"Palmer!" Melody squealed, running over and hugging his leg.
"Melody! Not the time!" He growled, still looking down the sight at Yahd.
Yahd didn't know what to do. 'Wait, huh? What is happening? He's from the compound, right?'
"It's okay!" Melody grinned, "They like you!"
"Like me?" Palmer asked, a whirlwind of confusion wracking his mind. He pulled his eyes away from Yahd, looking down at Melody, seeing her big smile.
"She says she was rescuing me. All these other people are going to take us away from here!"
"It's true," Zoe said, walking forward, keeping her hands in the air. "We are not here to hurt either of you."
"Our job was to rescue her," Kalimba spoke up.
The mercenary rubbed his wrists, looking down at where the bindings had been; deep red marks covered his forearms. He didn't know what he saw back before he had escaped from the helicopter; he wasn't sure he could put it into words even if he wanted to. "One second it was barren, the next it was like a jungle oasis…"
He sat behind a dead tree, leaning against it, his coat covering him like a blanket. Not sure where else to go, he had followed some car tracks, hoping it would bring him to a nearby village. He took out a small flask and shook it; a small splash could be heard from inside. 'That won't last me till morning,' he thought.
He spun around, alerted by the crunching of sand behind him. Rising to his feet, he retrieved the pilfered gun from his pocket, squinting to discern a black figure against the backdrop of the moonlit and star-studded sky.
"Hello?" he called out. "Are you an animal?" Startled, he fired into the darkness. In that fleeting moment, a large red creature with bloodshot yellow eyes came into view, towering yet hunched, bipedal, with muscular ripples traversing its bipedal form.
He aimed precisely where he had glimpsed the beast, firing several rounds, yet none found their mark.
In a swift motion, the creature ripped the mercenary's head off, consuming it along with the rest of his body. His fingers crunched like pop rocks in its mouth as it chewed and swallowed.
The beast stopped; it stood tall, fixing its hunched-over posture.
It gazed down, reaching for the blood-stained pistol, scrutinizing the small object in its oversized hand.
Slowly, it wrapped its fingers around the pistol's handle, encircling the trigger and squeezing it. Startling itself, a resounding bang echoed through the desert as the creature discharged the weapon.
"This ground seems pretty fertile, considering the forest over there. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a town close," Zoe said.
"You know," Palmer said, her words sparking a memory from many months prior. "I think she's right. Maybe like ten to twenty miles away, there's a town. More houses than people, but it is habitable. Running water, and gas."
"No," Kalimba shook his head. "I'd rather we just power through and go back to the ship."
"Wait," Asher said, looking at the map. "We went pretty out of the way, and between us and the ship is the colony. We can call Damon and tell him what's happened and see what he wants to do from there."
Palmer looked over his shoulder, pointing to a dark spot on the map, "And between us and 'Outback,' is the town I was just talking about."
Kalimba sighed, "Okay, fine."
Forty minutes later, the jeep and truck stopped at the edge of a sprawling village. It was compact and luscious. Most were built from an orange-colored wood and stone.
'This reminds me of Cassius,' Zoe thought. She walked at the back of the group, looking at all the buildings. She felt as if this place hadn't seen a single soul for years.
"Should we just pick a house to crash in?" Yahd finally asked after several minutes of walking. "Pretty sure we're the only ones 'round here."
In front of her, Zoe watched as Melody skipped along beside Palmer, her hand squeezing his.
'It's like when he's around, she doesn't have a care in the world,' Zoe thought, slowly shuffling cards in her hand.
"Eenie, meanie, minie," Mitani pointed to different houses, "Moe!" he pointed to the largest house in the cluster—the only two-story house they could see in the whole village.
Kalimba walked to the door, knocking loudly, asking if anyone's inside. When he heard no answer, he turned the knob; the door slid open quietly. "Hello?" He called once more, before walking in and sitting on the couch.
Everyone walked in behind him.
Palmer flicked a nearby light switch, but he swiftly realized that, at least in this house, none of the electricity was functional.
"Should someone take watch?" Mitani suggested once everyone had found a place to sleep.
"Good Idea!" Yahd grinned. "Since you offered, I think it should be you!" He sat on the dining room table that was covered with thick blankets.
"Wait, hold on," Mitani protested.
Asher cracked one eye open. The room was a lighter shade than he last saw it, guessing that it was early morning. He slinked out of the bottom bunk, walking to the bathroom in the next room over.
He lifted the seat, seeing no water in the bowl. Asher mumbled a curse, and walked back to the bedroom, putting on his glasses, and slipping on his shoes. He moved down the stairs and walked through the living room. Mitani, the one they 'nominated' to take watch, had passed out in a chair in front of the window next to the front door.
His breath clouded in the early morning air; the sky had turned a dark blue, the constellations still littering the sky. "Probably about five," he guessed. "'Once I get back, I'll wake them.'
He wandered around, looking for some place with running water, or a place to use the bathroom without being indecent. Indecent to who? He didn't really know, but he didn't feel comfortable doing it out in the open.
For several minutes, he walked until he peered down into a stone well, checking for any signs of water. Suddenly, he heard screams.
His head snapped up, scanning the surroundings in alarm. 'Where did that come from?' he wondered, turning his gaze back toward their temporary home. 'It sounded like a woman's scream, but not Zoe...' The cry echoed again, a woman's voice screaming so vehemently that he feared her vocal cords might tear, but the sounds emanated from the opposite direction of their dwelling.
Instinctively, he entered autopilot mode, sprinting towards the source of the screams. As he ran, the piercing cries continued, urging him forward. He dodged scraggly trees, crashed through shrubs, and navigated around houses in his urgent pursuit.
He crashed through a fence, reaching what was obviously the town square. Buildings and homes placed on the outside of the circle, the dirt paths turned to brick road as the center of the circle stood a bronze statue.
Asher's breath got caught in his throat. He hunched over, dry-heaving, feeling as if he were about to void every internal organ he had.
The statue stood marred in crimson, with chunks of flesh marring its once dull bronze coating. Beneath it, the bricks were drenched in blood, fragments of bone, and tattered clothing—a grotesque scene, as if someone had put fifty people in a blender.
His legs trembled as he stepped forward, getting a better look at the carnage. "I-is this real? Tears streamed down his face, his wide eyes unable to avert their gaze.
He whirled, hearing a rustling in the backyard of a nearby home.
Leo hopped the fence into the backyard of the small, wide, orange home. His two colleagues followed suit.
"It's gotta be around here. It's within a mile," he said.
'I don't know who that is, but if they're sneaking around; I bet they had something to do with this,' Asher thought, hearing the sound of movement behind a nearby orange house.
The village was sloped, with the goup's home being at one of the highest points in the area.
Asher sprinted down the hill, cutting between houses, and running through back alleys.
He stopped, slipping behind a house where the originally blue paint had peeled and left an orange wood in its place.
He closed his eyes, concentrating hard. When he opened them, an amber light bathed the surrounding area. "'I bet they're still asleep, so I'll send them a message. I'll warn them!'
He clutched his hands together, concentrating on what the message was going to say. About ten yards away, he heard a crack, like something big had just stepped on a branch, snapping it.
"Ah!" He screamed, and with his hands still clasped, sprinted farther down the hill. Asher weaved between houses, then cut across town back in the direction of the home.
"Okay, a little farther and I'll release it. Just maybe a quarter of a mile more." He hopped over a small stream. Bang. A shot rang out. Asher fell backward, blood pouring from a large hole in his throat. His energy slowly flickering around him.
The beast lumbered forward; a wide grin stretching across its red face. In its hand, it tightly gripped a pitch-black pistol.
Asher's hands fell to his side, "Message, release!" He thought. He attempted to speak, but only a gurgle escaped his throat. Coughing, he felt the blood slowly seeping back down his throat and into his lungs. "Send to Zoe, Palmer, Mitani, Kalimba, and Yahd!"
He heard it again—a chorus of people screaming, the woman's wail louder and more piercing than ever. Gazing down, he observed the beast's mouth moving, mimicking the earlier wails it had heard.
A bullet ripped through Asher's skull and punctured
the ground beneath him as the beast pulled the trigger once more. It continued firing in rapid succession until the gun clicked, spent.
The beast spat out the glass from Asher's glasses, its eyes rolling back in its head.
Upon reaching Asher's kidneys, it emitted a groan of pleasure. "So fun!" it gurgled. "Killing you was so much fun!"