Crazies

This is joint-written. The Raven's Nest comes across a strange group. The hostiles from before show up, but something besides them seems to be taking care of the problem...

 

“We’re really going to need a goddamn vacation after this.” Glide grinned. “You guys wanna take an island vacation? Saikoro’s the perfect place for an island vacation, if you don’t mind the pirates.”

Ambree raised an eyebrow. “Pirates?”

Glide nodded. “Yeah, pirates. They’re actually pretty fun to jack stuff from, ’cause they can’t exactly do anything about it. Most of ‘their’ stuff isn’t theirs to begin with. Of course, we could just pick a door at random, hope we finally get a break.”

“Well, if we opt for the second choice, I think Ambree should be excluded from the random-picking process,” Niqi commented, grinning.

“It’s not my fault I have such horrid luck,” Ambree responded.

“Of course it ain’t your fault.” Glide smirked. “But that doesn’t change the fact that you have it.”

Ambree sighed heavily. “We’ve been going in this direction for a long time now.”

“I know,” Niqi replied. “It’s like this planet is completely barren. It freaks me out more than Tendou did.” Suddenly, her eyes focused through the fog. “Oh,” she breathed, blinking several times. “I…I think I spoke too soon. Glide, can you see that?” she asked, pointing.

Ambree made a face. “Do you have to be so vague? I can’t see anything.”

Glide raised an eyebrow. “See what? The fog? The ground? The sky? That group of tents?”

“The tents, obviously,” Niqi responded, smirking. “Nice one there. I started to worry that I’d begun to see things in the split second before you said it. I guess this place isn’t so barren after all.” She paused, her ear twitching. She raised her eyebrows. “…I think they’re yodeling.”

 

…

 

“They’re yodeling,” Niqi repeated in disbelief when they were within human seeing distance. “What the hell?”

“Something tells me they’re nuts.” Mambo said.

“I hope not.” Glide muttered. “Some of the crazy people I’ve met bite, and if somebody in there bites me, I’m gonna Sabin their a*s.”

“I’d say they’re insane,” Ambree said. “I watched a couple people go crazy in the panic after Earth was destroyed. I can sorta…feel it.”

“Well, that’s just wonderful.” Glide sighed, rubbing his temples. “All in favor of finding out what they know about this planet?”

“Aye,” Niqi said. “I’m curious, and a bit crazy myself, so I can’t complain.”

Glide paused for a moment, then started toward the camp. “…What the f**k am I thinking? This ain’t no democracy. Let’s go get some info.”

“I’m going to be a bit uncomfortable,” Ambree complained lightly.

Niqi’s initial instinct was to scold Ambree for being bitchy lately, but she decided against it, thinking through her actions for once. “You’ll be just fine,” she assured Ambree. “You’re with us. We might get into a lot of trouble, but we’re probably the safest lot to run with.”

“And if you ever feel like your life is in danger,” Glide smirked, “just get behind me, I’ll protect any p*****s in the group.”

“Hey,” Ambree replied, scowling. She paused for a moment, and then sighed. “I’m just…antsy. It’s this planet.”

“The planet’s making you a coward?” Niqi asked on impulse, smirking.

Ambree glared at Niqi. “It’s just got me on edge,” she responded.

Glide nodded. “I understand. Feels like something’s–”

“–just gonna jump out at any moment and cut your head off.” Maki cut him off, grinning.

Niqi nodded despite herself. “It does. Although significantly less, after that ordeal I went through with sensing attacks.” She paused. “And we’re nearly on top of the camp, in case you guys would like to focus on that at some point. And they’ve stopped yodeling to stare at us. Maybe that’s why we were feeling like that.”

“Okay, let me try something.” Glide said. He cleared his throat. “Attention, crazies! What the f**k is up with this planet?”

“Oh, yeah, that’s really gonna work…” Shetani muttered.

The crazies watched Glide warily. Cautiously, one stepped forward, half bent-over as if he were about to get on all fours. He straightened up a few feet from Glide, sniffing. Suddenly, he stumbled backwards. “He is of the dead!” he called to the rest of the group in a coarse voice. They made hushed, primitive noises and regarded Glide with a mixture of fear and awe.

“Undead.” Glide said, looking slightly offended. “I’m not dead dead.”

Shetani chuckled. “Now you’re just splitting hairs.”

Glide narrowed his eyes. “Quiet, you.”

“Are you gonna answer the question?” Niqi asked. “What the hell happened to this place?”

“Those of the dead…they know…” spoke the same feral being from before. “They…they came… They caused this… They hunted us…but we became the hunters!” He began shouting towards the end, and the other crazies joined in, in a series of undistinguishable yells and sounds.

“You mean those ugly f***s with the huge claws?” Glide asked, raising his shuriken and showing them the blood on it. “We killed one on the way here.”

The insane man yelped in shock at the sight of the shuriken. “We…we are not hunters of them.”

“If you’re not against them, you’re with them.” Glide stated. “And if you’re with them, guess where this goes.”

“We run from them,” the man insisted. “We have tried fighting…it has got us nowhere. We die, we die often, even running…” He trailed off, growling quietly in a delirious state.

Glide released his shuriken, letting it hover in the air. With his paws free, he grabbed the man. “Can you see them?”

“We, we, we all see…with the aid of the blood of the dead,” the man hissed.

“If you don’t hunt the freak things, what do you hunt?” Glide asked.

“We hunt, we hunt the Hunted,” the man replied.

Niqi snorted. “Oh, sure. That clarifies everything.”

“Okay…cryptic…” Mambo murmured.

Glide lifted the crazy off the ground. “Look, dude. Give it to us straight or I’m gonna take you out into the middle of nowhere and give you to those Predator wanna-bes.”

“There’s no need for that, they’re here!” Mambo yelped, trying to stay out of range of one of the creatures. “Get the crazies to scatter, we don’t need distractions!”

The crazy in Glide’s paws yelped in fear as he was dropped. “Run!” he yelled to the others, who quickly began crumpling their tents and taking off with them.

“How many of them do you think there are?” Niqi asked, drawing Scourge and Bane, holding one out in front of her and the other behind her.

“Who cares!” Glide growled, gripping his shuriken, tight enough for his paw to begin bleeding. “I’m more worried about where they’re going to attack from. Raven’s Nest, ci–”

A blast of rock salt hit one of the creatures in the back of the neck, its head detaching and thumping to the ground.

“Nice shot, Maki!” Mambo laughed.

“That wasn’t me.” Maki responded.

Niqi lowered her swords, glancing around. “The hell?”

“There.” Shetani said, pointing her halberd at a crouching figure in the shadow of a dead tree. “It was him.”

Six of the creatures leapt from the nearby trees, gathering around the male.

“I think we should help him.” Mambo said.

The male didn’t seem to be doing too badly, flicking a pair of shotgun shells from a pocket on his belt and keeping the creatures back with stiff kicks as he reloaded.

“Holy s**t.” Glide winced, one of the male’s kicks causing one of the creatures to double over backwards. “I don’t think he needs our help. Looks like he just broke that f****r’s spine.”

“Glide, just go help him.” Shetani muttered, rolling her eyes. “He’s outnumbered six to one.”

“More like five to one after that kick, but whatever.” Glide grinned, moving to assist the other male. Hey, he’s an Arcadian… He thought, catching a glimpse of the young male’s ears. “Hey, kid, need a hand?”

“I’ve already got two.” The Arcadian responded, another blast of rock salt decapitating another creature. “I could use more, though. Keep them off me while I reload?”

Glide nodded, switching from his shuriken to his kusarigama. “How’d you break that thing’s spine with one kick?” The Varixian asked, slinging the sickle forward and catching one of the creatures by the jaw with it, taking its head off with a quick yank.

The Arcadian shrugged. “I’d rather not talk about it right now. Long story.” He said, aiming his shotgun and pulling the trigger, a pair of darts rocketing from the barrels.

“Flechette rounds. Nice choice.” Glide commented, watching the fourth creature collapse, both darts protruding from its skull.

The Arcadian gave a choked yelp, falling to the ground, unconscious. One of the two remaining creatures stood over him, wearing a twisted grin.

“…Well, that’s just great.” Glide muttered, swinging the kusarigama by its chain for a few seconds before letting it loose, the sickle stabbing into another creature’s throat. With a flick of his wrist, the Varixian looped the chain around the creature’s neck, giving the weapon a cruel jerk and taking the creature’s head off. “Your turn.” He snarled at the creature standing over the Arcadian, reeling the kusarigama in and returning it to its spot on his belt.

A pressure round from Maki’s revolver struck the creature’s head, caving its skull in. “That was me.”

“Maki, you fucknut, I was just getting to that one!” Glide growled.

“Took too long.” Maki said, grinning.

Glide heaved a frustrated sigh, picking up the Arcadian’s gun and slipping it into the holster below the youth’s left arm. He paused for a few seconds, then lifted the Arcadian up, piggybacking him. “Damn, this kid’s heavy…”

“I think, since we’re not going to find the crazies now, we should head that way.” Mambo said, pointing toward the setting sun.

Glide nodded. “Okay, folks, let’s get moving.” He said, heading in the direction Mambo indicated.

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[KEi]

"Saikoro's the perfect place for an island vacation, if you don't mind the pirates."
:O!
Pirates!