Authors note: So here is another chapter, and on Valentine's day no less. I guess you could consider this a Valentine's Day chapter considering the title, and if you haven't guessed yet I'm totally shipping Dipper and Wendy in this story, even though there's other stuff asides from romance that will go down soon so there's that. Also, I've gotten some questions about some things in the story and I'll be happy to answer them along with any other questions as well and put my answers in the author's note. Other than that, enjoy the new chapter and happy Valentine's Day.
Guest: (That's really who this is): Let's just say that the reason Bill is able to be in the real world in his own form has something to do with Xon, I won't spoil it yet.
Anonymous1201: 1. Pacifica will appear in this story, but it'll be when the group reaches their destination.
2. The Sleg government may have created an atheist state and enforces it, but that won't always stop people from believing in religion as you will see later on. Plus, when Selick said "By the Gods", he doesn't have to be religious to say that, people say "Oh my God" all the time and it only means that they're shocked, not religious.
Chapter 17: Nighttime Date
O-O-O
It was a horrible day today for the humans. Just when they managed to get out of Gravity Falls and onto the road out of state, they lost almost everything they had except the guns and other items they had on them, and a near death experience with both Sleg military and Gene worms didn't make anything better.
Wendy was no stranger to Gene worm attacks in the past, she's seen many horrible things in the shoes of a resistance fighter, and the Gene worms were one of the most common sights of horror that many would cower from, human and Sleg alike, but she could never truly get used to their grotesque parasitic nature, she barely tolerated them. Wendy being the leader of her little group, had many concerns about everyone's status on what had happened, Nate and Lee had only caught a few glimpses of the Gene worms in their lives as rebels, they were more recon and scouting material than fighters so they never had an up close look at the worms, but besides being a little shaken up, they were fine. Soos was clearly affected from what he had seen as well, but he managed to keep his cool as well since he was more concerned about the Pine twins, who Wendy worried about the most.
Dipper and Mabel had their fair share of horror encounters when they were in Gravity Falls solving mysteries, ghosts, killer gnomes, and dream demons alike, but these worms were something else. Dipper could barely focus on his other thoughts without remembering the horrible screeches and screams that echoed in that hellhole of a tunnel, but what really distracted him was Mabel's condition. Mabel had been unusually quiet for the rest of the day, she stayed completely silent to herself and never uttered a word, Dipper asked her if she was alright and all she would do is nod, which he knew was a lie, and Mabel was never a good liar.
After walking on the road for the rest of the day with no military encounters, the human group had decided to make camp, or at least some form of semblance of camp in a nearby forest close to the road, but they made sure to go far enough from the road so the Sleg military or CSF wouldn't decide to take a pit stop to hunt for humans.
The night had been quiet after the Gene worm incident, no one really talked much other than to ask if there was any food left since the horses carried the food, aside from a few candy bars Lee had stuffed in his pockets, there wasn't much to go around at the campfire of twigs and pine cones, but at least the group was warm.
"Here." Said Lee next to Mabel, handing her one of his candy bars to the visibly shocked girl, who had her head lowered down and stared at the ground. "You need to eat something."
Mabel grabbed the bar gently, but all she did was put it down beside her, worrying her brother next to her as he frowned.
"Mabel, please." Pleaded Dipper softly, while Wendy just got up and sighed, knowing full well that it would be better to leave Mabel alone to her thoughts right now.
"Maybe we need some real food." Said Wendy, making up an excuse to leave Mabel alone as she waved to Dipper. "Come on."
Dipper just looked up at Wendy with a confused look on his face. "Hunting?"
"Yeah. Hunting." Answered Wendy. "I need to teach you how to handle a gun anyways."
Dipper quickly turned to his sister, who nudged her head slightly to go with Wendy and complied with his sister's 'silent request, taking his shotgun with him to go deeper in the woods with Wendy.
Mabel just stared at the pair while they walked away, smiling for a brief moment knowing that at least their little date would go through, but the smile didn't last as she went back into her dark thoughts about the tunnel, closing her eyes and remembering the screams of the infected, the screams of pain and anguish that echoed in her head, but the worst part was that they were alive, they were not zombies, they were still people, all that changed was that they had worms in their brains. She knew no one wanted to believe her about what she said when the group got out of the tunnel, that those people were still alive inside, she wanted to believe the same thing, but not after what she heard when everyone else was running, not after she could hear the infected scream out nearly inaudible words, but she heard them clearly and mouthed the words she heard to herself.
Help me.
O-O-O
Hunting was a good choice for today, not only the group needed some food for the trip, but it was also a good time for Dipper to learn how to properly handle a gun for once, especially after what had happened in the tunnel earlier.
While walking deeper in the woods silently, Dipper decided to start some small talk.
"So uh… how you holding up?" Asked Dipper, making Wendy just shrugged in response.
"Could be better, but it could be worse." Replied Wendy with a frown. "It's your sister I'm worried about."
Dipper lowered his head sadly. "Same here. She hasn't been herself after those… things, attacked us."
The two stayed silent for a few seconds.
"Mabel's been through a lot." Said Dipper softly.
"We've all been through a lot." Replied Wendy, looking around to see if there was anything to hunt for food.
"Yeah, but Mabel did so much for me and Stan for the past ten years." Said Dipper, trying not to think of painful memories of Stan while Wendy bit her lip at the mention of Stan.
"Like what?" Asked Wendy, intently listening while wanting to avoid the topic of Stan.
"Well, she's been taking care of us with everything. Serving us food, cleaning up the house, covering our asses if CSF decided to get rough with us, hell, even after all that, she could still make me smile with some joke about her sweaters and her former crushes." Said Dipper, chuckling lightly as he remembered one of her quips about puppet kissing. "She's like a mom. Not our mom though, Mabel is more like our dad. Tacky sweaters and all while me and my mom just shook our heads at them wondering, "What to do with them?"
Dipper and Wendy shared laughter with each other from the little story, until Dipper's smile then turned into a frown, thinking about where his parents could be since he and Mabel haven't seen them ever since the invasion. He never had too much time to think about them, but when he did, all he wanted was to see them again.
Wendy then patted Dipper's back, noticing his quick change of expression.
"It's okay, Dip. I know how it feels." Said Wendy, wanting to comfort her friend.
Dipper looked up to see Wendy's warm smile, which helped comfort him and even made him blush lightly, and returned the smile with his own.
"I guess there is one bright side to all this." Said Dipper, still looking at Wendy intently. "I get to spend time with you."
Wendy just grinned widely at Dipper's answer, who couldn't help but feel flattered by Dipper's answer. "Oh really? We should do this more often then."
"As long as we don't have to almost get killed by worms, we should." Agreed Dipper, making Wendy smirk at Dipper's answer.
Wendy couldn't help herself but admire Dipper, he could get down after experiences like the tunnel, but he managed to always find faith in the little things to keep him going, something she would do herself. Not only that, but Wendy took some time to admire Dipper's physique, which didn't really look like much since he was still a bit thin after years barely eating anything, but he still looked healthy despite that, showing a hidden strength that started to even attract her. Dipper noticed Wendy staring at him, who quickly looked away to prevent embarrassment, as she just pretended to look around her environment until she spotted something in the distance.
"Wait." Whispered Wendy, as she made Dipper stop and pointed forward. "Look."
Dipper and Wendy could clearly see their dinner for the night, a buck deer that was grazing on a patch of grass, making the two friends crouch down and silently move forward, inching closer to their prey, and hid in the nearby brush so the deer wouldn't see them.
"Okay, let me show how to handle this." Whispered Wendy to Dipper, as she went behind his back and closely leaned forward, while using her hands to navigate Dipper's hands to where he needed to hold the shotgun properly, as she helped point the shotgun to the deer, unaware of the human's presence.
"Alright, you're doing pretty well. Just breathe and hold the gun steady. It's gonna kick you back, but don't try to fight it too much or you'll just end up shooting the ground." Tipped Wendy, as Dipper nodded while keeping his finger steady on the trigger.
"I think I got it." Said Dipper, as the deer bobbed its head up to check its surroundings.
"Shoot."
Dipper then squeezed the trigger, getting a solid shot at the deer as it collapsed dead, since the pellet spray hit the buck in its vital organs.
"Oh jeez. That was tense." Said Dipper, loosening his grip on his shotgun while Wendy let go of Dipper.
"That was a damn good shot. I mean no offence but, I thought you'd miss." Said Wendy, surprised at the good shot Dipper made as the two friends walked towards the deer.
"I thought I'd miss too." Said Dipper, reaching the deer to look down at his kill. "It's dead, right? Not twitching or anything?"
Wendy bent down to observe the deer to make sure that was the case. "Yup. Clean kill."
"Looks like we're actually eating tonight." Said Dipper, as Wendy got up and looked back to Dipper. "But how are we going to cook it all?"
"Let me handle that. If anyone can skin and cook a deer, it's me." Said Wendy, as she went over to the front end of the deer. "I can make a mean venison."
"I've always wanted to try venison." Said Dipper, going to the back of the deer to help lift it with Wendy.
"You'll love it. We might have to watch out with the pellets in the meat, but it'll be worth it." Said Wendy, as the two got a good grip to lift the dead buck. "Even if we lose some teeth."
Before Dipper could make a quip, he and Wendy stopped what they were doing to hear shouting not far away from where they were, then they could hear rapid footsteps which sounded like a group was running towards where they were.
"Shit!" Whispered Wendy loudly, as she led Dipper to hide back in the brush where they were hiding before, making sure they were covered well enough and peeked out to see who their group was.
"They must have heard the gunshot, whoever they are." Said Dipper worryingly, while Wendy seemed more shaken up when she started to hear the shouts getting louder, which sounded very gravelly and throaty in comparison to the lighter deep voices of either Gecken or Guanian.
"Slegs?" Asked Dipper, who then noticed that Wendy didn't answer and was busy looking out of the brush to see a group of fifth teen assumed Slegs running over to the scene of the dead deer. "Wendy?"
"Shh." Shushed Wendy, intent on listening in to the large group of Slegs that Dipper couldn't help but appear confused at.
Dipper could tell that these Slegs were not military or CSF since they had completely different sets of equipment. The Slegs wore some kind of custom light grey clothing that looked similar to a Sleg military uniform without the camo pattern, covering the torso of the uniform is bright red body armor covering the torso and the shoulders, along with a helmet made with the same kind of armor which is shaped to fit the top of their heads perfectly.
Their biological appearance was very unique from other Slegs as well, their armor didn't cover their faces, showing their grotesque faces that appeared similar to a combination of a toad and a bearded dragon lizard, with the heads taking a similar shape to the shape of a human skull but slightly taller and thicker, with rough, leather-like greyish green scales, and the most striking feature being the two saber like teeth from their bottom jaws sticking out, their height seemed to vary with the group, ranging to be from six to seven feet tall, and it appeared that the biggest of the Slegs acted like the leaders of the group, as the seven foot Sleg that was the largest was seen telling his troops what to do.
Their weaponry was also different as well, with many equipped with assault rifles, which seemed large and bulky to compensate for their muscular bodies that rivaled a Guanian's, the rifles were also custom built and each having enough features to appear different enough to other guns, many of them also were equipped with custom built scopes and large blades attached under the gun that acted as bayonets. A few of these Slegs were also equipped with bulky and custom made shotguns, there was even one Sleg that had a custom built flamethrower with twin gas tanks on his back attached to the flamethrower.
"Search the area! They can't be too far." Commanded the seven foot mercenary leader, as most of the Slegs began searching around their surroundings for any sign of their possible targets.
"Who are these guys?" Asked Dipper, as Wendy answered her friend's question worryingly.
"Mercenaries." Answered Wendy frightfully. "Just be quiet."
Dipper complied as he observed the Sleg mercenaries looking around the perimeter, while two of the Slegs kneeled down at the dead deer. One of the Slegs then noticed the pellet wounds and sniffed at the wounds, checking to see how old the kill was.
"It's fresh. Very fresh." Said the Sleg mercenary sniffing the corpse.
"Good." Said his other merc companion. "If the meat is still fresh, then we can still eat it and have real food for once."
The first merc smirked. "I always liked my meat raw anyways, none of that cooked shit."
The merc then started to pull on one of the deer's legs, tearing off the flesh and pulling hard enough to make the bones snap and detach the leg. The sickening pops and crunches sent chills down the hiding human's spines, as the merc began sloppily eating the leg until the seven foot Sleg leader came over and yanked the leg away, then kicked him to make him fall on the ground as his friend laughed at the sight.
"Get the fuck up. We'll eat later." Said the merc leader, as his two comrades quickly got up. "Since I'm boss, it's my deer now."
The leader then took a bite off the deer leg to show he was serious, making the smaller merc agitated that his boss took away his food, but quickly subsided his anger when the same boss pointed his assault rifle at him.
"Fuck this place!" Shouted the flamethrower Sleg, clearly frustrated about something. "Fucking grass. Fucking trees. Fucking walking without shooting. I just want to burn someone and make them scream!"
"Like that one humie a few months ago?" Asked another fellow merc, who chucked with the flamethrower merc. "That asshole lit up like a firework."
"He burned nicely too." Said the flamethrower merc, who pointed his weapon up and released a burst of flames to prove his point. "And he screamed like a little girl too."
*POP! POP! POP!*
Suddenly everyone stopped to hear the distant sounds of gunfire from afar, as the seven foot Sleg mercenary grinned widely at the very sound of gunfire.
"Looks like our boys ahead found them!" Said the mercenary leader, dropping the deer leg and cocked his assault rifle and ran towards the sound of the gunfire. "Let's have some fun!"
The mercenaries complied and ran with their leader to the sounds of the firefight, while the mercenaries were being close behind by Dipper and Wendy, both just as worried at the sounds of a firefight as they followed close behind.
The gunfire came from the direction of their camp.
O-O-O
Dipper and Wendy managed to catch up to the mercenaries despite how fast they sprinted, mostly because they were excited that there was something to shoot for once, as the two human friends hid behind some bushes to peek out and see the results of the firefight.
There were at least four dead mercs on the ground, all dead from gunshot wounds to their heads as the holes leaked crimson blood. But that was only four of the other six mercenaries that were there, along with the fifth teen other Sleg mercs that had just arrived to see the mess caused by the four humans now captive. Soos and Nate were on their knees and had their hands behind their backs, with their guns on the ground and guns pointed to their heads from behind, while the more tragic part of the fight was that Lee was laid down of the ground, clutching to his side that leaked blood and was unable to get up from the pain, and Mabel was nowhere to be seen at all.
All Dipper and Wendy could do now was watch the scene play out, there was no way they could take on the mercenaries without getting riddled with bullets, so they watched and hoped that everyone would be okay, with Dipper grabbing hold of Wendy's hand out of fright and worry for his friends, who responded by squeezing his hand while carefully observing the situation if there was something they could do.
"What happened here?" Asked the seven foot leader to one of his scouting mercs armed with a shotgun.
"We found these humies relaxing by a fire, thinking that they were safe." Said the shotgunner merc as he pointed his gun briefly at Lee. "This one wouldn't shut up either. He said that we Barbadons are savages."
The merc leader grinned at that statement and walked over to Lee, who looked up to see the mercenary leader smirking at him, and stared back with venom in his eyes.
"I wasn't kidding… when I said that." Strained Lee, who just gave the merc leader the same venomous stare. "Murderous… Rapists… all of you… fucking savages."
The merc leader then kicked Lee at his head, knocking the wind out of him and was turned on his back.
"Oh, so you think we're savages?" Said the merc leader in a mocking tone. "I'll show you savage."
The Barbadon mercenary then took out a combat knife and kneeled down to Lee, and proceeded to jab the knife into Lee's left eye, making the blood human scream out in pain.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Screamed Lee in pain, as Nate tried to get up to save his best friend until he was hit in the back of his head by the Barbadon behind him, and dragged him on the floor to make him stare at his friend's suffering.
"Now you get to see the boss's handiwork." Said the Barbadon holding him, jerking his head up so Nate could see the Barbadon merc leader carve out Lee's eye, making inaccurate incisions around the socket on purpose to cause more pain, as Lee kept screaming and squirming, squirting blood out until the Barbadon merc leader managed to remove the punctured eye.
"That believe it or not, is pretty damn tame compared what I'll do to your friends." Said the merc leader, as he stood up and began stomping on Lee's head with his boot.
"LEE!" Cried out Nate, who could only watch as the Barbadon merc leader continually stomped on Lee's head over and over until it was nothing but a bloody mush.
The Barbadon merc leader grinned at the bloody mess, as if he was proud of what he managed to do and put the eye away in one of his pockets. "Need a souvenir anyways."
Nate just broke down crying at the sight of his dead friend, unable to process that his best friend was just stomped to death in front of him and Soos could only look away from the sight, while Dipper and Wendy stared in disgust and horror, while still visibly shocked at what just happened.
"Oh my god." Whispered Dipper, who couldn't believe what he just saw.
Wendy just closed her eyes and lowered her head and thought to herself. "Damn it, Lee. Why didn't you just shut up?"
"Oh my god." Said Dipper, just realizing that only Soos, Nate, and whatever is left of Lee, were there and not his sister. "Where's Mabel?"
His question would be woefully answered when he began to hear screams from ahead, the screams coming from a panicked Mabel being pulled by her long hair by a Barbadon to the rest of the mercinaries, who were now all paying attention to Mabel.
"Look at what I found!" Said the Barbadon, pulling Mabel forcefully and holding her closely. "I found this cutie hiding behind a tree."
Mabel then struggled to break free from the Barbadon's grip, as the rest of the mercenaries began laughing at Mabel's feeble struggles to fight back against her captor, who was also laughing until Mabel bit him on his hand, making him let go to rub his bitten hand as Mabel ended up in the grip of the Mercenary leader instead, who put his arm around her neck to prevent further struggling without choking her.
"She's a fighter too. You made a good find." Said the leader, who set his gun down and turned Mabel around to face her, as he began to gently stroke her cheek and whispered to her. "Hey, kitty cat. You're looking fine tonight."
Mabel just spat on the merc leader's face, disgusted at his perversion and sexual attraction to her while he let go and back handed Mabel across the face, making her fall down on the ground from the force.
"You mother fuckers." Whispered Dipper loudly, as Wendy squeezed his already tightened hand to calm him down.
"Dipper, no." Whispered Wendy, knowing full well that giving away their position would complicate things further.
"You see this, boys?" Announced the merc leader to his troops. "This bitch doesn't seem to know her place with us, so she needs to be taught a lesson."
The merc leader then picked up Mabel and walked her over to the two Barbadon Slegs guarding Soos and Nate, signaling them to leave the two alone and focus on Mabel.
"Have fun, boys." Said the merc leader, making the two Barbadon mercs grin evilly, while Mabel quickly realized what the merc leader meant by those words and began struggling to break free, but it was in vain since she was easily overpowered by their brute strength and was dragged down on the ground, as one of the Barbadons took out his combat knife and began cutting open her sweater.
"No! Please!" Pleaded Mabel, begging for her captors to let her go. "Help! Dipper! Wendy! Please help!"
Dipper couldn't take it anymore, there was no way in hell he would just watch his sister succumb to something this horrible, and ran out of the bush to stop this whole thing from happening.
"Dipper!" Shouted Wendy from behind, as he failed to pay attention to the Barbadon on his left charging towards him and was hit by the butt of the merc's gun, and fell down hard on the ground.
Dipper started to see black, as each blink made him drowsier and could barely make out Wendy at front, trying to fight off the Barbadon merc leader who grabbed Wendy's fists and head butted her, sending her down on the ground while the Barbadon merc leader pushed his blood stained boot on her chest and recognized who he just head butted.
"Well, well. The red devil herself." Said the merc leader surprisingly while grinning. "We have special plans for you, especially our boss."
The last thing Dipper could see was when he looked up to see a Barbadon staring down and smirking, until he readied the butt of his gun to hit Dipper once more.
Then everything became black.
O-O-O
Disclaimer: I do not own Gravity Falls, but I do own the Slegs.