Kleopatra POV
"GET THE FUCK OFF!" I was once more horrified at the image I didn't believe I'd ever get used to as Rex, the strange naked mad man who'd saved my life, was pinned under a large zombified servitor and torn limb from limb, only for him to regenerate a second later and cut the monster in half with his blessed power sword he'd taken after its owner was torn apart.
Running for my life along with Seranz, a woman I admired greatly for being an actual Sister of Battle, I found myself wishing I could act with half the ability she did as she effortlessly sliced through zombies with her power sword, only to send a bolter round in a strategic place that put multiple of the monsters to rest in a single shot.
In comparison, my heart was pounding out of my chest as this was somehow even more terrifying than the demons I had faced for days as despite being terrifying in their own right, the ones I'd seen at least weren't half-rotten sprinting corpses that would relentlessly and mindlessly chase you to eat you. From the brief moment when yet again, Rex had saved me after I had been pinned by one of the shamblers that had snuck up on me, I could not see any sentience behind the rotting milky remaining eye where the other was a skull as half its face was missing. In one instant, the thing was viciously biting at me, fighting against my desperate and failing attempts to keep it at bay inches from my face. In the next instant, Rex had grabbed it by the back of its neck and sliced its head off with his deactivated sword, showering me in blood.
"Come on, we gotta mov-Ack! YOU CUNT!"
SPLAT
Rex had tried to help me up by grabbing my hand, only to shower me in yet more blood as he was run-through with a saw attachment from a zombified servitor. He let out what I assumed to be an insult, before turning and twisting the thing's head off since its neck was half gone.
I felt myself hyperventilating as I stared at my blood-soaked armour and hands. I gagged as I watched him rip the saw out of his back, leaving a home in his gut where intestines spilled out, only to regenerate and the wound to close up. Seeing more zombies sprinting down the dark street, I scrambled to my feet, fumbling with my rifle in panic as we once more picked up pace at Seranz shouting to MOVE!
"WHERE DO WE GO?" I looked to Rex for direction since he was leading us. Meanwhile, I blasted left and right as zombies charged from literally everywhere. Windows to my left, doors to my right, the literally floor using hatches and vents. Not that behind was any better as I dared to glance back, only to see even more charging behind us.
"VEROSIKA SAYS THIS WAY!" He responded, sending a wave of golden flames behind us with his sword yet again to keep the faster sprinters at bay.
I then noticed a crack in the upper surface where something large had fallen through, letting me get a glimpse of the night sky from down here where no natural light would normally be found.
This small amount of light brought my attention to a sign.
"THERE, AHEAD! IT SAYS TRANSIT!" I called out. We then heard a particularly large roar as a huge undead smashed through a store front with Rex knocking Seranz out of the way. The downside was that he was tackled through a wall on the other side of the street. Seemingly not concerned about the near brush with death or Rex's situation, the Sister turned to me.
"Good eye!" Seranz praised me, making me feel a little happiness. The Sororitas was seemingly so cold most of the time after all. "If it works, we can use it to travel to the ritual site." She blasted several more zombies while stabbing with her power sword that would cleave them in half. "We must go, now!" She ordered, begging to move up again.
"But, what about Rex!?" I hollered, even so, I followed as the zombies closed in.
"He will be fine. Nothing these corpses can do to him is permanent." She carved a zombie in two, only to have to fight off the upper half that jumped onto her. Her response, was to drop to the floor and roll over it, stabbing it to the floor through the torso, before stomping its head dead. "We, on the other hand, are not blessed with his invulnerabilities and blessings."
Hesitantly looking back to where I could see the zombies gathering around the store front, I felt a tear running down my cheek. Whether it was extreme fear, massive fatigue, high stress, or some other emotion, ignored it in favour of following the Sister who was following the signs to the only chance we had of escaping the horde. It would certainty not lead us to safety, but it would hopefully be better than this.
Unfortunately, as we continued running, I could only hope Rex would catch up. It was then that I heard a terrible sound.
Click, click, click.
"DAMN IT!" Seranz had ran out of ammunition and was now using her bolter as a melee weapon. I fortunately didn't have that issue yet as my las rifle had more cells. That that mattered much as I burned through ammo far faster than she did.
Getting close to the train station, the God Emperor must have been feeling generous today as the train was in the station. The downside was that we were cutoff from it by all the zombies that were crowded around it. Like a rat infestation, the zombies scurried after us at first glance.
Seeing nowhere to run, I closed my eyes in terror, holding down the trigger of my rifle until I heard it click like Seranz's weapon. It was over, I was going to die.
"HEY GIRLS, WATCH THIS!"
That's what I thought until a water tower suddenly fell from a roof top with its supports cut. Vaguely I watched Rex getting tackled by a horde immediately. The giant water tank crushed down on the undead ahead of us and burst, flooding the street with water that quickly became a dark red from all the blood and zombies that mixed in with it. Seranz quickly grabbed me as I was swept up and was hurdled towards the broken railings which overlooked a 300ft drop to a lower segment of the under hive.
"I've got you! Hold on!" Grabbing my leg, I screamed as best I could to not get water in my mouth as her grip was all that kept me from being carried away to certain death. She in turn was holding onto a lamppost and looked to be struggling as the massive amount of wat er flowed down the street, carrying everything past us. "Kleopatra, zombies in the water!" She called out to me, making me look down at my feet only to widen my eyes in horror that the undead that were being swept up in the water upstream were being carried to us at a fast pace. Seranz couldn't defend herself as she held the post and my leg and I guessed her lower half under the water was wrapped around the pose for support.
Gripping my lasgun that was hanging above me in my sling that I was eternally grateful was still wrapped around me, reloaded the cell and took aim. Swallowing my fear, and probably some water, I opened fire on the undead closest to us in the water.
BSSST, BSSST, BSSST
My lasgun fired as I panicked, hitting a zombie with the stock of my gun when one grabbed me from below and began biting, thankfully, on my armour. The extra weight made Seranz struggle further and she looked pained with grit teeth and scrunched eyes.
"I-I can't hold you!" She called out, making my heart practically stop as I felt her grip loosening. In the next moment, I was screaming again as I was released and carried away by the powerful waterflow, smacking into several things and going under. To go over the edge that had turned into a waterfall, I felt something grab my arm and lift me out.
Coughing, I looked up to see Verosika floating above me with purple demonic bat-like wings holding her aloft with powerful beats against the air as she carried me to a roof.
Falling to the floor in a heap, I coughed up more water as I leaned on my hands, I looked over my shoulder to see the demon woman was looking at me with concern.
"Thank you." I breathed hoarsely, my throat taut from all the screaming and shouting. I was shaking with my mind running a mile a minute.
"You're welcome." Crouched down beside me, She smiled warmly and in this moment I couldn't find it in myself to care that she was clearly a demon. The woman just seemed to have a natural charm to herself that made me feel warm. It also helped that she was always just as naked as Rex.
Speaking of Rex, just as I was about to shout wo help Seranz, the two then wetly flopped onto the ledge of the roof with Rex digging his power sword into the roof's surface to help drag the Sister over the edge and onto dry land. The two were panting heavily, though as predictable, Rex recovered first and of all things, began laughing.
"Man, that was crazy!" He cheered, making me angry. After all, the fraking psycho had almost gotten us killed!
"What in the name of the Emperor's golden Throne were you thinking!?" I stomped up to him, kicking him in the side hard enough to seriously hurt a normal human. He on the other hand didn't even flinch and only looked at me with confusion.
"What? I saved your asses, didn't I?" He responded, making both me and Seranz fume.
"Saved us!? We are lucky to be alive!" Seranz grabbed him by the skin of his chest hard enough to draw blood with her black metal gloves.
"Yeah, but you did survive, right?" He weakly defended, to which I pointed to my side at the demon that was deliberately being as silent as possible. I knew this, because the moment I did this, she jumped.
"Thanks to her. It's thanks to Verosika that I'm alive." I narrowed my eyes and grit my teeth as I looked down at the man with fury I wasn't used to.
"Indeed. Of all the reckless and ogrin brained, bolter misfired ideas." Seranz joined my side in reprimanding him after coughing up a lung of water enough to talk again.
"I'M SORRY, OK!? I did what I had to fucking do! We were surrounded on all bloody sides and you two were gonna get ripped apart, and unlike me? You two can't just pull yourselves back together, can you? Be pissed all you want, but my decision saved your lives." I was taken aback at his own anger which was an emotion he showed all too often, but I hadn't yet felt directed at me. I didn't like it.
Maybe I was being too harsh on him. Maybe all the stress had just been building up and I just needed to vent. But, who could blame me? Still, now I was mentally reset in a way, I realised I was probably being a huge bitch.
"Look, I'm sorry. I just… This whole thing is just getting to me. I know it sounds pathetic and I'm just making excuses, but I'm not a soldier. Two weeks ago, I was just gardening in my parent's farm with the most dangerous thing I'd ever faced being an angry grox mother." I apologised, half expecting him to blow me off or tell me to fuck off. I didn't know which would be better or worse. Instead, he just chuckled and shook his head, before standing up.
He looked up into my eyes and smirked. "A farm girl, huh? Sounds like a bad joke." He randomly said, and I didn't know if I was insulted. Still, he walked to the ledge and looked over at the flowing water which seemed to be sustained by the burst water pipes from the tower falling.
"A farmer, a naked Perpetual, a demon, and a Sister of Battle walk into an underground city of the dead." He shook his head. "Look, truth is I haven't taken a single moment to stop and consider my actions since I woke up the other day. Finding out I was a perpetual; this horror show became a fun adventure. After all, where I'm from, this shit is the dream of many people."
"Sounds like a horrible place." Seranz snarked, though Rex simply smiled sardonically.
"Some people made it that way, sure. We called them politicians; you know them as lords. In other ways, there were ways to escape the bullshit. Escapism was the rule of the day, so you didn't focus on the way everything was going to shit. The point is, I know what if feels like to be dragged from the place you know and be put in a place you don't recognise and cope with it in your own way. Don't feel bad for it, Kleo." He smiled at me, and I actually found it endearing, even as his demeanour shifted to a more sheepish one as he looked away and scratched the back of his head. "That, and on second review, flooding this section of the under hive probably wasn't the best idea."
"You don't say?" Seranz scoffed, standing up and wringing out her short platinum blonde hair. "Still, stupidity aside, I suppose you did well. Just be grateful that the God Emperor is watching over you Lord Rex." The Sister commended the guy while looking down at him sideways over her shoulder, though she didn't look as annoyed as before fortunately. Rex almost seemed at the compliment as he grinned in a way that looked slightly less malevolent now that the blood had been somewhat washed off his skin by the current.
Seeing things were settled now, Verosika commented from the side that we should get moving as more undead would likely be swarming to this sector, the moment the water stopped flowing. Using the rooftops with Verosika's assistance, we navigated our way back over to the now zombie cleared station, which was built sturdy enough to thankfully be largely undamaged by the waterflow.
Prying the doors open, Rex got us onto the monorail train. Inside was yet more zombies and that was a problem as both me and Seranz had lost our weapons in the flood, leaving us defenceless. As such, it was Rex that entered the train to clear out the shamblers while Verosika watched our backs outside, something Seranz was not pleased about, but couldn't do much but grumble about to herself as she prayed to the God Emperor for forgiveness and to grant her patience while standing a small distance away from us. I personally believe the woman was too uptight, the longer I spent near her, to the point I wondered if all Sisters were this way, or if Seranz was just bone with a grok's temper?
Not that I had the metaphorical balls to say that to her face as even if we were all working together to survive, I wasn't sure she wouldn't cut off my breasts for the perceived insult. In the least case, I may get a pair of black eyes.
Shaking my head of the horrific image as I had enough of those in my memory that I certainly didn't need to create more, I was listening to Verosika as she explained something called a 'Redneck' from Rex's world, though to me, it sounded oddly enough liked the natives of Catachan.
We weren't bothered by many zombies on the station platform as it was raised above the waterflow, which was fortunate for us. I also wasn't long before, Rex called out to us, much to my relief as I felt very exposed out in the open.
"Ladies, the last train to the Demonic Ritual Site is leaving the station, I repeat, the last train to the Demonic Ritual Site is about to depart. Please mind the gap, the bodies, and the zombified servitor when you hand him your ticket as he does bite." He joked, speaking into his hands and making a sound similar to a Vox Caster. I couldn't help but smile at his antics as in his own ways, the guy was oddly endearing. That or lack of sleep and the stress had convinced me that the psychopath was. Either way, as I stepped into the train behind him with Verosika closing the double sliding doors, I had to hold my nose and try not to gag as the train smelled about how you would expect a charnel house to. Corpses littered the floor, and the walls were slashed and splattered with blood as if it were a fresh coat of paint.
"Sorry ladies, I didn't exactly have time to clean up. Ahh! Die!" SPLAT He stomped a zombie that was still alive, despite half its head being missing, and was able to grab Rex's leg. Looking at Seranz, the woman was impassive and didn't seem to react to the death. Instead, she seemed to be more focused on our current situation as ever as her electric blue eyes shifted to a site in the train car.
A dozen dead men lay on the floor with some kind of blue planetary local security outfits. More importantly, next to the corpses were a series of green crates marked with the Imperial Aquila.
At first, I thought we may need a hammer of something to pry it open. That was until without hesitation, Seranz ripped the lid off the metal crate with a small grunt of effort, the inside of which revealed dozens of auto-guns and stub-guns.
Still, this wasn't what had our attention as the two of us merely stared in awe at the tall woman's strength. Me and Rex didn't even react when Seranz turned to us and offered one each, only to pause holding them out and scrunch her brow at us.
"What? Is something wrong?" She asked while looking at us oddly.
Blinking, I took the outstretched rifle in my hands. "Oh, erm. Nothing. Thank you." I turned away, embarrassed. Internally, I was wondering what was up with me. After all, I wasn't usually attracted to a woman. Then again, as I glanced at Verosika, I could guess why I was suddenly having such thoughts as the demon was sat naked in one of the train's passenger seats, in a very unladylike pose. Then of course there was Rex, a guy who though shorter than the average man, certainly was eye candy when he wasn't covered in so much blood you couldn't tell what his original skin colour was. The grox cock he called human also helped me overlook his less appealing characteristics like how unhinged the guy seemed.
"Ohohoho, fuck the hell yesss~" As if to give evidence to my mental dossier on the guy, I watched him creepily faun over an auto-gun like it was the most precious thing he'd ever held.
Even Seranz picked up on the odd behaviour as she backed up after handing the man the rifle, seemingly regretting the action of handing the mental immortal a life weapon. "Lord Rex, what are you doing?"
Looking up at her, he chuckled "I'm just admiring this beautifal weapon my dear Seranz. After all, I finally get to hold a real fucking gun that fires bullets, not lasers. I'm so fucken happy." He practically hissed, clutching the gun to his chest and even Seranz seemed to look phased as she backed up a little, even if she didn't notice her own actions.
"You do realise that these weapons are made mostly for civilian worlds due to how cheap they are to manufacture. They don't compare to a well-made lasgun very well." The Sister reasoned, to which Rex merely grinned, seemingly having her words go on death ears as he held his rifle out before him and closed his eyes.
"Omnissiah, oh God of the Great Machine. I humbly request thy bless this humble tool of the God Emperor that it arise beyond its meagre design. That its barrel withstands the melting heat from the pleasure of delivering the God Emperor's will. That the receiver never pause or faulter in dispensing his justice. That with every faithful ignition every component function in perfect harmony. May this rifle serve faithfully and ardently. In your sacred name, I invoke this rite, and with the blessing of my blood, I now anoint thee, M4A1." He finally finishes with the auto-gun glowing with golden radiance, before dying down looking completely different.
I was honestly shocked at the now much skinnier black weapon he now held, and I couldn't believe what he'd just done as me and Seranz stared in abject shock.
"By the God Emperor. You can alter weapons now?" She gasped, and I myself found myself at a loss. The response was less a word, and more a squeal that I was unaware a man could produce.
"FUCK THE HELL YES!" He cheered so loudly, that I worried the zombies would hear and start to approach. Still, I found his reactions were cute. "Verosika, start the engine! We ride for destiny!" He shouted, and now I was worried he maybe a little too excited. I said as much when I lightly gripped his shoulder.
"Rex sweety, I realise you may be extremely happy for whatever reason, but please don't wake the dead. I'm pretty sure Seranz is mentally debating tossing you out the window." I joked, meanwhile the woman simply scoffed and began loading ammo for her rifle.
"Ah, erm. Right. Sorry Kleo. I've just always wanted a gun like this." He blushed and cracked his knuckles. A nervous trait I'd noticed.
Before long Verosika started the train, I idly noticed Rex had not been kidding about a servitor's upper torso being attached to the controls. Seranz of course ripped it off its pedestal and tossed it out of the door as we departed, the poor husk falling to the lower floors below.
While Rex and Verosika looked through the law enhancement's crate and spoke about weird things, I didn't understand, Seranz kept watch over the driver's controls. As I sat down in one of the few clean, if uncomfortable, blue metal seats to finally relax and rest, I caught myself idly wondering what Rex's home world must be like. He seemed to know all sorts of odd concepts and if that weapon was any indication, the technology wasn't of the Imperium.
Still soaked and somewhat cold in the train, I shivered now that the excitement had ended. My uniform felt all too uncomfortable on my frame and the sweat and blood stench told me I defiantly needed a shower. Even so, I found my mind also wandering to home. Looking out the slits this monorail provided as windows to the dark abyssal city below that was only lit by dim streetlights that would occasionally flicker and the occasional fire, I couldn't help but contrast this to my home planets' verdant fields and blue skies. How people could live down in this sea of rust and darkness, was anyone's guess. I just hoped I would be able to see my home again somehow.
To see my parents one last time.
"-atra! Kleopatra!" I reawakened with a start as I blurrily opened my eyes to meet the semi-glowing purple gaze of the demon girl Verosika, who was shaking my shoulder.
"W-What's wrong?" I tried to ask, only to get answered when I felt the train shudder. Rex cocked his new rifle and walked to the back of the train, kicking the door open, I watched him opening fire immediately. This woke me up as Verosika handed me my rifle.
"We are under attack Kleo. Something was on the tracks and once the train knocked it off, it seems the noise of the thing falling below, and crashing was enough to awaken the horde in this sector." She informed me. Looking out of the window, I could see literal thousands of zombies below us. Fortunately, the train ran twenty or so feet off the street floor so they couldn't get to it so easily. Still, that didn't stop them as they climbed onto the supports and up onto the tracks to chase us.
Looking over, I saw Seranz, as well as driving the train, had bashed in the front window and was shooting zombies that had climbed on the tracks ahead of us.
Even Verosika was joining in as she opened a side door to begin launching flames down the sides to clear of zombies that were clawing their way in though the small windows. As if on que to that assessment, a hand slammed into the window I was looking through.
Backing up, I cocked my new rifle. I wasn't used to it. Then again, I wasn't used to my lasgun either and I had been thrown against the demons.
Bracing the stock against my shoulder like Rex and Seranz were doing, I wasn't really sure of what to do with myself as all around us were the living dead. I was about to ask where I was needed, when a door was suddenly ripped off and a large servitor climbed in near the front and rushed for Seranz back.
Shooting it, it turned to me and began sprinting, making me scared as it just wouldn't go down due to a metal plate covering its head.
"GET DOWN!" I did as the shout commanded and hit the deck, just in time for golden bullets that looked similar to lasgun beams shot overhead. The bullets instantly penetrated the thing's thick head it stumbled for a moment, only to tumble out of another door, breaking it off in the process as a last insult to us.
"Oh, fuck yes! I Pach-A-Punched it!"
"That's badass Rex!"
I heard Verosika complimenting Rex's seeming accomplishment, which I could only assume had something to do with the blessing he'd put on his new weapon.
Standing up, moved fast to stand in the middle of the monorail passenger cars and began shooting any zombie that entered the train, constantly turning left and right to the point I started getting dizzy.
Click, click, click.
Then of course there was the issue of running out of ammo in the mag of the only real weapon I had as I was used to a weapon with for more shots before a recharge-erm reload was needed.
Huffing, I put a new mag in, taking a moment to glace back in envy as it seemed Rex's gun had a far bigger mag capacity than my own some how as the guy basically held down the trigger. I watched as he stood in a semi crouched position, laughing like a mad man as he held the gun under his arm and use his left hand to hold the barrel down to stop the recoil. The constant sound was jarring and he's lucky his ear drums would regenerate.
Shooting another dozen zombies that began entering the train, I felt like we may be able to hold this position until we arrived as long as the ammunition held out.
Seranz then called out that she was running out, also that we were entering another sector. Grabbing an ammo box. I ran to the front of the train, reaching her just as we passed through a giant wall that divided the under hives into sections.
"Ammo here!" I told her.
"Thank you, Kleopatra." She responded, mag-locking the new magazines to her armour's waist. I looked back to Rex, to see him finally reloading with Verosika handing him a couple of boxes. I had no idea how that new blessed weapon of his seemed to work, but he just kept loading ammo into its single unique magazine.
Seeing he was covered by Verosika, I was able to breath bettor for the moment as the terrifying thirty-minute assault finally ended as the undead struggled to pile through the breach fast enough to catch up.
That said, I wasn't without worry as the entire train was now illuminated by an eery green glow. Looking down, I saw that this sector looked so much worse than any previous we had travelled though.
In the now rusted streets, horrendous masses of rotten flesh and bone stomped about. Horns, claws, and yellow fangs were covering every unnatural creature in this sector below. The ground and walls were covered in a thick coating of glowing green blotches and moulds. I the zombies I could see were far more bloated and larger and looking up, I could even see a few flying creatures. All of this coated in a thick helping of green miasma that seemed to get into every pour, every rusty corner, and worst of all, in the train.
For a moment, I was terrified this stuff was toxic or another way to spread the plague, but then I remembered that my armour supposedly protected me from chaos taint.
Still, it didn't seem perfect as looking back, I could see Rex having glowing pustules form on his naked skin, only to explode and heal instantly. Flies also littered the place, buzzing about and being annoying. And the smell, the smell was worse than anything I had ever experience to date.
Eyes wide, I turned to Rex, who was seemingly unaware of his blight as he literally couldn't feel it.
"Rex, you seem to be… Something is wrong with you." I diplomatically said, to which the guy turned to me, and I honestly wish he didn't as he was covered in tumours.
"Yeah. I fucken know." He growled through a scratch throat as he spat blood onto the floor. "We are in this city's Nurgle garden apparently. I'm just glad that I blessed you and Seranz armour as you'd be dead in seconds thanks to all this shit." He sighed in relief, gesturing to our armour which was keeping us safe. To punctuate his point, the flesh on his hand was going necrotic, yet healing at the same time.
"You'll be alright, right?" I couldn't help but hesitantly ask, to which he nodded.
"Yeah, I'll be fine. Verosika isn't really affected by blight, and I can shrug off any desease, so I'm good." That was a relief, as seeing him like this was yet another nightmare I wanted to be over soon.
CRASH SKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
The entire train was suddenly rocked to the left and I found myself scrambling for something to brace myself, only to go face first into Verosika's huge breasts. Said woman wrapped her arms around me as we fell to the floor. Fortunately, the train righted itself and we didn't derail. That said, I was now in the unfortunate /fortunate position of being in the demon's embrace, as it were.
"Fufufu, naughty Kleo~ I had no idea you could be so forceful. If you wanted me like this, I could have done something when we first left the station~" I shivered at her tone and not for the first time today, questioned myself if I was bisexual. It also helped that unlike everything since I came to this horrific world, Verosika smelled lovely, like Lavender. There was also that her body, while large in height, was unrealistically soft to the point I felt I could actually just pass out like this.
That didn't last long as I felt a hand on my shoulder, pulling me up. The person happened to by Rex, who was grinning at me like the gyrinx that caught the mouse.
"As much as I'd love to watch you gorgeous ladies roll around together, the fucking train just got hit by something huge, so I suggest you grab your auto-gun before train driver Seranz catches you literally lying on the job." His comment had me feeling very warm in the face and I couldn't help but look at the front of the train to see Seranz more focussed on shooting at whatever was outside, to notice my slip-up.
"R-Right…" I picked back up my weapon and for some reason couldn't get his comment out of my head about the naked demon, he, and I. He didn't really want that, did he?
CRASH!
My thoughts were once more interrupted as we were slammed yet again, this time only rattling the train, so I thankfully didn't fall again and instead rushed to see what it was that Seranz was shooting at. Getting to one of the open side-doors, I found myself praying silently.
Rats. Giant rats. Not just giant rats, oh no. Giant mutant ZOMBIE rats! Thousands of them.
"Oh, fuck me." I cursed as I saw the newest horror of chaos. I was honestly starting to wonder if survival was even possible at this rate as I saw them bounding across the rooftops after us.
Just as yet another one launched itself off the side of a building to bash into the side of the train again to derail it, I opened fire with my auto-gun, the gun taking half a mag to kill the thing mid-air with its body fortunately falling short with the bullets slowing its momentum.
Blasting another rodent, it was then that I felt the whole train shake and shudder. Looking to the back of the train, I was just in time to see that it was being dragged at a slant. I thanked the God Emperor that Rex immediately exited the train car and used his power sword to cut the coupling hook off. He was just in time as the train car let out further screeches, before going off the rails and tumbling after us, exploding in a haze of fire that made me cover my eyes.
"WHAT JUST HAPPENED?" Seranz demanded as we went around a bend.
"We just lost a train car!" Rex responded and he began firing at yet more oversized rodents that attacked us with no remorse.
Moving further up the train, I began shooting more and more of the rodents as they kept the same tactic of using their bodies as battering rams. The effort seemed futile as we defended the last five cars.
It was then that I heard a scraping on the roof caused by long talons that dug through the metal which to my horror, began turning to rust and falling apart at a rapid pace. Shooting the creature through the metal, it turned out to be some kind of rotten bird thing with a naked head and neck and a huge beak. Unfortunately, as my auto-gun clipped its wings and the thing tumbled, it fell into the train car with me and began chasing me as I tried to reload.
"REX!" I screamed. The man turned to me and looked surprised, before pulling his power sword out and slicing the things head off. I was about to thank him then out of nowhere a massive set of teeth ripped through the side of the cabin, tearing out the wall and making the train car shudder and shake. Panicking, Verosika picked me and Rex up under her arms and carried us to the next car with just enough time for Rex to cut the connection again, sending away another cart that exploded in the face of a giant four-armed green slug thing with a huge maw.
Shrieking as it was burned, the thing only seemed angered by the slight as it chased after us.
"SERA! MAKE THIS OLD BITCH GO FASTER OR WE'RE FUCKED!" Rex exclaimed to the woman driving the train. Meanwhile, he began firing his own auto-gun at the monster, to little effect as even his gun barely slowed it down.
"I'M ALREADY PUSHING THE LIMIT DAMNIT! IF I HIT A TURN ANY FASTER, I'LL DERAIL US!" She screamed back, still firing at something up ahead. "AND IF YOU LOT COULD GET YOUR FUCKING HANDS OFF OF EACHOTHER FOR FIVE MINUTES, YOU'D REALISE I'M RUNNING OU OF MUNITIONS!" Oh, apparently, she had seen me fall on Verosika, that was be something I hope she doesn't bring up later, if we survive.
"Oh, right! Sorry." Quickly as I could, I ran to the crate. I also, idly noticed with mounting horror that it was now located in the back of the train. Running the box over to Seranz, I said as much.
"Seranz, we are about to lose the ammo supplies." At my words, I could see her grit her teeth and her brows contort.
"Just a little longer. The next segment of the city is up ahead. We need you lot to keep them off us just a little longer." She firmly stated, blasting another zombie out the sky and another couple off the tracks ahead with a stub-gun. All around out feet, I could see thousands of spend casings, accompanied by empty magazines, as well as a few auto-guns with barrels so hot, they had warped.
I took a moment to admire how cool and collected she seemed even in such a helpless situation. In the next moment, I was dashing down the train car and shooting at some enhanced bloated zombies that had climbed on the train via the ripped open side-doors. When they died, they exploded in a shower of noxious gas and viscera that made me heave.
Getting to Rex, I told him what I had been told and her predictably put his foul mouth to work.
"Kleo, I need you to do something for me." I listened carefully to what he was suggesting, and I widened my eyes.
"Are you crazy? Do you want us to all die?" I asked the man I was now sure was clinically insane.
"Just fucking DO IT! We are literally out of options." He snarled at me, grabbing my chin and forcing me to look down into his blue eyes. The seriousness his gaze conveyed made me compliant and I hesitantly got to work as I approached the ammunition crate. Tossing out various items ranging from munitions boxes, to weapons, I eventually found what I was looking for and ran back to the front of the train to warn Seranz of Rex's plan.
The woman predictably shouted a lot, but she too was out of ideas, and it seemed our only option. This became all the more apparent as Rex cut off yet another derailed car, courtesy of that surprisingly fast giant slug monster.
Down to only three train cars, I desperately worked, sweating as my efforts would either save us or doom us. Even as the train was rocked and the literal metal walls came down around me via rust decay or with bruit force, I had tears streaming down my cheeks as I blocked out all background noise, even zombie bodies started falling down around me as I vaguely noticed Verosika and Rex were now standing over me as before I knew it, the third train car had been lost leaving us with only one passenger car and the driver car.
"I-IT'S DONE!" I screamed, handing Rex our only chance of survival. I could see as I kneeled on the floor surrounded by corpses in a half-destroyed train car, that the slug creature was about to get us. I could smell its stench as if it were death itself with its puss filled maw big enough to swallow me whole with gnarled sharp teeth and bloated rotten corpse of a mutant body.
As I handed him the huge bundle of grenades that I had tied together, I had expected the man to simply throw it and hope it destroyed the beast. I had been wrong in that guess.
"Oh, Machine Spirit, ancient and unfathomable, I invoke thee in the Omnissiah's sacred name, in dark times blacker than black and darker than dark." He began evoking once more, and I couldn't help but think he was trying to kill us as the creature was so unbelievably close to us even as Verosika gave it all she had, burning the Nurgle monster with purple warp flames. Still, Rex kept chanting, calmly.
"Let the gears of fate grind at my command, and the fires of the forge burn within the core of each blessed tool of division. Unleash thy divine wrath encapsulated in each blessed grenade, let our enemy burn to ashes before thy might." He dropped his auto-gun to the floor, letting it clatter to the ground. I then saw him slit his chest wide open with his power sword and hold the large bundle to it, saturating them in his life fluids and for once I was so terrified that the body horror didn't bother me. Seeing the monster open its disgusting maw, I closed couldn't close my eyes as it jumped at us, seconds away from biting down on us and killing us.
"With the boiling crimson blood of the faithful coating these vessels, I beseech thee that I desire for a torrent of unrivalled power and destructive force without equal. For the glory of the Imperium, return all chaos-tainted creation to cinders that man upon! For the God Emperor of Man Kind! EXPLOSION!" In one swift motion he pierced the monster's forehead by throwing his power sword. He then pulled the pin of a single grenade with his teeth and chucked it into the monster's gullet.
It all happened so fast; I'd have missed it.
Rex dived atop me just fast enough to cover my body from the explosion that followed. I didn't even notice when we entered a new district as an explosion so large that it made the district wall tunnel we passed through collapse behind us. The train was rattled and actually lifted from the force, before crashing back down. I could feel the heat from the explosion searing my lower body and I screamed out into Rex's right ear as he held me tightly. My ears were only capable of picking up an intense ringing, while I honestly couldn't tell if my eyes were open or not.
All I could feel as I blacked out was pain, and Rex's body against mine with that small comfort carrying me into the blackness.
Gasping, my lungs clawed for air with each painful breath a sharp gasp that cut through the air. The world was a blur of shadows and muted sounds, as if I were hearing through water. I tried to move, but my body was a map of aches, protesting every slight motion. The cold floor beneath me was a stark contrast to the lingering phantom feeling on the inferno on my skin as a cruel reminder of the explosion.
Still, I could have been half asleep, my mind's small mercy before I face the reality of the pain I'd endure, assuming I wasn't already dead and in the Emperor's embrace.
My eyes fluttered open, struggling against the weight of my own eyelids that I was glad to still have. The dim light was a shock, sending a fresh wave of pain coursing through my skull.
'Rex…' The man's name echoed in my mind in silent mantra. Idly, I noticed we were still moving as I felt the motions rattling softly against my back. Finally cracking my eyes open, I saw the half-ruined metal ceiling of the train car. Shifting my head ever so slightly, I realised my helmet had been removed, letting out my long black hair.
It seemed I was noticed as Rex approached me and crouched beside me, looking down at me with the happiest smile I've seen him give.
"Look at that, you finally got all the blood cleaned off." I joked as for the first time since I met him, I couldn't see a drop of blood on his pale skin. Rex snorted and sighed, sitting beside me on the floor.
"Yeah, getting incinerated kinda has a side-effect of doubling as a deep clean. Who the fuck knew?" His lopsided grin was contagious as I couldn't resist the muscle born urge. What he said bothered me as I slowly leaned up on my elbows to look down at my body. I gasped as my lower armour, boots, pants, and underwear had been removed and were in a burned black heap next my legs. My legs looked fine for the most part, my thighs didn't feel in any pain, and I couldn't see any visible scaring above the rag blanked that covered my lower shins and feet. Idly, I became embarrassed that my vagina was visible to the only man of our group. That said, it seemed like a pretty moot point to worry about considering I'd been travelling with a pair of nudists, one of which I couldn't find in our vicinity.
He seemed to have read my mind as he became downtrodden, making me nervous as he gestured to my lower half.
"You can thank Verosika for that." He sighed, rubbing his forhead. "She was pretty drained after all the warp fire she used, and even still spent the last of her energy to heal you for the last few hours after the explosion." He explained, surprising me greatly that she was willing to go so far for me. I was sure she probably did it for Rex, more than me, but it still meant a lot.
"Can I thank her?" I asked, feeling it was the least I could do for her efforts. By the shake of his head, I assumed it was more complicated than that.
"Not now. When it was all over, and we were in the clear, you were … not in a good way. I blocked the majority of the damage with my body, but… Not enough." He let out a tired sigh, I didn't expect to see from the usually bombastic man. "After expending the last of her vessel's energy, she entered my body to rest and recuperate. She's currently asleep, see?" He raised his right hand to me and showed that the back of his palm was glowing a soft purple. "That's… not all." He added, making me wince as his sombre demeanour somehow grew dimmer.
Silently, I followed his gaze as it turned to the rag blanket that covered my feet. Slowly, like an inmate on the way to be turned into a servitor, I reached for the blanket until I grasped it. Pulling it back slowly, I choked on my own breath.
"No…" My moistening eyes remained transfixed as I horrifyingly gazed at the identical stumps that formed just above my ankles. My mouth was wide, and I could only let out a croaky hoarse noise as I stared at my now crippled and missing appendages.
Turning to Rex, I merely sobbed, thankful he let me hug him as if he was the very incarnation of the tiny vestiges of my hope and sanity that had been eroded piece by piece by this God Emperor forsaken cursed world. When he wrapped his arms around me, I only sobbed harder into his warm embrace.
"I-It's too much. I-I want to go home." I whimpered, my tears making me look ugly I'm sure as I clung to the man as if he too would be taken next.
"Shhhhh. Shhhhh." He soothed, stroking my hear in a way that my fractured mind interpreted as SAFETY, as if his touch was an invincible armour I could coat myself in. As I sobbed further, we simply sat there, no other words spoken as the damaged monorail train simply clattered along the tracks in a somehow soothing pattern.
After a while, I slowly opened my eyes and peered into his. I don't know what it was in that moment, but the way his caring blue eyes reflected some passing bluish streetlights in that moment only worked to enhance how suddenly captivating they were.
Inching closer, like a glacier's shift, I felt a pressure on my lips. A pleasant pressure. The taste of blood on my tongue was enough for me to let my slowed mind know that I was kissing him. Kissing the man who had saved me time and time again in such a short amount of time. A man who even now, was here, by my side knowing from this point on, I would be nothing but a burden.
I don't know if it was just my hormones running haywire at so many near death moments, a chemical demand to attach myself to something that would serve as a companion. I don't care. But in this moment, with him. I will enjoy it.
"Ahem." We slowly disconnected and turned our heads in unison to see the impassive electric blue eyes of Seranz staring down at us with no emotions I could derive on her face. "Glad to see you've made it Guardsman. You are built with tougher stuff than the fast majority of your comrades." The ghost of a smile on her face told me she meant it, and coming from the tough stern woman, it may as well have been a resounding cheer to me.
"Thanks, Seranz, that means a lot." I softly replied to the woman who uncrossed her arms. "We will be arriving shortly. It seems that chaos's influence in this part of the under hive is non-existent, therefore I'd wager that it's a neutral ground of sorts between the different factions. As such we shouldn't struggle to disembark below the ritual site."
I took in this information with great relief but was still concerned about how I now factored into all of this. After all, surely, they weren't going to carry me half the way through a demon infested city, right?
"What about me? I… I can't walk like this." I said, looking down at my stumps with great sadness clawing at my heart when I suddenly felt my fingers brushing against his before he interlaced them. Looking up silently, Rex gave me a determined stare and right then I knew like a chain sword piercing armour, sparks were flying, and a connection was cut into my heart, a silent vow that we would face whatever came next… together.
"I'll have to carry you, dumbass. After all, it was once again my bad idea that got us in this situation after all. Only this time, you got hurt." His self-criticism didn't sit well with me, and it seemed Seranz agreed with me as she shook her head before crouching down and flicking Rex's head rather harshly, much to my inner irritation.
"Don't be so hard on yourself Lord Rex. You made a split-second decision, the result of which saved us all. The galaxy is too vast and too dangerous to spend too much time grieving over loss instead of focusing on what you can save. That was a lesson my teacher taught me." She imparted to us, and I found myself agreeing with her wisdom. Rex also seemed too as well.
"You're right. She was a smart woman." Seranz nodded to the compliment. "So, as a change of topic, how are we on weapons? I have my M4A1, Kleo's auto-gun is there." He pointed to a broken bench that both of our weapons were leaned against. "Both of which fortunately have a dozen mags each thanks to Kleo grabbing some extra boxes before we lost the crate." He reported, raising his hand for a high five, which I accepted with a blush as he smiled at me.
"Good. I have a dozen auto-gun, but all of their battles are warped due to overuse. Civilian weapons." She scoffed, clearly not pleased by the quality provided by civilian built weapons, which tended to be on the cheap end due to not really being meant to go against anything but another standard human. "As it stands, I have six mags and a single functional auto-gun, as well as my power sword, though its power cell is low on energy and won't last long." She explained, making me concerned as this wasn't exactly the ideal to storm and traverse such a dangerous area.
"We will make it work. We don't need to clear the place out. We just gotta get to the surface, then skirt our way around the ritual site to get a straight shot to the Mega Forge for the ship." He declared, pressing his pointer finger to the ground to emphasise his point.
"Its not like we have much choice." Seranz shrugged. Clearly the woman was willing to follow Rex's lead on this. Whether that was due to the God Emperor blessing him, or actual faith in him, I wasn't so sure. Either way, I wasn't contemplating that for long as while Seranz returned to the controls of the train, Rex nudged me with his arm and grinned at me mischievously. A glint in his eyes that I was sure I'd only seen when he had his metaphorical claws on a weapon he'd suddenly fallen in love with. Not that I wanted to put myself in that category due to his tendency to lose said weapon by tossing it at the enemy to kill them, not that I believed he'd use me as a human spear… I hoped.
Then again, considering how his hand snaked to grab the meat of my exposed butt cheek, I doubted that was what he intended to do with me. Also, I was suddenly reminded that I was very much naked from the waist down and next to a very much naked man. A man I had been kissing not ten minutes ago. This made me blush a ton and it only got worse when he gave it an experimental squeeze, sending a pleasant chill down my spine. It seemed he knew this as before I knew it, I had his tongue in my mouth and mine in his and he was slowly pushing me down.
I didn't get to know what he would have done next in that moment, as my stomach, who had the worst timing ever! Had chosen that exact moment to make its displeasure at being empty known. We broke the kiss, and both looked down at it for a moment, before looking back up into each other's eyes and bursting out into laughter. In the end, we leaned against each other in a comfortable embrace and simply enjoyed each other's company as we shared tales about each other's worlds.
Thirty minutes later, our tired old monorail train rolled into the station. The sign read 'Infernium City Centre' telling us we were in the right place. We gathered our weapons and ammo and stepped onto the station with Seranz leading the charge as Rex was giving me a piggyback. Mind you, the fact I could feel his roaming hands endlessly playing with my cheeks as he held me aloft on his back, was an indignity I simply had to grin and bare as no amount of side glances or light slaps on his shoulder was deterring that God Emperor damned thousand watt grin he sported, or the fact he kept deliberately spreading my cheeks damned time he had to readjust me if I slipped slightly. Unfortunately, it seemed the fucker was a butt guy. Just my luck.
All of the fun and games quickly ended as we found the station to be teeming with demons. As such, it seemed Rex's mentality shifted as his hands slid from my butt to my thighs and he seemed far more tense than before. I wasn't defenceless however, as I was able to reload and shoot to cover us while Rex carried me around behind Seranz. I just didn't enjoy the wind draft below… Still, it seemed my time in that hellhole had granted me with a better aim. That or my nerves has lessened. That or Rex's proximity was keeping me calmer than before. I honestly didn't know, but I was thankful for it all the same as he let me borrow his unique blessed auto-gun, while mine was on a sling behind my back.
Having made it this far and after losing my feet before giving my first kiss to this guy, I just hoped we could make it out of this place alive. Seeing the demons approaching on the station, my determination to make sure that happened had me levelling the blessed auto-gun Rex affectionately christened M4A1 renewed hope because after all…
"The Emperor Protects." I called out with a grin.
BANG
