righto, i think its about time i finished this.
i did some major editing to the ending, but i'm not sure what to think of it. critics welcome.
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Crob picked up the pistol with his bloody hands, taking it from Relb’s dead fingers.
The only thing stopping himself from giving up was Crob. He’d led nearly all of his friends to their deaths due to his less than adequate plan and dream of freedom. But there was only one way to go, now. Forwards.
Joe picked up one of the fallen rifles from the dead and dying sligs and led the way. They walked in silence, and even though their bodies were coursing with adrenaline, they made no sound.
Joe led Crob down another corridor, and passed a metal sign reading ‘Stockyards’. He turned left and then right, and eventually reached a metal door. Joe turned to Crob and said,
“Right, this is it. Whatever's out there, we’ve gotta’ get past it and get to the free-fire zone. Then we’re free. You ready?”
Joe looked into Crob’s eyes in the dim light. They were filled with terror and excitement. He put his hand on Crob’s shoulder and repeated,
“Ready?”
“Yeah. Lets get it over and done with.” Crob said, a slight tremble in his voice.
Joe was petrified, but seemed to be keeping a level head. He wasn’t about to question this fact, and decided to go on before he drowned in the sea of danger they were attempting to traverse. They had to reach the free-fire zone.
Joe opened the door, and expected to see a whole platoon of sligs waiting for him, making him bullet fodder, but he saw nothing but fences and barbed wire for a good distance. The only way through the stockyards was narrow, metal walkways, perched above the pens. The pens contained various different animals awaiting their inevitable doom, and this anxious waiting made them more vicious than natural.
The dark night sky was the backdrop to this scene, and consisted of a number of different moons, silhouetting a row of four legged towers stretching out into the distance, to which use they were, Joe did not know. The open doorway was a few feet above the walkway, and so Joe and Crob jumped down.
The walkway was old and rusted, and had patches of moss growing on it’s surface. Joe noticed they were above a pen full of paramites. Their webbing covering the wire mesh fence and corners. Then Joe heard a growl. He and Crob looked behind them to see three slogs sat next to their master: a sleeping slig.
The slig suddenly woke up, and Joe and Crob froze. The slig sat bolt upright, seeing the two mudokons, and scrambled for his gun lying beside him, shouting,
“Get ‘em! Kill ‘em!”
The slogs immediately gave chase to them, and Joe and Crob’s quick reactions were the only things that saved their skin. They heard shots fired from behind them as they ran along the walkway towards the end of the stockyards, and the beginning of the free-fire zone. Joe felt bullets pass his body, zipping past with streaks of cold, night air.
“Don’t stop running!” Joe shouted to Crob, just behind him, quite breathless.
The slogs continued to chase them, barking in a violent frenzy, hoping they could catch their prey and rip them limb from limb. Then Joe noticed that the walkway came to an end just before them, and there was a gap over the top of a large pen before the walkway continued once more.
“Shit!” Crob yelled, sprinting, running out of walkway.
“Jump!” Joe shouted, suddenly leaping off the edge of the walkway and landing inside the pen.
Joe looked behind him to see Crob jump off the edge also, but saw something much more frightening than slogs. They were in the same pen as a huge scrab. The scrab made a strange noise that Joe had never heard before, and then howled. A blood curdling sound that made Joe’s chest vibrate and his legs shake.
“Leg it!!” Crob cried, turning around and running towards the other end of the pen.
He jumped up the fence and hoisted himself up onto the walkway, then holding his hand out to Joe. Joe ran towards him, and heard the muscle bound creature behind running towards him, its four legs making a galloping sound. Joe leapt up the fence and grabbed Crob’s arm, his feet trying to find grip on the wire mesh fence.
“Aaaargh!” Crob called out as he lifted Joe with all his might out of the pen and to relative safety.
The scrab skidding to a halt just before the fence. Then Joe and Crob watched in relief as the three slogs chasing them fell into the pen and were ripped to pieces by the dominant scrab.
Joe turned his head away when he saw spurting blood and heard the whimpering of the slogs as they were devoured. Crob watched intently, smiling, and then laughing. He finally took his eyes off the gruesome sight, and lay on his back, laughing and panting.
“We did it! We fucking did it! Fuck Rupture Farms! We’re free!!” Crob shouted towards the night sky, shaking his arms in a signal of victory.
“We’re not out of the woods, yet. We still gotta’ get out of the stockyards and find a quiet part of the free-fire zone.” Joe said, bringing the mood down.
“Well, we’ve done the worst bit.” Crob said, sitting up.
“C’mon Crob, lets get going.” Joe said, reminding himself of the friends he had lost.
Joe and Crob made their way along the walkway, gazing below them at the different animals penned up and hungry. Eventually they reached the end of the walkway, and saw campfires lit on the dark knolls, grassy spaces and rocks before them. The Free-Fire Zone. Silhouettes of pieces of wood protruding from the earth with ropes hanging from them, coils of razor wire could be seen, and sligs moving about their camps in the distance could also be spotted.
Joe and Crob jumped down off the walkway, and onto the soft ground. They padded towards a large boulder planted in the ground when Crob spoke.
“You know I’m really gonna’ love it here.” He said to Joe, who could make out a smile on his face in the darkness.
“I know.” Joe replied. “We got all the food we need in the stockyards, weapons from the sligs in the free-fire zone, and cooking stuff. Its just a shame Relb and the others weren’t able to make it.”
Joe heard loud gunshots coming from somewhere close by, and instinctively dived behind the boulder. He looked up, ears ringing, to see Crob fall to his knees, blood glistening and reflecting the moonlight from his chest and stomach. He then fell forwards onto his face, stone dead.
“Crob!” Joe screamed, lying on the mossy ground in the shadow of the boulder, only able to see Crob's dead feet.
“I got him! I got him!” A slig shouted.
“Was there two? Did you get both of ‘em?” Another slig yelled.
“I dunno. Didn’t you hear him scream?” The other slig answered.
Joe crawled under a bush just next to the boulder, his cowardice taking over once more, and waited. The sligs arrived, dragged the body back to their camp, and did not return. Joe crept off to find a secluded area, crying, submerged in his own sorrow and self pity.
Joe was never heard from again, and was one of the very few mudokons able to escape from Rupture Farms. Joe was a coward, and always will be, if he's still alive. He may be hung on razor wire somewhere in the Free-Fire Zone, or he may be living fine, just like he had planned. One thing is certain, though. His cowardice saved his life, but for a price. That price is obvious.
The End.
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hmm. dunno. a contributing factor to me not liking this could be to do with the fact i didn't plan it very well. that may be it.
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