Shrown (story)

[Moosh da Outlaw]

Good chapter! I can't help but wait to see what happens when the group comes across the flying scrab. >=D
As a reply to the messed up coloring comment, I was wondering, have you ever considered using watercolors (mixed with water to thin them out) and painting over an ink drawing? Or maybe watercolor pencils? They're what I use, and they're great. Using watercolors lets you use the exact color shade you want, plus it flows together seamlessly.
I'm not trying to change your artistic style or anything. ^^ I like your style. I just wondered if you'd ever tried it or not.

[GlacierDragon]

Thanks Moosh! In the past I used watercolour paints, but I never really got on with them. I never realised you could get watercolour pencils. I'll have to try and find some.

[Oddey]

I remember that chapter! I'm going to have to read your fic again soon. (Where's that sequal, anyway?)

I have yet to find a time where it is more conveinient. I seem to find myself very busy (With what I don't know. I'm just fooling around with stuff trying to think outside the box.). Problematically I'd lack time to update. And I'm sort of bummed that Molluck's Assistant has either left or hasn't got his internet working. But the fan fic will come sooner or later, seeing as I already have the plot and everything. No spoilers at all. Not even a hint.

By the way nice chapter. I look forward to reading more!

[scipionyx]

I somehow have the feeling that you became better since chapter 21 of Shrown xD , also I haven't expected Zevenk to do this, I want to see what happens next

[JayDee]

yeah i had got ot at least my sixth chapter but i had saved it onto my memory stick and it got a virus so i lost all my work

[mlg man]

Wow, this is some good stuff, keep up the good work!

[GlacierDragon]

I have yet to find a time where it is more conveinient. I seem to find myself very busy (With what I don't know. I'm just fooling around with stuff trying to think outside the box.). Problematically I'd lack time to update. And I'm sort of bummed that Molluck's Assistant has either left or hasn't got his internet working. But the fan fic will come sooner or later, seeing as I already have the plot and everything. No spoilers at all. Not even a hint.

By the way nice chapter. I look forward to reading more!

Thank you .

I somehow have the feeling that you became better since chapter 21 of Shrown xD , also I haven't expected Zevenk to do this, I want to see what happens next

To be honest, I think you're right about getting better. I think it may be because I'm including more description and less speach, or something. Thanks!

yeah i had got ot at least my sixth chapter but i had saved it onto my memory stick and it got a virus so i lost all my work

Oh, that's annoying. Well, I hope you can get it all sorted out.

Wow, this is some good stuff, keep up the good work!

Thank you!

Ok, so, I finnaly finished the Scrab picture! And I hate it. I would do it again, but I'm too lazy.



Hmmm, a lot of different view points in this next chapter. I've decided to refer to the Scrab as a 'she' rather than an 'it' for now on, seing as her memories have shown her that there are two genders. Also there's a mention of Creetles in there somewhere. A Creetle is just an animal I made up. There's a picture of one on my devientART. Anyway...

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Chapter 23

Creck clutches his arm, hissing in pain. He rocks back and forth on the spot like a caged animal, ignoring me when I ask him if he’s ok.

He’s been in a bad mood for a few hours now. He snaps at me when I try to talk to him, refuses to make conversation, and doesn’t let me help him with his injury. After a while I learnt to just leave him be, but I can’t help but worry.

Zevenk hasn’t returned and the sun is setting. We got as far away from the Mudokon village as possible before we had to stop and find something to eat. Again we bumped into some fruit trees, so we set up camp beside them. Living completely on a diet of fruit isn’t very satisfying, but I suppose it will do.

I’m not sure how far we’ve come from the birthing complex. We haven’t seen any other Sligs, so they’ve either given up looking (I doubt it) or they’re looking in the wrong places. Anyhow, I guess we’ve still got a long way to go until we get back to civilisation.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Blege pushed his way through a particularly thick patch of bushes and trees, cursing when a branch hit his arm and broke the skin.

He was in a foul mood. All he’d thought about since leaving the others was that he wished he’d never met them. The more he thought about it, the more he was convinced that they had permanently ruined his life. Being in prison was bad, obviously, but it was better than what he had in store for him if he was caught now.

Finally he managed to break free of the trees and step out into the open, only to be met by huge grassland that stretched out for as far as he could see in every direction. After a quick examination of the landscape he reluctantly admitted to himself that he didn’t know where he was. He stood there for a while, wondering what to do.

The best plan would be to go back and follow the river. However he didn’t want to run into the others again, so he forgot about that plan. He didn’t want to travel across the grasslands as he didn’t know if he’d find any water or food, and starving to death wasn’t on his agenda. The only thing he could think to do was to go back to the tower and try to slip past unnoticed, then follow the train tracks to wherever they went.

He thought about this for a long time, knowing that one wrong decision would make everything go wrong. He ran over these three choices in his mind, examining the possibilities of each. In the end he decided that the best idea was probably the last one.
And so, pleased with his decision and confident it would work, he headed back into the trees, found the river, then began to walk in the direction of the birthing complex.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Scrab had been flying non-stop ever since she’d left the underground lab. Though she had a task to do, her troubled mind kept returning to the same thing: her memories. Not for the first time she wished she could speak the language that her master used, so she could ask him what they had meant. She could understand what he said, but she couldn’t seem to get her beak to form the sounds. Is she could, she was sure he would tell her.

No new memories had come to her since the first ones. She had thought about them for a long time, trying to put them into a coherent order. She now knew that she’d not always lived in the lab – she’d had a feeling about this before, but now she was sure she was right. Once her home had been the cold, snowy mountains where she and her pack had hunted various prey and defended their nests from the Creetles. But then the Creetles were killed off by the Sligs, and her pack had to find a new home or risk being killed as well.

She felt as if the memories belonged to someone else, even though she knew otherwise, and she longed to learn more. The thing that puzzled her most was that in her memories she didn’t have her arms or her armour. This didn’t come as a big surprise to her – again, she’d always known she hadn’t always had them – but she couldn’t recall getting them. This troubled her.

When night came she had to land. Her wings were aching and she was tired from being in the air all day. She was also hungry, and her instincts told her to hunt. She landed on a cliff overlooking a winding river that was surrounded by trees, before beginning her search for food.

After a while she found a lone Paramite that had strayed from its nest. At first the creature hissed at her and she hesitated, wary. But then she realised, she was a Scrab. She shouldn’t fear anything, especially not a Paramite. She shot forwards and grabbed it, crushing the life from it in an instant. She began to devour the fresh meat, marvelling at how the wild creatures tasted so much better than the ones back at the lab.

When her hunger was sated she returned to the cliff and settled down to sleep. A soft wind tickled her wing membranes. Something howled to its fellow pack members in the distance. A feeling of content washed over her. This is where she should be; on her own, in the wild, away from everything else.

For the first time she could remember, she felt happy.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Vechk stared at the Fuzzle in horror. If what he was seeing was correct, he was in trouble.

The Fuzzle was just one of two dozen he had in his lab. Before he’d created his experiment, he had taken several of them to test his brainwashing method on. It worked perfectly, as the tests he performed afterwards showed that they had no memories of their lives.

But now it looked as if the brainwashing had degraded.

All of the Fuzzles he had used were showing signs of getting their memories back. They were becoming agitated and fearful, like the normal ones, rather than calm, like they were suppose to be.

He preformed some tests on them later in the day to decide if the brainwashing actually had stopped working. The results confirmed his fears.

This means, he realised, that my Scrab experiment will remember what it was before I found it. It’s a wild and deadly predator, after all. And now it has the intelligence of a sentient being. If it turns on me…


He’d really screwed things up.

[scipionyx]

WOW just WOW GlacierDragon!!!

first of all the picture really rocks (oh and your new signature picture too )

and then this chapter! I think that it's the best chapter in this story so far, it's verry imaginable, well it was imaginable before but now the story really lives beyond it's letters... so cool it's really really good, just awesome, fabulous!!! You improved much in writing

[Oddey]

... I think it's fun to see how the style of an internet fan fiction changes as it goes. I noticed it with my own and I think I've made some change for the better.

Nice picture... The mechanical arms on the colored pencil don't go too well though. Or at least in my opinion.

[GlacierDragon]

WOW just WOW GlacierDragon!!!

first of all the picture really rocks (oh and your new signature picture too )

and then this chapter! I think that it's the best chapter in this story so far, it's verry imaginable, well it was imaginable before but now the story really lives beyond it's letters... so cool it's really really good, just awesome, fabulous!!! You improved much in writing

Thanks! I'm glad you like the picture, and my new sig. It's good to hear I'm getting better at writing. I'll try my best to keep it throughout the rest of the story.

... I think it's fun to see how the style of an internet fan fiction changes as it goes. I noticed it with my own and I think I've made some change for the better.

Nice picture... The mechanical arms on the colored pencil don't go too well though. Or at least in my opinion.

Thank you. As I said before, it's good to know my writing is improving. And I agree with you about the digital arms not fitting with the traditional colouring. I'm not quite sure why I did that...

[GlacierDragon]

Sorry for not updating this in ages. I had writers block, and then I had to re-write this chapter because I accidently deleted the original.

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Chapter 24

The sun was nearing the ground, but Blege didn’t stop to rest. He was determined to travel as far as he could in the shortest time possible. He didn’t even stop when the sun disappeared fully behind the horizon; he wasn’t tired yet and figured he could get more done if he carried on than if he stopped.

However, the night wasn’t without its difficulties. The moons were the only sources of light in this wilderness, and most of the time they were obscured by the trees’ branches spreading out above Blege. He didn’t want to get too close to the river or he risked falling in, and since he couldn’t swim he would be in deep trouble if that happened. And so he kept beneath the trees, tripping over rocks and fallen branches, swearing in his native tongue, and getting angry at pretty much anything and everything.

He lost track of time fairly quickly, and soon he had no idea of how long he’d been travelling for. How late into the night was it? He couldn’t tell. All of his life he’d worked in the factories, so he’d never needed to learn anything about the outdoors.

This latter thought worried him. He had hardly any knowledge of the wild. How would he know what was safe to eat and what was poisonous? How would he build shelters if the need arose? How would he know what animals were dangerous and what ones weren’t? For the first time, fear began to worm its way to the front of his mind, but it wasn’t just from these revelations. He began to feel as if he were being watched and followed. You’re being paranoid, he told himself. You’re scaring yourself. Forget about it and you’ll be fine.

He soon noticed that his movements were slowing, his eyelids were drooping, and he was stumbling much more than usual. He was tiring. He needed to stop and sleep, though he didn’t want to.

It didn’t take him too long to find a place suitable to rest. It was nothing more than a patch of bare earth, but he decided that it would do. He half sat, half collapsed next to a tree and tried to make himself comfortable. When it became apparent that he would have to go without comfort he merely curled up position similar to that of a cat and closed his eyes, trying to block out the sound of the river and the uneasy feeling of being watched.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It was still primarily dark when Blege awoke, though a faint glow could be seen just behind the horizon where the sun would rise.

Something wasn’t right.

The feeling of being watched was much stronger now, but that wasn’t the only thing that troubled him. He knew that birds should be singing in the trees, welcoming the new day, but there were none to be heard. This could only mean one thing; something had scared them away.

Slowly he climbed to his feet, wincing at how loud the sounds created by his mechanical legs were. Cautiously he swivelled his head, straining his eyes to see in the dark. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary, but he knew something was there.

He began to inch his way backwards, panic welling inside him. He didn’t get very far when a Slig suddenly emerged from the trees, his gun pointed at Blege’s forehead.

Blege stood dead still as more Sligs began to appear. There had to be a dozen of them, all with guns held at the ready. The red glows from their eyes made them even more menacing in the predawn gloom.

Knowing he didn’t stand a chance, Blege raised his hands above his head to show he was unarmed. The first Slig that had appeared, which seemed to be the leader, spoke to him in a rough voice.

“Where are your friends?” he growled.

“I don’t know, farther up the river or something. I’ve not seen ‘em in ages,” Blege replied. He did his best to keep the tremble out of his voice, not wanting to appear weak.

The Slig gave him a sceptical look. Something about his demeanour gave Blege the impression that he was a particularly nasty creature and wouldn’t hesitate to turn on his own kind.

“It’s true!” Blege continued, recognising the look of disbelief. “I left them. Guess I figured I’d be better off without them, but by the looks of things I made a mistake…” He trailed off, cursing himself for opening his mouth. The best thing to do in such a situation was to keep your head down and remain silent unless spoken too.

The Slig tilted his head to the side, seemingly amused. “All right,” he said, his tone changing. “If you left them it must mean you weren’t getting along, right?”

This time, instead of opening his mouth, Blege just nodded.

A smile broke out on the Slig’s face; an evil one. “Well in that case, I have a…proposal that you may be interested in.” He glanced around at the others, all of which were either grinning or chuckling to themselves. Blege dreaded what was about to be said.

“If you tell us where to find the others, and help us to find them,” here he paused for effect, “all your charges will be forgotten, and you will be set free.”

---------------------
Ooooh, what is he going to do?? You will find out soonish.

[scipionyx]

wow this is awesome n__n finally an update!

I think he'll betray the others to save his life, ohhh but probably not?

please more

[Oddey]

Mwahahahaha! I was right all along! Blege was a traitor! (Does weird dance to go with the moment but, due to bad form, trips about fifteen times.)
And another great chapter settles in.

[Lacy Hemsmire]

Oooh spiffy! Can't wait to see what happens next. O:

[GlacierDragon]

wow this is awesome n__n finally an update!

I think he'll betray the others to save his life, ohhh but probably not?

please more

Thanks. And you'll have to wait and see.

Mwahahahaha! I was right all along! Blege was a traitor! (Does weird dance to go with the moment but, due to bad form, trips about fifteen times.)
And another great chapter settles in.

Yes, yes, I know. But you worked it out too early! Besides, it's only now that he's become a traitor, so when you worked it out it wasn't necessarily true

Oooh spiffy! Can't wait to see what happens next. O:

Thank you.

Oh Odd, finally an update! Sorry about taking ages to write new chapters. I still have huge writers block. I know what I want to happen, but I can't quite wright it down. My mind is confused.

Hmmm, I just flicked through some of the past pages and saw Splat used to comment, which I completely forgot about. Looks like I'm losing my memory as well.

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Chapter 25

I get woken up by Creck shaking my arm; my good one, not my broken one. When I open my eyes I see that he’s got a really worried expression on his face.

“What?” I groan, annoyed at being woken up. The sun has barely risen and I’m still really tired. “Has Zevenk returned?”

“Zevenk isn’t back yet, and it’s been hours,” he replied. “I think something may have happened to him. But that’s not what I’ve woken you for. A Mudokon scout stumbled across us not five minutes ago. He woke me up but ran away before I could stop him. He was from the village we passed, and I’ll bet you anything he’ll go back and tell them he saw us. If we don’t want to get caught I suggest we get moving now.”

Creck glances around uneasily as I stagger to my feet. Still half asleep, I sway slightly from side to side. My attempts to force my mind into full awareness work very little and I find my eyelids beginning to droop even as we begin to continue our trek.

The river is exceedingly loud and I worry that if we are being followed or ambushed we won’t hear our enemies. Birds’ songs add tune to the never-ending rhythm of the river, and soon I find my mind drifting off, hypnotised by the natural music. Suddenly realising I’m not paying attention to things, I shake my head violently to clear my mind. Again I force myself to focus, and this time it seems to work a little more.

Eventually the sun begins to appear, bathing the world in its light. We pick up our pace, realising that the addition of the sun will make it easier for any Mudokons to find us. I haven’t yet voiced my concern that, because we are moving faster than usual and we’ve left our camp so early, Zevenk won’t be able to find us. Creck hasn’t said anything either, and I have a feeling that he’s thinking the same thing.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Blege was running. Running north, following the river. His legs whirred and buzzed, creaked and clanked. He was worried that if he kept this pace he would wear them out and they would eventually cease to work.

He was surrounded on all sides by Sligs. They were running like him, their mechanical limbs creating a cacophony of whining and droning that sent birds scattering and animals fleeing. Even the river’s roaring seemed quiet in comparison.

Blege hadn’t needed much time to make his choice. Amongst Slig society, betrayal of your own kind was loathsome and deeply frowned upon. Even when for the greater good, if a Slig betrayed his comrade he was considered by others as highly untrustworthy and disloyal. He would be shunned by others and would live the rest of his life with no friends or allies.

And yet, Blege didn’t care. Let other Sligs hate me, he’d thought to himself. As long as I’m okay, nothing else really matters. He had been promised freedom and he wasn’t about to let the threat of being hated take it away.

Where the others were, he had no idea of. However he knew they would stick to the river and so he felt confident as he partially led the group of Sligs. At the pace they were travelling it would be no time before they found the others, and then they would capture them and take them back to Queen Skillya, who would most likely sentence all three of them to death. He, meanwhile, would board a train to take him back to society with a clean record.

However, and there is always a however, the small bit of Blege that cared about others more than himself was telling him to turn back. Refuse to help them, it said; lead them in the wrong direction, it said. He tried to ignore it but the feeling of guilt and regret kept nagging at him, refusing to be dismissed unless he did something about the situation. But he was determined to not let the feeling win over his mind. For as far as he was concerned, his decision was set in concrete.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Though the sun was rapidly ascending over the land, the Flying Scrab was still sleeping. Dreams of past events reeled in her mind, curling themselves around her consciousness and enveloping her in a powerful longing to be free; to be able to do as she pleased without the confines of the lab or the orders from her Vykker master stopping her.

--------------------------

Originaly there were going to be 5 more chapters to this, but I think there might possibly be more.

[Oddey]

The adventure continues. I wonder how on earth you thought you could end this in five more chapters. That's simply impossible.

[scipionyx]

more chapters than planned sounds good ...verry good rawwwr this fanfiction is yummy and I'm going to print it out when it's finnished

hehe it's fabulous that you've uploaded the story finally YAAAAAAAAAAY!!!

[GlacierDragon]

The adventure continues. I wonder how on earth you thought you could end this in five more chapters. That's simply impossible.

...maybe not that impossible...

more chapters than planned sounds good ...verry good rawwwr this fanfiction is yummy and I'm going to print it out when it's finnished

hehe it's fabulous that you've uploaded the story finally YAAAAAAAAAAY!!!

Thank you.
Really? I've yet to print it out for myself. If you do though I would go with the one at deviantART because it has some minor changes which make it slightly better than this one.

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Chapter 26

Vechk’s experiment hadn’t needed to travel all the way to the Sligs’ birthing complex; she’d caught the scent she needed already. It had drifted to her gently on the wind, and her instincts told her that it was the right one to follow.

She set off straight after picking up the trail. If what she could smell was correct, there were two of the creatures travelling upriver.

Odd, she told herself silently. I thought I was after four?

No matter. She would settle with two if there was no other option.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Though they’d had to slow down and alter their rout in order to avoid Mudokon village, the Sligs were rapidly closing the distance between themselves and their targets. Blege had managed to banish his conscience to the far reaches of his mind, so no longer did he worry for his former comrades.

No one had spoken for hours. The ceaseless buzzing of their mechanical limbs was driving Blege insane, and it took all of his self control to force himself onwards. He’d never run so far for so long in his life, and every part of him from his scrunched up tail to his hunched over back was aching. If he wasn’t terrified of being shot instantly he would have demanded a rest long ago.

Soon the sun began to set, the sky turning a striking array of colours as time wore on. The Sligs took no notice of this natural beauty, and even if they did they wouldn’t have appreciated it. After all, how could they? All compassion had been beaten out of them when they were mere Sliglets.

Eventually the sun disappeared and darkness engulfed the land once more, but still they marched forwards with as much determination they could muster. Blege had already began to tire, but the others seemed to have limitless amounts of energy stored within them. No one even mentioned the prospect of stopping.

Then without warning the leader stopped dead in his tracks, his arm outstretched to the side. In an instant everyone else had also stopped, including Blege, though he’d been taken by surprise. The sudden cease of sound was almost as deafening as before.

Very slowly the leader inched forwards, peering intently at the ground. In a few seconds he found what he was looking for: the remains of a recent camp.

Blege saw the badly covered up remains of a fire; the ashes were still smouldering. Whoever had been here must still be close by.

“I think,” the leader hissed, “we will soon find what we are looking for.”

[Oddey]

I think I have a general idea on what happens next... I shan't spoil anything for anyone though.

The adventures continues again. I'm out of witty ways of saying good.

[scipionyx]

Cool! an upedate
wow I really like Blege better now I'm going to miss this story once it's finnished, but still I want to know what happens next

[ssilbyma]

dude this is AWESOME!! i havnt read it all yet, but when i get the chance later on, i will read more!!

[GlacierDragon]

I think I have a general idea on what happens next... I shan't spoil anything for anyone though.

The adventures continues again. I'm out of witty ways of saying good.

Thanks

Cool! an upedate
wow I really like Blege better now I'm going to miss this story once it's finnished, but still I want to know what happens next

Thank you but...you're not suppose to like Blege! He's going to get the others caught...!

dude this is AWESOME!! i havnt read it all yet, but when i get the chance later on, i will read more!!

Thanks, glad you like it.

The writer's block that I couldn't seem to shift has gone! Well, it has for now. Last night I wrote two chapters (they're both already on DA) and if I have time after doing this stupid science project I'm going to write another today.

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Chapter 27

My eyes snap open, the whirring and clanking of Sligs’ legs loud in my ears. I bolt upright, wincing as pain shoots up my broken arm. Opposite me I see Creck in a likewise manner, swivelling his head around in confusion.

“What the hell is that?” he says in an urgent whisper. “The amount of Sligs needed to make that much noise is…oh crap, we’re going to die aren’t we?”

I push myself to my feet and rush to the smouldering fire, stamping out the parts that are still glowing. When I’m done I grab a handful of soil from the floor and carelessly throw it over the remains, hoping that it won’t be noticed in the dark.

“Quick,” I hiss, “we have to go now! They’ll be here in a few minutes, if not less.” He climbs to a stand and I motion with a hand for him to follow, which he does without question.

We run as fast as we can between the trees, straining our eyes to see in the dark. The lack of sleep from the previous night doesn’t help me. My tiredness causes me to stumble with almost every footstep and several times I almost lose my balance completely. Creck is no better, if not worse as he follows his staggering leader.

"What are we going to do?” Creck chokes. “We can’t just run. There are too many of them, they’ll catch us if we don’t do something."

“You got a better idea?” I snap harshly. “In case you haven’t noticed, it sounds like we’ve got a dozen Sligs hot on our tails. If you want to stop and fight you can, but you’ll be on your own.” I don’t care if I sound cruel – we’ve both got more important things to worry about than being polite to each other.

“Hey, that’s not what I meant,” he retaliates, a note of anger building up in his voice.

I roll my eyes, knowing that if I reply it will only result in an argument. “Just keep quiet,” I say in the end. “We don’t want to alert them to our presence any more than –” My sentence is cut off as I swerve to avoid a tree, cursing beneath my breath at its existence. “– any more than we already have."

With total unexpectedness, the trees come to a sudden halt and we find ourselves out in the open, moonlight bathing our skin in silver. I skid to a standstill, Creck stopping beside me. My breath comes out in long streams of white condensation as I pant heavily. Despite the cold, my skin feels sickeningly hot and clammy.

About 10 metres in front of us the land ends in a jagged cliff and the river plummets over the edge. I creep to the precipice and peer down at the land hundreds of feet below, a pit forming in my stomach. No one would be able to survive a fall of such great height.

“Great, what’s the plan now?” Creck frowns at me, as if running into a waterfall is all my fault.

“You are not going to blame this on me, surely. How on Oddworld was I supposed to know this would happen?” I raise my voice, not caring about out pursuers hearing.

“You’re the one in the lead! Of course I’m going to blame you! Blege was right; we should never have gone with this stupid escape plan. I would have had a quick, clean death, but now I’m going to have a slow, agonising one. And it’s all because of you!”

He pokes me in the chest, and I try to control my anger as it bubbles up inside me. “I didn’t force you to escape,” I growl, my voice menacingly low. “That was your choice, not mine! Maybe you should have considered the consequences before blindly following the others and –”

I screw my eyes up in pain as Creck’s fist collides with my face tentacles, knocking me backwards. I lose my balance and fall in a heap of limbs dangerously close the cliff’s edge. It’s not the pain that stops me from righting myself, but the shock.

With a snarl I haul myself at Creck, pummelling him with my one good fist. I smash one of the eye holes in his mask and it shatters, small shards of glass littering the floor. Some of the shards graze the skin on my hand and draw blood, but I ignore them as I continue to punch the Slig in the face.

Creck grabs my bad arm and twists it, causing me to drop to my knees as the unbelievable pain immobilises me. I think I feel the unhealed bone fracture even more as he tries to pull my arm from its socket. He lets out a cruel chuckle and lets go, watching me writhe in agony on the floor.

“You pathetic Mud-lover,” he taunts as he walks around me. “I really don’t know why I ever followed you.” He comes to a stop and raises his foot over my head, intent on smashing my skull.

I can’t help myself as I let out a quiet laugh. For some reason I find his ‘Mud-lover’ remark quite amusing, and I see his face develop an irritated expression as I snigger at him. He even lowers his foot and pulls me to my own feet, drawing back his fist to punch me again.

“Hold it right there.”

The command is uttered calmly, the voice cold and full of malice. We both freeze with dread, realising what’s happening.

Our pursuers have finally found us.

All my humour vanishes immediately as the grim reality comes crashing down. Creck releases me and I stumble backwards, holding my arm to my chest.

The Sligs, who seemed to have emerged from nowhere, slowly spread out to surround us, and soon we’re encased in a tight ring. All of them have guns aimed at our heads and we can do little but stand where we are at their complete mercy. Everyone is silent. Even the various calls and cries from the nocturnal animals seem to have stopped.

The Slig that spoke (I assume he’s the leader) stands directly in front of us with a slightly bored expression, as if he has better things to do than chase criminals across half of Mudos. He doesn’t say anything more – instead he just stares, like he’s waiting for us to speak first.

A Slig pokes his head over the shoulder of the leader, and my eyes grow wide in surprise as I realise who it is. “Blege?” I exclaim. “Don’t tell me they caught you as well…”

Blege grins. “Well they kinda’ did, I suppose,” he says loudly, shrugging his shoulders. “They promised me freedom if I helped them find you lot, so you can guess what happened after that.” He keeps his voice casual, as if he were holding a normal conversation.

“You bastard,” mumbles Creck. “We trusted you, and now you betray us?” He takes a step towards Blege, only to stop as each Slig raises their gun threateningly. He gets the message and retreats to where he stood before.

“What about Zevenk?” I ask quietly. “Did he decide to betray us as well?”

The leader grins. “You mean that piece of trash we caught running from those Mudokons?” He gestures to a Slig standing behind him, and when I shift my position I see Zevenk bruised and battered held at gunpoint. His face is contorted into a grimace and he glares hatefully at Blege.

All hope seems to drain away. Blege’s betrayal, Zevenk’s capture…it’s all too much to take in and I find myself gently shaking my head while Creck silently fumes beside me.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Flying Scrab was ecstatic. She’d finally found what she was looking for.

However, she wasn’t without her confusion. Four Sligs was what she was after, and she had followed the trail of two. But now she sensed many more, including the original four that she was after. Most of them had guns and she guessed she would have to do some fighting before she was able to leave with what she wanted.

The Sligs were positioned on the edge of a cliff beside a waterfall. So far the Scrab hadn’t been noticed circling above them, but all that was about to change as she prepared to make her presence known.

[scipionyx]

oh my... thats epic +rep!!!

awesome chapter GlacierDragon!!!

I really enjoyed reading it the descriptions where amazing, I could imagine it just like a movie, really cool!

YAY for Shrown!

[Oddey]

... I... Want... More...

Cookies, and chapters!

[GlacierDragon]

oh my... thats epic +rep!!!

awesome chapter GlacierDragon!!!

I really enjoyed reading it the descriptions where amazing, I could imagine it just like a movie, really cool!

YAY for Shrown!

Thank you! So glad you enjoyed it.

... I... Want... More...

Cookies, and chapters!

More, you say?

------------------------

Chapter 28

I do my best to cover my ears as a blood-curdling howl pierces the night silence, making everyone flinch violently and look around in search for whatever made it. I turn my eyes to the sky, and see a dark bat-winged shadow descending rapidly from high above.

It takes me a few seconds to realise it’s just a Flying Scrab. But with any luck it will disrupt things long enough for me and Zevenk to escape (I don’t give a damn about Blege or Creck; they can both be killed and eaten for all I care).

As the others see the creature they immediately aim their guns and fire, adding even more noise to previously dead night. A Slig pushes me out of the way and I find myself behind the group. All of their backs are facing me as they shoot madly at the Scrab, their prisoners completely forgotten.

Zevenk shuffles towards me and comes to a stop at my side. “Now’s our chance to escape,” he hisses. “But we need to get Creck. Where is he?”

"Screw Creck,” I reply. “I don’t know where he’s gone, neither do I care. He’s no better than Blege and we should leave him.” Zevenk nods silently and we both turn to the trees, intent on getting away.

The Flying Scab seems unharmed, having dodged all of the bullets. It now swerves to the side and folds its wings against its body, diving towards the ground at a frightening speed. It pulls up sharply just before it hits the earth and lands in front of us with a dull THUD. We both stop in our tracks, retreating before it has the chance to impale us on its beak.

And that’s when I see it clearly. This Scrab…this thing…it has arms? Cybernetic arms that resemble the technology used in our mechanical legs seem to sprout from its sides, the six-fingered hands ending in sharp metallic claws. The creature also has armour attached to its neck and back, protecting it from attacks.

Zevenk and I share a worried glance as we consider this thing’s origin. Those Vykkers must be dabbling in cybernetic experiments or something, I decide. I don’t have time to voice my thoughts as the Scrab charges forwards and more gunshots sound from behind. We both throw ourselves to the floor in confusion, not wanting to be hit, and I’m relieved to see the Scrab rush past us and at the attacking Sligs.

What follows is a confused frenzy of shrieks, howls, yells and gunfire. The Scrab runs into one Slig, yanking him out of his legs and snapping him in half. It quickly discards the limp body and attacks another, this time plunging its claws into his chest and tearing out half of his internal organs. Blood pours to the ground as the Scrab rips its claws left and right through soft Slig flesh. Several bullets pierce the thing’s own body – one in its shoulder, three in its chest and another two in its front legs. It completely ignores the wounds as it continues with the slaughter.

Bodies begin to pile up and before long only a few Sligs are left. I see Blege trying to escape the massacre. The Scrab spots him and leaps into the air, extends its wings and swoops over him. I watch as he is carried struggling into the sky, where the Scrab proceeds to crush his head in its mouth while clawing and tearing at his torso. Blood drips from Blege’s mutilated body as the Scrab hovers and feasts on his flesh.

A bullet grazes the Scrab’s wing, forcing it to drop the dead Slig and return to the fight. By now Both Zevenk and I have returned to our feet and are backing away, trying not to attract any attention from the Sligs or the Scrab. I see Creck get his head ripped of and I suppress a smile.

We reach the tree line and I pull my gaze away from the fight. We turn tail and run.

[Oddey]

There's only one word for this. Splendid!

I hope to see the last few chapters.

[AlexFili]

Yeah, this is totally awesome!

[GlacierDragon]

There's only one word for this. Splendid!

I hope to see the last few chapters.

You will, I'm sure. Unless you get abducted by aliens.

Yeah, this is totally awesome!

Thanks

-------------------------------

Chapter 29

The Scrab couldn’t believe how simple it was to kill these creatures; how easily their bodies tore apart; how simple it was to snap their bones. Her razor-sharp claws sliced through their flesh like a knife cuts butter. Her strong jaws crushed their skulls as if they were little more than frail egg shells. She didn’t have to do much before the Sligs were all dead, their tattered and lifeless bodies littering the ground, staining the soil red with their blood.

Satisfied with her work, the Scrab folded her wings and gracefully descended to the ground, landing amid a heap of blood and gore. She was aware that she’d killed two of the Sligs she was after – her instincts told her that much – but she didn’t really care. Two were easier to carry back to the lab than four, after all.

As the adrenaline from the fight began to wear off, the Scrab gradually became aware of sharp pains in various parts of her body. It wasn’t until then that she realised with dread that she’d been hit numerous times by the Sligs’ bullets. Already streams of blood were flowing from the puncture wounds like miniature waterfalls. Luckily she hadn’t been hit in any major arteries or organs, but the pain was still horribly unbearable.

You are a Scrab, she snarled to herself angrily. Deal with it and get on with things. This thought in her mind, she forced herself to ignore the pain and focus on current matters. Where had those two Sligs gone? She thought she saw them escape into the trees. They couldn’t be too far

She limped forward awkwardly, having been hit on one of her forelegs. Each step brought a fresh wave of pain, and after several paces she accepted the grim reality that she wouldn’t be able to walk properly until the wounds were healed. With a slight clumsiness she opened her wings and took off, silently gaining altitude until she soared over the trees. Though she tried her best to ignore the pain, she couldn’t help but wobble slightly in the air. She would have to do something about her wounds and get back to the lab quick or she risked too much blood loss.

The canopy below was thick and obscured the ground, making it impossible to see anything that could be hiding in the trees. If she were any other creature, the Scrab could spend hours trying to find her prey and still not succeed. But her species had the ability of electroreception, enabling them to sense the electromagnetic fields given off by living beings. It was because of this that the Scrab almost immediately spotted her targets running franticly beneath the branches.

If her beak was designed that way, the Scrab would have smiled at their helplessness.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The noises behind us suddenly ceases, which can mean one of two things: The Scrab has been killed, or the Sligs have been killed. I pray it’s the latter one, as I’d rather have a single deranged Scrab pursuing me than a bunch of Sligs trying to take me prisoner.

As we both run my thoughts drift back to Creck. He never did strike me as the happiest of Sligs, but I can’t believe he turned on me so suddenly. And now he’s dead. Well, I guess it taught him a thing or two about Quarma.

As we run, the pain in my arm worsens. Each step sends shocks up and down my shoulder, fogging my mind. It isn’t long before I have to stop running, holding my swollen arm and cursing Creck for making matters worse.

“You okay?” Zevenk mutters, stopping as well. He’s covered in painful-looking bruises, most of which are red and swollen. If they pain him he doesn’t say so.

“I’m fine,” I say between breaths. “It’s just my arm, and I’m not used to all this running.”

“Heh, if you think this is bad you should see what I’ve been doing. Those Sligs had me running all day without so much as a five minute break. Now come on, do you want to be Scrab food or do you want to survive this?”

As if in response, a shrieking howl sounds from directly above us, even louder than before. Without hesitation we resume our running, though at a regrettably slower pace than before. I try and force myself to go faster, but my mechanical legs won’t obey me. I’m pretty sure they weren’t built for this.

The Flying Scrab releases another howl, only this time it comes from in front of us. We skid to a halt as the creature comes crashing down through the canopy, branches splitting and falling to the ground as it forces its way unceremoniously through the trees. Roosting birds are woken abruptly and launch themselves into the sky in terror, crying and shrieking their fear to the world.

As the Scrab lands its front legs crumple beneath it from the injuries, sending it to its knees for a brief few seconds before it manages to right itself. Despite its wounds, the creature darts forwards with lightning speed before any of us can turn to escape. It crashes into Zevenk and he goes flying backwards, smashing against a tree. The force of the impact makes him fall out of his mechanical limbs and he tumbles to the floor in a crumpled, unmoving heap.

The Scrab turns to me directly afterwards, flexing its mechanical hands as if to draw my attention to its deadly bloodstained claws. Fear keeps me rooted to the spot as it lowers its head and charges, the wounds in its legs causing it to limp slightly as it picks up speed. At the last moment I regain control of my limbs and I try to leap to the side, but I’ve left it too late and only get half out of the way before the Scrab is upon me.

The creature extends one of its arms and swipes its claws at me, and I gasp as I feel the cool metal slice through my skin. I tumble to the ground in pain, hot blood pouring down my torso from the five huge claw marks in my chest. My head quickly gets clogged up with fog and a loud hissing sound fills my ears. My vision goes blurry and nausea rises from my stomach.

The last thing I see before the world goes black is the Scrab standing silently above me.

[Oddey]

Spooky... I think I'll either have to stop commenting or just start saying simple and really broing phrases.

[AlexFili]

I love stories about Sligs, yours is one of the best.
Can't wait to see the finale!