Ignavus : City of Blood

Act 11 : Caedes

“A monster, he said? You’re the monster, Aldo Meridic!”

Shanice overthrows her wrath down the dirt and smack them up endlessly. Her fatigued physique was gone, exchanged by the surge of adrenaline who were seeping out from their deposit at last. She is a strong personality with incredible vitality blessed upon her physique. It has brought no impending weight against her current discharge. Despite loads of adversaries she had taken down lately, restless attitude and never-ending wrath revitalised every penny lost from her energy at once.

Before the agonizing wounds that the woman has inflicted, it is time for someone to interrupt. Gads Gilmore seizes her arms and locked them away from actions she had caused,”Quit it, sister. You’re tougher than him. He’s a weakling compared to us.” Consoled the bearded man as he whispered to her ear.

“But, but...”

Her eyes drowned in tears. John and Elisa perceive such reactions coming from Shanice for the first time since their introduction at WIC company’s local headquarters. A tough-made leader has been acted robust before their face in three days straight, so the curly-haired woman’s sudden breakdown brought them into astonishment soon after.

~bam!~

“You hear that?”

John Straverman held his left ear for leaning across the source of such noise. From their location, the sounds somewhat representing a bunch of falling rocks onto the ground. It goes more than once in thirty seconds interval and were happening in more frequent manner as they listened to it up close,”It’s getting bigger, honey. I’m afraid.” Elisa clings tightly around his arm and clenching them in utmost fear. Her face turned pale against the tumbling rocks who were getting close in each drop that appeared. Amongst the surge of fallen objects, large flame outbursts occur across the landscape of Axeport city, therefore shudders developed within the quartet little by little.

“I’m here for you, babe.” John replied towards his wife’s visible distress.

~bam!~

Eventually, one of the unidentified matters have reaching the junkyard territory and crashed onto the main office building. A massive clouds of brown compound goes erupted once it strikes. Everything that were ill-fated to reside under the fall has been buried in the rubble, fried within the red blaze explosion and goes decimated in one shot.

With eyes still covered in tears, Shanice shook herself and frowned,”Who’s responsible for that three tallies on it? I guess it’s still me.” Faced the curly-haired woman before the tragic fate of three guards inside the control room. John Straverman abruptly denied her appalling remorse by waving his right hands off against the claim.

“It’s natural occurrence, so the count goes on Aldo Meridic.” He estimated,” We’re not responsible for their death. Unless if that pesky maniac wasted them all on us, in some ways, but I think it’s not logical enough for him to do it.”

Gads Gilmore added in jokingly manner,”We’re nothing but a statistic for him, too. We’re not special enough for that madman.” He muttered.

‘Graaaaa!’

Voice of terror brusquely appeared from the crash site. Loud and fear-mongering beast stood on top of the office ruins. Two sets of v-shaped claws decorated its front and hind legs that spreads to 4 meters in width. Acting like a helmet for the beast and means of defense, thick fortitude made of skeleton coated its entire head and supports the fearsome behavior of such monstrosity in a glance. Its body developed some kind of jagged spikes that glows in bright-colored hue. Most of them are visible upon its fairly-vulnerable four-legged physique, which also boasts a muscular structure combined with thickened furs of a Grizzly bear.

~bzzt-bzzt~

Once again, the shuttered-down phone screen from Elisa’s handheld goes illuminated and displaying WIC company’s logo at its main interface,” Why, Aldo? At a time like this?” protested the blonde-haired woman upon her own device. She nearly bashed her phone onto the rock, if her husband never halted such advance beforehand.

“We should listen. Aldo Meridic could be informing us on how to kill that thing.” Muttered John Straverman towards his wife,”We have a ton’s worth of cover in-between us an that beast. Of course, he would’ve adjusted his own beast into stalemate until we have learned of what to do.”

Shanice and Gads agreed to the black-haired man’s verdict. Elisa affirmed his intentions, as well, lowering her arms down and setting the screen up for everyone to watch in comfort.

‘Pardon me for this intrusion. I have to make you known of this beast’s terms and conditions before I let you have a party with them. This is ‘Caedes’, a hybrid of Dunkleosteus and bald-bodied Arcdotus combined. My scientists had them programmed to become responsive against any least-counted killer on the region, and i think it’s adequate for you folks to find out!’

The transmission ended again in absolute mystery. Neither of the quartet understood completely over his prior announcement nor being able to comprehend over its hidden meaning in entirety. Shanice and Gads look upon each other in puzzled face, having no actual response against the brief information they have gathered from Aldo Meridic and his third appearance on the screen,” Caedes? What in the world would that help us?” muttered John in baffled expression.

‘Graaaaaa!’

Now, they could capture the monster’s entry into the bracket of survival game. Caedes has now crawled on its four-legged movements and heard it sniffles onto the ground. Its mouth was digging deep into the concrete and steel rubbles beneath in blistering speed until it has found the desirable target down under. Three adult human male and their remains become the feeding ground for the beast as it crunches the burnt-up corpses in one bite.

“Cover yourself and get inside!”

Shanice quickly directed their group into the hole before the apparent monster could notice. They have no ideas about ways to murder an eight-meters beast this time around. Shotgun would never work to appease the thirst of such demon-like creature over its desire in feasting on top of their delicate body. Gads could land a clear headshot against the skull, indeed, yet its solid demeanor across the crown would prevent him to blast a direct one into its brain and nullified them whole.

~click-click~

Gads Gilmore turned on his gadget to enlighten the void darkness before them. They were roaming inside the tunnel in a rushing motion. Barren wasteland to this extent, they found nothing but dampened passageway in their advance,” I hope there’s a car and not a dead end. We’re close to death, for sure.” mumbled John Straverman amidst their sprint. His wife was wriggling in frighten after looking over Caedes and its fearful properties. She races against the clock for her own life, pale and seemingly scared to the bone.

Otherwise, Gads Gilmore has been in focus towards the metal detector on his gadget’s screen. He designed them to detect any form of four-wheeled automobile in six hundred meters radius. They wanted a manual ones, so the bearded man customised its panel for exclusive recognition to fuel-based ones at the moment.

“Don’t worry, if they have a getaway car in here, there must be some fuels stored inside.”

The bearded man said in certainty that appeared upon his sweat-swelling face. He carried the most heavy luggage than the rest of their group. Advanced technologies that he himself invented, no less, for Gads Gilmore wanted to test them out on the field at once,” Big guy, something to aid us out, maybe? We’re really vulnerable across the back, you know?” Shanice asked as she strolls across the rearmost position of their escape. Her stern gaze indicates solemnity against the opponent behind. If required, the woman would sacrifice herself to be eaten by the beast if such action provides the best outcome for their group.

“I’ve attached a decoy there earlier. That beast would think it’s never been broken anyway, so we could do our research in peace.”

~tap-tap-tap~

They were scurrying forward for five more minutes straight to grasp the closing stages of their runaway. Shelves full of metal scraps were teeming around the boundary of one expansive room inside. Round-shaped getaway route are available across the west and eastern side, roughly adequate for five persons to stroll side-by-side at the same time.

Their vision went bright by the vivid illumination and a presence of familiar object in the middle. Speechless before the hidden curvature of a full-stack blocks ahead, Gads Gilmore knows exactly that the content inside is useful for their future travel,” Home-as-ta, We’re gonna be saved.” Murmured the bearded man to himself as he got near.

“Is that what I think it is, Gads? I’m waiting for your answer.”

Shanice joined his ongoing mantra and given a few touch onto the piece of leather that covered the mysterious entity under its coat. She was intrigued by the toughness of the hidden objects down within and its cold but smooth edge, blended with the slick texture of glass in-between,” Yes, I can feel it. Like a recall to our childhood memories, huh, Gads?” stated the curly-haired woman afterwards in mild-sense jubilation.

“Definitely. A muscle-engine ones of our past, sis.” Gads Gilmore replied.

~flap~

The leader unfurled the cover for them to see its insides in immediate fashion. Down beneath, an antic fuel-based automobile from one of renowned car manufacturer from the western skies has been sleeping in comfort. No stint of modern world smeared onto its steel fabric in any ways possible. Mainly gasoline-powered, a newly-manufactured Stang GP could make over 600 kilometers in full tank. It has no other requirements than for the four tires to consume every liters of the liquid when running past the electricity-designated world.

In the past, dedications in counting the lesser amount taken after spending a liter-worth of fluid would determine the automobile’s value at the most. People nowadays felt absurd for such delineated function to become an important component of a car. Futuristic models of sharp-edged solar panel structure above the hood would be more worthy to count on during their voyage on an unlimited source of electricity. After inventions of methodology for buzzing the power directly onto the road surface, nobody has the desire to speak against such obsolete purpose and talk themselves on defending their favorite car’s capability to travel the world before the appearance of any other models around.

“Let’s see th-“

~bang-bang~

“Get down!”

A pistol fired towards the quartet in rather-defensive manner, brought them to flee away behind the shelves around them. Other than the frightened blonde-haired lady, the three quickly drawn their weapon once such threatening blast occurred. John takes a feint to the left alongside his wife for self-protection against the missing shots inbound. Shanice ordered Gads to locate their impending threat by the hand gesture that the curly-haired woman displayed in subsequent manner, which was responded by the bearded man in almost automatic fashion.

“Only one ahead. We can talk ourselves out of this.” Gads Gilmore whispered to the radio receiver,”I’ll try to subdue that woman slowly. You can do the conversation with her while so, sis.”

Looking concerned, John Straverman took a glance towards his wife. The furrowed eyebrows defined unease behavior against abrupt assault of someone nearby. His eyes flashes all over the landscape for seeking such annoying pestilence that arrive, but found no one on his vision for some reason,”Are you okay, babe?” he asked to his wife once deemed safety across the vulnerable spot of where they concealed themselves behind. Elisa answered the query by bobbing her head extensively without any word mustered afterwards.

He could feel an earthquake by the shivers that the blonde-haired woman has produced on her hand. She was never okay in the beginning of every fight, but will be reduced significantly once their forthcoming menace got eliminated along the way.

“State your business, thief!” Shouted a woman from afar. Her voice signified fearful tension immersed within. She was quivering against the quartet’s entrance and felt susceptible before their advance. Before the woman’s bark, however, Shanice puts a calm demeanor and raised both hands in the air. She revealed herself bare and naked, completely harmless towards the woman and her gun as the curly-haired woman removed herself from hiding.

“We wanted to borrow your car. Of course, you can come with us if you want to.”

Shanice asked with plain expression adorned.