Those The Galaxy Forgot

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(If your character is not in Netherworld, it is unlikely they would be present.)



It was not the first time Book had overextended himself. It likely would not be the last. Hr'tal was long since abandoned. Whatever creatures once roamed this massive industrial coffin had died some time ago. What remained of them tended to rise up and do their absolute best to rend any survivors to little meaty pieces.

Not that there were any of those folk left.

Currently, Alexander Ontanas was pinned against a crumbling wall. In the streets outside, four of the beasts stalked along. Their claws flexed as the scent of meat tinged the air. Their noses rose toward the sky, sniffing to find wherever the interloper in their city - Book - had gone.

The soldier remained silent, watching them quietly through his visor.

When the portal between Netherworld and the galaxy was stabilized, the soldier remained. Partly to find something lost, a friend he so desperately missed, and partly to live beyond the burdens of politics. Here it was a daily struggle to survive. Food was a constant issue. The spores in the air required filters to breath without being contaminated, and power was difficult to maintain. Not to mention these beasts that roamed the city at all hours if the day.

"C'mon..." He whispered, gripping his DC-17m. The pack came to a halt at once, clicked something unintelligible, and sprinted down an adjacent alleyway.

Book pushed up to his feet, made sure his armor systems were up to spec, and checked the electrical map he had routed through constant exploration.

The sun was high in the sky, but darkness always awaited around the corner in this forsaken place. He would not waste what little light he had.

[member="Quill"]

 

[Quill]

Another clawing band of scavengers stalked past a large pool at the end of a street. Water from pipes and underground wells had bubbled up in the ruined foundation of a tall building, the walls had crumbled to form a defensible bastion around the edge of the small lake. There was a meat-smell here! They knew it.. it just seemed to disappear amongst the blackened rocks and twisting metals that had formed the once-proud building.

Once they'd left, one of the black rocks moved. Quill poked her head up above the water; the black scales and eyes of her head had camouflaged the Qwohog from the ravenous beasts. However the hell she'd managed to get down here was beyond the fish woman. Thank goodness she had on an spelunking suit before arrived--the spores down here hung in gray hazes. She at least had filters to keep her air clean.

A yellowed earfin twitched. She heard something running. Not the scrabbling barefooted padding of the spore-things, but real and actual boots. At the risk of catching their predator's attention, Quill pulled herself silently out of the water. She flattened to a wall, waiting until the booted creature came into sight, and waved frantically. She did not want sound to give her or the prospective aide away.

[member="Book"]

 

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Off we go.

Book gave his HUD a cursory look. His sanctuary was not far - which was both a good and bad thing. On one hand, it meant that safety was only a few minutes' walk. On the other, it meant those creatures were getting ever closer to the place where he slept. It would need to be moved.

He slipped a fresh magazine into his DC-17m, grimacing as the normally satisfying click of the weapon echoed through abandoned city. He froze, back pressed to the closest building. Nothing.

Then he saw it. A small figure, a little more than half his size, waving down the next block. It was humanoid, and it wasn't coming to eat him, so it was either another sentient living in this hellhole, or they had evolved. Probably the latter.

The soldier leveled his rifle on the thing's torso and unconsciously checked his filters as he approached. The creature just kept waving. Book had half a mind to put it down now and save himself the trouble.

"Name?" He asked quietly when he came within range, his expression hidden by the bronze outline of his helmet's visor.

[member="Quill"]

 

[Quill]

Ponds, it was alive. It spoke. The Qwohog almost couldn't believe her ears. Oh look, he had a gun too. Good, weaponry was important. She pulled a glove off, gestured outwardly with a yellow webbed hand, showing she lacked claws, mushrooms, bones. Anything that would mark her as one of undead.


"Quill, now shut up! Get in the water before they come back!" She kept herself flattened to the rubble, carefully clambering up the wall to peek over. Safe. Quiet, but she could see the shadows moving away. The fish woman slowly eased herself back to the ground. "They only just went around the bend. Do you want to be eaten?"


[member="Book"]