Mercenaries’ Tale – 4.18 Monster Mash
The Mercs tried backing up but the alcove was lacking in space. They found themselves only able to press up against Dr Käsehändler with their weapons at the ready, the scientist whimpering behind them.
The Sisters were studying the trio, their sunken eyes sweeping up and down every bloodstain and piece of gore that was soaked into their clothes, acting as a tapestry documenting their journey through the facility. The Sisters licked their lips.
“We knew you would make for impressive subjects,”
“How many of our other specimens did you,”
“Wipe out on your way here?”
“Enough for you to know we ain’t afraid of you!” Doug answered, his voice wavering just enough to show his doubt. He brandished his chainsaw defensively, “so back off unless you want to end up like them, yeah?”
The sisters stared at him for a beat before a cackle of laughter broke free from their maws.
“Ah, your profile said you could be brash and over,”
“Confident but it failed to say how humorous you were, puppy,” the laughter calmed, the twin heads sporting toothy grins,
“Yes, unleashing your full potential will,”
“be very rewarding, we think. As for you…” one overly long finger stretched out towards Kate, the razor tipped claw caressing her cheek. Kate dared not move for fear of being sliced open, her breath catching,
“Well, we believed that you,”
“Would have been reduced to a pile of ash,”
“By now, much like your beloved family,” Kate tried not to flinch as the claw traced down her neckline where it caught on her collar, ripping her coat and shirt open just enough to expose her chest, drawing a little blood in the process.
“Truly we are pleased with the opportunity to study you after all.”
“You will make a fine specimen…” the claw withdrew but Kate remained tense, glaring up at the monster.
“We’re not about to just crawl back into your labs like a couple of loyal pets.”
“No, I suppose you won’t,”
“But not to worry,”
“We hardly need you in one piece after all…” they began to laugh once more, not noticing as Doug reactivated the saw and deftly plunged it forward, through the gap between the steps and into the monstrosity’s side, carving away a chunk of flesh.
The Sisters spat and snarled in pain, one clubbed appendage slamming down to obliterate what remained of the staircase before the other swung around, caught Doug directly in the mid-section and sent him flying across the room where he bounced against the wall and fell hard onto the floor.
“Doug!” Kate screamed, whipping her pistols up only to be shocked as the right head spat a giant, viscous glob of green-tinted mucus at her. It was a direct hit to the chest and impacted her so hard it knocked her off her feet. Her exposed skin tingled and numbed as the spittle soaked into her pores and injuries, the sensation rapidly spreading across her body as her limbs went limp, the gunslinger rapidly becoming paralysed from the neck down.
“Don’t you go anywhere!” The right head commanded as the creature lumbered towards the groaning Doug, only pausing to flash Dr Käsehändler an accusatory glance. The scientist shrunk down further into the alcove in response, only daring to move once the creature had turned away. He scrambled to Kate’s side to inspect her, checking her breathing as the gunslinger attempted to gargle out a word.
“…Doug…”
Doug winced as he pulled himself to his feet. The monstrosity that was the Alexandretta sisters was casually strolling towards him, lank and stringy hair swaying to and fro in time with the steady gait. The wound Doug had inflicted had barely affected it although the soldier noted that something seemed off as it healed; the skin wasn’t coming back as smooth. Bulbous bumps and ripples were present in the new flesh. The Sister’s healing factor wasn’t working as perfectly as they thought…
Gritting his teeth, Doug forced himself into a low boxers stance, took a deep breath and broke into a run as he charged towards the creature. The Sisters were not expecting such tactics, expecting their quarry to instead try to keep their distance. Time to remind the dog who was really in control here.
They swung a claw at chest height, Doug dropping into a skid as he arched the saw around to cut through one of the creature’s four legs. The Sisters screeched in pain and began to topple over, one of the club-arms quickly moving to account for the missing leg. The claws slashed through the air, trying to grab Doug as he scrambled underneath them, trying to take out another leg whilst he was out of reach.
Another leg down.
The screeching was so loud it almost shattered the windows. Doug aimed for another leg only to be surprised as the sisters jumped high into the air, landing on the upper level. They screeched again, their legs growing back even more misshapen, before each head spat more balls of mucus at him. Doug instinctively dodged and ran for cover, barely avoiding the first and the second hitting his leathers as he ducked behind the reception desk.
“Don’t let the mucus touch your skin!” Käsehändler was yelling, drawing Doug’s attention, “It’s a paralytic!”
Doug peaked his head around the desk, preparing to make a sarcastic comment when he laid eyes on the scene by the alcove. Kate was on her back, her body limp and her head being cradled by Tilo as he checked her pupil dilation and breathing.
The world fell out from under Doug.
In that moment, the only thing that existed was his friend lying limp on the floor.
Had he failed her? Had they lost? Was he down another friend?
Red was encroaching on his vision once more, elements of the room morphing into those alien ruins from long ago.
So when the Alexandretta monster landed heavily on the desk making the wood and steel buckle as it tried to grab him, it was not the mutant he saw but rather an eight foot tall warlord with dreadlocks wearing power armour.
Roaring at the top of his lungs, Doug leant aside as the first claw swung at him and then leapt up, tackling the mutant around the midsection and hacking whatever he could reach with the saw.
Shocked and angry, the sisters let out a high-pitched screech with every attack. Flesh was flying, Doug a feverishly carving away at whatever he could, blood spray painting his face red. With every lump of flesh severed from the whole, more grew back looking more and more deformed with every regeneration.
Käsehändler had to pull himself away from the sight of it, the whole gory scene hypnotic to watch. Instead, he focused on Kate. There were tears in her eyes, the redhead being mentally transported back to her last night on her family’s ranch. Doug was in trouble and she couldn’t do a single thing to aid him. It was like that night all over again; powerless, trapped, unable to help those she loved.
Elements of the forest began tinting her vision.
“Not…like this…not…again,” she strained through gritted teeth, willing her limbs to respond only for them to forsake her. Tilo looked around desperately for something that could help to clean the mucus off. His gaze settled on a water cooler tucked out of the way just to the side of the other staircase. If he could wash off the excess then the small dose that had made its way into her system would hopefully only last a little while longer before the effects began to wear off. At least he thought that would be the case. He had to try it.
He tore off his lab coat and bundled it up to use as a make-shift pillow which he used to keep Kate’s head propped up in the hopes it would prevent her from swallowing her own tongue before he made a mad dash to the water cooler.
As he reached it, Doug let out another roar. This one was agonised, a clawed appendage raking down his back. The razor-sharp talons ripped through the layers of clothing, slicing Doug’s back to ribbons. This didn’t slow him down, the distressed soldier hacking through the arm that had injured him.
Käsehändler wrenched the water jug free from its housing, half of its contents spilling onto the floor. He began sprinting back to his charge just as the Sisters managed to grasp Doug’s metallic appendage just above where the saw began. Doug screamed and yelled as he tried to wrench himself free, the sisters gripping the prosthetic so hard they were warping the metal. There was a whining noise as the casing gave way. The saw blade stopped spinning and Doug’s screams increased in volume as the connections to his nervous systems were wrenched free from their sockets. The remains of the bionic arm were thrown across the room where they landed with a pathetic thunk sound.
Käsehändler skidded to a halt and immediately dumped the contents of the water jug onto Kate’s chest, the mucus diluting and breaking up as the waters washed it off.
The redhead gasped loudly as the chilled liquid hit her. She looked Käsehändler in the eyes, nodded a thank you as best she could and uttered two words.
“Help…me…”
The Sisters snarled at Doug as they prised him off of their waist, their over sized talons almost entirely encircling him. He thrashed within their grasp, spitting and swearing as they brought him up to eye-level.
“I think we’re going to enjoy regrowing you over and over as we pay you back for this night tenfold,” the left head hissed as the right unhinged its jaw. All Doug could see was jagged, pointy teeth and a dark pit that seemingly went on forever.
The right head moved forward as it prepared to engulf his entire torso in one bite…
Doug closed his eyes.
The sound of a single bullet echoed around the room.
Doug opened an eye to see an entry wound on the left head’s temple and an exit wound to match on the right’s. The whole creature began to sway, toppling sideways as its legs gave out.
Doug landed roughly on his side and quickly searched for the shooter. What he found was Käsehändler propping Kate up, her arm resting outstretched across his with her pistol pointed directly at where the heads had been.
“Angel?” Doug whispered, picking himself up. Kate smiled weakly at him.
“…Did I get it?” she sounded steadier, as if the effects of the mucus were indeed beginning to wear off.
“It was a marvellous shot!” the Doctor exclaimed, clearly impressed.
“Good… good…” Doug was at her side in an instant, pulling her away from Käsehändler and hugging her tightly.
“Don’t you bloody do that to me again!” he was shaking, his head settling in the small of her neck as his one arm clasped her to his chest. Kate managed to force her arms up to return the gesture, her muscles protesting but otherwise back under her control. It felt like they were made of lead.
“Didn’t know you cared so much,” she joked, Doug pulling back to give her a tearful smile.
Tilo awkwardly cleared his throat as he climbed to his feet.
“Are they… deceased? Did damaging the brains shut off the healing factor?” he wondered aloud as he inched forward, towards the corpse.
“I don’t particularly want to stick around to find out,” replied Kate. Doug’s expression changed into a sterner one as he got to his feet and pulled her up to join him, letting her balance on him.
“You’re not in the least bit curious?” the Doctor was saying.
“You know what they say about curiosity, Doc. Red’s right, it’s time to get the hell outta here,” Doug jerked his head towards the doors.
“I suppose you’re right. You are the professionals after all. The override for the locks should be six-six-eight-f-” The Doctor jerked violently forward. Something incredibly sharp had penetrated through his back and was now poking through his chest. Some blood dribbled down his chin as he turned his puzzled gaze back towards the mercenaries. The next thing they knew, he was being lifted into the air revealing the Alexandretta mutant beginning to pick itself back up, one arm having lunged forward and stabbed the Doctor.
“Apologies Dr Käsehändler but we have been forced to terminate your contract of employment,” one of the heads announced, the Doctor coughing up more blood as he was lifted higher into the air.
“No hard feelings, we hope,” and with that, they tossed his dying body across the room like a rag doll.
The Mercenaries could only gape in horror as the monstrosity brought itself up to its full height. Its healing factor had clearly been overloaded by Doug’s hacking spree. Parts of it had reformed into large, tumorous growths upon growths, many of which still appeared to be growing. The limbs that had reformed had ballooned in places, the left claw now merely a swollen lump of meat. Although the bullet wounds to the temple had healed over, they had sprouted blisters that were now openly weeping the same viscous mucus that coated their jaws.
It took an unsteady step closer.
Doug took a step backwards, dragging Kate with him as she had yet to fully regain control of anything below the waist. The gunslinger levelled a pistol at the monster’s left head.
“Let us go. It’s time you back down and check your data, something’s clearly not working as intended…” Kate’s voice remained steady and stern. The heads hissed in response.
“Too late to be making orders, little girl,”
“…Hungry…”
“This has been an informative field test,”
“…Hun…Gry…”
“But you’ve proven to be quite unruly as far as test subjects go,”
“…Hu…ng…ry…”
“Our Neural Architects1 are going to relish the challenge of stripping that out of you-”
“HUNGRY!” the whole left side of the creature suddenly jerked forward whereas the right side tried to stay put, the right head crying out in alarm.
“Zena?! What are you doing! Why can’t I hear you?”
“HUNGRY!” the whole left side had clearly suffered the most during Doug’s attack and it looked as though it had taken it’s toll. The left head had turned completely feral, the right battling for dominance of the body. Doug began backing up towards the armoured door on the side opposite to where they had entered, figuring it could offer some protection if they could only get onto the other side.
The heads were battling each other now, the right – Alice – trying to use the claw she controlled to hold the left – Zena – in place as it writhed around so violently that it looked as though it were trying to wrench itself free entirely of the body at large.
Meanwhile, shadows were shifting on the upper levels.
Kate nudged Doug, drawing his attention from his goal to the signs of movement above. There were several large, gorilla-shaped somethings approaching the balcony. As they stepped into the light, mandibles and segmented eyes were illuminated.
“Oh shit…” Doug cursed as he gave up on subtlety and hurried over to the door’s control panel where he began pounding on the number pad. Kate readjusted herself so that she could hold onto Doug’s shoulder with one arm and keep her gun trained on the Sisters with the other.
“Six six six eight? No! Six six eight six? No! Shit, what was it?!”
“Twos sixes, an eight and then something beginning with “f”,” Kate calmly replied, trying not to panic. This was a feat in itself; although the paralysis was quickly fading, her energy was sapped and her head was spinning. She didn’t know what that mucus was and she sure as hell didn’t want to be hit with another dose…
“F or “th”?!” Doug asked as he hammered on the six key. Six six eight four? No!
“I don’t know! Someone stabbed him before he could finish!” Snapped Kate. Zena had wrestled free of her sister’s grasp and had manoeuvred her snake-like neck to launch her head at her sister’s, sinking her teeth into Alice’s throat. Alice let out a sickening gurgle as she clawed at her sisters head. Her eyes darted back and forth, settling on the armoured gorillas that were gathering above them.
“Fine! Let’s fucking try it!” Doug yelled as he keyed in six six eight three. The lock lit up green and the door began to slide open.
The gorillas let out a roar as they jumped from the balcony, landing on the ones that had ordered their creation.
Doug swept his arm around Kate’s waist and lifted her onto his shoulder, pelting through the door once she was secure and punching the close button on the other side.
Kate watched in horror as the gorillas began tearing the monstrosity that was the Alexandrettas apart before the steel door slammed shut in front of her.
She was then set down by Doug, the soldier collapsing into a siting position besides her as he tried to catch his breath. Kate double checked the doors were definitely locked before sliding down the wall besides him. He glanced at her as she did so.
“….Next time you say we should go on holiday before rushing into a gig, I promise to just do what you say,” he said with a chuckle. He was starting to feel light headed, the adrenaline in his system easing off. Kate found herself chuckling with him as she patted him on the thigh.
“I’ll hold you to that!”
1A Neural Architect is someone in the business of rewriting the brain. Neurons are like clay to them and a person’s entire sense of self is their canvas. The act of rewriting, copying or flat out deleting a person’s mind has been outlawed under the Echo Act of 1367B in the Galition of Pikar and simply acquiring the technology needed to perform such a feat carries a hefty prison sentence.
Post by Sam | February 11, 2023 at 12:01 am | The Mercenaries' Tale | No comment
Tags: Blaise, Doug McCracken, Dr Tilo Käsehändler, Forest Canyon, Genetix, Kate O'Donnell, Kraken, Mad Science, Mutants, Polaris, The Alexandretta Sisters, the Mercs