Another year, another hangover...probably a few weeks late to say that, but to me everyday's a hangover. But seriously, with that out of the way, I just wanna get a few things sorted out before you start reading. When it comes to new creatures (i.e. newly appearing creatures in the story since they're practically ancient by the Tremors' timeline) I will use pronouns and labels until someone mentions the name. I know that sounds like a dick move pulled off by many screenwriters (something commonly pointed out by Cinema Sins) but that's just how I write stories. It's common story writing in some cases, but I just wanted to point that out. Not gonna lie, I wanted to get this chapter over with, so it might seem a little rushed halfway through. Now I'll just shut up and let you all read...but first:
I do not own Steven Universe or Tremors. Rights to SU go to Cartoon Network and Rebecca Sugar and rights to Tremors goes to Universal Studios, Don Michael Paul, Ron Underwood, and S.S. Wilson. I can't believe I forgot to mention them last time.
Garnet and Peridot stared in awe at the quantity of gemstones surrounding the Kindergarten. The gems lined parts of the walls and stuck out of many parts of the land mass. From afar, their diversity of color palettes nearly mixed. Garnet slid down the slope with Peridot not too far behind. The gem leader wanted a closer look at this phenomena for a better understanding.
She pulled one brown gem out of the ground and observed its peculiarity. The gemstone wasn't much of a cluster, but appeared morphed to the point of appearing as more than one gem. Garnet stuck it back into the ground and picked up another. This one was red and felt hot to the touch, although she didn't mind.
"None of this was here before we left!" Peridot noted as she knelt down beside a trio of gems. She attempted to pick up a red one, but dropped it in recoil of its blistering heat.
"Yeow! Is this...a Ruby?" She queried.
"No." Garnet answered stoically, "These gems are different. It's unnatural for a Ruby to be this warm in dormant state."
As for the gems similar in size and shape to Li'l Bud's, they remained close together with small amounts of light radiating from the tips. Peridot observed one closer but as soon as she put her hand over the light, the gem shook in response. She coiled back as the monster was about to take its form.
Garnet pushed Peridot behind her and summoned her gauntlets. The body of light morphed into that of a Shrieker; an angry one at that. It opened its flaps to reveal the same glowing sensors as Li'l Bud and shrieked before running towards the two. Its small stature was no match, however, against Garnet's immense power. She raised her gauntlet up and smacked it down to the ground hard enough to poof it back into its dormant state. Garnet reached out quickly and grabbed the gemstone before it could fall to the ground and bubbled it.
"Don't touch them." Garnet said.
"You don't have to tell me twice!" Peridot replied as she stayed close behind Garnet.
The two gems continued their trek through the Kindergarten, trying to avoid any other contact with the gems as much as possible. Each time one of them triggered one of the Shrieker gems, Garnet was always lightning quick with poofing them. The poof count came to 8 before they finally reached the hole leading to the control room. Garnet and Peridot slid down through the slope of the hole and walked across the bridge.
The duration of the walk posed to be strange for Peridot since she could feel an unnatural amount of heat from the area. She turned her head but found nothing but never-ending darkness at each side of the bridge. An exception was the large hexagonal, green room they finally entered.
"We need to know as much as we can about this threat when the time comes to face it." Garnet told Peridot.
The green gem nodded and walked over to the control pad in the middle of the room. She herself wanted to find out if there was more to these new gems than she already knew. Peridot activated the control pad with the palm of her hand and sorted out the files that came up. She dismissed several cluster gem experiments before coming upon the Graboid gem again.
"Here we go," said Peridot as she opened the file, "Experiment #195."
She opened the file and sure enough, the same information remained. Peridot was able to summarize said information for Garnet to understand; from the gems' purpose to their oddly-formed gemstones. Weaknesses was one that she couldn't find, though. However, what really caught Garnet's attention was the image of a Peridot at the corner of the screen. Taking in all the information Peridot presented, she walked closer and pointed at the image.
"See if you can get a background check on this Peridot." Garnet requested.
"Why?" Peridot asked, "What could she possibly have to do with any of this?"
"You never know." Garnet replied.
Peridot gave her a confused look but complied with her anyway. She accessed the information on the Peridot whom apparently headed the revival of this experiment. The information presented held everything: her serial number, her era, even her logs.
"Peridot Facet-9R3P CUT-2JG," said Peridot aloud, "An era 2 Peridot like me, but slightly older by a few a decades."
"Mhm." Garnet said while nodding.
"After failing her initial mission to activate these gem experiment, she was reassigned as a biological reconnaissance operative to determine what Homeworld would be up against on different planets."
"Anything else?"
"Her failed mission took place at least a hundred and twenty years ago," replied Peridot, "in a dry, arid region surrounded by an abundance of landforms."
The green gem scrolled past the log dates, but there was nothing else to show. Peridot sighed and returned to the original gem experiment file.
"Well, that's all there is, I guess." She said.
"If we can't find their weakness here-" Garnet summoned one gauntlet and clenched it, "we'll have to find it ourselves when the time comes."
"You're just gonna challenge them head-on?!" Peridot asked with her arms extended to the sides, "These things are sensitive to sound vibrations. Just one step is enough to trigger them!"
"We'll be fine," replied Garnet, "we've faced worse foes. Remember that."
"Well...I did defeat Jasper..." Peridot added with her elbow on her other palm.
"Precisely." Garnet said with a grin.
As the two of them made their way back, something caused Garnet to stop. Peridot turned around noticing the gem's immobility. She was about to speak until she saw something in the reflection of Garnet's visor. It was a faint, fiery glow that originated from the darkness above then. The green gem looked up, hoping to find an answer to the Garnet's sudden stop. From the endless darkness, there was a faint glow of fire appearing and disappearing everywhere each minute. Peridot's eyes widened and her jaw dropped at the sight of the flames steadily increasing in quantity.
One flame was large enough to illuminate the features of the source. The source was not one entity, but rather a whole colony of monsters. The beasts had fin-like wings at their sides and back accompanied by fire generating from their posteriors. Lacking arms, their feet proved just as efficient since they appeared to dig into the ceiling. Their heads were long and opened in a similar way to Shriekers and Graboids.
"Oh my stars." Peridot gasped quietly.
In a lightning-quick motion, Garnet covered Peridot's mouth. The two of them remained silent as the monsters' combined noises increased. It was only a matter of seconds before a flame died down with its light that Peridot noticed a strange feature of one of their heads. Two slits with pulsating light underneath was open on one head. The green gem pulled away Garnet's hand and took a step forward.
"They have those sensors," Peridot whispered, "just like the other one."
"There's too many of them," said Garnet, "we'll have to escape as discreetly as possible."
"They're everywhere!" Peridot quietly screamed, "How are we supposed to escape?!"
"The way we came in, of course." Garnet replied dryly.
"That's gonna be a lot harder now that I know those things are there!" Peridot retorted, gesturing towards the monsters.
The monsters were stirred from the outburst, but proceeded to remain stationary on the ceiling. Peridot flinched at first but then calmed down. Garnet walked past her and towards the slope of the hole with Peridot inching from behind. The green gem's gaze never left the horde of monsters as she walked slowly. Their grunts and growls unsettled her; the flames from their behinds unsettled her even more.
As soon as the two gems reached the slope, they took one last look at the area to see if they were spotted. The monsters were as docile and oblivious as they could be. Garnet sighed and turned to walk up the slope. However, Peridot couldn't help but smirk at their success in escape.
"Ha! These clods are as oblivious as they are hideous!" Peridot gloated with her hands on her hips. The green gem turned around and threw her hands in the air, "Experiments: None! Peridot: Infinity!"
Her moment of triumph was very short-lived. The sound of metal clanging followed by growling came from behind her, filling her with dread. Peridot turned around to face what she feared most at the moment: an up-close encounter of the fire-spewing beast. The monster stood nearly two feet taller than her and stared down at the green gem. Its light sensors opened up and closed immediately before grunting and stomping on the ground.
Peridot yelped and turned high tail towards the slope. Garnet turned around quickly to find Peridot running past her and one of the monsters with its posterior vibrating rapidly. She summoned her gauntlets but was not prepared for what happened next. The monster spewed fire from out of its behind with enough force to send it flying towards the gem leader. Garnet attempted to punch it, but its wings caught enough wind resistance to glide over her. The monster twisted around as soon as its claws dug into the ground and shot right towards Garnet; this time making contact.
The gem leader grunted before falling to the ground with the monster voraciously biting her arm on top. Peridot could only watch in horror as the beast's jaws sunk into Garnet's arm. The red gem on its posterior showed signs of heating up and smoking, signaling another take-off. Peridot's eyes widened knowing that the force could send them both flying into the darkness around them.
"Get off of her!" She screamed before running towards the beast and tackled it. The two of them tumbled over Garnet ending with Peridot landing on top of the monster. She locked her arms around its throat and held on for dear life as it violently tried to shake her off. It was like watching a kid on a mechanical bull but with the kid refusing to fall off.
Peridot struggled to keep her grip, but did so whatsoever. The monster's failed attempts at knocking the green gem off resulted in its last resort. It thrashed its head around until Peridot lost her grip for a moment. Her arm was caught by the widened jaws of the monster and clamped down on. The monster lowered itself and prepared for ignition. The green gem's eyes widened as she endeavored to stop the beast by punching it in the head with her free arm.
"Don't do it, you clod! Don't even think about it!" She exclaimed as she continued to punch its head, this time in a panic, "Please don't! Please don't! Please dooon't!"
Her attacks were of no avail as the monster's behind was practically sparking at this point. It clawed at the metal floor and growled as it turned towards the darkness with Peridot struggling to break free. In a matter of seconds, the monster's posterior was ablaze and flaming. Peridot yelped and squeezed her eyes shut.
Instead of the wind rushing by her, all Peridot could hear was fire hitting the surface of something. She felt puzzled by the occurrence and opened one of her eyes. They weren't moving and her arm was finally released. She turned her head and was full of relief to find the solution to her dilemmas.
The fiery jet from the monster's gem made contact with Garnet's body, but it didn't faze her. Her hands were gripping the width of the sail-like wings of the monster and nearly ripped them off in the process. The strength of the fusion was enough to cease the monster's take-off and cause it pain at the same time; its painful grunts were a good sign.
Garnet yanked the monster toward her and grabbed it by its jaws with both hands. It fought immensely to break free, but the gem leader was too much for it. With one powerful motion, she broke its jaw and poofed it. The radiating gem fell beside her foot smoking. She picked it up and bubbled the gem away.
"She should let off some steam." She said stoically.
"Ugh, what is it with these troglodytes and my arm?" Peridot groaned.
"You're telling me." Garnet replied as she looked at the torn-up appearance of her arm.
As expected, none of this went unnoticed by the rest of the horde. The whole void of darkness was brightened by hundreds of flames followed by threatening roars and snarls. The two gems backed away as one by one, gem monsters landed on the metal bridge with backsides ablaze.
"Run!" Garbet yelled.
"Way ahead of you!" Peridot replied, already scurrying up the slope. The gem leader followed suit after sending one of her gauntlets rocketing into one of the monsters. The swarm of monsters weren't slowed down by this attack and screeched as they took off.
Peridot was first to make it out and awaited the fusion in anticipation. Garnet wasn't too far behind and jumped to the edge of the hole. Peridot looked down and tensed up at the sight of the swarm making its way up. She looked in every direction for a plan and made a quick decision to simply throw a rock down the hole.
She continued to kick rocks and pebbles down the hole until Garnet caught on and took it upon herself to improve the plan. She ran to the sidelines and lifted a large boulder over her head and threw it into the hole. The rock took down many monsters with it, but they just kept coming. For every poofed gem monster, another immediately took its place. The other two gems weren't so easy to give up, though.
They threw rock after rock, boulder after boulder, yet nothing slowed down the swarm. Peridot crawled away from the hole and scurried behind Garnet.
"You can take them, right?" Peridot asked desperately.
"Most of them..." Garnet answered before adjusting her shades, "But I see no possibility of all of them."
If the answer alone didn't fill her with dread, the sounds of the snarling and roars coming from the hole did. Garnet summoned her gauntlets and prepared for the inevitable. The green gem couldn't stand the suspense any longer and ran on all fours in the other direction. The green gem didn't plan on facing of f against a ravenous army. She didn't get far before slamming into an injector, though.
Peridot fell back down and simply laid there. She had lost hope in escaping what her predecessors had created. As much as she didn't want to, she finally decided to embrace her demise...until it hit her.
The green gem sat back up and looked at the injector in front of her. The bottom half was still implanted in the ground, but the top half was laying right beside its legs with the drill still attached. She looked at the hole then back at the injector before devising the perfect plan of escape.
Peridot grinned and stood firm before raising her hands towards the drill part of the injector. She exerted her ferrokinesis to the fullest of extent but to no avail. The injector only moved a few feet from its original area. The green gem wasn't close to giving up, however. She gave it her all. The strain was immense, but the progress was slowly increasing.
"Garnet!" She exclaimed tensely, "I need assistance!"
Garnet turned around and figured out Peridot's plan immediately, "Perfect."
She ran over to the injector half and lifted the front over her head. The combined effort of both Garnet's strength and Peridot's metal powers was enough to make the transport of the injector to the hole easier. Garnet lifted the injector higher over her head and stared down at the beasts making their way up. She turned her head to Peridot and nodded. The green gem nodded in return and brought her arms down. With the weight of the injector increasing in her grasp, Garnet took her stance and threw the injector down the hole.
The drill went down first, knocking down a large amount of the horde. The rest of the injector was too wide to fit and remained as a cork. The sounds of hundreds of roars and snarls ceased as soon as the dust cleared. Peridot ran over to the injector and put her head against the glass. She could still hear the faint sounds of scratching from the bottom. Despite this, she knew there was no way of the monsters breaking out.
She turned back around and smiled widely with her teeth, "We made it!"
"That we did." Garnet replied with a small smile.
"It looks like your prediction was incorrect, 'future foreseer!'" Peridot quipped.
"We didn't get all of them, did we?" Garnet retorted.
Peridot frowned in return and waved it off. The two of them walked away from the injector and continued to make their way to the warp pad. The walk was much slower than before considering the events that had just happened.
"That was the second encounter and it wasn't even the original experiment." Peridot said intrigued, "There were no records of anything that could fly or produce fire."
"At least we know what we're up against." Garnet assured.
"We still haven't faced the original!" Peridot exclaimed fearfully, "If the last two types of gems are this formidable, imagine a 30-foot beast underg-"
"Peridot." Garnet interrupted. Peridot stopped dead in her tracks and looked up at Garnet. The gem leader knelt down and put a hand on her shoulder.
"As long as we all stick together, we'll take 'em." She reassured, "We simply need to get back to Beach City and regroup. When we come back, we'll have a better chance of bubbling all of them."
Peridot sighed and pondered this thought. They were up against something entirely new, but that's what they always do. The Crystal Gems are always ready for whatever is thrown at them be it big or small.
"Okay." She replied with a nod.
Garnet stood back up and gave her a thumbs up, "Now let's get back home."
As soon as they turned to walk down the path again, something stood in their way a few meters ahead. It was a lone Shrieker gem simply staring at them with its head frill raised. The pulsating light was a good sign that it could sense the light emitting from their gems. It closed its frill and grunted before giving out an ear-wracking shriek.
Peridot covered her ears painfully. Garnet popped her knuckles and took a stance, "Allow me." She stepped forward, but only a second afterward, something terrifying happened.
The ground beneath the Shrieker gave away before a colossal, beak-like mouth grasped it and swallowed it. The enormous Graboid gem roared with its tentacles out and smashed through the soft ground. The wave of dirt passing above it as it manuevered around them left them dead in their tracks. Peridot squealed and climbed up to the top of Garnet's head.
"It's here!" She screamed in fear.
Garnet hushed her and remained vigilant of the ground around them. She could hear the Graboid's movement under the ground. Garnet summoned her gauntlets and prepared for any surprise attack it had in store. After a few minutes, she raised her gauntlet and struck the ground in front of her with all the force she could muster. She did so one more time with the other gauntlet, causing the ground around them to shake violently.
The result of the attack had the Graboid popping its head out of the ground dazed. The fusion sighed in relief knowing her prediction of attack was true. Peridot jumped off her head and observed the creature from a distance. Although it was hard the see, the faint image of its gem resided on the side of one of its tongue tentacles. The Graboid moaned in slight pain in recoil of Garnet's strike to the ground. Peridot was confused, but mostly humored, at the sheer irony of the monster's choice of attack also being its weakness. She couldn't help but point at it mockingly, feeling hysterical.
"Aaahahahahahahahaha! This is what we were anticipating prior?!" She chortled, "This is what Homeworld wasted their time and energy on?"
Peridot walked up to it while chuckling lightly. However, Garnet wasn't too keen on taking it so lightly.
"Peridot, don't get any closer!" Garbet warned.
"What's it gonna do?" Peridot inquired, "Sing about how much it's in pain? We know Pearl's got that covered."
Once she was close enough to touch its disoriented head, Peridot grinned and kicked it lightly. She received a low, painful groan from the Graboid. The Graboid was still dazed from the attack and showed no signs of retaliation anytime soon.
"Looks like you were right." Peridot said, turning around to face the fusion, "We can take these clods any time. Any wh-"
Before the green gem could finish her sentence, three tentacles shot out of the ground and wrapped around her legs. Peridot yelped as she fell to the ground with the tentacles beginning to bite down on her legs.
"Peridot!" Garnet exclaimed as she ran to her aid. Peridot winced from the pain but still had the strength to grasp onto the other Graboid's jaw and attempt to pull herself upward. The tentacles were relentless. Nothing could loosen their grip at this point...except for Garnet.
The gem leader reached down towards the tentacles and proceeded to tear them off one by one. Peridot scurried away as soon as the last tentacle was removed. The Graboid beneath them retracted its severed tentacles and burst through the ground in front of Garnet. This took her by surprise; the beast threw its head forward to seize Garnet within its jaws, but the fusion stopped it in time by pushing back its top jaw and pushing down its lower jaws.
Both gems struggled hard to overcome the other. Peridot watched in anticipation, rooting for Garnet the whole time. Despite all efforts, both were balanced in this stand off. However, this balance would soon break. Peridot tensed up at the sight or the ground being pushed back by Garnet's feet. It was evident that Garnet couldn't hold it back for long.
Rather than an infantry run for an attack, Burt chose a more excessive approach. Using his military truck, Burt thundered down the beach and around the city in the direction of the Shrieker gathering. In the event that he may run into the newly identified Graboid, be would come prepared with explosives of many kinds.
His eyes darted from the terrain in front of him to the radar. The Shrieker signals increased to a total of 14 and migrated further into the country. As for the Graboid, its direction was directed towards the Shriekers. This bewildered the survivalist. After all his years of hunting these animals, never before has behavior such as this happened.
"13 February. Beach City, Delmarva. Twenty-two hundred hours," Burt spoke into the small camera Travis had attached to the ceiling of the truck, "The situation at hand continues to slip out of mine every step of the way. In route to eliminate the Shriekers and single Graboid, the behavior of the Precambrian brutes eludes me."
Burt turned the wheel and rounded a corner into a path leading down from the beach to the countryside. The radar showed the continuous movement of both the Shrieker herd and Graboid into the country.
"Rather than seizing Beach City, one of which is rich in heat and sound, the creatures have migrated further north. A further mystery would be the correlation between the two species at this very moment." Burt added, "As the aforementioned Graboid closes the gap between it and the Shrieker herd, said Shriekers continue to avoid it. Could it be an act of cannibalistic hunting? I do not have the answer to that question at this time."
As soon as he ended his log, the tires of Burt's truck met the grass of countryside. He kicked it into high gear and increased his speed. Not long afterward did something unusual happen on the radar. The Graboid's course changed immediately and was set towards the road. The survivalist planned to fight the beast where it couldn't get him by turning to the road as well.
Once the tires met the road, the military vehicle's engine roared as the truck made its way. Burt kept a keen eye on the Graboid marker. There would have to be something making immense vibrations on the ground for the Graboid to divert away from the Shrieker herd.
The source of the vibrations made its presence clear in the form of a man with a megaphone. Burt recognized the man as Mayor Bill Dewey and groaned at the sight of two construction workers drilling in bolts at the top of a billboard. Bill's commands through the megaphone proved to be a nuisance at this time, especially for Burt.
"Let's hustle, people! We only have tonight to get this billboard secured!" Bill exclaimed through the megaphone, "What do you think I'm paying you for?"
"I'm not even getting paid!" One of the workers complained.
Burt stopped his truck in the middle of the road only a few meters away from the construction and stepped out. He speed-walked towards them waving his arms in the air to get their attention. The noise from the drills combined with Dewey's megaphone was too much, though. He continuously tried to get their attention, but none of them would turn their heads to see him.
After his third attempt at stopping them, Burt sighed angrily and pulled out his pistol. He raised it high into the air and pulled the trigger. The gunshot was loud enough to finally get everyone to stop what they were doing. The two construction works looked up at Burt while Bill flinched at the sound of the gunshot. Burt holstered his weapon and trudged over to Mayor Dewey.
"What the Hell are you doing?!" Burt demanded sternly.
"You again?" Bill asked confusingly before straightening himself out, "Well fine tourist, I am simply improving my campaign ten fold!"
Bill gestured towards the billboard. Burt looked at and raised an eyebrow at the sheer simplicity of it. It was nothing but Mayor Dewey's toothy grin next to the words, "Re-elect Mayor Dewey." Mayor Dewey beamed at his billboard and elbowed Burt lightly in the arm.
"Isn't it great?" The mayor inquired, "The more tourists that come in, the more support I have for re-election! They'll just drive by and say, 'This man looks like a valuable entity to this town. He's got my vote!'"
"My guess is that you can lead a platoon into a minefield faster than you can run a city." Burt deadpanned, "Nevetheless, you need to shut this down and drive as far away as you can!"
"Why would I do that?" Dewey asked tentatively, "We're making great progress here!"
"You are putting you and these workers' lives at stake constructing this billboard," replied Burt, "now I suggest you all hightail it out of here before there will be several KIA's tonight!"
"Who do you think you're talking to?" Dewey asked in defiance, "I'm the mayor of this city and I say that this billboard will be finished, and no stranger is going to tell me otherwise!"
"I'm not gonna stand here and argue with a balding Richard Nixon!" Burt retorted sternly, "You two! Relinquish your tools!"
"Unrelinquish your tools!" Mayor Dewey exclaimed after that.
"Negative! Drop 'em, now!"
"Hold them!"
"Drop them!"
"Hold!"
"Drop!"
"Hold!"
"Drop!"
"Drop!"
Bill's attempt at reverse psychology couldn't get past Burt. The survivalist shrugged and gave the two workers a thumbs up.
"You heard your mayor," said Burt in satisfaction, "drop 'em."
"That's-I didn't-I mean!" Dewey stuttered, "Drop those drills and I'll dock your pay!"
"Hold them and risk your lives!"
This tense exchange between the two of them went back and forth for what felt like an hour. First Kofi, then Mayor Dewey. At this rate, Burt would be arguing with himself over which gun to take into battle.
The two workers just watched confusingly over whom to listen to. One man had the power to relinquish their pay and the other looked like he could shoot both of them faster than they can say "donuts." As time passed between the two men bickering, the female worker tossed her drill up and caught it multiple times, bored out of her mind. The male leaned against the face of the billboard and turned his drill on and off while watching Burt and Dewey argue back and forth.
"All you government lackies are the same," said Burt in a degrading tone, "driving backwards on the road of progress and hitting every pot hole in the process!"
"I'm making progress!" Dewey retaliated, "It's just that I have right-winged psychos like you getting in the way!"
Before either of them could continue, the attack Burt anticipated finally happened. The male worker's 6th press of the drill's button would be his last. Without warning, a Graboid shot its head out of the ground and wrapped its jaws around one of the legs of the billboard. The two workers nearly fell off due to the force of the attack, but it was only beginning.
The Graboid violently yanked at the leg until it was ripped out of the dirt from the base. Burt aimed his pistol at the beast's head and fired round after round. Disturbingly to him, rather than being absorbed, the bullets deflected off of the Graboid's head like rocks off of metal. Mayor Dewey panicked at the sight of it and ran for his campaign vehicle.
"Get off the billboard!" Burt called towards the two workers, "Jump down!"
"Are you crazy?! I'm not jumping from this height!" The female worker exclaimed.
With the leg mangled beyond repair, the Graboid finally clamped down harder and ripped it out of the billboard's underside. The towering structure fell towards the earth as the Graboid circled around it. The workers held on to the outer edge of the platform they stood on to avoid a fatal fall on their account.
Dewey continuously attempted to start his van, but the engine failed to start. He prayed for it start working again and again but to no avail. Burt ran toward the edge of the road and scanned the area for a moving lump of ground. The workers remained on top of the edge platform; the Graboid seemed to have disappeared completely.
"Stay right there!" Burt exclaimed as he ran towards his truck for a more powerful weapon, "It can't reach you up there!"
"Nowhere else to go anyway, buddy!" The female worker yelled back with a mix of fear and sarcasm.
"What was that?!" Dewey asked fearfully, running towards Burt's truck after his third failed endeavor to start his van. The survivalist jumped into the back of his truck and searched through his weapons. The RPG would prove ineffective on account of accuracy. His rifles wouldn't be able to penetrate the thick skin of the Graboid. Only six minutes in until he finally found the needle in the hay stack: his Gizzly Big Boar. One shot would be enough to blow the top off that worm. Despite how powerful it was, Burt slung an AK-47 around his shoulder as a precaution.
He jumped back out to find a frightened Mayor Dewey sweating like crazy. Burt frowned and pushed past him ready to let some lead fly. Bill watched the old man leave and couldn't resist to peek through the curtain cover in the back of the truck. Burt's collection of guns sent a chill down his spine as he quickly brought the curtain back down.
"Good lord!" Dewey exclaimed quietly. He ran after Burt and saw that the workers were still staying as far away from the ground as possible. Burt took out his bronze anti-tank bullet and twisted it into the back end of his gun. The survivalist held the sniper firmly and kept his eyes peeled for the Graboid.
"What was that?" Dewey asked, still awaiting an answer.
"Quiet." Burt replied harshly.
"What was that thing?" The male worker asked loudly.
"Quiet!" Burt hissed.
Knowing that the old man wouldn't give them any answers, everyone went silent. Burt calmed himself and aimed towards the general area. The Graboid was still nowhere to be seen. Dewey was frozen in place. This wasn't the first time something abnormal happened in this town, but it was one of the few where he was in the middle of it.
Burt understood situations like this all too well. Someone gets ignorant, someone else pays the price, and he has to solve the issue first hand. Of course...he was never alone.
In the heat of the moment, the worst of inconveniences occurred. Dewey's phone rang loudly from inside his pocket, filling everyone with dread. The mayor fumbled with his phone trying to turn it off. Burt ran towards him and grabbed Dewey's phone. With no concern of where it would land, he threw the ringing phone as hard as he could. Unfortunately, the drop zone happened to be right in front of the face of the billboard.
"Oh shit." Burt quietly said in regret.
Not long after, the inevitable began. The Graboid rushed toward the sound of the incessant ringing, lunged its head forward, and smashed through the billboard. The workers fell to the ground hard after the remnants of the billboard were sent flying. Burt took aim immediately and pulled the trigger. The anti-tank bullet flew with such great force that it nearly threw Burt and Dewey off their feet. Much to his dismay, the bullet missed the beast by inches.
"Y-You missed!" Dewey stuttered in disbelief, "With a sniper!"
"Damn!" Burt exclaimed before throwing his gun to the ground, "Get to road, quick!"
The female worker quickly got to her feet and helped the other one up. The fall injured his ankle severely, prompting the woman to hang his arm around her shoulder and aid him in their escape. With the ringing no longer active, the Graboid circled back in the direction of the workers.
Burt held his AK in place of his Grizzly Big Boar and fired at the moving lump in the ground. The barrage of bullets wasn't enough to stop the Graboid. With the Graboid only a few meters away, Burt ceased fire and ran towards the edge of the road. He looked directly at the two workers and gestured for them to stop.
"Stop!" Burt whispered. The workers complied and froze in place. They held their breaths as soon as the Graboid circled around them slowly. With little to no vibrations, it was left in the depths of silence.
Burt quickly reloaded his gun for another attack. The survivalist made no haste in doing so now that the Graboid surfaces once again. Its terrifying appearance was enough to nearly make the two workers faint.
It was at this moment where Burt noticed something that he hadn't noticed before. As the Graboid opened its mouth to give a low roar, one of its tongues was missing while the others were slightly deformed. Burt knew very well that he's only cut off the tongue of one Graboid, and that Graboid was hunting them all down right now: Short Tongue.
"We meet again, you ugly bastard." Burt cursed under his breath.
Before he could get a good shot, their misfortune only got worse. The woman lost her grip on the man's arm and his full weight got to his ankle. He grunted in pain and fell to the ground. She tried to help him up, but it was all too late. Short Tongue smashed through the ground and darted towards the fallen man. In the blink of an eye, it shot out of the ground and engulfed him in its jaws. The man screamed in agony as the serrated jaws of the Graboid gnawed at his skin before swallowing him whole.
The woman stared in horror and ran past the surfaced beast. Mayor Dewey turned around and bent down to puke after witnessing the most gruesome death he'd ever seen. Burt squeezed the trigger of his gun and fired at the Graboid. Once again, just like the pistol, the bullets bounced off of it. The survivalist's eyes widened at this discovery of what could be a bullet-proof Graboid.
"The son of a bitch's got skin like titanium!" Burt marveled. The woman jumped onto the road and rolled towards the mayor's van. Short Tongue turned its head and bellowed a colossal roar. Burt aimed for the inside of its jaws and laid down fire. The bullets were of no effect, however. The beast burrowed beneath the ground and dug closer towards the road.
Dewey recovered from his nausea and stumbled toward his van. Burt ran towards his truck to find a weapon of a higher caliber. As for the traumatized woman, she slowly stood up and stared at the hole that once contained a colossal monster worm. She trembled at the thought of it returning and turned to get in the campaign vehicle. Dewey tried once more to start the van, but the engine continued to fail.
As the woman set her foot on the edge of the van's entrance, something inexplicable happened once again. From the edge of the road, the Graboid shot its head up and widened its jaws. From the back of its throat, something glowed and sent out an enormous tentacle with a starfish-like end filled with rows of razor-sharp teeth. The "mouth" sunk its teeth into the back of the woman and yanked her back towards the Graboid. Her scream was the last thing she could let out before suffering the same fate as her co-worker.
Burt witnessed the whole ordeal from beside his truck. He was left speechless at the terrifying sight of the monster's new ability. Dewey was just as shocked and horrified but was relieved to finally get his van started. He floored it and sped down the road, missing Burt's truck by inches. The old man wiped the sweat from his forehead and jumped into the front seat of his truck. If he couldn't kill it through gunfire, Burt would pop into six-wheel and run it down.
His eyes were locked onto the Graboid; his wheel was firmly grasped in his hands and his foot was ready to stomp on the gas pedal. The Graboid raised its head and turned towards the military truck. Though it lacked eyes, Burt could feel it peering into his soul.
Neither would have the chance for a duel, however. From the distance, a cluster of shrieks could be heard in great detail. Short Tongue growled in a low tone and burrowed back underground. Burt loosened his grip on the wheel and relaxed knowing the Graboid wouldn't be an issue for the remainder of the night. The survivalist jumped out of his truck and watched the beast's distance lengthen between it and the road.
"What in God's name are we up against?" Burt asked himself. He's seen Graboids that shoot out of the ground, but he's never seen one with the capability of shooting out a 4th tentacle to drag its prey into its very gullet. If that wasn't enough to comprehend, he couldn't even use a regular gun to slow it down.
He took off his cap and leaned against the side of his truck to recover from the incursion. A night meant for hunting Shriekers, and Short Tongue comes along to make matters worse. Burt knew that he couldn't handle this alone and planned to regroup with Travis and the others. Fortunately, they beat him to it.
"Burt!" Travis yelled from far away.
Burt turned around immediately but saw no sign of his son. He scratched his head in bewilderment and looked around. The old man assumed that the heat of the battle left him delirious, but what came next proved him wrong.
In the blink of an eye, Pearl and Amethyst landed right in front of him carrying Steven and Travis. This took Burt by surprise, but not enough to give him a heart attack. Pearl set Steven down gently while Amethyst practically dropped Travis on the road. The younger survivalist grunted in pain and annoyance.
"What the Hell!" He complained.
"Walk it off, ya wimp." Amethyst replied jokingly.
"We were looking for your truck before we ran into Mayor Dewey," said Steven, " He told us you guys got attacked!"
"How in the Hell did you do that?" Burt asked, still awestruck over their entrance to the scene.
"What happened here?" Pearl inquired, noticing the wreckage of the billboard and the hole left by Short Tongue. Travis whistled in surprise at the setting in front of them.
"Graboid incursion." Burt answered.
"Another one?!" Travis exclaimed with dread.
"Oh come on!" Amethyst complained, "We can't get a break!"
"We can take it!" Steven encouraged them, hoping to get everyone's spirits up.
"Our friend, Short Tongue's back." Burt added, turning back towards his truck.
"Who?" Travis and Steven asked simultaneously. Burt rolled his eyes and pulled out a case of C-4s from the back of his truck. The rest of the group, excluding Travis, peered inside his truck and observed the weaponry that filled up nearly three-fourths of the vehicle.
"It's like my dad's van." Steven said quietly, "Only...bigger..."
"Why did Travis want to find him so badly, again?" Amethyst asked with a spooked expression.
Deciding to transition to a more pressing matter, Pearl closed the curtain and walked towards Burt. The old man was busy filling his pockets with as many C-4s as he could carry. Travis joined him but took only one due to his lack of larger pockets.
"What exactly is your plan?" Pearl asked them.
"We move out ASAP and lure the Graboid to the surface." Burt replied, still focused on the C-4s, "Once it comes up, we blow that bastard back to Hell."
"That's what she said." Travis quipped, holding back a laugh. Not in the mood to hear bullshit, Burt smacked him in the stomach causing the younger man to fall backward.
"That's your plan?" Pearl asked, "Just blow them up where they stand?"
"What does this do?" Amethyst asked from behind the truck as she pulled out a sub machine gun. Steven ducked when the purple gem pointed it in several directions. As soon as he saw this, Burt got up and snatched the gun away from her.
"Hands off my gear!" Burt said harshly.
"Geez, dude." Amethyst said, putting her hands halfway up, "Chill out."
"I thought all the shit you had in the back of the truck would be enough, Gums." Travis asked with an arm wrapped around his hip.
"How much is in here?" Steven asked, peering into the truck once again. The young gem attempted to climb in but was too late when Burt carried him back down to the ground. He stashed the sub machine gun back in and closed the curtain.
"Surely there's a more tactical way to deal with these monsters," Pearl chimed in, "I mean, these creatures come from underground and you want to just play cat and mouse with them?"
Burt groaned after being hit with so many questions from all directions. He's worked with new people before, but never with so many before.
"I've fought these things for over 30 years. And there are two things about them that continue to elude me." Burt walked to the truck door to get the radar, Burt continued his analysis, "One is that these suckers metamorphose at random. You can never pinpoint a specific time and you can almost never pinpoint their location without frequency interference."
He grabbed the radar and observed it for any seismic vibrations. While the Shrieker herd continued to recede from the local area, they were nowhere near any other major city. What made the survivalist groan was the lack of any Graboid marker. Burt tossed the radar towards Pearl.
"Like I said."
The gems crowded around the radar to find nothing but a cluster of heat signatures far from their current location. Travis took a look at the radar himself and proceeded to shake it to get a better reading.
"Two is even worse than them evolving," said Burt, now focused on the group, "they get smarter the longer they're alive. Doesn't matter how effective a plan is. What matters is that you remain unpredictable before they do."
"How smart can they possibly be?" Pearl asked incredulously.
"Yeah, they don't even have eyes." Amethyst added.
"They may not have eyes, but they sure as Hell have brains. And they'll use it in any way they can, with whatever advancement they've got." Burt took off his cap and wiped away the sweat from his forehead, "This one just so happened to grow an extra tentacle. Practically fires it like a harpoon."
"That's...unsettling..." Steven said, sweating a little.
"Then let's get started." Travis said as he ran to the passenger's seat. Burt and the gems followed suit. The old man got in the driver's seat as Amethyst and Steven scrambled into the back of the truck. Pearl hesitated to get in due to the lack of large space; any available spots were simply too close to either an explosive or a large gun. Nevertheless, she entered anyway and sat close to the edge of the truck.
Burt revved up the engine and popped it into six wheel. The truck came alive again and made its way down the road. Burt took a sharp turn down the side of the road, resulting in the displacement of several of the inventory in the back. Pearl was blinded by one of Burt's thermal cloaks while Amethyst was hit in the eye with a revolver. The purple gem winced and angrily threw the gun at the side of the truck's tent frame. Steven managed to avoid the flying weaponry, even more than Travis who got hit in the head by a stray pistol.
"GAH! Slow it down, Pops!" Travis exclaimed. The trek through the field was short as Burt immediately stomped on the brake. The truck came to a complete stop, sending Amethyst and Steven ramming into the seats, Pearl onto the gun pile, and Travis' head slamming against the dashboard. All four of them moaned in painful unison.
"Not like that..." Travis said, massaging his head. Burt's focus was directed fully towards the radar. He pointed towards the colossal heat signature southeast of their location: the temple. It couldn't have been a Shrieker horde because their signatures always came in single variations. It couldn't have been Graboid because it gave no seismic readings. But whatever it was, it was too close to the city to ignore.
"You see that?" Burt asked.
"That's gotta be one giant-ass Shrieker." Travis said quietly with his eyes widened.
"That's at the temple!" Steven gasped.
Soooo...what?" Amethyst asked confusingly, "There's a giant red blob at the temple?"
Pearl pulled her head out of the weapons pile and scrambled over to the front. She observed the radar and took notice of the large, deep red heat signature. Her eyes widened as she immediately realized what it was.
"The house is on fire!" She exclaimed fearfully, grabbing her hair. The radar soon started to beep in rapid succession. Travis groaned at this.
"I swear to God. If it's another Graboid-"
"Uuuuuuuuuugggggghhhh!" Amethyst groaned.
Burt pinpointed the source of the alarm and found what he wished would've stayed in Perfection. The good news was that the Shrieker count decreased by two. The bad news was that the two Shriekers were something entirely different.
"Son of a bitch!" Burt exclaimed, "We got Ass Blasters!"
"Pfft-What kind of name is that?" Amethyst chuckled.
"Ask Jodi." Burt answered with an unamused expression.
"Are those like...Graboids or something?" Steven queried.
"The final stage, to be exact." Burt replied, turning the truck around, "Judging from the radar, they're heading straight for the fire."
"No shit." Travis deadpanned. The older man narrowed his eyebrows in response. They were this close into completing the mission and a total of three inconveniences had already occurred.
"We have to go back!" Steven exclaimed before hitting his head on the ceiling in panic, "Lion and Li'l Bud are still there!"
"Little wha?" Travis and Burt turned back in unison. It was then that Steven remembered what Garnet told him and tensed up.
"My...my stuffed animal! My precious Li'l Bud stuffy is in that fire!"
Pearl and Amethyst looked at him in confusion while Burt and Travis gave him a look that practically said, "Really?" With Steven's true reason hidden, he had to find a way to strengthen his excuse. He stared at them with a pleading expression. Burt blinked; the old man wasn't fazed by his malarkey. Steven forced himself to shed a single tear, receiving a more uncomfortable look from the survivalists.
"How old did you say he was?" Travis whispered to Amethyst. The purple gem scratched the back of her head trying to shrugged uncomfortably and looked at Burt. The survivalist sighed heavily and turned back to the wheel.
"Cute kid. I'll give ya that." Burt groaned quietly.
The old man turned the truck around and stepped on the gas pedal, this time taking the route into and through town. The further they went down the road, the more visible the smoke was from behind the uprising cliff.
The ground below Garnet couldn't handle the force exerted against the Graboid's opposing force. She was slowly being pushed back by the colossal worm, its ravenous jaws beginning to close down upon Garnet's hands. The back of its throat started to glow, yielding another attack. Everything seemed to play into the Graboid's favor. That was until a little green gem intervened.
A metal stick zoomed through the air and struck the Graboid in the head. The beast winced from the attack and raised its head high up in the air. Garnet took this opportunity to finally get a good hit on it. She raised her gauntlets and sent a barrage of rapid punches towards its body. Ite skin was tough, but the force sent it toppling backwards into the other Graboid. With the monsters subdued, Garnet dissipated her gauntlets and stretched. The strenuous course of events had finally taken its toll.
"Nice work." She complimented Peridot, not standing by her side.
"Wow. Thanks." Peridot replied exhaustingly.
The Graboids remained stunned where they laid. The two gems walked past them, knowing their work here was finally done. The monsters' distinct moans of pain echoed throughout the Kindergarten. The eerie sounds gave the place a more haunting theme than it already was.
"They'll be fine." Garnet said stoically.
There we go. Another chapter FINALLY done! As I said before, this one was kind of a rush job halfway through the month because I really wanted to finish this one so I can move on the next. Honestly, the next chapter is what I'll really find great interest in making because we get some not-so-nice interactions...again. I feel like I made Burt a little too heated with the locals, but I don't know.
And no. The fire is not a plot hole, it's just part of the conflict that occurs next chapter.
Thanks for reading this one, guys. I love the support. Look alive, stay alive. Idiot out!