At the top of the stairs, a huge set of doors had been flung open. The open doorway was pouring huge amounts of cold, frosty air.
The instant that air hit me, my entire body froze up.
All I had was a jumpsuit on, and it wasn't like that jumpsuit was made for extreme cold.
I looked to the walls, because they all had lined up hooks as if there were supposed to be coats to hang up.
Sadly, no coats were present.
The red haired guy and the prisoners must have already taken them.
"It's too cold!" Mellissa shouted. "We'll freeze to death before we even get through the door!"
Mathew looked unaffected from the cold.
I spotted a smaller doorway to the left of the giant doors.
Maybe a guard room, or another closet.
"In here!" I shouted to the other two.
I carefully opened the door, but it turned out I didn't have to.
It had been a guard room. However, all the guards had been violently beaten, broken and stripped for clothing.
"No coats, no blankets." Melissa complained. "Damn it!"
She kicked a broken guard in anger.
"Search the room. There has to be something we can use."
We looked through drawers, opened a few closet doors, and didn't find much.
After everything was accounted for we had looted two large wool blankets, six flares, a small automatic pistol with two clips of ammo, and a long rope.
"It's not much." Melissa said despairingly.
I looked at the two blankets. "Maybe we can make some coats out of the blankets and rope. What are the flares for?"
Mathew looked at the pile of items. "You two divide it up. I have no use of any of this."
We looked at him with wonder. "What, you too good for our stolen goods?" Melissa said rudely.
"All I need is this rifle." He said, and turned for the doorway.
Melissa looked at me with confusion. "Where'd you find this nut?"
"He was the only one else conscience after…an old man made everybody faint."
She raised an eyebrow at me. "Scratch that: you're both crazy."
I grabbed one of the blankets.
"You have a knife on you by any chance?"
She scratched her head. The extended her finger.
-SHING-
Her nail grew out like a long, curved blade.
"Will this suffice?"
I, once again, had my mouth gapping open in shock.
"What…are you?"
She smiled. "Oh silly boy. I'm a Succubus."
I paused. "A what now?"
"Never mind. It doesn't matter. We won't know each other long enough for it to matter."
By making several calculated cuts with her…claws, and tying enough small pieces of rope in the right places, I had successfully made a make-shift wool coat.
It felt pretty hot when I fastened it to my body, which was a good sign of its heat retaining capabilities.
"Ok, now you." I said to Melissa.
She looked at me with embarrassment.
"Be gentle…I bruise easily."
I wasn't amused.
After suiting her up, I then took the remainder of that piece of rope and wove it around the flares, to make a sash where I could pull one out when I needed it.
Not like it could do us any good in a fight, but who knows.
I also slipped the pistol into the side of my suit, being that Mathew had his rifle and Melissa had her...claws.
We both walked out looking like, well, a couple of idiots with blankets tied onto them.
But it would keep us warm…er than if we went out there with no clothes.
The cold wind was still mighty strong, but Mathew just stood there un-phased like he was made of stone.
"Let's go." I said, covering my face with a piece of my blanket.
And we pushed through.
-WHOOSH-
It was…unbelievable.
Compared to the last prison level, there wasn't much different structure wise. But the entire place was covered with a thick blanket of snow. The ceiling, or what the ceiling should look like was similar to a snow cloud. The stones and jail bars were coated in thick sheets of ice.
I looked at our feet: a large trail of foot prints lead forward.
"We can follow the mob of convict's tracks to the next level." Mathew said.
"But what if they wwwent down the wrong ppppath?" Melissa chattered. "We cccan't trust these people to lllllead us to freedddom. They're abbbbout as clueless as wwwe are about this pplace."
"Then we can at least follow their path of dddestruction in order to avoid a conflict. I rather bbbe behind a large group of prisoners than in their way. Bbbbesides, we have no other options."
Melissa was shivering wildly, her teeth clattering quite loudly.
I too was shivering uncontrollably, my feet were especially cold. I was afraid I'd loose them to frostbite.
Mathew however, remained completely unaffected.
"Huah!" Melissa yelled. "I can't tttake this!"
-RIP-
I could hear her blanket tear.
"HEY! I worked hard on tttthat!"
It only tore in the back side, because the next time I looked at her…
-WHOOSH-
Two large wings ripped out of her snowsuit.
I was, yet again, rendered speechless.
They were dark purple, like her tail, and resembled those of a large bat.
With two test flaps, she lifted herself off the ground and sustained a low altitude.
"That's better." She said cheerfully. "I couldn't stand it walking around in that ankle deep snow."
I looked down at my frozen legs in sadness.
"Let's move!"
I charged forward in the direction of the foot prints, with Mathew and Melissa following me behind.
-AROOOOOOO-
We didn't even take ten steps before we heard a loud howl.
I kept running, but now I was more aware of my surroundings.
"They have wolves?" I shouted in desperation.
"They are the guards of this level." Mathew reported. "They are the only beasts strong enough to wander these extreme conditions."
-WHOOSH-
Something rushed past me, barely missing my chest.
I turned my head to see a ferocious, pure white tundra wolf.
It was about the size of a normal human, but on all fours with long white fur and a crazed look in it's bright orange eyes.
I took a sharp turn and grabbed my rifle club in one hand and my new pistol in the other.
"Huuuuuaaaah!"
I swung it at the damn monster, and fired a single shot at its face. Both attacks missed completely as it tackled me to the ground.
I pressed my hands against it's neck as it furiously tried to eat my face off!
Its huge jaws and sharp teeth barked angrily at me, spit dripping on my face.
Then in an act of desperation, I kicked off the ground and twisted its neck 180 degrees.
-SNAP-
The thing's head went upside down, and went limp.
I just killed my first…well…anything.
I hate to have admited it, but it felt…good.
Not that I just killed something, but that I proved to be stronger than something else. It wanted me to die, and I refused. And in the end, it's the thing that's dead now.
And not me…
I turned to my "crew," wondering why they didn't back me up to realize…there were more than just one wolf.
It was a pack of seven: four of them surrounded Mathew while the other three desperately leaped at Melissa.
-BAM- -BANG-
Mathew was pretty strong. He used that rifle like a…what was it called…I think it's called a staff.
Three blows to one wolf and then a gun shot into another wolf's face.
Melissa was good too. She used her long nails to slash at the wolfs when they were airborne, and even her long tail was able to wrap around their bodies and fling them to the ground.
I still wonder…what is a Succ…Succubus? Does that mean she has devil fruit powers? A mutant? Is she a monster?
Whatever the case was, she was on my side.
Mathew aimed his gun at another wolf, but the gun didn't go off.
In a flash, I could see something terrible happen.
My brain pictured in a millisecond the sight of the wolf leaping off the ground, mouth open wide, right into Mathew.
And in another millisecond, my body reacted.
The wolf was following the motion my brain had predicted, it was basic physics and behavior patterns of animals.
I grabbed the gun I had and did a dive forward with the gun extended.
Mathew still seemed shocked about the gun's misfire, so he pulled his body back in defense.
I chunked the gun at the wolf.
-BAM-
It send the wolf out of its prejudged path away from Mathew.
Mathew knew what to do.
-BAM-
He shoved the rifle butt down on the wolf's head, knocking it out for good.
Mathew looked at me with his usual stone cold attitude.
"You aren't as incompetent as I previously believed." He said.
"Thanks?"
I didn't know how I did it, I just did. I could just see the situation unfold based on all the variables I had predetermined. And then, I reacted on it.
"Are you two dddone?" Melissa yelled at us.
She was flapping her wings above three lacerated wolves impatiently.
Mathew picked up my working rifle and slung it over his shoulder.
"My style requires a functioning rifle, yours does not."
He then tossed me his broken one.
I looked at him with annoyance, but nodded in agreement.
"Let's go, before more wolves show up."
Ten minutes prior…shift in perspective.
-YAWN-
I haven't moved from this spot in about two weeks, I suspect that me butt might be frozen onto the hollow stone.
Me' name is Hukufu, or you can call me Hu, or Ku, or Fu, whichever makes you happy.
I have to say, after countless sleeps of time, I've faired well in this Frozen Hell then I thought I would.
Where I come from, there are huge golden trees and fields full of fresh grass. It's full of game and wild beasts perfect for hunting, and villages of silly foreigners just ripe for the pillaging.
The Ougon Country: the Golden Plains.
We were the first tribe of men to reach these plains. They were perfect for us. We lived high in the Gold Woods, with plenty of game and materials to provide for us forever.
But, other people came to our land, and planned to take it from us. It was our land, they had no right to take our trees and steal our food.
So, we fought them. For three generations we fought every tribe of man who came to take our land from us. It all started out simple. Legend tells us we used…superstition to fear the men. But this ancient tactic soon proved to be weak in comparison to combat. And we were already a strong tribe of fighters.
But then, a new tribe appeared, with the mark of a bird, in ships of hollow stone and with sticks of thunder that proved a worthy challenge to our might. We knew we could fend of this new Tribe of the Bird, and it would go down as our greatest fight in legend. But, in the end we were proven…wrong.
We were defeated, our tribe was driven from our land, and several of us were captured.
I haven't seen my brothers in many days. But I do not weep for them. We are taught at a young age not to fear for the dead, makes you weak and taints your will of the fight. Still, I see them in my dreams sometimes…
-AROOOOOOO-
Some sort of ruckus is going on out there.
I shifted from me position in the cage, knocked a little snow off me shoulder, and took a look out the cage.
All of them men, all wearing the guardian's coats, but underneath showed black striped clothes like mine.
Is it a celebration? Or a declaration of war?
The huge mass of men are now engaging the wolven guardians of this frozen tundra in combat.
The wolves were no match. Still, I admire their ferocity.
After a big of thought, I believe I saw their Chieftain. He is small, fat, with hair not unlike a bonfire. He leads his men with words of encouragement and of promises of freedom.
He is not like my Chieftain. Chieftain Ghetefe did lead us with words, but also with power. He fought amongst his men, and would partake in even the most unimpressive of hunts. Because, as he put it, "No hunt, no matter how small or weak the prey is, is a triumph for the tribe!"
This Chieftain is not like that. He kept his distance from the glory of the fight, displaying no skill of battle.
He is no leader in my eyes.
The group shouts cheers of glory and move past my line of sight.
My body shakes, my blood begins to heat.
It would be good to return to the glory of the battle…
Back to present...
The wolves were increasing in numbers now. Not in such large packs, more like small groups of two or three at a time.
Even three of them were little match for us.
Well, by us I mean Mathew and Melissa. I was able to help with what I could do.
Mostly shouting "LOOK OUT!" and "TO YOUR LEFT!" and things like that.
I gripped tightly on my set of prison keys, following the trail of foot prints.
"There! This way!"
The foot print trail widened to more like a circle full of prints, like a huge battle had occurred here.
Dozens of wolves laid broken and beaten, blood coloring the snow red.
-SNARL-
Oh you got to be kidding me.
There had to be at least twenty wolves in this next wave. They were smart too.
A dozen formed a line in the corridor ahead of us, while the rest circled around to cut off our back.
Then one wolf stepped forward, whom I immediately identified as the alpha.
He was bigger, had a dark shade of gray of fur, and his eyes were red instead of the crazed orange of the lesser ones.
Mathew raised his rifle, Melissa looked to our backs in fear like she was about to run away.
Think Sam, think. Use your surroundings.
Cages. That was all I could see. No hallways, no other paths to make a detour. Even the cages had nothing useable in them. All I could see were prisoners, frozen in place but had eyes that trailed on me like they were getting a free show.
Then I had an idea.
The instant the alpha barked, I shouted, "INTO THE CAGE!"
I ran to the first cage I could get to, keys in hand, and by sheer luck found the right key on the first go.
-CHUNK-
The giant door wouldn't move.
All three of us pulled with all our might as the wolves began to close in on us.
-CREEEEEEK-
We squeezed into the cage and pulled the door shut as well as we could, but the door's hinges were damaged beyond repair.
It was combination of rusting due to water exposure combined without proper antifreeze technique in these cold conditions.
So it's like rust, plus freezing that rust, which made me surprised the hinge didn't snap.
The wolves clawed at my arm as I yanked it the last bit closed, ripping my sleeve and cutting my arm slightly.
I held it in pain, and with my left foot kicked the wolf in the face with my heel, sending it yelping away.
The wolves started to claw at the cage bars in vain, not really to try and break them but to scare us into trying to leave.
"Now what?" Melissa grumbled, rubbing her arms in the cold. "We're stuck in this jail cell."
Mathew looked at the gun he held. "This gun has three shots left in it, not enough for the wolves outside, but…enough for the three of us…"
"Not an option. I'm trying to escape death, not run towards it." I said, looking outside.
My pistol couldn't finish all of them off, and I couldn't risk using all my ammo up on this level.
The wolves were patrolling the cage, not decreasing in numbers like I had hoped they would.
The alpha is focused on me. I can see it in his eyes. He's not got to letting me go alive.
I took the broken rifle and released the magazine on it. Then tossed it to Mathew.
"Take it. You need a gun that fires all it can fire right?" I jokingly said.
He looked at me with approval, and slipped it into the side of his pants.
-THUD-
Something shifted in the cage.
We all turned in shock, convinced the cell was empty.
A huge man was in the cell.
He had to be a giant, or at least related to one.
He had to be about eight to ten feet tall, no shirt on and had the larges beard I had ever seen.
It was almost like a backwards cape that came from his face. It covered half his chest, and was coated in icicles.
His nose was big and bulbous, his eyes angular and blank, his normal hair was actually rather short. He looked like his hair was spiky, but that was probably from the ice.
His arms were huge, about as thick as my whole head. His body overall just stunned me and screamed this is not what a human should look like.
He shifted again, not moving from his spot.
"Um…hello…" I said cautiously.
His arm moved, and reached out to us slowly.
We leaned in to inspect it.
Then, in an instant, it pointed at us.
"How dare YOU run from the glory of battle!" He roared at us.
His voice was very gruff and full sounding, like he was an animal that learned how to speak.
"How dare US?" Melissa shouted back in frustration.
He makes a fist, and then starts to whimper.
"How can one, with the freedom and ability to fight, choose to run and not embrace it? It saddens me, to see one's who CAN fight, but choose NOT to!"
"HEY! We fought a lot of those damn things before we even saw you!" Melissa gloated. "It's not like you've done anything about them!"
I could have sworn I saw a tear come from the corner of his eye.
"Um…is that because you yourself can't fight?"
He looked at me offended. "HOW DARE YOU! I CAN fight! I just…don't have the freedom to…"
Then he went back to sadness.
I got an idea.
"Well…would you like to?" I asked him.
He looked at me. "Like to what?"
"Like to have the freedom to fight!" I said, and I held my set of prison keys to him.
He looks at them, like he has no idea what they are.
"I can free you, and you can fight all those wolves out there!" I said, looking at his shackles.
He looks at me with confusion. "You…you can do that?"
I nodded.
Then I walked to his chains, took a few tries at his locks and…
-CHINK-
They fell off his massive arms.
"Go for it!"
He rubbed his arms, still sitting down.
He stared at me, like he was waiting for me to do something.
"What? I freed you! I unlocked your shackles! You can MOVE now!"
He shifted his body, but he didn't stand up.
"I cannot do such thing!" He said, mildly disappointed.
I looked at him, and inspected his posture.
The ice formations gathering around his pants are distressing, not to mention the floor is made of metal and…oh no…
"Is…is your butt frozen to the floor?"
He nodded. "The hollow stone is very cold, but I haven't felt my but for some time now."
I looked confused. "Hollow stone?"
He nodded, and knocked on the metal floor.
-CLANK- -CLANK-
"You see? It's strange. It's hard like stone, but can't be shaped like our stone weapons. And when you tap it, it makes that sound like a hollow tree. Except…different!"
I looked at this man in awe. "You mean, you don't even know what metal is?"
He looked back at me. "You mean the hollow stone? Is that what it is called in this land?"
I instantly identified the situation.
He must be a tribal: a group of nomads isolated on their own island from contact from the outside world. Not sure what his cultural background is, but must be based similar to a warrior/Viking mythos.
I had an idea.
I took two of the flares, and stuck the top off of both of them.
-FSSSSS-
They both sparked into two sticks of bright red fire.
The man jumped in shock, or as best you can when your ass is frozen to the ground.
"I'm going to set these flames near your rear, to try and thaw your butt out, ok?"
He didn't want to ask questions, he just stared at the flames in awe.
So I sat them down, hoping somehow this impossible scenario would play out in my head.
-AROOOO-
-BAM-
The wolves were enraged.
The started tackling the cage with all their might, their eyes fixated on the flares.
I had an idea.
I took the third flare and lit it.
The wolves' eyes were now fixated on my hand.
I wove the flare around, there eyes followed the motions.
Then with one strong toss I flung it out of a hole in the cage.
Most of the wolves followed the flare arc away, sticking into the snow just so the flare stuck out of the white powder.
But then some came back to tackling the cage to get at the two in the cage.
"The flares seem to have some strange attraction to these wolves." Mathew deducted.
"I think they were trained to follow the flare, maybe to follow the flare wherever it may go. As a measure to protect the guards if they ever had to come out here."
"Brilliant deduction smart ass." Melissa said hastily. "Now are we just going so sit around and wait for this giant ass giant's ass to thaw out, or are we going to GET OUT OF HERE!"
The wolves began tackling the door.
-BAM-
-CREEK-
They were pretty damn smart.
"Away from the door! We'll have a better chance if we let them file in one by one!"
I got prepared to whack them as hard as I could with my club, Mathew aimed his rifle, and Melissa extended her claws in defense.
-CREEK-
Here they come...
-WHOOSH-
-RIP-
Something huge pushed past us.
"FOR THE GLORY OF GHETEFE!"
The giant grabbed the first wolf with one hand and smashed it to the wall. Then stepped on the next one and pummeled the third.
One after the other he reduced the wolves to flattened pancakes or wolf balls.
Despite the funny names, it was pretty gruesome to watch.
He pushed his way out of the cage, snapping the cage door off the hinges, and took on the alpha wolf.
Then…he began to change.
His body began to grow bigger, if he wasn't big enough. His body began to grow fur: golden brown fur.
-ROOOOAR-
The roar of an animal I had never heard of echoed, and the beast raised a large hand.
-CRUNCH-
The furry monster hunched over the wolf's dead body, then strange sounds of –munch- and –crunch- and -shing- and –rip- were heard and then...
…the beast shrunk down to it's original, hairless form...well...you know what I mean.
We cautiously looked out the broken doorway.
The beast then flunk something over his head.
-WHOOSH-
A gray fur coat, with the head of the gray wolf above his own.
Surprisingly, all I could wonder was how he did all of that, kill a whole pack of wolves and skin their leader, and keep everything mostly clean of blood.
Not that I know how to skin a wolf but…whatever.
"I CLAIM THIS VICTORY IN THE HONOR AND GLORY OF MY ANCESTORS!"
He raised his hands high and laughed proudly.
He looked to us, and nodded his head. "I thank you friend! I may now fight in the glory of my ancestors once more!"
I stepped out and walked up to him, my chest up high and a look of seriousness in my face.
I think I know how to go about this.
"It's no surprise you are a man who…yearns for the…glory of battle!" I said in a similar fashion to him.
His cheeks pinched together, which is how I could tell he was smiling. "You have that right little one!"
"Now let's cut to the chase!" I said. "Me and my…clan are on a mission to leave this place! We wish to return to the surface and be free of this place! You are a strong warrior, that would bring glory…and honor to my people! Will you join my…clan?"
He looked down at me, then looked at the others, then looked at me.
"BWAAAAHAHAHAHAAAAAAH!"
He roared in laughter, the icicles of his massive beard breaking off with every shake.
I didn't break character.
"You? Asking me for my help? Surely you jest!" He said cheerfully.
A slight feeling of disappointment came over me, but I picked my head up once more. "No! I mean every word. Surely a man of your power should belong to a group such as mine! It would be…an honor to fight by your side!"
I held out my hand.
He realized I wasn't kidding.
Then laughed again.
"You have some gall little lamb, to come to me and talk big like that." He said, on a more serious tone.
I looked at him with the same seriousness. "Please, I need all the help I can muster. We are in a prison, a place build to hold enemies of the Marines."
"Marines?" He asked. "You mean the Tribe of the Bird? With sticks of thunder and ships of...metal"
I nodded. "But…I don't belong here and…I don't want to be killed for crimes I didn't commit."
I dropped my hand. My cheeks stung as the cold wind blew on them. My feet were quickly loosing feeling.
"So I'm leaving this place, whether they want me to or not. I'll fight tooth and nail to get out of here, find the man that framed me, who cause me so much pain, and…and…kill him."
I honestly didn't think I'd come to that conclusion, but then I realized…that's what I want.
The man, the blond man with the scar on his face of a letter…W. I remember, it was a W.
I'm going to make him pay. He caused this whole mess, for my grandpa and the scrap shop.
"I won't let him get away for what he's done to me."
-WHOOSH-
The giant extended his hand, I looked at it in shock.
He looked down at me, with those blank white eyes.
"You have fire in those eyes." He said. "The fire of a true warrior. Though you may look like a lamb, you have the heart of a tiger."
He put one knee in the snow. "I, Hukufu, member of the Ougon Tribe will gladly serve you."
I grabbed that humongous hand and shook it as hard as I could. Though it really wasn't that much.
"This is Mathew. And the woman there is Melissa Heartstone."
Mathew nodded at the giant, but Melissa was a little less…compliant. "What's with you recruiting all these big muscle heads? They got more brawn than brain you know."
"Least they got brawn." I joked. "All you got is boobs."
"Nice. I'll remember that, ya little prick." She jokingly said back to me.
And so, that was when the Merc, the Succubus, the Giant, and the Repairman became a crew of four.