[Moosh da Outlaw]

Hmm...I have a feeling that this is going to lead up to quite a climatic battle, eh? Can't wait...heehee, Durc's a moron. It's amusing.

You know it.

Yay! It aproaches the most important bit in the story! It makes me laugh to think back at some of the other chapters. How they could get to become this.

Yeah... I never realized how disfunctional I made my characters until I re-read some stuff. xD

Lawl, people get mad You certainly have an extremely descriptive and interesting writing style, I just luff it!! ^^ Well done, would love to read more

Thankyou. I try my best. ^^


Okay, I wrote this chapter two days ago, and already have the next chapter written, its just I couldn't get wireless internet for some time. I'm poaching it off my neighbors right now.



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Nedd ducked down and looked around the corner, stone silent. In the distance he could see the glow of flashlights. He pulled back with an angry grunt. Having the guards around complicated things. He got up, planning to run down there and gut them before they could raise the alarm, when suddenly he stopped. He crouched back down and smirked cooly.

“C’mere,” Nedd said to Ian, motioning for him to come closer. Ian crept over, staring at Nedd with his wide marble eyes. Nedd bared his teeth. “Hungry?”

Ian stared, puzzled.

Nedd leaned closer. “You like slig meat, right? S-l-i-g?” Ian just stared. “Slig, stupid!” Nedd hissed. “Green skin, tentacles, tastes like salt. Slig.”

Ian’s eyes widened and he nodded excitedly. Oh, boy! Slig! He looked up, down, than over his shoulder, trying to pinpoint the location of the delicious meat.

“You really want slig meat?” Nedd asked, his mouth curling in a jagged smile. Ian was nodding so fiercely that it looked like his neck would snap. “Well, go get it!”

Nedd pointed down the hall with a spidery finger. Ian sped down the hall so fast that he was practically a blur, dripping saliva on the floor. Nedd watched him go, leaning on his bad arm against the wall for support. Then he got up and followed at a distance, eager to see what the inane intern could do.

<~{.epidemic.}~>

The small group of guards came to a staircase. It was curved in the shape of a moon and led to a patio-like upper floor; it was slightly spiraled, so they could lean against the wall for cover while still walking up. Dan kept close to the side of the stairs as he walked, snuzi in hand. Red was at the back of the crowd, staring into the darkness behind him warily.

“Shhhh.” Durc whispered, one talon-like claw over his mouth. The group ducked slightly and nodded in understanding. Durc moved from his position against the stair’s wall and looked over the side at the upper floor. After a long pause he turned. “Come.”

The group followed closely behind as he stepped into the dark. He shone his flashlight on a wall, casting a long shadow. He recoiled. The group did exactly the same. He looked back over at them humorlessly. “Chill. It’s a false alarm.”

Dan rolled his eyes with a sigh. Durc ignored him/

“Come on, keep up, we’re not waiting behind if you get killed,” Durc sighed, continuing on his way. The group took one last glance at the shadow on the floor before hastily catching up. The hallways seemed deserted enough. All the rooms were padlocked from the inside; Durc had made sure that everybody had locked their rooms before going to sleep. This was the night, after all, that they were going to destroy the cylonite menace. Anything could happen.

“Boss?” A slig piped up as they marched on. Durc payed it no mind. “Boss!”

Durc swung around. “What?” He hissed.

The slig flinched, but kept its cool. “Do you smell that?”

Dan sniffed along with everybody else. He frowned. That smell. It was dirty and familiar. It was like...

upturned mulch.

Get back. Dan said quickly, eyes fixed ahead.

“Are you leading this patrol?” Durc rolled his eyes and gave Dan a cold, hard stare. Dan locked eyes with him until Durc finally fidgeted and looked away.

Dan looked back over his shoulder. Get back! He repeated. A some people took a few hesitant steps back. Dan’s fists closed. Something bad was coming. The scent of cylonite in the air was choking now, like second hand smoke...

“KKKRAAAAARRNNNAAHHHHH!” It was a horrible, ear splitting shriek! Dan clapped his hands over his ears impulsively.

Something big slammed into the front of the group in the form of a solid-black shadow. The guards it had rammed dropped their snuzi’s with a loud crack!, and the shape blasted through the low plaster ceiling, throwing splinters of white material in all directions. It vanished above them abruptly. Durc shot at the ceiling with his snuzi, and the rest of the guards followed his example, quickly making Swiss cheese of the air vents.

“What was that?” somebody whispered among the crowd’s concerned murmurs. Dan helped Red up.

You okay? Dan asked, suddenly remembering the huge gash in Red’s head. It looked like it was drying.

Fine. Red replied. His voice was hoarse.

Suddenly the shape erupted from the ceiling, breaking the bullet-dotted vents easily. It snapped its mouth (at least Dan thought it was a mouth) around a slig’s elbow before talking off the opposite way it had come, towards the Main Intersection, its prey kicking and screaming.

“After it!” Durc cried, pointing with a shaking claw. The thunder of running feet followed. The shape was way ahead of them; they would’ve lost it if it hadn’t left a trail of blood behind it. The group swung around the corner in a clustered mess, pushing some people over. It was chaotic. Dan and Red pushed their was to the front and looked around quickly, spotting the droplets of blood glistening off the floor. They followed behind quickly.

Eventually they slowed down, realizing they were alone. A soft dripping in the distance got their attention. Slowly, Dan pushed open a door that’s top hinges had been torn off. He looked in the room, squinting in the dark as the guard’s voices died down behind. He could hear a faint clop as the monster chewed on a bone. Dan’s eyes slowly adjusted, and he soon spotted the shape’s silhouette. It was an intern. Nedd.

Its was ducked down and its limbs were close to its body, but Dan could tell it was him. He loaded and raised his snuzi with a faint click.

Get ready. Dan whispered to Red.

He crouched down and raised his snuzi to eye level, aiming. Nedd didn’t even notice. He was too busy eating the slig. Dan’s hands were twitching unsteadily. He and Nedd been friends for too long, and turned into enemies so fast, that he still wasn’t used to attacking him. It just felt wrong.

But something else felt wrong too. Dan felt his heart begin to pound in his chest, hard. Sweat was running down his forehead and fogging up his goggles.

What are you waiting for? He heard Red murmur. Dan gave him a quick glance before gulping and turning back to his target. Nedd was licking the blood from his fingers. He started with one hand, trailing his tongue over his palm, before starting on the other hand.

What other hand?!

Dan dropped his snuzi, his entire body rigid and his eyes wide. Oh my Odd. The weapon clattered against the floor, and his target’s head snapped up, staring at him with curious eyes. No. NO!

That was not Nedd There was no way Why hadn’t he seen it sooner? This intern was smaller and thinner, and hadn’t even noticed they were there How could they have been so stupid?!

“Looking for someone?”

Somebody rough shoved both Red and Dan in the room. They scrambled to their feet, wide eyed, as Nedd stalked in behind them, so tall his head nearly touched the ceiling. Dan could see dried blood around his mouth. Behind them, the enemy intern curled into a whimpering little ball. Its self esteem was startlingly low.

“You know,” Nedd said, still walking towards them. Dan and Red backed up quickly. “At first thought you’re idiot friend was pretty useless. But now that I look at it, he might just be exactly what I needed.” he looked over at his degraded comrade. “Isn’t that right?”

The intern stared back, looking as though it wished it had never been noticed. Nedd chuckled.

“He’s quiet. Never has anything to say. Though I can’t say he was exactly please when he first found his way into my basement, trying to kill me.” Nedd leaned closer, smiling. He was so nearby that Dan could smell the blood in his breath. He cringed. “Looks like it didn’t work too well, eh?”

Red looked as he were fighting a blackout. He hadn’t said a word.

“This way ” voices were coming from out in the hall. Nedd’s head turned slightly, a growl coming from deep in his throat. “They went over here!” Are you sure? This way? “C’mon!”

Durc barged in the room, waving his snuzi like he planned to hack them in half with it. The guards followed behind. A loud click, and all snuzi’s were on them, loaded.

“You’re under arrest,” Durc said smugly, his snuzi held in his claws, “for homicidal crimes against the---” he stopped abruptly. Nedd moved slowly towards the wall, the guards following his movement. They all looked terrified; nobody had really gotten a chance to see Nedd up close. He was a horrifying sight.

Durc made short stuttering noises, trying to speak. Then finally, “T-two? There’s two?”

All defenses dropped. The guards were a flurry of activity. Two? Impossible! There was just one, there had always been one...

“Surprise.” Nedd said dully, cracking his knuckles against his stub arm. Ian flinched at the noise. Dan and Red were still in the middle of the room, kneeling down and watching them in fear and anger. Nedd bared his teeth in a grin. “And now you’re all going to die.”

“And how do you plan to do that?” Durc manage to sputter. His face was red; Dan could see it through his goggles. He looked like he might throw up. “We could shoot you in a heartbeat.”

“You could,” Nedd said thoughtfully, stepping towards the center of the room. “Or...”

His hand shot out, and he clamped Red’s head with his claws. Red let out a faint whimper. The guards were speechless. Their mission had just become a hostage situation

“Get over here,” Nedd said to Ian, pointing. The animalistic intern crept over warily and locked his jaws around the back of Dan’s neck, not hard enough to break the skin, but still enough to get the point across. Dan nearly passed out when he felt Ian’s hot, blood-scented breath against his head.

Ian, don’t do this, he whispered. He felt Ian tense slightly. Did he even remember his name?

“No, please, don’t lower your snuzis on my account,” Nedd said calmly, picking Red up by the shoulders. Red went limp with fear. Dan already knew what was coming before it even happened. “You’ll need them!”

He threw Red across the room, hard. The intern’s body bowled over the first row of guards standing there, and made Durc double over. Shots filled the air as Nedd banked from his hiding spot, charging towards the group. Ian released his grip on Dan and sprang nimbly across the room. He crushed Durc against the floor. Dan was paralyzed with fright. He should’ve known that Nedd wasn’t the type to negotiate; he preferred to kill first, ask questions later. Dan felt his hands curl into fists as he struggled to stand, practically unnoticed in the chaos. He picked up his snuzi, his hands trembling.

Had they blown the mission already?