Demolition
The dry broken earth crunched with satisfaction under the heels of my steel tipped boots, something was going to die out here. I tugged my hair free of the band that held it and shook it in the wind, ebony locks whipping my cheeks. Scanning the area with my HUD it pinged softly, a small smile quirked my lips. I had a target.
Crouching low I did a quick check of my arsenal, smoothing my hands down my frame going through my mental checklist. Flexing my fingers the claws of the deck on my right hand extended while the probes that bound it to me pierced the flesh on the back of my hand, adrenaline blurring the pain. Double checking the read out from my HUD I rose to my feet.
Thirty meters North-Northeast: Devourer of Life.
“We’ll just see about that,” smirking as I read the analysis.
Lifting my hair to the side I stretched my neck taught and injected a stim vile into my jugular, hissing from the sting and waiting for my eyes to adjust. Refined adrenaline and pain killer, expensive, but the edge I needed. Chucking the spent tube aside I yanked my hood down over my head and broke into a sprint; darting between the dead trees that masked the Ruins hiding on the border of the Outlands and The Longest Road.
Twenty meters…. Ten… Five…
I was able to smell it before I could see it through the thick of broken branches and brambles. Rotting flesh and sulfur hit me hard and I gagged, it was painfully obvious that it had indeed devoured something recently. While I reeled from the stench the thing spotted me and I lost my element of surprise, the void of a mouth opening to swallow me; flies dancing around it in a morbid ballet.
Diving to my right the Devourer slammed into my back, corrosive saliva melting the winged pattern that graces the shoulder blades of my armor, warping into sad drips and fusing with my flesh I looked less angel and more fallen. I spun onto my back jamming my feet into its soft underside, which seemed to do more to piss it off than to help me. The gaping jaws yawned and screamed a howl, rearing to strike again. I saw my moment and flicked my fingers, activating a series of programs before striking out again with my boots.
Four very long seconds ticked by as I struggled to keep away from its mouth, I had little interest in becoming its chew toy. The first explosion rocked it back, Combust blowing a chunk out of the Devourer’s side and sending the jiggling mound to land with a thick slop off to my right. I pulled my arms up over my head to shield my eyes as Thermal Detonation and a charge of radiation exploded it like a garbage bag full of vegetable soup; leaving a ringing in my ears from being so close to the blast.
I caught my breath and waited for the ringing to quiet before sitting up to survey the damage. Slick and sticky chunks of Devourer graced my hair and slid down my chest. Tucking my knees up to me, I picked at some of the slime that had already started to harden on my leather pants.
Pleased with myself I flicked my comm unit back on, and a terrible and cruel laugh bubbled from me as I listened. Feeling a strange mixture of relief and guilt, I stretched to disperse the amino acids burning through my muscles. I opened the channel to respond and took a deep breath, “I don’t need saving. Going home, I’m tired and filthy. I’m sorry.”
