I don't own Adventure Time. Well, maybe someday.
~~o~~
Chapter 5 - Between The Two
Sawyer wiped the blood from his mouth, feeling with his tongue more loose teeth. Having inadequate nourishment is a real bummer. He flicked his tongue and tasted more iron. There goes my life juice...
He searched the perpetrators body for anything salvageable but came up short except for a metallic card. The dude he had snuffed seemed to be an important goon for the henchman. The card looked too important for a grunt to have, and Sawyer bets his liver it acts a key for some door or something. He turned it over and saw a logo of a letter 'A' punctured by something that resembles the number '8' but turned on its side. Slidding it inside his jacket, he went towards the mutated corpse.
"Damn, both blades are useless now." He tried pulling out his machete, but the only thing that came free was the handle.
Well, who did I fooled into thinking I could save her? DO I EVEN want to save her?
Sawyer retrieved his faded green knapsack and slid inside the other lengths of rope lying on the floor, these might prove useful again. Before taking the flight of stairs, he shot one last glance at the gruesome hallway. He doesn't even want to know how many time he would have to endure the same predicament before falling prey himself.
Uttering a hurried 'sorry' at the two corpse, he took two steps at a time down the creaky stairs. His eyes fell immediately upon the gun the girl tried to do him in earlier. Sawyer was bothered at how heavy and wieldy the large, double-barreled gun was. Oh yeah, I remember now. It's a shotgun.
"Man, I don't think I can use this thing." He frowned at the wasted potential in harnessing the metallic deathstick, but also took into consideration the possible mishaps that could happen to him because of it. He thought of the girl who nearly shot herself in the face because of the buckling weight. "Yeah, I'll just leave it here."
Sawyer walked briskly outside the house and ran through a dark and shaded sidewalk. The weather is starting to get cold again. The wind easily slipped through his jacket, numbing his joints and sending shivers to his spine. He drew the hood on his head and prayed that the night will be more merciful to him. Looking up at the sky, Sawyer gritted his teeth in annoyance. It is almost impossible to tell if sundown is near or not.
"I have to hurry if I want to do this."
He could hurry, alright, that's if he had the faintest idea where to locate the gang's hideout. He took out the card again and examined it more thoroughly. The artistically designed 'A' clearly stands out, even just by being black in color, but the card is white though. He scanned the vicinity while placing hurried but muffled footsteps onto the hard pavement. Around a corner of a district that would have been busy if there were people around, he heard murmurs that belonged to men. Big, growly men, that is.
Sneaking a glance, the scene instantly made his mouth water. Two rather scrawny teenagers were indulging themselves on a steaming bowl of what appeared to be mushroom soup. His eye sight never failed him whenever the subject involved food.
"Lucky bastards."
To their left stood another suburb house with a door that seemed to be guarded by a third person, a middle-aged and healthy-looking woman. She was carrying some kind of short and black stick that looked sinister enough. The first time Sawyer's eyes laid eyes upon the scene, he knew he had already found the answer to his question earlier. So this is their hideout.
He looked at the other row of houses. The roofs were close together enough to jump over, perfect for his chosen method of entry. A classic break-in. Sliding back into the darkness, he ran away from the scene and sprinted towards the third house left of the one he is planning to break-in. Sawyer glanced back at the group, they still don't notice him.
"Okay, I can do this."
These identical houses were unremarkable at best. Same basic fenced front yard and then a porch. The wooden walls seemed easy to climb enough but he chose not to; it might be dark but he wont take unncessary chances. Grasping the doorknob with tensed hands, a cold wind blew hard. A feeling of sudden dread swirled inside him, causing his insides to feel uncomfortable. He remembered the mutated corpse of the girl's mother. I don't think I'll like what I'm about to see here.
Gently opening the door, he realized something. It was unlocked. Of course it's unlocked, the owner never had the time to close it properly. Sawyer made his way inside, closing the door behind. A putrid but sweetish-rottish smell invaded his lungs. Cringing his nose, the similar structure of the house made his task easier. Even the stairs have the same creaky sounds. He dared not to look at the kitchen, where the awful smell was the strongest.
Another one who fell.
Saying a quick sorry at the inhabitant from the top step of the stairs, he suddenly remembered the mutation. How long is their transformation? I would be in serious trouble if ... He just prayed he had enough time to get to his destination. He strode towards the window, barely enough light permeated the hallway. It would be a very bad idea the break the window because it would attract a lot of attention, so he opened it as gently as he could. Biting winds instantly battered his face.
"Coldness is a thousand times worse if your hungry."
Climbing outside the window, he dared not to look down but instead searched for something to hold on to above him. The roof is low enough to grab, which he did. Sawyer hoisted his body with great difficulty, almost slipping twice. The slanted roof proved tricky to trek on, especially because of the tile-like things that adorned the roof. They easily crumble away from his feet. He tensed.
"This is harder than I thought."
Sawyer broke into a run, making sure to be quite as he could and jumped towards the next house, landing on all fours and displacing a couple of brick tiles. He tensed some more as he heard those shatter. That would have attracted attention but the wind blew away the sound.
He cannot do that again with the hideout house. The grunts would surely shoot him down. Sawyer crept towards the general direction of a window and found one. Clambering down towards it proved way more difficult for him but he managed to. His muscles started to protest, these ardorous tasks are not in his nature. Am I suicidal? Yeah, maybe I am. I don't even know what would I do if I meet the boss.
The sweetish-rottish smell was even stronger inside the house he was in. He jumped down the stairs and landed roughly on the carpeted floor. Wait, carpeted?
He immediately scanned the house. Sawyer was intrigued enough by the fact that whoever lived inside here were much well-to-do than the previous houses he was in. A large family picture captured his attention. It depicted a three-member family. A young father holding his equally young wife, who in turn have in her arms a rather cute daughter. Both the father and daughter have sandy hair, while the mother is a straight-up blonde.
"What a perfect family." Sawyer whispered absentmindedly.
This time he dared to look at the kitchen. All cupboards were stark empty, evident with the opened drawers. Ransacked dry. Sighing out of defeat, Sawyer proceeded to the living room where his eyes landed on the corpse, or rather stuck-in-coma body of the young father. He was bleeding all right. The blood flowed freely from the sofa he was slumped on. What caught his attention were the numerous papers strewn across the centerpiece table. One in particular piqued his interest, an official-looking document that has the same logo he saw earlier. He reached into his jacket and compared the two. Spot on.
The very same 'A' with an '8' adorned both items. He excitedly ruffled through the papers but found them to be too difficult to understand. All the papers seemed to be about freezing someone for a certain period of time. That did not made much sense. Gritting his teeth in annoyance, he put back the card in his jacket and looked at the table once more. A maroon booklet placed neatly on top of a briefcase. Something told him not to open it, but curiousity won over. Ooening at a random page, he began to read.
Day 17
Noraine was so mad at me earlier. What was so bad in joining that group of scientist working in secret next door? They seem to be good enough people. Plus, if we succeed, we could grant our children a better future. And the extra money is a good thing too.
Oh yeah, Li'l Celine is now on the age where kids asks endless questions.
Sawyer tensed. This is a diary, a diary of a soon to be deceased man. It felt bad to read it but he can't stop now even if he tried. Muttering a muffled 'sorry', he continued reading. He jumped a few more pages.
Day 38
I can't believe how fast the sickness is spreading throughout the town. Is it because of the excessive energy we've been using in the lab? Sometimes I wake up at night, just to break into violent coughs. Noraine was even in worse condition, I guess. This morning I saw blood on the sink. Blood and bits of guts. Yet my wife won't tell me her condition. From what we gathered, the younger the person is, the more he or she will be resistant to the sickness. Poor old Tommy. He's a nice old fella.
Day 47
More and more people are dying. The town is now only half of its population weeks ago. The worse thing is they don't even know that the cause of accelerated sickness is because of a secret experiment below the house next ours. I just hope the machine gets finished soon. Before guilt takes me over.
Sawyer deemed it was wrong to skip these entries so he began to read them properly. Something tells him that this won't end well.
Day 48
I woke up with a bit of blood in my pillow. Without acceleration, every people in the world should have about a couple more years to go before the sickness takes them over. This is crazy.
Noraine won't even look me in the eye now. But nowadays, I've begun to think that she is right all along. I confronted my boss about these matters, but she assured me that everyhing will be alright and that my daughter will be the first person who will get to use one of the machines. I'm sorry, Noraine. They assured me that she will live a better life if she used the machines.
Day 49
Billy Joe, my neighbor claimed he saw a 15 feet horse-like creature with rainbow fur flying across the nearby mountain range. That is absurd, even for Billy. Maybe the sickness has taken its toll on him? I don't know, I don't care. Celine said she wanted to see this creature. Oh my darling little bundle of joy (A large blot of something dark red blocked the first part of the next sentence, much to his dismay. ) -fe are the only thing that mattered in this world. I believe in our group, the hope that lies in those machines.
I pray that we finish them in time, we're down to a seven-man team now. Infinite Alpha Program must continue at all costs.
Day 50
I'm so weak now stringing this words together I can't even do properly. Noraine never woked up. My wife, the shining light my life gone forever. I was so stunned by her death that I failed to notice my daughter is missing. So was Billy. That shithead must have took my daughter to the mountain ranges to search for those pesky made up hallucinations awkward sentence. Dad I am but I can't do anthing right.
It' s too late for me to look for her now. I know my body won't accomplish that task. But I can do correct the damages I've done. I went to the lab and murdered every single fucking mothershits who ruined our lives. I butchered them in their sleep. Took a lot of strength to kill that fat guy. No one can run away.
I made sure the bitch who started this suffer. I smashed all her pretty fingers first before I did her right there. Man, I never knew wooden axe handles can do the trick too. She died satisfied in the nether regions I guess, but I smashed her pretty face all the same.
That was fun, my love and my daughter. Wish I remember your names though.
Day 51
Bad start. I wanted to destroy those contraptions so much it hurts. I'm so wet with blood now, mostly my own. Yeah, me destro those shits later in evening goota lie down first. This is a nice sofa.
The rest of the pages remained blank. Sawyer was in complete shock. So all of people in the world were destined to die. So what's the purpose of all these things? We'll die horribly just the same. Might as well finish myself with that axe.
But he decided against it. He took pity at the man beside him. He is a family guy pushed into the brink of destruction because of his brother. Sawyer felt gulity that his kin caused all this madness. If he could just try to find this man's daughter, he would. But Sawyer knew what those creatures were. They seemed to belong to another dimension, only going here to feed on human flesh. New Junktown was attacked by those around the time before he left on a supply raid. It felt like a long time ago. He nearly lost his right arm in droving those away while the other people just waited to be devoured.
But he could do one thing this man desired, the complete destruction of the machines. Picking up the bloody axe, decided to end the man's misery and struck him in the neck. It was roughly divided, but that would be enough. He then took out the ropes he found earlier and used one length to tie around his waist, creating a makeshift holster for the weapon. Good thing it is not that heavy.
He took the stairs and thought of a way to get to the next house. One of its window directly faced the one he is in. Maybe he could...jump through?
He got nothing to lose anyway. So he opened the window, backed away and broke into a furious run. Adrenaline kicked in and he leaped through the windows, a feeling of exciliriating energy coarsed through him. That is until he landed hard on the floor, sending him tumbling towards a table in a hallway. He looked around, the jump didn't produced much noise, thankfully.
Sawyer mentally prayed.
He spot one of the goons he saw earlier. The bastard appeared to be sleeping peacefully on the couch, without a care in the world. The floor below was carpeted too, so instead of taking the stairs, he just jumped down. Creeping closer towards the sleeping guy, he lifted the axe high and swung with all his might. The sickening crunch told him he had done the job nicely. The axe thankfully did not became stucked.
Suddenly, the door burst open. The woman he saw earlier came busting in. "Sweetie, the rainbow creature are ba- who the fuck are you?"
"I'm yo momma!"
The taller woman swooped down on him, the stick in her hands. He deflected it with his axe, but she was quicker than he thought. She kicked him hard on his stomach, sending him hurtling and crashing on the T.V. set. He rolled away before the thinghit him, but instead got strucked by the stick. Waves of shocking electricity flowed through his body, a look of utter confusion in his face.
"What? Haven't seen a stun baton before?"
Sawyer tried to recover quickly and struck the woman with the axe on her shins but to his dismay, he had used the blunt side of his weapon accidentally.
"Ouch, you hurt me kiddo! I like that, I like squirmy little children."
Her demeanor struck him as familiar. Clearing his thoughts, Sawyer swerved towards the right and backed away. This was certainly bad.
"Oh are you afraid of me babe? Come here and cuddle with me." With a look of bewilderment, the woman ripped her blouse and exposed her big pairs of breast. Disconcertening alright, but Sawyer won't be fazed by that.
She just cackled crazily, grasping the stun baton with both hands before licking the tip. " So, you are not so innocent as I thought huh. C'mon and dance with me, little man."
"SHUT UP SHUT SHUT SHUT UP!" He hurled the axe and sent it towards the woman, embedding itself dead center on the woman's heart. She looked at him, then smiled before crumpling in a heap.
Sawyer went over her and retrieved the axe, checking it for any signs of breakdown. He did not find any. He then glanced at the crazy woman. Blood bubbled on her lips, she still smiled at her. He snatched the baton and placed it inside his knapsack.
"I'll suck you off..."
Thinking it was just another dying's last speech, he turned away and started to walk. But suddenly, the woman talked again. "Kitchen. There. Everything you need. Third cupboard to the left."
Then no more.
Can I trust her? We'll I've got no choice.
Against all instincts, he followed the woman's directions and found himself staring at a strange and advanced looking thing. It has a small monitor that says 'Infinite Alpha Program: Insert your I.D. for security protocols'. He took out the card and plunge it into a crevice near the monitor. He heard a click and metallic sound behind him, a door appeared leading to a well-lit hospital-looking hallway.
Sawyer quickly ran through, footsteps echoing loudly against the metallic doors. The path seemed to be leading underground. Finally seeing a double-doors at the end, he slowed down and opened them wide.
"So this is a lab." Numerous complicated equipments strewn across the white floor and desks. The room was huge enough to fit the whole house above him. There were more doors that lead to rooms with glasses for walls.
Sawyer walked closely to one and found the people he was keened to save earlier. Both of the siblings looked dead, or stuck-in-coma, and the younger sister looked like it has finished the transformation. Green goo covered her face, groaning softly but cannot move that much. The weight of her sister on top of her prevented her. The two were tied together, naked, and covered with glistening substance he dared not to think what. He looked away. This is too much.
Too much. It has to end. Please let it end.
Looking away, he saw another hallway that looked important. It has glass doors, if that is an indication. Sawyer broke into a run towards the door, careful not to make unnecessary noise, and to his slight amusement, the glass doors opened automatically for him. The hall was shorter than the first, but it made him more nervous. The boss will be surely inside.
"Mother of - "
The boss was being mauled to death by the mutated scientists; punching, kicking, and ripping him to pieces. Then he saw it. The room that held the machines. He hastily ran towards it and closed the door behind him. Looking around the room, he spotted a heavy-looking desks and pushed it to block the door. He was just in time because soon, the mutants started to bang at the door.
"I'm trapped. Well, a day must end, just like any other day." Except there would be no tomorrow this time.
On the brighter side of things, he could destroy the machines now. Looks like only two were running because theyse are the only ones with light. The cylindrical shape of the machines placed horizontally on some kind of pedestals allowed ample space for anyone to lie inside while stretched out.
As he approached one, the machine started making whirring sounds and opened its glass cylindrical door. It is as if it is beckoning him to lie down for a spell, when suddenly, the door behind him broke down. The mutants spilled one by one, like ants excited by the smell of food.
He panicked.
"... if we succeed, we could grant our children a better future."
"... everyhing will be alright and that my daughter will be the first person who will get to use one of the machines."
"... They assured me that she will live a better life if she used the machines."
Without hesitation, he clambered inside the cylinder, the glass door immediately closing on him. He watched as the room was filled with some liquid that burned and melted the mutants, like bleach washing out the stains on a cloth. Only skeletons and bits of dried up skin remained as the liquid dissipated. Well, maybe, he thought, those were bleach alright.
"Beginning biofreezing, please assume a comfortable position. The process will start in 10 seconds." The ethereal and emotionless voice blared from somewhere in the room.
"Ten."
He thought of everything that happened to him today. It was sure as whack.
"Nine."
Soon he will be out of this misery. He knew it.
"Eight."
"I'm sorry dude, I can't fulfill your wish. I can't just destroy this things.."
"Six."
Sawyer thought of his Mistress. He wondered how she would act if she saw him like this.
"Three."
"Wait, what the hell is biofreezing?"
"Two."
"One."
Suddenly, cold clouds of smoke filled the cylinder. He buckled from the sudden cold and feared that he will be suffocated. He frantically reached for his axe and weakly strucked the glass, to no avail. Just as he was about to pass out, the cylinder opened. He rolled towards the side and nearly hit his head on the floor. Sawyer looked around, the cold gas already becoming thin. The handle of the axe became brittle as he gripped it, rendering it useless. The cold did a number on the wood.
"I felt... normal. The machine failed?"
Tears threaten to well from his eyes as he went outside the room and outside the lab. He did not even stole a glance at the corpse of the crazy woman as he proceeded to walk briskly outside. He found the two scrawny boys, or what's left of them. Minding his own business, he strode forwards out of the town; oblivious to the world, and furious at the cruelty of it all. For a moment there, he could finally taste the freedom from this open-world prison. But fate shall have none of it.
The hellish landscape stretched on and on as far as Sawyer's eyes could see. The sickly green sky pressed on him as usual. It has been like this since he first knew how to walk without Miss Bonnie guiding him. Sometimes, Sawyer have a hard time believing that his mad elder brother caused the end of the world. Well, maybe...end of civilization seems more fitting, seeing that the world , this stupid and worthless world, still exists. Nice job, bro.
When will you be back to finish the job?
Sawyer nearly tripped on a can of unidentifyable processed food. It looked like a piece of brown turd, if he ask himself. Which I do more often than what's healthy. He turned it over its side and saw an almost faded expiration date.
"Crap, it's seven years pass expiration date..."
~~o~~
"Princess, are you sure this is the place? The place looks rundown."
"I am positively sure, Joshua. Open that dlor for me will you?"
Joshua complied and slice apart the door blocking the room with his Demon Blood Sword. It offered very little resistance, being a thousand year structure. Inside he saw cylindrical contraptions, all of which looked unusable except the nearest to them. It radiated with intense light, showing clearly what it held.
A boy. A brown-haired human boy sleeping inside, clothing torn, an axe in his hand and a knapsack on his back. He might be covered in dirt and long-since dried blood, but Joshua could clearly see the tormented look on his face; like someone experiencing a nightmare.
"Behold Joshua, on what might be the last human on Ooo."
~~o~~
That's it for the mega long chapter. I really prefer not to write chapters this long, but I want to do Sawyer justice. Hope I did things right.
Ooobserver: Heh, I wanted to portray Marcy and Bonnie as 'friends' and well...I think some things just happens. Haha.
Read and review dudes.
BTW, should I list Sawyer as an OC or not? He technically exists in AT, but just as a baby.