BROKEN MONSTERS
David had always been able to tell when he was being watched, that ability had been a bit of a curse last night. Understandably, a monster that could kill him one hundred different ways, watching him nonstop throughout the night was not particularly relaxing.
The monster in question was standing in its corner again, glaring at him as he ate alongside its smaller sibling, who was inhaling her food. "Can I have another Pep Bar, please?"
Damn those freakish, huge yellow eyes! "You've already had three! How many can you possibly eat?"
Timing the activation of her puppy dog eyes perfectly, Amanda gave David a chocolate encrusted smile. "Please Mr. Ordinary, just one more?" Relenting with a sigh, he stood to grab another bar off the wall, even after knowing him for less then two days, Amanda already had him wrapped around her little finger.
David walked to the supply wall and reached into the box of Pep Bars, only to find it empty. "Jesus Amanda, how many did you eat?"
Looking surprised and slightly irritated, Amanda raised her hands defensively. "I've only had…" Adopting a look of deep concentration, she attempted to count the, without doubt heinous, number she had eaten over the last day and a half. "Umm…lots. But Mr. Ordinary, there were loads left, I promise!"
Looking skeptical, David nodded, "I'm sure that's what happened, Amanda." Eyes roaming the wall, he searched for another box of the chocolaty bars the little girl was apparently addicted to. Happily he spotted one; he didn't need a temper tantrum in the confined space, especially if the girls yelling angered its larger sister. Unhappily, the above mentioned overly hostile sister was standing in front of it.
Gritting his teeth in preparation for dealing with the overly hostile entity, David walked towards the intimidating creature staring at him, arms crossed. "Could you step aside? Your sister wants a pep bar." A low growl and a slight tilt of its head was the only response.
"Look, I don't want to start a fight. Your sister's still hungry." The only response was a shake of her armored head.
"Sissy please, I love Pep Bars, pleeeeassssse?" The creature gave another irritated shake of its head.
"Please Sissy, just one more?" Releasing what must have been its equivalent to an angry sigh, the monster stepped aside.
Walking slowly around the irritable creature, David reached for one of the small bars, only for it to fly through the air and smack him in-between the eyes, before gently landing in front of the small girl waiting impatiently for her treat.
With something that sounded suspiciously like an arrogant chuckle, the angry metal clad abomination brushed past the stunned human and picked up its small charge. "Sissy, are we leaving now?" The nod Amanda received in response was accompanied by a feeling that David was becoming increasingly familiar with, dread.
"Goodbye Amanda, I'm going to miss you." Smiling slightly at the little girl looking concernedly at him from within her sister's arms, David waved a goodbye.
"Sissy, are we going back to the Family?" The creature answered with yet another nod.
Eyes lighting up as she gasped excitedly, Amanda's gaze turned towards David as she asked the question that would change his life forever. "Sissy, could David be a part of the Family?"
()
Confusion, Theta found, was an increasingly irritating and familiar emotion. Was her Sister insane? Why would she want the monster to come with them? It wasn't part of the Family, which meant that any Family members they ran across would be even more likely to attack them!
The monster from the look of it was just as confused as Theta, "I could come with you? Wouldn't I slow you down?" Of coarse you would slow us down you idiot! "Aren't you going to swim wherever you're going?" Barely resisting the urge to shriek at the irritating creature, Theta pointed towards her cracked helmet. "Oh, sorry about that by the way." Irritating, stupid creature!
"How long will it take to get to your destination?" That was a good question. Thinking briefly, Theta gestured between herself and her sister holding up three fingers. Gesturing between all of them, she shrugged before holding her arms far apart.
"Three days?" She nodded, "and with me it would take longer." With another nod, she studied the strange creature standing in front of her.
Looking directly into her blood red porthole for the first time, the monster asked her a final question. "How much more dangerous would I make it for her?" It was concerned for her Sister? Grudgingly, Theta felt a small amount of respect blossom within her chest for the strange creature.
"Mr. Ordinary, you wouldn't make things more dangerous for me! Sissy protects me from everything, and you can help too!" Ignoring the inane ramblings of her Sister, the creature maintained steady eye contact with her. That was…impressive, even Mother rarely attempted to make eye contact with her. Deciding to humor the strange creature, Theta gave an honest answer, a shrug. Truthfully she didn't know if it would make things more dangerous for them.
Nodding at her, looking deep in thought, the creature made its decision. "I'd like to come, I'll die here otherwise. I won't blame you if you refuse, but I'd like to give it a try." It was leaving the decision up to her? Why would it do that? Her sister was giving her a pleading stare and the creature hadn't done anything even remotely hostile towards either of them, well since it had thought she was a mindless monster that is, maybe taking it along wouldn't be the end of the world.
Already visualizing all the ways this could be a horrible decision, Theta gave a single sharp nod.
()
An irritated snort was more the reaction he had expected, an immediate dismissal and swiftly crushed hopes. Not for the creature to ponder his question, not for it to stand staring into his eyes as if trying to read his mind, searching for any alternative motives. After what seemed an eternity, the creature gave a quick nod before turning around and heading towards the gateway that lead to the rest of the hellish city.
"Wait, I need to grab some supplies." With a surprising lack of any irritated noises, the creature stopped, turned around, and leaned against the wall. Grabbing food, water, toiletries, ammo, a flashlight, and his Father's binoculars in quick succession, David looked around for the final item he felt he would need, his shotgun.
A strange noise that sounded almost like someone clearing their throat echoed throughout the small room. Turning towards the intimidating creature, David saw it holding his gun towards him, head tilted expectantly. Walking slowly towards it, he paused at arms length, the creature wasn't moving at all. Reaching slowly towards his gun, he was surprised to find that he was suddenly a foot off of the ground, staring directly into the monster's blood red porthole. With a rumbling growl, it nodded its head towards its sister, before relinquishing his gun. Despite not saying a word, its message was clear, I trust you for now, but touch her and I'll gut you like a pig.
Dropping David back onto his feet, it turned and lifted its ecstatic Sister off the ground, depositing her into some type of cage like basket adorned with ribbons that was attached to the creature's back.
Squealing with happiness, Amanda smiled broadly at David from her perch atop her sister's back. "Mr. Ordinary, we're going on an adventure!"
"Yeah, it should be…fun." Following the lanky creature out towards the loathsome city, David took a moment to ready himself; this was probably not going to end well.
()
The behemoth's mammoth corpse was not pleasant to be around, especially with her acute sense of smell. With a glare at the monster's mangled body, Theta sidestepped around it. The sooner she was away from here the better, she wasn't under any threat of vomiting, she'd learned to control that urge long ago, but still the smell was truly rancid. Judging from the sound of barely controlled gagging, the strange creature accompanying them had yet to become used to the smell of festering flesh.
Panting slightly after barely containing the contents of its stomach, the creature gestured for her attention. "H-hold up, w-where's the crossbow he used? Something with a little more range then my shotgun would be very welcome." She had to admit, the creature had a point, it wouldn't last long against an angry monster if it could only hurt them when they were already close.
"Ah, there we go." Striding past her, the creature headed towards the recently located arrowthrower resting against the wall eighty feet away. That was the opposite way they wanted to go! Restraining a growl at the stupid creature, Theta pulled the weapon through the air, purposely allowing it to come dangerously close to the creature's head.
With a surprised yelp, the creature ducked down arms covering its head protectively. Her Sister's amused giggle brought its attention back towards the two of them. Eyes narrowing in amusement, or irritation she couldn't tell which, it headed towards her. "Nice. Next time could you warn me? We are supposed to be working together after all."
Was it telling her what to do? To her surprise, Theta found that she had been growling without noticing it. Seeing the creature's growing alarm, she took a deep breath, consciously attempting to calm herself.
Realizing the stupid creature was still expecting an answer, she gave a quick nod before shoving the arrowthrower unceremoniously into its arms. Sighing mentally, Theta turned from the confusing creature and began the long trip towards her destination. Releasing a sigh, the creature moved to fall in step beside her.
Theta had the strangest feeling that both she and the creature by her side were thinking the same thing, today was going to be a long day.
()
They had passed many monsters during the hours of walking the streets of Rapture, most had seen Theta and stayed at some distance, this group however was proving more tenacious. They had been following the group for near an hour now; she had almost thought that the monsters she had been seeing were just locals. Recognizing the same monster four times had ruined that illusion, paying attention she could now say that she could recognize at least five.
The monsters following them were making her nervous, they had done a good job remaining undetected, truthfully they could have been following her small group for much longer then she had been aware. Monsters watching her as she passed through an area was pretty much standard, this however was unprecedented.
The creature at her side hadn't noticed the monsters watching them; though in its defense, its lowlight vision probably wasn't as good as hers. It wasn't completely inept though; it was watching the surrounding area vigilantly, eyes occasionally darting towards her to see how alarmed she was.
"You see something?" Nodding she held her hand up, fingers spread apart. "Five?" she gave another nod. "Where?" Loosing her already short patience, Theta decided that she was going to find out what these monsters wanted.
Hand darting out towards the window a monster thought was a good hiding place; Theta began to smile. She could feel its body, grotesque and twisted. She could feel its weapon, one of the rapid shooting ones. A barely audible crunch signaled the monster's hands and weapon being crushed by an invisible force. As the creature screamed in pain and surprise, Theta struck. Scream of agony morphing into one of surprise, the monster shot like a cannon out of the nearest building before landing at her feet.
"You're sure that he was following us?" Her withering glare silenced that foolish line of questioning. Gesturing toward the cursing monster at her feet, she signaled the creature following her to question it.
To her surprise it understood her gesture immediately, and crouched next to the writhing monster. "Why were you following us?"
"My hands! That fucking whore broke my hands!" Theta's low angry growl silenced the insolent monster.
"I'm going to ask one more time, if you don't answer me now you can answer my friend. Why were you following us?"
"F-fuck you, you little sh-" The monster's insults were interrupted by Theta's armored boot, as it began to apply pressure to its trachea.
Allowing the monster to squirm briefly the creature accompanying her asked the monster another question. "Are you ready to play nice yet? She can keep this up all day." The monster's nod was all she needed, and Theta released the pressure from the warped being's throat.
"Why are you following us?"
"The Family demanded it." What?
"What was your mission?"
"We were to locate a Vassal of Ascension." The questioning look the interrogator sent her was answered with a shrug; she had no clue what a Vassal of Ascension was.
"What is a Vassal of Ascension?"
"You travel with its guardian, outsider." It wanted her sister? It could pry her from her cold dead fingers.
"Who gave the order?"
"The voice of the Family!" Mother? Did it mean Mother? Why would Mother send monsters after her?
"Who is the voice of the Family?"
"I will not betray the prophet! You and the guardian will get no more!" This was getting nowhere. Reaching down Theta grabbed the monsters leg, after a brief pause she snapped it like a twig.
Wincing slightly at the sharp snapping sound and scream of agony, the impromptu interrogator continued. "We can keep this up all day if you want."
"What happens to my mortal shell matters not, blasphemers, for I will be one with her." Rolling her eyes, Theta continued her way of asking questions. This time the monster didn't even scream.
"Who is the voice of the Family? What does he want?"
"One with her." Moving onto the creature's foot wasn't as satisfying as it should have been. Crazy monsters aren't as fun to break as the ones that are at least somewhat sane.
"You really should answer us."
"One with her." Despite Theta's best efforts, and her best efforts were quite considerable, the monster would say nothing else, even after she'd broken every extremity and moved on to pulling teeth. She was fair, after every injury she gave the monster time to respond, and gained the same response every time. "Jesus, just kill him." Ignoring the whining of the creature attempting to distract her young Sister from her actions, Theta continued.
Its repetitive reply had become more of a gurgle; it was having trouble talking without teeth. She'd never gotten this far with a monster before, they normally died or gave in, this was a first, and it was exciting! Its hands were crushed into a bloody pulp, its feet were snapped in two, its legs had received a similar treatment, as well as the arms. With its teeth now all gone Theta had the somewhat distressing thought that she had nothing left to break.
The monster's low pained moans were beginning to irritate her, "Kill the poor bastard; he's not going to say anything useful." What else was there to break? It's heaving chest as it gasped desperately for air through a broken nose and toothless mouth, gained her attention. Could that work? She'd never done ribs before. A small burst of excitement shot through her veins, this could be a fun experiment! Coating her fingers in sharpened ice, Theta prepared herself.
With a slight squelching noise, her fingers sunk into the monster's soft belly. Gasping happily she felt something that made her near ecstatic; the monster had a spare rib! Fingers wrapping around the thin bone, Theta pulled, hard, with a wet squelch and a sharp crack its body relinquished the blood drenched bone. This time, this time the monster screamed.
"Sissy, I don't like that noise!" Pausing, giving the monster time to answer their question, Theta studied the bone held in her armored hand. What question was it supposed to answer again? Not that it mattered; it wasn't answering anything, just chanting endlessly.
"My God, just kill the poor fucker already!" Studying the monster at her feet, she was pleased to see that it wasn't bleeding that badly, all things considered. She could continue her important, and fun, work. Hand reentering the monster's body she grabbed the next rib, and with a savage yank relieved it of its bloody sheath.
"Sissy, make it stop yelling! It's scaring me!" Pausing once again, she was fair after all; she gave the monster another chance to answer. Idly, she found herself wondering if it could even speak anymore. It was still trying to, gurgling out its fanatical chant, though it was far from understandable by now. It was stubborn, she'd give it that. How many removed ribs could it live through? She was looking forward to finding out.
Raising her blood drenched hand, Theta prepared to relieve the monster of yet another rib. Before she could continue her fun however, something heavy slammed into her, knocking her away from her prey. As she spun to confront her attacker a dull thump sounded from behind her.
To her surprise her strange ally was standing before her glaring. Its arrowthrower was held in its hand and an arrow was buried in the monster's skull. It attacked her? With an angry shriek, she shoved the foolish creature away.
"It wasn't going to say anything! It probably couldn't even speak anymore!" Incensed, she shoved the idiotic creature again.
"It couldn't speak anymore! What you were doing was pointless and cruel! You were no better then them!" Pushing it once again, this time off its feet, she shrieked angrily gesturing to the dead monster.
Glaring back at her unflinchingly, the foolish monster revealed its trump card. "You were scaring your Sister!" What? Turning she could see her young charge, eyes screwed shut, hands covering her ears, rocking back and forth whimpering. She caused this? She scared her sister?
Understanding as to why Daddy left hit her full force, he had been able to tell. He had seen before anyone else. She was a monster, and she belonged in this horrible city.
()
To David's surprise it stopped, shoulders slumping in what might have been shame, it walked to its charge crouching to her level. Caressing the small girl's cheek with blood drenched fingers, it gained her attention. "You made the monster stop screaming, Sissy?" Shaking its helmeted head, the creature pointed to David. "Thanks Mr. Ordinary, that noise was scary!"
The subdued creature lifted its sister up, depositing her into the basket on its back, turning away it gestured for David to follow, refusing to make eye contact. It was acting…ashamed. That thing might have more human in it then he had given it credit for. What kind of monster felt ashamed for doing wrong?
The walk was decidedly more uncomfortable after the Splicer's horrible death; he didn't think that the creature had glanced at him once since the incident. Hours passed slowly and the need for a place to bed down for the night began to make itself apparent. For the first time in hours, David spoke, "We need to keep an eye out for somewhere to sleep." Still not looking at him, the creature nodded.
They needed a place that was easily defended, a place that was out of the way or at least hard to reach. "Do you know of an area near by?" The nod that answered him was the best thing he'd seen all day.
He really should have known it wouldn't be that easy. The creature guiding him stopped so suddenly that he almost walked into it. Crouching down it lifted its tired charge out of its basket and set her on the ground.
"Sissy, are we there?" Shaking its head at the child, the creature pointed towards several boxes of cargo.
"But I don't wanna hide!" Repeating the gesture with a low growl, the creature stared fixedly down the large hallway they were standing in. Realizing that argument was futile at this point, the child ran to the boxes, ducking behind them.
It was then that David heard what the creature had heard earlier, distant yells, rapid pops of gunfire, small explosion, and inhuman roars of mindless rage, and they were heading their way. A Splicer rounded the corner ahead of them, sprinting as fast as it could. Pulling his crossbow out, David aimed towards the oncoming Splicer, only for the creature at his side to push the weapon down gently with a shake of its head.
As another Splicer rounded the corner, this one clutching a bloody arm, the first passed them, not even sparing them a glance. As it passed David saw something that made everything click, the Splicer's eyes were wide, terrified, they were fleeing something. A third Splicer rounded the corner, this one limping badly. Before she could clear the corner a proverbial hail of gunfire slammed into her, cutting her clean in two.
What type of gun could do that? Whatever this was, David really wanted to be as far away as possible. His inhuman partner was making a strange noise; if he didn't know better he'd have called it a whimper, which more then anything else made David incredibly nervous.
Thundering footsteps and mindless screaming signaling its arrival, a mammoth armored abomination rounded the corner. It looked like some kind of Big Daddy, a type that David was unfamiliar with. While still towering, it was easily seven and a half feet in height; it wasn't as large as the other types that he'd seen. In its hand it held a huge four barreled gun, it was still smoking.
Pausing, it surveyed the two new beings it had stumbled upon, horrid scream dieing briefly in its throat. His ally made the strange sound again, this time there was no doubt, it was whimpering. With a pained groan the unfamiliar abomination began to twitch spasmodically, after a few seconds lightning exploded out of it, causing it to stumble, slightly dazed.
Grimy porthole jerking back up to look at the scared human and his inhuman ally, the creature's insane screaming began again. The noise, while not as jarring as his allies shrieks, was more disturbing, there was no reason for its screams, no message it was trying to convey, it was screaming because it could do nothing else.
Inhuman scream rising in volume, morphing into something more akin to a battle cry, the beast lunged forward, strange gun beginning to spin.