Deathmatch (Completed!)

[Mewfour]

That's right, I'm still alive, and I still write stuff on the odd week out. My latest piece, the first in, what it's been, a year? Man, I've really fallen off the horse, huh?

For anyone unfamiliar with my works, most of them are intense, gory, and incredibly violent. This one is certainly no exception. So, lets get started, shall we?

**********
DEATHMATCH

Episode I - Activation

My eyes suddenly shot open. The air was thick and musty, and it only seemed to make the spinning inside my head worse as I groggily pulled my torso up to sit, feeling every muscle in my body ache. What the hell happened? I was driving home from a friend's place in the countryside and then- And then I'm here, sitting in this dark, dank, and stuffy room.

"Good morning, Earthling," a static, robotic voice suddenly rang out into the air. I was suddenly aware of a large metal band encasing my left forearm, mounted with a small speaker and what looked to be like a screen. "You have been chosen to participate in the 27th annual Deathmatch games," the voice from the speaker continued.

I was stunned, hardly believing any of this. "Chosen? Deathmatch? What the fuck-?"

"Attached to your arm is your official Overwatch monitoring band," the voice blared on. It must just be a recording. "Attempts to remove or tamper with the band will result in disqualification from the contest. Please pay attention to the screen located in the middle of your band." Not wanting to find out what 'disqualified' meant, I obediently studied the small screen as it flashed on. "The patented Deathmatch Monitoring System will allow you to track your progress though the duration of the contest, and provide essential information to your survival." My eyes were drawn to a crude human-like silhouette on the left hand side of the screen, with the number 50 beside it. "In addition to a map of the contest area, the number of combatants remaining, including yourself, are displayed for you. Should you eliminate all 49 contestants, or all 49 contestants being otherwise eliminated, you will be declared the winner of Deathmatch, and be rewarded with your freedom."

Oh God no. This was some sort of sick joke. Right?

"Please look to your left, and you will find equipment originating from your home planet."

I slowly craned my neck to the left, and my jaw dropped when I saw what was laying beside me. An Uzi, revolver, fire axe, and three grenades were clumped together in a neat pile, complete with straps and sheaths and everything. 'Originating from my home planet?' If those were 'from Earth,' where the hell was I now?

"Please put on your best performance for our sponsors. Good luck," were the last words from the speaker before the transmission it fizzled out.

My heart began to race. This can't be real, I kept telling myself over and over again, hoping that somehow I'd start to believe it. I'm no fighter- I'm no athlete- hell, the most physically taxing thing a guy like me has ever done was running. I'm not out of shape or anything (alright, maybe a little round around the edges), but still, what the fuck did these... these.... "Overwatch" assholes think I was? I don't think I've ever gotten into a fight in my life. Rolling over towards the weapons laid out for me, I picked up the Uzi with one hand, almost startled by it's surprising weight. The revolver wasn't much lighter compared to how small it looked either. Popping out the firing chamber, I saw six large bullets sitting cosily inside, with the number .44 engraved on the butts. A .44 Magnum. Those fuckers had given me a god damn .44 Magnum. I could barely even lift the thing comfortably, and I was horrified at how it would feel if I fired it. The Uzi didn't look much friendlier either.

Suddenly, I heard a noise coming from far away. Once the feeling of my heart leaping out of my chest had passed, I hurriedly gathered all of my weapons, strapped them on my body, and peeked out of the only doorway I could see. A large room stretched out before me, complete with crumbling walls and fallen rubble- like a bomb had hit the place, greeted me. Underneath the string of lights that still worked along the left-hand wall, I saw something that looked like a big box- maybe about as tall as I was (It was kind of hard to tell from this distance). There was some clinking coming from that box, or machine, or whatever the hell it was, and I squinted to get a better view of it. There was a hand- a blue hand, reached around to the face of the machine, doing something or other to it. Before I even knew what I was doing, I had raised my revolver in line with my eye and the hand on the machine, and pulled the trigger.

The force of the gunshot and the bang behind it shook my hands and ears violently. I winced, feeling like my right hand was broken or something. Above all that, I heard an agonized yelp, and saw a dark figure suddenly sprinting away from behind the machine. A flash of light suddenly shot from that figure and up at my perch, driving me back behind the wall. More of those shots rang out, each with a distinctive "thoom thoom" sound, as they battered the wall that was shielding me. "Oh shit," I whispered in between panicked breaths, "this is real!"

Once the barrage had stopped, I cautiously peeked out from the doorway, and looked around some more. Burnt splotches dotted the wall that had saved my life, still hot and smoking. What the hell was that thing that the.... thing... was firing at me, some kind of.... shit I don't know- laser beam? Whoever that was seemed to have bolted, and the room was left in an eerie silence. Gathering what was left of my courage, I ventured out into the open, scurrying along the wall like a scared rat, down to the box-like machine that creature was hiding behind. Steadily creeping up to it, I saw the large bullet-hole I had put into it, with something that looked like blood lined around the jagged edges. I peeked around the front of the machine, and saw that it had a large glass window on it, with something that looked like a keypad on the side. "The hell is this, a vending machine?" I asked myself (a bad habit I've never been able to kick), studying the insides of the machine more closely. There were rows of.... stuff lined inside, so I guessed it was a vending machine of some kind. Something suddenly caught my eye on the floor- a small circular object- like a coin, lying at my feet. Picking it up, I looked at the key panel of the machine. Something that looked like an LCD display of a circle divided into quarters was the first thing I noticed, with the last quarter unlit. My eyes wandered further to the left, and I saw a thin trail of blood drops, leading away from the machine and out though another door nearby. With the coin in my hand, I briefly glanced at the machine again, and the gears in my head began their work.

-

Following the trail of blood, I stopped when I began to hear slightly agonized breathing in the next room the trail led to. Taking a deep breath, I dropped my revolver into its holster on my hip, held both hands up in front of me, and boldly walked into the room with a "Hey."

The creature sitting on the floor inside jolted with shock, hastily whipping out and pointing a gun-like object at me. Briefly glancing at the alien creature with an oddly female human form, I saw her right hand, heavily bandaged, resting limp in her lap. She glared at me with two piercing silver eyes and a scowl. Then a slight look of confusion set in, probably wondering why I had put away my weapons. After a brief but intense silence, she said, "What the hell are you doing?" I was surprised that she both spoke and understood English. Why? Hell if I know. She just did, and that was good enough for me for now.

Without a word, I slowly reached into my pocket, careful not to startle her undoubtedly itchy trigger finger. I pulled out something I had bought with that coin from the vending machine, and gently lobbed it into her lap. Her jaw dropped, and her eyes gazed at the snack I had given her. Taking another deep breath to soothe my already shot nerves, I said, "Let's make a deal."

She looked back up at me, still keeping her gun trained on my face. "What kind of deal?" she snarled, still unsure of my intentions.

I glanced briefly down her arm, and saw that she too sported a metal band like mine. "How about we team up?" I asked.

"Team up?" She snarled back.

"Yeah," I said. "You and me. We watch each other's backs, keep each other alive. If we work together, we'd stand a better chance of coming out of this in one piece, don't you think?"

She snorted. "And when it's down to just us?"

I swallowed a lump in my throat. "When it's just you and me, we can fight it out then. But for now, how about it?"

She paused, mulling my proposal over. Finally, she sighed in defeat, and lowered her gun. I breathed a heavy, silent sigh of relief. This blue-skinned alien lady had a slim but defined build to her- she probably had a better idea of how to fight than I did. Tearing into the package I had given her, she took out a bar of.... whatever the hell it was, and took a bite out of it. "This doesn't mean I trust you," she muttered.

"The feeling's mutual," I said, not wanting to look weak.

After finishing off the bar quickly, she took out the last bar from the package and was about to bite into it when she paused, and turned to me. "Hungry?" she asked.

I was suddenly aware of the empty pit in my stomach. "I'll survive," I said, wanting to do everything I could to earn her trust.

I had to move quickly to catch the bar being thrown in my face. "If we're going to work together, I don't want you dying on me."

"Thanks, I think," I muttered, uneasily starting to nibble at the bar. It was actually pretty good- though I couldn't even begin to describe the weird taste. It didn't feel like it was killing me (and she wolfed down hers easily enough), so I found the guts to stomach it all. "So, how's your hand?" I asked.

She shrugged. "Cut it on the hole your gun left on the machine," she said. "Nothing serious, but I don't think I'll be able to hold a gun right with it until it heals."

"You're right-handed?"

She nodded. "You wouldn't mind doing most of the shooting for awhile?"

I shrugged. "I guess I have to."

Her expression suddenly soured. "Do you even know how to use a gun right?" She asked.

Well, I had fired that Magnum pretty well on my own, but my right hand was still tingling from the kickback. "Do you know much about Earth guns?" I asked.

"Earth?" She asked, "Is that the name of your planet?"

Ah well. I figured it was worth a shot. "Yeah," I said. "That round I fired off at you? My first time using a gun."

She groaned and rolled her eyes, running her fingers though her slicked back fiery red hair. "Think you can do it again?"

"Sure, I guess."

"Good enough. For now," she said. "My name's Mylan."

Mylan, huh? At least it was easy to pronounce. This lady sure didn't look like the type you'd want to piss off. "Mine's-"

My introduction was suddenly cut short by a steady creak echoing through the building. "Ohhhhhh shit!" Mylan hissed, her pointy elf-like ears perking up.

"What?" I gasped, bolting to my feet.

"The place is going to come down after all!" she yelled, leaping to her feet, grabbing me by the hand, and pulling me along with her out of the room. I didn't bother to think of where she was leading me, I only struggled to keep up with her. Jerking me though a corridor, we were suddenly blinded by the light coming from outside, and with tightly shut eyes, we made it outside as I heard (and felt!) a mighty roar of collapsing building behind us. Opening my eyes again, I was shocked to see the alien world outside.

It looked almost like Earth- except for the reddish ground and hazy sky. More big buildings that look like a blast had ripped them apart were in no shortage, absolutely nothing that looked remotely like vegetation was to be seen anywhere. "Where the hell is this?" I wondered aloud.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Mylan muttered. "I've been to a few planets in my life, but nothing like this."

I breathed another uneasy, silent sigh of relief. I really got a winner, didn't I?

Mylan muttered in frustration. "The one fucking building that looked like it would hold up-" she cursed. She sighed quietly, and placed her hands on the numerous alien weapons strapped on her hips. "At least I got all my stuff out."

"Hey, we even got a snack out of it too," I said, trying to lighten the mood.

Mylan snorted, grinning ever so slightly.

"So," I asked, "Where to?"

Mylan paused, and looked around the wasteland before us. "Shelter. Anything, anywhere," she said, picking a direction and walking forward.

Still shaking, I blindly followed.

[PancaKe]

You know, out of all the time I've seen you around, I think I've only really read the first two chapters of PADS, and that's it. Mind you, I've read those several times though :-)

But yeah, onto this now.

I liked it. You had enough description to not be telling me the story, and it moved quick enough so I didn't get lost in the words. I really like the pace of this, its fast and interesting :-) Yeah. Either way, I'm intrigued to see what happens next so, good job

Hopefuly other people come and check this out too cos it deserves more readers than just me!

[Mewfour]

^^ thanks a bunch, good to see I'm doing something right

I'm going to update this soon. I swear.

[Mewfour]

I said there'd be a new chapter, and here it is. You didn't believe me, did you?

DID YOU?

SEE WHAT YOUR LACK OF FAITH HAS WROUGHT </breakdown>

Episode II- First Contact

"That's a weird name," said Mylan as we trudged through the reddish wasteland.

"Yeah well, 'Mylan' really isn't all that popular on my planet," I said in my defence.

Though we walked side by side, I couldn't keep my eyes off of Mylan. I was twitching and trembling like crazy- completely paranoid, and she... she didn't look the least bit bothered. Whereas my hands were clenched like fists around my SMG and magnum, hers hung lazily off of her hips- as if she didn't even care that there were forty-eight other aliens on this shithole of a planet gunning for us. Though, I couldn't help but notice something playing on her face. Like she was getting annoyed with something, and I had a pretty good idea what.

"Where are you from, anyway?" I asked, trying to control my jittering.

Mylan only snorted. "What does it matter to you?" She asked as we passed the remains of something that looked like it was once a house.

"Well, if we're going to work together, shouldn't we at leas-"

Suddenly, Mylan's hand flew to my collar, pulling me face-first onto the ground. "Get down!" She ordered, well after I had broken my nose.

"What the hell was that for?" I moaned as she sidled up against a makeshift junk fence that lined the perimeter of the yard around the house.

"Quiet!" Mylan hissed. Then, after a brief silence, she flicked her eyes upward. "See that?"

I looked, but saw nothing but sky. "See what?"

Mylan groaned, took a handful of dirt from the ground, and gave it a short lob up into the air. "Look harder."

I squinted my eyes, and suddenly spotted a thin red line, barely visible only due to the dust in the air. "What is that?" I asked. I knew it was a laser beam, but I was hoping to hear something other than what I thought it belonged to.

"Sniper," Mylan growled, prepping the alien rifle that was strapped on her back.

Ah, fuck.

Slithering up against the fence beside her, I asked, "So what do we do now?"

Mylan's head bowed a little, and I could hear the gears in her head spinning away. Finally, she pointed to my chest and asked, "What are those, exactly?"

"These?" I asked, putting a hand on one of my grenades. "These are grenades. You throw them and they explode."

Mylan rolled her eyes at me, as if I had just told her something incredibly obvious.

"Well uh, what's the plan?" I asked sheepishly.

"Your shirt," she said. "I need it."

"My shirt?"

Mylan glared at me, making it clear she wasn't going to repeat herself. Hastily I writhed out of my white T-shirt, where she snatched it out of my hands, and wrapped it around the barrel of her rifle. "How good are you with those?" she asked, looking at my grenades.

"I... I don't know." I said. "I guess it's just as easy as pulling the pin and throwing them, right?"

Mylan sighed. "Alright, I'll create a distraction down there," she said, briefly looking to her right. "When he takes the bait, throw one in the window. Think you can handle that?"

"I guess I'll have to."

"First floor, second window from the left," she said before lying down and dragging herself along the ground.

I held the grenade tightly against my chest, surprised that I could loop my finger around the pin with the amount of twitching I was doing. Once Mylan was a fair distance away, she sat up again, held her rifle by the butt, and waved it high up into the air.

A loud bang suddenly ripped through the air, nearly shredding my shirt. Before I knew it, I was already on my feet with the pin pulled, arm wound back, and with a roar I threw the grenade with all the power I could put behind it. The grenade clipped the edge of the windowsill before tipping inside, followed a second later by a blinding flash and a deafening blast- so fierce that it knocked me back on my ass.

As Mylan unravelled what was left of my shirt from her rifle, I hurriedly scurried up beside her. "Did you get it in?" she asked.

"Yeah," I murmured weakly, still shaken from the blast.

"Good. Take your guns and check it out."

My heart nearly stopped. "M-me?" I stammered.

"Yes, you."

"H-how-? I- don't even-"

"Look, he's probably been wasted by the 'nade. If he isn't, he's in no condition to fight. But even if he is," said Mylan, turning around and leaning her rifle over the top of the fence, "I'll cover you."

Mylan peered through the scope mounted on her rifle, keeping a steady bead on the hollowed-out house. "You sure you can fire that with your hand still hurt?" I asked.

"Stop worrying about me and just get in there," she said, not moving a single muscle.

Taking a deep breath in a futile effort to calm my nerves, I vaulted over the fence. Fumbling with the safety lever on the Uzi, I crept up to what was left of the wall, peeking around inside. Nothing moved, except for rumbling debris. Climbing into the house, I let my Uzi point the way as I ventured into the middle of the wide-open room. Just as I had let my guard down, I heard a rumbling come from behind me. In the corner of the room there was a bloodied humanoid creature, slumped up against the wall, raising some kind of gun to me. I didn't have to think twice to spin around and pull the trigger, unloading an entire clip into his chest as the Uzi screamed with along with me. Even as it went clicking in my hands, I still kept the trigger locked down, staring at what was now a barely recognizable heap of profusely bleeding flesh in front of me.

A hand on my shoulder made me spin around, lashing my arm out. A pair of blue arms caught me, and I was face-to-face with Mylan. "You okay?" she asked.

I took a deep breath, and looked back at the mangled corpse in the corner. "I- I think..."

"Good," said Mylan, releasing me and heading towards the mutilated alien. She began searching though his clothes, complete with all the squishy sounds you'd expect, seriously making my vision haze and my head spin.

I collapsed into what remained of a chair on the other side of the room, turning my back on Mylan and hunching over, trying to regain my senses. "What are you looking for anyway?" I asked.

"Anything," Mylan replied. "Ammo, weapons, anything he won't be using anymore."

I shuddered, thankful at least that it was him instead of me. "And?"

Mylan muttered and shook her head. "Nothing. The battery on his gun didn't even have any charge left." Then, looking at the rifle lying on the other side of the room, she said, "And that's looking pretty busted up too."

Suddenly, the bands on our forearms began to beep. Looking at the screen, I saw that what was once a forty-nine was now a forty-eight. Mylan had glanced at hers too, and said with complete calm, "One down."

I had finally had enough. "How can you be so calm?" I asked, completely bewildered.

Mylan shrugged. "Why panic?" she asked, strolling to another chair beside me and taking a seat. "Nothing good ever happens when you panic."

"B-but still," I stammered.

Mylan sighed quietly. "I used to be like you," she muttered, "when I first started out."

"Started out?" I asked, "started what?"

"I'm a mercenary," she said. "I have been for quite a long time."

Fighting and killing for a living? Well, that explains a whole lot.

She patted her hand on my shoulder. "You'll get used to this quickly. Trust me."

With that, she rose, and tossed my shirt back at me. "Where are you going?" I asked, following her out of the room with my eyes.

"Somewhere to sleep," she said, "but we can't stay here long."

As Mylan set foot on a set of stairs, I looked outside and gazed at the sky, a fiery red slowly being taken over by a deep blue haze. Swallowing the lump in my throat, I rose wearily and followed behind her.

[Mewfour]

So, what does everyone think of the Participant not being given a name? I know some stories/movies don't name their main characters (ie: Fight Club), and I wanna know if I'm doing it right so far.

[Gavin Luper]

So, what does everyone think of the Participant not being given a name? I know some stories/movies don't name their main characters (ie: Fight Club), and I wanna know if I'm doing it right so far.

Okay, I'm half asleep and haven't read it in depth, but I think you're doing fine with it so far. I think the not-naming thing can work really well if you're going for a particular angle with it. Is there a deeper significance to the technique or are you just generally experimenting with not naming the character?

In any case, it reads fine without a name being attached.

Also, have you read "Contest" by Matthew Reilly? The theme of this fic reminds me a lot of that book, though I haven't actually read it, just been told about it. Was it inspiration?

[Mewfour]

Okay, I'm half asleep and haven't read it in depth, but I think you're doing fine with it so far. I think the not-naming thing can work really well if you're going for a particular angle with it. Is there a deeper significance to the technique or are you just generally experimenting with not naming the character?

I kept him nameless because the selection for "contestants" in the Deathmatch would appear to be random. The Participant could have been anyone.

Also, have you read "Contest" by Matthew Reilly? The theme of this fic reminds me a lot of that book, though I haven't actually read it, just been told about it. Was it inspiration?

Haven't read it either (haven't heard of it either lol). Believe it or not, the first chapter of Deathmatch is based off of the only part that I remember of the absolutely weirdest dream I think I've ever had, (and that's saying a lot). That and I play way too much TF2 these days.

et voila, new story

[Gavin Luper]

I kept him nameless because the selection for "contestants" in the Deathmatch would appear to be random. The Participant could have been anyone.

Okay, then it certainly works; for me, anyway.

Haven't read it either (haven't heard of it either lol). Believe it or not, the first chapter of Deathmatch is based off of the only part that I remember of the absolutely weirdest dream I think I've ever had, (and that's saying a lot). That and I play way too much TF2 these days.

et voila, new story

That sounds like it must've been a very freaky dream indeed. I love having weird dreams that inspire me, but I find I never remember my dreams when I don't get enough sleep. It's like I need a good 7-8 hours sleep before I can have a really vivid dream. I'm sure there's a scientific reason behind it. And now I'm completely rambling ... my bad. ^_^

Keep it up, dude.

PS. What is this TF2 you speak of?

[Mewfour]

PS. What is this TF2 you speak of?

Only the best multiplayer PC game ever

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7ozG-YNLNg (old trailer from when it was still in development but still gets the awesomeness across)

[Gavin Luper]

Only the best multiplayer PC game ever

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7ozG-YNLNg (old trailer from when it was still in development but still gets the awesomeness across)

I DO know it after all! I mean, I've never played it, but I think I had a brief conversation with Blade in Misc about the Sniper in that game being an Aussie or summat.

Looks like a good game for pacifists. Hehehe ... I'm not much of a gamer. Can see how TF2 would be addictive though, man.

[PancaKe]

YAY I finally read the other chapter. Partially cos I was pretty lazy the last month, partially cos I only just noticed it was up.

I enjoyed it. It was shortish, but sweet. I was in the moment the entire way through. I love the use of short sentences, and I could feel the fear that "protagonist" was feeling. I wish he had a name, just so I knew what to call him!

Can we call him Jimbo?

[Gavin Luper]

YAY I finally read the other chapter. Partially cos I was pretty lazy the last month, partially cos I only just noticed it was up.

I enjoyed it. It was shortish, but sweet. I was in the moment the entire way through. I love the use of short sentences, and I could feel the fear that "protagonist" was feeling. I wish he had a name, just so I knew what to call him!

Can we call him Jimbo?

Hahaha. I like that. Maybe we could call everyone Jimbo. I would find that amusing for some weird reason.

[PancaKe]

Maybe he doesn't have to have a name, but for our sake we can call him jimbo. sounds like a plan!

[Mewfour]

Fine, call him Jimbo if you want. I shall observe silently with contempt.

[burakkichu]

I'm enjoying this. Just started reading out of curiosity and was sucked right in. How did I get sucked right in? Maybe because of the rather appealing action-adventure elements: tough (and presumably beautiful) girl, scaredy inexperienced guy, people thrown unwillingly into a "contest" situation (which at first brought to my mind the anime show Eden of the East, though this is actually more akin to Gantz), even a slight hint of a flirtatious spark between the two with the whole taking off the shirt bit. Okay, so perhaps you didn't intend that last one to be taken that way. Maybe I just read too much romantic manga, heh. Anyway, keep going!

[Mewfour]

College. Free time. Pick one.

Even with a lengthy break, this is all I managed to get written out. Enjoy.

Episode III - Juggernaut

I didn't think I would ever be able to sleep, but I somehow found myself turning over and sitting up on the floor the next morning, in the same ravaged remains of the same house. Looking around as the sunlight from the punctured roof reflected off the floating dust, I was surprised to find Mylan nowhere in sight. I wanted to call out her name, but something held me back. Was she still here? Was there anyone else looking to kill us around? I glanced at the band around my wrist, and found the number was down to a thirty-five. Thirty-five! At this rate, I didn't think I'd ever see another sunrise, so I made a note to take in one last glimpse of the blindingly bright alien sun peeking up over the horizon before strapping my weapons back on me, drawing the revolver, and venturing downstairs. As soon as I set foot on the ground floor, I heard something coming from what looked like a kitchen to my right. Sliding up against the wall beside the door frame, I took a deep breath before spinning in, shoving the barrel of my revolver out.

Something suddenly poked me in the side of the head. I flicked my eyes over to my right to see Mylan's gun pressed against my head. "Amateur," she muttered.

"How did you know?" I asked, sure that I hadn't made a sound along the way.

Mylan shrugged, and dropped her gun back into the holster on her hip. "Sixth sense," she said. "Do this long enough, and you just sort of know." I decided not to ask how long that took. I looked into the corner of the room, and saw the shredded remains of our assailant from yesterday, with a tattered sheet draped over his- her, its, whatever it was- corpse. Noticing where my eyes were, Mylan said, "No wildlife came for an easy meal in the night. This planet's completely barren."

Come to think of it, I hadn't seen anything resembling vegetation of any kind since I found myself in this nightmare, the closest thing being trees that looked like they had been dead for years. "What are we going to do for food?" I asked. The pit in my stomach was growing still, yet Mylan seemed fine.

Mylan only turned to a trunk that say against the nearest wall, and opened the lid. In it were a few packages of.... something. "Right here," she said. "Looks like someone wants us to keep on going."

"Overwatch," I muttered to myself, sorting through the boxes and bags in the trunk. Gingerly picking one of them out, I tore into it and shook out the bars inside. I grimaced. "These again?"

"Same thing in all of them," said Mylan. "Cheap, but looks like it's affordable."

"Affordable?"

"Yeah, if you're going to run something like Deathmatch every year."

I suddenly got that sinking feeling. "You got the same message to, huh?" I asked. Mylan gave me a short nod. "Why would anyone want to put on something like this?"

Mylan shrugged. "Don't know, don't really care," she said. "I'm only focused on getting off this rock right now. So should you."

It was that kind of brutal honesty from Mylan that somehow put me at ease. Even if it were one of my closest friends from Earth here with me instead of her, I wouldn't be feeling as secure as I am now. As we left the ruined house and continued east, I began thinking ahead, wondering if, or when, we'd finally have to turn on each other.

After an hour of walking, we were suddenly stopped by a faint popping noise echoing through the air. "What was that?" I asked, looking around.

"I'm not sure," Mylan muttered, pulling her rifle off of her back. "Get behind that rock there," she said, pointing to a large boulder lodged in the ground beside us.

As soon as we were covered, Mylan peered through the scope of her rifle and began to look around. "Now, where is it coming from?" Mylan quietly whispered to herself, muttering under her breath as she searched around. "Ah, there you are!"

"What is it?" I asked.

Mylan moved her head away from the scope and said, "Take a look."

I shifted over, and looked through the lens. There I saw another alien, humanoid with green skin, in the midst of a thicket. "Is he... chopping down trees?" I asked, bewildered.

"Looks like it," said Mylan.

"Why here? Why out in the open?" I asked.

Mylan paused, thinking her way to an answer. "Bait," she said.

"Bait?"

"Building a campfire, then hiding in the trees waiting for someone to come check it out," she said. "Or, he could be just as clueless as you are."

"Wow, thanks," I said, deciding to accept what would probably be the closest thing to a compliment I'd ever get out of her.

"Well, you're not going to get a better chance than now," she said, handing the rifle to me.

"W-what, me?" I stammered.

Mylan raised her bandaged hand to me. "One shot is all we're going to get. I can't aim that far away with this."

"But, I don't know how to snipe," I said.

"Alright, I'll show you," she said, looking back at the path. "Get on your stomach over there."

Quickly and quietly, I slithered back onto the path and got down on my chest, trying to get comfortable with the rifle butt grinding into my shoulder. "Alright," I said, "now what?"

Mylan was suddenly over me, draping herself over my back so her head was next to mine. "Now, can you see him without the scope?" She asked.

I squinted into the distance, and quickly picked out the green alien from within the trees. "Yeah."

"Line him up with the barrel. Got him? Alright, now look through the scope." As I peered through the scope again, Mylan shifted her weight on me so she could her head even close to mine. "Now, take a deep breath. Stretch your lungs out." As I inhaled, so did she. "Now, just relax and concentrate."

It was getting a little hard to concentrate. "Okay, I've got him in the crosshairs," I said. "Now?"

"Not yet, no," she said. "Wait for a while. Watch how he moves. Start thinking two step ahead of him. Know where he's going to be and what he's going to do next. Get a feel for him. Breathe with him. Become him." Mylan paused briefly. "Feel anything yet?"

I was definitely feeling something, and it was starting to hurt. "I've got him." I said, "I know I do."

I could feel Mylan tremble. I could feel that she wanted me to take the shot, but was finding it hard to throw her trust in me completely. Finally, after a uneasy sigh, she said, "Now breathe out and light him up."

I pulled the trigger, and felt the rifle jolt violently against my arm as a loud bang tore through the air. "Did I get him?" I asked.

Mylan glanced at her band. "Thirty-four," she said. "He's done."

I looked through the scope again, and saw what was now the headless remains of a green alien. "Shit..." was the only thing I could manage to murmur at the second life I had taken.

"Well, let's keep going," said Mylan, getting off me and standing up again. I kept on the ground. "You okay?" She asked.

"Yeah," I said, "Just... give me a moment."

"Blood rush?"

".... You could say that."

-

He looked around the bunker he had just wandered into, wondering if he would find someone more entertaining than his last. His gigantic minigun he carried with him was becoming tiresome, so he decided to leave it at the door. The dark dugout was filled with heavy, damp air, lit only by a few hanging lights, the floor creaking under his massive frame. Venturing further into the bunker, he glanced at the band on his arm. "Thirty-three now," he thought to himself, "I'm falling behind."

A sudden click from behind him stopped him in his tracks. He looked behind him to see another humanoid pointing a weapon at him. From the shadows on his left and right came two more, each armed. "More teamwork," he said, amused. "Perhaps I've been wrong about these lesser beings."

A bang echoed through the air, and a bullet tore into his back. Bearing only a wince, he turned and charged at the alien who had shot him, wrapping his gigantic hands across the face as the other two showered him with gunfire. His living shield was shredded in seconds, long enough for him to charge forward into the alien closest to him, ramming both into a wall with a bone-crushing thud. Turning to the last alien, he began a slow march, flexing his massive right arm to reveal what looked like a chainsaw blade mounted on his forearm, roaring to life. Panicked, the last alien emptied his gun, almost to no effect. It was not long before the massive creature had palmed the alien's face in one hand, and drove the chainsaw through his chest.

As blood and mangled flesh painted his chest and face, he smiled. It was going to be an amusing contest after all.

[Mewfour]

Batten down the hatches, kids. It's time for an update.

Almost two and a half years without a new chapter? pfffffffft, at least I'm doing better than Valve with Episode 3. Take THAT, Gaben!

Episode IV- Crusader

As my senses returned to me, I felt something was different. Instead of the cold, hard ground I had went to sleep on, I was wrapped up in something warm and soft. I opened my eyes and rubbed out the sleep to find myself lying in my own bed again. "This is my room," I thought to myself, "I'm back home!"

I lumbered out of bed and into the bathroom, leaning over the counter and into the mirror. It was the same face staring back at me, my dark hair in a curly mess all over my head. I really was back home, but how? Where was I taken away to? And what happened to Mylan? Suddenly, I felt something nudge against my side. I looked down and saw nothing, just as another invisible force prodded into me, harder than before.

My eyes opened again. There was Mylan, standing over me with her foot wound behind her, like she was ready to kick a field goal with my ribs. I pulled my arm down just in time to block her, her shin ramming into my forearm instead. "Ow! What are you-?"

"You idiot!" She roared. Looking up at her face, I saw nothing but pure rage. "How long have you been sleeping for?"

Instead of waking up in my own cozy bed again, I was staring down an angry alien mercenary. We were supposed to take turns sleeping. I'd sleep for half the night while she stood watch, then swap roles until morning. I had dropped the ball, and Mylan looked like she was going to use my head as one.

I hobbled up to my feet, cradling my right arm. "Sleeping? I-I wasn't-!"

She took a lunging step forward at me, and I jumped back even quicker. "Liar!" She snarled, grinding her teeth. "We could have had our throats cut open!"

"I-I know," I stammered.

She lunged at me again, reaching for my collar. I leaned backwards and caught her by the wrist. Before I knew it, she had wrenched me down to my knees by my arm, twisted up in the air in excruciating pain. "You stupid, worthless, idiot!" She growled, putting her boot on the back of my head, pressing my forehead into the dirt.

"Look, I'm sorry," I winced, struggling in vain, "I didn't mean to!"

She jerked my arm forward, and I yelped in agony. "You're still a moron," she said. "It doesn't matter if you're sorry, you can't be trusted."

I froze. My breathing became shallow and my heart started pounding away in my chest.

"I should have just killed you when I had the chance."

That was when I took a serious look around me. Even if I could break free of Mylan's foot off my head and the hold she had on my arm, I couldn't feel my weapons on me. There was no way I could fight her with my bare hands- she was probably breaking necks while I was still in high school. As much as it scared the shit out of me, I had to admit it. I was completely at her mercy. "Then why don't you?" I breathed, bracing myself for the worst.

Mylan paused. Looking up at her from the corner of my eye, I saw an unmistakeable look of uncertainty in her eyes.

"If you're really going to do it, then do it!" I squeezed my eyes shut and held my breath, with nothing but hope left keeping my heart beating. For now.

I suddenly felt Mylan lift her foot off of my head, and her grip around my arm release. I let out a loud gasp, taking in all the air I could. Standing on my knees, I groaned and held my shoulder, pain still biting deep into me. "Your weapons are over there," She said, looking to my right. "Pull yourself together and let's move."

I scrambled to strap my weapons on me as Mylan walked away, not wanting to piss her off any more by falling behind. "Mylan?" I asked, jogging up to her side.

"What?" She muttered.

"Why didn't you?"

Mylan let out a barely audible sigh. "We made a deal, didn't we?"

I didn't buy it. "You didn't have to. You really were going to kill me, weren't you? What really stopped you?"

"I said, we made a deal," She said, almost hissing.

"And you're keeping it? For me?" I asked incredulously.

"Not you."

I was at a loss for words.

"Enough talking. Shut up and focus."

*******

A few hours later, we came to another building that looked like it had been bombed out and abandoned for ages. Mylan sidled up to the entrance, motioning for me to stay behind her. "We're checking this place out," she said, taking her rifle from off of her back.

My stomach quietly growled. I could tell that Mylan was feeling the same empty pit inside her as I was. "You think they'd stash that crap in here too?" I asked, not exactly looking forward to the only food our "hosts" had been leaving for us.

"Only one way to find out," She said, "Follow me."

Slowly, we made our way through the hallways of the building. Things were so decrepit and in disrepair it was impossible to tell what this place once was. Light from the gaps and cracks in the ceiling dimly lit our surroundings- just enough to see our way around, and just enough shadows for something to hide in. Finally, after what seemed like hours, we came into a large and spacious room, with another trunk pushed up against the far wall across from us. With weapons still drawn, we crept over to it, and pushed open the lid.

"Empty?" Mylan muttered.

I looked at the piles of wrappers left inside. "Someone's got a big appetite," I said. "And a cast-iron stomach."

Mylan's ears suddenly perked up. "Move!" She yelled, pushing me to the right as she dived left. A deafening explosion erupted in front of us against the wall, shaking me to my bones as dust and debris rained down. By the time I had cleared the ringing in m head, Mylan was already back on her feet, firing a volley of energy bursts from her pistol into the shadows. "Where the fuck did that come from?" She growled to herself, cautiously walking to the middle of the room.

A loud roar suddenly pierced the air, and all I saw was a gigantic shadow charge out from the darkness at Mylan from her side. Without the time to even gasp in surprise, The huge figure took a swing at Mylan's face, flooring her in an instant. Fumbling with my Uzi, I let out a spray of gunfire at the monster as it came rampaging towards me. My entire clip seemed to have no effect on this beast, and with inches to spare I leapt out of the way as it came crashing into the wall behind me. Dropping my emptied Uzi, I drew my revolver as I backed up towards Mylan, still lying motionless on the floor. She was still alive, but was knocked out cold. Keeping my revolver trained on the monster, I watched with shallow breath as it emerged from the darkness.

Greyish-blue skin was the first thing I noticed about this monster, holding what looked like an enormous club made out of some other monster's spine and some bindings. Fur pelts adorned this hulking alien, and what they didn't conceal revealed a body that looked harder than the rock it was chiselled out of. "You, little man!" The alien bellowed, "You and the woman are a gift to me from Celinus!"

"Celinus?" I murmured. "Who's Celinus?"

The alien roared. "Celinus! By his incredible might, he is the one who shapes the universe to his will! By his divine arrows, he chooses what fate befalls all creatures who dwell beneath his feet!"

Oh, so this guy was one of those types.

"By his illuminating white robes, he guides those in the darkness to glory!" He paused to point at me. "I am Jahood! Sworn servant of his holiness Celinus! And you, little man, are to be a fresh sacrifice!"

I had heard enough. Aiming high, I lined up my revolver with this nutjob's face and pulled the trigger. The bullet sunk deep into his body, and to my surprise, he only laughed.

"Yes, yes! Struggle and fight!" He cheered, taking slow steps forward, gripping his spine-club intently. "Come! Let us put on a show for Celinus! His holiness has placed me here on this world, with insects who defy him to be crushed!"

I only managed to get one more wide shot off before he charged again. Ducking low, I narrowly dodged a swing from his club. Grabbing my axe from its tether on my waist, I wound back and swung, burying it into his stomach. Instead of showing so much as a flicker of pain, he swatted me aside like I was nothing. As I hit the floor on my back, my vision was such a muddy blur that I could only make out Jahood's face looming over mine. As I moved to roll out of the way, Jahood put his foot down on my right arm, pinning me in place. With a cruel smile on his face, he knelt down and waved his club in front of my eyes. Only then did I notice something sharp on the end- something like a knife jammed into the vertebrae and fastened with straps. Holding it like a pencil, Jahood slowly lowered the point onto my arm. I squirmed and struggled as hard as I could, but this massive alien was too much. Watching in horror, I held my breath as I saw the blade dig into my skin. I grit my teeth and squeezed my eyes shut as he slowly dragged it across my arm

"Scream," Jahood said, a sadistic smile still stretched across his face. When I turned my head away, he bellowed again, "Scream!"

The blade was suddenly jerked inside of me, and I lost all control. I screamed the loudest I had ever screamed, writhing as the knife continued to twist in me.

Suddenly, I felt Jahood let go of the club, letting it fall out of my arm and clatter against the floor. Looking up through squinted eyes, I saw Mylan with the butt of her rifle against Jahood's neck, with Jahood's stunned and blank expression. Mylan wound her rifle back into the air again. Jahood batted her away as effortlessly as he did me, letting his foot slip off of my arm. Scrambling to my feet, I scurried away along the floor, holding my gushing arm tightly. Looking back at Mylan, I saw that Jahood had her pinned against the wall by her neck, and was ready to crush it like a twig.

I can't explain what went though me, but all of a sudden I found myself rushing at Jahood, holding my arm together and all, and ramming with all the strength I had left into him with my shoulder. He stayed standing, of course, and I spilled onto the floor. He looked back and snarled at me, which I saw was just enough of a distraction for Mylan to pull a knife into the air, and sink it onto Jahood's arm. Jahood roared, and the scent of burning flesh suddenly filled the air. Jahood flung Mylan to the ground, ripping the knife out of his arm as well. With my wounded arm pressed against my chest, I picked up my axe again, and as Jahood turned to Mylan, I sunk the blade into the back of his shoulders. Pulling it out again as Jahood turned, seemingly unaffected, I staggered backwards against the wall, my entire body trembling. As Jahood lumbered towards me, I heard three pops in the air. Suddenly between Jahood and I was a clear, sticky glob of... something... with a small blinking light in it.

"Run!"

Mylan's piercing scream willed my legs to move again, sending me bolting past Jahood as he clumsily failed to catch me. Mylan was back in the hall we had come out of, waving frantically at me. Diving across the threshold, Mylan threw herself on top of me, and I heard a faint click.

The entire building suddenly shook, followed by a rumble and a terrific crash all around. Once everything fell silent and still again, Mylan got off of me, and I rolled over onto my back. The room we were once in was now completely caved in, loose dust clouds slowly beginning to settle in front of the blocked doorway. "What the fuck was that?" I panted, trying in vain to get a grip on my breathing.

Mylan held up her arms. She held some kind of weapon that looked like a tube with hand grips and a tommy gun drum. "Glob bombs," she said. "Sticks to walls, ceilings, anything. The concussive force from hitting something shatters the outer casing, and arms the bombs. This switch here," she said, turning the weapon on it's side, "detonates any active glob within a few meters."

I stared in disbelief. "Uh, yeah, that's great," I said. "Have you seen my arm?" I yelled.

Mylan looked down at my arm, still pressed into my chest, and turning my grey T-shirt red at an alarming pace. "Oh come on, it can't be that bad," she said, gently putting her hands around my arm. Slowly taking it away from my chest, she suddenly shoved it back into me. "Okay, yeah. It's bad." Mylan stood up. "Can you walk?"

I pushed myself up against the wall, and struggled to lift my legs. I was shaking so much I could hear my teeth chatter. "No," I murmured weakly. Mylan looked up and stood, heading down the hall. "Hey! Where are you going?" I yelled desperately.

"I'll be back," she said as she disappeared.

The pit in my stomach began to swallow up my lungs. As a steady shiver began to overtake me, I curled my knees into me and put my head down. "She's not coming back," I muttered to myself. She had said she wouldn't kill me. This was going to be her way of letting her problem take care of itself. I bit my lip and tried to take my mind off of the incredible pain ripping through my arm. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I said my goodbyes to my family and friends in my head.

So this was it. This is how I die.

A hand suddenly placed itself on my shoulder. I lifted my head. If I had the strength to I would have gasped. Mylan was back, and she held a kit of some kind in her hand. "Lemme see your arm," she said, opening up the kit and taking a bunch of supplies out. Gingerly I let Mylan take my arm. As she held my arm together, I saw her raise a needle and dip it into my skin. "This is going to hurt. A lot. You ready?"

"I'd better be."

Minutes seemed like hours as Mylan stitched my arm together, finishing off with a bandage that mummified my whole forearm. When it was all over, I let out the biggest sigh of relief in my life. "Thanks," I finally managed to murmur.

"Don't worry about it," said Mylan, sitting up against the wall next to me. "You know, you're a lot tougher than you look," she said.

I smiled. "You're a lot nicer than you look."

"Don't get used to it."

[Gavin Luper]

Go Jimbo! Hehehe ...

Nice chapter. Love the protagonist's internal eye-roll at the monster's dogmatic claims. Interesting that Mylan is so intense and yet obviously has a soft side, or perhaps it is just an honourable side. In any case, good work on updating mate.

[Mewfour]

Two chapters in four months. I know, I don't believe it either!

You might wanna get a coffee or something. This one's gonna be a real long read.

Episode V- Solo

The gigantic barrels of the minigun squealed as they slowed down, the air still echoing with its roar. The massive being stepped forward, setting the weapon down to inspect his mutilated kill. It was hard to believe that the shredded pile of flesh before him was once a bipedal alien, had he not watched his weapon mow him down as his allies fled. Rather than stop to change the feeding belt, he decided to leave his minigun behind for awhile, reaching to the long tube strapped onto his back. This will do just as well, he thought, continuing down the darkened corridor after his prey.

He followed the hallway until it came to a room. Scanning the walls around him, he could see nothing that could be used as an exit. Everything inside this building was matted with a thick layer of dust, as was almost everything else on this strange, wasteland of a planet. Tables and chairs lay scattered around the room, with no sign of movement anywhere in sight. He smiled a cruel smile, tilting the barrel of the tube-like weapon down against his shoulder, pointing it at the furthest wall, just above an upended table. Time to take a wild guess, he thought, gripping a handle attached to the side, and pressing a button.

A deafening blast pierced the air, shaking the entire room. A large shell shot from the barrel of his cannon and smashed into the wall, exploding in a horrifying ball of flames. Looking at the new crater in front of him, he paused to look at the band on his wrist. "Twenty-eight," he muttered. He slipped the cannon off of his back, dropping it on the floor with a loud clang. "Shame they didn't give me two." There was a wound on his shoulder, and he could still feel the hot bullet buried under his skin. It seemed like everyone was making their own teams. Though this wound was nothing to him, he could not help but feel there were more out there.

A weak cough suddenly came from underneath the wreckage of the room. Curious, he trudged towards the source. With chunks of debris tossed aside like pebbles, his eyes widened at what he had uncovered.

"N-no! D-d-don't hurt me!" The terrified survivor begged, pulling his foot free from the rubble and walking along his backside across the floor.

The skinny, frail-looking creature was hardly what he was expecting. "You've been banded too, I see," He said.

The thin alien's reddish skin outlined his equally thin skeletal frame, the bones in his hand especially apparent when he grasped the band on his arm.

"You are no fighter, are you?" The giant asked. The alien shook his head. "Then what are you?"

"I- I am a s-scientist," He stammered, never breaking his stare at the shadowy titan.

"Of what kind?"

"I- I specialize in ch-chemicals. Biological chemicals."

The giant hummed quietly to himself, the gears in his head churning away.

"Oh- oh no, y-you're still going to kill me, aren't you?" The scientist squeaked.

"No, not yet," Said the giant, dropping to one knee and extending his open hand. "Doctor, I think I have an idea."

********

I had lost track of the days. A week? Two weeks? All I knew was that I had been on this planet for far too long. Our encounter with that freak Jahood was still fresh in my mind, though. If something like that was allowed into this demented game show, what else was out there? Walking along with Mylan for hours at a time was starting to wreak havoc on my body, as well as my mind. As I put my hand on the revolver strapped around me, my bandaged arm brushed against my side.

"Ow!" I winced, cradling my arm.

"What?" Mylan asked, her eyes still looking ahead of us.

"Oh, it's just my arm," I muttered, looking at my bandages. It was not as stained as the first one she had put on after we fought Jahood, but it was still pretty bloody.

"You gonna' live?" She asked snidely.

"Yeah," I sneered back. "You know, there's something I've been meaning to ask you."

"Oh?"

"Where'd you find that first aid kit anyway?" I asked.

Mylan shrugged. "Does it matter?"

"Yeah, I think it does," I said. "They put us here and tell us to fight to the death. And they just leave kits like that lying around? Why?"

"To make us fight longer," she said, "Why else? They bothered to keep us fed, didn't they?"

She had a point. That's when I took a glance at the band on my left arm. "Then how come nobody's killing anyone?"

"What do you mean?" Mylan asked, stopping her match and turning around.

"Look, on the screen," I said, holding up my arm so that Mylan could see.

"Still at twenty-eight," she said in disbelief.

"It's been like that for a few days now," I said.

Mylan shrugged, and continued on. "It's a big planet after all."

My jaw dropped. "Planet?" I asked. "You don't think that they put these guys all over the whole planet do you?"

"Do you see any fences around?" Mylan asked. "Maybe not the whole planet, but our little arena's going to be a lot bigger than you thi-"

Suddenly, a loud beeping came from Mylan's band. "Stop immediately, contestant," came a voice from the band. "You have reached the end of the playing field. You will turn back, or be disqualified."

Mylan turned back at me, and I smirked. "Yeah, don't get too smug," she muttered, storming past me. "It's about time you were right about something."

I sighed inwardly. Killing her was something I could look forward to.

"As a reminder," the band on her arm continued, "Any attempt to remove or tamper with the band will result in disqualification as well."

"Jeez, they're really concerned about us always having someone to fight, huh?" I said, catching up with Mylan.

"This whole thing's a game to them, right?" She replied. "A game isn't fun if it's boring."

"Speaking of boring," I said, "we haven't crossed paths with anyone since we fought Jahood. If there were just five or six left, yeah, it'd boring like this. But look, there's still twenty-eight. No way they want the lack of action stretched out this long, this early."

Mylan stopped. "Yeah, you're right." She said. "Something's definitely wrong."

"Like what?"

"How the hell should I know?" Mylan snapped.

"Well excuse me," I snorted.

Mylan rolled her eyes. "Anyway, we've still got to find some shelter for the night," she said. Looking around the area, she laid eyes on the only building left standing amidst the rubble of this broken, crumbling planet that we could see. "That one is going to have to do. Come on, we're checking it out."

Stepping through the doors, we were greeted with nothing but a long staircase leading into the basement. "Still going?" I asked.

Mylan nodded. "Follow me," she whispered, taking the rifle off of her back.

We reached the bottom of the stairs, only to find that the lobby had just two open doorways, one on either side. "Which way?" I asked.

Mylan paused, thinking things over. "We should split up," she said.

"Split up?" I asked, not sure I heard her right.

"Split up. We'll cover more ground that way. Make sure nobody else is here, and we'll meet back here."

"I thought the whole point of us working together was to watch each other's backs."

"It still is," she said- and I could tell she was getting a little annoyed. "Just keep your head down, and stay quiet. First sign of trouble, just come back here."

"And if trouble finds me?"

Mylan shrugged. "I'm pretty sure I can follow the sound of gunfire."

Well that was reassuring. "You're sure about thi-"

"Stop complaining and get going!" She hissed, pushing me on my shoulder before she headed to the door in front of her.

I took a few steps towards the other door, unstrapping my Uzi and flicking off the safety. I took one last look at Mylan before she could disappear down the hall. "Mylan?"

"Now what?" She groaned.

"Good luck."

Mylan turned to me, a little shaken. "Yeah, good luck," she said after a little pause, then headed into the hall.

******

The deeper I ventured into the building, the thicker the smell of dust and mould. It was almost suffocating in some places, forcing me to wear the collar of my shirt over my nose. The ceiling was pocked with holes, letting some light from above filter through. The light from the screen on my band helped a little, but that was hardly comforting. The sooner I could get the hell out of here, the better. Soon I came to another staircase, leading further down into the basement, completely pitch-black just a few steps in. Nobody would want to go down there, I thought to myself, continuing down the hall.

Suddenly, I heard a popping noise echo throughout the hall, freezing my feet solid.

Silence.

Then more. Much more.

Just as soon as it began, it stopped again. I held my breath, tuning out the sound of my racing heart. Dead silence. Has Mylan gotten into trouble? I wondered. If I rescue her, maybe she'll stop being such a bitch. Turning around, I ran as quietly as I could back towards the lobby.

When I reached the doorway, I pressed myself up against the wall, peeking though the open door. It was Mylan, being dragged back up the stairs by two other aliens, her body completely limp.

Great timing, me. Now I'm fucked.

I quickly glanced at my band. Twenty-five.

Yeah. Still fucked.

"Hey! What was that?" I heard a voice from the lobby gasp. There were more of them in there? Are they seriously all working together?

I held my breath and flattened myself against the wall as much as I could, listening to a pair of footsteps creep ever closer. Soon, a head poked out of the doorway from the other side, looking nothing remotely human. My finger coiled anxiously around the Uzi's trigger, ticking with every beat of my heart. The body that the head belonged to stepped out a little further, holding a large rifle in its arms. My lungs and head began to ache, and I bit down gently on my tongue, desperate to keep silent.

"What was it?" Came another voice from the lobby.

The alien shrugged. "Guess I'm just seein' things," He muttered, lowering his rifle and turning back.

Turning to me.

"Over here!" He shrieked, pulling up his rifle again. Without thinking I grabbed the barrel of his rifle with my free hand, feeling it jump as a torrent of bullets burst out. I jammed my own barrel into his stomach, squeezing the trigger as hard as I could. My Uzi roared to life, unloading a spray of red mist through my assailant's back. When he fell in a heap, I almost lost control of my weapon, somehow managing to keep it in my grip as I turned and ran, listening to gunfire bounce around my heels. Racing through the halls, I remembered that staircase leading into that total darkness. I was almost out of breath by the time I reached it, scurrying down a few steps and crouching low, watching the hall intently. Sure enough, two aliens came rushing past, completely oblivious.

I breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Maybe I did stand a chance.

No sooner had those words crossed my mind, Something grabbed me from behind. It took all I had to stop myself from yelping in surprise as I was pulled deeper down the stairwell. In complete darkness I found my footing, and a pair of hands trying to find my throat. With my Uzi tucked into my chest, I shoved it up between me and whoever this was, planting my foot against the wall and pushing off, slamming him into the other side. I think I had just found his throat with the side of iron sights of my Uzi, apparent when I heard a gurgle. With my foot still against the other wall, I pressed as hard as I could. The other being was struggling as much as he could, grabbing all over my weapon as I tried to crush his throat. Suddenly, he lurched to the side, sending me off-balance. I almost fell head-first down the steps, somehow keeping my balance. My Uzi was yanked out of my hands, and I blindly lunged after it. I don't know how it happened, but as we wrestled for the Uzi, we suddenly found ourselves tumbling down the stairs, one over the other.

I landed on something soft. Everything was suddenly silent except for my heavy breathing. Standing up, I stretched out my hands, trying to feel my way through the darkness. I soon felt a wall, and started patting up and down. My right hand had found something against the wall- something slim and smooth. All of a sudden, the room was lit up in a blinding flash. Shielding my face, I squinted as my eyes adjusted to the light. When I could open them again, I saw the guy I was fighting with. Dark skin, light build- almost looking human. Except for his neck being twisted around almost backwards. I looked at what my hand had found- a small panel of some kind installed into the wall. Lights ran across the top corners of the hall I was now in, illuminating my surroundings. "Power?" I muttered to myself.

My musing was cut short when I heard footsteps running towards me from upstairs. I bolted too, further down the hallway. Halfway towards a sharp turn to the right I realized something. "My Uzi!" I skidded to a halt and turned around, and there it was- lying on the dead alien's chest. As I moved to dash back for it, a flood of bodies poured down the stairs. That ended any plan to go back for it, I thought as I kept going, rounding the corner. Drawing my revolver, I held it with both hands as I came to another turn, this time to the left.

I suddenly found myself in the face of another alien, his beak-like face almost poking out my eye. I backed up to aim my magnum, and as soon as I pulled the trigger, the alien's gigantic hands had grabbed mine, forcing my gun up and firing into the ceiling. With a sudden lurch to the left, he slammed my hands against the wall, and the revolver sprung out of my grip, clattering to the floor. With my hands in a vice grip, I swung my leg out, kicking at my attacker. My foot just missed his knee, and somehow I was able to pull my hands free with one huge yank, sending me spinning around in a circle. As soon as I could recalibrate myself, I saw one of those gigantic hands holding a gigantic blade, coming down full-speed at my head. I leapt to my right, watching the sword slice into the ground centimetres away from my toes. The bulky alien took another swing at me, and I ducked low to get a cheap haircut. Another vertical slash almost parted me in two as I turned around and weaved left, the sword almost cutting into my calf. With my hands around the fire axe, I roared as I spun around, breaking the axe's tether around my waist. With a meaty thunk, I saw the blade bite deep into the alien's shoulder. With a muted gurgle, he collapsed to his knees before falling flat on his back, my axe still lodged deep into him. The mob behind me was even closer now, and now was not the time to give in to my churning stomach. I grabbed my axe and pulled it out with all my might, leaving a crimson fountain behind me as I ran. I saw another set of stairs up ahead, leading back up to the upper level. Another panel lay embedded into the wall, at the same place as the stairs on the other end. As I heard more gunfire bite around my heels, I slammed my hand into the panel, and the hallway behind me plunged back into darkness. I listened to the screams of confusion behind me steadily fade as I beat my feet, running until I could run no more. I collapsed on my hands and knees, out of breath and gasping for air. I still had my axe, at least, but both my guns were long gone. Taking a moment to calm myself just a little, I wearily forced myself to stand up to look around myself.

I was in a small room, dimly lit from the holes in the ceiling like the rest of this floor. I stumbled towards the only other doorway on the right side of the room, and slumped up against it, catching my breath. Feeling like I could keep going again, I turned into the doorway.

A dead-end.

It was like a gigantic walk-in closet or something, I don't know. Turning around, I knew I had to double back and find another way.

That's when I saw him.

Thundering through the door I had come in through, this massive beast with tan skin was the first thing I saw, and the gigantic minigun he lugged around was a close second. It took every bit of strength I had left in my legs to spring back into the closet, split-seconds before the room erupted in a deafening stream of gunfire. Every second seemed like hours as I listened to that minigun belt out a river of death.

Suddenly, it stopped. I wasn't sure if the constant barrage was from the bullets or my pounding heart. "You're trapped," came a deep, booming voice.

That... monster was talking to me, instead of trying to kill me.

"Come on out. You don't stand a chance."

After watching a monster like Jahood absorb a .44 like a BB gun, I was inclined to believe him.

"No? Well then, you're making a big mistake."

I knew. And I was going to make another one. Pulling the second grenade off the strap on my chest, I pulled the pin, said a tiny, minute prayer, and tossed it back into the room.

A blast suddenly shook the room, and I felt bits and pieces of the ceiling start to crumble down, kicking up a cloud of dust. As soon as I heard the beast coughing, I gripped my axe as tightly as I could, and charged into the room. Our eyes met for just an instant- long enough for me to scream as I swung my axe at his face. His hands flew up in front of him, and I felt something rattle against the blade. I looked back at the titanic alien, and he looked back at me. And then he looked at the two stumps on his hand where two of his fingers used to be.

I stared in disbelief. He snarled in a rage.

I wound my axe back again and took another swing. He effortlessly caught it. Just a moment was all it took for me to truly appreciate the size of this monster- almost twice my height and five times as heavy. And with a sudden jerk, he flung my into the air with my axe, smashing my back into a wall. I collapsed in a heap, gasping and wheezing in vain to keep air in my lungs. The giant took my axe, raised his knee, and snapped it like a twig. As hard as I could try, all I could do was tremble as his massive hand wrapped around my throat, squeezing down as he hoisted me in the air. I tried to struggle and kick, but all my feet did was dangle listlessly. The last thing I remember was that cruel, cruel smile...

[Mewfour]

I don't know. Something must be wrong with me.

Not only three chapters in one year, but two chapters in two months.

EVERYTHING YOU KNEW WAS WROOOOOONG

Episode VI- Gauntlet

My head ached. I could only manage to open my eyes just a sliver, blinded by the light around me. Whatever parts of my body weren't numb were tingling all over. Blurry, jumbled memories of the last few hours swam through my mind in a messy haze as I slowly regained my bearings. When I could finally open my eyes completely, I found myself standing up, leaning against a wall. I tried to move my arms, soon discovering they were tied at the wrist, and I was tethered to a spike driven into a the wall a few feet above me. I looked down, and saw my stomach wrapped up in a long bandage. Suddenly aware of a biting pain in my lower back, I looked up at my arms again. The bloody bandage on my right arm was gone, and so were Mylan's stitches, replaced with new stitches that looked much cleaner and neater. No blood at all, it was clean and completely painless. I couldn't believe it. Not only was I alive, but it looked like I had been captured when I should have been killed. What the hell was going on?

"So, you're finally awake."

My head turned to my left, and there I saw that same tan-skinned monster. He was just as big and just as massive as I remembered, his bare torso displaying his impressive build. A bald head made his piercing red eyes all the more fearsome, complete with that same cruel smile that he left burned into my mind. "What," I weakly murmured, "What the fuck is this?"

"You've been spared, my friend," he said. "For now."

"Spared?" I asked. "Aren't you supposed to kill me?"

He shrugged. "Eventually."

"Then why-"

I cut my words short when a thin creature popped out from behind this juggernaut, somewhat humanoid with deep red skin. "You were in bad shape," this alien said. "Don't I at least get a thank-you?"

The juggernaut grinned. "This is Maruta," he said. "He's the one who kept you sedated and patched you up."

"Yeah?" I asked. "Why? And who are you anyway?"

He snorted a brief chuckle. "I am Grendan, the eventual winner of this pointless tournament. Maruta and I are doing you a favour. Not just you, but the rest of the saps they've dragged here too."

"What kind of favour?"

Grendan looked down at Maruta, and gave a nod. Pulling out a small knife from behind him, Maruta stepped closer towards me. I closed my eyes and grit my teeth, preparing for the worst. Instead of a knife plunging under my ribs, I felt Maruta reaching up above me, and the rope that restrained my hands was cut open. I rubbed my sore wrists, completely confused. "You have no hope of killing me," said Grendan as Maruta pocketed his knife. "But, you did manage to destroy my favourite gun."

His favourite gun? That must have been that minigun he was lugging around like a paperweight.

"And you killed three of my men. You're a real bad-ass."

"Your men?" I asked.

"Yes, my men." Grendan turned, and strolled a little ways from me. "Like I said, none of you can hope to overcome me. But I am merciful. Here in this building, those who have come into my fold are protected. They are treated and fed. Given shelter and care."

"What is this, a day-care?" I asked. "You really think the Overwatch will just let this happen?"

Grendan laughed. "The Overwatch? Hah. So long as they get their blood they won't be complaining. And they will. I merely offer security. A chance for lesser unfortunates such as yourself to spend as much of their days in peace as they can. Once a day, two of my herd are chosen, and one will be culled. Imagine it- knowing when you're going to fight for your life. No more sleeping with one eye open. No more biting paranoia driving you more and more insane by the minute. We've even restored power to this husk of a building. Light and heat instead of freezing in the dark. What do you say? Will you join me?"

Without Mylan, I'm dead either way. I knew a faster way out of all this. "Go fuck yourself."

Instead of his massive mitts tearing my head from my shoulders, my ears rang with Grendan's booming laughter. "That's exactly what she said."

She?

"Your blue friend put up quite a fight, just like you did. But I can tell that you're a reasonable being, unlike her."

"Mylan! Is she alive?"

Grendan shrugged. "Who knows?" Maruta also shrugged. "Join me, and we'll let you find out."

Oh, I give up. "Okay," I muttered in defeat.

Grendan patted me on the shoulder. "Smart man," he said. "Maruta, go get his weapons."

As the doctor hurried out of the room, Grendan pulled something like a sheet of paper out of his pocket. "What's that?" I asked.

"An assignment," he said.

"You never said anything about assignments."

"It's easy. Don't worry." Grendan handed me the paper. It looked like a map or some kind, with one spot marked at the bottom, and another marked near the top. "We're at the bottom, right there," he said. "And this right here is where I need you to go."

"What's there that's so important?" I asked.

"Our bands are saying that there are twenty of us left, but there are only fourteen of us here. We think that there are some stragglers holed up that building somewhere. Just check it out for signs of life."

"And that's it?"

"And that's it. If nobody's there, we'll move in and clean it out for food and supplies. If somebody is there, however, leave it to me."

Okay. This was easy enough.

Maruta had just returned, carrying a sack over his shoulder and dropping it in front of me. "I think you dropped these earlier," he said, opening the bag and pulling out my Uzi and revolver. Strapping them to my body again, I reached in and picked up my last grenade, and my fire axe. It had been taped back together, reinforced with a metal rod under the tape.

Grendan shrugged. "Sorry about that," he muttered. "It's almost sundown. If you leave now, you'll have the cover of night on your side when you get there.

-

The half-hour it took me to get there seemed like half a minute. Completely forgetting everything Mylan had taught me, I walked almost like a zombie the entire time, my mind whirring. What happened to Mylan? Was she still alive? Even if I could kill everyone else on my own, I would be nothing compared to Grendan. Could I really hope to come out of this whole thing alive? What about when I get back home? If I ever get back home? All these questions and more flooded my thoughts, and before I knew it, I had come to the spot on the map that Grendan had marked.

The strange alien sun was just beginning to dip below the horizon, bathing the land in a golden glow. In front of me, amidst all the rubble and ruin, stood a tall, sprawling building. I could spend days getting lost in here, I thought to myself as I crept over the blown-out threshold. Stepping into the lobby, I looked up and saw three floors above me, capped with the remains of a gigantic skylight ceiling, allowing the orange rays of sunset through with abundance. To my left was what looked like a busted fountain. What was this place, anyway? Something like a mall? An office building? There was definitely a modern alien civilization once thriving here ages ago... what the hell happened to this planet? I could hear nothing but a breeze whistling through the broken windows, and nothing except for the floating dust was moving. As I thought about going back, a growl came from my stomach. It had been a long time since I had eaten, and there was no guarantee I'd get enough to eat from Grendan. If I was going to die, I may as well die on a full stomach, I thought to myself as I wandered deeper into the complex.

I went up the first set of stairs that I came to, picked any direction, and headed forward. Surely there would be another food cache here somewhere, I reassured myself. The rooms along the walkways looked large and spacious, completely hollowed out. Had the Overwatch cleaned this place out before starting Deathmatch? Come to think of it, of all the derelict buildings I had been in so far, they were almost totally barren- likely so any of us participants couldn't just stop and set up a fledgling society of our own. Or would they just use the bands to kill us if we did? They just wanted to keep us fed so we could keep killing. I had gotten so lost in my contemplations that I almost missed a familiar, welcome sight. "I knew it!" I said to myself, looking into one of the hollowed out rooms. There before me was another one of those trunks. I hurriedly walked up to it and popped open the lid. I still hadn't gotten over the weird taste of those little bars, but at this point I didn't really care. I tore through them like an animal, eager to get stuffed and get the hell out of here as fast as I could. Taking one last bar with me, I bit off a mouthful and headed back onto the walkway.

I was suddenly face-to-face with another alien. He stared at me with his solid yellow eyes, I stared back at his strange squid-like face. With a high-pitched shriek his tentacle-like arms flew to the weapon on his hip. I fumbled with my bar before I could draw my magnum, darting back inside the room as gunfire ripped past me. I pressed myself around the other side of the doorway, grabbing my fire axe and winding up to strike. As soon as I saw his pinkish body enter, I brought my axe down. He jumped backwards, and I missed his head by just inches, hitting the floor with a loud thunk. Before I could pull it out of the floor, the creature threw his foot out, kicking the axe out of my hands. He was suddenly right in front of me, flashing the barrel of his weapon in my face. My hands flew up to push it away, and the gunshot immediately after nearly blew out my eardrums. I tugged his weapon down as hard as I could, but couldn't wrestle it out of his tentacle, coiled tightly around the grip. I couldn't see anything like a trigger on it, and he was starting to slip out of my grasp. Using his arm as a lever, I rolled both of us around, pressing his back into the wall with my back. I crushed him against the wall with as much strength as my legs could give me, slowly prying his weapon from his tentacle with one hand while my other hand fought with his other tentacle. Finally I managed to pull his pistol free, and I threw it over to the other side of the room. With his tentacle now free, it found its way coiling around my neck. My hands flew to my chin, trying to dig myself free. My left arm was pulled away again, and I sputtered as the coil tightened. I crouched down with a sudden jerk, hoping I could slip free. I felt a little bit of air get back into my lungs before his grip around my throat tightened again. I could feel him leaning down, driving his weight against me. I had to get him off of me quick, or I'd be taking the last nap of my life. My free arm reached back and hooked his leg. And with as much of a roar as my squeezed vocal chords could give me, I lifted him up on my back, took a step forward, and then slammed backwards into the wall. That didn't do much. So I did it again. This time taking two steps forward, I all but ran into the wall behind us, driving a squeal from the squid monster as I drove him into the wall. As I trudged forward to slam him again, I felt his tentacle legs wrap around my human legs, locking them in place. I was helpless to stop from toppling over to the floor, landing on my side. He rolled us over, with me facing up and him behind me, still choking me out. Every struggle I made only seemed to make his grip on my neck tighter and tighter, and as the last ounce of air left my lungs, I could feel my head spin and my vision hazed red.

I felt something against my lips. Peeking an eye open, I saw part of his tentacle had wandered above my chin. I couldn't waste any time. Opening my mouth as wide as I could, I slipped my chin below his tentacle, and bit down as hard as I could. He screeched loudly, but still kept a, unwavering vice grip on my throat. I opened my mouth again to take in a bigger bite, and jerked my head forward to aide in its power. Just as I felt like I was finally going to pass out, my teeth suddenly clamped together. The squid shrieked in agony, and I could feel- and taste, a disgusting fleshy lump in my mouth. Spitting it out, I buried my chin deeper, and took another bite into the tentacle. As he screamed, I managed to wiggle my hand underneath his tentacles, touching my jaw with my fingertips. Again, I bit off another chunk of his flesh, and his grip loosened again with another shriek. I gasped as I spit it out, desperate to fill my lungs with air again. Taking one last deep breath, I took my free hand, and dug my fingers into his wound, tearing at whatever I could. The squid alien immediately released my left arm, trying to pry my other hand from his wound. In an instant I had both hands at the wound, digging and ripping away. His dark blue blood was all over us both now, and I was finding it hard to keep my grip inside of him. One last time, I squeezed my hand underneath his tentacles, and to my surprise, I could slip my whole hand in much easier now. I breathed in and out, feeling my head clear with every breath. Straining as much as I could, I forced my right arm into me, sliding it up underneath the tentacle as well. And with one long roar, I pulled the tentacle up and over my head, finally released from his chokehold on me. In a flash I sat up, and grabbed my magnum. As he pulled me back down, I twisted around, and jammed the barrel into his squid-mouth. A sudden look of surprise and dread in his eyes were powerless against my trigger finger. With a deafening blast I squeezed the trigger, blowing his head all over the floor. I wiggled free of his stiffening tentacles, and collapsed on my face, sucking in all the air I could.

Finally able to catch my bearings again, I stood up and wiped my mouth, spitting and hacking, trying to get the taste of his blue blood out of my mouth. I stumbled out of the room, trying to remember which way I had come. Looking down over the walkway, I saw three figures racing below me. No doubt they heard all the noise, and were coming to rescue their buddy. It's a little late for that, I thought.

I had to move. Now.

If I ran back to Grendan's hideout, they'd shoot me in the back. No way I could get back down to the ground floor without them noticing now, they'd be watching the exit I came from. I decided to keep going, spotting another staircase going up in the distance. Maybe there's another way out. I headed up the stairs, and hid in the first room that I came to. I looked at the sky again. The sun had vanished, and the place was blanketed in the moonlight.

I took a deep breath. It was going to be a long night.

[Mewfour]

Episode VII- Gauntlet II

I peeked out of the doorway. The sound of rushing footsteps came louder and louder, beginning to patter up the stairs below. The three aliens definitely knew I was up here somewhere, and getting past them to the exit wouldn't be easy. The sound suddenly stopped, and I could hear them talking- probably found what was left of the squid. If I was gonna' put some good distance between me and them, now would be it. With my Uzi leading the way, I ventured further down the walkway and into the shadows. I soon came to the end of the walkway, overlooking the ground floor and the middle floor before turning to the right. I heard the footsteps behind me kick up again, though much quieter. Yeah. They definitely know I'm up here. So much for trying to hide. I had to find another way down to the ground floor.

My train of thought came to a crashing halt when a loud bang blew past me, and a brief streak of heat washed over my cheek. Without thinking I hit the deck and opened fire in front of me, emptying what was left in the magazine. From within the shadows I could make out a humanoid figure popping out of a doorway on the walkway on the other side of the building, and more shots rang out at me. Rolling back to my feet, I darted into the closest room, hearing bullets ricochet off the walls and floor. Ejecting the empty magazine, I jammed another clip into my Uzi and stuffed the empty one in my pocket- I could probably use this later. One thing I new for certain was that I couldn't let myself get pinned down in here- I had to get out. Now. Taking a deep breath, I boldly charged out of the room, spraying the other side with some fire before rounding the corner, slipping into the first room I came to. Trying to filter out the sound of my heart trying to burst out of my chest, I peered out of the doorway and onto the other walkway. There he was, peeking out of his doorway too, looking for me. Looking around, I saw the wall of the complex further to my right, with the walkway connecting to the other side. Trying to kill this guy in this kind of darkness at this range was a waste of ammo and time, and I didn't have much left of either. As quietly as I could, I got on my stomach and slowly crawled along the walkway, keeping one eye on the alien on the other side. As I dragged myself across to the wall, I saw him slip back into his room. Did he see me? Something spooked him.

Then it hit me. That's what Mylan did! The morning after I killed that sniper with my first grenade, she was waiting for me on the other side of that door, with the barrel of her plasma gun at my temple. I wasn't about to let this guy blow my head all over the wall. I plucked the last grenade from the strap over my shoulder, and pulled the pin. Winding my arm back, I took a deep breath, knowing I had to make this throw count. With a muted whoosh I threw the grenade at the doorway. It just clipped the edge of the frame, bouncing just inside the threshold before a deafening blast roared through the building. Popping back up to my feet, I sprinted to the doorway, flattening myself against the wall as I readied my Uzi. My every muscle trembling, I somehow managed to throw myself into the room, spraying the walls blindly with my Uzi. I saw nobody there until I turned around. There he was, a tall, orange-skinned humanoid, spread all over the wall. I groaned and shut my eyes, trying not to throw up as I went back to the walkway.

I opened my eyes and looked down just in time to see one more alien, on the ground floor, aiming something at me over his shoulder. If playing all those video games ever taught me anything, something shoulder-mounted is never good. I leapt to my left just as a rocket came screaming towards me, exploding on the underside of the walkway with a blast that shook every bone in my body. As I scrambled to my feet, the walkway gave a loud groan before suddenly lurching down, one end collapsing onto the middle level with me helplessly sliding down with it. With nowhere else to go, I landed on my feet and ran, deeper into the building as gunfire rang out behind me.

Stairs. Stairs, I kept repeating in my head as I raced down the walkway, I need to get down from here! Finally, just as my legs were starting to seize up and my lungs began to burn, I saw a staircase in the distance where the walkway ended. I scurried down the first flight and rounded the corner, right into the path of that same creature that nearly blew me up. I let my Uzi do the screaming for me, blasting him full of lead before he could raise his weapon. Another humanoid came charging up the stairs at me over his body, and I turned tail. Back on the middle floor again, as soon as I turned to retrace my steps, there was another one- a long ways away but still coming after me. I bolted up the next flight of stairs as the one behind me opened fire, racing back up to the top floor. "Shit! Shit!" I snarled under my breath, fumbling with my Uzi's empty magazine as I ran.

Suddenly, my foot hit something. I fell face-first on the floor at full speed, my last clip flying out of my hands and over the edge of the walkway. No sooner had I gotten back to my feet as my head spun, there he was at the last step. Without thinking, I dug into my pocket and flung the empty magazine at him. He gave a shriek of terror as he ducked around the corner of the staircase. The magazine clattered at his feet, and just as he realized that he had been fooled, I was already at his side with fire axe in hand, swinging into his chest. The blade sunk deep into him with a sickening thud, spewing a river of blood as he slowly slid down the wall. I pulled my axe out of him, leaving his body to tumble down the stairs. I heard the last pair of footsteps begin to thunder up towards me, and I readied my axe again. One more swing and this'll be over. One more.

Something stepped out. With a roar I brought my axe down, splitting the creature's skull open. He dropped lifelessly to the floor in a pool of blood from his head... and his chest-?

Just as I realized that was the same guy I had just killed, another figure suddenly rushed towards me, knocking the axe out of my hands. I soon found a pair of pale-skinned hands wrapped around my throat, and a grotesque wrinkled mug snarling in my face. Instinctually, my hands throttled his muscular neck as well, and we struggled back and forth, trying to push the other down. With a sudden lurch, he sent me to the side, against the guardrail of the walkway. Bending me over backwards, he leaned as much as he could over me. If he couldn't strangle me, he'd break my back. I squirmed and kicked all I could, but nothing could shake his grip from my throat. Just as I felt the small muscles in my back begin to cramp, the guardrail suddenly bent from under our weight, sending both of us up and over.

My hands were suddenly gripping the lower bar of the guardrail, and I found myself dangling high above the ground floor, with the other alien gripping onto my foot for dear life. As soon as I caught my bearings again, I raised my left leg and started kicking at his hands on my right, driving my heel into his hands. I was out of shape enough as it is, I couldn't hope to carry both of us on this rail for much longer. I went to kick at him again, and this time he caught my other ankle. And reaching his other hand up to the edge of my jeans, he began to climb. Tightening my left fist around the rail as much as I could, I let go with my right hand and started swinging away at the top of his head. He wouldn't dare strike back. I flailed and flailed, but he kept coming, now grabbing the collar of my shirt. I palmed his face and dug my thumb into his eye, pressing in as hard as I could. He roared and screamed in agony. Then he opened his mouth and bit down on my pinkie finger. I roared and screamed too. My left hand was going numb as my right shot pulse after pulse of pain up my arm. With another tug, both of his hands were at my collar. With this new position, I tore my finger out from between his teeth. I squeezed my arm through his arms, bringing my elbow down at his head. As soon as he tugged on my shirt to climb up again, a loud ripping noise filled the air. The entire right side of my shirt was peeled away, stopping at the bottom hem. My right hand flew up to the guardrail again, but not before brushing up against something else.

My axe! The handle was right in front of my hand!

Gritting my teeth, I kept an iron grip with my left hand on the rail as my right hand slithered up the edge of the walkway, pulling down my axe. The alien, still hanging off my shirt, tucked his head in to avoid the first swipe. And again to dodge another. I couldn't hit a damn thing like this, and I could feel my grip on the bar begin to slip away.

Then, an idea.

I shuffled my grip on the axe halfway up the shaft, and locked my eyes on the length of hem that tethered him to me. Lifting up my legs, I wound my arm back and swung. The blade cut a ragged swathe though my shirt, and as the fabric finally tore, I watched the alien's face contort in a mask of horror as he plummeted to the bottom.

I dropped my axe, and gripped the rail with both hands again. I was exhausted- every breath was a painful labour. Both arms felt like they were on fire, and I wasn't so sure I had a left hand anymore. I had only a few seconds left before I joined the alien on the ground floor. I took a deep breath. And tensing every muscle I still had control over, I let out a throat-tearing primal scream as I pulled myself up. First my chin cleared the top of the rail and soon my shoulders. And with the last ounce of strength I had in me, I swung my legs up and over, hooking the edge of the walkway. Finally able to let go of the railing, I reached forward, and dragged myself back onto the floor.

My heart pounded. My head spun. Every fibre in my body felt like it was on fire. I don't know how long I was face-down like this, but every second felt like hours. An odd, warm feeling of calm began to embrace me as my consciousness slowly faded...

[Mewfour]

i dont believe it. two chapters in two days.

no, nothing has happened to mewfour. he has certainly not been thrown into the trunk of a car and been replaced with an actor. nope.

Episode VIII- Hunter

I woke up still alive and breathing. Guess I took out all of them. Finding my axe and Uzi again was easy compared to the journey back to Grendan's hideout. My body still ached all over, each step forward being another small struggle. After what seemed like a day and a half I finally came to the large doors of the large derelict building, pushing them open and staggering in. Grendan was there in the lobby, his arms crossed below the piercing glare on his face. I had been through hell and back, and I sure looked like it too.

"You were just supposed to recon," he growled.

I sighed deeply and muttered. "Shit happens."

"You weren't supposed to kill anyone."

"Things just got complicated, all right?" I shot back angrily. "Yeah, I reconned. They attacked me, they're dead, the end. Now where's Mylan?"

Grendan was a little taken back. "You've got quite a mouth for someone in your position," he said. "I'm doing you a tremendous favour, and this is how you repay me?"

I groaned and muttered under my breath. "Where is she?"

Grendan snorted. "You'll meet your girlfriend again soon enough. But first, you need to pass a test."

A test. I felt like I had already been though a graduation. "You never said anything about a test."

"I didn't think I had to," he said. "You can't be trusted to keep that itchy trigger finger of yours in line."

Great. Now I'm a raging psychopath.

"You want to go hardcore so badly, here's your chance." Grendan pointed to a door on the left. "That door leads to the basement," he said. "One of our own had a little change of heart. Nearly killed a few guys and escaped down there."

"And my test is to go down there and kill him, right?"

"You catch on quick. Kill only if you have to, but try not to."

"Why's that?" I asked.

"That's the test, idiot."

The thought of testing his face with the last clip in my Uzi crossed my mind. Maybe I'd get lucky. Or maybe I just used up all my luck last night. I couldn't keep this hot streak up forever. "Alright," I muttered.

"Good," he said, giving me a pat on the back that was more like a push towards the door. "Don't take too long."

-

I muttered under my breath as I ventured through the dimly-lit basement. The narrow concrete halls and tiny, empty rooms only made the air more stagnant and suffocating. I never considered myself claustrophobic before, but a few more minutes down here and I probably might be. Every creak, every groan, and every other benign noise seemed to echo endlessly around me. I was tired, I was hurt, and I just wanted to get some more rest. This asshole better show up soon, I thought, or I'm going to end up killing him anyway.

I stepped into another room, this one more spacious than the others I had poked my neck into. Some waist-height walls stretched from the left and right walls into the middle of the room, making me wonder what this place used to be. Pipes, drains, and some other unrecognizable machines lined the walls as well. I looked back into the hall. Nowhere left to go but through here. I held my Uzi up, and stepped over the threshold.

Something suddenly caught the corner of my eye. Looking up at the very top corner of the door frame, I saw a crystal-like lump stuck to the wall, with something in the middle. Something blinking. Wait a minute, I thought, I've seen that before. But where? Got it! Glob bombs! And if one was here, then-

Oh shit.

I dived over a wall just a second before it exploded, shaking the room around me. "Mylan!" I yelled out.

A figure poked its head out from behind something that looked like a storage tank. "You!" A familiar voice yelled back. "What are you doing here?"

I thought I'd never be as happy as I was to see that scowling blue face again. "I'm going to get you out of here, what else?"

Mylan stayed put behind the tank. "How'd you get past Grendan's goons?" She asked.

Uh oh. I shouldn't answer that. But of course, me being an idiot, that's just what I did. "He let me down here!"

"What?" Mylan shrieked. "You're not working with him too, are you?"

"What choice did I have?" I blurted out.

"You begged me to help you, and now you're on his side?"

"No! It's- it's not like that! I'm still on your side, I- I mean-"

"He is going. To. Kill us!" Mylan snarled back with emphasis.

"I know! I just-" I stammered, my racing mind tripping over itself, "I thought- somehow- I could- We- oh fuck it, what was I supposed to do?"

"How about you reach into your pants and find your balls, you spineless-!"

That's about all I remember before something hit me from behind.

-

Again, I awoke in a daze. I was lying down on some kind of bed, nothing but a metal frame and a ragged sheet. I tried to move my arms. Nothing. Looking to my right, I saw my hand tied up with a cord, tethered to a ring in the wall. I looked at my left hand, and saw the same thing. Looking down, I saw that my legs were both tied down to the bed frame. And standing over me was that skinny red creep, Maruta. "Awake at last!" He cheered gleefully.

"What the fuck is this?" I asked, my head quickly clearing.

"Your deathbed."

My heart skipped a beat. "What?"

"Or, maybe not," Maruta shrugged, turning to a table by the wall, "who knows?"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Maruta turned back to me. My eyes widened at the sight of a needle in his hand. "Don't worry... too much," he said, "I think I've finally got it this time."

"Got what?" I asked, panicked. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, come now," said Maruta, almost mockingly. "Surely you didn't think Grendan was taking us all under his watchful wing out of benevolence, did you?"

Not really, no. "Yeah, that didn't seem right."

"Have you ever wondered how these bands that our kidnappers placed on us work?" he asked, raising the needle. "I've seen creatures on this planet that laugh off injuries that would kill either one of us. And yet, somehow, they were captured just as easily as we were, and all of us were given these. These devices that can tell who's really dead and who's just feigning."

"Yeah? So?"

Maruta laughed quietly. "You don't get it, do you?"

Wait. "You're trying to trick it, aren't you?" I asked. "You're trying to get it to register us as dead. You can't tamper with them, so you're tampering with who's wearing them."

He smiled. "At last."

It was all coming together now. "And this... this daycare," I continued. "Nobody is fighting anybody else because they're no good to you- or Grendan, already dead."

"Well done."

I laid my head back in defeat. "What's he trying do?" I asked.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Maruta shrugged.

"It's Overwatch, isn't it? Something to do with Overwatch?"

Maruta hummed. "Could be. In any case, this serum isn't getting any fresher." Maruta leaned over me, pointing the needle at my right arm. "Of course, you're not the only one I'm giving this batch to, but it's best to double-check your work, right?" I turned my head away, gritting my teeth.

That's when I noticed it. A tear in the cord that tied up my left arm. Moving my wrist around, I could feel the cord around it buckle unnaturally. I wasn't totally out of luck just yet. Relaxing my body, I muttered. "Just do it already."

Maruta paused. "That's it?" He asked. "No fight? No struggle?"

I shook my head.

"After all those lives you've taken, you'd just let yours slip away?"

"What's the point? I'm tired of fighting. Do your worst."

Maruta shrugged. "If you insist," he said, placing the point of the needle at my vein... and taking his eyes off the rest of me.

With a sudden roar I jerked my left arm across as hard as I could, snapping the cord and sending my fist into Maruta's shoulder. Maruta yelped as I grabbed his collar, sat up, and pulled his head into mine. The red-skinned alien dropped to his knees, slumped over and dazed on the bed. I wasted no time in undoing the knot that held my other hand as he slowly regained his bearings. As soon as he was on his feet again, I grabbed his collar again with both hands and smashed my forehead into his jaw. I could feel a warm little trickle of blood come from the top of my head down between my eyes, undoing the restraints on my feet as Maruta spilled onto the floor. Bolting off of the bed as fast as I could, I grabbed Maruta by the collar yet again, and dragged him into a corner. "Where is she?" I roared.

"I- I don't know!" He stammered.

My fist plowed into his face. "You know, don't you?" I snarled, holding his face up by his jaw.

He stammered more.

"Tell me!"

"I- I can't," He squealed, trembling in terror. "He'll kill me!"

"I'll kill you!" I screamed. "Where is she?"

"I can't," he stuttered more. "I can't, I can't-"

I let out a frustrated scream. Without a second thought I brought my right foot up, and stomped down on his neck. A sickening crack filled the air, and Maruta fell limp. I was on a rage-powered autopilot. I turned to the table at the wall and flipped it over with a loud yell, smashing all the bottles and containers along with it. My pulse rampaging, I looked around the room. There were my weapons, tossed against a wall. I strapped my revolver back on my waist, my axe back on my belt, and my Uzi's strap around my wrist.

Hang in there Mylan, I thought to myself, I'm coming.

[Mewfour]

Hmm. Too much?

Yeah, this level of violence really surprised me too. So of course here's more! Yay!

Episode IX- Breakthrough

The four of them were sitting around a table, whatever they were talking about suddenly interrupted by a knocking at the door on the far side of the room. One of the aliens shrugged, stood up, and walked to the door. The first thing he saw when he opened it was the barrel of my Uzi, unloading half a clip into his chest. The other three aliens bolted to their feet, as I pulled the falling corpse into my chest, spraying the room with the rest of my clip. Empty and useless, I dropped my Uzi, feeling the dead alien against me shudder and rumble with all the gunfire ripping into him. I looked down to my left, and saw a waist-height counter of some kind, perfect for me to hide behind. Dragging the shredded body with me, I dove behind the counter, listening to bullets and energy blasts pummel the wall behind me. I threw the dead weight off of me, pulling my magnum out and counting the bullets inside the chamber. Five. Only five bullets left. I peeked around the corner of the counter, just in time to see one of them duck behind the table that they had been sitting at, flipped over like a shield. I lined up my revolver with the middle of the table, and pulled the trigger. The deafening gunshot tore a hole right through the table, along with a surprised scream of agony. I ducked back behind the counter as more gunfire bounced off the floor at me.

Suddenly, something came over the counter, bounced off the wall, and landed right beside me. Something small and round. Oh fuck, it's a grenade! Fighting my first instinct to jump up and dive away, I grabbed the corpse beside me, hauled it across me, and draped it over the grenade. One second later, the body exploded in a shower of smoke and red, bowling me over onto my back as blood and mangled bits of flesh coated me and the walls nearby too. Coughing and spitting, I could hear them closing in on me, at least two of them. I had to think of something fast.

My eyes immediately darted to what was left of the dead alien, torn in half from the grenade. Grabbing his ribcage, I hoisted him above the countertop. Some powerful gun nearly blasted the carcass out of my hands, and with a good idea of where it came from, I lifted my revolver's barrel up along the countertop, and fired. A loud thump followed the gunshot, and soon too did running footsteps towards me. Without thinking, I bolted upright, revolver pointed right on front of me, and fired.

My shot went far wide of the green-skinned alien who was now right across the counter from me, his weapon aimed right at my face. He snarled as he pulled the trigger.

Click.

Just a tiny little click.

His face turned to horror for just a second before I turned it into a gaping hole.

As his body crumpled to the floor, I leapt over the counter, pointing my magnum around the room. Nothing moved, and nothing made a sound. I took a moment to wipe the blood off of my eyes and mouth, already feeling sticky all over. I looked at the chamber in my revolver. Just two bullets left. A sudden wheeze from behind me made me spin around, and behind the overturned table I saw another alien on the floor, clutching a gushing wound in his stomach. I ran up to him and pointed my revolver in his face. He only closed his eyes.

"Blue skin," I breathed, keeping my revolver on him. "Blue skin, orange hair. Where is she?"

The alien weakly raised one of his clawed fingers, pointing down a hallway behind me. "There..." he groaned weakly, "...then... left..."

As I turned to go down the hall, he suddenly gave an agonized wail.

"Please!" He said. I turned back towards him, and he wheezed again, "Please..."

I knew what he wanted. I holstered my revolver, and took the axe from its tether on my waist. I raised it up, and brought it down between his eyes, splitting his head in half.

With my revolver drawn again, I crept down the hallway. After turning left, I heard something. Some faint voices echoing from somewhere. I followed the sound to one door further down the hall, silently shuffling up close to it against the wall. Something from the other side. What would Mylan do? I asked myself, What would she do?

An idea. The door.

I stood in front of the door, and raising my foot, I kicked it open, and them darted back to the wall. Stuffing the revolver in its holder again, I flexed my fingers, and bent my knees. As soon as the barrel of a strange alien rifle poked out of the doorway, I sprang forward and grabbed it, jerking its holder to the side along with it. We spilled onto the floor, and I quickly pressed my knee into his stomach. With a roar, I ripped the gun out of his hands, throwing it down the hallway. The alien suddenly slipped out from under me, and as soon as we were on our feet again, I charged forward, slamming him into the wall. As he tried to push back, my left arm suddenly found itself around his head. Immediately I tightened my arms into my chest, sinking the bend of my elbow deep under his chin. I crouched and pressed forward, gritting my teeth and squeezing as hard as I could. And with a sudden twist to my right, I heard a loud crack echo through the hall. I let go of my chokehold, and the alien dropped like a ragdoll to the floor. I looked into the room, and gasped when I saw what was in front of me.

"Mylan!"

She was fastened to a bedframe as I had been, and her eyes widened when she saw me. I rushed into the room and darted to her side. Her back tank-top had been badly torn, held together around her chest with what looked like duct tape. "How- How did you-?" She asked, completely bewildered.

I started to untie the cord on her wrist. "What, you're not happy to see me?" I asked, undoing the knot.

"Holy-! Are you alright?"

I suddenly remembered that I was covered head to toe in blood and mangled bits. "Yeah," I said, "It's not mine. You?"

Before she could answer, a pair of arms suddenly wrapped around my shoulders, throwing me to the wall. I turned around just in time to see a knife coming at my face. I shot my hands together, catching my attacker's hands in mine, pushing the knife up and into the wall. The alien suddenly lurched to his side, and before I knew it I was launched up and over his hip, crashing to the floor onto my back. I still had my grip on his hands, but he had his weight all on top of me. I looked down at my chest and saw the tip of the dagger mere centimetres away from my chest. I struggled and squirmed, trying to slip out to either side, but I was completely pinned down. All I could do is fight in vain and watch the knife's slow descent- first touching my skin, and then drawing a little bit of blood.

Suddenly, the alien was torn off of me. I rolled over and sprang to my feet, and saw Mylan behind my attacker, plunging her own knife into his throat. That familiar smell of burning flesh filled the air as he gurgled his last, before Mylan threw him to the floor.

"What the hell is that thing?" I asked as Mylan helped me up.

"Heat knife," she said, "The blade generates a scorching heat with this button," she said, flipping around the knife to show me a small button on the hilt. "You're welcome, by the way."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, you are too." I glanced at her again, and saw no knife. "Where've you been keeping that thing anyway?"

"Where I need it," she said with a smirk. "Now come on, we've got to get out of here."

I looked over to the far wall and saw a tall, wide window, overlooking the barren world outside. "Through there?" I asked as Mylan reached under the bed, grabbing her pistol and glob bomb launcher.

"Through there," she said, strapping her weapons around her again. She grabbed one end of the bedframe. "Wanna' give me a hand?"

I nodded, and grabbed the other. We dragged the bedframe to the window, and on the count of three, we lifted it up and threw it, sending it crashing through the glass pane and onto the ground below. I looked over the edge. "Shouldn't be too far down," I muttered.

The sound of many footsteps suddenly came rushing like a stampede towards us from down the hall. Suddenly there they were, with Grendan right behind them. "Go! Move!" Mylan yelled, almost pushing me out the window. I grit my teeth and vaulted over the windowsill, landing cleanly on the ground below. Mylan followed right beside me, landing just as I heard a barrage of gunfire erupt from above us. Mylan grabbed my arm. "This way!" she ordered, pulling me along into a nearby forest.

Once we were totally obscured, the aliens leaned over the windowsill, and their guns fell silent.

"What are you doing?" Grendan roared. "Get after them!"

The aliens looked at each other for a brief moment. Then, they turned and looked at Grendan. One by one, they slowly raised their weapons.

Grendan grimaced, his lip curling up into a snarl. "So be it."

The aliens opened fire as Grendan's chainsaw roared to life, and charged into the crowd.

-

We ran until we were both out of breath (okay, just until I was out of breath), staggering through the dead trees. Mylan grabbed my arm again, pulling me to the side. "Down here," she said, leading me towards a deep hole in the ground.

"What's... down there?" I asked as a set of stairs came into view, breathing heavily.

Mylan and I trotted down the steps, soon coming to the bottom. Concrete walls and a wooden ceiling enclosed us, along with a thick layer of dust blanketing two simple benches lining the sides. "Some sort of bunker," said Mylan. "I noticed it mapped out when I tried to escape the first time."

The dust and suffocating air was nothing to me- I just needed some place to rest. I trudged over to the far end of the bench on the right, and collapsed in a heap against the wall. I could feel my heartbeat all the way in the back of my throat, my fingers twitching like they had minds of their own.

Mylan sat down beside me. "Coming off a combat high isn't fun, is it?"

I weakly shook my head once.

Mylan patted my shoulder. "Just keep breathing. You'll be fine." She leaned her head back against the wall, took a deep breath, and let out a long, loud sigh. "Thanks, by the way." She said at length.

"Yeah," I said, "no problem."

I heard something I thought I'd never hear. A little, quiet chuckle. From Mylan, of all people. She gave me a playful push on the shoulder. "You're something else," she said. "You're sure you're okay? Nothing broken?"

"Sore all over, but I'm fine," I said. Wiping some of the blood off of my arm, I said, "I could really use a shower though."

Mylan groaned. "Don't remind me," She muttered.

I slumped forward, resting my elbows on my knees. "So where are you from, anyway?" I asked.

"You're asking that again?"

"I just want to talk," I said, "keep my mind off the pain."

Mylan sighed quietly. "Makria."

"Makria?"

"My planet," she said. "Yours was... Earth, right?"

"Right," I nodded. "Any family?"

Mylan shook her head. "Not really."

"Oh," I said a little sheepishly. "Well, I've got a sister. Still have my parents, they're probably worried sick about me right now."

"Nobody else?" Mylan asked. "Nobody special in your life?"

I gave a brief laugh. "Well, there was," I said. "It's a real funny story, you won't believe it."

"Try me."

I shrugged. "Alright... So I met this girl awhile ago, maybe a month or two before getting snatched up here. I think we could have been great together."

"So what happened?" Mylan asked.

"She... she had someone she was seeing a long time ago." I said. "I guess they were getting along okay, and then he just vanishes."

"Vanishes?"

"Yeah. Like, gone. Without a trace. Nobody sees him or hears from him for something like a year. And so, I've been seeing her for a month maybe, and I'm just about to ask her about getting serious. Like, five seconds away."

Mylan was hooked. "And?"

I laughed. "Guess who shows up at her doorstep?"

Mylan blinked in disbelief. "No way," she said.

"Yeah. Everyone thinks this guy is dead, right? And then there he is, looking for her."

"Huh," Mylan muttered, "You were right, that is pretty hard to believe. What happened then?"

I sighed deeply. "After that, I broke it off. I just... I don't know, the whole thing just felt real awkward."

There was a brief silence. "I'm sorry," Mylan finally said.

"Don't worry about it." I stretched my arms, finally feeling my pulse returning to normal again. Flexing my fingers, I asked, "So what about you?"

"What about me?"

"No lucky Makrian in your life?"

Mylan turned away. "No."

Well that was a bad idea. "You said you were a mercenary, right?" I asked. "Why'd you get into it?"

Mylan shrugged. "I got discharged from the army," she said. "I'm no good at anything else."

She definitely was a born fighter, no mistake. "What kinds of jobs do you take?"

Mylan's face suddenly twisted into a frown. Oh shit, I think I hit something I shouldn't have.

"Um, Mylan-?"

"You're feeling better now?" Mylan asked.

"Yeah."

"Good. Get some sleep," she said, standing up and walking over to the bench on the other side. She laid down and rolled over, turning her back to me.

Smooth moves, dipshit, I scolded myself, palming my face. I shifted my hips and lay back on the bench, cradling my aching arms across my chest. I took one last deep breath before closing my eyes.

[Mewfour]

...so Deathmatch is done.

Not right now, of course, and certainly not after this next chapter. No, you've still got the epilogue to read yet, and that's coming tommorrow.

And, uh, you might want to have a box of kleenex handy for this chapter.

Episode X - Champion

Beeping. I woke up to something beeping in my ear. I groggily opened my eyes, finding that I was using the band on my arm as a pillow, beeping away until I looked at the screen. Something was different. Instead of a just a counter, there was something that looked like a radar beside it with three dots- one close to the middle, two at the far edges. This can't mean what I think it does... right? I rolled off of the bench, and tiptoed towards Mylan, still sleeping on the other side. "Mylan, wake up," I whispered, putting my hand on her shoulder.

I suddenly found myself thrown backwards with Mylan on top of me, her hand pinning my throat to the floor.

"It's me!" I squealed with a muted wheeze, struggling underneath her.

Mylan quickly released me, and I shot up, gasping for air. "Don't sneak up on me like that," she hissed.

"Sorry," I breathed, rubbing my throat, "Won't happen again." Holding up my arm, I said, "Look at this."

Mylan crawled over, eying the screen on my band before quickly checking her own. "I've got the same thing," She said, sitting on the floor with me.

"Only four left," I said.

Mylan hummed. "Overwatch making sure we know where the last survivors are," she said.

"Maybe Grendan," I said, "And someone else. Then you and me."

Our eyes met. The moment of silence seemed to last for hours. "We'll think about that later," Said Mylan, standing up. "When did you notice the change on the band?"

"Just now," I said, steadily getting back to my feet. "It woke me up with its beeping."

"Beeping, huh?" Mylan mused. "Then it could have woken up the other two as well." Then, stifling a yawn, she said, "Get your gear. We'd better move out now."

-

Coming up the steps from our bunker, I put my hand above my eyes, shielding them from the blinding morning sun. It didn't let up on me for awhile either, and I was left following Mylan by her heels as she led me across the barren plains. A large shadow finally passed over us, and Mylan stopped. Taking my hand down, I found that we were now standing in front of the mouth of a cave, carved into the face of a huge, steep hill that seemed to stretch to either side for miles. I glanced at my band. The radar screen showed three dots tightly bunched together, with the fourth out of sight. "He's in here?" I asked.

"Either in here, or up there," said Mylan. Looking up the face of the hill, she continued, "I don't think we'll be able to climb that here, and who knows where we'll find a place where we can. We'll check in here first." Then, stepping backwards, she said, "Your turn to take point."

I don't ever remember talking about who'd be taking the lead. "Ladies first," I said, presenting the cave to her with my hands.

Mylan just glared back at me.

"Alright, alright," I muttered. Drawing my revolver, I headed into the cave, with Mylan following a few steps behind me. As we ventured deeper into the cave's winding tunnel, the light from the mouth dwindled quicker and quicker, and soon we were in almost complete darkness. Holding my left arm out, I used the screen on my band to give me a little more light, barely able to illuminate a foot or two ahead of me. "Who would want to come this far into here?" I whispered.

"Maybe someone who's thinking of hiding out while everyone else kills each other," Mylan whispered back.

That... was a pretty good idea. Why didn't I think of that in the first place?

"But still, this is pretty far in," She said. "We shouldn't bother going in much further."

I breathed a quiet sigh of relief. All this darkness was making my skin crawl. Just as I thought of turning around, my eyes caught something. "Mylan, wait a minute," I said, stopping.

"What?"

"Light," I said, looking up ahead. There was indeed a tiny, faint patch of light in front of me, winding around a corner. "Still wanna' check it out?"

"We may as well," She said. "Keep going."

As I rounded the corner, my jaw dropped. Before me was a large, spacious grove, lit by a gigantic split in the cave's ceiling. Streaks ran along the rocky floor of the grove, making me think that this was once an underground river. I looked back at Mylan. She looked back at me and nodded. With my revolver still leading the way, I took a step forward.

Suddenly, a thunderous crashing came down behind me, almost shaking me off of my feet. I spun around only to face a huge pile of rocks, completely sealing the tunnel. "Mylan!" I yelled, hoping to hear something back from the other side. Nothing. I pressed my ear to the rocks. Still nothing. "Shit!" I cursed, turning around. I checked my band. Still at three. She was still alive, at least, but I was all alone. Again.

Or, at least I thought I was.

As soon as I walked into the grove, a familiar voice came booming from behind me. "We meet again!"

I spun around, and I swear my heart stopped for a moment. Holding a thick rope in one hand, and his even thicker spine-club in the other, was Jahood. That grey giant smiled at me with the biggest grin, even scarier than I remembered it being.

Jahood let go of the rope, and I watched it drop to the floor- following it with my eyes as it led into the tunnel. "You surprise me, infidel," He bellowed, lowering the knife fastened to the end of his club at me. Though he was still a few feet away from me, the point of that knife felt a lot closer- I felt the gash on my right arm twinge underneath its bandage and through its stitches, almost like a response. "To have survived this long, you must be a mighty warrior indeed," He continued, still waving that knife around. "One truly worthy of a knight of Celinus!"

I still had my revolver trained on him, waiting for him to make a charge forward. "I've got something worthy of you right here," I snarled back.

Jahood only let out a roar of a laugh. "You'd threaten me with that again?" He jeered. "So many have tried, and so many have failed." His grin widening, he added, "How many more will you tickle me with?"

I flicked my eyes low to check the chamber. One. Just one bullet left. Just one bullet wasn't going to do it- not against this monster.

Jahood suddenly raised his spinal club, held it high, and began to turn around. "Look at me, infidel," He ordered. "No other weapons but what I hold here." Facing me again, he said, "You will put that toy away, and face me with something more honorable."

Never thought I'd hear someone call a magnum a toy. Jahood kept his arms outstretched, daring me to shoot. As much as I would have liked to, there wasn't a point in firing- I'd just be wasting my last bullet. There were still two more aliens to go through. I had to save it, maybe for the other one. Maybe for Mylan.

"Well?" Jahood asked.

My heart began picking up its tempo as I dropped my magnum back in its holster. I undid the belt strapped around my waist, and my weapon clattered to the ground. There was no other way out of this one, I thought to myself as I picked the axe from its tether. "Okay, you freak," I growled, gripping my axe as tightly as I could in my hands, "let's dance."

That was all Jahood needed. With blinding speed he came charging at me, thrusting his spear at me. I leapt to my side as the knife point came flying past me, raising my arms and bringing my axe down at his arms. He pulled his arms back just in time to miss my blade, and my axe clattered clumsily off the rock ground. He was already attacking again, throwing the knife point at my face. I pulled myself to the side again, narrowly avoiding my face being skewered on it. I couldn't keep dodging like this all day, I thought as I backed off a little, circling Jahood as he circled me. One more thrust from his spear whizzing past my face was all he got before I darted to my left, wound back my axe, and took a leaping step forward with a wild wing, putting all the strength I had into had behind it. The blade sliced into the side of his ribs, and I stumbled forward, trying not to lose my balance. Once I had gotten my footing again, I turned around to see Jahood cradling his side, a steady trickle of blood spilling over his fingers. Instead of wincing in pain, though, he was still smiling- chuckling, even.

How the hell was I supposed to kill this thing?

I raised my axe again, and as I brought it down at his head, Jahood's spinal club shot up, hooking my axe just underneath it's blade. And with a roar, he flung his club upwards, ripping my axe out of my hands, sending it flying through the air and landing by the far wall. Great job, me, now I've got nothing. Jahood was still grinning, pointing the spear at my face again. With another thrust, he pushed the point at my head and I crouched low, feeling the air whoosh above me. I sprang forward, speeding past Jahood, my eyes fixed on my axe ahead of me. I could feel Jahood's rampaging footsteps behind me, and if I wasn't quick about this he'd be pinning me to the wall though my back. As soon as I got to the wall, I crouched down again, flattening my shoulder against the wall. In an instant I saw Jahood's spear come rocketing over me, stopping the monster dead in his tracks as it plunged deep into the cavern wall. Grabbing my axe, I stood up and wound back. And with a feral roar, I sunk the blade behind his knee. Jahood howled as I pulled my axe out, and he drooped slightly as I would back for another swing. He suddenly raised his injured leg, stomping it back down as my axe came in, pinning it to the ground and tearing it out of my hands again. And with a short kicking motion, he sent it skidding backwards into the middle of the grove. Cornered by this massive monster, I saw him pull his free arm back, clench his huge hand into a fist, and throw it at my face. I somehow weaved out of the way in time, hearing his fist smash into the wall, shaking the whole grove. Before I knew it, my hand was flying at his face, fingers stretched out like claws, ramming my thumb into his eye. Jahood roared and staggered backwards, holding his face. As soon as he could see again, he was going to smash my head in. I had to think fast.

That's when an idea popped into my head. His spine-staff! With both hands on the staff and one foot on the wall, I grunted as I yanked on it with all of my might, pulling it out with a quiet pop. As I saw Jahood recovering from my gouging, I put the spear against the wall and flattened my chest against it, covering it completely. And sure enough, Jahood came charging at me. With my heart pounding and my breath growing shallow, I waited until I heard him roar before I pulled myself onto the floor, pulling the point of the spear down with me.

A loud, meaty thunk echoed around the grove, and a sudden torrent of blood splashed on my face. Scrambling to my feet, I saw the spear inside Jahood's belly, a good four inches in. He wore a surprised, pained expression on his face. Mine was total disbelief. As he slowly backed away from the wall, I grabbed what was sticking out him still, and with a scream I thrust his spear deeper into him, the tip now poking out of his back. Still stunned and agonized, Jahood stumbled forward, leaning his forehead against the wall. That's when I raced around to his back, grabbed what little of the vertebrae of the spinal spear protruded, and with another scream, I planted my foot on his ass and yanked as hard as I could. The spear came flying out, along with his shredded guts. I backed off as he collapsed against the wall, breathing heavily as he cradled his stomach. And with a long, loud groan, he turned to me. He was bleeding a river all over the floor, and he looked at me. I stared back in disbelief. And when he took a step forward, my heart skipped a beat. No way. No way. He took another step forward. I took two more backwards. He stretched out his hand at me, flexing his fingers like he was trying to grab my face. And with a final, painful groan, Jahood fell face-first on the ground. Motionless. I waited a second or two before I gingerly put my foot on his shoulder, kicking him over onto his back. His eyes were stuck open, and a steady stream of blood leaked from the corners of his lips.

Dead. I don't believe it. My knees went weak as my eyes drank in the sight of Jahood's still body. He's dead. This superhuman monster. I killed him. Me.

I staggered back, walking in a daze towards my axe. As soon as I picked it up, I heard a sudden, loud wheeze. Looking back, I saw Jahood's chest rise and fall, his lungs struggling for air. I closed my eyes and turned away, about to head for my revolver. Again, another pained gasp. I stood motionless before I finally shook my head. I had to do something. I turned around again, slowly walking up to the pool of blood that Jahood was now soaked in. He weakly turned his head to me, and I looked down at him. Lining the blade of my axe up with his neck, I quietly muttered, "Hold still."

Jahood's lips suddenly pressed together, and with a burst of air, a huge glob of blood and spit hit my cheek. Jahood took one last deep breath. "Celinus spits at you."

That was it. Something snapped inside me. Before I knew it I had flipped my axe around, the blunt edge down. I brought it up high over my head, and with a furious scream I swung it down as hard as I could into his face. I flung it up again, smashing it into his face a second time. A third time. A fourth. Fifth. I bashed his skull in again and again until I lost count. And with one more roar I put all the power I could behind my axe, crushing into his face. A loud snap echoed through the grove, and the head of my axe popped up three feet into the air before clattering noisily on the ground. I looked at what was left of the broken shaft. I could barely see straight with my heart beating all the way into my throat, and my lungs working on overdrive. I flung the useless shaft at the liquefied face at my feet, and staggered over to the grove entrance to pick up my magnum again.

Looking around the grove, I saw no other way out. Now able to see clearly again, I glanced at my band- just to make sure. Two left. I turned to the pile of rocks blocking the tunnel, and strapped on my revolver. With every muscle in my body aching, I put my hands on the first rock I saw, and pulled it out, tossing it to the side. This was going to take awhile.

-

After what seemed like forever, I finally squeezed out of the tunnel. My arms felt like lead, dangling listlessly from my shoulders. There was no sign of Mylan anywhere. Maybe she went to find another way around? Or maybe not. I looked at my band again. Still two left, but there were two dots clearly visible this time on the radar, and they were close. Very close. Mylan, and someone else. Was she attacked while I was fighting Jahood? Where was she now? Wandering to the mouth of the cave again, I turned around until the dots lined up with the top of the radar. Thataway, I thought to myself, trudging forward.

Not even a few meters forward, I spotted something on the ground ahead of me. That wasn't Mylan's gun, was it? My legs found some sudden strength of their own, and I ran towards it. Picking it up off the ground, I saw that I was right. It was definitely Mylan's smaller blaster. If this was just lying here, then she's in trouble. I looked down at my band. Still right ahead of me, but still pretty far. I took a deep breath before jogging forward.

-

She collapsed onto to her belly, coughing on the dusty, rocky ground. Mylan's feet and legs ached, and she could feel her lungs begin to burn with every breath. A shadow passed over her. A shadow with a smile. "Nowhere left to run," the massive figure jeered. Mylan looked forward. She was stuck between a monster of an alien and a steep cliff. She looked back over her shoulder. Grendan looked hardly winded, the chainsaw strapped to his right arm still rattling away. Various slashes and wounds decorated his body now, including a nasty, long cut running along the right side of his face. What wasn't bandaged up was taped together, still visibly bleeding. "Now how about you be a good girl and stay still?" Said Grendan, raising his chainsaw into the air.

Mylan suddenly rolled over onto her back, glob launcher in hand, and fired her last glob bomb at Grendan's chest. Instinctually, Grendan's broad chainsaw flew in front of him, shielding him from the bomb as its casing shattered on the chainsaw's tracks. Within moments, the sticky glue of the bomb was circling through his chainsaw, hardening into an opaque mass. The chainsaw squealed and sputtered before finally releasing a loud, dying hiss along with a cloud of black smoke. Grendan took his eyes off of Mylan for just a second, and that was all Mylan needed to scramble back to her feet and take off running as fast as she could. At first, Grendan didn't understand why she was running. Only until he turn his chainsaw around did he finally see it- the blinking bomb itself, attached firmly to his chainsaw. With a yelp of surprise, Grendan struggled to strip his chainsaw off of his arm. When her legs finally gave out on her a few meters away, Mylan dropped to her knee, and flicked the switch on her launcher. Grendan had just taken off the chainsaw and thrown it as hard as he could when it exploded in a brilliant flash and a deafening blast in front of him. Mylan dropped to her hands now, trying to catch her breath. She looked at her band. Two. She looked over her shoulder, only to watch Grendan trudging through the cloud of smoke. "You gotta' be... fucking kidding," Mylan wheezed.

As Grendan came within a few feet of her, Mylan put all the strength she had left in her legs to bolt back up to her feet, knife in hand, coming down at Grendan's chest. With a simple flick of his wrist, Grendan caught Mylan by hers, pulling her in closer to him. And with a squeeze of Grendan's iron grip, Mylan cried out in agony as she dropped her knife, slowly falling to her knees. Before she could do anything else, Grendan's other hand was at her throat, his massive left mitt easily ensnaring her neck. Effortlessly, he hoisted her into the air. Grendan released Mylan's hand, and laughed when they flew onto his, trying to break his grip on her throat. "To the bitter end, eh?" He sneered, ignoring Mylan's feet kicking at his stomach. Holding her at arm's length, Grendan carried her towards the cliff, stopping just when Mylan was hovering over the edge. "You should have just joined me," said Grendan, that cruel smile stretching across his face. "If you say you're sorry, maybe I'll kill you quickly." Mylan gurgled, before a weak sputter of spit came trickling from her lips. Grendan shrugged. "Have it your way."

"Grendan!"

The sudden roar from behind him made Grendan turn. There I was, only a few meters away, with my revolver aimed at him. Still holding Mylan over the edge, Grendan laughed. "Still alive, are you?"

"Put her down!" I snarled.

"And what will you do if I don't? Shoot me?"

I spat on the ground. "If you can bleed, you can die." Grendan snorted back at me. "Put her down," I ordered again.

"Well go ahead then," Grendan sneered. "Shoot me. Kill me, and you kill her too."

My eyes widened. I suddenly realized that he was right. I froze up, wondering what I had just gotten myself into.

Grendan snorted. "Of course, its not like that'll stop you now, right?"

He... he was right again. I could end this all now. My trigger finger twitched, still keeping my sights on Grendan's forehead. Mylan's struggling was getting weaker and weaker. She didn't have much time left, and neither did I.

Grendan laughed. "You can't do it, can you?"

I grit my teeth. I had to do something. I was going to do something crazy. Something I knew was totally stupid. I pulled my revolver just a little to the lower right and fired.

The bullet came screaming out of the chamber, and plunged deep into Grendan's left shoulder. Grendan stifled a roar of agony as his arm slowly drooped, letting Mylan's feet touch the edge of the cliff. Losing all the strength in that arm, Mylan pulled herself out of his grip, and collapsed on the ground, wheezing and gasping for air. I threw my revolver to the ground, bent my knees, and with a scream of my own, I charged forward, throwing my shoulder into Grendan's chest with everything I had left in me.

I bounced off of him like a pebble against a wall.

I hit the ground hard. My head was spinning and my hips felt like they were about to split apart. I cleared the cobwebs from my brain just in time to see Grendan's face twist into an enraged snarl. He raised his gigantic right fist, and sent it flying down at me.

I was suddenly pulled backwards, letting Grendan's fist smash into the ground just inches away from my legs. I was in Mylan's lap, her arms still tightly wrapped around me. We both looked up at the towering juggernaut above us, his one good fist still a tightly-packed ball of death. And as his massive foot took a ground-shaking step forward, a sharp rumble came from below us, followed by a loud crack. The spot where Grendan had pile-driven the ground suddenly split wide open, and a huge chunk of the cliff gave way, with Grendan on top of it. Grendan dug his fingers into the newly-carved cliff wall, coming to a sudden stop just at the edge of a sharp incline. Mylan suddenly shoved me off of her, and grabbed her gun from out of my belt. She hurriedly bolted to the edge of the cliff, and aimed down at Grendan's face.

Grendan closed his eyes. "Ah, shit."

Two loud energy bursts echoed around us, followed shortly by the sound of something huge and heavy tumbling down the bottom of the cliff.

I weakly crawled as far as I could from the edge of the cliff, my eyes glued to my band. Still at two. "Come on," I begged aloud, hoping it would make a difference. "Come on, come on, come on..."

The band beeped once quietly. The two turned into a one.

I collapsed onto my face. The dust and dirt was suffocating, but I didn't care. I just needed air, and lots of it. Mylan sat down, took a deep breath, and fell onto her back. The more I breathed, the more my head cleared. And the more my head cleared, the more my sense of relief turned into overwhelming dread.

It was finally time. I could hear Mylan getting back to her feet behind me. It was finally time. I don't know what I could have been expecting or hoping for, but it was finally that time. I wearily picked myself up off of the ground, and took one last deep breath. "Well," I said, getting back to my feet and starting to turn around, "It's just you and me now, My-"

I stopped abruptly. My jaw dropped. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. There was Mylan, with her gun still in her hand, the barrel pointed square at her temple.

"M-Mylan," I stammered, "What- what are you doing?"

She sniffled. I could see a stream of tears running down her cheeks alongside the black markings on her blue skin. After a silence that seemed to last for an eternity, she finally said, "You deserve life more than I do."

"Wait wait wait-!" I blurted out, my feet frozen in place. "Mylan, you can't just-! You can't-!" My mouth was saying a whole lot of words but none of them were making any sense. Through it all, Mylan just kept squeezing her eyes shut, shaking her head. I had to stop her- I couldn't just let her kill her herself...

...could I?

My feet stayed still. Why am I even considering this? Why was I just standing around like a-

My thoughts were suddenly interrupted with three quiet words.

"I love you."

With that, Mylan pulled the trigger. An arc of electricity shot from the barrel of her gun, and she dropped to the ground. "Mylan!" I screamed, running to her side. I shook her shoulders, and her head just rolled around listlessly. "Mylan, no!" I screamed again, my eyes welling up. I held my hear to her mouth. Nothing. I held my ear to her chest. Nothing. My band beeped again. No, not like this. Not like this. I angled Mylan's head backwards a bit and opened her mouth. Taking in a small amount of air, I covered her nostrils and pressed my lips onto hers, puffing air into her lungs. My hands were already on her chest, and I thrusted down. Nothing. I pumped on her chest again. Still nothing. My pulse began to race and my head began to swim. Something was wrong with me. The skin underneath my band began to tingle. My vision began to blur and every part of my body felt like it weighed a hundred tons. I struggled to puff more air into Mylan, then work her chest again. One thrust. Two thrusts. I was suddenly on my hands and knees, and then on my face.

[Mewfour]

ah, what the hell. i'll post the epilogue early, just for you guys. Sure it's a shadow of its former self, but dammit, TPM will always have a special place in my heart.

Episode XI - Aftermath

I woke up the same way I had first woken up on that alien world- alone, confused, and with a spinning head. My one hope- the one thing that kept me going though all the pain and horror, wasn't to be. This wasn't Earth, but some other strange planet. After all I had been though, Overwatch simply scooped me up, and just dumped me on another godforsaken rock. At least this world was inhabited, though. Many species of aliens lived here, too many for me to count. This new planet wasn't as barren and ravaged as the wasteland I had fought on, but it was certainly not anything urban. Spaceships came and went all the time, none ever staying for long. This must be some kind of exchange station, or refuelling stop, or something like that. I soon found a living working in a mine, going underground for hours- sometimes days at a time, with a crew of other bizarre aliens. Within a few weeks I was able to get my own little place- a broken-down shanty in the middle of nowhere. The band on my arm was finally gone, and at least I was alive... if you could call this living. When I had awoken here, Overwatch had left me with my revolver, and just one bullet. At first, I wasn't sure why. But as the weeks turned into months, and the nightmares grew more and more frequent, I came to realize their reason. Every time I thought of eating the barrel, I tried to think of one good reason not to do it this time.

That reason was always the same. Mylan. Not a day went by that I didn't think of her. And every time I turned my revolver towards myself, I couldn't escape the idea that if I pulled that trigger I would be wasting her sacrifice. This is my life. I had to live it. For her.

Then, about one year later...

There I was, inside a small tavern. My usual spot was right up at the barstool, a few empty glasses in front of me, my head resting on my hands. Everything here tasted like shit, but I couldn't care less. I just kept coming here to forget everything for awhile. Someone else came to sit down a few stools away from me, but I couldn't be bothered to lift my head to see who. Probably some other unlucky dead-ender like me. Suddenly, the portly bartender dropped a full glass in front of me. "I didn't order anything," I muttered.

"You didn't," he said, "She did for you."

I turned my head to the side to look at whoever this was. My jaw dropped. "Mylan?"

Between two thick walls of long, black hair, a smile came through on the stranger's lips. "Did you miss me?"

Maybe I've been drinking a little too much.

She wore something like a poncho that covered most of her, the only thing recognizable as Mylan was what little of her face came through her long hair. As I tried to find the words I needed to ask her everything, she stood up and put her hand on my shoulder. "Come on, let's get out of here."

-

I opened the door to my crappy house. "It isn't much," I said, leading her inside, "but it's what I've been calling home."

Mylan looked around, unimpressed. "How can you live like this?" She asked, looking at the holes in the walls.

"I manage," I shrugged.

Mylan hummed. "So," she said, "You want to ask me something, huh?"

That was an understatement. I led her to my torn and ratty couch, and as soon as we sat down, my tongue was on auto-pilot. "How are you still alive?"

Mylan smirked. "Back on the wasteland planet, when we broke out of Grendan's hideout, you found me tied down, right?"

"Yeah."

"Didn't Maruta have you tied down once before, too?" She asked. I nodded. "If it's anything like what he did with me, he let you figure out what was really going on."

"Trying to fake death to fool the bands." I said. "Wait, that's how you did it? He already gave it to you?"

Mylan nodded.

"But- but you shot yourself! In the head!"

"Not really," She said. Looking at the confused look on my face, she continued. "My guns were all energy weapons. They're designed to turn energy into focused bursts. I was in the army on Makria, remember? You don't get far without knowing your weapons inside and out."

"So what did you do with it?"

"Modified it's programming," she said. "Something I added myself back on Makria. Instead of a focused energy burst, I rigged it to fire a low-voltage electrical discharge."

"Why?"

"Comes in handy," She said.

"So, what does that have to do with the junk Maruta put in you?"

"He talked to himself a lot," she said. "He kept saying he needed a trigger for the chemical to work. Something that would produce a reaction to get the band to register death. He figured that something like a jolt of electricity would work, and was just about to hit me with one when they dragged you in."

I had to take a moment to let this all sink in. "Why didn't you tell me?" I asked.

"I-" Mylan stammered, "I knew I was taking a huge risk with your reaction. If I was ever going to pull it off, I had to make sure Overwatch would buy it. Your reaction had to be genuine."

Wow. "Then what? How'd you get off the planet?"

"That..." Mylan paused, "That's what I think was Grendan's plan all along. I woke up on a pile of bodies in a cargo hold."

"Cargo hold? You mean like in a spaceship?"

"Exactly," said Mylan. "Grendan's big idea was to kill everyone, except Maruta. Then, they'd feign turning on each other, triggering Maruta's formula in both of them. When Overwatch would come in to clean up, they'd have to do something with the bodies. With Grendan and Maruta only pretending to be dead though, whatever machine Overwatch was using would be theirs to take over."

"And in that case, the spaceship."

"Right. Grendan was going to hijack some Overwatch technology, and use it against them."

Huh. It all made perfect sense. "Someone like Grendan with technology like Overwatch's," I muttered, "That's a scary thought."

"Tell me about it," said Mylan. "But then you killed Maruta, so... congratulations on maybe saving the universe."

Me. Possibly having saved the universe. "I guess I did," I murmured.

"Anyway," Mylan continued before my head could get too big, "I snuck onto an escape pod, and shot myself into space. I've been planethopping ever since, keeping a low profile."

This was getting a little too hard to believe. "How did you find me?" I asked.

"I'm a mercenary," She said, "I need work. I was sniffing out jobs when I heard about a alien that nobody had seen before suddenly appearing on a refuelling station. Dark brown hair, pale skin, every description matched you... except for the new beard."

I rubbed the plentiful hair on my chin. "You like it?"

Mylan shrugged. "It's alright. Anyway, I thought I should stop by, see if it really was you. Make sure you were doing okay."

"Okay, yeah," I muttered, "I'm doing okay. I'm still alive, right?"

"How's the arm?" She asked.

I looked at my right forearm. The long, ugly scar that Jahood had left looked back at me. "Better," I said. "Doesn't hurt as much as it used to."

"You wanna' come with me?"

"Yes!" I blurted out.

"Hm. Thought so," said Mylan. "Whenever you're ready, we'll go."

As Mylan was about to get up, I grabbed her arm. "You... you really didn't mean what you said, did you?" I asked.

"Said about what?" She asked.

"About-" I paused. This was going to be hard. "About how I deserved life more than you."

Mylan suddenly froze. Those bright silver eyes looked like they were seeing a lot of memories, none of them pleasant. Her lower lip trembled, and after a long silence she hung her head and finally said, "Starting out, you don't have the luxury of choosing your jobs."

I held her by her other arm too now. "You weren't sure it would work, were you?"

Mylan shook her head.

My heart began racing. I could tell that hers was too. I had to say something- anything. "Listen, Mylan," I began, not sure where I was going, "I don't know what you've done, and I don't want to know. I'm not going to ask. I know you're not a heartless monster, otherwise you would have shot me the first time you saw me. I looked up to you, Mylan. I loved how strong you were. I love you."

Mylan's eyes suddenly focused on mine. Wait, what did I just say?

Mylan's gaze strayed low. "What are you trying to do, sweep me off my feet?"

Her words didn't have that same commanding tone that I had become used to. She was still acting tough. I had to match it. "I wouldn't say if it if I didn't mean it."

I felt her arms relax. When I gently pulled her towards me, she didn't resist. As her head fell against my shoulder, she said, "That's what I like about you." I shuffled over closer to her, and as I slid my arm over her shoulder, I felt her melt against me. "I thought you wanted to get going," She said.

"Whenever you're ready, Mylan," I said, "Whenever you're ready."