[2-8] The Campground

[Hiro Protagonist]

The grisly sight of limbs being ripped right off the man's torso made Hiro's stomach turn. From across the village, he could see weakening jets of blood spurt from rent and ripped skin as the crazed villagers devoured poor Ralph. Dry swallowing, he held up a hand to his goggles and flicked on several settings, recording being the first. Ralph's final moments would be backed up to a hard drive, the very least that could be done.

Barry was scared, obviously. He moved closer to the samurai as Hiro crouched low and took a deep breath, whispering instructions. "Alright...that was fucked up. We gotta be careful here....I have no doubt I could take most of them, but there's a lot of people and I would really rather not have you dragged off for the second course as well. So stick close to me....and take this." 

The hacker drew one of his tanto, the short blade making a quiet hiss as he pulled it from it's sheath and handed it to the bartender. Barry looked at the blade with a skeptical eye, then back to Hiro. Rolling his eyes, the crouching bladesman whispered in an annoyed tone of voice. "Just make like you're chopping onions if they get near you, alright?"

Slowly, quietly, they crept forward through the underbrush, making soft shushing noises as they passed through the plant life onto the packed dirt of the village. Sticking close to the huts on the outer edge, they heard voices speaking and the natives spreading out once more, some retreating into huts, others sitting around fires. Barry flinched as he saw one chewing on what was unmistakably a human finger. "Can tah. Tak ah lah su no me?" A voice came from inside of the hut they were currently frozen against, halfway through the village of cannibals. "Ya so ka du. No ma sen teh lak." The reply sounded like it was walking out of the hut, and around the mud walls...right towards them.

"Shit! Shit shit shit!" Barry hissed between clenched teeth. Hiro didn't even bother to shush him, drawing his second tanto and holding it in a reverse grip as they waited for the villager to come around at them. And waited....he never came. Hiro let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding, then almost pissed himself when he heard a voice yell behind them.

"SU LAH! SU LAH MA- AGHK!"

A visceral squelch punctured the native's words, and Hiro turned around to see Barry pulling his bloody tanto out of the man's throat, his wrists covered in fresh blood and shaking. Hiro straightened up and grabbed the freshly bloodied bartender by the shirt collar, pulling him away from the corpse and shoving him into the bushes at the outskirts of the village. "Go! Go about a hundred yards out....hide, and I'll find you. Keep quiet, I'll distract them!" Hiro then let out an ear piercing whistle and half jogged, half strutted right into the center of the village. 

"RING DING DING, YOU CANNIBAL FUCKS! GUESS WHAT'S FOR DESSERT! COME ON OUT AND HELP YOURSELVES, RIGHT HERE!" He smashed his knife into arranged sticks, kicked over pots, and made a general racket. Soon enough he was surrounded by the murderous natives, still covered in poor Ralph's blood. They held axes made of black stone, short wooden spears, and obsidian knives, all bloody and sticky. The hacker felt a nasty feeling in the pit of his stomach as they formed a closed circle around him, his throat dry and his head ringing. 

Then, as his hand went to the hilt of his katana, he felt the cool cylindrical can on his belt holster. Ah, yes, his energy drink. Welp.....might as well be stylish before he got eaten. The natives slowly closed in on him, until he barked out a syllable, and cracked the can. "Oi!" The snapping hiss and fizz of carbonation was sudden, and the natives all jumped back a pace as one, watching him curiously as he raised the can to his lips and chugged the fizzy beverage, his hand outstretched with one finger pointed up in a "give me a minute" gesture. Delicious, coconutty refreshment surged into his stomach and quenched his throat before he drained the entire can and threw it on the ground at the feet of one of the burlier natives.

Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, Hiro crouched into a power stance, muscles tenses and ready to unleash razor sharp hell. It was a tense moment, the assorted cannibals watching him with interest and amusement, realizing that this delicious specimen was possibly more of a threat than the unarmed waiter. the stalemate was broken as a short, bronzed man jumped out at Hiro and slashed towards him with one of the black knives, ululating in triumph. His cry quickly died down as the hacker-ronin parried the thrust easily, and with a quick motion of his tanto shattered the blade, driving his own steel into the man's chest. The man died almost immediately, and now the rest of the natives were yelling and stomping around. They were poised to attack as one and overwhelm Hiro with sheer numbers, eventually overcoming his swords and ripping his flesh from his b-

"TOH! TOH! SU NO AHM'NEE!" 

The burly, spear wielding native had picked up Hiro's discarded energy drink, the plain white can with black block text easily visible against the misty backdrop of green. The hacker was perplexed for a moment as he looked at the can. Just black block lettering that said "Omnilium" and......and that fucking creepy smile. Omni's smile!

"AHM'NEE! AHM'NEE SO TAH LA MA SE!" The natives took up the chant, their focus pulled away from Hiro as they clustered around the empty soda can held high by one of their warriors...moving away from him and breaking the circle as they followed the bearer of the sacred smile towards a bigger building in the village. Maybe a temple. Hiro didn't waste this distraction, and using his impressive speed burst, dashed out of the crazy cannibal village in search of Barry. Then, as faaaar away from this spot as possible. Maybe Omni really was smiling on him and his erstwhile companion.