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Hunter coughed, his mind spastically trying to understand his situation. He tasted dirt and blood in his mouth, and he spat the disgusting mix onto the ground. Wiping his mouth, he pushed himself up off the ground, looking around. Smoldering, broken trees surrounded him, bits of still hot wreckage scattered around the clearing.
What had…
Their mission! They’d been freeing a captured diplomat, something had gone wrong and the alarm had been tripped, and they’d been escaping on a stolen ship. They’d almost made it, but then they’d been hit by something. He remembered fire, yelling, an alarm blaring in his ear, then… nothing. They must have crashed. But if that was the case, where was everyone else?
Getting to his feet, Hunter began to call out into the quiet forest.
“Tech! Echo! Wrecker!” His voice was loud in the still air, but he heard no response.
Frowning, he began to look around the crash site. There wasn’t much, just burning metal and already burnt plant life. He searched for footprints, but found none. What he did find was far from comforting.
There was a large gash in the side of the ship, and he could tell it hadn’t been caused by the crash. Puncture marks covered the sides of the gash, like something big had been pressing into the metal. He ran a hand over the indents, trying to figure out what had made them.
Scrrrrich!
The sound of something being dragged over wood had him whipping around, just in time to see a rush of black charging towards him.
Omega stared outside, her feet just centimeters away from the ship’s exit. Her bow sat heavily on her arm, the familiar weight of the weapon bringing her a small semblance of comfort as she thought about what to do. Hunter had been very clear when he had told her to stay inside, but that had been a whole day ago. It was sunrise now, and she had still gotten a response from anyone. Part of her wanted to believe that they were just busy, but they had always checked in on her before…
“Honk?”
She looked down, watching as Pillow walked up beside her.
“Oh Pillow,” She said, reaching down to pick him up, “they still aren’t back yet. I want to go look for them, but I also don’t want to disappoint Hunter.”
Pillow looked towards the rising sun, and Omega got the feeling that he was thinking about something. He looked back towards her, and jerked his head to the side, as if to say “let’s go find them”.
“But Hunter said not to.” Omega argued.
Pillow wiggled free, flopping down onto the ground and skittering away before Omega could grab him. He rushed down the ramp, heading straight for the forest. Mentally apologizing to Hunter, Omega ran down after him.
“Pillow, wait!”
Omega carefully picked her way over fallen branches and trampled vines. Pillow marched on ahead of her, his nostrils flaring as he followed some unknown scent. He exuded feelings of determination, caution, and confusion, although she wasn’t sure why. Whatever he smelled, it was making him nervous, and her very glad she had brought her bow.
Pillow paused, sniffing at something in front of him that she couldn’t quite see. Walking closer, she saw that it was a shape in the dirt. It was V shaped, two little dashes sticking out a couple of centimeters in front of the tips. An animal track, one unlike she’d ever seen or heard of. Hunter had been teaching her how to track, so she knelt down and looked for signs that would tell her how old it was. The track seemed to be fairly fresh, as the sides hadn’t been worn down yet.
“Do you think we should follow them?” She asked, turning to look at Pillow. The amphibian bobbed his head.
“Okay, if you say so. I just hope whatever we find isn’t hungry.” Omega muttered.
If Pillow wanted to keep following the tracks despite them making him nervous, than there must be a good reason. Perhaps whatever had made these tracks had something to do with Hunter and the others not coming back?
She hoped not, as the tracks had been rather big.
The tracks led Pillow and Omega to the mouth of a dark cave. The two looked at each other, before Omega gulped and stepped forward, drawing back her bow’s string for light. Pillow pattered after her, his pupils expanding to take in more light. Their steps echoed in the maw-like space, the only source of light being the purple glow of her trusty weapon.
As the duo made their way deeper into the cave, small luminous mushrooms began to appear. They glowed a soft cyan colour, but Omega did not relinquish her hold on the bow’s thrumming string. The warning buzz was back, muted, but definitely still there. She had to be careful.
Suddenly, Pillow honked and dashed forward, and Omega quickly followed after. Something caught her foot, causing her to release her bow’s string and fall onto the floor. The weapon slid away from her, becoming lost to the darkness. With only the glowing fungi for light, she looked to see what she had tripped on.
A scream escaped her lips as her eyes fell on a white, stripped bone. She kicked the bone away, panting as it clattered against the floor. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw that she was surrounded by skeletons.
“Honk!”
She spun, gasping when she saw Pillow nudging something. A familiar something.
“Hunter!” She yelled, rushing over to the downed man. Hunter’s skin was pale, and he was sweating. He looked like he was asleep, but his face was contorted, like he was in the midst of having a terrible nightmare.
Tech, Echo, Wrecker, and someone she doesn’t recognize were there as well, all in similar states. She shook them all, trying to rouse them to no avail.
“Okay, I guess I’m dragging you all out. Pillow, you might have to help me.” She said, grabbing Tech under the arms.
Sssscccrrrapee!
Omega froze, the buzzing at the back of her mind becoming a screech. A sudden urge to move to the right had her rolling on the ground. Something shot out of the darkness, smashing into the ground where she had just been. Pillow screeched as a shriek echoes out into the cave, nearly deafening Omega. Her foot brushes something metal, and she grabs it, her fingers curling around the handle of her bow. The energy snaps into existence as she draws the string back, firing off a shot into the dark.
A silhouette appears, long and skinny. Four eyes shine in the passing light, and she hears the creature let out a long hiss. The animal before her is huge, its frill brushing the cave’s ceiling. Its body is a gradient of colours, black into teal into blue into orange and then finally into red. Spots of black and white pepper its serpentine form, and she catches a glimpse of its arched, pointed tail.
She follows her instinct and leaps back, hearing her opponents teeth clack together as it bites down on the air in front of her. It eyes her, the glow of the mushrooms just barely giving both her and it enough light to see by. A black, forked tongue slides out of the animal’s mouth, the flickering appendage nearly brushing her nose. She hears a sound like armor scraping against stone, and the creature swings its tail around. The tip is sharp and black, an unknown liquid dripping from it. Omega moves back as far as she’s able to, her heart threatening to explode out of her chest as she hits a wall. The animal is poised to strike, but before it can move another step, a blur of snarling white barrels out of the shadows.
Pillow bites down on the animal’s leg, just below its knee. It shrieks again, this time in pain. It spasms, its tail whipping about wildly. The creature goes into a fit of panic, thrashing around as it tries to make Pillow release his iron hold. Snapping out of her fear-induced paralysis, Omega fires her bow again, striking the creature in the face. It screams, frothing saliva dripping out of its mouth as it flails. Bones scatter as the animal falls onto its back, it’s legs kicking weakly, before finally ceasing all movement.
Shocked, Omega carefully shuffles forward. Pillow has let go of the animal’s leg now, and as she can see that the skin around the bite has turned a sick white-ish purple. Her lip curls and disgust, and she feels her stomach flip when she sees that Pillow is currently biting at the animal’s stomach, bits of skin and flesh tearing away as he pulls his neck back.
“Pillow, what are you doing?” She exclaims, actually having to cover her mouth as a gush of blood squirts out, splashing onto Pillow’s head. The amphibian looks at her, seemingly happy with the current situation he’s in.
More than a little disturbed, Omega makes her way over to the rest of the Bad Batch. Tech seems to be coming around a bit, whatever had been ailing him seemingly leaving his system. There is a small hole on his neck, and she figures that the animal must have stung him.
The sound of ripping flesh makes her feel nauseous, and she sits down beside Tech and covers her ears, praying that everyone would wake up soon. She hopes that Pillow doesn’t make a habit out of this…