Headhunters

zTiamaTz

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BROKEN FINGERS

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I opened my eyes, and saw a blank ceiling, which was strange, since I was used to seeing the poster of Kristy Swanson in a pink and black bathing suit staring back at me. I groaned as I remembered just exactly where I was. Getting up, I decided since we were going 'shopping' today, I'd see if I could find a poster of hell's answer to Kristy.

I stripped off the pajamas I'd found in the room Cordy had taken, and quickly changed into the clothes she had decided I should wear today. I really needed to get some clothes that actually fit though, the guy who owned the house was a lot smaller then me.

I walked out into the hallway, and held my ear up to Cordelia's door to see if she was awake. All I could hear was snoring, who knew? I knocked on the door a few times but got no response.

Opening the door, I saw her sleeping, a blanket curled tightly around her. Walking closer, I called out to her, but got more snoring in response.

Normally, I'd leave her be, but she had made me promise to wake her, so we could get an early start. I sighed, this was like trying to disarm a landmine without the know-how.

I shook her shoulder lightly. "Cor." I got nothing but a snort and she turned away from me. I so did not need this hassle.

"C'mon Cor wake up." This time I tried a nudge.

Cordelia let out a scream, as she jumped to her feet on the other side of the bed, pulling the blanket with her.

"That didn't work out like I planned."

"What are you doing in here!" The glare she gave could stop a vamp in it's tracks.

Oh yeah, she was pissed. I tried desperately to keep my face neutral, I knew any show of fear would make her charge.

"Xander Harris what the hell did you think you were doing!"

"Um, waking you up?"

"Oh is that all? Why didn't you just shake the bed and scream earthquake? I'm sure that would have had the same effect you oaf!"

"Good morning to you to, snoring beauty."

"What? I do not." She hissed as she threw the blanket at me.

"Yes you... Oh my God, what the hell are you wearing?" I didn't know if I should laugh, or cry. The clothes I wore were maybe two sizes too small. The flowered monstrosity Cordy was wearing was at least four times larger then she was. Now I knew what all the banging was about last night.

"It was the only thing I could find! All the stuff the guy had was itchy, I couldn't sleep!"

It was a perfectly reasonable explanation, one that I could completely understand, given the circumstances. It didn't matter though, I burst out laughing.

She stomped towards me, the thing swirled around her, like it was alive. This just made me laugh even harder. She grabbed my arm and neck shoving me out the door, hard. My head smacked against the wall and I landed on my ass. I just sat there stunned.

"Are you done now?"

I turned around and looked up at her. She glared down at me, the thing flared out like a wall. There was no escape and my lip quivered, as I realized I was trapped.

"Well?" She asked sharply.

I laughed in her face. I knew I was making a huge mistake, but at that moment, I couldn't care less. I watched helplessly, as the flower monster engulfed me, and I felt Cordelia's hands wrap around my throat.

I didn't think things could get much worse, and then I remembered I still had to take her 'shopping' today. It was going to be a long day.

=H=H=

I sat at the table rubbing my neck, I couldn't believe how strong Cordy's grip was. I'd seen my life flash before my eyes, and being a virgin had made it very boring.

I was broken from my thoughts by the sound of Cordelia stomping down the stairs. As she came into view I saw she was wearing a blue sweatshirt and a pair of dress pants that were rolled up several times around her ankles.

She stopped in front of the table and stared at me for a moment. "I'm used to wearing silk." She stated simply.

"What?" I had no idea what she was talking about.

"I normally wear silk to bed. The reason why I was wearing that- that thing, was because I couldn't stand the material of the kind of pajamas you wore."

"Okay."

"Okay!" She screamed. "You make me feel like an idiot for wearing that abomination to bed, and all you can say is okay?"

I sighed. "Cor, what do you want me to say?"

"You can start with an apology."

"Start with?" I did not like where this was going.

"You think I'd let you off the hook that easy loser?"

"I apologize Cor. It was wrong of me to make fun of you for wearing that-"

"You're just digging your grave that much deeper mister."

"Oh great Queen C, I was horribly mistaken in questioning your utter perfection. Please accept my humble apology, and I beg you to let me continue to bask in your wonderfulness."

She stood there staring at me, analyzing everything I said. Finally, she gave her verdict.

"Wow, this just proves even dork's can be trained." She stated with a big smile.

I put my head down, and started to bang it against the tabletop. The things I did to keep the peace.

"So dork, now that you've been put in your place, where's my breakfast?"

=H=H=

The air was chilly, I wasn't sure if was the beginning or end of winter. I was definitely hoping for the latter. The sun was out, but the ever-present haze seemed to keep it from being very warm.

Cor was wearing the jacket I had found for her yesterday. Seeing her wear the over-sized clothes, that definitely did not make a Paris runway made me grin. I thought it was ironic, after all the cracks she had made about my fashion sense over the years.

The men's clothing I had found in the house fit me okay, a little tight in places maybe, but nothing I couldn't deal with. I'd even managed to find a jacket for myself as well.

Officially, we were on this little trip to get Cordy some clothes she would actually agree to wear. Unofficially, I wanted to explore the area around us anyway, but if this made her happy, I wasn't going to complain.

We'd been trudging down streets at random for a few hours now, and hadn't had much luck so far. We were on the hunt for the town's business district, or at the very least, a clothing store. As we walked, we'd quickly realized that the town was actually a small city.

I had the axe slung over my shoulder, and I hoped I wouldn't have a need to use it any time soon. My eyes scanned from side to side as we walked down another deserted street, looking for anything that could be a threat, the area we were in definitely had me spooked.

The only sound besides our footsteps was the small, child's wagon Cordelia pulled behind us. A paint can we'd found earlier, and put to use marking our path rattled around inside it. She stayed in step with me, keeping up easily in the sneakers I had convinced her to wear. She was seemingly oblivious to the damage around us though.

The further away we got from the house, the worse things seemed to be. Instead of the usual, now we had sandbag bunkers, and completely destroyed buildings to go with the bullet holes, and bloodstains. It was definitely doing wonders for my nerves.

Yesterday, I could pretend the bullet holes were from what had been a bad neighborhood, gangs, or something. But now, it was plainly obvious that a war of some kind had taken place here. The thing that continued to bug me though, was what had happened to all the bodies. The fact that it looked like they had been dragged away really creeped me out. And even if it had happened several years ago, there should have been some signs.

"Can we take a break Xander?" Cordelia asked. "My feet are still killing me from yesterday."

After this morning, we were both taking it easy on the insults, at least for the time being.

"Yeah, I think we could both use one." I replied and watched her abruptly let go of the wagon and walk over to the curb on the right side of the street to sit down.

I took a look around us, and eyed a building on the other side of the street. Half of the roof had collapsed into itself, but the other half looked more or less intact. What had caught my attention though, was a symbol, seemingly spray painted onto the wall near the door. A red circle with little notches along the outside edge.

Thinking back, I had seen these symbols, or at least pieces of them before, as we walked along, several times before on our trip. As far as I could remember, they were all on buildings that had been torn apart. My curiosity piqued, I hefted the axe and started walking toward it.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to check inside this building while you rest Cor. I won't be long, promise." I told her, as I stopped in front of the door. "Just keep an eye out, and yell if something happens."

Looking back, I saw her pull the large butcher knife she had found, out of the makeshift sheath I had made for it. I thought it looked sexy the way it hung off her hip. I really didn't think she'd be able to do much with it if she ever had to, but if it made her feel safe, I was all for it.

"Fine, just don't take too long. I don't want to be in these clothes any longer then I have to." She stuck her tongue out to emphasize her feelings.

"Is that an offer?" I asked, waggling my eyebrows at her.

"I'm going to do you a favor, and pretend I didn't hear that." She shot back, holding up her knife threateningly.

Grinning, I turned my attention back to the door and found that it was locked. Leaning the axe against the wall, I decided I was feeling manly. I took a step back, and tried to kick it in. Unfortunately, my manliness quickly disappeared when I stumbled back, and ended up on my ass. I heard clapping and looked back to Cordy once again.

"Way to go geek, try not to break anything. I'm going to need you to carry all the clothes we find back to the house."

I got up and dusted myself off. It sure hadn't taken long for Queen C to make her comeback. "You wanna have a go at this Cor?"

"No thanks," She said with a smile. "This is probably the most entertaining thing I'll see all day."

Sighing, I turned once again to the door. I had kicked it dead center, and all I had to show for my trouble was a boot print and a bruised ego. I sized it up and realized my mistake. Instead of aiming for the center like in the movies, I should have aimed for the lock on the left side.

Testing my new theory, I gave the door another hard kick, and was pleased to hear a loud crack. I gave it one more, and the door flew open.

Grabbing the axe, I made my way into the first room. The right side was nothing but rubble, no surprise there. Turning to the left side of the room, I saw what looked to be a huge communications station was built into the wall.

It reminded me of the bridge of a Navy ship my Uncle Rory had taken me to see in LA, when I was a kid. The downside though was that half the thing was badly burned, and I doubted it would work even if I knew how to fix it.

As I took a closer look at the damage, I noticed a cable leading from the console to the next room. I moved on, and found a small kitchen with plenty of cabinets. The problem was that half of them were charred. Turning towards the cable, I saw it ran to a door on the right that had a set of stairs leading down, but it was blocked off by debris.

I thought about it, the cable probably led to a generator. If they were storing gasoline down there with it, that could explain all the damage. Considering this was a war zone, it made a whole lot of sense. Tossing my empty pack onto the kitchen table, I went back outside to get Cordy.

Sticking my head out the door, I saw her across the street actually keeping watch, it was nice to see her taking the situation seriously. Even though she had been annoying me for years, I couldn't help but worry about her.

"Hey Cor!" She turned and started walking towards me. "I found some stuff in a kitchen, why don't you start packing it up, while I finish checking this place out." As she followed me in I showed her the console I had found.

"Do you think we can get it working?" She asked, a note of excitement in her voice.

"Would be nice, but no, it's totaled. There was some kind of explosion in the basement, that's why half the building is collapsed."

"Then why are you wasting my time? Show me where the food is." She stood there, with her hands on her hips, waiting for me to move.

After showing her the kitchen, I moved on to another room, and found an office. It had files scattered around a desk, and on the floor. Most seemed to have edges missing, or holes burnt into them, but I could make out the same symbol I had seen outside on the wall. Leaving the axe on the ruined desk, I rifled through several cabinets, but it looked like they had been emptied.

Finally turning my attention to the desk, I was disappointed to find the drawers filled with boring office stuff. Then I got to the last one, it was locked.

I gave it a few hard yanks, but it wouldn't budge. Annoyed, I pushed the desk further away from the wall and hefted the axe. I lined it up with the lock embedded in the drawer, and took a few practice swings.

I then slammed the axe into the lock and it popped right out. I tossed it aside, and ripped the drawer open. I couldn't believe how excited I was over a locked drawer. Looking inside, I found a bunch of junk, and a half-bottle of whiskey, great. If this day got any worse, I could always take up drinking.

"What the heck was that?" Cordy asked, as standing in the doorway, with her knife at the ready.

"Relax Cor. There was a locked desk drawer, I used the axe on it." I sat down on the ground with my back against the wall, feeling disgusted. All that buildup for nothing.

She put the knife away, as she walked into the room. After waiting several seconds for a reply, she placed her hands on the desk and leaned forward. "Well?"

I saw the annoyance on her face, and I could hear her foot tapping on the other side. "It's just office stuff and some whiskey, I was hoping there would be something useful."

"Give it to me, I'll stick it in the bag with the other things." She held out her hand.

I leaned forward grabbing the bottle out of the drawer, and rolled it across the desk to her. "Find anything good in there?"

"Yeah, the stuff that didn't explode, or melt looks pretty good. You did something right, nice job dweeb." She said with a smile.

I groaned. "And the compliments just keep rolling in."

"Don't expect another anytime soon, I don't want you to think I actually like you." With that said, she walked back into the kitchen.

I looked up at the ceiling, and hoped someone was listening. "Why me?"

=H=H=

After realizing I wasn't going to get a response, I dragged myself to my feet, and looked around at all the files on the floor. Deciding that they might give us some idea of where we were, and what the hell was going on, I gathered them up into a nice pile on the desk, before turning my attention to the last room.

I stepped up to the doorway and noticed it was filled with bunk beds. There were some sets of black fatigues which I gathered up as I went along, and what looked like personal items of whoever had lived here. None of it looked particularly useful, so I left it be.

I was disappointed that I hadn't really found anything in here. As I passed the last bunk, and turned to go back towards the office, my boot caught something with a metallic thunk. I looked down, and saw some kind of canister roll along the floor until it was stopped abruptly by what looked to be an armor encased hand.

"Shit." There went my good mood. I crouched down, and placed my findings on a bunk next to me. Turning my attention to the hand, I saw the guy was almost completely buried. I looked to the left and saw his other arm as well.

He had fallen on his stomach, probably trying to escape the collapse. I could see the gouge marks in the floor where he had tried to claw his way out, poor bastard.

The armor itself was black, with light blue accents. As I started to move some of the rubble away, a helmet became visible, which I was thankful for. He also had body armor that matched with what I had already seen. Unfortunately his neck was exposed, and I could tell he'd been here for a very long time.

There was something on his back, and I moved some of the smaller pieces of ceiling out of the way. It was some kind of gun, but it was trashed from the collapse. When I had fully exposed it, it slid off his back and onto the floor with a clatter.

That's when I remembered the canister that had caused me to discover this guy to begin with. I picked it up, and realized that it was some kind of fire extinguisher. He had been trying to put the fire out when this happened. That meant the building had already been hit, he was a hero.

I decided I was going to bury him, he was a soldier after all. If something had happened to my Uncle Rory in Vietnam, I'd hope someone would have done the same for him.

My mind made up, I continued to clear the rubble away and that's when I saw it. A pistol inside a waist holster. As I pulled it out, I realized how big the thing was. It was gray and black and had some kind of small sight on it.

Putting it aside, I went to finish the job I had started. The problem was, there was a huge beam lying across his legs. It was so heavy, it had actually caused the armor to buckle, crushing the armor down into his legs. Even if I got Cordelia to help, which I really did not want to do, there was no way we'd be able to pull him loose.

Sighing in resignation, I did the only thing I could do. I started to pile the rubble back around him, and grabbed more from behind. It took me twenty minutes, but I had managed to completely cover him.

It wasn't a proper burial, but it was better then nothing. I gave a small nod of thanks to the soldier for the pistol, and hoped my being here wouldn't bring whatever had taken everyone else in this city.

I took one last look around, seeing some old newspapers sitting under a bed and decided to grab them. Hopefully, we could get some more info about this place.

As I did, I noticed something in color sticking out the side of the pile. Pulling it out, I discovered it was a magazine and let the papers drop to the floor.

On the cover was a woman in a camouflage bikini bottom holding a big machine gun. I had just found an issue of 'The Girls of Gears', and I instantly forgot all about shopping.

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Disclaimer: Gears of War, along with the characters, weapons and vehicles from the game are owned by Epic Games.

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END