Chapter Text
The pain started as a dull throb raising Tunner from his unconsciousness. His vision blurred in and out of focus eventually settling into a somewhat fuzzy state of clarity. Tunner found himself sprawled face first in the grass. His arms were shaky but he managed to lift himself into a sitting position. Where his head had been was a large stone spattered with blood, his blood. Tunner’s fingers grazed his forehead immediately sending an icy hot flash of pain through him. His fingers came away warm and sticky covered in half dried blood and dirt. A wave of nausea went through him at the sight, he hated blood more than anything. Blood wasn’t meant to be outside the body, it wasn’t supposed to be visible. He managed to hold down vomit but it was a struggle.
A breeze rustled through the dry grass lifting up the corner of his hat, which had fallen just in front of the blood spattered rock. Tunner reached out and picked up the hat, running his fingers around the rim. There was a bullet hole through the top of the hat, it punched straight through the sturdy leather to the front. Any lower and it would have struck him, she would have struck him.
Wenda.
This wasn’t right, Wenda didn’t shoot people, she was mischievous but not a murderer. Yet she tried to shoot him. Why would she try to shoot him, with his own gun no less. They were friends, good friends, it didn’t make sense. Tunner could still hear her crazed laughter, still see the way her eyes seemed to swirl. It couldn’t be Wenda, not the one he knew. This was someone else, something else. He had to stop them before they hurt someone else. At first Tunner tried to run but the dizziness became so overwhelming that he had to stop to get his bearings. He placed a hand against a sturdy tree in hopes of keeping upright. The world was swimming around him, unbearably dizzying. He clutched his hat tightly to his chest, his arms were still shaking but having something to hold onto seemed to help.
Something dripped onto Tunner’s head, causing him to look up. He regretted it immediately. A mangled corpse on a noose, not just any mangled corpse but the corpse of his friend, Raddy.
Raddy hung limply, his body ravaged, torn, destroyed. His lower half was completely missing, the flesh hung in tatters making it impossible to distinguish the line between skin and muscle. His intestines, gods, his intestine were hanging from him, shifting weakly, punctured and torn, dripping stomach acid that had leaked all the way down into them. Two bloody stumps twitched where a pair of grand draconic wings used to be. His sweater hung around his body in bloody tatters. Half of his head had been scraped down to the skull not a bit left as if having been picked clean by a hungry predator.
Tunner wasn’t able to hold it in this time. He fell to his knees choking and gagging on his own bile. The pungent scent of the corpse only made it worse, he just wasn’t able to stop. It went on for much too long before Tunner was able to breathe properly, his throat burned. The smell of the bile almost made him vomit again but he just managed to keep it in.
He almost didn’t hear the faint raspy inhale that emanated from the mangled corpse. It made him freeze. He didn’t want to look at the horrible thing that had become of his friend but the sound of breathing, if Raddy was somehow alive…
Tunner tentatively got to his feet doing his best to keep his eyes off the corpse until as he circled to the front of it. The eyes were open, and moving. Clouded, undialated, but moving. Raddy by some power was alive, and breathing. The eyes slowly began to focus in on him, not quite looking at him but at his figure.
“Tunner?”
It was Raddy’s voice, but only just barely, it was a raspy wet whisper. The voice stirred Tunner into instant action, despite his incredible dizziness he scaled the tree snatching at the knotted rope trying to tear it free. His fingers were uncoordinated in this state but he managed to pull the knot loose. The rope came free of the tree branch, it and Raddy falling to the ground with a disgusting wet crunch. Tunner flinched at the sound, his hands shaking as he tried to climb back down without falling. He didn’t want to touch Raddy, even so he propped Raddy upright against the tree.
“Thanks.” was all Raddy seemed to be able to rasp out. Tunner swallowed the taste of bile rising in his throat again but he managed to keep it in.
“How did this happen to you?”
“The sky turned red, I was wandering and Wenda attacked me, she peeled the skin off and… started eating. It hurt so badly but I just couldn’t seem to die.”
Tunner was nauseated by the description. He wanted to comfort Raddy, but he wasn’t sure what to say? Raddy took a deep grating breath before continuing.
“She hung me here, once she was full, with Mr. Tree.”
Mr. Tree? The oak tree they were under couldn’t be Mr. Tree. Mr. Tree was a loud, jolly soul that never gave anyone a chance to finish a sentence before butting in. but looking up at the dying oak Tunner saw the outline of a carved face, a face that normally would be bright and full of energy looking gaunt and tired.
“Mr. Tree?” he asked. The normally jovial oak didn’t respond verbally but rather shifted slightly, its trunk creaking in conformation, shedding dead leaves as it did so. This wasn’t right, the old oak wasn’t supposed to be tired and sickly, it was supposed to be talking a bit too loudly about the benefits of ginger. Tunner swallowed thickly, scratching at his arm.
“We should leave, we could go to my house it’s close by, that should be safer.” he mumbled
“Huh?” Raddy rasped. Tunner sighed once again he’d slipped into his habit of speaking too quietly to be heard.
“I’m going to take you to my house.” Tunner spoke up a bit. Raddy nodded slightly.
“Yeah, good idea.”
Tunner hesitated before picking Raddy up. Foul liquid dripped from Raddy’s ravaged intestines, making Tunner gag. He managed to get Raddy situated so that the most gruesome injuries weren’t touching him. Sparing a glance at the gaunt oak, Tunner started walking towards his house.
The scent of blood was thick and foul, and Tunner hated it. He decided the best thing to do was to breathe through his mouth.
A faint crushing sound of dead grass reached Tunner’s ears, something or someone was running toward them. Tunner didn’t have time to turn around. A sharp pain hit him in the back, knocking him to the ground and sending Raddy flying. A wet weight pinned Tunner to the ground.
“Tunner?” The voice was shaky, tearful, but unmistakably Oren’s.
“Oh thank the gods, I’m so glad I found someone.” a pair of arms wrapped around Tunner pulling him up, and turning him around. Tunner baulked at the sight of Oren. There was a gaping hole in his chest, right down to his ribcage, which was broken, mauled, ribs jutting out at awkward gruesome angles. His heart was visible, hanging haphazardly by the ventricles. It was pumping rhythmically, dripping discolored blood.
Oren reached up, wiping the gouge on Tunner’s head.
“Oh gods, Tunner you’re covered in blood, you poor thing.”
Tunner almost laughed, Oren was always an instinctual caregiver but this was crazy. Oren’s gaze left him falling on Raddy’s crumpled form.
“Raddy!” Oren rushed over to Raddy scooping him up heedless of the gore.
“Hey, pretty boy.” Raddy rasped with a faint smile. Oren squeezed Raddy in a tight hug.
“Hey, careful you’re poking me.” Raddy chuckled. Oren leaned back immediately, content to just rub Raddy’s back.
“Oh gods, what happened to you, where’s Pinki?” Raddy rasped, gingerly touching the edge of Oren’s wound. Oren stiffened.
“We got separated because I got attacked, when the sky turned red, I-I think I managed to lose him though.”
That caught Tunner’s attention.
“Lose who?”
A loud woody thump was his answer. Tunner turned to see… Simon? It was Simon's figure rammed into a tree, but when he leaned back it became clear that something horrible had happened to Simon. His face had been severely deformed, with sunken solid green eyes, his mouth was far too large for his head and it hung at an odd angle. His mouth was completely covered in blood, bits of meat were caught between the slightly too wide teeth. The sunken eye settled on the group but Simon made no movements, it was almost as if he didn’t see them. Slowly he raised his head inhaling deeply, his head jerking at the scent of blood. Simon launched toward them with incredible force.
Tunner reached for his pistol but his hand gripped at air, Wenda had stolen it. Simon slammed into him, knocking him flat on his back. Simon’s jaw opened, he aimed for Tunner’s head and tried to bite down. Tunner’s hand shot up, holding Simon’s head away with adrenaline alone.
“Tunner!” Oren yelped
“Just run!” Tunner hissed. Oren seemed like he wanted to protest, but a growling sound from Simon had him scooping up Raddy and stumbling away.
Tunner’s arm buckled as Simon forced his head closer to Tunner. Drool dripped from his mouth onto Tunner’s face. Tunner’s ears were ringing, his head was throbbing. He only barely held Simon at bay.
“Simon, snap out of it.” He hissed, but Simon either didn’t hear him or didn’t care. A faint rumbling caused him to lose focus, his arm gave out under the weight. Simon lunged down, but a sudden vibrating force slammed over Tunner into Simon.
Tunner lay there for a moment trying to understand what just happened. He managed to prop himself up on his elbows.
Simon had been pinned to the ground by, Durple of all people. The normally quiet dragon held him down by the head, his claws digging into Simon's yellow down. There was something off about Durple, he was bigger, his shirt was tattered and the bits that remained were stretched thin across him. The spines along his back and tail were razor sharp, his horns curled around his head. Simon twitched slightly before biting down on Durple’s clawed hand. Durple fur stood straight up and he flung Simon by the head deep into the forest.
After a moment of quiet he seemed to calm down, settling onto all fours, and folding his wings.
“Durple?” Tunner spoke hesitantly. Durple’s head swiveled toward him, his pupils swallowing his iris whole. He padded over to Tunner on all fours, and scooped him up right and placed his hat back on his head. He stared at Tunner for a moment, then spread his wings and took off.
Tunner stood there, flabbergasted to say the least.
What was happening?
“Tunner!” Oren’s voice caused Tunner to perk up. Oren grabbed his shoulder, spinning him around.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere? I know you told us to run but I just couldn’t leave, I laid Raddy down near a tree and came back to help you and then I saw Durple. Did you get hurt in any way?”
Tunner shook his head, he was shaky but not any more beat up than he was before.
“We should get back to my home, it’ll be safer to have cover.” Tunner mumbled
Oren nodded. “Yeah, I’ll go get Raddy.”