Chapter 9
Every shadow was a demon. Every breath of wind; a possible attack.
Rhiem crawled slowly through the lengthy aircraft manufactory. He was slowly growing paranoid with fear. Any second, the V-Drome G, Verdugo, could smash through a glass window, or leap out of a supposedly empty crate. It was nerve-wracking…
If I make it out of this alive, He thought, I'll be sure to get shell-shock.
Riu was observing Rhiem's mental breakdown with increasing worry. She worried about Rhiem, about that Verdugo, about O'Connell, who was tormenting the two like this.
Most of all, she worried because she could do nothing to help.
It was the next morning. Rhiem had camped under a small, unfinished airplane, turning fitfully in his sleep, and dreaming of vicious monsters that swallowed men whole. Riu had gotten up earlier, and reached over to shake Rhiem awake.
"Rhiem?" Her hand brushed his still, motionless figure, for a second.
"Ahh!" Riu screamed in shock and pain.
His hand shot out, and latched onto Riu's arm in a death grip. "Ugh!" Riu struggled to break his grip, but it was like iron!
She looked into his eyes. Sleeping, crazed eyes that shone nothing but fear. They went blank for a moment, and he collapsed again.
Rhiem woke sometime later. He felt…better?
"Riu? You up?"
Riu was packing her gear across the empty hallway.
"Yeah…I am. Let's get ready."
She hid her face so he could not see the streaks on her face.
It was at the end of the factory, the scrap yard. In the center, was a tunnel that ramped down into the ground. A cart, used for transporting scraps, ran along the underground of the city, and sent materials to the landfills. Rhiem took a look at the map; the route seemed to run alongside the Apal Cliffs, to dump whatever it's cargo was into a landfill. The cart was almost thirty meters wide, and a hundred meters long. It was designed to cart huge amounts of scrap metals to the Landfill.
A large lever at the front controlled direction whenever a split in the tracks came up.
Rhiem distantly heard the roar of something breaking through a wall, perhaps miles and miles away.
He redoubled his efforts.
An hour later, the cart was ready. He set it to travel five miles, and then stop right before the Apal Cliffs Dump Site.
"Riu? Get into the cart. Let's go."
"Right."
She pulled herself onto the compartment, and gave a thumbs up.
Rhiem yanked on the start up. The Cart started rolling slowly forwards. Rhiem went dashing down the scrap yard as fast as he could, trying to get to the cart before it left for its destination.
Riu stretched her hand out on the rapidly accelerating vehicle, for Rhiem's hand. He reached his hand out too.
The cold iron grip of Rhiem that morning shook her mind.
She pushed him away, for a second.
It seemed like an electric jolt went down her back, and she hastily grabbed Rhiem's arm. Rhiem got on, and glanced back.
A lone, solitary figure stood at the opening of the tunnel, a dark sentinel against a wall of light.
"RAWK!" Verdugo was on again on the hunt.
Rhiem raised his Combat Rifle with fear. He took a blind shot, hoping for a lucky shot. The shot blew open nothing but concrete. He took more and more shots at the zigzagging beast. Holes littered the retreating opening, yet none of them lay on Verdugo.
Verdugo shot into the tunnel, and soon it was illuminated by spotty, century old yellowed lights that flickered as they struggled to stay alive.
Orange eyes shone in golden light. Then, Rhiem saw the flash of its Soul Gear.
Then, it was ahead of them. Rhiem couldn't understand it…how was it that fast?…
Why was the world spinning?
Where was Riu?…
He coughed up blood. With blurred vision, he saw Riu similarly collapsed ahead of him.
The Soul Pulse of V-Drome Gs was the invincible Sonic Boom. Momentary power similar to adrenaline sucked all the V-Drome's Power into speed. The speed was so powerful, that it enabled the V-Drome G to extend the speed of sound for a split second.
The resounding shockwave struck everything behind it.
The world swirling, Rhiem struggled to pull himself up. Gripping the side, he aimed his Combat Rifle up ahead; not at Verdugo, but an easier to hit target. A the lever at the front of the car.
KAM! The lever swung, and a clanking could be heard at the bottom of the cart. Mere moments later, the split in the tracks came up. Verdugo got pushed to the left-hand side, while Rhiem and Riu were off to the right hand tracks.
Only a barred wall kept Verdugo away from company. It growled, whilst still keeping up with the cart. It raked it's claws onto the bars, trying to fight its way in. Rhiem gave a small smile, before collapsing.
Verdugo took another rake, but got nowhere. It snapped in frustration, and focused ahead.
Lights were directly ahead of it.
Rhiem had beforehand activated the second cart, which was inbound, from the dumpsite.
It roared, before being crushed to thousands of pieces by the enormous cart. Slowly, the roar grew low and lower in pitch as it's essential components were pushed along miles and miles of track.
Slowly, this roar turned to a growl,
which turned to a warble,
and then nothing.
***
The horrid face observed the destruction of one of his two favorite pets through a closed circuit television. The figure grit his teeth, and slammed the screen in a furious rage.
"RAHH!" Fist slammed into the table, again, and again, until the table collapsed under the barrage. It was made of steel.
O'Connell's other pet, Venondite, walked in to see what the fuss was about. Venondite was a pure white V-Drome G, who was the twin of the late Verdugo. It scanned it's master, and found increased levels of adrenaline, stress, and anger.
"Rawwwk?"
O'Connell stared at Venondite, and then at his own arm. He smiled a grim smile.
The mine cart rolled slowly into the docking bay. Rhiem pulled himself up, slowly. He wiped dried blood from the corners of his mouth, and shook his head a bit. He had a splitting headache.
Tapping his chest, he checked for broken ribs. After a minute, he was satisfied, and shook Riu a bit.
"Riu? You okay?"
"mm-hm. Just a little woozy…"
Rhiem grabbed her under her arms, and lifted her up. She had to steady herself for a second, but seemed alright.
"Let's go, Rhiem."
Rhiem stepped onto the platform, gun raised. He searched through the entire structure before stepping towards a solitary, metal door affixed into the stone wall.
Gun in one hand, hand on the doorknob, he opened it slowly.
Shk! Rhiem burst in, and scanned the room. The underground scrap yard. Nearly a square mile of scrap metals from various machines and tools wound up in here. Decades of disuse rendered entire monoliths of scraps unstable, wrought with rust, age and weakness. Rhiem spied a balcony that ran the perimeter of the scrap yard. It rose several dozens of feet above even the tallest scrap pile.
"Riu! Go along the walkway! I'll secure the yard.
"Mm!"
Riu hurried up the ladder that led up the balcony. Rhiem watched her until she was out of sight.
Now she was safe.
Now began his work.
Rhiem proceeded down the scrap yard, securing the area one giant pile of trash at a time. Every now and then, he saw shadows that flickered in and out of his vision, but there was nothing when he focused on them.
A figure rose on the highest scrap heap, at the center of the scrap yard.
He was dressed in a ragged cloak. The hair was dressed into a shaggy mane, with an aged face that spoke horror with every breath. Gripped in his hand was a huge Anti-Tank Rifle, dated several decades ago.
Fresh blood dripped from under his cloak.
"O'Connell"
"So…We meet finally, hunter. *Hack* *Hack*"
Rhiem looked up at the heavily breathing figure.
"So you…You're O'Connell. You're the one who brought violence to Riu"
"Ha-Hah-Hah…*hack* Did…did you learn how to be so clever in your fancy schools? Or your idealistic cities? Even though they were built on the bones and blood and flesh of your dear comrades?"
"Fool! You're speaking nonsense!"
Oh? Am I, Rubinian? We shall learn soon enough."
The Anti Tank Rifle rose, with only one hand gripping it. Rhiem swore in amazement and fear. How was this possible! That Rifle weighed at least sixty pounds!
"Die…Hunter." The figure vanished. Rhiem, caught off guard, spun around, searching for O'Connell.
He was above him. Rhiem gazed up into the barrel of the huge Rifle.
-BOOM-
The force of the shot was more like an explosion than a bullet. The ground exploded where Rhiem's leg was an instant earlier.
Rhiem pulled back, and returned fire at the flying figure above him. He vanished again.
Rhiem spun and shot with his gun.
He was in back.
Rhiem swung his chain, trying to catch O'Connell.
He flew far above.
Rhiem took severals shots at the soaring figure.
He dodged in mid-air, and blew up the ground around Rhiem with his Anti-Tank rifle.
Rhiem started swinging wildly with his Tomahawk, searching for the inhuman human.
"Ha! You expect to beat me with such pathetic moves! You'll never beat me if you had a hundred lives and a hundred years!"
Rhiem stopped for a moment, and then glanced down. Blood started seeping from every part of his body.
"Gah!" Rhiem slunk to floor, and tried to slow his blood loss.
O'Connell started pacing ten throws away from Rhiem.
"Do you understand now, hunter? I am God here. To defy me if to gain a slow and painful death…"
* * *
Riu looked upon the one-sided beating with fear. She frantically searched for something to help Rhiem! Riu ran from the walkway and into a dusted old corridor. She dashed down, and stop at a dead end. She was about to turn around, when the floor gave way.
She fell into an old ventilation shaft, and slipped into the room below.
Two V-Preys were on station in that room. They noticed their new guest, and proceeded to welcome her.
Riu recoiled in fear at the sight of the two V-preys. They were advancing slowly, warily. Riu ran down the strangely clean room to escape, gritting her teeth in frustration. These were the weakest of the weak, and she still needed Rhiem to protect her!
She stopped.
Her fists balled up.
"Not this time…" She grabbed a lead pipe, and swung at her attacker!
"NOT THIS TIME!"
The lead pipe glanced off of the V-Prey, which pushed it backwards. She swung and swung and swung until her arms were tired. She swung until she was sure she had done something
No effect.
It opened its jaws wide, and growled.
"Yah!" She pushed it back and ran into the next room, and ran up against the wall in fear. It was then she noticed her surroundings. A research lab.
A weapons research facility.
The two V-Preys then burst in, growling.
Riu backed up, and grabbed the first weapon she could find, locked away in a capsule that was marked: AG saber.
To her dismay, it turned out to be nothing more than a sharpened instrument tool that had been placed onto a throne.
The length of two feet, with a ridiculously thin blade that mismatched the otherwise teched-out but ordinary handle.
"Damn!"
Riu pressed a button on the handle, which started a whirring in the blade. She swung hopelessly at the first V-Prey.
It never connected.