[4-14] The Town

[Amaterasu]

"Okor! Where the... wait for me, goddamnit!" Fiara yelled. The Plague Marine had apparently decided to take off without her, while she was finishing up business with Arturia. As such the Phoenix had run after him using the more than obvious trail of rot that he left in his wake. She knew not what was happening to Arturia in just these moments... and that was a good thing. Instead she now ran after the Plague Marine who had visibly lost his interest in her. Well... that came to no big surprise, considering where he was, and more importantly who he was surrounded by. As Fiara rounded a corner she nearly fell on her back due to the shock of what she saw. A whole lot of nope, basically. These... things, they were like the one that they had encountered in the mines. Or no, they were just similar, yet different... could it be savages who had been rejected, as that massive beast in the caves had said? The Ascended, or whatever it was called? Well either way, she wasn't going to ask them.

Okor was completely lost in the ensuing slaughter, and really Fiara couldn't blame him. She'd noticed what his nature was, he'd told her... made to kill. A beast. There was the mixed feelings again... he was a beast, a killing machine, but he protected her, protected her life. She shuddered. Was she experiencing him letting out his pent-up desire to kill against these abominations? She remained at a more than reasonable distance, cowering behind a low wall and peeking over. The abominations were all way too busy with him to take notice of her, let alone go for an attack. She wasn't defenseless either, but if she walked into that carnage she may end up as collateral damage. Not to mention that she had no reason whatsoever to BE in that fight right now. So she waited.

If she could just make it out alive, she could find Amaterasu, tell her everything... if she died, Arturia could pass the message and everything else. But she was starting to feel like this whole island had something more to it than just those mines. There was a town with more abominations. Those savages who'd attacked... the monster in the depths... the rejected ones that had chased them through the lift... the sickness that had taken Arturia and Carmelita... it felt like a bunch of hazards had piled together onto a single island to create a hostile zone. She was starting to feel like she'd lost track completely. But Okor was after some friend, right? Maybe this would be her big moment - her opportunity to break away from him and stop being a bother to the Plague Marine, find someone less... less like he was, and find a way to get off this island. There was little doubt left that whoever lived here wouldn't survive for long. The Syntech employees that had accompaigned them had all bitten the dust. And still they had found no trace of the other crashed plane. The whole thing was a single enormous mess.

As Okor finished his gruesome spectacle Fiara stood up behind the wall but said no word. He would know that she was there, would he not? He was a fighter, they were aware of their environment to a degree that was borderline unnatural. She'd keep following him... for now. But stay at a safe distance, especially now that he had freshly finished a slaughter. Who knew what sort of chems his battle-made body was under, what sort of stimulants were being pumped into and through his bloodstream, what sort of state he was in? He may not even recognize her as a friend... well, a non-hostile target anyway. He may be lost in a battle trance and just kill whatever moved, then require a few minutes to calm himself. She had no idea. And that was just one more reason for her to part ways with him when the opportunity presented itself. Chance may have brought them together, if only temporarily, but now reason had to take them back apart. As soon as she found another individual, or perhaps a group, with who she could travel safely.