Warning: Big Plot Shift ahead!!
CHAPTER TWENTY
It only took the work of a minute to get to the summit of the crater. And when Abe paused at the lip to look down into the scene below, the hope in his heart suddenly vanished, to be replaced by despair.
There had been a village here once…all that was left were smoking ruins. Ruins that had definitely been houses before they were torched.
And there were the bodies.
Bodies everywhere.
Gabbit bodies.
Abe moaned aloud. The bodies of the newly-recovering species lay strewn across the ground, scorched and decomposing. Whatever had caused all this carnage had obviously not happened all that long ago, because most of the bodies still had skin and flesh, and the smoke was still rising from the burnt buildings.
Whatever had killed the Gabbits had been very thorough. And it definitely hadn’t been Sligs – because there were no bullet holes anywhere. The Gabbits’ flesh had been ripped open by brutal slashes with some kind of weapon or claw, slashes in vital spots like the neck and chest. Since the wounds were so precise, Abe guessed it was some kind of blade that had done the deed, and not an animal.
Abe groaned again. All Munch’s hopes had come to nothing, in the end. How awful, to end an entire species this way!
Vastor folded his arms across his chest. “Huh. Nice bit of work, that is. Whoever did it –”
“Whoever did it will pay,” Abe growled, cutting him off short. He stood back up again, clenching his free left fist. “Who could have done such a thing?”
The Slig chuckled. “Well, I would have done it, if I’d been here first –”
Abe whirled around and punched him in the jaw.
It wasn’t a very good punch, because it merely sent Vastor staggering, but it let Abe be rid of some of his growing anger. “You’ll shut up about your hate for every good person on this world!” Abe thundered at him, raising the gun to point squarely at the Slig’s face. “You stop talking about it or I’ll blow your brains out right here, right now!”
Suddenly a thought occurred to him, one he hadn’t considered before. “Why do I even need you?” he asked. “I’ve got all I need from you – this map to a burnt Gabbit village. You’re no more use to me.”
Vastor put his arms out in front of him, scrabbling backwards in the dirt. “No, no, please! I beg you! Don’t kill me!”
Abe smiled, and cocked his gun again –
“Don’t kill him, Abe. There’s no need for that yet.”
At the sound of a voice he hadn’t heard in years, Abe whirled around.
There, standing only a few dozen meters away, looking the same as he’d ever been, was none other than…
“Big Face?” Abe whispered, uncocking the gun and letting it drop to his side. “Is that you?”
The huge mask dipped once. “In the flesh,” his old friend replied. Abe grinned broadly. Big Face still wore that outrageously-sized mask over his real face – some kind of tribal thing that Abe had never understood – and still walked around with that bumbarkh-wood staff.
“It’s good to see you again!” Abe laughed. He waved a hand at the remains of the Gabbit village. “Do you know what happened here?”
“Yes.” Big Face shuffled forward, shaking his head sadly. “A very tragic and sudden end to such a peaceful race of –”
Without warning, Vastor made his move, reaching out and grabbing at the Snuzi pistol Abe still held. The Mudokon warrior whirled around, trying to retain his grip on the weapon, but Vastor had the element of surprise and a whole night’s rest on his side; the weapon slipped from Abe’s hands, and the Slig was suddenly holding the gun.
Vastor flipped the gun around, cocking it –
Abe sprang forward, shouting “No!” –
Vastor smirked and pulled the trigger –
Abe ducked –
And the bullet roared out of the barrel and struck Big Face in the chest.
Time seemed to go at a crawl. Abe shoved Vastor to the ground, whirling around and calling out his old friend’s name, as the aged Mudokon clutched once at his chest, then crumpled to the ground.
“Noooo!”
Abe didn’t waste time running over to Big Face. Instead, he whirled back around to face Vastor. The Slig was halfway up to his feet, pulling the Snuzi back up, nerves already sending the message to fire at Abe –
Empowered by rage, Abe swung up one arm, catching Vastor a stinging blow on the wrist. The pistol flipped through the air, and Abe caught it neatly by the handle. Vastor leapt forward, growling.
Abe pulled the trigger three times. All three shots went through Vastor’s head, powering his Slig brains through the air in several disgusting seconds. The Slig didn’t even have time for a last moan; going limp instantly, Vastor toppled sideways over the edge of the crater and tumbled into the smoking ruins below.
Abe lowered the gun. How fitting, that a murdering coward like Vastor would lie forever with murdered Gabbits.
But then he turned, and saw Big Face lying on the ground. A lump of steel formed in his throat, as he realized that no one but an armored Big Brother Slig could live through a blast in the chest at such close range.
Abe stumbled forward, dropping to Big Face’s side. The shaman’s eyes were blinking rapidly, and the breath rasped weakly from his lungs.
“I…I…I’m…I…” the shaman stammered weakly.
“Who killed the Gabbits, Big Face?” Abe whispered hoarsely. “I need to know.”
Big Face drew himself up for one last breath. “The…the Bringer of Pain killed them. All…of them…”
His last breath rattled out of his body, and the light in the old shaman’s eyes went out.
Big Face was gone, forever.
Abe bowed his head and wept…and swore that as soon as he had Alf and Lowrn to help him deal with Fragg, he was going to find this Bringer of Pain and avenge these Gabbits.
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