[5-10] Flights of Fancy (Christa and Red)

[Gildarts]

Seconds later from his eyelids lifting like curtains, there was a scream. High pitched and almost a little too feminine to be Christa.

Almost.

Red jumped out of his fur and burst up and out of the room, relying on his nose to follow her trail. Took. He knew it was him, once a cannibal, always a–

Claws dug into the woodwork with his haste, his paws had carried him into the darkness of the room. Crawling at her feet, flickering in the streak of the flashlight she’d dropped, was a horrifying insect, straight out of Starship Troopers, but much smaller. Immediately she stomped it hard after she regained control of her tingling feet. Ichor squished below her foot and splattered straight into Red’s face.

It’s pungent smell was driven up his nose, while she glanced over and picked up the flashlight, the shiny neon goo shimmered right on his face. A delightful laugh burst from her lips, while she picked up a stray piece of clothing from a nearby drawer and cleaned his face off with a smile, “Sorry about that.”

Forced to close his eyes, he felt the brushing over his fur as she toweled him off, then she checked to make sure it was dry with the back of her hand. She noted how soft his pelt was while pulling away but the smell lingered, “Bugs are gross, and this one hissed at me, can you believe it? Like a ca-”

She laughed again, catching herself too late. Red blinked, perplexed, then smiled along with her, though, noting the dilemma which rose within him. Not to mention, the woman seemed different, bubbly, jovial, nothing like the stubborn, ruthless woman that had nearly shot Karl. Little did he know, her hope had been redeemed.

Took strolled in, letting his eyes prod the room instead of asking for questions, since it seemed that she was standing upright and smiling, “False alarm, but I got Red with bug guts.”

A formal nod, “Will you be ready to go soon?”

“Yes, find me any ammo? Or better yet, a pistol?”

“I’ll let you know when I do,” Doubt it. Red thought as William departed.

A curve still remained on the edge of her lip, despite the poor news, “I found a sack where I can put some of the supplies we found. Though, my shoulder’s a bit crummy, and I have to sling my sniper over the good one. I’m gonna keep a knife out. I thought it’d be light out by now, but the sky looks like black ice, I could slide right off it.”

It was detectable in her voice, not only had something good happened, but the aforementioned trust was there. Red blinked and simply agreed, “It is pretty dark.”

“Hey, at least we have a guide,” her steps were practically bouncing off the floorboards, he had no idea if she’d gotten any sleep, but she seemed completely recharged, and then some, “And, I have the key.” Her eyes sparkled, Christa was encased by the idea of two things she cared for as she felt the iron through her pocket. The Town was the key to both.

Bluntly, Red asked, “What happened down there?”

Christa snapped to attention, whatever had delivered her happiness hadn’t stolen her vigilance, “The first time or the second time? Oh, well, first Karl, I’m pretty sure, gave me a concussion. The second time, well,” her lips remained in the shape of an upward crescent, “Seems like we’re being directed to the town. Abner’s there.”

She said nothing more, and they all met at the front of the building and the shadows of the night stole them away while Took listed off three rules, the color of Red’s flames licked the bottom of his chin. “First, when you move, be completely silent. Second, watch your lights,” his glare fell on Red and he made no attempt to change the condemning expression from his face, “Third, listen for them. If you hear them, run.”

“Them?” Christa asked boldly.

“You’ll know when you hear. I’ll be trying to lead us as far away from them as possible, we’ll be near the mountain, and the trees thin, but hopefully they won’t come out into the open.”

“Tell me, who they are.” It was a demand, said in a ferocious voice. That was more like the Christa Red knew.

The man smirked, causing the lines of his age to crinkle with the haunted expression in his eyes, “I don’t know, I always ran.”

[Kenpachi Zaraki]

Despite the meager rest he had caught during their pitstop in the secluded shelter, Nanaki’s body continued to fight his every movement. He felt as if the weights had merely been shifted upon the scale, leaving the balance the same as ever. What strength he had regained through food and rest was hindered by the stiffness of his joints and the pounding headache behind his eyes. Likewise, though his wounds were no longer pouring his body’s contents upon the forest floor, the damage done beneath seemed to feel worse as swelling stepped in to ‘help out’. For a beast that symbolized courage and pride, he felt more than a little bit fragile, like a marionette strung up too tightly.

“Keep that light low,” Took muttered urgently. He was leading their march, separated from the feline by the ever-vigilant sniper. Red bit his tongue; had she not been betwixt the two, it could have been the man’s neck.

The burgundy beast did as he was told, following the command begrudgingly like a disobedient pup. Though Christa had found renewed vigor in her rest conversation, Red’s nightmares had left him feeling precisely the opposite fashion. While she felt closer to those for whom she searched, he never felt farther from Vincent. While the ‘human’ side of him knew the terrors were simply errant bits of thought, animated by arbitrary impulses in his brain, he had to wonder if the phantasms bore some significance. Among the inhabitants of Cosmo Canyon, dreams were seen as a window into the mind and were often lauded as premonitions. The thought hung between his eyes for a moment. Premonition. He shook it off; it was illogical, even silly.

“So,” Christa began, whispering through the black night. “Them?”

“No talking,” Took replied, quickly and quietly. He raised a hand to hush the huntress, leading them through a particularly dense portion of foliage. She did not reply, dutifully following their guide evermore through the wilderness.

The trek was long, the night air hanging heavy and silently over their shoulders. It had seemed their little forest fire had put itself out, leaving the night’s gaping maw to swallow them whole. Nanaki’s tail provided a sliver of light, just barely adequate enough to keep track of Took. They stayed close to their guide, hoping that he would not be one to prey upon their trust and dash headlong into the woods, leaving them stranded. Something told the crimson prime that his blonde comrade had a bullet chambered just for such an occurrence.

”You’re mine… Took’s voice slithered into his ear, making his fur stand on end. He paused for half a moment, hearing nothing from Christa.

“What?” he spoke up, leaning forward slightly to squint at the man.

The gunslinger shot him a look, urgency in her eyes as she pressed a finger to her lips. They couldn’t afford to break their silence, lest they beckon whatever creatures laid in hiding.

“He just said something,” Red explained, his voice subconsciously growing louder.

”All mine…”

“What’s all yours?!” the crimson prime growled, dropping his quiet tone completely.

“No one said anything,” the guide whispered, keeping his back to the fiery feline. “Now hush and follow me.”

The crimson cat let out a low growl before returning to silence. He carried himself as low as he could, keeping at a proper stance to grapple the man if the need came. Took could play all the games he wanted, trying to antagonize him into causing a fight. Red knew most of their time together was all part of a larger mental chess game, and that the smug bastard was manipulating him even now. Truthfully, at this point the burgundy beast couldn’t care less about who had the upper hand. The man was through as soon as he outlived his usefulness.

Soon… Christa’s husky growl met his ears, causing his heart to beat still faster. He took a step forward, glancing up at her as they stalked. If she was planning something, he’d want to know.

“Soon what?” Red asked, pressing himself closer to her path and keeping his voice as quiet as possible. The cat looked up expectantly, as a housecat might wait to be fed.

”All will fall…” The voice this time was much deeper, laden with saccharine sweetness: the voice of Karl Jak.

“Stop!” Red announced, standing stock still among the trees. Christa jumped at the sudden outburst, reflexively holding her dagger at the ready. In the dim firelight, he saw Took’s face contorted with rage.

“Will you shut up?” the man more demanded than inquired. His hushed whispers came laden with rage and desperation. “If you keep making noise like that, they’ll find us for sure.”

“Or Karl Jak will attack us again!” Nanaki barked loudly, glaring toward a nondescript patch of brush with his lone ochre optic. His unmuted words echoed through the area, deafening in the otherwise silent glade.

The rambunctious feline felt a sharp tap on his shoulder. Christa looked down at him, equal parts worry and annoyance apparent on her countenance. She drew two fingers over her mouth, closing an invisible zipper; the meaning was lost on him.

“What?” the crimson Prime muttered, lowering his voice to a hushed mutter. “What did you mean by “soon” just now?”

The huntress’ look shifted more toward concern at his words, cocking an eyebrow. She shook her head wordlessly, attempting to maintain her vow of silence. Again she raised a finger to her mouth, making an almost imperceptibly quiet “shh” sound.

“...Nevermind,” Red sighed, shaking his head. “Must have been the wind or something.”

She kept her gaze on him for but a moment before turning to follow Took. The fiery feline stood for a beat, hearing nothing but silence. He soon followed, his heart hammering in an uneven cadence.

[Gildarts]

The black of the night was thick, as murder in a war-zone.

There was nearly nothing to be seen before or behind them, even after their eyes had adjusted to the dark. Several times, Christa’s arm painfully made contact with a tree, while she tried to trace faded outlines in the fog before her. A better guide was her ears, which followed the gentle cascade of Took’s feet, though they made little sound.

It was truly unnerving just how silent the woods were, at any moment, death could extend his scythe and then there would simply be no more air for her to breathe. She’d be just another corpse, just another life that this island had taken.

Christa cocked an ear over in Red’s direction, he was breathing quickly but not from the incline. He’s scared? Aren’t cats supposed to have night vision? What the hell is wrong with him? He... Seemed like he was hearing voices, and what was that, bringing Karl up out of the blue? Her gut told her something was very wrong, she extended her hand out, not sure how close she was to Took, but it made contact with the cannibal’s shoulder. He turned around, or so she thought, and she asked silently, “I need a small break.”

To her surprise, he granted it, saying it was a decent spot, that they were far from the enemy’s territory and high on the mountain. Red, coming up from behind, ran into her headfirst. She turned now, while the question hung on his lips, What’s going on? she answered delicately, “I asked for five minutes to rest.”

The feline was on edge. The light of his tail had drawn closer, so she could see the sharp contours of worry on his face. Unannounced suspicion rolled off of his ready-to-pounce shoulders and Christa sat right next to him, letting her back scrape against a tangy smelling pine, “Red,” she said softly, wondering what question to pose, “Tell me what you heard.”

His darting eyes raced straight to hers, “It’s nothing,” but it was a lie and he couldn’t keep it, “I thought I heard Karl Jak.”

“He probably wouldn’t wander around the forest at night like us,” she reasoned and pulled out a water bottle, “Here, you seem thirsty, I can't summon a bowl, but I have a wolf that drinks straight from the nozzle, give it a try?”

With a tilt, the stream began to flow and Red lapped it in, pausing a few times to cough and catch his breath. His fear had stalled within him, stiffening his joints but baying the thoughts that had tempted him too close to the edge of the abyss. “Nanaki, I want you to know,” the woman said as she stood, “Maybe you did hear him, I don’t doubt you. Maybe if we walk fast enough we can keep him off our tail. Eh?”

Red was too distracted to catch her joke, instead, his eyes fell on the silence that was their guide, If only she had any idea.

“Who’s Karl Jak?” Took asked, leaping at the chance to interrupt.

“A man I should have killed, but hey, I guess I kinda like him if I didn’t. The bastard was the one who you met above the bunker.” she smirked, “He’s a sly prick.”

Took didn’t like the word, murder, but didn’t let the unease show on his skin, “You know, where I come from, men don’t do that kind of thing to ladies.”

Christa wondered what they did to men where he came from, who dared to defy that rule, “Oh, I don’t have a ladylike bone in my body, I probably have more blood on my hands than anyone who is still alive on this island. Even your friends.”

Murder forges perfection. “Hopefully you had good reason, else maybe I’ll-”

A low rumbling could distinctly be heard filling the side of the mountain, laden with thinning fog, and shaking the earth below their feet. Built up stone around the tall-shooting trees quivered as though the sound was enough to smite them into the oblivion of nonexistence.

“What is that?” she asked, shuffling closer to the tree in order to steady herself.

“Damn it.” the man answered, “A landslide.”

Trepidation threw Christa off her feet, while the ground growled angrily at the three of them for standing on its mountainous domain. They had two options, neither of which, Christa’s feet were willing to move for, instead, the fear of being crushed to death by a stampede of rock shocked her free. “Shit,” I’m not dying today. She told herself before roaring louder than the rocks, giving her comrades direction, “CLIMB!”

The trees might break, but the way Christa saw it, they still had a chance since they were closer to the top than the bottom of the mountain, and the momentum would only increase if they tried to escape. Cornered, they commenced to climb, Red looked back, unwilling to leave the injured comrade behind until Took sternly announced, “You go first, hurry! I’ll get her.”

Talons ripped in the spine of the tree, stabbing the wood and leaving behind scratches as the bark fell away. Red’s claws grappled him higher into the sky while the tumbling rocks came ever closer. His concentration didn’t pull, though it sounded as though the smite of the gods was upon him. Meanwhile, still on the ground was Christa and the other human, the heavy clatter of stone was almost upon them, small tides of pebbles had shot down past their feet. There were not many low lying branches for them to get a good handle on, but Took paved the way using each of their daggers as a means upward, following the cat’s path.

Still, it was a matter of Christa, one arm would not deliver her to safety alone, and even if they all made it up, they’d have to pray that this stump of a tree would endure the grinding of power without it splitting. “C’mon,” Took gestured, offering her a hand. He’d left a dagger in for his own foothold, but things were getting awfully tricky, since there were only two knives. The sniper’s bicep pulled her directly upwards, but muscle could only last so long. She gritted her teeth through the burn while her other arm was crushed against the tree, still swindled in its little sling. The only use it had was to offer her prompts of pain, which motivated her feet to find the small grooves the cannibal was cutting for her toes.

Fear pulsed in her ears, delivered there by the heavy pounding of her heart. Help, she begged to her body and kicked the shedding bark out of her way, while she finally was able to pull the knife out and lift herself higher. Took extended his hands to her, his beady eyes alive, and thrilled by the gentle tide of death that was surely, just ten feet below them.

Another small nook had been sliced and in her free hand she used the parting of the wood to leap upward, Just another foot. Yearning for the nearest bough, the gunslinger struggled as she conquered, and Red looked down from his perch above. 

His teeth showed, while the rumble in his throat was drowned out by the toppling of stone crashing into stone, shaking the tree and all its needles. Christa’s sweaty hand nearly slipped off of the grip that stung her with splinters. Her eyes closed, immediately, but then reopened, as though she had realized that she didn’t want to die with her eyes closed. Another swing, and one last–she jumped. Red’s eyes widened with fear while her body moved in slow motion, her torso had made contact with the arm of the tree, but to collision was startling as it hit Christa right in her injured rib and caused her entire body to seize.

Slip.

It was soundless in the lull of the rampage, but her hand extended upward, wishing by will alone, she had the power to reach the tree even while her own weight was tugging her downward. The woman never looked, even when certain death clawed at her feet. A numbed sense of fear coiled over her entire body, which was helpless to do anything but the one thing she would never do before she died: Scream.

A hand came out of no-where while fingernails tore at her skin, slicing deep while blood brimmed at the edge of her skin, causing a slight slip in the hope of his grasp. He grunted, while Christa’s heart was beating faster than an Uzi could pour out hot shells. Not today... her mind managed while her arm did all it could to hang onto her last hold.

Took now had her in his arms, she was dangling while heavier boulders steamrolled below in an unending wave that would not ebb for some time. The scrawny man could barely hold her, but with a nod, Christa directed him to throw her up on the limb, and with the swing of her hips, she wrapped her arms around the sweet wood, looking as though she’d never let go.

[Kenpachi Zaraki]

The trio sat among the foliage, clinging to the trunk of their oaken savior for dear life. The roiling sea of rubble churned beneath their feet, blasting their perch chunky detritus. Though they could barely make out the spectacle of the flow under the cover of the night’s stiffing darkness, the deafening raucous, rumble assaulting their ears. The boughs quaked as the sat, threatening to drop them to their doom. They could do little but dig their nails into the rough bark and cling for dear life.

Red lay flat against his own bough, claws lodged firmly in the cork nearly to the quick. The landslide seemed to have happened all at once; their quick reaction had saved their lives. He had seen Took stall Christa’s fall and fling her to her current perch, allowing the feline the luxury of anchoring himself to the tree. He was the luckiest of the group in this instance, being perfectly outfitted for such a plight. The crimson Prime found himself thinking that this was one of the only times he wasn’t envious of  man’s thumbed hands. He braced against the tree’s wild upheaval, closing his eyelids tightly in an attempt to keep out the cloud of dust generated by the slide. 

The deluge of debris continued for what felt like an eternity, each second threatening to be their last. The light of the scarlet beast’s tail provided the only proof that any of the bunch had remained safe from harm, the dim light muted even further by the fine mist being thrown skyward by the rampant cascade. Nanaki’s muscles ached as he tensed against the reverberations, gritting his teeth hard as he began to feel the very fibers of his muscles began to tear beneath his pelt. It would not be much longer before his sinews would simply give up, dropping him to the forest below. Just as this thought crossed his mind, the rumbling stopped. Seconds later, the area fell dead silent.

“Is that it?” Nanaki inquired, coughing forcefully. Thick globs of muddy saliva dripped from his mouth as he attempted to clear his airway of debris, with mild success.

“I hope so,” Christa responded, turning unsteadily to gaze downward. She had somehow managed to cling to the tree with her lone working arm, though it seemed the action had taken a lot out of her.

“Best to wait, in case we have a second wave,” Took advised, nodding at Christa. She returned the gesture in kind, breathing heavily as she allowed her stiff limbs to relax.

Red, too, afforded his aching limbs the opportunity to loosen up, ever-vigilant and waiting for the dreaded second coming. Moments passed with the trio remaining at the ready, though another torrent never came. Gingerly, Red got to his feet and dropped to the forest floor, his comrades following soon after. 

“It looks like we’re fine for now,” Took commented, returning his voice to a whisper. “With any luck the slide cleared a path for us, but keep quiet in case.” He eyed the feline harshly on the last word, narrowing his eyes for a brief second before turning away.

The blonde and the beast followed in the man’s wake, hoping their guide’s senses were still as keen following nature’s spiteful assault. They made their way slowly through the black veil, Red’s tail providing what meager light that it could. Took could complain all he wanted about his bioluminescence; it was certainly better than groping around the forest in pitch blackness.

”Death...”

Red’s ears perked up at once, his gaze ricocheting feverishly across his field of vision. Another trick of the wind? He dared not make another scene after what had happened previous, lest his outburst spur mother nature into stirring the soil free once more. Perhaps it was just anxiety, his nerves making him hyper-aware to noises that were not there. He attempted to slow his erratic breathing, clinging to this conclusion as he stared down at his paws. 

”Death comes...”

The beast’s heart leapt, hammering painfully against his sternum as he turned to search for the disembodied voice once more. This was much the same as the last, sounding quite like their least favorite executive producer, yet somehow different. Something was the tiniest bit off about the voice’s mocking timbre.

”For all.”

“He’s here!” The beast snarled, stopping in his tracks. Red heard an irritated sigh from the front of the group as he took off deeper into the wood, knocking into trees as he ran. 

“Red!” Christa called, squinting as the feline’s tail began to vanish into the darkness. She grabbed at Took’s arm, pulling him along with her as she made chase deeper into the forest.

“I heard him!” Nanaki roared, panting heavy, uneven breaths as his exhausted body battered itself against trunks and boulders. The voice had fallen silent, though he was sure he had heard the echo from  the north. He felt nausea rising in his gut as his overworked legs stumbled and slipped against the uneven earth.

“Stop!” the gunslinger called in vain after him, attempting simultaneously to keep her voice down and to reach the frenzied beast’s ears. She too was feeling the grip of fatigue on her limbs, pushing hard against her body’s resistance. Somewhere behind her, Took kept the pace.

“Where...” Red asked of no one in particular. He felt his heart rate drop as his breaths became too short and frequent to grant precious oxygen to his brain. His vision began to fade as his limbs slowed, losing their footing and sending him tumbling toward the earth. The burgundy beast landed hard on his side, feeling something hard dig into his ribs.

A moment later the pair of humans were at his side, the sniper heaving labored breaths and she bent to gaze down at him. With blurred vision Nanaki climbed shakily to his feet, turning his head to inspect what had broken his fall. Beneath him was the lifeless corpse of a man not at all unfamiliar. Though the darkness attempted to hide their discovery, some details were unmistakable, among these a tailored purple suit and black Armani Oxfords. The beast’s limbs threatened to buckle as realization swept over him. “That...”

“That can’t be him,” Christa said, her voice catching in her throat. A kaleidoscope of emotions passed across her face as they stared down at the man, silence settling among them.

Karl Jak.

2059 words, both posts.

[Karl Jak]

End of Round 9

Red has 'won' round 9

[Gildarts]

“Red... Red? Are you alright?” Things still looked blurry in the shimmering light of his tail, and Christa loomed over him, her brows wrinkled with concern but he managed a nod. White knuckles had wrapped around her flashlight while she redirected the florescent ray to identify the corpse and hopefully prove herself wrong. “Shit.”

After tugging Red upwards, she gave him a long, hard look. Her words were daggers and ice, “Never do that again.” To her, he had just forsaken her to die. And no, she wasn’t fucking over it. The Prime turned her attention away from the feline and onto the deceased. You owed me a new gun, damn it. Took arrived as she was patting down Karl’s pockets, “He must’ve died from the landslide,” Christa announced as she stood up.

William saw the largest gash on Karl’s cranium, blood lapping in his sable hair and giving it new definition, “Find anything?”

“Only a mystery, why isn’t he shimmering? And shit, now they might not even come to rescue us. Karl was our best ticket off the island.” the sniper’s shoulder was cold and she had turned away from her favorite beast, though admittedly, it took some effort to keep it there. Had she taken the time to look over, she would have seen the beast’s pure anger, perhaps the woman would have even realized that he had done it to save them from whatever was chasing him; as a light source, he made the most obvious prey. But from what? Maybe there was something to Took’s fairytale after-all. Suddenly the world started to tilt, there was a small crash, the sound of Red collapsing.

“Shimmering?” Took thought next maybe he’d examine the intricacies of her psyche, but each huddled around the lion again while he informed, “He’s out cold, but with a little rest he should be alright.”

“Yes, Karl was a Prime, after death, his body would erase and go elsewhere, just like mine will,” Christa felt the crushing weight of sorrow cause her to stagger. Giving herself a minute, she looked down at the motionless Red, her hand fell on the immense heat of his fur, Red. “Have you caught your bearings? Which direction is town?”

A smile slithered along his lips, though his brow had creased with worry, What had she meant, ‘Just like hers’? “Oh, I’m very aware of where we are. We ran straight down the mountain. Right into their backyard, no amount of silence will save us here, they already know. Each of us are free game now.” The good doctor crouched down and inspected Karl, as though hoping to catch something Christa missed, but really, he wanted to see if the meat was still warm.

“Red said, ‘he’s here’ before sprinting off, what are the odds it was the uh, people you were talking about and not Karl Jak?” Christa posed, but Took’s eyes were distant, narrowed slits as though he was analyzing their situation, looking for a way out.

“I suppose,” he began after a while, talking silently so that she’d lean in, “They could have started the landslide, they probably sense the presence of intruders on their island. Do you... Hear their voices too? At first you they call only at night, but after a little while, you’ll hear them every hour of the day.” The hairs on her arm sparked up like a porcupine, she was wordless, fear had taken the breath from her lungs, “Because I’m sure he hears them, this man has been dead for at least an hour. There is no possibility your friend heard his scream.”

“Voices? You’re crazy, Red’s just tired... That’s all,” Instant denial. So predictable. “And you still don’t even know who they are, how can you be so afraid of something that doesn’t even fucking exist?”

“This island isn’t what it seems, even people who come from afar, this place has a way of... Bringing out their true colors. You say they do not exist, you say you can’t fear them. Well, you don’t know yet. You can’t possibly know. The tribe’s children wanted to explore the forest, chasing the same legend after calling the elders liars, They didn’t like that. You learn to fear them, because of what they do to you if you don’t do what they tell you... Oh the look on those poor children’s faces.”

Trickling in the deepest part of her, was the vaguest notion of an undeniable epiphany, “You...  You didn’t... Are you saying this mythical They told you to kill those kids? And you just did it?” Christa stumbled back, tripped on a fucking log, and tried to edge away from him.

Each, predator and prey, never looking away.

The silence was unnerving, but oh how it confirmed the truth. Pure horror crawled beneath her skin wriggling like a mound of cold snakes, she fumbled for her knife, surely, it was in its sheathe–but no, he had lifted her up during the rockslide, and helped her down the tree, plenty of time for it to go missing. “No... You’ve just been here too long, living with those savages...”

Slowly, he was stalking closer. White teeth, save a few stains from the human flesh he had eaten, glistened through the all encompassing blackness. He was a monster and it was so easy to see the evil in his eyes after he had thrown off the mask, “Savages? Ha! They’re the sane ones. It’s people like you that we mark, the outsiders who will never learn the way, you will never understand the truth. So you’ll be our dinner.”

Perplexed, Christa pulled up her rifle, the gentle press against her shoulder as she aimed at his chest, “Do they even give you a goddamn reason? Or do you just think you’re God, that you get to choose who lives and who dies?”  

“That was a might ironic, considering whose finger is on the trigger of her gun. Do you know why we eat the people we kill, Christa? Because of the essence. Some of it is retained after death and none is so pure, as it is in humans, the most complex organism of all. You and your friend are particularly strong, filled to the brim with it. You’ve been sent here by the gods, chosen for our feast. You’re a worthy sacrifice,” he chanted, “Kii Ga Shi...”

“We... We burnt your camp, sent your entire tribe straight to Hell! There’s no one else! You, you think you hear voices, but you’re just sick! Back down now Took, or I’ll have to kill you.” Christa gritted her teeth, her heart hesitating in her chest more than her index on the trigger.

With a coy smile he cocked his head, “You think you have the favor of the gods simply because you have that steel contraption in your hands, but I stole your bullets while you slept, straight out of the chamber. My dear, you’ve been outplayed.”

A bluff, surely it had to be a fucking bluff. Click. Click. Click. It was empty, the hollow echo delivered the doomed news straight to her ears; there was no time to reload. The cold iron nearly fell from her hands, he was closing in on her, and she could only move backward so fast without looking to see the mountains of boulder below her feet. And fuck, she needed Red. “NANAKI WAKE UP!” her words shivered with desperation, “RED!”

“Oh, he can’t hear you, that concussion on his head was pretty bad last I checked, he might’ve even fallen into a coma.” Triumph and esteem warped together as he confidently strode forward.

“I’d rather die than be your dinner,” the gunslinger growled, pulling out a grenade and juggling it in her hand, “Stay away or I’ll kill us both, fucker.”

The smile smudged as it turned downwards, but there was still a glitter in the madman’s eyes, “They tell me you won’t kill yourself, that you can’t. I wonder why they would say something like that if it wasn’t true?”

“You wanna bet?!” she roared as she leapt at him, pulling the pin of her grenade and letting it explode with light. The immense ringing came after and her eyes had been set afire, but she brought the base of her rifle down right on Took’s already crooked nose. The surprise etched into his expression which was laden with pure astonishment, the fact that this woman dared to bluff with her nonlethal flash-bang and stomp his nose in caused the vessels in his eyes to burst with rage. Blood streamed between them, and movement came in one fluid motion.

The insane cannibal wasted no time, while he was getting a nose-job, the scrawny bastard somehow already had the knife against the skin of her neck. She’d been caught, a smile flashed in front of her. Another second, and she was pinned to the ground. Large, carnivorous eyes upon her flesh, white, pale, and untouched by disease. Yes, she’d be the best meal he’d ever had, on this island, or before, “So, if I kill you first, your body will evaporate, is that it?” WHAM! she threw her head at him with all the strength she had, letting the blade scorch her neck.

“You are so fucking dead, that’s a promise.” After rolling a few feet away, she grinned and revealed silver reflecting in the glint of the dropped flashlight, wrapped in her palm was the blade he’d stolen from her. Even ground. “There are no voices, I’m just looking at a pathetic man who’s simply been alone too long, forced to kill because it’s the only way you feel anything and when you decided that the murder alone was not enough, you took your place among the very cannibals you preyed on. Now, I don’t know how you got marooned on this shit-hole, but mark my words, you will never leave.”

From the stream of the dropped torch she could see the monster in his final form. White shirt, pooling with blood, puffy bruise forming over his eyebrow. Not six feet separated the two, each had killed before, and for one of them, this would be their last fight. She dropped her sniper and both directed the curve of their blade at one another; each ready to slice their kill on contact. All the sound and time in the world had stilled, as though waiting for the strongest to strike first.

“Kill.” Christa heard a rasping whisper demand, but Took’s lips hadn’t moved.

Next, there was a sharp arc, slicing through the darkness. Parrying the movement, her hair fluttered in its wind as the gliding blade cut right through it. The Prime sidestepped him before the frayed lock hit the ground, steadying herself to deliver a vicious swipe with the full extension of her arm. A rush of blood gushed from his shoulder, flooding downward and coating him in crimson while its iron stench flooded through her nose. In response her nemesis grabbed her broken wing and squeezed. Flames of agony bolted to her brain, grinding her teeth she drove her knee into his pants WHAM! and he wobbled back keeling over like a woman that had gone into labor.

“What’s the matter, can’t take what you dish out?” Christa taunted and burst forward, the muscles in her legs tightened as they braced for their next impact. There was a metallic scream as iron met iron, Took’s fist extended a blow right into the hollow of the sniper’s eye. Her weight forced her to fall, collapsing on several rocks while her good arm barely caught her in time for the collision a sharp boulder would’ve made with her head. Steaming air pulsed through her nostrils, resembling a scarlet-eyed bull. The fighter roared upward, digging in her heels and directing every muscle in her body to charge forward.

In her hands, the blade jousted forward and caught between the cannibal’s ribs. His knife was flung aside while his weight crushed her. With a splash, her face was submerged in a glacial puddle just deep enough to drown her.

Out of weapons, out of time, Took saw the opportunity and sunk his teeth in.

Christa’s scream could’ve summoned the dead. Instead, lucky for her, it brought Red. The female plunged her knife into the fiend a second time, oozing warmth lathered her grasp around its hilt, making it impossible to pull excalibur free from its stone made of bone. Tears of pain streamed down her face as she clawed at the man desperately to release her clavicle from his jaws.

The pungent decay of his repulsive breath caused her eyes to burn with pain while the sniper thrashed against the shock of the water and the power of the pain. Took squirmed under the mercy of her blade in his lung, his crazed eyes rolled around in his head while his tongue savored the hot taste of live human.

Thud... Water engulfed her nose. The cannibal had pounded her head with such force that it had hit the base of the rock just below. Clumps of blood jutted out, tainting the pool with the mixture of the enemies’ colors.

Above her, it took Red seconds for his teeth to sink into the attacker and pull him off of her. The man began to gargle, spitting blood on the lion who had him at his mercy. Around his saber teeth a snarl formed at the metallic taste of him, mammoth claws held nothing back as Red's fur was painted the spray of the dead man’s blood.

[Kenpachi Zaraki]

Karl Jak.

The lion’s gaze fell upon the corpse of the grand orchestrator, now shattered upon the forest floor. Under the light of his ember-laden tail, Red stared into Jak’s dull, lifeless eyes and felt his stomach drop as he was forced to acknowledge the certainty of the situation. The puppet master, the sole inkling of hope they had had for escaping the hellish isle, had been quite thoroughly dashed, and in more ways that one. Nanaki felt his perception falter, his peripheral vision fading as vertigo set in. 

Vincent. 

A weight fell upon his tired shoulders, one of loss and of defeat. The hummingbird within his chest began to skip beats, arrhythmia mimicking his fast, ragged breaths. Red’s knees buckled, driving his snout into the dirt beside the conductor. The remainder of his muscular gave out entirely as the puppet was cut from its strings. The curtains began to close, heavy velvet eyelids sliding across the forest stage as their act came to an end. 

“Kii Ga Shi...”

The house lights went up, the actors left the stage. In the orchestra pit, the once-frantic drumbeat slowed; the score was nearing its end. The dying cantata had left the stage serene, even peaceful. Despite the stifling calm. among the crowd there was a clamor. The cacophony trumped silence, the noise audible over the waning symphony. 

“Back down now...”

The beast’s head swam, brain choked of oxygen by his ragged hyperventilation. Saliva-sodden soil clogged his airway, choking what little chance he had left. Lub dub. Lub. Dub. The drumbeat slowed, the performer dull upon the instrument. Red’s amber optics spun in his head, as bathwater escapes down a drain. Calm. Lub.

“NANAKI, WAKE UP!”

Lub. Dub. Lub dub. Lubdub. 

Pain. Nausea. Fear. Old bedfellows, returning and stirring within his mind. Face-down in the dirt, Nanaki inhaled a sharp, soil-laden gasp as his heart began to crescendo. The smallest mote of energy wound its way through his nerves, stopping to force an almost imperceptible shift in his hind leg. The foggy feline felt his body teeter as the balance was broken, finally flopping limp across stony ground, knocking dead air from his lungs. Eyes bulged as he coughed a thick chunk of mud from his trachea, air pouring in to take its place.

”RED!

The wounded Prime’s eyelids sprang open, dim light dribbling over the darkened stage. He lungs worked overtime, pulling in deep, frequent breaths in a desperate struggle to ease the burning sensation that enrobed his every cell. As sweet nourishment returned to his brain, his keen eye caught sight of the commotion that had awoken him. Several meters away, a blurry pair of silhouettes fought for dominance.

Christa.

The lion’s heart leapt, the beat reaching a quicker cadence as the gears slowly began to turn in his mind. He watched as the hyena felled the hunter, forcing his weight upon her as she drove her blade betwixt his ribs. The frenzied predator paid the intrusion no mind, despite the tide of crimson spreading across his snowy pelt. His face, bloodied and broken, split width-wise and sank into his foe’s flesh, eliciting a blood-curdling scream that echoed through the trees. 

Rage electrified the fiery feline’s form, numbness receding at once as he shakily pushed away from  earth’s chilly embrace. The Prime’s chest was aflame as his poor lungs fought desperately to cough free the wads of dirt that had found their way into his throat. Agony tore at his body, the cruel sensation both reminding him of his mortality and spurring him to action. Blood, now more adrenaline than plasma, coursed through his veins afresh. His eyelids narrowed with contempt as his lips parted, releasing a ragged growl. His vision slowly came into focus, the bloodied form of William Took straddling the thrashing body of Christa Adams. The animalistic human had made a critical error as he reveled in his ‘success’: never turn your tail on a downed foe. Nanaki blinked once, hard. The lowly scavenger may have felled the hunter, though he had forgotten the apex predator. The burgundy beast dragged his tongue across his cracked lips, marking his target. He charged. 

“GAH!” 

Took scarcely felt the heavy patter of paws upon soil before dual rows of blades sank into his flesh, rending the soft tissue like a hot knife through butter. The beast’s razor-like fangs sank deep into the meat, snagging upon the recesses of the cannibal’s shoulder blade. Red redoubled his effort, clamping his jaws shut upon the man’s forelimb with crushing force. Before the hyena could let go of another cry of agony, the lion raised his mighty head, snapping his prey downward with every pound of force he could muster. The cannibal crashed into the rocky riverbed with a sickening crunch, blood gushing from his shoulder and springing free from a fresh wound upon his scalp. He wore his bloodied crown in the fashion as the late Karl, its rusty pigment dyeing his pale flesh crimson.

“Coward,” Nanaki snarled through gritted teeth, pieces of chunks of skin and muscle clinging to the enamel-coated spears. The burgundy beast ran his tongue along the inside of his teeth, tasting the savory tang of blood and sweat upon his palette. He savored the sensation, the taste sweet despite the man’s repugnance. Red cast a glance first at his fallen comrade, now barely moving upon the sand, and back at the crumpled cannibal. He dropped his stance low, azure energy emanating from his scarlet pelt as the man began to stir. The lion allowed the man to raise himself shakily to an elbow before answering the man’s pleading look: “No.”

The Prime exploded forward, closing the distance between the two before the bloodied cannibal could register the movement. As the target raised a hand in vain to defend, the lion’s paws left the earth as he  leapt skyward, only to return a moment later upon Took’s back with the force of a falling locomotive.  The deceiver let out a feeble cry as his spine shattered, ribs snapping like toothpicks beneath the magically-imbued assault. In a final act of pity, Nanaki rolled the man onto his back, raising a massive paw overhead and extending his claws in an instant, bringing them across the cannibal’s throat. Took’s eyes bulged as blood rapidly poured from the gash, wet sputtering noises escaping his lying lips as his wounds drained him dry upon the riverbed.  

With Took dispatched, the feral feline’s gaze quickly turned to his companion, now lying face-down in the shallows. He dragged his tired body to her side, gingerly taking hold of a mouthful of her clothing and lifting her face from the depths. With great effort he heaved the dead weight, dropping her gently upon the grass, face-up, a few feet away. Rage gave way to panic as spied bluing, cyanotic lips gasping for air, murky water gurgling in her windpipe. With no other options, the feline did the first thing that came to his mind, retracting he claws and forcing them down upon her spasming diaphragm once, twice, thrice. A river of bloodied water poured from her mouth, forced free by the cat’s resuscitation to dribble down the sides of her face and chin.. A wave of relief washed over Nanaki as color began to return to her cheeks, the gurgling being replaced by a hacking cough as the last droplets of water clung to her trachea. With a gentle nudge of his nose, Red turned Christa onto her left side as her eyelids began to flutter.

“You okay?” Red inquired, looking down quizzically at his comrade. A stupid question, though he knew the gesture to be something that humans did often in time of trial. Other than the teeth-wound near her shoulder and the nearly-drowning thing, she could have look worse.

“Bastard...” the woman finally spoke, hacking up the last of the water clinging to her insides. “Bastard took a bite out of me.” She blinked away the tears that her coughing fit had brought, touching her fingertips to the trauma. She winced as her dirty fingers touched meat, quickly pulling them away. “You?”

A non-answer, about what he would have expected. “Could be worse,” he responded in kind. His ever-present companion, pain, still hung tight to him like ill-fitting clothing, though it appeared he had managed to at least shake death from his trail. How long it would be until it picked up his scent again, he couldn’t know.

“Where is he?” Christa rasped, forcing herself to sit up. Her face was slick with sweat and stagnant river water, her bangs plastered to her forehead. Red wondered just how long he had been down, leaving her to grapple with the maniac. 

Red pointed his nose over his shoulder at the mangled man. “Over there,” he replied, watching as the sniper got shakily to her feet, marching over to meet the corpse. Without hesitation, the blonde brought her foot back and aimed a swift kick at the deceased man’s ribs. The fiery feline watched the spectacle distantly, finding it hard to grasp what had just transpired. Had he been down just a few seconds longer, he might be observing the situation in reverse. 

“Fucker,” Christa spat, tugging the knife loose from Took’s ribcage. The weapon as coated from hilt to tip in the man’s blood, giving the blade a metallic sheen in the light of Red’s tail flame. She stared down at the body for a long moment, as if mulling something over. The feline could not pretend to know what was going through he mind at that moment. Perhaps he’d never know. Her hand slid into her pocket, withdrawing the late Karl’s silvery key. “We should get going,” she said, a finality in her voice as she stared down at the chunk of iron.

“Can you walk?” Nanaki inquired, watching as the sniper stumbled over a tree root, barely catching herself on a low-hanging limb. He couldn’t imaging being held underwater did much in the way of strengthening, 

“I’ll be fine,” the huntress replied, pacing here and there between trees. She stared at her feet as she walked, retracing her steps like a confused hen. “Let me know if you see-” At at once she stopped, bending down to pull her rifle from the forest floor. “Nevermind.”

“You know where to head?” The feline asked, posing yet another inquiry. He thought back to what Tifa used to say to him years ago: ‘Curiosity killed the cat’.

“We’ll just keep going in that direction I guess,” the blonde replied with a half-shrug. They could see mounds of loose gravel and debris in a clearing ahead, indicating the direction of their previous march. “Let’s hope Took wasn’t bullshitting us.” 

Nanaki nodded; he wasn’t in any mood to argue, especially with his headache now back in full swing. A portion of his anxiety had eased with the cannibal now put to rest, though the thought that perhaps they were presently wandering aimlessly in the woods was not quite comforting. As they began their journey anew, the sniper lost her footing, falling to her knees.

Christa swore audibly, slinging her sniper over her shoulder and resting against a nearby tree. She looked to be exhausted, breathing raggedly as if plying Took with kicks and finding her firearm were portions of a triathlon. Fresh sweat dripped down her face, droplets darkening the cloth of her shirt. She looked like shit, as those that had survived a drowning often did.

“Hop on,” Red said, turning his back on her and sitting patiently. The gunslinger opened her mouth to argue, though she could barely find the words to quarrel. Following a nod from her feline friend, she swung her leg over the beast’s back and held tight to his fur. 

Slowly, yet surely, the two continued along their path. Beauty and the beast wove their way through the inky tapestry of the island’s endless night. The moonless sky above offered nothing by way of guidance, even the stars having been snuffed out by the darkness hanging overhead. The two lost warriors followed only their hope, the forest floor barren of any sort of breadcrumb trail. They could only try their best to maintain a steady heading, marching straight toward what they both prayed was a hope of leaving the island, and not an unfathomable creature of the night. 

Upon reaching their destination, what could they hope to find? Hope. That was the word of the evening. Though Karl Jak now lay dead not far from the body of the cannibal guide, Nanaki had to hold on to hope that the producer had some sort of backup plan wherever the key lead. A man like Karl always seemed to have something hidden up his sleeve; perhaps his slights could even assist them from beyond the grave.

“There!” 

The fiery feline stopped a the woman’s exclamation, his rider dismounting. She was pointing straight ahead, eyes focused on a dim light emanating from just beyond the nearest patch of trees. They made haste, doing their best to remain hidden by the amble brush.

2248 words.

[Karl Jak]

End of Round 10

Christa took 2 points of Accumulated Damage