Revenge(chapter 1)
Author's note: If you haven't read the prologue please read it now(or don't but some stuff won't make sense) thanks. Other than that enjoy the story.
Disclaimer: There's violence,expletives and plenty of adult content ahead so you've been warned!
Four years. Four long years. Four years since that fateful day. Four years to mull over what had happened. Four years since my being was stripped away from me. Now there was only anger. Anger for the one who had done this to me. Anger at myself for being so stupid. After that day, I had vowed to end his life. To rip out his throat and watch him bleed. To have him experience the pain and suffering I had endured.
"James... James... James!"
"Wah? Huh?" I looked around me, my eyes focusing on the dragon next to me.
"Stop your daydreaming. We have a job to do." I stared at him for a minute, admiring his sand colored scales. He had an advantage out here in the desert. I envied him.
"JAMES!"
"Yes, Yes. What do you need?" The dragon stared at me, "Were you not just listening to what I said?!"
"I was listening."
"Really cause I couldn't help but notice you were staring at my scales."
"I wasn't!"
"Really? Then what did I just say?" I glared at the dragon.
"You said..." The dragon looked at me, waiting for a response. His emerald eyes staring at me expectantly, "You said uhhhh.... gimme a sec." I gave him a sheepish smile.
The dragon groaned. "Look, just...focus. We're trying to look for the target, not eyeball each other."
"I wasn't..." The dragon just shushed my protests. "Now isn't the time. Just focus."
I nodded, turning my attention back to the ruins of a house which lay a few hundred yards away. There was nothing special about it. Its yellow facade was cracked and withered from years of abandonment. The house looked like it had been home to a happy family once, but now it just served as a reminder to a world that was once good. Sighing, I readjusted the sights on my rifle.
Nothing happened for the next few hours except for the occasional shift from me or my reptile partner. My ears twitched as I listened to the sounds of the wasteland around me. The faint sound of gunshots in the distance. The wind whistling through long dead bushes. The crumbling ruins growing weaker every day. Yep, sounds like the wasteland.
The dragon next to me broke my train of thought with a hushed whisper. "To your left about 100 yards." Swinging my rifle around and adjusting the sights, I eyed where my partner had directed. A convoy of furs were approaching the house, their weapons glinting in the sunlight. I counted 5 heavily armed wolves and a plethora of tired dreary furs. Slavers and their slaves. I grimaced at the thought that anyone could stoop as low as to enslave another fur and sell them for a quick buck. Fuck them.
I clicked the safety off, preparing to fire. Gregor stopped me.
"Don't." His voice was soft. "You'll endanger the slaves."
I growled. Fuck that, there was no telling what would happen if we didn't help them.
"James. We have a mission to do. Don't compromise it." I let out another growl. As much as I wanted to help them, he was right. I couldn't let my emotions get the better of me. Besides, if we did this right, the mission would be completed with the bonus of a few freed slaves.
I let the convoy pass, Keeping them in my sites as they approached the ruined house. The lead wolf stopped just short of the house, leaning down and knocking on some sort of basement door. The door opened revealing two more wolves. This is what we had come for.
A few days ago, high command had been notified of a potential slave trading route. Soldiers and scouts had been posted near or along the route, tracking the movement of anyone and everyone that moved along it. A few days into the operation, soldiers started noticing the disappearance of the convoys and their goods.The only evidence we had was that they disappeared near this house. Now we knew why.
"We have to inform command of this." My partner started to get up, but I stopped him.
"I'm going after them."
"What." Gregor's eyes widened and he started to protest.
"I'm small and a lot more nimble than you. Plus, if we can determine what's down there it'll be easier for the strike teams." The dragon just sighed before reluctantly nodding.
"I'll fall back and radio command with the new information, but if anything happens radio me, ok?" I nodded, holstering my rifle and pulling out a pair of binoculars. The convoy had already descended through the door, leaving one guard behind. I noted his appearance. He was a white wolf, smaller than his brethren. He had the signs of a newbie. Fidgeting with his weapon and looking around anxiously. I couldn't help but grin. This was gonna be easy.
Putting the binoculars away, I made my way down the hill towards the house. The wolf quickly noticed.
"F-Freeze. D-Don't move a muscle." The fear in his voice was as evident as his fur. I didn't stop.
"I-I'm warning you. I-If you don't stop, I'll shoot." I stopped a couple of feet away. Seeing him closer gave me a better sense of what I was dealing with. The wolf had his gun aimed at me, but it was shaking so much I doubt he could hit me if he tried, let alone kill me. His white fur was dirty and unkempt. Not a surprise, seeing as there aren't many showers around here.
I sighed. The wasteland had taught me to only care about me, myself, and I. The military had taught me to care about your squad and higher ups. Nothing had taught me to care about the enemy or opponents. Yet here I was. Standing in front of an enemy. I could pull my revolver out and put a bullet between his eyes before he even had time to blink, yet I didn't.
"Hey Whitey, you want-" I snapped my head to the door behind the fur. It had opened, revealing one of the slavers. We stared at each other for what felt like an eternity before he started to move. I didn't let him. I whipped out my revolver, firing two shots point blank into the wolf's face. He tumbled down the stairs leaving a fresh trail of blood in his wake. The white wolf let out a squeak of surprise and stumbled backward.
"Now you're either with me, or against me." I turned to the white wolf now, my gun level to his chest. The wolf gulped and took a step back, giving me full access to the tunnel.
"So much for stealth." I grabbed the door and propped it open, revealing the body of the wolf and a lit corridor. A pool of blood glistened in the light. I descended the stairs, careful to avoid the blood which coated each step. The last thing I needed was to slip and knock myself out. That wouldn't be good.
By the time I reached the bottom of the stairs, I heard shouting and grumbling. My hosts were aware of my arrival. I grimaced as I got a good look at the wolf who I had shot. There were two neat holes in his head where the bullets had entered with a steady flow of blood out of both. Stepping around the pool, I continued down the corridor.
The corridor itself was remarkably well lit, considering half of the lights seemed to be either broken or flickering. They must have a generator somewhere. If I can turn that off, it'll make my job a lot easier.
My attention was directed to the end of the corridor as a door opened.
"Is everything OK out there? I thought I heard gunshots." It was one of the wolves from the convoy. His eyes briefly met mine and widened. "Shit! Guys there's someone at the-" He didn't finish the sentence. I squeezed the trigger, sending a bullet flying down the corridor and into his head.
He crumpled to the ground, his body jamming the door open. I ran forward, determined to get to the door before someone opened it again. If someone were to shoot at me now, I'd be dead.
I arrived at the door just as a second wolf opened it. Without thinking, I barreled into him. My weight wasn't enough to knock him over, but he stumbled backward, his arms wheeling for balance. It wouldn't be long before he regained balance. Acting quickly, I blindly fired 2 shots. They hit their mark, burying themselves in the wolf's chest. He stumbled backward, his mouth agape. Crimson blood frothing from his muzzle. I must have hit a lung.
I watched as the wolf lost his balance, slipping in a pool of his own blood. I considered for a second ending his life. Giving him some mercy. No, that would be a waste of a bullet. Plus he'd die soon enough. Right?
I looked at him again. His eyes bore the expression of fear and pain. I felt a twinge of guilt. Maybe I should put him out of his wretched misery. It's the least I can do.
I sighed, leveling the gun to his head. The wolf closed his eyes and lowered his ears.
"I'm sorry." My voice was barely a whisper as I pulled the trigger, ending the wolf's suffering. I watched as the life faded from him, leaving cold glassy eyes.
I sighed. This was the wasteland. A place that can turn even the most innocent of furs bad. A place a good soul goes to die. I used to be like that. Innocent. Or at least as innocent as one can be when they're born into this place. But now I was killing people on a whim massacring people who were just doing their job. All because of him. He had ruined my life. Made me scared of my own skin.
I wondered what he was doing right now. Hopefully dying in a ditch somewhere, waiting for me to come along and end his pitiful existence. I was escorted back to reality by the sound of voices. They were coming from a door a few yards opposite of me. It sounded like there were more than 2 of them.
Fuck! I needed to find some place to bunker down. I could probably take out a few of them before they realized, but I would be a sitting duck if I didn't find cover. Looking around quickly, I surveyed the room. It was some kind of kitchen or dining room. There was the door in front of me, its metal rusted and dirty, and to the left of that were some kitchen appliances. Stove, sink, fridge, all your basic amenities. To the right of the door were a few metal tables with chairs around them. Perfect.
The voices were getting closer now. They were on the other side of the door. As quickly and as quietly as I could, I crept towards the tables, hiding behind them. Once they saw me I would use the table as a bullet sponge, hopefully taking most of the impact.
I waited with bated breath as the door squeaked on its rusted hinges. Three more wolves stepped through, their guns drawn. The first one let out a torrent of creative expletives as he saw his deceased companions. "Fuck! Someone's killed Jerry and Recker! Fan out! I want you to find this fucker and kill him!"
I took a deep breath, readying myself for what was to come. Standing up as fast as I could, I aimed my gun at the wolf closest to me. All 3 wolves turned to look at me in surprise as I pulled the trigger.
Click! The hammer hit an empty case. Fuck. My heart sank deep into my chest. I had fired 6 shots and had forgotten to reload. I was screwed.
The wolves realized this pretty quickly, "He's out of ammo! Shoot him!" Panicking, I threw myself behind the table just as a hail of bullets tore up the ground around me. Fuck! Fuck! Fuckity Fuck! How could I be this stupid? I should have been keeping track. I should have-
I stopped berating myself when a stick of dynamite fell at my feet. My eyes went wide and I grabbed the stick it's fuze slowly shortening. In a fit of panic, I blindly threw the explosive.
"Oh shit!" I risked a peek. The dynamite had rolled to a stop at the feet of one of the wolves, and he was looking at it with a mix of surprise and fear. I covered my ears just as the dynamite exploded.
The wolf's legs vaporized almost instantly, a red mist replacing his lower torso. The rest of his body was flung across the room like a ragdoll. He smacked into the wall, blood flowing profusely from his stomach. I winced, my ears lowering slightly. I would like to say this made me sick, but it didn't. I was used to this kind of violence. Just another day's work.
I turned to the others. They stared at me, stunned at what had just happened to their friend. I took advantage of this. Bolting to one of the bodies which littered the ground, I picked up one of the rifles. It was an assault carbine. I glanced at the weapon. It was dirty and in desperate need of repair. There would be a better chance of the gun jamming than it actually working, but it would have to do.
Before either of the wolves could react, I squeezed the trigger releasing a hail of bullets. The wolf to my left jerked and swayed as I filled him with lead, then, like a puppet whose strings were cut, he crumpled to the ground. The wolf next to him raised his gun to fire but it was too late. With one accurate shot, he collapsed.
I felt myself let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding. The adrenaline started to fade from my body as I surveyed my work. There was blood everywhere. It spread across the ground in pools which mixed to form puddles of crimson. I guessed that a large quantity of the blood was from the mutilated wolf leaned against the wall. Well, this was gonna be a bitch to explain to command.
I sighed again as I searched the bodies for some kind of key. They weren't just gonna leave the slaves in an unlocked room, right? There had to be some kind of key. I found it eventually, on the mangled corpse of the wolf who had been blown sky high via dynamite. Picking up the key and grimacing at the work which I had caused, I headed the way the wolves had come.
I was led to another hall lined with metal doors, some which lead to empty rooms or other whose locks were too corroded to open. At the far end of the hallway was where I found my lock which fit the key. The door opened with a high pitched screech of rusted metal. My ears rested against my skull in an attempt to stop the nail grating noise.
I was met with several dreary, tired, eyes as I peered into the dimly lit room. I had found the slaves. There must have been ten of them crammed into the small space. Their bodies squished together in a jumbled mess.
"Uhmm...Hello." The furs' focused on me, their eyes staring blankly. They had been broken. Conditioned to obey the will of their 'owners'. Their freedom and willingness to fight had been taken long ago, leaving only a husks of furs doomed to obey all who command them.
"Look...I'm uh, here to rescue you." I surveyed the crowd, looking for a reaction but all I saw were the same blank faces. This was gonna be tough.
"Is there any kind of leader?" same blank faces. "Like you know, someone who runs this little group." I surveyed the crowd again. Nothing caught my eye.
"I guess that would be me." A voice caught my attention. It was a rabbit. He looked to be about 40, but the wasteland has a way of aging people mentally and physically. His fur was a light brown and his left ear seemed to be missing.
"Ok. Well could you, uh... tell your group that they're being rescued?" The rabbit eyed me as if questioning my merit.
He didn't seem to like it, "How do we know you're not one of them? How do we know that you didn't come here to trick us into escaping? Just to punish us when we try." I stared at the rabbit, dumbfounded. Why the hell would I go through all the trouble of killing their captors just to trick them? They had ears after all, didn't they hear the gunshots?
"Look wh-" I was cut off as I felt the cold barrel of a gun press against my head.
A voice hissed from behind me, "Turn around slowly. If you pull anything I'll shoot you in a blink of an eye." I obeyed his command turning around with my hands in the air. Revolver clearly shown.
"Good. Now drop the gun." My gun clattered to the ground as I got a good look at my captor. He was another wolf. Grey dirty fur and a scar running down his left eye.
"You killed my friends." The wolf leant down, keeping the gun trained on me, and picked up my revolver. "Now I'm gonna kill you with your own weapon." I gulped as he put the revolver to my head, closing my eyes and preparing for the inevitable which was to come.
Click!
The sound permeated the deafening silence. The gun wasn't loaded. For the second time in the day, I had forgotten the gun was empty. I hadn't reloaded it even after berating myself.
The wolf looked at me in confusion, still registering the fact that I was standing in front of him, unharmed. I took advantage of this. Removing a knife I had tucked into my boot, I blindly swung at him. The wolf jumped back, the knife barely missing his chest. He growled and tried to aim at me, but I managed to knock the gun out of his hands. It clattered to the ground a few feet away from us.
"You little fuck." The wolf released a throaty growl then lunged at me. I didn't have time to move as he collided with me, pinning me to the ground. I struggled as he pinned my arms with his.
"Got you!" he grinned at me. Not for long. I kneed him in the chest, causing him to lose his grip on my hands. As quickly as I could, I swung the knife upwards. The knife connected with the wolf's neck. Blood flowed down my arm like water from a shower head. I pushed the wolf off me, blood coating my paws.
The wolf gurgled, choking on his own blood. Getting up, I brushed myself off with my bloodied paws. That should be the last of them. Hopefully.
"Now do you trust me?" It was directed at the rabbit, who merely nodded.
"Yes, I suppose I do." the rabbit turned to the group, "Friends! We have a rescuer! One that will bring us out of this wretched place." None of the slaves reacted. They simply nodded, the same dreary looks on their face.
I rolled my eyes. Some people don't care if you help them or not. I picked up my revolver, making sure to load it this time. I didn't want to mess up again. My luck was only so finite.
The short journey back to the surface was uneventful. A few people gasped when they saw the blood soaked room, but other than that it was all quiet. I found it weird that none of the slaves seemed to care that they were being rescued. If I was in their position, I would be rejoicing in my rescue. Guess we all react in different ways.
The rabbit seemed to be the only one who had more than one emotion. He raised an eyebrow when we walked through the main room. I didn't know whether to interpret that as good or bad.
When I finally got to the top, I was met with the sight of the white wolf. He hadn't moved.
The wolf's eyes locked with mine before widening. He tried to back up, only to trip over and land on his ass.
"P-Please don't kill m-me! I-I'm not with them, I swear! I-I just joined cause I needed money!" I couldn't help but laugh.
"Don't worry, you're too cute to kill." I regretted my words immediately. The wolf's cheeks turned a bright red. Why had I said that!? Gah!
"I... er... let's try this again. I'm not gonna kill you. You're... uh... free to go." the wolf's cheeks were still bright red, but he managed a nod. Huh, he looked cuter when he blushed.
"W-What? I'm not cute." my blood ran cold. Had I just said that out loud? The wolf's ears rested against his skull in embarrassment, his eyes darting back and forth.
Before I could make a further fool of myself, the rabbit interrupted me. "Look, could you two save this for later? You're supposed to be rescuing us."
"I-I..." I paused, clearing my throat, "Yes, ok, let's get going. We have a long walk ahead of us."
The rabbit nodded before suddenly stopping. "Aren't you gonna bring your new friend along?"
Both I and the wolf spoke simultaneously. "Were not friends."
"Then introduce yourselves." We both stared at the rabbit, who just stared back with a completely blank expression, "We could use another for who knows how to use a gun. Even if they are new to killing." He had a point. Even if the wolf knew jack shit about firing a gun, he could still be used as a deterrent. Plus you could have some fu-ok that's enough brain, time to shut up.
"Fine." I turned towards the white wolf and held out my paw, "The name's James. Pleasure to make your acquaintance."
The wolf reluctantly shook my paw, "Ryan. M-My name's Ryan."