[Moosh da Outlaw]

Oooh swatiska scar... Original. What the problem. That speech thing sounds bit like the consience thing in Pinochio. Too bad Dan didn't think to take the leeches to suck out the cylonite stuff. Great chapter maybe a little confusing with the fight but whenever I read if forget the last word ending in a big mess where I have to read 27 sentances over again. More!

The leeches were dead and packed in jars of preserving alcohol, so they wouldn't be very useful.
Glad you like it btw.
C:



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Durc shot an accusing look up at Nedd, who was lounging idly in the rafters. “You didn’t!” He snarled. Nedd shrugged.

“I didn’t.” He said, sneering slightly. “I only bit some of em’.”

Hugo suddenly went into a rage, barking and springing on his chubby toes. The challenge was met with a roar that shook the entire room; a bark from every cylonite-infected slog that packed it. There seemed to be countless dozens of them, snarling and bristling and snapping their decay-colored jaws. Their skin varied in color, ranging from rancid milk to coal-black, and foam was sputtering down their mouths, fizzing noisily as it hit the ground. The room went still. Nobody dared to move; it was as if somehow, if they stood still, the slogs would just forget they were there. But that wasn’t the case.

Nedd looked as though he were having a great time, grinning and slouching against a nearby support beam. He whistled. A small slog trudged through the crowd of infected bodies until she stood in the front, her chest swelling with each gargantuan breath.

“LADY!” Durc squealed like a happy schoolgirl. The only thing that kept him from running over and getting mauled to death was Dan, who pulled him back at the last second.
Are you INSANE? He hissed. Nedd examined his nails and pretended like he wasn’t listening. Do you want to DIE?

“But Lady---” Durc began.

... is a cylonite-infected freak of nature who’s only interested in killing you! Dan finished, shoving Durc aside. His eyes watered noticeably.

Hugo leapt forward, mouth open impossibly wide, and went for a one-shot kill, trying to close his jaws around Lady’s neck. Lady slid to the side with ease and the two slogs circled, growling like wolves. Durc stiffened. Dan couldn’t care less which one died. Lady darted forward like a bullet from a gun and crushed Hugo’s head in her teeth like a watermelon, licking the blood from her lips as he fell limply to the floor, his head virtually severed from his neck.

“LADY!” Durc screamed in (slightly platonic) horror. “HOW COULD YOU?!” Lady acknowledged him by pouncing forward and pinning him to the floor with a mighty yowl. The rest of the slog pack followed, and Nedd watched on, a look of malevolent satisfaction on his face.

Dan really wished he had his snoozi with him.

He jumped behind a stack of crates and ducked, peeking around the corner in horror. The slogs were winning by a mile, gutting and snapping the necks of their unfortunate victims. He saw Ian fire a shot, dropping a slog, before vanishing under a mass of snapping teeth and serrated claws. Dan paled and lifted his crowbar, his hands shaking wildly as he tried to keep his emotions under control. Half of him wanted to skewer the brains of every slog in the room; the other half wanted to run away screaming and curl up in a corner somewhere.

He swung his makeshift weapon as a slog jumped at him. It pierced the slog’s upper jaw, cutting through its head. It fell with a sickening gurgle. Two more slogs jumped at him at once; one was killed by a bullet, though Dan couldn’t tell who shot it. He killed the other one by breaking its legs with a fierce uppercut, and finally breaking its back while it was immobile.

Nedd leapt nimbly down from the rafters and landed with catlike grace, his bloodshot eye flicking left and right. He passed by virtually unnoticed by the slog pack; they didn’t even give him a passing glance. They were too busy with what they were doing and they were having too much fun to stop. Dan jerked back, hoping he wasn’t noticed. He wasn’t granted such luxury.

Nedd bolted to the top of the crates and stared down at him ravenously. Dan backed up, his crowbar in his hands. He tried to look determined. He failed miserably.

Nedd hissed; “You pathetic little worm, withering in fear at the slightest danger. You’re living in a fantasy world in your head. You think that things’ll always work out for you if you just hide like a coward and feign not to exist.” He ascended from the crates stealthily, his feet not even making a sound. Dan flinched. Those words hurt, and, as much as he hated to admit it, they were true. Nedd’s eyelids lowered slightly. He said quietly “And to think you were accepted into the guard. What a waste. You’re nothing but a revolting caricature of bravery.”

Nedd tore forward and Dan swung the crowbar without even aiming. It smacked his face, leaving a yellowish, bruised mark. Nedd swung around with spry and grabbed a wrench lying nearby, twirling it with ease. He brought the wrench crashing downward, and it struck Dan in between his eyes. Dan staggered back, crying out in pain. His vision swam. Time slowed. He suddenly went deaf. He could see his comrades being mangled by the slogs, just barely staying alive. Slogs were collapsing under their own weight; the guards had just barely gotten the upper hand. Dan hit the floor limply and struggled to stand, but there was no need. Nedd pulled him roughly up by his neck and threw him across the room, where he broke through a shelf and struck a wall. Splintered wood punctured his back, and he could feel warm blood trickling down the dip of his shoulders. His head rolled forward. Dan tried to open his eyes, but his eyelids were too heavy. He wanted to close his eyes and fall asleep, to wake up later and realize that his entire life had been one bizzare, convoluted dream. But it wasn’t a dream. It was real. The best he could hope for was that Nedd would hurry up and kill him before he could suffer any more.

Nedd walked up to him and crouched nearby, his eyes dark. Dan opened his eyes weakly. Nedd was staring him in the eyes and slowly raising his wrench for the finishing strike. He was watching his face. Watching him die.

A crack split the air as Durc broke free of the slogs and threw a grenade. It burst into uncontrolled flames that licked the air and burned through slogs all around, causing them to wither and howl. Guards and slogs alike started retreating; the fight was horrible, and everybody, even the slogs, seemed shaken. Nedd cast Dan a sideways glance, lifted the wrench, and brought it crashing down on the left side of his head. A blinding pain exploded in his scull, and he tried to scream, but no sound came.

“Something to remember me by.” Nedd chuckled, springing up into the rafters and vanishing before anyone had the chance to shoot at him. Dan’s eyelids fluttered weakly, and his head rolled. Everything went black.
‘At last.’ He thought.

<~{.epidemic.}~>

Dan was thrust back into consciousness by a sudden splash of cold water. He gasped and opened his eyes in confusion, wincing as he felt a stinging sensation at the side of his head. Durc stood nearby, holding an empty jar that looked as if it once contained formaldehyde. Just thinking about the stuff made Dan shudder.

“Get up.” Durc demanded. Dan rose slowly to his feet, and instantly his legs gave way. He slumped against the wall and his vision blurred, like looking through fogged glass. He glanced around quickly. Dead bodies scattered the floor, some of which were so mutilated that he couldn’t tell what they were. A dozen or so guards picked themselves up off the ground and were walking around unsteadily.

Durc paused. “Oh.” he said. Dan looked at him in confusion.

What? He hummed worriedly. Durc slowly lifted his hand and touched the side of his own head. Dan mimicked his motion, disoriented, and felt a pit of dread form in his stomach. He felt the left side of the top of his head, expecting to feel his left horn, but it wasn’t there. In its place was a bloodied dent.
Aw, hell. Dan groaned.
‘Something to remember me by.’ Of course.

“Sucks to be you.” Durc said, thinking out loud. It seemed like the last thing to say to a guy who was nearly killed by his former friend, but it was only expected of Durc.
Dan’s head cleared slightly, and he found that he was able to think straighter. Durc called out to the survivors (those who hadn’t been bitten; everyone who had been was torn limb from limb):

“Okay, lets get out of here. Leave the bodies, we gotta go right now before the slogs get any ideas and come back to kill us all.” He grinned pleasantly and his voice struck a cheery note that seemed completely out of place. “Kay?”

After a lot of shuffling and complaints they left the room, trying to keep as quiet as possible. Dan searched diligantly, and was finally satisfied when he spotted Ian in the back of the procession. 'At least he's alive.'
They jumped at every sound they heard and flinched at every twisted shadow they passed until they finally found the exit. They rushed up the stairs all at once, eager to leave. Dan heard somebody in the crowd say “I’d rather die then go back there, man!” and he silently agreed. They pushed and shoved through the exit, some cheering with the joy of still being alive. Dan grabbed a pack of gauze from a box nearby and wrapped it around his gashed shoulders and where his horn used to be, feeling much better now that they had left the basement.
Helix was leaning against a wall and eyed them critically.

“So, how’d it go?” He asked sarcastically. Durc hissed,

“Shut up.”

“You know,” Helix said, pretending not to have heard, “I could have thought of a hundred better---”

“Shut up!”

“---ideas than storming in there with lamps and trying to shoot him.”

“They’re called strobe lights,” Durc corrected acidly, “and we didn’t have any other options!”
By now everybody had gone silent, listening intently. Nothing was more entertaining than listening to two vykkers arguing. Sometimes it even led to a scuffle.

Helix rolled his eyes dramatically. “You had plenty of other options! What the hell is with you? Do you like putting your life in danger, or does it just make you feel brave?”

‘Nice.’ Dan smirked. Durc deserved to be taken down a notch.

“Oh yeah?” Durc snapped. “What’s makes you think---”

“Well,” Helix began, “I would’ve either gassed the place, re-wired the circuits so all the lights turned on, or just locked him down there so that he could die of starvation. Nobody would get hurt, except him, of course---”

“WHY WON’T YOU !#&@ING SHUT UP?!” Durc screamed, breaking under pressure. “If you’re so sure about yourself then why don’t you go down there and do-it-your-@#*$ing-self instead of ARGUING about ABSOLUTELY-FRICKING-EVERYTHING!”

Helix opened his mouth, and closed it again. Somebody in the back of the group coughed. Durc was panting as though he had just run a mile, and he looked like he was about to break down and cry, but for the sake of whatever dignity he had left, he didn’t. Dan decided to take a chance, though he felt as though he were putting his life on the line.

Why don’t we try Helix’s plan? He asked quietly. Helix frowned.

“What?”

Dan rolled his eyes, snatched a clipboard from somebody standing nearby, scrawled his message, and handed it to Helix. Helix read it over.

“Exactly.” He said, beaming. “Why don’t we try my plan? We lock him down there and wait for him to die. There’s only one way out of the basement, and its those doors.” He pointed to the tall metal doors. “If we just lock them, leave them for a month or two, and come back later, our problem should be long gone.”

Murmurs of agreement followed. It seemed like a reasonable plan; much better than Durc’s plans had been, anyway.

“It wont work.” Durc sniffled weakly. He suddenly shot Dan a glance as though saying ‘BETRAYER!’ though Dan wasn’t quite sure exactly who he had betrayed.

“Well?” Helix asked smugly.

“Well what?” Durc growled, barely keeping his voice straight.

“Want to lock up the basement?”

Everyone looked expectantly in his direction. Durc frowned and looked around. Finally he swallowed his pride and said, “Okay, whatever, we’ll try his stupid plan.” He turned and muttered under his breath, "But its not gonna work."

Helix crossed his arms and snickered in a vykker-ish way. Dan felt good for once, and, if only for a little while, his head stopped hurting.