A handful of henchmen were trying to hold their ground against a Barbie doll, which was currently beating one of them to death. Three corpses littered the ground near her, all of them missing their heads. The Barbie had tied the decapitated heads into her hair, taking them as war trophies.
I wanted to help them, save those sorry bastards from their fate, but they were on their own. Still, it felt wrong, bordering on disturbing, to see so much death at once. Everywhere I looked, there were corpses painting the street red.
They once had hopes and dreams. A reason to fight. Now they were nothing but a number on the death toll. I swallowed my hesitation and kept looking for Reload, hoping to find him before someone else did.
“Taker!” Reload called out to me.
I spun around, trying to find him. He continued to call my name, and I blindly followed the sound of his voice. Whenever I thought I finally found him, it was just another corpse on the ground. His voice kept escaping me, getting further away no matter how far I walked. But how could I not look for him?
I turned a corner, walking into a small clearing free from the worst of the rubble, which was when I saw it. It was an old school Rockin’ Robot, a white cassette recorder with a built in face. I saw its play button press down, and Reload’s voice came out of it.
“Taker!” it called out, still using Reload’s voice.
I whipped my pistol into its direction, aiming in-between its eyes. “If you’re sentient, then I hope you live long enough to regret that.”
Right as I was about to pull the trigger, the sound of a rock hitting the ground came from behind me. I spun around, coming face to face with the blob of slime that just launched itself towards me. I jumped out of the way at the last second, forcing every bit of strength out of my injured leg.
The slime was a swirling mass of sparkling pink ooze. It was the same slime from our first fight against Plaything’s toys. The only difference were the corpses floating inside of it, each one frozen in desperate attempts to escape.
The slime gathered itself back up after the failed attack, fusing into a single blob. The Rockin’ Robot spun around in circles, playing Reload’s voice on repeat. I couldn’t believe that I got baited by a fucking child’s toy.
“Sorry,” I called out, uncertain if they could even understand me. “But I’m not interested in playing with toys anymore.”
Floating through the slime’s body were dozens of bullets, each one failing to take it down. It’d be a waste of bullets to think I would be the one to shoot it down, especially with nothing but a pistol.
But while my only gun left was a pistol, that didn’t mean I only brought guns with me. I pulled a grenade from out of my jacket, my only one, and yanked out the pin. The slime surged forward, giving me a clean path to throw the grenade.
It landed into the center of its mass, quickly sinking as slime enveloped it. A second later, it went off. Chunks of slime shot in every direction, blobs crashing against rubble and wreckage. Despite the force of the explosion, however, most of the slime was still intact.
But, while it was weakened, I used the opportunity to turn around and run. The disconnected slimes were slowly moving back to the main body, which was shaking in anger.
The Rockin’ Robot tried to follow me, chasing me through gaps in the rubble. But it was only the size of a dog. With one swift kick, I knocked it over. Its feet waddled in the air, unable to stand back up, as it continued to call out my name with Reload’s voice.
I hoped that it would slow down the slime, stop it for a few seconds. Still, even if it didn’t, I could figure out how to kill the slime later. My focus was solely on finding Reload, before something in this hellhole killed him.
Minutes passed as I navigated the battlefield, climbing past corpses and debris, until I finally spotted something that stood out. The faintest glint of light, reflecting a nearby fire, that came from the obnoxiously bright gold jewelry that he wore.
“Damn, you look like shit,” he laughed as I approached him.
“I’m not listening to the dumbass who took down the building we were still in.” I felt so relieved that he could still respond to me.
“In my defense, I didn’t mean for that to happen,” He chuckled, his voice getting weaker. “I’ll give you more details when I’m not actively dying.”
“I’m surprised that you can still stand up for yourself.”
He was laying against the ground, his legs crushed underneath a concrete pillar that extended farther than I could see, hidden by rubble at both ends. Still, I pushed against it with every ounce of strength left in my body, trying to knock it free. As minutes passed, it became clear that it wouldn’t budge.
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“Well, I figured that’d happen,” he said.
I collapsed against the rock, desperately trying to recover more strength. “Alright, we just need to get Tóxica here. She’s strong enough to get this off of you, and she can’t be that far.”
“That’s not going to work. I’ve already been pushing it by not taking a Throm yet. Even if I won’t die from blood loss, the shock is going to get me soon. You can’t free me before it happens, just not possible.”
“But you can’t take it now, this place is a fucking war zone. All it would take is a single bullet to put you down. I just need some time. I can figure out a way to get this rock off of you.”
“Taker, calm down. This shit weighs half a ton, at the minimum. No one here has the ability to get it off of me. Just do me a favor and make it quick.” He reached behind him, pulling out a weapon.
My heart tore against my chest, threatening to tear me apart from the inside. “No! I am not going to kill you! Are you fucking crazy?”
Reload laughed. “Kill me? Good Dendra, calm down.” He tossed a machete at me. “I just need you to hack off my legs so I can take a Throm.”
To be honest, that wasn’t comforting to hear. It was easier to stomach cutting off his legs rather than killing him, but that didn’t mean I was okay with it. Still, Reload was right. It was the best option.
If we made him heal with his legs crushed underneath the pillar, the Throm wouldn’t do anything but make him vulnerable. He wouldn’t be able to take another until the first ran its course, and his legs would remain crushed, with no space to grow.
So, I spent the next minute hacking at his legs, forcing myself to continue through his howls of pain and laughter. Each whack made more progress than the last, easily splitting apart his flesh, but the bones required uncomfortable amounts of time to tear through.
The second I cut off the last chunk of leg, Reload popped a Throm. His bleeding stopped a few moments later, the medicine moving as fast as it coud. But even if he was free, things were still dangerous.
“Alright, we need to get going. There’s a murderous pile of glitter goo chasing after me, and I’d prefer to avoid being caught by it.”
“Oh, sure. Let me just get to walking out of here,” Reload said. “In fact, I should grab my walkman to listen to some music. After that, we can watch some Walker, Texas Ranger.”
“Snake Jesus, I get it, you can’t walk.” I crouched down, offering my back to him. “Just hang on to me, I’ll carry you.”
Reload was surprisingly easy to carry. Well, it wasn’t that surprising. He was already fairly short, and his missing legs cut down on half his body weight. But regardless of how light he was, it still felt odd to give him a piggyback ride.
I made my way through the labyrinth of ruins and human remains. If we were going to escape the immediate danger, then we needed to leave Belaqua Street. Fire continued to spread through the wreckage, blocking off a growing number of paths to safety.
While fighting surrounded us on every side, our problem was trying to navigate past the corpses that littered the street. It took me a few minutes of carrying Reload, who did nothing but laugh and comment on our surroundings, before I finally found a way out.
I climbed over a tangle of twisted rebar, struggling to keep my footing as the poles shifted with each step. Once I finally slid down to the other side, escaping to the sidewalk, I let out a sigh of relief. We still weren’t close to done with the fight, but at least Reload could get out of here safely.
As I approached a nearby alleyway, I stopped, noticing a set of lights in the distance. The source of the light continued to grow closer, sporadically swerving across the sidewalk and still usable portions of the street. It was Frank, driving what remained of the food truck.
In the handful of minutes since I lost sight of it, the truck had gone through a few drastic changes. The glass had been blown out, and the body was battered with dents and scratches. The dripping blood coming from the grill was complemented by the pink gum stuck to the sides and roof of the truck.
I waved, trying to catch Frank’s attention. Moments later, he screeched to a stop next to us. The passenger side door had been torn off, giving us a clear view of the wrecked interior.
“So, I see that the fight is going well,” Frank remarked.
I tossed Reload into the passenger seat, dropping him like a sack of potatoes. “Could be going better, but we’re surviving. How’re things going on your end?”
“Well, my license should be revoked, considering how many people I’ve run over. I also ran over one of the villains you warned us about, the gum guy. Honestly pretty grateful, pretty sure his gum is the only thing keeping the truck together.”
Reload started to toss me a new set of weapons, which I shoved into every available pocket on my outfit. “Good for you, Frank. I knew you could get a super kill. Can you drop Reload off somewhere and come to where Tóxica and I will be fighting? You just need to follow the roars.”
“Yeah, I can do that,” answered Frank. “But, quick question. Why does he not have legs?”
“No, fuck your question,” Reload interrupted us. “What do you mean drop me off? I’m still in this fight, I just need to ride up front with Frank.”
“Reload, there is no way in hell you’re going to keep fighting like that.” I shoved another grenade into my suit pocket. “I know it sucks, but not being able to walk makes you too big of a target.”
“You are being so offensive to my people,” Reload said. “Just because I can’t walk doesn’t mean I can’t fight.”
“Reload, you won’t be able to take another Throm for a few days and you have no Super Resistance left. I’m not telling you to stop fighting as your leader, I’m asking you to stop as a friend. You need to trust that we can handle the rest of this fight.”
Reload’s smile faltered, turning into a frown. “Alright. Fine.”
He pulled out one last weapon, a crowbar with a shimmering gold aura around it. “But you better get some good kills for me.”
I grabbed the crowbar with my free hand. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to tell you every detail. Now get the hell out of here.”
Frank drove off, taking Reload with him. As I saw the two of them driving into the distance, I opened up my messages with Tóxica.
I heard a violent roar tear through the sky, with the ferocity of a wild beast.