NOVEL WEB Chapter 15: A Cautious Reunion
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===[Chapter 15: A Cautious Reunion]===
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Morning.
Dutch and Omar had overslept. Eli himself managed to get only a half hour – at most – of sleep. Altogether, they must’ve been idle for at least five hours instead of the hour of rest they planned for. Eli couldn’t help it, it didn’t seem fair to wake up the two, and he himself had somehow fallen into sleep, even if it was for a brief few minutes.
When they were all awake, at least somewhat, they gathered together planning on what to eat. Matteo had the foresight to smuggle a few rations out from the triage, giving a package out to each of them. They could only afford to eat half of it, since it was all that they had. In a clearing, they started a fire, cooked everything that needed to be cooked, and purified water from a small creek nearby. It wasn’t horrible, they knew how to survive on their own, yet it wasn’t enough. The MRE’s wouldn’t last. And soon, they’d have to hunt.
They put out the fire and began moving on, continuing their search.
“They should be around here,” Eli muttered to himself, perhaps a way to start conversation between Misfit in a bid to blow off the pressure building in his mind. But it was clear that they were exhausted. They seemed far away from him, only following his path as he walked. And on top of that, learn how to find food out in the unknown.
It was morning now. Early morning. Golden rays of sunshine poked through the jungle canopy, basking the forest floor in light and giving the four a chance to actually see where they were going for once. Mist hung close to the jungle floor like a fallen cloud, clinging to the damp and humidity surface, basking everything underneath it in a coat of morning dew. The sky or at least what they could make of the sky through the green layer of plants blanketing them, was bright cyan blue. The darkness of the night waning to the rising sun.
Another day on Planet Narva.
The sight of a lynx was good news for them, it proved that there were familiar creatures out here who could be hunted with the ammunition they brought along, should it come to that which it most likely will. And not being eaten alive while they slept was a good thing too. Though, that may have been helped by the fact that neither Eli or Matteo slept at all.
He glanced at the man, silent as stone, hiking through the forest. Some feeling of shame burned on his face when he recalled the events earlier. He didn’t want Matteo as an enemy, that certainly wouldn’t help with the whole “survival" thing. Besides, he didn’t hate him.
He was just a scared man. And so was Eli. So were they all. It was fear that had split Misfit apart. Fear of the unknown. Of Overwatch. Of the alien death robots. Fear was the reason why they were out here, hiking through dense jungle, in the first place.
And Eli wasn’t making anyone less scared by holding them at gunpoint.
On the other hand, the survival of Misfit was paramount. For someone to even suggest turning each other in to Overwatch was beyond offensive. He agreed that in order to not be beaten within a inch of their life by Overwatch, and sentenced to an eternity of solitary confinement, they would need leverage. Both Matteo and Eli had come to the same conclusion in that respect.
But Eli would not gain that by handing over half of the squad to Kovic's goons. There had to be another way. Something else. They needed something that the Coalition wanted.
But what?
Just then, he heard something snap. All of them froze in place. A bad idea. A gunshot rang out from somewhere in the jungle, and the bullet whizzed past Eli’s ear. He could hear the crack of the bullet as it narrowly missed him. He would not let the shooter get a second shot on his head. The four immediately split up, with Eli running to the side to take cover behind a tree trunk.
Something had shot at them. Peeking his head around the corner, he was able to see something move in the trees… literally. Eli raised his rifle up, looking down the holographic sight of the gun. Another gunshot, and he was able to see the muzzle flash. Someone had climbed up into the trees…
His eyes squinted as he tried to see through the foggy obscurity of the early morning jungle, and in the traces of golden daylight that pierced through the jungle canopy the forest, he was able to spot a silhouette. In the trees. He moved his sight until it was right above the silhouette. His finger slipped down to the trigger. Shakily. He held his breath.
But then a errant thought slipped into his mind. A thought that forced him to reconsider. His rifle was ready, his gun loaded, his sight zeroed on the head of the silhouette. And yet he hesitated. His eyes narrowed on the shadow in the trees. He shouted, “Misfit! Misfit!”
His voice echoed through the night forest, reverberating off the bark of the palm trees and ferns that covered the jungle. There wasn’t a call back other than the chirps of insects and animals miles away, “Eli? What the fuck are you doing?” He heard Dutch’s voice whisper to him.
Eli held out a hand to Dutch, “Hold on…”
“Are you trying to get shot?”
“Just trust me on this, wait, look!”
The silhouette didn’t shoot back, instead it stood up taller. A bright light shone from the silhouette, pointed directly on Eli, causing him to instinctively protect his eyes from the luminosity with his hands moving to cover his eyes.
But then a voice called out to him, “Eli? Is that you?”
It was familiar.
“Badger?” Eli called her name out as he stood up from his hiding place, bringing his gun down.
Matteo, Eli, Omar, and Dutch – together – walked up to the tree, looking up at Badger who had climbed into the canopy above to take them by surprise. All signs pointed towards a happy reunion, but the question lingered in the back of Eli’s mind as to why she felt the need to do that?
“And to think I nearly shot you in the face,” Badger called out to them from her perch in the trees.
“Yeah, damn near took my head off!”
“What can I say? I’m a good shot, and I know how to fight,” Badger said to him, “Why do you think they call me Badger?”
“Because you’re short and have that white streak in your hair?” Dutch asked her.
“Call me short again, and I’ll cut your balls off when you sleep.”
Dutch frowned, “Yeah, point understood.”
“Are you here from Overwatch’s orders?”
“I’m afraid not,” Eli said.
“So who sent you?”
Eli, Matteo, Dutch, and Omar looked at each other, “Nobody,” Said Omar.
“You,” Badger tripped over her words, “You came for us?”
Eli shook his head, “We didn’t have a choice. I mean, once my monitor picked up that you guys were in danger we had to come.”
“No, you didn’t. The plan was that we’d split off. Misfit was done for. We deserted and yet, you still came for us.”
“We can’t survive out here on our own. None of us can. The only way we’re going to get back home is if we remain together,” Dutch said, looking at Eli, “And if it wasn’t for you saying that we could do it, we wouldn’t be here.”
“You guys are either stupid or insane,” Badger said.
“How about both?” Matteo offered.
“Yeah, both works too.”
Through the darkness of the forest, Eli could’ve sworn that she saw something glint in Badger’s eyes. Was she… tearing up? Did she not expect for the rest of Misfit to find them, waiting to be abandoned just like the rest of the Coalition did with the Convicts?
“Hey Badger, can I ask, why are you in a tree while we’re standing down here?” Matteo asked bluntly, interrupting the conversation, “I assume you were in some sort of danger before?”
“We’ve already dealt with it, I think. This is just a vantage point so I can scout ahead,” Badger grabbed hold of the bark on the tree. Jumping off the branch, she slid down the side of the tree and landed gracefully on her feet, “I figured you were headhunters. Or worse. Rafael and Cato are holed up a little further in. Rafael has some scratches but he’ll survive. Cato, well, you’ll see for yourself. And thank you, for sacrificing everything to come here. I don’t know if I would’ve done it so, it means a lot that you’d follow us here.”
Eli smiled, feeling a slight – and only slight – relief that their work hadn’t been in vain after all.
Badger silently led them through the forest to the location of the two others. They walked only for a moment. When they approached, Eli could see two bodies around a small bonfire, “Rafael! Cato!” Badger was the first one to call out.
Rafael’s face peeked through the leaves first. He looked fine, suffering massively from a cut on the side of his head that had been haphazardly bandaged together by inexperienced hands, “Badger? Is it the hounds? “Are you okay – “ Rafael’s panicked words faded the moment his eyes landed on the rest of the squad following up behind her. He looked like he had lost something, and then abruptly he shook his head as if he had seen a ghost. His eyes travelled from them to Badger, “What the fuck? They came?”
Badger nodded, “Apparently they got all sentimental, didn’t want us dying out here. So, they got together to come all the way out here.”
Rafael breathlessly chuckled, only once though. Maybe in disbelief. He looked at the ground, and then again at the squad. It wasn’t long until he was on his feet, practically sprinting towards Eli. Within seconds, Eli found himself being bear hugged by Rafael, who was trying to squeeze as much air out of Eli’s lungs as possible before he’d suffocate – even through the stolen body armor. Just before Eli thought a rib cracked somewhere, Rafael released him. Smile as wide as ever, “I love these guys! Eh? Soldier Boy, you’re like a mosquito during a hot summer night. You just don’t give up, that’s why I like you!”
“I don’t think that’s a compliment, but okay.”
“I’m pretty sure he means well,” Badger added, “You can’t blame him. For the past day we’ve been through hell. I mean now that you’re here, maybe we stand a chance?”
“Nah, we’re still gonna die out here. Definitely. But hey, it’s the thought that counts, right?” Rafael said.
“What happened to Cato?” Asked Omar, pointing at the unconscious body lying on the ground near the bonfire.
Matteo briefly turned to Eli, who shrugged. He walked over to Cato’s body, wrapped in cloth huddled close to the fire. Matteo’s medical equipment in tow, he carefully leaned over his body and unwrapped the unconscious Cato from the sheets. Eli, Dutch, and Omar all walked in to get a better look. But when Matteo finally revealed Cato, Eli wished he hadn’t seen him at all.
Pale rubbery skin stretched across Cato’s naked torso. His closed eyes had somehow appeared to sink even further into his skull, and they were surrounded by purple skin with spouts of green pus collecting in the corners of his eyes. His chest weakly fell and rose, sounding like he was struggling to breathe. But by far the worst part of his state was his right arm. It was swollen, and the skin was a sickly yellow color traced by equally swollen purple veins. From several pores, blood trickled out of his arm – discolored. Purple veins slithered their way up the sickly arm, across the flesh of his right breast, and up the right side of his neck. The veins threatened to reach to his head as the infection spread. Eli squirmed in discomfort just from looking at him. Omar sounded like he might vomit. Dutch let out a breathless, “Oh my god.”
But the worst part about it was Matteo’s stoicism. He panned from Cato’s hardly living body to his medical bag without saying a single word. He pulled out a thermostat, disinfected it with an alcoholic towel, and promptly stuck it under Cato’s tongue. With more alcohol he doused the arm, cleaning it with a sterile towelette, and covering the leaking sores with gauze. From his bag he pulled out a needle filled with a clear liquid and a green cap, “So uh, what’s the word, Doc? What’s wrong with him?” Dutch asked.
Matteo simply shook his head, “Obviously poison or some sort of venom. You mentioned an attack?”
“Yeah. We were attacked by these weird half-wolf half-robot things. It was strange. He was bitten by one, and one of their fangs broke off in his uniform,” Badger carefully picked something up from off the floor and showed it to Matteo. In her hands was a small black object with a sharp glowing blue tip. A broken fang, “Ever seen anything like this?”
“What the hell?” Eli whispered as he observed the object. Half-wolf half-robot? What?
“No. Never anything this bad before,” Matteo sighed as he prepared the needle, “I’m giving him a stabilizer. It should take care of his worst symptoms. He’s running a life-threatening fever, 106 degrees. The stabilizer might act as a sort of antivenom, but it will not save him,” Matteo grunted, “He needs to get to a hospital. Now! All I can do is delay the inevitable.”
Silence fell across the squad, particularly Eli, Dutch and Omar. They looked at each other guiltily, knowing that it wasn’t possible.
“We can’t go back to the Nexus,” Dutch said, his eyes still locked onto Cato’s writhing and sickly body, “They will hang us.”
“It’s the only chance we have of saving Cato. At least if we get there, they can rush him into the hospital. I doubt they’ll just let him die in their custody. Even prisoners need medical treatment, you know,” Matteo argued.
“Since when did they start hanging escapees? Isn’t the punishment for getting caught deserting just another five year sentence? I thought they just kicked you out of the Penal Unit program and put you in prison for it?” Rafael asked.
That was true. The Penal Unit was a step up from any normal prison sentence. Service in the Penal Unit was only offered to prisoners with skills or experience useful to the Coalition’s goals. It was a way to shorten their prison sentence and gain slight freedom in exchange for offering their lives as warriors and extra manpower in the Coalition’s wars. Eli was supposed to be serving a life sentence in penitentiary for deserting the war in Korea. It was cut down to five years when he signed up for the Penal Unit.
Badger narrowed her brow. She looked as if she was going to ask why, but her eyes descended on the weapons and gear that they carried. It was stuff only regulars got access to. Eli could practically see the wires connect in her mind.
“You raided the armory? Didn’t you?”
Eli and Dutch both nodded.
She let out a huff, her face a mix of both astonishment and worry, “You guys are fucking insane.”
Rafael was confused at first, until he too saw the equipment that they carried. Surprisingly, he smiled.
“We have to at least try and get Cato to the Nexus. There, they have doctors and medical equipment to look after him” Matteo stated, “The only thing I can hope to do is monitor his vitals. But I don’t know what type of poison was used, I have nothing capable of fighting it, and I’ve never seen a reaction like this before.”
“Doc, haven’t you been listening to what’s been going on? We can’t go back to the Nexus! They’ll kill us, or something! I mean even if they don’t, who’s to say they’ll even look after Cato?”
“Let me remind you of the alternative, Dutch. We’re out here in the middle of an alien planet full of hostiles and unknown local wildlife. If we don’t get back to the Nexus, Cato will die! And I’d bet everything that we’d follow shortly after.” Matteo argued back.
“Crap…”
Just as all hope for Cato’s life seemed lost, there was a howl in the forest. It was a deep, almost robotic, sort of noise. Threatening as it bellowed from the dark depths of the jungle. Eli grabbed his gun and raised it up along with the rest of Misfit. The source of the noise was too close…
“Damn it! The hounds are back!” Badger cursed as she brought up the spare rifle, ready to fire.
Another howl. This one was much closer. Their flashlights scanned the near pitch-black world of the jungle, desperately searching for anything that can help them survive. But it was too dark.
Eli’s heart thudded in his throat. He looked around to the rest of Misfit, motioning for them to stand in a circle around Matteo and the deathly-ill Cato protectively. All five of them stood back to back in the circle, keeping a watch on the forest for anything. They collectively held their breaths.
More howls, multiple this time. And a distinct whir accompanied him. Eli saw a faint red light flash in the forest before disappearing in the darkness yet again. They could hear mechanical parts churning, growls, hisses, as the predators drew nearer. Eli kept his gun steady, taking only slight comfort in the fact that Misfit was here with him. No matter what, they were ready for it.
Suddenly, gunshots burst out from Dutch’s rifle. Eli heard the sound of a whimper, and then from the corner of his eyes, an almost pitch-black figure dashed into cover behind a thick wall of plants and jungle life with more bullets from Dutch following it, “What the fuck is that thing?” Dutch asked.
It sounded like Badger was going to answer, but something else rustled in the bush. Dashing out of it, another black figure. It was large beast, covered in black fur and accented by strange blue markings and emblems in it, but that was all Eli was able to see as it charged…at him.
He shot at it four times, his first two bullets missed but the last two hit it in the side. The creature crashed into the ground as it was dragged by it’s momentum to Eli’s feet, though it wasn’t dead. It was still thrashing, moving towards him with sharp bloody fangs braced to try and go for his leg. Eli shot it in the head once, and the struggle was over. When the dust settled, he observed the body.
It was a wolf, though twice the size of any wolf Eli’s ever seen. It was bigger than he was, and Eli stood at a solid six feet tall. A coal black -greyish tone cloaked it’s fur, with blue stripes and markings that looked like a foreign language written on them. But the most alien feature of the “Wolf” were its non-organic parts. Where its face should’ve been, was instead a solid grey metal plate. Several bolts screwed into the plate around the cheek and jaw area suggested that the beast was a living feeling creature with the plate drilled into its face for whatever purpose. The eyes of the beast had been removed, replaced by dimly glowing red sensors that sat in the skull of the wolf. The ears, similarly, had been modified though not removed. Several electrical components connected the rear of the ears with the top of the skull, with exposed wiring and steel components visible. The fangs of the wolf had been modified with steel blades that looked as if they could be retracted into the skull. While the paws and lower leg of the wolf were completely missing their organic components. Silvery metal alloy had been installed into the lower portion of the leg, assisted by a sort of metal valves and pumps that kept the leg moving fast. The paws substituted for a curved metal alloy in the rear, while the front had been swapped completely with claws.
But perhaps the most striking – and frankly disgusting – feature of the half-wolf half-machine was its torso. The body of the creature was emaciated, the ribs showed through the black fur. A circular valve had been implanted around where the stomach of the monster should’ve been. Judging by the odd liquid ooze that surrounded the valve, that must’ve been where it received whatever nutrition its creator gave it, as the mouth lacked a tongue or any sort of mechanism to eat its meals.
Across the back spine of the creature were mechanical parts that couldn’t fit inside of its body. One of the most striking features was a black metal box located on the base of the spine, in the center of which contained a small circular red stone that glowed just like the eyes had.
Eli’s eye twitched as he looked at the thing, no longer able to call it a wolf due to how monstrous it was in both size and construction, “What the hell is that thing?” Eli whispered. It was horrific, and the worst part was that Eli had no idea how much of the original beast had remained unmodified to the synthetic component. Was the original wolf still alive? Or had it been completely taken over by the machine parts that wore the body of the wolf like a flesh suit? But the most important question of all: who the hell would make something like this? Who would be sick enough to rob a living creature of its own body, and perhaps life, to instead stuff it with machine parts and electronic components to be used as a killing machine?
Eli’s arm shook as he observed the beast. He had gotten lucky as his bullet had struck right in the center of the face plate, right where the brain should have been. A lucky kill shot. But as the howls only multiplied, he had no idea if he would be able to replicate such a lucky shot.
Another rustle in the bushes, and Eli heard a snarl to his right. Another monster-wolf had charged from the bushes and lunged to attack Badger. She shot the creature in the chest three times, and it didn’t slow down. Instead, it pounced on her, knocking her straight to the floor – dangerously close to the fire – with very little effort, “NO! BADGER!” Rafael shot the beast as he broke his formation in the circle to shoot it, with Matteo assisting him with several gunshots of his own. But the creature sunk its metal fangs into her lower leg, and it refused to let go no matter how many times it had been shot. Badger screamed as she collapsed onto the floor, losing hold on her own gun – she tried to punch it in the face but of course it didn’t work. Finally, Rafael ended its life with a kill shot in the ribs which forced the creature to go limp, but the damage to Badger’s leg had already been done. Fresh human blood drenched the lower portions of her pants, and through the holes that the fangs of the creature left behind, they could see the wound that the creature left behind. An open gory wound that revealed raw and exposed flesh, oozing with her red blood. She was screaming on the floor as the monster let go of her leg.
The squad had no time to recover, another wolf lunged at Dutch. It dodged his bullets, pounced on him, and tried to sink its fangs into his neck to immediately go for a kill, but Dutch managed to hold his gun up to defend himself in the nick of time, and the snarling beast only caught a mouthful of metal. Steel grinded against steel, and it looked like the wolf might chew straight through his gun given the sounds of snapping coming from the rifle. Eli was there to assist him, but he was distracted by yet another wolf that lunged out of the bush – this time at him.
Uncaring of the number of bullets that Rafael had sunk into its body, the wolf managed to catch Eli with its teeth, and lifted him up into the air before it violently threw him back down onto the floor. All of the breath was sucked out his lungs, the killing machine snarled and hissed at him, going for his face, but Eli caught its neck with his hands and mustering all the strength left in his body – attempted to push the head of the creature away from him. Though it was a losing battle. The machine-like whirs of the beast were growing louder in intensity as it pushed against his arms, and he knew that it would only be a matter of time until the beast sunk its teeth into his head. And judging by the sounds of chaos and snarling coming from the others, he would not be receiving help any time soon. Fear and panic set in, he could feel his seconds left remaining to live tick down. Everything replaying in his mind that led up to his moment.
And from out of nowhere, there was a pulse of blue light.
It shot from the trees, and he heard a whimper. Rustling of leaves, another flash of light. Gunshots. The wolf that was trying to separate his face from his head a moment prior, went stiff and collapsed on top of Eli as blood burst from it’s neck. More gunshots, and he heard footsteps. Screaming. He turned to his right to see a shadowy humanoid figure approach Omar, who was on his back trying to escape from them. A blue aura resonated from the figure as they held out a hand over him. Eli felt his heart race, and stood up. Instantly he stood up, yelling, and charged at the shadowy figure who turned around to face Eli. It’s face covered with a mask painted grey and green, resembling some form of camouflage. A red slash arched across the left eye interrupted the pattern. Two large holes were carved out of the mask, where two glowing eyes sat. The right one glowing blue while the one on the left was dimmer – almost damaged…
The strange figure caused Eli to hesitate, but still he pushed right on. Thinking irrationally – motivated only by the desire to get the person away from Omar – he tried to push the person away. But the figure sidestepped him, and Eli faltered, he rebounded pulling his pistol out of its holster to fire. But the figure predicted his move and stopped his arm by grabbing him close and throwing him to the ground. It produced a weapon that resembled a staff, and with a strong grasp, used it to pin Eli down onto the floor. With no other choice to do anything, all Eli could do was watch as another masked figure approached Omar.
Omar struggled, bleeding from somewhere though it wasn’t clear where. He tried to kick away from the figure. But he was of course too slow.
“Omar! Omar!” Eli screamed out, trying to hold a hand out to him as if that would magically help him get up and run.
But it was of course no use. The figure held out a hand, and a blue light glowed from the outstretched hand. Omar fell limp, unconscious. Unable to do anything, he looked back up to his captor, and they were doing the same thing. Painlessly, everything faded to black.
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