Chapter 6: A Fistful of Caps

How can I live, I thought to myself. In one day I’d gotten rid of the only two ponies I’d been able to call friends. Though I’d only met one of them recently, it felt like I’d known him my whole life. I had buried Thirteen’s body as best as I could, covering him with rubble that formed a small tomb and I said a few words after I was done.

The sun set and rose above me. How many times it did so I didn’t count. I didn’t care. I deserved to die here like everyone else. A few times I’d felt the barrel of a gun on my temple, as if Rimfire was there once more. I always wondered if she’d pull the trigger this time or the next. Yet she never was, and the hammer never dropped.

My throat cracked and burned with every breath and jostle of my body. I hadn’t had a sip of water for a long time, or a bite to eat. My entire being was wracked with pain.I didn’t even have the strength to get off my back anymore.The sun had left my skin burned and it was a struggle to even make myself move.

“Why even bother?” I asked the world. I could feel the warm blood in the back of my throat as I spoke, the flesh having finally broken. “I’m not worth it.”

I had closed my eyes waiting for death to take me when I heard a small beeping from my side. I opened my eyes and looked at my forehooves. My PipBuck was lit up and emitting beeps every couple of seconds. Slowly I raised it and hit it back into the ground trying to silence it.

“That’s not going to work, you pile of shit,” I heard from somewhere to my side. I turned my head to see a dozen NER rangers and Tin at the lead. She looked mad and had the fires of tartarus in her eyes. Tin strode up and loomed over me. “Are you going to get up, or do we have to shoot you a few times?”

“Shoot me,” I told her. “Though I’m probably not worth the bullets.”

Tin scoffed. “Oh Celestia. Did the wasteland finally get to you? Did you try to have your way with that mare and get your dick kicked?” Tin took her eyes off me and looked around the town and frowned. Turning back to me she said, “Alright, princess. Nap times over. Get the fuck up.”

“I don’t even think I could if I wanted to,” I said. I coughed a little, blood started to drip from my mouth for emphasis.

“Get a medic over here,” she called back the rangers. One of the rangers with a red cross on her uniform bounded up and saluted Tin. “Patch the prisoner up,” Tin demanded. The medic saluted again and began to pick through her bags. Tin walked back to the rest of the rangers and began to talk to them. Frequently her eyes darted back to me, as if daring me to try to escape.

The medic had pulled a good sized pile of supplies out of her bag before she began to examine me. I got a good look at her as she prodded my chest, stomach and face. She had pale blue eyes that matched her coat. Her mane was a darker blue.

“Open,” she said, pointing at my mouth. I opened my mouth and she put her face close to mine as she examined my throat. She reeled back as soon as she was done, picked up a healing potion and started to pour it down my throat. I coughed and sputtered as the sweet taste of the potion mixed with the iron taste of the blood.

Somehow I managed to swallow the terrible mixture. “Don’t you have a stimpak?” I asked the medic.

“Not for prisoners,” she scoffed. She grabbed another healing potion and tipped it into my mouth. The last one had healed the wounds of my throat enough that the taste of iron was mostly gone from this one. It was almost pleasant to taste. I felt something pierce my hide. I looked to see the medic holding some kind of bag connected to an IV. The IV had been stuck through right near my cutie mark.

She saw my look of confusion and said, “IV for saline. You’re nearly dead of dehydration.”

I laid my head back on the ground and let her do her thing. I was beginning to feel about as well as I could in light of the situation.

“Why weren’t you there for him?” I asked the medic.

“What?” she asked.

“Thirteen. He needed you more than me.”

“Boy, I don’t what you’re on about,” she said. She went back to monitoring the IV. For what reason I don’t know. After a couple of minutes of silence, the medic handed me what looked like a candy bar. I was too weak to use magic so I cradled it in on a hoof. “It’s a nutrition bar. Eat it.”

I tore off the tip of the wrapper with my teeth and began to eat the bar. It had a gritty texture but didn’t taste bad at all. Soon I found that I had devoured the whole thing and was looking for more. The medic shook her head at me.

“How’s he looking?” Tin asked from behind me. She must have crept up without me noticing. Not that I was in a state to do such a thing.

“He’s doing fine, should be up within the hour,” she said.

“Good. You’re dismissed, Mint.” The medic, Mint, saluted and walked back to the rest of rangers.

“Listen up, maggot,” Tin said, turning to face me. Again she loomed over me. Her expression was still of distaste, but not quite as angry as before. “I know you don’t like me, and I don’t like you at all.”

“How did you find me?” I asked.

“I don’t recall saying you could ask questions,” she snapped. “Now, seeing as you know about the key I’m going to keep this brief. You bring us to the key, we don’t kill you. Simple as that.”

“Sorry to say I don’t know anything about a key, much less how to find it,” I told her. She did not look pleased.

“I did not march myself across this damn desert to have you lie to my fucking face you worthless scum.” She picked me up by the front of my armor. “You will tell me where the key is or I will spread you across this town.”

“I’d help you if I could,” I explained, “But I can’t. I’m sorry.” Tin threw me back down and jammed her forehooves onto my chest. I let out a small cry of pain.

“Listen,” she said, pulling her head in close to mine. “If you don’t tell us where the key is, so help me Celestia I will cram a megaspell up your ass.”

I tried to push her off. “I swear, I don’t know!” I yelled at her. As my hoof went close to her body, she moved faster than I could react to. She pinned my leg down and began pushing harder with every second.

“You don’t know?” she asked. “That’s real fucking funny, Short. Really goddamn hilarious if you ask me.” She pressed harder into my leg. “I’m asking you, no, I’m telling you. You will tell me where the key is, or I will kill you and every shitty little pony you ever met.”

“I can’t-” I began to say, but I never finished that sentence. Tin had an expression of devilish glee as she began to press harder and harder into my leg. I began to scream as I could feel the bone beginning to give way.

“You need to find us that key, Short!” Tin yelled, a terrible smile on her face. As soon as she finished, my PipBuck let out a shrill beep. The small compass came to my eye, a hashmark located in the Northeast.

“I’ll take you to it!” I shouted through the pain. Tin flashed a small frown.

“Excellent,” she said, but it sounded like she wanted to crush my bones some more. “Stand up,” she said.

I winced as I rolled off my back and my weight shifted to my legs. My right foreleg, the one she’d been hurting, trembled as I lifted myself off the ground. I winced involuntarily as she gave a quick jab to my wounded leg.

“We move out in 10 minutes,” she said. “Welcome to the NER, recruit.” She turned and started to head back to the rest of the soldiers. I hobbled after her.

“Wait!” I said. “What does that mean?”

Without turning around she said, “I was given certain liberties when I took off from base. Namely using any means to get you to help us. I also just enlisted you into the fold.”

I stopped running after her. She went on to mingle with the soldiers and give out orders. I felt cold and hot at the same time. ‘How could she force me to join the army?’ I thought, ‘I could be killed!’ But another thought struck me. This was the same thing I’d done to Rimfire and Thirteen.

“Karma’s a bitch,” I muttered. Then again, it wasn’t a bitch, being that I deserved what I’d gotten.

“Form up!” Tin yelled. Her twelve soldiers formed a small four by three group of ponies. She glared at me. “Recruit, are we having a problem?”

“No, I,” began but she cut me off.

“The last things out of your mouth will be ma’am until further notice!” she screamed.

“Yes, ma’am!” I quipped.

She gave a small, sneering smile. “Good. Now get in line, recruit.” I hobbled over to the block of soldiers. Most of them were a good six inches taller than me, even the mares. There were seven mares and five stallions; only 4 of the ponies were unicorns. The unicorns had both assault rifles and a pistol. The earth ponies had their rifles on battle saddles and no pistols.Tin had two assault rifles on each side of her in a battle saddle. Both had silencers and red lasers on them.

“Okay, ladies,” Tin commanded. “We’re going to move out North along the highway. Our current target is, as of yet, unknown. Short, Ballast, and I will take front. Everyone else decide on the road. Move out!”

The rest of the soldiers gave a loud call and began to move forward. Tin appeared at the front of the pack and beckoned me forward. I trotted as fast as I could towards her. My leg was doing better but it still wasn’t great. It gave me a jolt to set too much weight on it. As I got nearer to the front I saw Tin walking next to a muscular, yet slight, stallion. He was levitating his rifle lazily to the side. On his back he carried a what looked like quite an arsenal of heavy weapons.

“Short,” Tin said coolly, “This is Ballast, second in command. In the event that I cannot give orders this fine stallion will be your go-to commander. You got that?”

I nodded.

“What?” she asked, her voice rising.

“Yes ma’am,” I said.

She narrowed her eyes and glared at me. “Good.” She turned back to the road. “Which way now, recruit?” She asked, but it sounded like more of a demand.

I turned my head, looking carefully at the compass in my eyes. “Northeast from here, Ma’am,” I told her.

“We’ll travel on the highway until the key is to our east,” she said.

The pace was arduous and soon had me panting a little in the heat. For the first few miles no one talked or did anything besides keep up the fast trot. Tin kept throwing terrible glances with small smirks at me. Around the time the marker on the compass began to twist a little more to the east, she turned her head back to me.

“You know what the NER does to traitors, Short?” she asked with a snotty voice. I kept silent and that made her sneer a little. “They might torture you for a bit, make sure you didn’t tell anyone anything important. Of course, some ponies think that even where we keep the coffee cups is important. So that step can take a long time.” I didn’t reply to her.

“What’s the deal, Sarge?” asked Ballast. His voice was like two slabs of granite rubbing together.

“Short is our prisoner,” she said succinctly.

“Huh,” Ballast muttered.

“That’s right Ballast. Short here is an important prisoner.” She knocked into my shoulder. “How’s it looking now?”

I looked at the compass. The marker was now all the way to the right. “Now we go to the East,” I said. Tin shouted to the rest of the group and we began to march East, away from the road. As we had travelled further north, the terrain had become less of a desert. Grass began to grow in tiny, thin patches and the air had become cooler. The sky that had been clear was now starting to fill with clouds. Only a few miles in either direction until the entire sky was filled with clouds. Off in the distance was a range of tall mountains, all of them tipped with white. Many of the towering peaks rose above the clouds.

I’d never been particularly good at geography, but the few books I’d grown up around had given me a fair enough knowledge of how things used to look. Most of the maps that I had been able to find covered only the area around Ponyville and Canterlot. Luckily there’d yet to be a time where I’d been lost for any longer than a day or two.

Tin and Ballast stopped short, I halted and looked forward. In front of us lay an ever expanding canyon, a forty foot drop to the closest ground. A stones throw away from the edge began a thick swath of trees that filled almost the entirety of the canyon. Tin turned back to the rest of the group.

“Need rope!” she yelled.

“Why?” I asked.

Tin could do all but contain her mockery. “Because we’re going down there.” As she said that, two ponies, a stallion and mare, trotted up to her. Both of them dropped coils of rope on the ground. From one of their many pockets they produced long, metal rods which they jammed into the earth. Next they tied one end of the ropes to the protruding pieces of metal and threw the rest of the coils over the side of the canyon.

“Move soldiers! Get down there!” Tin ordered. In groups of two, every pony went down to the canyon floor. After a few moments, only Ballast, Tin, and I were left on the ledge. Tin pushed me towards the ropes and I walked the short distance to the edge. I placed my rump on the edge and used my magic to pull the rope to me. Holding it between my hooves with all my strength I slid forward.

The rope burned the exposed fur and skin of my inner thighs and forearms, but the ground rose quickly to meet my tensed legs. Pain jolted up my back legs and into my hips. I let go of the rope and flopped down onto my back. Some of the dry, dusty sand flew around me in a small cloud. My eyes winced as the sand stung them. It didn’t take more than ten seconds for a pair of hooves to knock into my side. I looked up, squinting my eyes against the sun. Ballast was offering his hoof out to help me up. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Tin glaring at him. He didn’t seem to mind. I took his hoof and stood up.

A few of the soldiers has their guns out or were pointing their battle saddles at the tree line. My compass only showed one or two red lines near the arrow . The arrow was directly ahead of us.

“How much further?” Tin asked me.

“It’s not too far,” I told her. She grunted and turned to the forest.

“Let’s move!” she bellowed. Tin, Ballast, and I took the lead again as we moved into the forest.

Never in my life had I seen so much greenery around me. Tall, brown trees with thick trunks. Huge, branching limbs covered most of the sky and leaves choked the air. Vines dangled down from branches. Across the forest floor were large roots that protruded from the ground and fallen leaves littered in between.

As we walked, a few red dots appeared and disappeared on the compass. I used my magic and tightened a telekinetic grip on my revolver. Just feeling it’s now familiar weight comforted me. Throughout the forest a peculiar fact struck me. It was mostly silent. The only real sounds were the rustling of the leaves in the wind and noises that we made.

“This seems like a ton of shit,” Tin growled, her eyes glaring at me.

“I’m not so sure,” Ballast said. “I think Short’s telling the truth.”

“Oh,” she snapped. “Are you his boyfriend now?”

“No, I just think he doesn’t have a real good reason for lying.”

Tin turned and spit off to the side. “Whatever,” she said. Ballast looked at me discreetly, his eyes seemingly downcast. I looked ahead, the arrow pointed dead ahead. On a whim I looked down at my PipBuck and scrolled through the menus. Eventually I found the map. The arrow wasn’t even an inch ahead.

“We’re almost there,” I said.

Thee loud shots rang out behind me. I looked back to see a single mare pointed towards the forest off to our side. She was braced for combat with her battle saddle trigger held firmly in her mouth. Her barrel was still smoking as she scanned the brush.

“Hold your fire!” Tin yelled.

“What’s the meaning of this, Private?” Ballast shouted to the mare.

“I-I saw something, sir!” she quickly responded.

“What did you see?” Tin demanded. The rest of the soldiers were looking through the trees. Ballast was looking upwards.

“The trees aren’t moving,” he said.

“What?” Tin asked incredulously.

“The wind’s not moving the trees anymore.”

I used my magic to feel the butt of my gun. I shifted my gaze along the bushes, trying to see anything that might have been moving. Something did catch my eye though. We were surrounded in a sea of red points on the compass. Every pony had their eyes and guns scanning around us.

“Let’s mo-” Tin barked, but she was cut short.Two shots came from behind us. I turned to see the same mare from before staring shakingly into the trees. Without explaining she began shooting her entire magazine into the forest. Joining in on her panic the two ponies on her sides began shooting into the trees as well. Soon the entire squad save Tin and Ballast has emptied their guns. Tin was seething.

“If that’s enough!” she screamed.

One of the stallions let out a shrill scream as he was thrown up into the air. A vine was tangled around his leg and carrying him higher and higher into the trees. Ponies were scrambling to reload their guns. One of the bushes unrooted itself from the ground and latched onto one of the mares. It’s tendrils digging into her hide. Blood was already seeping down onto the dirt. Roots of other plants were spreading to the small pools.

“Move!” Ballast yelled to me and he and Tin started to shoot at whatever plants began to attack. I moved at a run to the arrow on my compass. As I ran through the trees, vines lashed at my legs but were never quite able to latch on. I heard automatic gunfire behind me and the screams of ponies, but I didn’t look back.

The trees started to get thicker and thicker until the world rose around me. My hooves scrambled for a place to grip on the walls. The roots and dirt gave way to my grabbings. I landed on my back amongst on some hard surface. I looked up to see that the hole I fell through must have been twenty feet up. My back was killing me as I surveyed my current situation. I was in the familiar setting of Stable-Tec decor. My fall had been broken by a large mound of dirt and leaves that had accumulated on the floor. I got onto my legs and the my back sent waves of pain all over my body, blinding me momentarily. I used my magic to to rustle through my saddlebags for something to dull the pain. Pulling out the first thing that felt right I saw that I’d grabbed a dose of med-x. I took off the cap and stuck it into my thigh. Almost instantly I could feel the pain fade away.

The were two small yelps above me and then a crunch behind me. I looked behind to see Tin and Ballast lying on the same dirt pile behind me. Tin had gashes along her coat and legs. Ballast was worse off. His left hind leg had one of its bones sticking through his skin.

“Fuck me,” Ballast cursed. Tin leapt off his body and began to search through her bags for something. Ballast continued to curse at his leg.

“Where’s everyone else?” I asked.

“There is no one else,” Tin grunted as she took a healing potion and gave it to Ballast. “Drink when I say.” Tin put a hoof on Ballasts bone and leg. “Now,” she said as she pushed the two together. Ballast let out a gargling grunt as he poured the red potion down his throat. Tin stepped back from him as he dropped the bottle to the side, the glass shattered on the ground.

“No one else?” I asked. Tin was watching as Ballast got to his feet.

“Nope,” she said. Tin reloaded her guns and Ballast checked his battle saddles. He appeared to have lost his rifle above ground.

“What made that hole?” I asked.

Tin looked up at the hole. “It must have been cut,” she noted. “Probably with a plasma cutter or something.”

“You got a weapon?” Ballast asked, eyeing me warily. I levitated my revolver out and checked that it was loaded. It was.

“Where to, Short?” Tin asked.

“Not sure,” I said truthfully. My PipBuck compass had been acting on the fritz since I’d landed. “Let’s just find our way out of here.”

“First you tell us where the hell we are,” Tin demanded.

“I’m pretty sure this is a Stable,” I said, “Looks like all the Stables I’ve ever seen.”
“Well how about that,” she said. “Now why don’t you tell us what the fuck happened up there?”
“I don’t know,” I told her.
“Bullshit!” she yelled. “You put that thing here, you must have known about that
plants.”

“They- those things weren't there before.”

Tin turned her guns towards me. “You stole from the NER, hid precious cargo from the NER, and then you lead my soldiers to their graves. Do you really expect think I’m that retarded?”

“I didn’t know those things were there!” I stammered back to her.

“Tin, killing him won’t bring anyone back,” Ballast spoke up, coming to my defense.

“I know,” she said, “But it’d make me feel a lot better.”

“Just let him be, for now. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be stuck down here forever. I figure you can kill him when we get out,” Ballast told her. “If you still want to,” he added.
I began to search the room. It looked like this was some sort of bedroom in
the dormitory section of a Stable. It was a ten by ten room with two beds, two
desks, and two cabinets. A small table was in the center of the room next to the
dirt pile. The only light came from the hole in the roof. On the other side of the table was a door. I trotted over to it and tried it. It slid open with ease. Beyond the door frame was a dirty looking hallway with vines that grew on the walls and ceilings. The floor was uneven and water dripped every so often forming small puddles. There appeared to be no working lights as the hallway was pitch black not too far from the doorway. Ballast hobbled to where I stood and glanced down the hall. He reached into his bag and pulled out a small flashlight and some tape.

“Use this on your gun,” he said. I nodded and took both objects. I laid the flashlight along the barrel of my revolver and wrapped them both in tape. I flicked the switch and bright light flared forth from the tip. I waved the gun down the hall. The left side of the hall continued down normally for approximately twenty feet before meeting in a four way intersection. The right side ended in a dead end. I started out the door when Tin pulled me back.

“I’ll take the front,” she hissed at me. Tin strode out into the hall with her guns aimed high. “Shoot anything that moves.”

It didn’t take long to reach the intersection, and after that we were at a loss. I told them that straight seemed to be the likely way to find the key. Neither of them had any argument to that decision and we went straight. We passed doors on each side, only a few would open. The ones that did led into bedrooms like the one we’d fallen into. Soon enough we did reach a stairwell that lead downwards. The stairs were made of a solid-grey concrete with black, metal safety rails. The walls were made of the same metal plating as the rest of the place. I saw a light switch on the wall next to the door and flicked it with a glimmer of hope. Above us the light illuminated the stairs for just a moment before shattering, sending fragments of glass raining onto us. Something below us let out a low grumble.

“That doesn’t sound too good,” Ballast said.

“Got any spare mags, Ballast?” Tin asked. “I used most of mine topside.”

“Sorry, Ma’am. I’ve only got two for my rifle and hopefully just enough for the rest of my guns.” With a sigh, Tin turned on me.

“Do you have any 5.56 rounds?” she asked.

“Let me check,” I said. I took off my saddlebags and began to look through them.

“What the fuck are you doing?” she asked. “Why aren’t you using the PipBuck?”

“What?” I asked.

She scoffed at me. “You stole it and you don’t even know how to use it. Hell, when we were taking them out of the stable, some ponies were trying to stop us, of course we couldn’t allow that, so we killed them. But while they were dying, they told us just what these things are capable of.”

“Like what?” I asked. Surely this thing wasn’t much more than a bauble. Although it might explain what had happened back when we had fought that security robot. I did my best to quickly bury that memory, the thoughts of Thirteen and Rimfire still hurt. But why shouldn’t they?

“They have this thing called ‘Eyes Forward Sparkle’. It makes some sort of compass that tracks friendlies and enemies. They also said it had ‘S.A.T.S.’, which helps you shoot straighter. It also manages your inventory so you can see what you have in your bags.”

I let my bags fall on the floor and raised my PipBuck. So far I’d only really used the status and map menus and had yet to explore much further. As I quickly found the inventory I felt like quite the fool. Under the ammo header, I saw that only had 10 5.56 rounds. I opened the flap of one of my bags and I saw the ten rounds arranged in a neat little pile on top.

“How about that,” I muttered softly. I enveloped the rounds in a small magical field and levitated them towards Tin. She was holding a nearly empty magazine in one hoof and was shepherding the rounds inside. Tin grimaced as she slide the magazine into one of the pockets on her armor.

“Let’s get moving. We’ll find the key and get out asap,” Tin said. “Ballast first this time, I want you to keep an eye out and be ready to hit it with whatever you’ve got.” Ballast nodded and started down the stairs. Tin turned to me as Ballast descended. “Thanks, Short.”

I followed Ballast and TIn took the rear. Our hooves caused echoes that never seemed to die down. When we reached the next level, a sign on the wall showed a ‘7’ in bold type. Across the small landing was a door that had been jammed open by roots.

“Seven?” Ballast asked.

“Yup, so what do you say? Out or down?” I asked.

“Short, I think I figured out your game,” Tin said.

“What?” I asked.

“You don’t really know where the key is, do you?”

I looked at the floor between my hooves. “Not really,” I admitted.

“Can’t say I’m surprised,” she said.

“And you don’t seem to hostile towards Short anymore,” Ballast said.

“I think I’ve seen too many good ponies die today to waste energy on being cruel.”

“I’m sorry,” I started to say, but Tin stopped me.

“Don’t,” was all she said. She took a deep breath before talking again. “The roots get thicker as we descend. I can only assume something hellish is down there. I just want to find the key, get back to base, and give my report. From what I know, whatever took the key was vicious, brutal... terrible. We go down.”

Ballast and I nodded and once again we set out down the stairs. We passed six floors before we reached the bottom. The floor was solid with roots and puddles. Bones poked through the leaves and vines intermittently. There was an additional sign in addition to the floor marker on this level. It read ‘Botanical Research’. Ballast went first with Tin and I taking up the rear as we went forward through the only door. Plants were growing on every surface this far down. Without much warning, an arrow appeared once more on my compass.

“It’s right ahead,” I said. Tin and Ballast nodded as we walked forward. The hallway we were in wasn’t as long as most, but it ended seemingly abruptly and exited into a large dome. The floor looked to made entirely of dirt and was strangely devoid of plants. There were doors every couple of feet around the entire room. The room must have been over a hundred feet across and I couldn’t even guess how tall it was.

“It should be in the center,” I said after I checked my PipBuck. The map put the arrow in the dead center of the room. Ballast spit on the ground and took a step forward.

“Well I guess we could dig,” he said. He had only taken a few steps into the room before the ground began to shake. From the center of the room, vines began to erupt from the ground and twist and writhe together. Dirt, rocks, and bones were thrown to the side as the earth was pushed by the massive volume of plant matter.

In the center of the room was a large, green, thing. It was half as tall as the room as I could see it and had six tentacles made of long vines each barbed with glowing purple spikes. Its head consisted of several pony skulls entangled with roots. It let out a horrible growl from somewhere which shook the room. A strange glint caught my eye and I saw something. In one of the eye sockets of a skull that made up its head was a golden disk.

“They key’s in its eye!” I screamed. I wasn’t sure if they heard me as Ballast let loose a barrage of fire on the thing. Bullets tore into the biomatter sending a red liquid splattering onto the floor. The beast howled with pain and lashed out at Ballast. One of its tentacles slammed into his side and sent him flying into the wall.

Tin screamed out and began to fire with both or her rifles at the beast. I started a run towards the right, hoping that having a distance between us would hinder the creature. After a good spacing I stopped and drew my revolver. I looked up just in time to see a tentacle rushing for me. Unfortunately I didn’t have enough time to dodge fully and I was slashed across one of my hind legs. Ballast was back up and began to fire again at the creature, drawing its attention from me.

As I stood up I noticed that my wound was oozing a purple pus. Wincing with a burning pain, I tried to take aim with my revolver at the skull. I fired a single shot and it went wide, striking the creature near its chest. Red spilled from the bullet hole.

“Shoot its head!” I screamed. Tin heard me this time and shouted something over the gunfire. She turned her assault rifles upwards and began to shoot at the creatures head, but with her battle saddles she wasn’t able to get the right angle and her bullets hit only the chest, adding wounds to where I’d shot before.

I lined up another shot and fire once more. This time the bullet hit the skull, but only chipped it. The creature writhed in agony and slammed a tentacle down on Tin, sending her into the air. With a second it grabbed ahold of her and lifted her up.

“No!” Ballast and I screamed in unison. I started to fire all four remaining shots at its head, only breaking one skull ,and not the one I needed. The creature brought Tin closer to its body and a cavernous maw opened in its chest. Huge teeth dripping with saliva gnashed as Tin was brought closer.

Ballast tore at his battle saddle removing a long cylinder from it and leveled at the creatures head. A plume of smoke and an explosion followed as Ballast shot a rocket at the creature. Its head was engulfed in smoke and fire and the explosive connected. As I saw a glint flying down to the ground, two tentacles grabbed at Ballast, each pulling at a different half of his torso.

I ran to where the key landed, but looked back at Tin and Ballast. The Creature had Tin in it’s mouth and was closing its teeth around her. I could see the long daggers piercing into her hide as she screamed to her death. Ballast was yelling as blood poured from his mouth.

“Run!” he yelled.

I grabbed the key with my magic and pulled it towards me. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a single tentacle whipping right towards me.

END OF CHAPTER 6
Level up!
Perk Gained: Questions Later: You’ve given talking a chance, but you’d be better off going in blazin’.
Charisma -1, Guns + 5, Energy Weapons +5, Speech -5% to succeed.

Author's Notes:

Sorry I don't space them out in the fimfic posting, but that's an awful lot of lines that'd I have to do.