Another chapter of TOADAR. Enjoy.
Chapter 38
I woke again. I felt something wet and warm on my face, and tiny little pains along my shoulder. I smiled.
"Mesh..." The little sloggy crawled over me, showering me with slobber. I picked him up and dropped him next to me. Naturally, he immediately sprung back onto me. I laughed, sitting up. My small moment of happiness faded quickly. I was surrounded by Gimmakons. Their expressions did not match mine. Not that you could really tell their expression.
The biggest, nastiest looking one stepped forward.
"You are awake," he said. It was the same voice I had heard earlier. I stared, bewildered at it, wondering where the sound came from. I saw the long, thick armoured tentacle hanging from the Gimmakons body, and noticed that it throbbed as he spoke.
"Yeah... I was sorta hoping this was a nightmare though."
"This is indeed reality. And you need not fear us. We-"
"We will not hurt you, I know. Where are my friends?"
"The Big Brother slig is in a cage. We were not sure whether his intentions were good or bad. The Mudokon is resting still."
"Where is Spade, er, I mean, the slig?"
The Gimmakon waved his tentacle airily, pointing to a small cage, hanging from a thick tree branch, high above the ground.
"Yo! Shred, get me down from here man, heights aren't my thing."
"He's with me, let him down."
The Gimmakon waved his tentacle again, and the cage was dropped from the branch.
"Aaaaaaaaaarghhh!!!!"
Before I could say anything he was on the ground safely, the cage gone from sight.
"Whoooaaaaa," said Spade, "How did you do that?"
The Gimmakon ignored him.
"My name is Raker."
"I'm Shred, that's Spade, and the mudokon is Joe. How did we get here?"
"We observed your battle on the top of the factory for quite a while. Well fought. When you fell, we thought it best to try and save you. We caught you just before you hit the top of the trees, and brought you here."
"That blue light.. was that you?"
"No... it is the blue light that has us very curious. We too would like to know where it's from. It's source may be helpful to our species to fight the Magog Cartel. Thousands of us are captured and slaughtered everyday."
"I... we need to get to the Magog Cartel Main Headquarters."
Raker looked alarmed at such a prospect.
"The Headquarters are very far away. The are outside of the jungle and across the desert. I may be able to guide you through the desert... maybe."
"There’s only one left..." I heard Spade say.
"Only one what?"
"Pelortha’s Lost Children. I’m the only one left."
"Oh... I’m so sorry Spade. I got you into this."
"And I got YOU into this," said another voice. It was Joe. "How’re you feeling?"
"Fine."
Suddenly the Gimmakons all went into spasms.
"What the hell?!" cried Spade.
They writhed on the ground, tentacles flailing, some opening up, revealing the many teeth they contained. Suddenly they stopped, and got up again.
"What... was that?" I asked.
"I’m sorry... it is because of the factory, attracting us there. We were able to find a plant species that we could eat to help us resist it. But that is the price we have to pay. The plant is highly poisonous, fatal for most. Our bodies can handle it, but when the plant blooms, which is roughly every 9 hours, the plants inside us react also, causing that."
"Damn..." said Joe.
Joe launched into a dialogue about how much he hated the Glukkons. I wasn’t listening. I was listening to something else. The sound was so faint I couldn’t tell whether it was in my head or for real.
"Joe... shutup..."
"Huh?"
"Listen."
Joe stopped talking. His eyes grew wide. I smiled.
"So it WASN’T in my head."
"What is the matter?" interrupted Raker. "I don’t hear anything. Although Gimmakon hearing isn’t all the sharp, at least not as sharp as yours."
Mesh growled softly. He could hear it too. He ran suddenly into a bush.
"Mesh!" I immediately gave chase, looking for the little sloggy. He may have been small, but he was pretty fast. I could keep up with him, but he kept evading my grabs for him. I was about to use some harsh words when Mesh suddenly stopped, turned around, and ran behind me.
"Ahahahahahahahahahahahaha look at the little fella twitch! Hey Kripac hit it with that zappy stick thing again! That was great!"
A sizzling sound filled the air, along with the smell of burnt flesh.
Mesh and I stood at the edge of a small cliff, looking down on a bunch of Big Brother sligs. I counted nine. In the middle of them was a small Elum, being poked and prodded. It was tied on a tether to a small pole stuck in the ground. The one called Kripac held a long stick, glowing blue at the end. An electric prod. He poked the Elum with it. It cried out, swinging its head around in a futile attempt to harm the sligs.
I heard Joe and Spade come up behind me.
"Is it...?" Joe couldn’t even bring himself to say the word ‘slig’ after our ordeal in the factory.
"Yeah. Big Bros. Nine of em."
"What’s with the Elum?" said Spade.
"Watch." I said, as Kripac poked it again, barely missing its eye, causing waves of slig laughter, and the shrill cries of the Elum to fill the jungle.
Joe moved forward, standing on the very edge of the cliff. "Bastards.." he hissed.
"Leave it, Joe." said Spade.
"But look, the Elum, it’s innocent and-"
"Joe!" said Spade, more loudly this time.
"Be quiet, both of you. Do you want them to hear us?"
Joe and Spade shut up then.
The Big Bro standing next to Kripac then took out a small blade, and took a swing at the Elum, missing by inches. He laughed. I worried Joe would say something and they would hear us, but he didn’t.
"Hey, hey Dorzen, check this out..."
He took another swing at the Elum. This time it was ready and butted him square in the chest with his head. The Big Bro was knocked off his pants. He scrambled, embarassed and pantless back to his pants and climbed in, glaring furiously at the Elum. It let out a sort of a howl, which I guess was an Elum laugh.
"Whoa, you alright Guntha?"
"Yeha, but that oddamned Elum is going down."
He rushed at the Elum, knife in hand. Joe wouldn’t let it happen.
"Hey, yo ugly guy. Yeah you." he cried out from the cliff. All nine of the Big Bro’s turned around. "If you’re going to stab something don’t you at least want a bit of a contest?"
"Joe! You idiot!" Spade looked furious. Our weapons, as far as I knew, were back with the Gimmakons, who I noticed hadn’t followed us.
Guntha looked first annoyed, the amused.
"Mud, you aren’t worth wiping the bloodstains off of my knife. However, I have plenty of bullets, and right here, I have one that says ‘Worthless piece of crap’ written on it. That one is for you."
"Yeah? I’d like to see it."
That did it. Joe leapt off the cliff, ready to transform. A flawless plan. A mudoscrab could probably take on nine Big Bros. A little blast here and a little shockwave there. Unfortunately, Joe’s pendant did not jump with him. Joe’s pendant was back with the Gimmakons.
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