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.