Fragmentation 1.12
(H.T.F. Plant)
October 29, 2010
Deep in the woods surrounding what used to be the city of Mannsville, a white plant flowed in the breeze. The plant, with a blood red mouth, green vines, and a pale, slimy head, was clinging to a dead tree, vines wrapped tightly around the trunk. A sound clanged from the edges of the facility, and the plant turned, cocking its head to the side as if listening to something interesting. A green figure with red eyes covering its body skittered out of the building, darting around while murmuring faint nonsense, and the plant began to grin, its teeth dripping with fluid.
The plant, called the H.T.F. Plant, was assigned a mission by his lord, his reward being a meal made of Freaks, and a bath in the UV Room. The UV room wasn't really necessary to him or the other plant beings, he could get by without it as long as he ate some freaks, but it did give him a chance to relax for a few days.
His mission was to remove forty Freaks and destroy their bodies, making sure to leave nothing for the Necro Freaks to revive.
The Freak in front of him was one of the basics, one he was trained to hunt and kill, and thus, an acceptable target.
Plant focused his ears on the target, and crawled down the tree to the forest floor, vines carefully avoiding every branch and dried leaf to stop making noises that'd announce his presence.
He wanted a clean, quiet, calm kill to start his hunt off, without biting, or smashing, or exploding.
He really didn't want an exploding Freak, those were bad news.
The Freak near the edge of the forest was chattering to itself as it started eating a large mushroom near the edge, clearly trying to get a snack in before the 22 bell.
Nearing the mushroom the Freak was munching on, Plant paused as it froze. Had it heard him? He'd been silent, he'd made sure of that, but what else could it be?
The freak looked up, still chewing on the cap, and nervously glanced around in the direction of the plant.
He assumed it was using infrared sight, unless the Lab had improved the Freaks' hearing somehow, but he wasn't sure until a rustling sounded behind him.
Immediately, he stuck his head underground, leaving his vine legs sticking in the air, resembling the plant his vines were made from, the Witchhazel.
It was an Explo Freak, dripping heated material onto the ground and Plant's legs, and darting faster than he could move at top speed towards the normal Freak. The Freak jumped in surprise when the Explo Freak rounded the shroom, but seemed to sigh as the Explo gurgled at it in a queer form of laughing. The normal spat at the Explo, and the dripping Freak gurgled its way into the facility, leaving the normal to the mushroom.
That was far too close for him. Explo Freaks were feared across the Kingdom as the bane of all creatures, rushing at speeds greater than any soldier or servant in his lord's populace, and exploding into a flaming fireball when getting near to a target. He wasn't sure how it had missed him, but he was thankful that he wasn't currently scattered into charred plant matter across the forest.
Now to finish off the normal.
Plant remove its head from the ground and turned its attention back to the Freak that was almost done with the cap of the shroom. Not much fungi matter to hide behind now, but it would do.
The white plant crept around the stem, opening its jaw to swallow the Freak whole, and waited under the Freak as it finished the cap. Plant kicked the stem of the mushroom, causing the Freak on top to shriek (in horror or annoyance, he didn't know) as it fell.
His jaw snapped shut, his teeth crunching the skull of the normal as its cries stopped abruptly. He missed the taste of Freaks, having been on a break after his last run it with a Rhino, but the flow of its blood was a great reminder of why he hunted for his lord.
It was really the only reason he listened to what his lord said, other than the UV room.
Focusing his attention back to the delicious center of the normal, he relished the taste and forgot his misgivings of his boss.
Now was not the time for thoughts of mutiny.
Thirty nine more and his quota would be met. He felt his body turn the normal Freak's flesh into energy, and sighed as the feeling of joy flooded through his body.
Back to the hunt.
He was at number twenty eight when the first Rhino was sent out to seek answers. Rhinos weren't his favorite target, but his lord told him they were worth five if he could get one, so he'd have to try.
Rhino Freaks were one of the toughest beings in the Sphere, second only to the mysterious Master of Mannsville, and there was a great reason for it. Rhino Freaks were made of two things: crystals and muscles. Any of the creatures living under his lord that had successfully killed one said they tasted of strength and something called rock candy. He'd tried to find out what they'd meant a few cycles ago, but that led to him going on a 'break', having lost most of his limbs and his lower jaw. Now that his teeth had been upgraded, and his vines strengthened, he believed he had a shot at finally figuring out what this 'rock candy' tasted like.
The Rhino was panning its head left to right, scanning the forest to find what could have possibly caused twenty eight normals to vanish without a trace. It was massive, about twice the size of Plant, and if he hadn't had an upgrade, he'd be terrified of its piercing gaze. He was waiting at the top of a rotted tree, listening to the earth tremble beneath the Rhino's feet, when the Rhino stopped and looked up.
At him.
Shit.
The Rhino growled beneath him, and stalked forwards towards the trunk of the dead tree, arms reaching out to snap it.
Well, time to stop that from happening.
Plant jumped down, falling at speeds that used to be able to kill him, and quickly grappled onto the crystal skull of the Rhino. His vines rapidly surrounded the reaching limbs of the Freak, arresting their movement and sticking them to its torso. The Freak growled at him as his vines lengthened to tie the legs together, and Plant opened his mouth to try and nibble at the arm beneath his head.
The first time he'd tried to eat a Rhino Freak, his teeth had shattered against it, the skin's strength being akin to concrete, but with his new teeth, the flesh sheared apart like the normals from earlier in the cycle. The Rhino, disappointing as usual, just grunted in annoyance as Plant ripped his arm off and swallowed it.
Strength.
He could understand what the other creatures meant now.
As he tore off the other arm to eat, he idly wondered what the crystals tasted like, and if rock candy was as delicious as his lord said it used to be.
Once the last arm was gone, and he began on the torso, the Rhino began to moan oddly, like one of the 'babby' creatures his lord tried to make every now and then. He finished with the rough torso, then leaned back to admire his work.
All that was left of the creaking Rhino now were the crystal legs, spine, and head. It was leaking from its eyes, and when he licked it, the fluid tasted salty with a hint of sweetness. He grinned, then tried to crunch on the crystal. He was dying to taste something similar to rock candy, but his teeth just glanced off of the surface.
Frustrating.
He removed his vines from the twitching body and backed up, attempting to think of a way to crush, or even break, enough to eat.
He listened around, and then felt some hand-shaped depressions in the bark on the tree he had climbed earlier.
The tree.
Maybe he could…
That would work, but only if he positioned the fall correctly.
He dragged the still moaning Rhino under the tree's soon-to-be destination, and then move to the other side.
Shoving the massive, dead plant wasn't easy, but after a few seconds of work, a 'CRACK' shattered the silent night.
The creaking mass fell down towards the Rhino, almost hitting the shuddering mass, when the tree split.
Bottom half crushing the Rhino, top half hitting…
Oh.
Oops?
He hadn't meant to dent the Lab, but, well…
Maybe he could negotiate a saboteur bonus from his lord?
The sound of the tree's collapse finished echoing around, and he quickly darted to the shattered remains of the Rhino Freak, desiring a taste before any freaks came to investigate.
Huh.
Rock candy was actually pretty good.
The pitter-patter sound of feet to his left turned his good mood to dust though, because only one thing runs fast enough to 'pitter-patter'.
He turned his head to the left for a better listen, then confirmed his fears.
He heard a drip, and the quickening sound of sprinting.
Explo Freaks.
There were a lot of them.
…
Time to run.
Plant may have started with a lead, but now, they were gaining on him.
He could always climb a tree and wait for rescue, but what kind of hunter was he if he couldn't escape some Explo Freaks alone?
Not a good one.
So he continued to run away from the nearing hoard of exploding freaks.
He wasn't fast enough to outrun them, he knew that, but maybe, with a little bit of thinking, he could lay a trap to stop them.
But he had nothing to use. A tree felled before them would take too much time, and one explosion would clear that away before it hindered the others. He could try dodging in one of the nearby houses, but the nearest one he knew of was half a mile ahead of him, too far a journey to survive.
He turned his head to listen to the hoard, but there were too many feet to properly count the amount of explosive force behind him.
He'd never heard this many this close together before.
And they were gaining on him.
Well, maybe he could accept some help after all.
He sent the panic code out, screeching in tempo to something his lord always hummed under his breath, and awaited a response.
Twenty seconds later, a response screeched though the sky, and Plant shuddered in relief. Two minutes away. All he has to do is survive two minutes, then the ranged forces would get here.
He just has to stay far enough away from the mass of fiery death behind him so he doesn't become a part of it, and then he'd be safe to return to hunting.
Then the unthinkable happened.
He tripped.
He couldn't trip! That doesn't happen to plants! His vines should have stopped this from happening in the first place!
Then he noticed what was holding onto him.
It was a hand.
A human hand, like his lord.
Except it felt smooth, and sounded… hollow-ish, missing the rough and hairy coating his lord has.
His center vine was being grasped by the hand sticking out of the ground, and he heard the gurgling of the Explo Freaks behind his increase in volume.
He turned to try and locate how far away they were, when his vines finished snapping the grasping hand at the elbow. He knew he was free, but he heard where they were now.
They were right behind him.
'Drip'
'Sizzle'
Plant dashed away, hoping to get away from the explosion, when he heard more gurgling.
Were they… laughing at him?
Was he so worthless, that even Freaks that killed themselves for fun didn't think he was worth exploding?
No, he wasn't worthless, he hunted Freaks for food! He served his lord well enough! He didn't eat his friends like the first Hunt the Freak Plant!
He just had to keep running, be faster than the Freaks behind him.
He had to run, maybe try and trap them. Keep them away somehow?
What could he do?
What should he do?
Run?
Hide?
Stop?
Die?
He won't die.
He can't die.
He'd run.
He'd hide.
He'd escape the Explo Freaks.
But not the silence.
The silence overtook him.
He lifted his head to a source of warmth in front of him and basked in it.
It reminded him of the UV Room, with its pleasant feeling of comfort and heat.
A peculiar sound was coming from his right, and it resembled the noise his lord made when Plant found him raking his fingers across his chest a few months ago.
The figure he heard making the sounds spoke to him then.
"It seems you're in quite the predicament, aren't you?"
Plant tried to respond, but his mouth wasn't cooperating. He hadn't spoken since he was born a year ago, as his lord didn't like hunters that spoke for some reason. He still knew how, but his tongue wasn't working as well as it should have been.
"Yeh… Yesh…Where am I? I cannot hear Freaks anymore."
"They still have freaks? I should have known those guys followed us… Anyway, you'll be back there shortly, just know that this is a safe place for you."
"Who… who are you?"
"A friend, Plant. A good friend. Now, you'll have something from the Rhino when you wake up, be sure to point it towards the Freaks when you wake, alright?"
"Shhh… Sure."
The warmth flared towards him, and he returned his attention to it.
He waited for a bit, but nothing seemed to happen other than some odd sounds coming from above. He then felt a hand on his head.
"Here, I'll get it."
Plant's head was tilted up, and silence overcame him again.
Another drip sounded behind him, and he clutched at what was now apparently in his vines. It was long and cylindrical, with one end open to the air. He found a switch on the bottom, and remembered the words spoken to him at the warmth.
'Point it towards the Freaks when you wake, alright?'
So he did, and pulled the switch.
Fire.
Oh lord the fire.
He was burning, everything was burning, but he couldn't hear the Freaks anymore.
Had he done it?
The screech of one more Explo Freak answered that question, and he turned another of his vines towards it.
Instinct seemed to call upon him to pull something inside, and he felt a vine leave him, headed towards the last Freak.
He could sense it approach the target and grapple only it, draining energy and wrapping around legs.
The vine stopped it?
He could hear and feel the Explo Freak straining against the… no, his vines, and grinned.
He could do things, new things, which could stop the explosions from happening again.
Plant snickered as the flames simmered down, leaving him crispy, but alive. He examined the tube in his vines which still appeared to work, and pointed it again at the lone Freak.
"Bye bye, boom boom."
Then he fired the rod of explosions at the Freak, and basked in the heat of the flame.
A fire.
That's what he'd seen.
He rather liked the feeling.