Authors note: So this chapter is pretty brutal, and I mean brutal, mostly because I want to show just how messed up these Barbadons can really be in this world and well… it's pretty brutal, might give this chapter an M rating just in case. Other than that, I hope you enjoy the new chapter and review.
Chapter 18: Savage
O-O-O
Blackness was all that could be seen, only the faded dark of unconsciousness coupled with the sounds of silence. It stayed that way for a long time until brief muffled noises could be heard.
Dipper began slowly blinking, regaining his conciseness from the blow to his head by the Barbadon earlier, being able to see the clouded sights of the ground, which looked like concrete instead of the natural grass of the forest he was in before, and appeared to shake as well. The muffled sounds became clearer, the familiar deep gravelly voices of Barbadon mercenaries could be heard, which sounded casual and oddly hearty as well, even with a laugh let out by one of the voices.
Dipper then realized what was happening now, as he felt that he was leaning on a force and looked with more clear vision, barely moving his head as it slightly bobbed, to see that he was being carried and slung over a Barbadon's shoulder, he looked around to see several other Barbadons around him.
The noises from earlier could be heard more clearly, and heard not only the conversations of the Sleg mercenaries, but louder and more horrifying sounds, and looked around to notice that he was in some kind of town, a town that could be heard with the sounds of destruction and fear. Dipper jolted his head up when he heard the clear sounds of gunfire, making the Barbadons notice his regained consciousness and looked at Dipper's confused and fear filled state with amusement.
"Look at this one! He's finally awake." Chuckled a Barbadon, as the Barbadon carrying Dipper dropped the human on the concrete street, luckily able to break his fall with his hands.
"Good. Now he can join the others." Said the Barbadon who used to carry Dipper, as he forcibly jerked the human upward by his shoulder and pushed him to the left, making Dipper bump into someone who caught him before he fell.
"Dipper?" Said the figure who was holding him with their arms, as Dipper looked at the figure's face to see that it was Wendy, letting go the confused human as they walked forward.
"Wendy?" Said Dipper, still confused at what was going on, as he looked around to see Mabel, Soos, and Nate all waking in a tight formation while surrounded by a group of Barbadon mercenaries and walked beside Wendy, still dazed and confused at what had happened.
Dipper then stared forward to see a distant town and stared at shock at what he was seeing.
What used to be a quaint town of its day was now reduced to a mass center of destruction and chaos, sounds of gunfire and explosions clouded the shattered peace of the town, the simple and beautiful houses were now either partially destroyed from explosives or reduced to rubble, some even had fires that still raged on, what was also off about the town was that the perimeter of the town had damaged and destroyed walls surrounding it, the very same walls that the Imperial Slegs at Gravity Falls used to box everyone inside, it raised a curious question as to why Sleg mercenaries would attack their employers.
A bullet riddled sign across the road that Dipper was on said the town was known as Redding, but the sign also had crimson lettering strewn across, covering the rest of the wording that read, "Another Shithole", and even saw a decapitated human body by the sign that leaked blood, indicating where the crimson came from.
"What the hell happened?" Said Dipper frightfully, with Wendy shaking her head out of despair.
"You got knocked out last night. I tried to save you, but I got the shit kicked out of me and the mercs recognized me." Said Wendy, feeling regret from not being able to save the group from Barbadon capture. "Next thing we knew, they took us captive and walked us all the way here."
Dipper then looked behind him to check up on everyone, specifically his sister Mabel, who stayed quiet and stared down at the ground while walking, still wearing her torn sweater from last night as Dipper assumed the worst, while Wendy calmed him and patted his shoulder.
"They didn't do anything to her, she's just still in shock." Said Wendy, calming the worried twin. "The mercs had orders by their, oh so gracious leader, to take me to their boss."
Dipper just stared ahead at the town now, curious as to why an Imperial Sleg occupied town would be raided, but was still more concerned about making it out alive.
"How are we going to get to the base now?" Asked Dipper.
Wendy just closed her eyes and frowned, as the next words she uttered sent shock to Dipper.
"This is the base."
Dipper couldn't believe what he had just heard, this whole journey to the fabled rebel base was all but a lost cause. He felt his hopes were crushed, his journey just took a drastic turn for the worse, losing most of the supplies, Lee dying, and now the rebel base was gone.
"We took it from the Sleg military a few years ago, turning it into a forward base to expand our operations. I guess they got pissed and sent these fuckers after us." Said Wendy, still maintaining a cool tone but still felt the despair of loss.
A Barbadon then walked up to Wendy and stuck a blow to her stomach, making her stop and wheeze out a gasped breath from the pain of the Barbadon's strength.
"Just shut the fuck up already." Said the Barbadon in an annoyed manner. "You humies talk too much, but the boss wants you alive, maybe then we can have some fun."
"Hey! Leave her alone." Excaimed Dipper, feebly attempting to defend his red head friend, making the Barbadon laugh.
"Aww. Does the Red Devil have a boyfriend?" Mocked the Barbadon in a sarcastic tone, as he turned to look at Dipper's sister. "That means you need one too."
"You stay the fuck away from her." Said Dipper, his anger rising and was now taking as many defensive measures as possible to protect his sister by walking beside her, blocking her from the Barbadon's view as he laughed again.
"Don't you worry about her, I can be very gentle with women." Said the Barbadon, as he walked closer to Dipper to stare him down for intimidation "Besides, I like a bitch that can squeal while I-
Dipper socked the Barbadon in the face, punching the merc as hard as he could, who didn't even jerk his head from the blow, as he backhanded Dipper and knocked him down, making the group stop walking as the Barbadon jerked up the human and faced him.
"Maybe I should fuck you instead, I like variety anyways." Said the Barbadon, while Dipper just stared down the merc in disgust, who was let go from the merc's grasp. "Keep moving."
Dipper merely complied to keep the group moving, not wanting to cause any more problems and get killed.
"Please! No!"
The group could hear the panicked screams of someone, coming from a partially destroyed house next to their right to see a human male running from his hunters, two Barbadons armed with machetes with rectangular shaped blades, running after him while taunting the human and waving the blades around.
The human then tripped over along the sidewalk, close by to the Barbadon and human group as the man raised his hands while begging to be spared by his hunters, breaking down in a panic while doing so.
"No, wait! Please!" Said the panicked human, whose cries from mercy were responded with the hunters bringing down their blades upon him. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
The humans screams of agony were long, even while the group moved along from the savage sight, the hunters were still bringing down their blades, chopping away at the human's arms that he held to protect himself, only causing more pain as he would suffer a slow and gruesome death of mutilation.
O-O-O
As the group moved into town, going past the ruined gates of Sleg design, it made the humans want to leave more than ever.
The rubble of housing was more visible, many of the buildings being nothing more than smoldering ruins, with the stench of smoke filling the air, along with Barbadon mercenaries looting the houses of anything valuable or hunting for any stragglers. Several bodies are strewn across the streets, human rebels dead in pools of their own blood, their bodies either riddled with bullets, mutilated by sharp blades or missing limbs chopped off, or even burned and covered in black charcoal skin, with a lingering stench of burnt flesh mixing with the smoke.
The humans had only silent replies, too horrified to even make a single comment, while the Barbadons causally walked along, not even bothering to care as if this was normal to them, even making conversation about the chaos.
The further the group walked onward, the more death and destruction that was seen, as more horrible sights of death were plastered around the town in the more urbanized areas of Redding.
There were not as many bodies along the street as there were at the housing areas behind, but fresh blood still splattered the streets, with Barbadon mercenaries walking along the destroyed area, ignoring the distant and not so distant screams of terror of survivors, some of the screams even being heard in a nearby convenience store that a few Barbadons armed with shotguns entered, until they were silence with the loud blasts of the shotguns.
Bodies of human resistance fighters could be found from above the streets, hanging from street lampposts with ropes tied around their necks, each lamppost having one fighter hanged, dripping with blood from bullet wounds across their torsos. Along with hanged bodies, decapitated heads were seen all around corners of the streets, impaled through wooden stakes planted in the soils of where trees used to be, only for the trees to be cut down and used to display gruesome effigies, with many of the heads facial expressions in states of fear, coupled with hanged bodies to show the power, dominance, and terror that the Barbadons had.
"Oh my god." Whispered Dipper silently, unable to fully comprehend what he was seeing, while the rest of the humans just walked in silence.
The group stopped along a street to let two APCs pass through, which appeared to be of CSF design, but modified by the Barbadons to suit their desires, such as painting the APCs with a red paint job and painting a white Barbadon Skull with an angry demeanor on the sides of the APCs, along with removing a top part of the APCs to replace it with a custom made gun mount, armed with a heavy mounted machine gun, and one of the APCs even had a human rebel strapped onto the front of the vehicle, stuck due to being impaled on the spikes that were added to the front as well.
It was a nightmare that never ended, as more horrible sights were seen such as where most of the bodies were at, since the group ended up in a street block that had a few large piles of bodies piled up in the middle of the street, emitting a stench of decay that made the humans sick to their stomachs, as a few Barbadons armed with flamethrowers doused the piles with gasoline and lit them up with napalm fire, as the smell of burnt flesh started to fill the air once more.
"Barbeque anyone?" Quipped one of the flamethrowers to the group, which made the humans disgusted at the joke they made.
The group moved along, trying to resist the urge to cry or vomit at the sights of blood and gore surrounding them, never seeming to get used to the savagery of the Barbadon mercenaries, they were surprised that these were even mercenaries to begin with.
Eventually, after what seemed like a long walk through hell, the group arrived to their destination to see the Barbadon's boss, surrounded by dozens of his mercenaries in a circle that opened up to let the group of humans go in, as they were forcibly pushed forward to face the boss.
The Barbadon mercenary leader was an intimidating figure, standing at seven feet and four inches, easily the largest of the Barbadons, wearing a more modified armor colored in a darker red compared to the other mercs. The armor he wore was more heavily armored, covering not just his torso but also covering most of his legs and arms, with spikes sticking outward from his shoulder, elbow, and knee pads, along with having three spike like totems attached to his back and long enough to go a few inches above his head, each having as many heads of his human victims as possible impaled on the spikes, all fresh and bloodied, he also wore a heavily armored helmet, but it did not cover his face either, which showed his gruesome and war scarred face, having an old large scar covering most of the left side of his face, which seemed to be caused by some kind of severe burn.
"Chieftain. We've got someone you want to see." Said the Barbadon leader of his group, as the Barbadon chieftain approached the humans and noticed Wendy, making the Sleg form a grin of malice as he stared down on Wendy.
"You." Said the chieftain, with a deep voice that sounded more like a monster than a man, staring at Wendy with venom. "I knew you'd be back."
Wendy just gave the Barbadon chief a venomous stare in return, as she was punched in the gut by the chief and brought down to her knees, making Dipper resist the urge to punch the Barbadon chief.
"Good to… see you too… asshole." Wheezed Wendy, as the Barbadon grabbed Wendy's face and made her face his stare.
"It is good to see you. I still need to thank you for this." Said the Barbadon chief, making Wendy face the Chief's scar.
"Am I supposed to be scared?" Said Wendy unintimidated, able to catch her breath while the Barbadon chief laughed.
"No. But I just want you to know that your pathetic attempt to kill me was in vain." Said the Barbadon chief, letting go of the red head. "It actually helped me become an even bigger inspiration to the Bloodskull Clan."
"An inspiration of death and murder? Suits your ugly grin well." Quipped Wendy, getting another blow to her gut from the Barbadon's boot.
"Be grateful that I'm not killing you right here. You're worth more alive than dead." Said the Chief, as he looked at Dipper right next to the red head, who was looking at Wendy with worry and faced the human, towering over him. "And who's this? I don't recognize this one."
"None of your business, Balrock." Warned Wendy, despite being in a position where warning Balrock was not advisable, which Balrock took great notice of.
"Ahh, I see. You like this one." Said Balrock, smirking at Dipper as he yanked the human by his hair and pulled him down on his knees, while Wendy tried to get up, only to be forced down by another Barbadon on her knees again by a swift blow to her gut. "Tell me boy, what's your story? Why go all this way just to end up here?"
Dipper just stayed silent, not willing to answer Balrock while trying to ignore the sharp pain from getting his short hair pulled, as Balrock let go of the human when not getting a response, and briefly faced Wendy with a smirk.
"He's just as defiant as you, isn't that cute?" Said Balrock in a sarcastic manner, while looking over to Mabel, who just stared down at the ground in shock.
"I don't know you either. What's your story?" Asked Balrock, with Mabel only responding in silence.
"This one won't talk, chieftain. She's still shitting her pants after last night." Chuckled the Barbadon leader of his group, while Balrock eyed the Barbadon with a menacing glare.
"Last night?" Asked Balrock in a calm but menacing tone.
"We uh… I, decided that she needed to learn a lesson, but then we realized she was with the Red devil so um… we spared her for you." Stuttered the Barbadon, intimidated by Balrock's stare.
Balrock then noticed Soos, someone he didn't really pay much attention to, and then he saw Nate, just staring back at Balrock in fear while noticing something off about the humans.
"I remember very clearly that the Red Devil had a few minions with her, one of them being some blond one that called me a very rude name before." Said Balrock, still staring down the Barbadon captain.
"He wouldn't cooperate. I had to teach him and his humie friends a lesson." Argued the Barbadon softly, as Balrock just sighed at the captain.
"Now I see the problem here. It's not your men that have issues." Said Balrock as he approached the captain. "It's you."
With a swift motion, Balrock snapped the captain's neck instantly, making a sickening crunch of bone as the Barbadon captain fell down dead, while Balrock rook the captain's helmet, which was decorated with a white Barbadon skull painting, and handed it to the closest Barbadon troop.
"Congratulations, you're captain now." Said Balrock, as he ordered the new captain around. "Throw this one with the other bodies, we don't want to waste a good meal."
The new captain complied and picked up the dead Barbadon, slinging the body over his shoulder and walked away to pile the body elsewhere.
Balrock then walked back over to the humans, specifically to Wendy and bended down to her level to face her.
"It's a shame your friend isn't alive to see this, he would have loved to see me again as I gut him like a fish." Said Balrock, sighing disappointingly until perking up. "At least I get to spend some quality time with you."
"I'll need to be breathing first." Said Wendy, making Balrock chuckle as he pulled on Wendy's hair to stand her up with him.
"That's the best part, the bounty on your head never said you needed to be intact." Said Balrock gleefully.
"Chieftain!" Exclaimed a Barbadon, running through the circle of mercenaries. "Your "guest" has arrived."
Balrock then frowned at hearing that news, disappointed that his fun had to wait as he let go of Wendy, who glared at him with venom once more before letting out a quip.
"And I was looking forward to getting to know you better." Quipped Wendy, who got one more punch to her gut in response, barely able to stand up from the blow as she gasped for air.
"Already? What the hell does he want?" Demanded Balrock, annoyed by his "guest's" sudden arrival.
"Ask him yourself." Said the Barbadon, as a black armored limo could be seen across the street, parking close by the Barbadons.
"Fucking ape." Whispered Balrock to himself, as he began to shout out new orders. "Take the Red Devil and her friends to the rest of the prisoners, and don't touch a fucking hair on them. They're mine."
The Barbadons complied as their group dispersed to escort the humans to the rest of their captives, pointing their guns to make them move through the destroyed town and bloodied streets once more, preventing them from looking back to see their guest's appearance.
As the group left, Balrock walked over to the armored limo by the rear door, only to be blocked by two Guanian Slegs, wearing their black suits to indicate they were bodyguards for their guest.
"I'll break you two in two hundred pieces if you don't move." Threatened Balrock.
"Don't worry about him, he's tame… for now." Said a figure exiting from the rear door held open by another Guanian Bodyguard.
The figure that appeared before Balrock was actually not a Sleg, but it was actually a human instead, having a tan skin color and prominent cheek bones, sporting a dark brown moustache with dark brown short hair, noticeably coloring into a light shade of gray, and wore an expensive new black suit with a green tie and had an expensive cane in his hand with a silver eagle head on the top, as if he wanted to show off about wealth.
"What a revolting stench." Said the human figure, disgusted from the stench of burnt flesh in the air. "You savages do fine work at your job, but try to be a little cleaner next time. I don't want to stain my limo's tires with blood next time we meet."
"What's your business here, ape?" Asked Balrock, annoyed at the human's presence from interrupting his other business.
"This ape is your employer, AND he has a name." Said the human figure in a condescending tone, introducing himself to the Barbadon chief.
"That name is Northwest."
O-O-O
Disclaimer: I do not own Gravity Falls, but I do own the Slegs.