//------------------------------// // Chapter 6:Blood and memories // Story: The tale of a Huntsmans corp // by Trickstermkcee //------------------------------// Chapter 6:Blood and memories *VRRRRRROOOOOMMM* *CCRRRRRAAACKKK!* Groaned the Abraham’s, it’s body bashing through another tree, the trunk slipping and falling sides way, it’s creaks loudly echoing out. “Ain’t that ominous...” mumbled Mia, her eyes scanning the trees, they were formidable foes in the battle for camouflage. Although her sixth sense told her that animals were close by, predators and prey alike, watching them... “You alright their?” Mia jumped out of her intense thought process, a red stallion had joined her on the tank. How she hadn’t heard him amazed her for such a large stallion. She recognized him as James, the second survivor who had been in the truck besides the griffin. “Yes just...thinking.” She summed up, looking at him, his dark grey eyes seeming to look similar a scope on a rifle, staring her down. “Ah, best not do to much of that, it will give you a headache quickly, specially when you can hear every woodland creature for a mile.” He added with a smirk, Mias widened her otherwise neutral look. “Mhm...clever...” she mumbled, and he just smiled. “Hey you two get up here!” Shouted our Lia, her head swiveling as she looked to the two. They quickly complied, scampering up the tank and next to the hatch. “Yes ma’am?” Mia asked, her ears peeking up at attention, and her gaze flicked to the pegasus, his body showed a relaxed position, but his eyes were ones of steel, not the soft orbs she had seen seconds ago. “According to this map were approaching a hut like structure, from the intel I recovered in this journal, the owner is a zebra by the name of Zecora, I need you two to scout ahead, and determine this targets threat level, along with approachability.” Stated the mare with a careful tone. She had been identified as a changeling, so had the groups medic, private Clank, and apparently they were ‘evil and not very well liked’ so it made sense what they were being ordered to do. “Got it, does it list anything we should expect and prepare to counter or deal with?” James asked, his wings unfurling and spreading in preparation. “Not sure, I would advise using extreme caution, although refrain from opening fire on her, she’s a civilian.” Lia added, looking in front of her as she studied the rough map. “Got it.” James turned his head to Mia, and smirked, “You figured out how to use those wings yet?” He asked, a sound of hidden excitement in his voice for some reason. “Of course, best to be able to use everything to your advantage, flying is pretty useful... and badass...” she added off handedly. That got a chuckle out of the young stallion, his mane bouncing slightly as he grinned almost predatory. “Up for a challenge then?” He inquired, his eyes were now shining in a almost hidden glee. He slipped off his extra gear, leaving only his sidearm on and his vest. It was her turn to grin, and her wings spread, “Oh your on tough guy!” She smirked and with one strong flap she was airborne, bursting high into the trees as she manuvered herself to be angled to fly just below the tree line. Her eyes searched around her, and her ears were perked but she couldn’t seem to locate the Pegasus. *FWOSH!* She gasped as a red bolt flew past, the movements fast and without trouble, the smaller stallion had the advantage of a slimmer figure, and she quickly figured out why. “Oh son of a- that’s good!” She growled and burst forward, flying and slowly gaining speed with each flap and ground on the pegasus, his maneuvering making it hard at certain spots. ————————————————————— Thomas watched the two take flight, the bursting of action as the two flew out of the clearing. “Dam, I’ve never seen the corporal that excited for a race...” mumbled out Clank, his eyes wide in surprise. “Well to be fair lad, she’s always been competitive, although with wings like those who can blame her!” Added the blue stallion, his horn glowing as he sat in the trunk bed, cleaning his handgun. “Mia and James sitting in a tree, k-“ the changelings started to sing, but was interrupted by a rag being stuffed in his mouth. “Shut up.” grunted out the blue stallion and went back to looking over his gun. ————————————————————— “Hehe your quick, you weren’t joking!” James called out, his wings angling back, “Sadly this contest has to end for now, we’re a good 5 minutes jog to our objective.” He added, giving a low chuckle. “Oh alright, but I want a rematch at some point!” She added back, her Magenta eyes still filled with challenge, but none the less she landed with the pegasus. “Watch yourself, I can’t hear any birds chirping, may be a few predators near by.” He calmly added, his wings seemed to slip down and return, gripping one of his pistols like a hand. “Yea I noticed that to, I would advise going dark and using knifes, could be a wolf pack nearby.” She said, her Python slowly sliding out, and her knife just below it to add lethality. Quickly the pair were moving again, slowly walking as they searched for there objective. It was a quick one as they homed in on the hut, arriving at its entrance in a few minutes. The corporal approached the door and knocked, James standing besides her. Silence “Something isn’t right...” mumbled James, his wings perking slightly as the fling of the bladed tips were caught, flicking off in the single small bits of light that made its way through the treetops. *C-C-CLICK* Mia was on top of the wolf within a second, a combat gripped in her talons as she jammed it through the creatures throat. She felt resistance but she cared little, and shoved the knife in, twisting it. *CRACK!* Wood snapping and the struggled halted, the animal going limp, she smiled and looked back into the clearing, just as James spun his wings with a finesses that almost amazed her. *SHUNK* *THUMP* Two creatures of similar design as the wolf she had killed fell down, one missing its head, the other jammed into the tree with a Bowie knife buried in its chest. It struggled uselessly, whimpering weakly, the stallion nearly withdrew his handgun and aimed, “Sit, stay, play dead.” *CRACK* tink *CRACK* tink The creature fell to bits and his pistol returned to its holster, his Bowie knife slipped back into its sheathe just under his right wing. “Hmmf...I think you could have at least used a better line than that...” Mia added, her knife returning to her tac vest. “Meh, I made due with what I can come up with, what would have been your one liner?” He asked back with a smirk. “It’s time to make a bonfire, hold still!” She replied with a cackle. He chucked at that, shaking his head. “So we got wooden wolves huh? Odd.” Mumbled the stallion, examining the bundles of sticks that lay spread on the ground were the bodies once were. “Evidently so...knock again?” James asked, his grin not going unnoticed. “Let’s!” Replied the griffin, spinning around and delivering a hard kick against the door, Cushing it to fly open. Quickly both of them entered the small hut fanning out, although what they saw made them pause. “Uhhh... whoops...” ————————————————————— “Finally you two are back! We have been out here for 30 minutes waiting for you two to come back!” Shouted a rather aggravates Changeling commander. “W-where sorry ma’am, we arrived at the hut and delt with some complications, and when we went inside we...” the hen blushed slightly. “Apparently zebras rhyme when they moan...” mumbled out James his face was of equal color. “WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN!” Screeched Lia, Shaking the poor stallion, “DON’T TELL ME YOU SOMEHOW SEXUALLY ASSAULTED A ZEBRA!” “What? No! We walked in on her as she was...getting help brewing a potion...” he said cryptically. “So...no threat then?” Asked the russian bird, who had scaled the tank and was looking at the pair. “No... I would advise avoiding the house though, say about...2 miles around or so would be safe enough!” Called Mia, not sticking around to answer anymore as she hurried to the truck bed. James stayed sitting on the tank. “What...” James just shook his head and trotted past the mare, who just sighed and placed her hooves on her face, sighing into them. “You alright ma’am?” The young dragon asked , his head poking out a secondary hatch on the hull. “I’m just peachy...” she mumbled, then growled at him, “Get back to work! I want us gone already!” She shouted and he complied, ducking back down into the hatch, and shutting it. Lia groaned and withdrew her head,sliding the hatch shut, carefully she worked down to the machine gun and layed down in the chair. Or to be more specific, the poor gunner stallion, who looked at her, blinking in confusion. “Wake me up and I may kill you.” She grunted and grabbed his wings, pulling them over her like blankets. The poor stallion just stared in terrified confusion as the tank jerked to a start. Slowly they drove towards a escape. It was just slightly farther away then thought. ————————————————————— *RATATATATATAT* Lia jerked awake as she blinked, looking around, her eyes wide in panic. Where was the gunner? “WE GOT HOSTILES ON OUR FLANK!” Screamed a soldier, gunfire form multiple sources rang out. Quickly she sat up and grabbed at a sidearm that lay under the seat, struggling up to the tanks hatch. She shoved the hatch open, peeking out as bullets flew over head. *PANG*PANG* “GEF YOUR HEAD DOWN-ACK!” Screamed out a soldier who had been sitting behind the tanks turret, most likely the previous tanks operated, his corpse dropping off the tank due to a stray shot striking him through his skull. She responded by lifting her arms and taking aim at a figure wearing a black vest, taking cover on a small embankment not more than 20 feet away. *CRACK* tink*CRACK* tink The unknown soldier fell, letting out a stream of bullets fly from his rifle as he fell. She looked over to the corpse. The gunfire was intense on other sections but slowly it slowed to nothing. “W-what the...” she mumbled as she slowly pulled herself out of the hatch, looking around in confusion. The location was different, instead of the strange forest she had been in, it was replaced by the ruins of a old town, maybe a village. The truck was missing, now replaced with several similar tanks, one of which was smoldering. It was a convoy. “W-where...how...” she stuttered, looking down she gagged, her eyes wide in disgust. Two bodies had been torn to shreds, blood was splattered across the ground, one wore a faded uniform, dirt and blood covering most of it. The second figure was a man as well, he wore black robes, or what was left of the robe. He was missing part of his chest, and looked to have been through a meat grinder. She could guess his involvement... Slowly Lia climbed down from her tank, she felt dizzy, tired, and confused. It felt similar, all of it did....but why? She looked at another body, missing part of his throat, a knife stained with blood buried in his chest. She slowly approached him, taking the knife, she pulled it out, grunting as she did so. She felt she might need it. “H-help...” someone weakly mumbled, they sounded exhausted, weak. She quickly moved herself to the side of the tank, the handgun clutched tightly in her hand, the knife in the other, as she peeked around the corner of the tank. There were corpses everywhere, some dressed in civilian clothes, other dressed in uniforms, some dead, some dying. One man stood out, laying next to a overturned Jeep, probably part of the convoy. He wore a vest that was shredded and covered in blood. Lia made a mad dash towards him, her eyes darting at random, searching for threats. Quickly she arrived next to the man, who barely acknowledged her. “H-Hey! Stay with me soldier, come on stay awake!” She whispered, checking his injury, a deep gash across his vest and a few bullets were lodged in his vest. He was bleeding slowly and would need help immediately if he wanted to survive. “B-B-Beh-“ he sputtered, Lia was uncomprehending. She heard the sound of shifting and turned her head. *CRACK* A bullet flew by her head, causing her to gasp and fall back, crying out in panic as she pulled her pistol up. Her target was three men who wore black vests and were carrying rifles, one automatic, the other two bolt actions, probably hunting rifles. *CRACK* tink “AGH!” The centermost man yelled out, falling over, clutching his chest. Her gun flew to the next one, his rifle halfway up. *CRACK* tink He crumbled, no sound leavings the dead mans mouth as he fell. She looked to her third target, although as she moved her arm to take aim, he swung his rifle at her. *THWACK* The cried out as her handgun flew to the side. She looked over to the person who had struck her hand, the last one, his voice was bared in a low growl. “IM GONAN KILL YOU!” He snarled as he jumped on her, punching her across the face with the butt of his gun. Her hands reached for her pistol, not inches away form her fingers. He pushed his advantage and slammed the rifle against her throat, choking her as she punched at his face. “G-GAH!” She grunted, gasping as she struggled futilely, she could see the black creeping into the corners of her view. He only pressed harder as she grew weaker, barely staying awake, she groaned and gasped. Her arms weakly pushed against his face. “Your gonna die just like your friends, you worthless bi-“ *BANG* “URKK!” He groaned and slumped, laying on her as she used what strength she had to push off the mans corpse. She gasped feebly, looking to the side to see who had saved her life. It was the soldier, only he seemed to be smiling sadly, “O-oorah...” he whispered and slumped, his weapon, a small snub nosed 44. falling from his grip as his head slumped downwards. Lia blinked and slowly stood up, looking around at the battleground. Smoldering vehicles, burning houses, corpses and red splashed everywhere. She stared at the scene around her. She turned to the dead soldier and walked over to him, kneeling before the fallen man. “Thank you...” she whispered and slowly closed his eyes with her fingertips. She used her other hand to pick up his revolver, and tucked it into her boot. She looked at his name tag, might as well tell his family he died a soldiers death. “Sergeant J.Haterf-“ she paused, her eyes widened. “H-how...I-I can’t be back...” she looked to her hands, HER HANDS. “I-it’s a dream...it had to be...” she mumbled, her vision blurred. Slowly she backed away, she could hear something, whispers all around her. “failure...” “useless...” “couldn’t save...” Slowly her vision blurred as she gripped over a corpse, collapsing on her back. “OOF” she grunted, blinking tiredly, her head swimming with a torrent of emotions. The voices became louder. “BLOOD IS ON YOUR HANDS...” “YOU PROMISED HE WOULD COME HOME!” “YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED WITH YOUR MEN!” Soon the screech’s reaches a crescendo, pericing her ears as she pushed her hands over them, whimpering and crying, her tears splashing across the dry blood and dirt. “LEAVE THOU BE DEMONS!” Immediately the sounds halted, the dusty ground disappeared, the blood, body’s, and the village vanished. It all left her in a dark blue void. There was one other occupant. A blue unicorn-pegasus.