's best friend? Follow Delta Squad and many of their friends on this random journey as they struggle to harness a friendship with these stone-shelled, cave-dwelling, constant-eating creatures of Sera!
Chapter 5: Rockworms, Locusts, And Hoffman! Oh, My!
BACK AT THE COG HEADQUARTERS…
Marcus, Dom, and Cole had left a few hours ago and Carmine, Jace, and Tai were still on their search for a Rockworm replacement. They even went through the trouble of mapping out unknown areas enveloping the headquarters. Unfortunately, the result ended with no success in finding a Rockworm.
Not even one, single creature!
Since the day has turned to night, it was expected that every living being would be sleeping right about this time. The thought of it had concerned the trio immensely, because they would never know where a Rockworm would actually sleep. Without them wandering around the forest fully noticed, it made the search even more struggling. But regardless of their worries, they continued their exploring until they regrouped once again to update each other on their investigations.
Tai said, "I looked inside the caves again, there was nothing."
"Same here... How the hell they not around there?! They mostly crawl around there to eat those weird glowing fruit things!" Jace exclaimed in frustration.
"But also remember, Jace, the night has fallen upon us. There is no doubt that they will be slumbering at this very moment."
"Ugh, you may be right, but that doesn't help our situation right now, you know."
The native man nodded understandably until Carmine jumped in to say, "I'm gonna have to disagree, Tai, I've actually seen some Rockworms coming out at night to eat my poor garden! I really hate it when they do that, because my beautiful eggplants always get eaten!"
Jace was about to agree under habit until he realized Carmine had said something that could've saved them lost hours and painful heels. He exclaimed out a "What?!" and went up to him to pull him by his shirt to continue with, "Carmine! We've been busting our asses off for so long you decide to tell us at the last minute that Rockworms might be at your garden THIS VERY MINUTE?!"
"Umm… maybe?" Before Jace was about to lay a punch onto the shrieking rookie, Tai had grabbed him and pulled him away forcefully.
"Now's not the time, friends!" Tai steadily said and turned to the rookie, "Carmine, you said they may be at your garden. If that is so, then show us where it is. We'll be in the hands of luck if they are truly there."
The young man let a grin cross over his face to shout out, "Of course!", glad about someone actually taking an interest to visit his garden. However, as he casually walked down a path that led to their destination, the part about the Rockworms being at his garden finally went through the process of his mind to make him gasp out, "I mean, OH NO!" With no warning, he took a sprint that made the other two follow suit.
Other than Carmine, the two soldiers were desperately hoping to the heavens above they would finally find this stupid worm and get on with the rest of their lives. And by lives, they mean getting back to their rooms to get some sleep.
AT CARMINE'S GARDEN, SOMEWHERE NEAR THE HEADQUARTERS…
It only took five minutes to reach Carmine's garden. It seemed a little unusual to Jace, since he's never noticed any garden seen near the headquarters. Yet, that was not something he wanted to ponder about. He needed to know if there was actually any worms just like Carmine had explained.
As the three men fixated their sight on the small vegetable patch, Jace had noticed it was protected by some small fencing made out of barbed wire and small two-by-fours. It did not seem to work well enough when he also took in how disoriented and flattened it was to the soft soil. And did he catch a hint of slime covering some of it? Just as his mind was about to say, "yes", they had neared towards the area to become astonished at what they saw.
There was outlines of rocks - no, rock shields - jutting out of the garden and glistening like polished shoes under the moon's light. Then there was fleshy skin attached to these shields, oozing out the slime Jace had noticed on the fencing. Lastly, the form of the creature span out much like a snake, but proved more to be some kind of overgrown worm when the head had an uncanny insect formation.
These were no ordinary creatures... they were Rockworms!
There were probably five of these critters covering the garden with their rocky hides, munching pleasingly at every ripe vegetable they could find. Tai and Jace couldn't have been much more relieved when excitement crossed over their features. On the other hand, Carmine had his shoulders slumped and his mouth agape, obviously the only one unpleased at the sight of his ruined garden. The other two soldiers hardly paid any attention to Carmine's disposition when he was throwing his arms out to the sky and crying out to it, "Why?!". They were too eager to pick out a worm to carry back to Anya's room and finally get back to their own rooms to get the sleep they believed they deserved.
However, there was one that suddenly perked its head up from the small field to stare at Carmine.
"Um… Tai," Jace scratched his head, "Why is that one looking at Carmine like that?"
"I do not know." Tai knew his question was rhetorical, but he only answered to send the message that he too was aware of the worm's attention towards something other than the vegetation.
In a quick flash, the worm came charging out of the field towards the unaware Private.
"Oh, shit! Carmine!" was the only thing Jace said as he tried to reach him and tackle him out to safety. Unfortunately, it was too late to rescue the oblivious Private as he was jumped literally by the overgrown worm and flattened to the ground with its weight crushing him. Jace and Tai then took action and wrapped their arms around any part of the worm's body to pull it off of their comrade.
With the Private too afraid to make any sound during the moment, he watched as all the little black eyes of the creature stared intently into his orange eyes. The only thing heard in the area was the soldiers' grunts, who were fiercely using all their strength to move the who-knows-how-many-pounds Rockworm.
"HOLD ON, BUDDY! URGH!" Jace yelled out to Carmine while trying to pry the worm off of him, "WE'LL SAVE YA!"
"URMF! IT'S NO USE!" Tai exclaimed while also putting all his effort to move the worm, "IT'S TOO HEAVY!"
After the corn-rowed man sarcastically let out a "No, shit!" towards his helper, Carmine was developing enough sweat to form a puddle under his head.
He felt at that moment he was going to share the same fate as his older brother, Anthony, who was torn to shreds by one of these monsters. Because of it, he decided then to feel nothing but defeat and accept the afterlife he was soon going to approach. He was imagining that he was going to live in the land where grass was green and animals pranced with him on a sunny, bright day. They would then sing jolly, princess songs that compared to those Disney movies he remembered watching as a kid. It filled his heart with joy, and a smile crossed his face as he closed his eyes to embrace his fate.
But after a moment was passed... nothing happened.
Carmine popped open one eye and saw that the worm didn't attack him. Instead, an incoming rubber ball appeared in his vision and bounced onto his face with some slime covering him.
He baffled out a "What the…" and saw the familiar item he used to play with Blacky earlier today. In fact, when he looked up to see the worm's insect face, he noticed it was starting to pant like a dog! Then realization just hit him like a ton of bricks. He brightened up and exclaimed, "Wait a minute, you guys!"
The dog attributes the worm had even applied to the way it was wagging its rock-hide tail, which made it hard for Tai to handle while he was pulling the worm off of Carmine. But as much as the native man tried to hold on, he was sent flying across the field and into a bush.
Jace had now stopped struggling to push the worm off. His face lit up as he stared down at the worm purring at Carmine to pick up the ball. "Well, I'll be damned!" Jace excitedly said, "Hey, Tai, we found-"
He was cut off as Tai exclaimed in annoyance, trying his best to come out of the bush, "Yes, I know!" He also spat out some bush leaves at the process and approached the worm himself. He crossed his arms with satisfaction and stated, "Ah! So it is! Then, we better take it to Miss Anya's room where it belongs."
"Yeah, but how?"
The two soldier's hopes of accomplishing their mission seemed to diminish a little until Carmine, still stuck under the Rockworm, mulled it over. He then turned to glance at the wet ball and grinned. Turning back to the two, he exclaimed, "I know how!"
AFTER SOME MINUTES LATER...
Nearing a small parking lot of COG vehicles, Carmine was slowly leaned forward, walking backwards and holding up a slimed-up ball in front of his face. As he held it up, he was whispering small remarks like "That's it, come and get it!" and "Get the ball!" to the one and only Blacky the Rockworm. It started following the ball in an attempt to snatch it out of Carmine's grasp, but the Private kept an even pace with the worm in order to successfully have it follow him to the COG headquarters' entrance. Tai and Jace were following beside its tail on each side to make sure the worm didn't decide to lose interest in Carmine's distraction, even though they knew their attempts of stopping it was impossible.
As they kept a straight path to the entrance of the headquarters, and near the now unidentified splattered body, they decided to make a small stop to examine it.
Jace was the first to say, "Okay, now if this is really Blacky, then what the hell is that?" He nodded at the bloody bits and pieces of what used to be a living thing and is now starting to wreak of an awful smell. "Ugh, it even smells worse than the damn Locusts!" He squeezed his nose to verify his statement.
As Carmine was trying to keep the Rockworm's attention, it decided to notice the smell too and turn away from the ball. As it crept up towards the bloody mess, it made a small screech and started to chew on a small hunk of meat. Jace's face almost turned a lime green and he made a disgusted noise. Carmine also did the same, but he fell backwards and passed out on the floor.
Then realization hit Tai after Jace's last statement, and his eyes opened wide up. He muttered to himself, "Wait a minute..." and leaned down next to the worm to make Jace believe he was ready to do the worst thing possibly imagined.
"Ah, Tai! You better not be doing what I think you're doing!" Jace was starting to feel something come up inside him, until Tai clarified his actions by digging through the bits of flesh to find a meaty skull. As he pulled it out and held it out for him to see, the young soldier gasped to realize what the native man discovered.
"This is no worm, it's a Locust."
Sure enough, the traits of the meaty skull was exactly how a Locust looked like, due to their bare, sharp teeth and rocky, white flesh. But contrasting the angry features of a Locust, its face was contorted into a feared expression. It made the two soldiers look at it with unease until some maggots burst out from the left eye, making the two yelp and Tai to drop it.
Jace then looked up in the sky to compose himself to say, "Okay, it's a Locust, so what? At least we got the damn worm! That's all that matters, right?" Tai nodded his head in quick paces, speechless from the sight of maggots. "So now, let's tell Marcus that the worm is okay, we got it safely back into the room, and we will make sure - definitely sure - that Hoffman will never find out about a Rockworm being inside the headquarters."
"Ahem!" an unknown person cleared his throat from behind Jace that it made him and Tai freeze completely.
The two soldiers were too preoccupied in their situation they did not notice beforehand that a vehicle had slowly pulled up with its headlights illuminating over them. They also didn't realize the man coming out of the vehicle had overheard their conversation about the Rockworm being kept secret and hidden within the confines of the headquarters. Tai and Jace slowly turned around and looked straight at the man they had desperately wished wasn't who they there expecting.
It was Victor Hoffman, the Colonel of the COG army.
The two men gulped at the sight of their commander and waited for the worst to come. They were hoping they would manage to run off without so much as saying a word, but they seemed too scared to make any move. They believed if they did anything, Hoffman would roll them over with his truck without so much as a blink. So all they could do is stare at him in fright.
As Hoffman walked up to them to inspect the scene displayed before him, he looked at the two soldiers in the eyes, looked down at the dismembered carcass, the Rockworm eating off of it, and watched an unconscious Carmine come back to life. As the Private sat up, he mumbled, "Woah, what did I miss? Oh, hey there, Colonel Hoffman, welcome back!"
The Colonel then turned his sight back to the two whitened-up soldiers who had finally remembered to salute him. He made a small huff at the Private's informal remark, almost making the soldiers jump out of their skins. He then turned to Carmine and started to say, "Well, now... How have you boys been since I was away for vacation?" He went up to him to lend him a hand. The young man took it, but it seemed as though the grip was tighter than it should've been, making him whimper a little from the pain.
And this is where it starts.
One of the many methods of Hoffman's interrogations was the simple get-the-rookie-to-spill-it-out-by-respecting-him technique. Still in salute positions, Jace and Tai began to sweat beads. They knew Carmine had no idea what he was going to go up against, and he was going to fall for his trap.
After all, he was the rookie...
Even though Carmine felt discomforted from the hand squeeze, he forgave him as Hoffman helped him up neatly and patted him on the back. He then proceeded to ask, "How about you, Private? How have you been? You've been keeping up with the garden near the headquarters?"
The Private did not seemed phased from Hoffman's friendly approach, even though he has been yelled by him for his actions on and off the field like a helpless nerd getting called out by the tough jock. Instead, the young man responded with a tired sigh, explaining how his garden got eaten every night by the Rockworms, how his mourning for his brother was soon forgotten after the next day, how in shooting practice he almost shot the target and went down from killing only two birds, and so on. Hoffman even acted out his actions by giving his full attention towards his stories, but secretly attentive to verify the secret the trio were hiding from them.
Even though the two experienced soldiers were not ordered by the superior out of their stance just yet, Jace had wanted to make sure Carmine would not get soft on the Colonel and let the secret go. He began to whisper to his native partner, "Tai... we can't let him break. Let's help him out." Tai nodded in determination.
Before the moment Carmine was going to talk about the Rockworm, the two soldiers quickly but silently broke out of their position and waved over to grab Carmine's attention, which he was able to see over Hoffman's shoulder. "Oh, and I was with Marcus playing ball with-" The Private stopped in mid-sentence, moving his eyes to see Tai pointing at the Rockworm and Jace running a flat hand over his neck indicating for him to not mention about the Rockworm. "With..." he repeated when he finally realized what he was about to reveal.
He began to sweat beads and stuttered a bit to only let out, "Oh, heh, playing ball... with... with..." Hoffman then sighed impatiently, making the young soldier tense up in fright. Then he soon lost control as he started to garble, "I...we...no...yes! No, he... I wanted..." and pointing at random directions to make himself look like a complete moron. Tai and Jace were still trying to help him get on track with their body sign language, but it was no use until Hoffman used his last technique by keeping it cool and playing it off.
Then the Colonel just said with a small sigh, "What is it you want to tell me, boy?"
Carmine then cried out loud, "OKAY, I CONFESS!"
The two soldiers froze in a goofy fashion and at the same time whispered, "Oh no."
Then the Private continued, "Marcus had found an egg in the Hollows, he wanted to convert it into some kind of pet - which I don't know why the hell he would do that 'cause it's weird and he's weird - but he is, and he went to go find Baird and Anya at Dizzy's place because now they are in trouble from the Locusts, and Marcus wanted to make sure that we searched for the damn Rockworm and put it back in the headquarters so you wouldn't find out and so that he could continue his research!" He blurted out without a single breath taken, making him huff and puff from his confession. He continued more after he sucked up a lung-full of air, "This is why we are out here with this Rockworm! That's why we are trying to take it inside the headquarters! And there should be no reason why it keeps eating the Locust body, because it is so GROSS!" He then started to sob as he fell onto his knees.
The two soldiers were wide-eyed at what Carmine had done, and they were too worried about the secret being revealed to Hoffman than returning to their stance. When their superior turned around to look at them, he began to form a cruel smile. He then lightly said, "Well now, that explains a lot. I think I should go pay Marcus a visit... care to join me?"
The two soldiers looked at each other nervously, hoping to let the "no" word come out of their lips. But when Hoffman frowned at them from taking too long to respond, they yelped out simultaneously, "Yes, sir!"
Hoffman then turned his back on them and growled, "I don't think so. At ease boys." The two relaxed their tensed bodies and slumped their heads down to look at the floor under guilt. He then continued, "You boys will stay in the headquarters while I go find that asshole. Until then, your worthless asses will stay in there until I say so. I'll think about what to do with you until I'm done with the Sergeant. Understood?"
As soon as Carmine's sobbing had stopped, the trio of soldiers straightened up before replying in perfect rhythm, "Sir, yes, sir!"
Hoffman never looked back over his shoulder to give them a response. Instead, he pulled out a Lancer from his truck, loaded its magazine, and ran off into the distance. The three soldiers then loosened up from their tensed poses and sat on the ground to catch a breather.
"Dammit, Carmine," Jace complained, "You blew it! Now Marcus will have our asses if Hoffman doesn't!" He then used his hands to cover his face in aggravation.
"Oh, but I don't think that'll happen." Carmine said with confidence while looking up at the sky.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you know I did mention Marcus. Remember? Hoffman hates him, and if there's one person that can get on his nerves, it would be him! He'll eventually forget about us and only focus on Marcus."
After some thought about it, Jace seemed a little brightened up, "Y'know what? You're actually right!"
"Besides, Marcus told us to blame everything on him. I'm pretty sure he won't mind..."
The trio then sat in a calm, silent bliss looking up at the starry, night sky.
Tai was the only one to break some sense into the group to say, "You do know that makes us bad people."
Jace then hushed him and said, "Let's just worry about getting some sleep."
The native was about to retaliate, but he took a second later to say, "You're right. Let's go." They all got up and forgot about the Rockworm all that time to not notice it had continued eating the carcass up.
Just then an unknown voice came out saying, "Gotchya!", and the worm was enveloped into a net and carried out of sight.
SAME TIME, AT DIZZY'S FARM...
Dizzy's farm was a place full of life where a selection of Locust creatures were cared for and loved by the only western hanging out in the forests, named Dizzy Wallin. Every Rockworm, Reaver, Wild Ticker and Kryll he contained in his peaceful, cozy environment was once brimming with life and had held an unusual unity of Hollow creatures that no one would've expected. But now, it has turned the other way around. As every creature was commanded under the Locust Hunter, Steve, Dizzy and his two friends, Baird and Anya, had no choice but to defend themselves from the creatures who now posed themselves as enemies to them. This meant that each and every creature Dizzy had cared for would meet their demise by multiple of deadly weapons, starting from the shells of a Shotgun Gnasher to the explosion of a Bolo Grenade.
From the Locust Hunter's point of view, he watched from a distance as Wild Tickers sped quickly towards the blonde woman, named Anya, who continued to make perfect shots and distance on them with her Boltok pistol. With every contact from its rounds, the Tickers would explode into bits and pieces. The ones who gained a really close range at her would eventually be butted in the face with the gun's hilt and sent flying back a distance. Others would seem to be disrupted by the dead carcasses lying about and fill themselves up through hunger instincts, despite it being one of their own. This made it easy for Anya to dispose of them quickly. However, her enemy was not compared to what the other two had to deal with.
Reavers were making a mockery out of the two men, named Baird and Dizzy, who were desperately working with dozens of Lancer magazines to take down the hovering beasts. The ones who felt tired of not accomplishing much in the sky, landed on the ground and threw their tentacle talons at them like spears. Unfortunate for them, the soldiers would dodge them with great precision and finally spray bullets into their soft bellies to manage successful kills.
The Hunter seemed to be enjoying the view while petting what used to be Toby, who now was a simple Bloodmount controlled under his speech. He was not fully impressed by the humans' fighting abilities, since his only purpose to send the creatures at them was just to toy with them.
So he stood silently, watching how the humans would be foolish enough to still kill the creatures they took care of for so long. The thought made him angry when he finally was able to see why the humans were nothing but blood-thirsty killing machines. All they knew was to destroy, and that gave him a reason to seek out these Warriors and destroy them to get the upper hand in this war of genocide.
As he started to clench his fists in anger, a pizza slice flew in front of his face and he heard Louie say, "Hey, Boss, want some?"
He turned to look at him and growl, but the Bloodmount was able to put him in his place when it turned and snarled at him, making his partner shriek and squeak out, "Nevermind!" along with a nervous chuckle. But he didn't realize that after revealing the pizza out of the box, the Wretches in the forests behind him sniffed it out and started shrieking.
It grabbed the Drone's attention and he soon saw them running towards him and jumping up to pounce at the pizza. "OH, CRAP!" He hollered out as he was consumed by a wave of Wretches stealing his food. The Hunter watched in embarrassment as his friend was fighting over the Wretches for nothing but scraps.
Meanwhile, back at the soldiers, Anya was able to regroup with Baird and Dizzy after getting rid of every Wild Ticker. She noticed the Reavers were not letting up and had to find another method to get rid of them. She then called out to Dizzy, "Dizzy! Don't you have something else that could take them out of the sky?!"
"I doubt it!" Dizzy replied back before spraying a few bullets at some incoming Reavers, "No Mortars, Missles, or nothing! Only got me a storage of food to give to ma critters, that's all!"
As Anya remembered the Wild Tickers had got distracted before she killed them, she was stricken with an idea and exclaimed, "That's it! Dizzy, where do you keep them?"
"In the shack right over there!" He pointed straight at a small, metal-sheet house containing the "food" he was talking about. "But I don't see what the deal is! Are they hungry? Is that why they're attacking us?"
"No, but I know what she means!" Baird assured after shooting some more Lancer bullets into some oncoming Reavers, "It's just a distraction! Animals are typical! If they find something dead, they'll eat it! Simple as that!" He shot out the last of his magazine at another Reaver and started to sprint towards the house. "Let's get over there!" he called out to the two. They started following right behind him.
The Locust Hunter seemed to notice this and cackled out a small laugh. He believed they were ready to retreat. However, he noticed the Reavers were not doing much to take advantage of the situation. So he decided to send the Kryll after them too by chanting out his unusual dialect.
The flying little creatures that Dizzy held in cages on the farm all shrieked in rhythm before ripping out easily from their cages. Under the command of the Hunter, they gathered up into a cloud of blackness. Then after he pointed towards the humans, they followed after them.
While the trio were making their way to the house, Anya found a small Kryll bat close enough to pick at her head. She hit it with her hand and looked back to notice a herd of Kryll chasing after them. She yelled out, "Hey, guys! We got Kryll behind us!"
"No problem, Ma'am!" Dizzy assured as he stopped running.
Anya had noticed Dizzy was left behind and stopped five feet away from him, "Dizzy! What are you doing?!"
He seemed to ignore her when he pulled out a Scorcher from behind him and charged it up. He then turned to her and said, "Keep going! I'll hold them back!" She was skeptical but she continued on with her sprint.
The western then turned back to the cloud of Kryll, and as soon as they got close enough he pulled the trigger and sent a long flame shooting at them. It was too late for most of the Kryll to get out of the range and they were soon burnt into a crisp within seconds. Dizzy was all the while laughing and screaming out, "Yeah! You lit' bastards won't be getting me after all I've done for y'all!" Even though he seemed to enjoy his victory, he was holding back a sadness for killing off his creatures. So after every Kryll landed on the floor burnt and dead, he frowned, tipped his hat in respect, and caught up with the others.
The Locust Hunter seemed displeased by the outcome and was ready to send his Wretches and his partner out to attack them. But then he was startled when Dizzy's metal-sheet house exploded spewing out pieces of mouse, deer, and bear carcasses along the field. Reavers have seem to also notice the meat surrounding the area and decided to land on the ground to feed on them.
The plan had worked!
So when all the Reavers stopped flying and expect a peaceful feeding, Baird, Anya, and Dizzy ran towards their selected targets and killed them off one by one by throwing Bolo Grenades up their bellies to stick them with and kill them instantly. This went the same for every Reaver until there was no other one left.
The soldiers showed they were starting to lose their breath from battling so many creatures, but they stood their ground and were ready to take on whatever the Locust Hunter decided to throw at them next.
"You look nervous," Baird called out to the Hunter noticing the snarl slowly forming on his face, "Looks like your little slaves weren't able to take us down so easily."
The Hunter growled in anger, "Silence!" It boomed so loudly that is startled the Bloodmount and the Wretches who were piling off of Louie. He then began to glower at the blonde to continue with, "I'm merely toying with you, Meat! You have yet to see my abilities, but for now, you are dealing with the dispensable." He then spoke in his unusual dialect that made the Wretches turn all their heads towards the direction of the three humans.
"Thanks a lot, Baird, now we got to deal with them too!" Anya remarked in a tired and unsatisfied sigh.
The blonde man seemed to smirk at her remark more than insulted, because he turned to reply, "You're welcome, Doll."
Anya snarled and was ready to butt his head with her weapon until Dizzy had to interrupt and yell out, "Concentrate! They're attacking!"
As fast as lightning, every Wretch darted towards the soldiers with maws wide open and talons cutting through the air. The trio were just as quick when their fingers pulled the triggers of their weapons and shot any Wretch who became their targets. But even if they were quick enough the Wretches were pushing them back, so they had to disperse to get away from the large amount of them attacking.
Dizzy had gone to the left part of the field and was running out of bullets. Wretches had kept on coming, so he had to pull out his dagger from his side as a backup weapon. Anya went to the right side of the field and was making count of every shot while keeping some distance from the Wretches to reload every time she needed it. Baird had also went with Anya but over some fencing to find some boundaries against the imp-like monsters. This was due to him almost going down to Dizzy's situation, but he thought quickly to use the chainsaw on his weapon to mow down those who dared to invade his space.
The three soldiers were all too busy to realize that the Hunter had planned a small trick up his sleeve. With the separation taking place, he kept his eye on the western and only him. This is because he knew his relationship with the Bloodmount that he used to call as Toby was very close. He also knew that Dizzy will have no chance to defend himself if he had to kill the one he loved. The Locusts understood that humans will kill whatever they can to survive, and with this test he placed on the western, he will finally prove their views about the humans are very true.
So he spoke in his dialect to have the Bloodmount look up at his new master, and pointed towards Dizzy who was still having trouble slicing and stabbing Wretches. Toby growled after his commands were set and he ran towards the selected target. All the while, the Hunter was laughing under his throat.
As Dizzy was slicing away at each incoming Wretch, he began to grow tired to keep up with the pace. He decided to crouch on his knees as he felt them almost buckle under him, but he was still faced with a handful of Wretches coming at him. Luckily, they were just the last of them, so the small recovery he was making was used up to kill them. Until he got the last one in the skull he was too tired to yank his weapon out, so he left it sitting in place to try recuperating his lost strength.
And then he saw the most unfortunate sight.
Toby the Bloodmount was standing from a distance, baring his teeth and letting his saliva drench from his mouth uncontrollably.
"No..." Dizzy said, almost exhaling it out in a whisper due to his lack of strength. He knew that Toby was not the same anymore. Being controlled by that savage Locust beast made him a slave, and there was no way to shake him out of it. And he also knew, that if ever Toby would someday instinctively act like that towards him, he knew he was prepared for it. But he never had to deal with that ever since he found him.
To kill something that he had loved and cared for was the hardest thing any soul would do. He had killed his collection of Wild Tickers, Reavers, and Kryll. Now it came down to just Toby; he wasn't sure if he could handle it up to that point. But by the look of the Locust leader laughing towards him, he realized that he had trapped him in this situation. And unfortunately, he and what many had to do ever since E-Day started.
Unless...
After completely wiping out their own enemies, Anya and Baird could only watch from afar as Dizzy and Toby were making a stand-off with each other. Suddenly, they saw the Bloodmount let out a loud growl and start running towards Dizzy. The western pushed himself off the ground and, under the shock of them both, watched him run towards him.
"Hey, Dizzy! What the hell are you doing?!" Baird yelled out to him, but couldn't make his muscles to move and try to stop the Bloodmount himself. His weapon's saw was jammed anyway, and he didn't have nothing on him to do anything.
Anya had run out of ammo to her pistol and could only scream out, "No, Dizzy!"
Dizzy heard them clearly, but he didn't care to answer them back. He was focusing on the Bloodmount, and he had to make sure he didn't screw this up. Otherwise, he would succumb to being ripped apart by the wild beast.
The Locust was watching in earnest at the two, waiting to see the human get torn up by the beast. But then the strangest thing happened...
Dizzy had pulled out a gun.
"Sorry about this, Toby!" Dizzy said. As soon as he got close to the Bloodmount ready to pounce at him, he pointed it at his face and ended his sentence with, "But you've been a bad boy!" When he fired his gun, many had expected to hear a bullet shoot from out of it.
But no bullet was shot out.
Instead, string attached the clips did, and everyone realized what it was when it clasped onto Toby's head. Once they were stuck on him he was shocked with an intense voltage, as he shook uncontrollably and sparked up in a light-blue hue. He started to whine and whimper from the intensity of the pain shooting throughout its entire body, but Dizzy never let it stop. Until he knew the Bloodmount had enough, he finally stopped the stunner and the beast had collapsed into a coma.
Dizzy huffed and puffed while looking down at the fallen Bloodmount. Just then everything went silent, save for the breeze that came in that perfect moment of silence. Baird and Anya were in awe at what just happened. All they could do was look at each other for a moment and smirk when they knew what Dizzy's purpose was for using it.
As Dizzy looked up at the Hunter with a smirk, he noticed the Locust was rolling his hands into a ball. He seemed to have tighten them up too much that blood began to ooze out of them. He then spoke out to the Locust in confidence, "Looks like ya lit' setup didn't work, because I came prepared, ya bitch!" He even spun the stun gun and holstered it on his belt.
Seconds had passed while the Locust leader stood infuriated by the comment. He wasn't even startled when Louie came up next to his leader and clapped his hands in astonishment, "WOAH!" Breaking the silence to bring the three humans' attentions to him, Louie continued with, "Now that was intense! I never expected that! I mean, for him to charge like that, was like, WOW!"
While Louie continued on rambling about his excitement over Dizzy's surprise attack, he didn't notice that Steve was trying to hush him while trying to contain the volume of his voice and his growls. However, Louie was too lost in his rambling that he didn't notice him turning to him with a menacing look that even made the three humans stare at with unease.
"Don't you think so, Boss!" Louie exclaimed. After a few moments of no answer he called out to him, "Boss?"
In a quick flash, the Steve the Hunter leaped up from his position and into the air. Dizzy was alarmed at this and was caught off-guard by seeing a long sword reflecting a bit from the light of the moon. This made him fall to the ground when he realized that he still had a lot of strength drained out of him. Anya and Baird gasped, and Dizzy could only look up at the incoming Locust.
ROAWOOH!
The sound of a cry boomed out and echoed into the distance. Even the sound of a sword sliced into meat made everyone gasp in shock, even the Locust Drone, named Louie, had covered his mouth to hide his surprise.
Dizzy couldn't even make a breath come out of him. He was too much defeated in mind - and now heart - to do anything.
But this didn't mean he was the one who got struck by the sword... it was Toby.
The Hunter had landed his blade right into the unconscious body of Toby the Bloodmount. Even when the beast was out cold, he let out a whimper from the strike of the sword until dying and gurgling in his own blood. Dizzy watched in horror as blood that used to keep Toby's heart going was seeping out of his mouth.
The western finally found an unexpected strength to get up on his feet and stare at the lifeless body that could've been saved if the Hunter hadn't stepped in and did what he did just now. He then looked up at the Locust with a stunned expression written across his face.
The Locust leader didn't seem fazed at what he did. Actually, he was annoyed when blood had squirted out of the Toby's body and right in his direction. When he pulled out the blade and cleaned the dripping blood off by swiping the air with it, he turned his attention to Dizzy.
He gave out an unsatisfied snarl and roared, "Enough of this nonsense! I shall have you're heads before the other Warriors come!"
A/N: Lots of action here, huh? Not to mention the loss that Dizzy had to witness, pour guy... And nope, this is not the last chapter of the fanfiction! I know I mentioned that in the last chapter, but it seems like I found myself to enjoy writing about the situations unfolding for both parties from the HQ and Dizzy's farm.
And I bet you all are asking, "It's taken you this long to get this out?!"
Well, the reason is I tend to procrastinate on writing. Drawing is my top hobby, so writing comes second to my favorite hobbies. Hopefully if I find the inspiration to continue, I will try to finish this story before this month ends!