Red Waters

by Charles Rye

  Mordren continued to swing about in his chains, grateful his arms had been left free to defend himself, he knocked himself into the first soldier causing the man to drop his cattle prod.

  Mordren quickly snatched up the cattle prod and aimed it at the two soldiers, a wicked grin upon his face as they backed away.

  "Those pokers you lot have aren't gonna do a whole lot. Just proves that you're too scared of me to get within arm's reach,"

  How emasculated do you feel that a cripple with only one arm can beat your ass while he's hung by his feet?"

  "That you have to resort to a cattle prod to stand a chance, and even then I managed to snatch one from one of you,"

  "Do you feel inferior to me, the cripple? I would feel like a waste of flesh were I in your shoes,"

  "I pity you, masked men, I truly do,"

  "Sergeant! Get in here now!" the first soldier shouted as he went to make a rush for the door.

  Mordren swung his arm out and jabbed the soldier in the back with the cattle prod and a jolt of electricity shot through the man's spine, causing him to collapse before he could reach the door.

  The second soldier snapped his fingers, ordering three of the Destroyer to attack Mordren.

  Two of them began to snap and bite at his sides and neck but Mordren managed to jab the second and third Destroyers in the neck with the prod, making them yelp in pain before collapsing to the floor, not moving.

  The others slowly backed away from him; their heads bent low avoiding eye contact with Mordren.

  Mordren nudged the Destroyers on the floor with the prod checking if they were stunned or not, its legs spasming slightly when he nudged its side.

  Mordren pressed the cattle prod against the creatures' necks and sent another jolt of electricity surge through their bodies, killing them this time.

  He looked around at the other creatures that had all backed away from him, cowering in the shadows of the room.

  The door suddenly was thrown wide open, slamming against the wall as the large, burly man from before that Mordren figured was the commanding officer entered the room.

  The officer came to stand in front of Mordren looking down at him, his hands on his resting on his hips.

  "What about those things, the... whatchamacallits... Biters? Gnawers? Chewers?"

  "Whatever you call them, they're not very intimidating. Beat a few of them senseless and they don't wanna go near me,"

  "I've seen more competent guards in Tibet,"

  "Tibetans put up more of a fight than those things do, that's how horrible you guys are at your jobs, that a cripple can make your war dog things more passive than Tibetans."

  "How did you get that prod and how the hell did you take out one of my men and two of my Destroyers?" the commanding officer demanded, staring at Mordren.

  "Your men are completely mindless; they leave their captive's arms free and don't expect him to fight back when he's surrounded by attack dogs,"

  "You know, on paper, a pack of rabid mutant animals sounds like a wonderful idea, but when you get right down to it, that's all they are: animals,"

  "Like most animals, these ones recognize an alpha when they see one, and know not to fuck with it, because the alpha will kill them,"

  "They are smart enough to think 'Hey, if this creature can kill me without being able to move, it's probably not a good idea to antagonize it, or I'll end up dead like my friend, my mate and my son.'"

  "Now, what baffles me is that you lot, the creatures that made these things, aren't smart enough to see what your fugly looking attack dogs realized in a couple hours time with me,"

  "I'd say that makes you stupider than these things, but far be it from me to state the obvious, right?" Mordren replied with a smirk, crossing his arms across his chest pointing the cattle prod at the commanding officer.

  "You have just passed your first test, now let's see how you handle the second one," the officer

  said in a brisk voice.

  "Do what you want with me,"

  "But know this. Nobody has fucked me and lived to tell the tale, and I will be damned if I let you get away with it," Mordren replied, giving the commanding officer a look of disdain.

  "By the way, if your whole force is as laughably easy to take down as what I've dealt with so far, I'll hardly break a sweat escaping this place,"

  "Remember, I'm only here because you caught me by surprise. That is the only reason you're not buried in some rubble right now." He added.

  "Get him out of his chains, we're taking him to the battle room," the commander ordered.

  Two soldiers entered the room and went up to Mordren, both reaching up to unchain Mordren' legs and helping him to the floor as he straightened himself, stretching his sore, cramped legs.

  "What the fuck is a battle room?" Mordren demanded as he gave the soldiers that released him an annoyed glare before turning his gaze to the commander.

  "You'll found out, of course to be fair we will supply you with a weapon but no guns to make sure it's a fair fight," the commander replied shortly.

  The two soldiers grabbed Mordren by his arms and led him out of the concrete room, following behind the commander into a narrow corridor dimly lit by gas-powered lanterns strung along either side of the walls.

  "No guns? That hardly sounds fair, unless I get to choose my supplied weapon," Mordren remarked, reluctantly allowing the soldiers to drag him through the corridor.

  "You'll use what I decide to supply, if you pass this test we'll precede to your upgrade process,"

  "Upgrade process?" Mordren repeated, his brow furrowed in confusion.

  They soon reached the end of the corridor only to come to a titanium door with a small barred window in the middle.

  Mordren peered through the window into the room beyond the door, the sight inside sending a sudden chill down his spine.

  The room behind the door was filled with an entire pack of nearly twenty Destroyers, all snapping and growling at each other, their eyes glowing a dull red in the dim light of the room.

  "Here's your supplied weapon," the commander said shortly, shoving a dagger into Mordren' hand.

  Mordren looked down at the dagger in his hand and noticed the blade, though serrated was rusted.

  "Fucking asshole, giving me a rusted blade‚" He muttered angrily.

  Tamed and Dangerous

  "What the hell do you suppose we should do with his body?" Aurelia pondered looking at Caliphar as he straightened, dusting sand off his pants.

  "I say we let the fucker rot and any stray Destroyers can have the leftovers," Caliphar replied curtly glancing up at her.

  "Sounds good to me, besides we should start heading out before any stray Destroyers do show up," Aurelia said in agreement, as they all began to head back to the bus.

  "Think we should try to find out where that asshole's hideout is?" Aurelia asked once they were on the bus.

  Caliphar leaned back into his seat across from Soraf, folding his arms behind his head as he attempted to relax.

  "Yeah, I'm real curious to find some hidden base or whatever,"

  "Find out exactly what the fuck those Destroyers really are and how they're being controlled," He answered looking at the back of Aurelia's head.

  She turned the keys in the ignition as the engine rumbled into life, shifting into drive before maneuvering the bus out of the church ruins, avoiding the brick wall that surrounded them.

  "I don't want to have another run in with those military dicks,"

  "If I see any in the road again I'm running their asses over, no stopping," Aurelia huffed, blowing air out her nose as she steered the bus back onto the road.

  "Agreed!" Caliphar exclaimed with a chuckle.

  Soraf looked out her window and spotted a small group of at least six or seven Destroyers running together towards the church ruins.

  "Huh, they must have already picked up the scent of the soldier," She pondered aloud watching the creatures running past the bus.

 
; "That was quick, they must have a real acute sense of smell," Aurelia remarked, swerving to avoid a pair of Destroyers that suddenly ran across the road.

  "Damn!"

  "That was close," Caliphar said as he watched the pair of Destroyers join up with the others running towards the church ruins.

  "At least we don't have to worry about leaving behind evidence," Aurelia snickered.

  "Still wish you guys would've let me castrate that son of a bitch," Soraf pouted crossing her arms over her chest.

  "Fucker deserved it after calling me a bitch," She added.

  "Tell you what, if we come across another one of those military dicks, you're more than welcome to cut his off. Sound fair?" Aurelia responded, glancing back at Soraf.

  "Thank you," Soraf replied with a nod.

  Aurelia continued to drive along the road, swerving every now and then to avoid potholes.

  Caliphar stared out his window at the desert scenery going by when a flash of lightning surged through the ground, sending dirt flying up into the air towards the church ruins.

  "Whoa, what the heck was that?" He exclaimed watching intently as the shock-wave sent dirt flying upward, along with the pack of Destroyers.

  One of the Destroyer fell through the air and landed on the hood of the bus with a loud thud.

  Aurelia to slam on the breaks, the tires squealing in protest as the bus came to a screeching halt.

  "Electrical sand storm?" Soraf pondered as she stood from her seat, looking through the windshield at the Destroyer lying still as possible on the hood.

  "What the hell is an electrical sand storm?" Aurelia questioned, giving Soraf a look.

  "How else would you explain what the fuck we just witnessed?" Soraf replied shortly.

  "Who's that?" Caliphar interrupted as he spotted a black and white dragon guy wearing a tattered cape, blue jeans and goggles over his eyes.

  His tail stuck out from beneath his cape and seemed to be glowing pale blue.

  "Let's find out," Aurelia exclaimed as she got out of the driver's seat, hitting the button to open the door.

  Before Caliphar or Soraf could stop her, she ran off the bus and towards the stranger.

  "Excuse me!" She called waving to him.

  She suddenly stopped when she noticed a Destroyer not far behind the stranger, following him.

  She grabbed her gun and swung it off her shoulder, aiming it at the Destroyer following the stranger that suddenly caught his attention.

  "What do you think you're doing?" He questioned, looking at her sternly as the Destroyer quickly moved to stand behind him.

  "I thought that Destroyer was going to attack you. How are you controlling it?"

  "Are you with those military assholes we ran into last night?" She answered, lowering her weapon.

  "Fuck no, those guys are all completely mindless fuckheads," He responded, scratching the Destroyer behind its ears.

  "Name's Koriphus by the way, what's your's?" He said looking at Aurelia curiously.

  "Aurelia, this is Caliphar and Soraf," She added as the others joined her.

  "How are you controlling that Destroyer?" Caliphar asked as he watched Koriphus pet the creature.

  "It's an animal thing," Koriphus grinned, scratching the Destroyer's chin as it nuzzled his hand.

  "And I found out these things have some sort' a device implanted in their brains, and with the right amount of electricity I was able to reroute the device's system,"

  "This guy's as harmless as a kitten," He explained looking up at Caliphar.

  "That explains why that soldier was able to send that pack of Destroyers after us earlier, must be some sort of telepathic mind control," Aurelia pondered.

  The Destroyer slowly approached her and sniffed her clothes as it circled her, moving towards Caliphar who reached down and patted the creature's head.

  "No offense but we just got through killing a bunch of these things, I'm not exactly comfortable having one sniffing my crotch to say 'hello'," Soraf remarked as she shooed the Destroyer away.

  Koriphus patted his leg and the Destroyer ran back to him, nuzzling his leg.

  "Where are you guys headed?"

  "I wouldn't mind getting a lift, I mean as long as you don't mind me bringing this guy along," He asked, looking between Aurelia and Caliphar.

  "We're trying to find where those soldiers came from‚" Caliphar began to answer.

  "Of course you can join us, the both of you,"

  "We could use one of those things on our side," Aurelia replied, cutting off Caliphar mid-sentence.

  "Great! Walking for what's felt like forever has been a bitch," Koriphus answered with a chuckle.

  "Come on and make yourself at home," Aurelia smiled as she, Caliphar and Soraf led Koriphus and the Destroyer onto the bus.

  "Sweet ride," Koriphus grinned as he took a seat behind Caliphar, the Destroyer lying down on the floor beside him, crossing its front paws and resting its head on them.

  "So, does that Destroyer have a name?" Caliphar asked, turning in his seat to look at Koriphus.

  "I never really thought about it much; I suppose I should give him a name,"

  "I just don't know what name to choose," He chuckled softly, looking down at the Destroyer lying on the floor.

  "Am I the only one who's completely unnerved about having that thing on board with us?"

  "Let alone the fact you two are discussing giving it a name," Soraf spoke up, staring at Caliphar and Koriphus as if they were crazy.

  "Yes, yes you are Soraf," Aurelia responded as she came to sit cross-legged in front of the Destroyer.

  "I think it's fascinating to be able to study one of these creatures up close without the fear of it ripping out my throat," She continued as she reached over to scratch its head.

  "You are all absolutely completely insane!" Soraf cried, throwing her hands up in the air in exasperation.

  "Taming him wasn't the tough part, getting close enough to do so was the real challenge,"

  Koriphus chuckled pulling back the sleeve of his cape to show off the distinctive scarring on his right arm.

  "Ouch, that looks like it really hurt," Aurelia said looking at the scar.

  "Not really, I used my power to cauterize it to stop the bleeding,"

  "After that I went up to this guy and noticed a scar on the back of his head and realized some kind of device had been implanted in his brain,"

  "So I put my hand on his head and sent a mild electric current into it and was able to essentially rewire the system and tame him," Koriphus explained.

  "If we're able to find out where these things came from, maybe you can do the same to the others?" Caliphar pondered aloud looking at him.

  "Only one way to find out, we'll have to find their hideout first," Koriphus replied.

  "We're going to do exactly that," Aurelia grinned standing up to take her place in the driver's seat, revving the engine into life.

  "So Koriphus, how'd you manage to survive the apocalypse?" Caliphar asked looking up at him as Aurelia began driving along the road again.

  "As your kitty girl calls them, some of those military assholes offered me shelter but when the fuckers tried to 'recruit' me I turned tail and got the hell away from them,"

  "That's why I've been walking, wanted to get as far away as fucking possible from those assholes,"

  "I can't thank you lot enough for coming along and offering me a ride, I appreciate it," He explained.

  "That's what happened to us last night, we ran into a bunch of soldiers and their commander ordered us to state our names before I blew a bullet through his brain," Caliphar remarked.

  "Yeah, after he died all his men seemed to be mindless drones so it was pretty easy to kill them and Soraf managed to take one as a hostage,"

  "We were back at those church ruins and Caliphar interrogated him, we found out about the Destroyers and the soldier boys have a hidden base somewhere,"

  "Which we're going to find," Aurelia explained, glanci
ng over her shoulder at Koriphus.

  "I'd offer to help find their base, but where they offered me shelter was like a recruit centre," Koriphus replied with a slight shrug.