"FUCK A DUCK!!" I howled as I raced down Kingshighway Boulevard dodging around abandoned and overturned steed carriages while being chased by seven hungry thrads. War crime ran quickly beside me and jumped over other debris.
We ran into this group of thrads as we were trying to make our way to the river through the woods which turned out was a terrible idea and we had to turn tail and run back to town.
A quick glance over my shoulder showed that we pulling away from our thrad pursuers. I spun around with my Jasko drawn and fired a bullet through the head of the pack leader. It dropped and tumbled into the one behind it, tripping them all. I took the chance and immediately around a corner then dove into the first open door I saw.
It turned out to be a butchery of all places. I hopped the counter and ducked out of sight, War crime did the same. We both stilled, listening to the sounds of the thrads outside sniffing and growling and hissing at each other as they tried to find us. I heard the clicking of claws against the cold tile floor and knew one of the thrads had made its way inside the store.
I looked to War crime and nodded my head towards the thrad on the other side of the counter. War crept slowly to the end of the counter then jumped on top of it and sprayed the room with gas. I jumped up and grabbed War crime by his scruff then rushed out the back of the butchery into the alley.
I ran not really caring as long as it got me away from the thrads. I'd ran about nine blocks by the time I exhausted myself and had to stop and lean against a nearby wall.
'Dammit! That plan did bite me butt!' I thought regrettably. War crime grumbled and squirmed out of my grasp.
"Whoops! Sorry buddy." I apologized then petted him on the head.
I looked around to fond a street sign and try and get a sense of where we were in town when I heard a loud gunshot.
'Oh come on! Can I get a break?!' I thought as I found my body already moving towards the sound of the gunshot. I exited the alley and stepped onto a battlefield. The street was filled with thrad corpses pulled on top of each other in front of a barricade; though it was nothing more than a overturned carriage and a few desks and sandbags piled on top and around it. They'd died tried to get over the barricade and by the looks of the barricade a few did. The sound of more gunshots spurred me forward.
I climbed over the barricade and saw a dozen or so thrads charging towards a line of sheriff deputies trying to hold them back. However most of them were using the wrong type of gun, they were using low caliber revolvers which would bounce off of a thrads thick scales.
"War crime go! Protect them!" I ordered the grogark and he rushed forward without question. I took aim at the thrad closest to the line of deputies and fired, my wound only hitting its shoulder but slowing it down enough that the other deputies focused fire on that one. I switched targets and shot the thrad at the back of the pack, nailing it in the heart and dropping it.
At this point my speedy War crime had reached the next closest thrad and pounced on its back and started clawing its way up its back and onto its head. With on wide swipe it slashed the thrads eyes out making it stable around blindly into another and knocking each other over. Seeing that a few of their pack mates were now being attacked from behind the four thrads skidded to a stop and turned tail and charged War crime, which was their final mistake.
War crime jumped off the thrad and turned towards me like he was about to run then lifted his tail up and sprayed the thrads completely. With seven thrads now dead I turned my attention to the five remaining thrads.
"Go around the cloud and run interference for the last thrads!" I yelled to War crime. He did as ordered and thanks to War crime's interference the deputies and I were able to pick off the remaining thrads. When the last of then fell I reloaded my rifle then shouldered it and jumped down from the barricade and rushed over War crime.
He was sniffing one of the thrad corpses that had been filled full of holes thanks to the overzealous deputies. Honestly it had probably died after the fist six bullets hit.
"Good job boy." I said petted him on the head.
"DROP YOUR FUCKING WEAPON AND STEP AWAY FROM THE EVO YOU SPLICING PIECE OF SHIT!" A deputy hollered. I turned my head and saw at least fifteen deputies pointing their weapons at me.
"Oh for fucks sake!" I grumbled to myself then stood slowly with my hands up. "I'm not a threat! I literally just helped you all!"
"SHUT UP! NOBODY TOLD YOU TO SPEAK!"
I bit my lip to keep any smart remarks to myself then slowly took the jasko off my shoulder and tossed it away.
"Go over there War crime and no matter what happens do not attack." I ordered him. War crime complied and walked back towards the barricade, far away enough that he couldn't be accurately targeted by most of the deputies on case he ignored my order and tried to attack the deputies.
Seeing that War crimes was safe away from the deputies I turned back to face them and saw a rifle butt flying towards my face. I heard a loud crack as the rifle came into contact with my nose. I fell flay on my ass and grabbed my now bleeding nose.
"FAWK!" I screamed and covered my face. The rifle to the fa e was followed by the deputy grabbing my hair and slamming my face into the bloody cobblestone and pressing hos boot on my neck.
"DON'T FUCKING MOVE!"
"Can't…bweathe…!" I wheezed.
I was suddenly surrounded by deputies as they piled on top of me and immobilized me. I felt half a dozen pairs of hands grabbing my limbs trying to force them behind my back. I didn't resist and let them cuff me. Once they slapped the cuffs on me they hauled me to my feet. Two deputies held me up while the others stood in front of me.
"Came back to enjoy your handy work?" One of the deputies asked.
"Wat handy werk?" I replied earning me a punch to the gut by the largest and most muscular deputy. I couched and wheezed and nearly blacked put from the pain. The muscular deputy grabbed me by my hair and forced me to look up at him.
"Don't fucking act innocent! We know that you're the one that released all those evos at the factory!" He growled
"I dwidn't!" I exclaimed which earned me a punch to the jaw that made me see stats. "I diwidn't! I sweer!"
"Lying sack of splicer shit!" He snapped then grabbed my throat. "If you're not going to admit it freely then I'll just beat the truth out of you!"
"Do it Jason! Give that splicer of shit what he deserves!" Another deputy yelled.
'Out here in the open?' I thought a split second before Jason's fist collided with my jaw again and made my brain dance inside my skull. He delivered blow after punishing blow to my face and body, each one more powerful than the last. I gritted my teeth and endured each hit, blacking out a few times and each time snapped back awake by excruciating pain.
When Jason got tired another deputy took over, thankfully he wasn't as strong as Jason was but still hurt nonetheless.
'They don't give a fuck about the truth or even the factory being destroyed. This is just a excuse to beat me like they've been wanting to for a while!' I realized.
The deputy kicked me so hard in the stomach I flew out of the arms of the two holding me up and fell to the ground. The deputies surrounded me now and stomped and kicked me. Unable to defend my selfish took every kick to the face, every stomp to the ribs, every humiliating attack.
'Why? Why am I letting them do this? Why don't I fight back? Why the hell did I risk my life to save them?' I thought as I looked up at the rabid mob of deputies stomping the living shit out of me. 'War crime could kill them all…easily too….so easy…'
I started channeling energy into my crystal and started to send it towards War crime. The words "Murder them, kill them" echoing in my head. It fed into a white hot anger that was boiling in my blood. But just as soon as I had started to channel the energy I stopped.
'…it would be so easy…and I'd become the monster they think I am…'
My eyes glanced to War crime standing in front of the barricade. The poor gorgark looked so conflicted between following my order and saving me. His claws dug into the cobblestone in a effort to root him in place while he barred hos fangs in silent anger.
See that I was barely responsive to their beatings now the deputies stepped back on Jason's orders. The muscular man loomed over me grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and lifted me off the ground.
"Admit that you caused all this!" He growled. I looked Jason dead in his eyes, only seeing hatred and contempt in then. He just wanted a confession so he could finish me. I swallowed, which took some effort and only tasted blood, then thought of my response. It came easily, I spat a wad of blood and snot into Jason's face.
"Fawk Yew! Normie!" I growled. Jason growled and threw me to the ground.
"Take him inside! We'll let everyone else that was trapped inside town decide what to do with him!" Jason ordered.
"What about that evo?" A deputy asked pointing to the angry War crime.
"Kill it! Less weapons he has around him the better!" Jason replied.
"No!" I yelled even though the movement made my face scream in agony. "Wun!"
My order came too late. As soon as the words left my mouth about six deputies opened fire on War crime. He didn't even have a chance to lift his paw to run before the fist bullet pierced his heart, the rest tore him to shreds.
'No….no, no, no, no!'
"WARG CREEEM!"
"Shut the fuck up!" Jason yelled and kicked me in the face, making everything else go black.