Chương 16: Chapter 14: The Horror of our Choices

From deep within its body, another whistle rang out, the Mushki drawing in enough air to cause a slight breeze even from how far away Aaron was, but perhaps that was merely placebo. He never stopped driving forward, of course, but he had to avoid moving too quickly, lest the entire procession rush as well, giving him ample time to watch the scene behind him.

The Mushki's wings, flittered violently in an invisible storm, and Aaron was reminded again that it likely felt much different forces acting upon it than he or the nosferians did. He wondered if the storms of its home planet still battered it from its perspective, a severe sense of detachment and shock keeping his mind calm. The grays all stared toward him, horror, disbelief, regret, pleading, all swirling around, all begging for Aaron to figure out a way to come back and save them. But he'd tried.

And they hadn't listened. A thunderous growl roared from the Mushki, sounding like rolling thunder as it rose and fell over the span of a second. Its head finally snapped up, shifting between Aaron's procession… and Richard's group. Richard's people were the first to make a mistake. One of them shot for the entrance to one of the remaining undamaged cages, breaking the stillness. The others followed instantly… and the Mushki reacted.

Its gaze locked onto them, shooting forward with the speed of a viper, crossing the distance in seconds. They just managed to get the doors closed when the Mushki's claw whipped out, aiming to smash through the flimsy steel… BOOM. The cavern rocked, and the Mushki reeled, roaring in its rumbling chitter as the bars held For a moment, Aaron regretted not hiding with them. What if they'd simply hunkered down and… A barbed tongue shot out from its mouth, moving fluidly, and Aaron immediately retracted all regret.

Instead, he used the distraction to accelerate ever so gently, and the others followed behind. Looking towards those trapped like fish in a barrel, he mouthed'I'm sorry,' and ventured deeper into the caves, unknowing of if they'd seen it or not. * Warning: Gore. Skip Richard's perspective if you don't want to see it. POV: Richard. When he'd first received his quest, he was ecstatic.

{Optional Quest Offered: System: Collect as many as possible and wait near the cages until Aaron is at least half a mile away with all those following him. Reward: Assistance in stabilizing corrupted Primary.} A path forward. No matter what he did, he simply couldn't get his Primary back into line. Killing the cannibals had helped slightly, torturing them for information more so, but that'd only been a temporary fix. Whatever he'd broken while trapped in those cages?

It was not healing, only getting worse with each passing second. He was bleeding out from a wound he couldn't even see, so he'd taken the one lifeline he had. He knew that if he didn't organize these people, they'd have eventually caved and started working with Aaron's group to leave- so he'd flared up their irritation and ostracized Aaron in their eyes. Now, as the Mushki bore down on their cage, he wished he'd joined that procession fleeing.

If he could go back now and kneel before Aaron, begging for forgiveness, he would've. As a reddish tongue snaked through the bars, his entire body tensed. If he would die, he'd be the last to die. The tongue was tipped with some kind of shiny gloss, and several spikes along it curved inwards, each more than an inch long. About half a foot in diameter, it ventured through the air, searching for a target, even as the body of the Mushki didn't bother to bend down, simply floating above, somewhere out of view.

Everyone in the cage leaned away from it, the appendage feeling around the open air. From this close, Richard could spot blood and chunks still stuck between its barbs. He knew they wouldn't be able to dodge endlessly, but even the slight hope of a delay was crushed as the monster let out another thunderous roar. The aimlessness of it evaporated, and it darted out, straight to the side of the cage.

Richard discovered what the glossy tip was when it pierced through the stomach of a man with ease; he didn't even get to scream as he was pulled away. But his pain didn't end. His body slammed against the bars of the cage and was yanked off the tongue, a spray off gore coming free as a chunk of the man's lower half was pulled away. The Mushki didn't waste a single second, its tongue wrapping around the leg of the gurgling man and pulling.

It was torn off, but again, the rest of the body was crushed against the edge of the cage. So it did it with the other leg. Then the arm. Only on the second arm did the man finally bleed out, the entire series of events happening so quickly his body didn't have time to catch up. The man's last moments were spent in agony, tears streaming down his face without even getting the chance to scream out. The monster lapped up the remaining gore, licking its plate clean. Yet, the Mushki was not satisfied.

It didn't bother to release another pulse. Its tongue flailed around the edges of the cage, hit another man, and grabbed his chest. This one was able to scream as the tongue wrapped around him. He was pulled away, and his body released a sickening crunch as, unlike the first man, he did go through the first time. As a pile of mush and shattered bones. Well… all but his head. That became stuck between the bars. The tongue came down again, crushing the last piece and taking it as well.

A woman to his right screamed, likely only just having even the thought to express fear. All of them were shocked into silence, their situation so outside of their expectations that their minds were shutting down. The woman's scream only made her the next target. He closed his eyes, tears welling up as he was forced to listen to what happened next, this one much like the first. For the first time in… more than a decade… Richard found himself sobbing. Yet, as the crunching stopped, he pried his eyes back open.

He had to see if it came for him next… and if he needed to push someone else in front of him. Yet… it didn't come through his cage bars. After all, there were two other cages to choose from, and apparently it'd grown interested in his neighbor. They screamed as one of theirs was speared, but Richard couldn't tear his way from the main body. Now that it wasn't directly above him, he got an eyeful of its feathered face, the way it tapped its claws gently against the top of the cage, the way it swayed gently…

and occasionally turned its head to face Richard, directly. He felt his skin crawl, his eyes widening as something deep within him felt viscerally terrified; it took a moment for him to realize what it was… and found himself reeling as his Primary quivered in the beast's presence. Finally, he became aware of the rolling emanations from this monster, something that felt predatory towards his Primary. Like the Mushki could tear it out of his chest at any given moment.

{Sensitivity: 0 -> Sensitivity: 1} He knew that everyone in the Underworld had received something from the System, Aaron and the Voice of Nothing had said as much, but it'd never occurred to him that the Mushki would too. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Nor had he considered that a reality where the Primaries were prey for something else. And this Mushki did not have a Primary, it had his Primary's hunter. The Mushki's behavior didn't seem so animalistic anymore.

Now that he knew what to look for, how to hear his Primary, he could feel the way it interacted with the Mushki, and even… hear the monster's tone, the way the monster felt through its own gift from the System. It was enjoying itself. This wasn't the feral fight for survival an animal might have, this was a cat playing with a mouse, reveling in the way it squeaked in fear. And indeed, after killing two from the other cage, it moved on to the aliens, all of them screaming and cursing in an unfamiliar language.

It didn't immediately spear through and kill them though, no, two of its arms grabbed the top of the cage, the other two braced itself against the floor, and Richard's eyes widened. Hadn't it crushed the black glass floor with ease? Even if it couldn't break the steel… Did the magic holding them together extend into the floor? The monster pulled and, at first, nothing happened, making him think that it did actually go down as well. Then it started to groan.

He watched the feathers on the beast's arms shimmer and shake, the crystalline coating glistening as its muscles bulged. The creaking grew in volume over the course of several seconds until, finally, the beast twisted the cage slightly, pulling it to the side, and the bars snapped as one. The ground held, but the steel did not, and he watched as it cast the top half of the cage off to the side, slamming into the distant wall with a boom.

The aliens stood frozen before the monster and, just as Richard thought, it had no intention of putting them down quickly. Its four arms bore down on them slowly, as if waiting for something. The one on the left passed out, dropping to the ground, and that seemed to be enough; the Mushki snatched them up in its claws. They awoke a second later, and began to scream and thrash. It didn't face them, instead turning its entire head towards the aliens below it.

It crushed the one in its hand, silencing them immediately, then… didn't even eat them. It dropped their corpse on the ground in front of the surviving two, who could only stare in shock at the mangled corpse. There was a beat of silence where everyone expected the Mushki to reach for the next- the aliens, as well, accepted this; their posture relaxed, their eyes closed, and their heads drooped, simply waiting for the next horrific death. The Mushki turned away, facing where Aaron's group had gone.

Letting out another thunderous pulse, it lowered its body to the ground, flapping its wings slightly, and began to pull itself forward on its claws again, not slithering like a snake would. It squeezed through the gap after Aaron, let another roar go out, then shot off, its wings folding back and claws rapidly pulling it after the fleeing procession.

{Objective complete} * POV: Aaron He gradually increased the speed at which they were fleeing, but never went top speed, too afraid it might set off the monster's instincts. While he did, he whispered furiously to the others, trying to come up with something.

"Does anyone have any Primary that might be able to throw it off our tail? Anything that hides us?" There were was a round of terrified headshakes, and he said "Gary, take over for the controls." Leaving the drivers seat, he moved to the back of the truck and not-so-quietly whispered.

"Can any of you hide us in any way?" but that car, too, shook their heads.

"Ask the people behind you. If anyone can, tell me." He turned back to the others.

"Magic's out for now. Do we have anything that can work manually? Something that can mask our scent or, hell, make it painful to follow? Alcohol is pretty pungent, or maybe pepper spray?" He knew that they'd had an entire distillery. He was positive it was on one of the cars, but he couldn't be sure where… and he didn't know if it would even work. Alcohol wasn't that strong, and pepper spray didn't aerosolize long enough to even matter, he was just throwing things at the wall and hoping one stuck.

"I- I might…?" Amelia stuttered "Not a Primary b- but-""Hurry!" he hissed, and she fumbled around her pocket, pulling out two bottles of fart spray. It sounded ridiculous, but still, his face lit up. Those… were perfect! They smelled absolutely awful. Considering the Mushki had such a sensitive olfactory sense, he trusted the sprays would be crippling.

"That might work!" he said, grabbing them.

'Would it be fine to just slowly spray it off to the side? Or will that blow back into our-' Another rumble silenced his thoughts, and this one sounded much louder. As if the Mushki was facing their direction, rather than the cages like it had before. A few seconds later, another pulse told him that was exactly what'd happened. The Mushki was on its way. He let out a tsk. The spray wouldn't help any longer if the Mushki simply used echolocation.

"Gary, floor it." The car lurched and, behind them, others started to as well. His face remained still, but his mind was racing'WHAT DO I DO?! HOW CAN I GET OUT OF THIS? SPLIT OFF? SCATTER? No, it will just chase us all down like the cannibals, dammit! I'll just be buying myself a bit more time, and betraying everyone else! But VoN said that the best… Man SCREW the Voice of Nothing, there has to be something! Something that doesn't normally appear on the Mushki's home world. Something that it is not prepared for.

Something that we…' He looked down at his hands again… and the spray in them.

"Nothing," he said with a deathly calm, "Does Ishtar have something like skunks? Something that sprays a foul smelling liquid?" {No. The storms of Ishtar strip away anything not intensely solid too quickly for such a survival plan to be viable.}"Would fart spray be disgusting to a Mushki?" {Depends. Some sprays are sulfur-based, and would be no different from getting a mouthful of air, but the one you hold uses butyric acid, and would be.}"Thank you," he said, and turned to face eight confused faces.

He'd have to explain later that VoN just responded to him sometimes, when it felt like it.

"Gary, slow down a bit, let the others catch up."

"What are you going to do?" Nicole asked, and he sighed.

"Probably die. I need to make it to the car at the back, clear out a space for me to run" he said, and pushed everyone off to the sides. They'd put the tallest cars at the front so it was easier to see into the distance, which was the only reason he could try this at all. His original car was, after all, quite large.

"Hey!" he shouted to the next one, getting their attention.

"Catch me!" Backing up as far as he could go, he got a running start and, steeling his will, leapt over the lip of the car. The ground raced below beneath him, wind whipped at his back, and for one weightless second, his stomach lurched as he could see he'd far overshot it. If nobody pulled him down, he'd fly right over the bed of the other car. Thankfully, he wasn't left to be.

Nosferians were the first to reach out and grab him with their much longer arms, changing his trajectory and slowing his momentum just enough that the other humans could pull him down as well. He made sure to keep his feather up and out of reach so as not to slice through anyone, and was quickly supported by the others, keeping him upright. He took a deep breath, releasing it quickly.

"Thanks." Despite how badly that'd almost turned out, he didn't hesitate to move to the back of this car as well "I'm coming across, catch me!" Repeating it, he didn't use quite as much force. He still overshot, but it was just a little bit, and there was a good chance the back wall of the bed would've caught him if the people hadn't. Better to overshoot than undershoot, because if he went over them, at least the people could still catch him.

Again and again, he made his way down the line, moving through the terrified people. It was at the eighth car when things finally took a turn for the worse. Rounding the corner, the Mushki pulled itself along the cave walls, releasing a thunderous pulse that shook him to his core. For a single uncountable second, he felt its attention pass over him, and he felt seen. It opened its mouth and released its call, staring straight at them despite having no eyes.

Then, it launched off the ground, sliding along the floor as it approached the last car in the line. Aaron wasted no more time, jumping towards the ninth. Though they weren't paying attention to him anymore, their bodies still broke his fall. They didn't even bother getting angry. He was about to jump to the tenth car as well, but the Mushki's claw swung out, clipping the back of it. Human and nosferian alike squealed as they almost spun out, but managed to keep straight.

Several realizations passed through his mind, too quickly to process them all fully. He needed to get close to its mouth; it wouldn't be enough to simply splash it over the Mushki, he had to get the spray in the Mushki's mouth, otherwise it would just close its mouth and rely on echolocation to kill them. It used its claws to swipe at prey, its head would come nowhere close to the car. If he jumped to the tenth car, he wouldn't get any time to prepare before…

"ROPE!" he screamed, breaking those around him out of their vacant stares.

"ROPE, IS THERE ROPE ON THIS CAR?" They scrambled to listen, one person saying "Here! Here!"

"Tie it to me, NOW! Like a harness around my chest and stomach!" They scrambled to do so, not even questioning why. He made sure it was double and triple knotted, and that he had enough slack but not too much, then handed the free part to the people.

"LISTEN TO ME! All of you hold on to this, do not let it go! I will be jumping off in a second, and if you do, you will leave me behind!"

"B-But that'll be suicide!" One of them called out.

"Even if we pull you back in afterwards, you'll get whiplash! You might break your neck!" He'd only get pulled with the same amount of force he leapt off the car plus whatever wind resistance there was, not a full forty miles per hour, but he didn't have time to explain inertia to someone, plus, it was still a fair concern.

"My Primary will keep me alive long enough for Nicole to save me." Holding his hand to forestall any arguments, he said "It doesn't matter. If I don't get this poison into that thing's mouth, we all die." The Mushki made another lunge for the car at the back, and he turned his attention back towards them once more. He'd made a promise. He told them that if they followed him, he would do everything to ensure that everyone lived. They'd trusted him. The least he could do was follow through.

The car was smashed off to the side, those riding it getting scattered through the air. The Mushki's tongue snaked out, spearing one of them through and pulling them into its gullet. It was clearly about to go for the rest, but Aaron had already taken in a lungful of air.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOOUUUUU!!!" He screamed as loudly as he could, standing on the edge of the car, hair whipping in the wind. He held his sword out, pointing directly at the Mushki. Even if it didn't understand his words… it knew he was challenging it. It stilled for a moment, as if in disbelief, then launched forward, forgetting the falling people and leaving them behind to slide down the rounded edges of the caves. The Mushki gained on them rapidly, proving it hadn't even been going at its top speed before.

Aaron moved to the front of the car, and stared it down. Even though this one was the lowest car in the procession, it was still high off the ground, at least giving him a mouth-level view of the Mushki's growing form. When it was just barely within range of its claws, at the point where Aaron had to fear it smashing their car, he unscrewed the caps to both of the sprays, got low, and took off. His foot hit the lip of the car, boosting him even further up.

The Mushki's mouth opened wide, greeting him with a chittering roar and endless rows of teeth.