Bay 12 Games Forum

"Would he-" the larger of the two heads started, pausing as it glanced between you and Eurochkoles, swallowing nervously as it tried to find the courage to ask what was on its mind. "Would he have actually fired?" it asked, a question that you yourself didn't know the answer to, a question that you couldn't have answered if you wished to. You knew that you wouldn't be killed by such an injury, though it would have incapacitated you for a short space of time and so did he. He knew that you would have recovered from it, that it wouldn't cause any lasting ill efects other than the immediate pain and discomfort it caused.

"Of course he wouldn't," you responded as you glanced in his direction, watching as he silently continued to feed coal into the fire. You wished you could convince yourelf of that, you wished you could have read what was going through his mind at that point, known what he was thinking so you could answer it truthfully. You couldn't quite convince yourself that he wouldn't have, especially with how firmly he had pressed the gun to your head. "He loves me too much to do that, naturally." you added as you smiled, though your smile wasn't as bright as it normally was.

It was only now that you were beginning to feel shaken, that you realised that as much as you had been around him, that you didn't know him. You had thought you had, you had heard him talk about all he had done for man kind, you had heard him talk about how he had done what it took to get the best outcome. You knew that he regretted the creation of the Guardians, that he hated having taken that step when it could have been avoided, yet you didn't know if he would still feel so remorseful if he felt that the only way forward was to carve his way through the bodies before him. You didn't know if he would truly have been sorry if it had came to him shooting you.

Maybe it was just insecurity speaking, maybe it was your heightened intellect running away with that paranoia you felt, yet you couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to him than he had let on. Maybe he himself wasn't even aware of it, maybe he believed in the words he spoke so deeply that they were lies indistinguishable from the truth. You had seen him kill before, you had seen him break the neck of a simple mugger while giving a chilling speech about killing for the right reasons. He was definately capable of killing when he believed his reason was just and that ability to justify would no doubt extend to every act he was capable of commiting.

"We need to give you a name, you know, something to make you more of a person, something to make you one of us," you started, pausing as you tapped a finger against your lips. You knew the types of names that the Enlightened would have given them, yet actual civilian names were something you hadn't had a great deal of reason to think of. Apart from when your own one was used to make you cringe, that was. For that matter, you didn't know if you were going to have to name both of the heads, knowing that they were both a single entity and two distinct beings at the same time.

"I do not require a name," the larger head rumbled, while the smaller one butted against it.

"A story, a story!" it squealed. "Tell us a story!"

"A story?" you huffed, shaking your head slowly as you did so. "What do I look like, your mother?"

"A song?" it inquired, looking at you dead on now.

"If you want a song, sing it yourself," you snorted in reponse.

"I don't know any songs," it responded with a pout, before turnings its attention towards the side of the train and chattering away inanely as it watched the scenery go by.

"You may not feel like you require a name, but it'll go a little towards establishing that you are still a person, despite what you appear to be," you huffed as you turned your attention back towards the larger head. "Without a name, you are just a face and a form, another monster, identified by what you are, not who you are."

A rumbling sound came from the thing before you, yet no words, no response one way or another to say if it was for or against this concept.

"How about we call you... William. Bill for short. We can call the other head Robert, Bob for short."

The larger head grumbled in response to this, though it once more, made no response for or against it.

"You hear that Eurochkoles, they have names that are more normal than your one now," you giggled as you turned to face him, though he did little to acknowledge this, instead keeping his attention on the railway before him. "Oh fine, be a miserable git then," you muttered as you turned your attention back towards the thing, back towards Bill and Bob. "Now, Bill, why don't we talk about what you remember of your life before you became this way, about the area we're in, about everything that seems important to you."

"I do not remember my life before I changed, I do not remember my name, I do not remember," came that rumbling voice as he shifted slightly, leaning back as he turned to look over the side of the train, as he looked at the scenery that was now speeding by. You frowned, as even though this was only to be expected of something that had changed so chaotically, it wasn't what you wanted to hear. It hadn't had the benefit of the manner in what it changed being quite so controlled as your own, it hadn't had its mind mostly protected from those changes.

"Do you remember recent events at least, if people came to see what had happened to the town?" you asked as you tilted your head slightly. "Surely after all, people would notice that a town on one of the rail roads was missing its people, that those that passed through may have vanished. Why did we not hear about this before now?"

"We changed the tracks, so they would send most trains on an alternate route, until you came."

"What of the Ghouls?" came Eurochkoles voice as he turned his attention in your direction, his tilting his head as he wiped his hands against his waistcoat, leaving black smears from the coal against it. "How did they cover up the fact your town essentially vanished, how did they hide so many people dissapearing?"

"I... I do not know."

"Then, we're going to have to assume that they have infiltrated the local branches of the government working here," he muttered as he furrowed his brow. "Potentially, they could have spread further than that. We have no way of knowing just how long they have been actively setting things up for their masters," he paused, turning away from you as he did so. "Alexandrina will need to know about this, she'll need to know that she cannot trust the government anymore, that she may even be in danger as a secondary target of these things."

"Why would they want to kill the queen, given that the government has the real power?"

"They wouldn't kill her, they'd control her," came his response, before he fell silent.

The rest of the journey to the next station was occupied with conversation with Bill and Bob, as you confirmed that they did indeed have little recollection of their natures, little memory of the area you were in. They were capable of rational thought, yet it was clear that they were still changing, that they wouldn't be capable of such thought for long. This worried you, as it made you wonder if you would continue to change as well, if you would be undying and eventually end up becoming one of the mindless things that you had preyed upon during your time with the enlightened.

Your arrival at the station caused a stir, with Eurochkoles telling you to remain where you were, to ensure that Bill and Bob remained with you before he dismounted the train. Even as he did so, even as the civilians in the carriage behind you started to dismount the local law enforcement arrived. While you couldn't hear what was being said to him, you could tell it related to you, to the other with you, with the police wanting him to step aside to allow him to get to you. You cringed as you watched him no doubt giving them the story of what had happened, not even pausing as he was punched in the face by the irate policeman.

"I asked you to move aside, not tell me your bloody life story!" you heard the man shouting, a few more words from Eurochkoles causing his face to turn red with anger as he lashed out again. "The queen, bless her soul, would never send an assortment of scum like yourself to do anything important like that!"

The bursar was fast to hurry over with a document, passing it to the policeman who scowled, screwing it up with one hand before casting it aside, pointing his revolver at Eurochkoles now as he continued to yell, as you stepped from the train, edging over cautiously.

"It's quite the offence to bear forged documents like that, you know. You're lucky with your other crimes that I'm not shooting you on the spot," the man snapped, while Eurochkoles sighed.

"Mortal, I do not have time for this, what I am doing is very-"

"Mortal?" the man laughed, a laugh that was both arrogant and ignorant. "What do you think you are, special, kid?"

"Do these eyes look like the eyes of a young man, human?"

"No, they look like the eyes of a killer, thus telling me that I am right here-"

"I am not going to play these games any longer human, call the appropriate people and get these civilians back on their way safely like your duty to them demands."

"Or else what?" the man sneered.

You could see that this was about to get ugly, that if things continued to escalate that Eurochkoles could potentially end up further injured than he already was. Were you going to intervene, knowing that they wanted you, or did you trust him to be able handle this, despite the clear ignorance that the man before him was showing?

The above user makes me wonder if we have a forum member called Brutus.

In the moment that your gaze flitted from him to the chocolate and back, he seemed to know what you were thinking better than you did, a smile crossing his lips as he gave you a brief nod, flipping out the cylinder on his revolver to ensure that it was loaded as he did so. A quick check was all it took for him to ensure he was prepared for this, to ensure that he was ready for the potential that he would be attacked while bringing the bursar back. "Well then, I expect you to be rested and recovered by the time I get back," he started, glancing back at Joy as he did so. "I hope she snaps out of that state, too, as we're going to need her to watch our backs while we're in the town."

You nodded, meekly reaching into the box, picking a bar of chocolate out, before offering it to him. You had been so dead set on keeping it all to yourself, yet you couldn't help but think that you should do this, that as your leader, that as the one you depended on, he at least deserved this much for you denying him cake while on the train. He merely smiled, shaking his head as he holstered his revolver, yet you couldn't take no for an answer, your eyes imploring him to take it from you, to accept this rare act of charity from you.

"If you insist, I suppose I must," he responded, taking the bar from you as he did so, smiling for a brief moment as he leaned over, kissing your forehead. "Thank you, but I still expect you to behave while I am gone," he added, before starting off back down the dirt path that lead down into the gorge, leaving you stood there with your fingers pressed to your forehead.

Why did he have to do that?

Why did he have to leave you feeling that the affection behind it was pure and innocent, that it was no more than a gesture of friendship. Why did he have to pick exactly what it took to make you feel all the more submissive in his presence. You slumped down atop the rock that he had been sat on, shifting slightly to get comfortable as you felt the fleeting warmth it bore, as you looked down at the box near your feet.

Maybe...

Maybe you should spare a few bars of chocolate from that box, give him further reason to be proud of you. It was almost as if you were addicted to the sensation of joy that it brought you when he approved of your actions, when he showed you that he was pleased with what you had done. You wanted to please him, you wanted that joy that came with his approval, you wanted him to justify your very existance to you by acknowledging you in such a manner. You needed him to acknowledge you, you needed him to prove to you that your very existance was justified.

A quick head count told you that if you were to give each of those people a bar of chocolate each, that you would only have a couple left over, that you would deny yourself the chance to eat it over the course of the next few days. You'd be denying yourself something that would keep you happy, just because you were going to do something for him, just because you were going to waive your own selfish desires for his sake. You hoped he appreciated the magnitude of this sacrifice, that he appreciated what you had done, because if he didn't you would shout and scream until you were blue in the face.

"You, yes you, in the maid outfit," you started, as you addressed the group, while the maid nearest you swallowed nervously, her expression fearful as she did her best to avoid eye contact with you. "See this?" you asked as you held a stack of chocolate bars out towards her. "I want you to take this and give everybody here one bar each. After what happened with the train this will provide at least a little comfort," you stated, watching as the woman meekly nodded, edging towards you, reaching for the chocolate. She was doing her best to avoid getting any closer to you than she had to, though that suited you fine, as she was human, as you could smell the concoctions she had doused herself with in the pursuit of beauty.

You much preferred the other scents you could pick up from her, the blood, the fear. Things that made you almost start to salivate as you wondered if she would taste as sweet as the chocolate had, if her final moments as she bled to death would-

You shook your head as you took a deep breath, you felt like you were losing your mind, becoming submissive in Eurochkoles presence and predatory without him to keep you in check. Timid and obedient when he ordered you about yet vicious and brutal when nobody was around to stop you. Maybe you just needed a little rest, a little time for your body and mind to settle down after the changes that had taken place. Maybe you just needed time to find your balance once more, time to find yourself so you could shake the increasingly frequent thoughts of bloodshed you were having.

You were not certain when you had nodded off, or even how long you had been asleep, though you found yourself stirring into hazy moments of semi-consiousness as you were awakened by Eurochkoles. Again, you stirred as you briefly awoke to find yourself sat atop his shoulders, as he strode across the fields and hills towards the fallen town. Once more you awoke as he reached the outskirts of the town, as he hissed as he slipped you from atop his shoulders, shaking you as he did his best to rouse you. "Come on sleeping beauty, we're at the town and we're going to need everyone alert."

"We-" you paused as you sat upright, your shoulder bumping his chest, causing him to recoil as he clutched his ribs. "Sorry!" you whimpered, afraid that he would lash out at you for that, one hand moving to your mouth as you breathed almost started hyperventilating. What was with you today, why were you having such major mood swings?

"I'm going to get Joy to decouple all but one of the carriages while I get the boiler going," he started, showing no anger towards that accidental bump of his ribs as he unstrapped his gun belt, passing it over to you as he did so. "I've never actually done this before, but it seems fairly simple a concept-" he paused, breathing deeply as he did so.

"What's wrong?" you asked, reaching out timidly as you took the belt from him, strapping it about your waist. "Do you need me to get the train going for you?"

"Get the civilians into the first carriage, I'll get the boiler going, then all we need to do is hold off anything that comes to investigate," he responded. glancing about nervously as he did so. "I'm not liking the vibe i'm getting here, so once you get the civilians inside, get atop the carriage and keep an eye out for trouble until we're able to get going."

You nodded, while he raised a finger to his lips, gesturing for the entire group to be silent as he started to lead the way along the outskirts of the town. Every time you reached a gap that left a clear line of sight into town he sat there peering around the corner, silently sending small groups across one after the other, sending Joy ahead to watch the front while you helped him at the rear. While you reached the station without incident you could feel yourself growing apprehensive, feeling that something was going to go wrong.

Joy was fast about uncoupling the carriages from the back of the train, leaving one carriage, a coal bunker and the front part of the train itself all that was connected. The civilians were less eager than you had hoped to follow your lead as you herded them into the carriage that remained, though they were easier with the idea when they learned you'd not be in it with them. Once you were atop the carriage everything fell silent, no more than the worried murmers of the civilians inside the carriage beneath you and the sound of Eurochkoles stoking the fire reaching your ears.

Silence.

Silence, in a town overrun by the corrupted, the corrupted that you had trapped in a building and torched earlier. The remaining ones would no doubt be infuritated, so why were they not attacking, why were they not coming for you now that you had finally headed towards the train like they had guessed you would earlier?

You hopped from the roof of the carriage, landing on the edge of the coal bunker's walls, your wings spreading as they assisted you in balancing, as you walked along it to the end, glancing down at Eurochkoles as you did so from your vantage point. "I don't know this," you stated, huffing as you glanced out towards the town. "Surely if enough of them remained, they would attack us now?" you added, tilting your head as you did so, as you glanced over at the fire that he was stoking. "How long will it take us to be able to get going?"

"I'm estimating five to ten minutes to build up steam, then we'll be on our way, we just need to sit tight and hope they'll not come for us before then."

"Can I sit up here with you once we're going?"

He laughed as he paused for a moment, as he leaned against the shovel as he braced it against the floor beneath his feet. "Once we're safe, you're free to sit anywhere you so desire."

You smiled as you turned about, walking carefully back up to the carriage, hopping back onto the roof of it again as you folded your wings once more. As the minutes ticked by, you found yourself growing apprehensive again, as you found yourself glancing about as your paranoia grew, watching out for any sign of movement.

Second after second.

Minute after minute.

You were almost disappointed when the train started to lurch forward, when the entire wait went without incident, your attention just about to turn away from the town when you caught sight of movement from the corner of your eye. Your head turned as you pulled the revolver you had been entrusted with from its holster. A familiar form was running towards you, a two headed thing thats two voices wailed in an oddly harmonious manner as it waved its arms to get your attention.

"Don't shoot!" The higher pitched voice came.

"Take us with you!" the lower pitched one rumbled.

"They'll kill us if you leave us behind!" the higher pitched one almost sobbed.

You were torn, did you shoot now, did you let it get close and shoot to ensure a kill, or did you handle it in another manner?



((

wasn't the main point of the mission to acquire chocolate? why are we eating it?

You were after fudge, not chocolate.))

"I don't get you, Joy," you muttered to yourself, carefully slipping the rifle from under your arm as you did so, taking care to prevent yourself having to put down your prize, the box with the chocolate you had aquired. "I want to hear it, in your own words. I want to hear you tell me why you're asking me to do this," you huffed, holding the rifle out to Joy as you did so. As she took it, her attention immediately fell on the box under your arm, implying that she wanted you to pass that over too, incase it contained some form of weapon that she hadn't seen yet. "This is full of chocolate, for gods sake Joy, now tell me, why you're asking me to do this."

Joy's attention remained on the box as she spoke, as if she didn't believe you, as if she actually believed that you were concealing a weapon in it. "Your appearance is compromised, you are corrupted. The civilians reacted fearfully to your presence, thus you are deemed a threat. You are armed. You are corrupted. Those bearing tainted forms are to be neutralised. Your affiliation with the creator requires confirmation from him before neutralisation. Please relinquish the box."

You huffed, your appearance wasn't compromised, it was improved. You had beautiful wings and frigid as she was, she was clearly jealous about this fact, she was clearly envious that you had wings and she had nothing bar an excuse for being socially inept. The contents of the box were anything but a weapon though and you were going to prove that to her, you were going to sacrifice one of the bars of chocolate that it contained to prove this. "Joy, have you ever heard of chocolate?" you asked, reaching slowly into the box as you did so, retreiving a bar from it carefully, holding it out for her to see.

There was no response from her, though you couldn't just see, you could feel her intense gaze as it followed your every motion, as if she was waiting for an excuse to spring on you and attack you. After a few long moments of simply staring at the bar, with you waving it tantalisingly at her she finally took the hint, taking it from your possession, looking at you blankly as she held it close to her chest. She clearly had no idea what to do with it, no idea what it was.

"You remember the cake we had in the train?" you asked, a brief sensation of guilt reminding you that Eurochkoles had wanted some and you had denied him it, you had denied the person that you looked up to, that you served. Joy nodded slightly, shifting awkwardly as she did so. She remembered it, she knew that she liked it, she knew that it conflicted with how she was supposed to feel and behave. "This is better than the cake, just try a little," you stated, smiling as you rocked back and forth slightly, rolling your shoulders as you did your best to alleviate the growing discomfort the weight behind you was causing. You knew that would get better with time at least, that you would soon enough adjust to the new center of mass you bore.

Joy's expression was as blank as ever as she slowly started to unwrap the bar, breaking away one of the corners as it was exposed. You were expecting something more of a reaction as she put the chocolate into her mouth, yet her expression remained blank, devoid of emotion. At least that was until after an awkward moment of silence you reached over to the bar, attempting to remove it from her possession. "Mine," she huffed, clutching it that little closer to her chest, sinking down to her knees as she paid you no more attention, instead licking melted chocolate from her fingers.

She made no effort to stop you as you walked around her, as you approached Eurochkoles where he slept, taking note of how he was sleeping where he sat, his arms resting on his legs with one of the revolvers he had brought with you in hand. You'd seen how sharp his aim was and you didn't want to risk startling him as that could eaisly translate to a gunshot wound, something that while you could recover from it easily wasn't something you'd like to have to recover from. Pain wasn't exactly something you enjoyed experiencing, especially with how frequently you seemed to do so.

Even as you approached, the jingling of the jewlery on your belt seemed to be all that it took to rouse him, his eyes opening drifting over to you before he seemed to snap to a state of alertness, focused on you as he shook his head briefly. You could see how the hand bearing the gun had jerked upward, now sat atop his knee, while his gaze was fixed firmly on you, on the wings that were visible behind your shoulders. His mouth opened as he searched and failed to find words, while you smiled brightly, knowing that this was your chance to take the initiative.

"I think I broke Joy," you stated, gesturing behind yourself to where she still sat, rocking back and forth slowly as she picked away at the chocolate bar you had given her. "Though to be fair, it was better I broke her, than she broke me. She wanted to hurt me, because I brought back a rifle and these-" you paused, spreading your wings, holding them open for a long moment before you allowed them to settle against your back again. You could see the shock on his face, the disbelief and worry, you huffed however as you had expected him to react a little more favourably than this. Maybe it was because he was just waking up, that he couldn't quite comprehend the beauty of this new form. Maybe it was because he was a stupid man, who thought that he was smart simply because he was intelligent.

"I hope you have a good story behind this all," he started, pausing as he glanced behind you, as he glanced towards the hill that sat behind you. "Is that smoke?" he asked, gesturing to the thin plume of smoke that was visible, smoke that was no doubt from the building you had set ablaze. "I asked the bursar to wake me if anything happened. Where has that useless man got to?" he continued, rubbing his eyes as he turned his attention back towards you fully, tilting his head as he did so. "Well, start talking."

"I looked around the town, I found more of the corrupted things that attacked the train there. They were quite unfriendly, so diplomacy was not an option, especially given that they had used the prior inhabitants of the town as food and viewed you as the same. They were about as intelligent as any man, they recognised that the train still in the station there was likely something you'd want to go to, so they started were planning to ambush you when you went for it," you paused, glancing over your shoulder briefly as you did so. "The smoke is from where I trapped a number of them inside a building before burning it, it should have vastly thinned their numbers."

"And the wings?"

"Are they not beautiful?" you asked, setting the box down at his feet, moving closer to him, settling atop his lap as you positioned yourself face to face with him. "I'm not sure what happened to have them grow, I can't use them for flight either, but I am certain that in time I'll learn how," you stated, leaning closer to him as he leaned back uncomfortably, prompting you to grin as you placed your hands on his shoulders. "Say it," you whispered.

"Say what?"

"Tell me that I did good, let me know you're proud of me."

He was silent for a moment as he seemed to relax, a crooked smile forming on his lips as he shook his head slightly. "You have confirmed that there's a train there, given me good idea about what we'll be up against there and managed to get back without leading them here by the look of it," he paused as he glanced over at Joy, then back at you. "I doubt anybody could have done better than you."

"Do you really mean that?"

He nodded, pressing his hands to your shoulders as he pushed you back, while you allowed yourself to be moved from atop his lap. "We just need to see where that useless man has gone, then we can see about securing the train," he muttered to himself, holding his chest as he rose to his feet. You had almost forgotten that he was injured, that he was hardly at his best right now, though you knew that despite this he was still fully capable of leading. "Joy, where's the bursar?" he called out, as he stepped past you.

"He went back towards the crash site," one of the civilians volunteered, while Joy remained silent, seemingly still fixated on the chocolate you had given her. Eurochkoles sighed, shaking his head slightly as he turned back towards you, his very gaze making the prior boldness you had felt while away from him seem to fade away. It was as if his very presence made you feel submissive, your rebellious nature kept in check somehow by him.

"Do you need to rest, or do you think you would be able to see to bringing him back?" he asked, his gaze briefly lingering on your wings, as concern was visibly written over his face.

Survival, that was your first priority. Your second one was to take out as many of these things as possible, to burn them to death, to ensure that they wouldn't heal, that they wouldn't simply get back up because you hadn't dealt a fatal injury to them. You knew the nature of the corrupted all too well, you knew how some of them were tougher than others, how some of them were capable of recovering faster than others. They were beneath you and the rest of the enlightened, beneath you, who had been shaped by the hand of another to be so perfect, so well adapated for survival in this day and age.

Survival in this case was merely ensuring that you remained ahead of anything that tried to track you, finding a safe place to rest for a while if possible. Maybe it was the fact that this change was taking a lot out of you, maybe it was this change that made you want to lay down and sleep right now, to rest until everything was over. Maybe it was this change that was sapping your energy so rapidly from your body, your body, that you could feel even now shifting and twisting into a new form beneath your skin. You could feel muscles realigning and your physical weight diminishing, though this loss of weight was more than just body fat being burned by these changes needing what energy they could leech from within.

You felt lighter than could remember ever having done in your life.

Every footfall onward was accompanied by a sensation of excitement and dread, your tired mind telling you over and over that something had happened to you, something terrible, something wonderful. You were disfigured by these wings, yet you had wings, beautiful wings that were still growing, wings, that you somehow knew would soon enough be able to support your weight and allow you to fly. You'd be able to fly, fly like a bird, able to look down on the land below from a new perspective.

Everything would change, everything would be better, or at least that was what you told yourself, when deep down you knew that things would only change for the better where effort was involved. Things would change for the better with Eurochkoles though, he was determined to make the effort and he was going to make things better for you. He was going to change the world, and you were going to be there to see it happen, you were going to be there to reap the benefits of your loyalty to him.

You were going to follow him because that was what you wanted, that was what you needed. You needed somebody to follow, and he was a better leader than Pride had ever been despite all his flaws. All Pride had ever had going for him was his status as the head of the Enlightened, while Eurochkoles was a man with drive and vision. He was a man who respected you more than any other, though it confused you to think about it, knowing that he was not the type to make a pass at you. You would likely have been disgusted if he was that type of man, viewing him as no better than the rest, yet the fact he didn't pay that kind of attention to you, to anyone, confused you.

Enraptured by these thoughts, you continued to stumble onward, only vaguely recognising the decor on a weathered sign indicating that you had found one of the towns stores. The door was unlocked, ajar even, though there was little sign of damage to the interior you noted as you stepped inside. No bones, either, the people here had clearly left before they were eaten by the things that inhabited the city. That, or they had become them, it was hard to tell given how you hadn't been here for it, given how you felt light headed and delirious.

"Hi, I require as much paraffin as you have in store," you started, your voice ringing out in the empty store as you leaned against the counter, looking around as you giggled to yourself. It was a general supply store, with everything from lignite to lanterns. Various tools were on display on one wall, with a patch in the display missing, as if someone had stumbled against it. The floor had a number of them discarded on it, telling you that they hadn't been looted, though between the tools on the wall and the floor was a number of lanterns set on the shelves, along with a number of flasks of paraffin.

"Is that all you have, or do you have more in the back?" you asked, pausing as your face contorted in anger to an imaginary insult. "You leave my wings out of this, they're beautiful and you're jealous!" you snapped, before huffing, pulling the hatch leading behind the counter open as you did so. "I'll check for more myself, thank you, I don't want some bigot's assistance serving me," you continued, frowning deeply as you did so.

As you made your way towards the store room you paused, clutching your rifle to your chest a little tighter as you glanced over your shoulder, making certain that nothing had followed you in before you reached for the handle of the door. You turned the knob slowly as you breathed the scent of dusty air in deeply, expecting the worst, expecting anything other than the sight that greeted you. The sight of boxes stacked haphazardly greeted you, boxes that you poked through carefully, pausing as you found a small one filled with something that you had only heard of before now.

Chocolate.

This must have been smuggled, given how you had seen quite the price tag on this, given how you knew that a backwater village like this couldn't possibly have had a legitimate supplier of such a luxuary. You just had to try it though, you just had to see if the fuss about it was warranted, if the price it demanded was justified. That was what you told yourself at least, and you were sticking to it.

Your fingers deftly unwrapped the bar as you held it up, breathing in the scent of it carefully as you held it up to your face. You could feel it melting beneath your fingers, the thin bar growing slick as you returned it to its wrapper, figuring that it would enable you to hold it without getting more of it over your hands. With the bar safely tucked in the wrapper again you started licking the chocolate that had melted onto your fingers off them, a delighted shiver running through you as you tasted it. This was something you liked, this was something you had to take with you. First however, you were going to eat this bar, then you were going to set the box outside the door so you could run away with it when you were done here.

Well, no, you were going to be efficient about this. You were going to start taking the boxes of paraffin and chocolate outside while eating this bar, ready for when you finished it. With a chunk of chocolate in your mouth, you started to carry one of the boxes of paraffin outside, huffing briefly as it almost slipped from your grasp as your wings caught the door frame. The shock of such a thing was new to you, the fact that you had an extension of your body like this that was close in a sense to some of your dreams as a child.

Dreams of having wings.

Dreams of being an angel.

Several boxes of paraffin were set outside and one box of chocolate in the time it took you to finish the small bar you had taken to try. While you felt no clearer headed, your mood was vastly improved at least, having you almost humming to yourself as you picked up a few of the boxes and started carrying them in the direction of what you assumed was the town hall. You couldn't have brought yourself to care if you wanted to over the thought that you could still be attacked by the things here, good as your mood was. It took you little time to find the town hall, setting down the two boxes you had grabbed before you headed back for the other two, repeating this journey quickly, before you pryed the door to the town hall open.

The scene inside was as expected from this town, a few bones littering it, furniture partially erected as barricades, though it appeared like the people here hadn't even managed to do that in time before being set upon. You could see tables and chairs, benches and bookcases, all toppled and half pulled towards the center of the room. Plain white walls with claw marks and bloodied handprints added to the story of how the people here had fallen, though you had no idea how to add this to the picture. Not that you cared, as you were quick to hurry across the room, taking note of how there was only one other exit from this building. A door, that lead into a walled in garden, a door, that had another lantern hanging outside it, a lantern that was pitted with age and had soot on the glass. A lantern that you could still hear fuel sloshing about in the bottom of, as you gave it an experimental shake.

That lantern was just what you needed, you could lead them into the building, slam the second door shut as you ran through, use the lantern... No, no, you needed to toss the lantern in first, then slam the door shut, so it could ignite the paraffin that you'd splash about inside. The door you'd come in through would need a few flasks put by it, the rest of them could be splashed and planted about the room.

You ran through this plan several times as you followed the motions you'd need to take, planting several of the flasks about the room as you poured the contents of others over the floor, over the furniture. The stink of the stuff filled the room, though you knew that these things were likely too stupid to know what the smell was. After ensuring that the lamp outside the door was lit, this only left you one more issue to tackle.

You needed to lure them here.

You knew that the majority of them would be at the train station, that you would have to run back here, unsteady as you were. You were unsteady, but they were mishapen and ugly, so things were in your favour at least. Still, it wasn't their fault that they were ugly.

Well... Yes.

Yes it was their fault.

You staggered in the direction of the railway station, taking a few moments to find your feet again as you adjusted your balance to account for the weight on your back. No sooner had you done such did you find yourself striding down the streets towards the station with purpose, your determination to prevail driving you onward. You were going to prove your worth, you were going to show Eurochkoles that he could rely on you, that you were capable of carrying out things in such a manner that he would be proud of you. You wanted to hear it, you wanted to hear those words from him, you wanted to hear him tell you how well you had handled the task. You wanted to hear him beg for that chocolate you had aquired, so you could see the look on his face when you said no.

As you neared the station you could feel yourself growing apprehensive, glancing about as you looked into the windows of the houses you passed by. While there was nothing in them, you couldn't shake the feeling that something might just burst out, that something might just attack you before you got there. You couldn't dismiss such a possibility with the manner in what things seemed to be going so horribly wrong for you as of late. It was as if there was a vast, cosmic conspiracy against you, against those associated with you, ensuring that there would be nothing but strife ahead for you.

Your paranoia fortunately, turned out to be misplaced as you reached the station unharmed, as you turned the corner to find yourself presented with a scene much like one you had expected. There was a fair few of the corrupted lingering here, settled atop the partially rusted train and the carriages around it, keeping an absent eye out for any sign of the survivors approach. Your presence of course got their attention quickly, prompting a bellow from one of them as it started to jump up and down atop the train, pointing in your direction.

"Catch me if you can, you slovenly wankers!" you yelled, turning to run from the things as you did so, with the sound of many feet followed behind you. You made sure to keep a good distance from them, glancing back to ensure that they behind you, yelling obscenities at them as you continued onwards, goading them into continuing this chase. A chance that you directed towards the town hall, making a show of attempting to flap your wings uselessly, as if you had forgotten how to fly or couldn't due to injuring your wings. They thought you were grounded, unable to escape, they thought they had you and merely needed to keep up with you.

They had no idea about what you had in store for them.

You ducked inside the town hall as you reached it, hissing briefly as your wings clipped the frame of the door, having grown large enough now that even folded, they were starting to get in your way. They were still growing, too, becoming larger with every passing minute, closer to a size that you knew would be fitting for you to fly with. At least you hoped you'd be able to fly, as having the promise of flight so close, yet cruely denied to you would be too much for you to cope with.

You acted as if you were cornered as the things poured into the building after you, as they paced towards you, as you backed away with an expression of fear feigned. "Stay away from me!" you cried out, watching as more of them flooded in, as they started to spread out about you. They were closing in as more bodies crowded the room, yet it was all under control. Yes, all under control.

It was all under control and you felt like you were losing your mind.

The fumes of the paraffin made you feel dizzy and the prospect of what you were about to do made you feel giddy. They were going to burn, they were going to die screaming, much like the people of this town had when they had torn them apart. Your back pressed to the door as you continued to back away, before you tore it open, grabbing the lamp that hung outside it, casting it to the floor of the room with a gleeful giggle, and then, you slammed the door shut behind you as you ran for the garden wall.

Your wings fluttered more powerfully than before as you attempted to use them to give you the boost you needed to clear the wall, your feet kicking at it briefly as you found footing and pulled yourself up and over. Screaming filled your ears as flames visibly danced through the window behind you, as the things attempted to stay away from the flames that tore through the building.

You paid no more mind to the things you had left to burn, as a plume of thick smoke rose from the burning building, as flames engulfed it behind you, as you made your way towards the shop you had left the box of chocolate outside, along with your rifle. As you made your way down the path however, you caught sight of a familiar sight running towards you, running no doubt to investigate the smoke in the sky. It was the two headed thing, it was the thing that you had been unable to finish off earlier. You could see an expression that even on faces as twisted as the pair it bore was clearly one of anxiety, one that told you that the sight of you again, bearing wings as you did now, was enough to unsettle it.

"What have you done?" it screeched as it pointed one long, twisted finger at you.

"If you hurry, maybe you can still save some of them," you simply responded, while the thing turned pale, wailing as it started running towards the source of the smoke, no doubt horrified by what your words implied.

As you finished traversing the street to the shop front you were greeted by the sight of the rifle you had left behind and the box of chocolate bars, though you found yourself wondering, did you head back now, or did you continue looting the town, like you so deserved?

((
))

A grin crossed your lips, a grin that was all too wide as you looked at that thing from the point you were perched, as you raised the knife that you had swiped through both of its necks to your lips, your tongue running over it slowly as you licked ichor from it. You relished the taste of it, for it had been a forbidden pleasure as of late, it had been something that you had been denied. The psychological effect of this act wasn't lost on the thing before you, the fact that it had seen you so readily lick tainted blood from a blade, the ichor that it bled, ichor that would have been enough to corrupt the form of any normal human. Ichor that you readily swallowed as you licked your lips, as you held the knife ready, as if preparing to strike again.

You had no intent of doing so, as you knew that this thing was likely going to be harder to kill with this old blade than it was worth. This thing had likely alerted others with its cries, too, meaning that your best course of action was to carry out this deception, to run as soon as a window presented itself. "I have tasted things like you before," you started, before bursting into a giggling fit as you rose to your feet, still poised atop the wall perfectly. "Many things like you are prey for the Enlightened. Many, many things."

The thing backed away as you rolled your neck, hands moving away from its necks as the flow of blood slowed, then stopped. A jagged scar was visibly forming where the knife had swiped across its necks, the imperfect and rapid healing of these things something that you knew paled in comparison to the reliable means your own body possessed. "Enlightened!" hissed both heads in unison, prompting a snicker from you as you knew that it meant that the reputation of your kind had preceded you. "Beautiful hearts with foul skin!"

This statement however, caught you offguard, though you knew you couldn't stay and talk, that this thing would be more likely to attack you given the chance than to converse. There was something about that statement that unsettled you however, the worship of that form that they bore being close to what you had felt in your own nature at one point. You, as well as many others had been quite taken with the power that you felt your tainted natures had given you, with the fact that you had maintained a form that was familiar, with the benefit of a tainted form's strengths.

"Kill!"

As the thing hissed those words, snarling as it lunged for you, you hopped backwards, your body feeling oddly light as you hopped back further than you knew you would normally have been able. This oddity was cast from your mind however as the thing stepped over the wall, howling in anger as it started to charge at you, prompting you to run alongside the wall, knowing that you couldn't afford to lead it back to the others. If it had brought the attention of others upon you, then you knew that you would potentially get the others killed by doing such. That didn't bother you, truth be told, the concept that you could get them all killed like that. It was the fact that Eurochkoles would take even longer to recover if you got him injured that bothered you, that he seemed to be so helpless when wounded.

You hated seeing him like that, you hated seeing him looking so weak when he was the nearest you had to Pride anymore, the nearest you had to a figure who could lead you towards some goal you could believe in. You hopped up onto the wall again, dropping the knife as you started running along the uneven surface, as you ran towards its end. As you reached it you dived for the roof of the building at the end, sharp pain briefly lancing through your shoulders as you hauled yourself upwards. The howls of the thing behind you became frustrated cries as it slammed into the side of the building over and over again, as it attempted, yet failed to climb up after you as you continued to run onwards.

You stopped for nothing as you sprinted across the uneven slate rooftops, as you hurtled onward, hopping over the gap between each house as you made your way inwards. The town center was where you intended to go, knowing that from there you could easily double back and take another route around to the people waiting for your return. Another route back to Eurochkoles, to the man who made you feel stable, sane, the man who you had come to depend on more than you cared to admit.

Even now, outside of his presence you could feel your mind rebelling, contradictory thoughts racing through it, thoughts that alternately demanded blood and caution. Thoughts that you knew didn't all belong to you. Maybe it would be for the best if you left his service, got as far away from him as possible and let nature take its course. Whatever that course would be.

"No," you hissed under your breath as you effortlessly made another jump, knowing that this thought was yet again one that did not belong, that the absence of one to keep you in check was allowing something that should not be to run riot. You didn't want to get away from him, you didn't want to leave his presence, you didn't want to be deprived of that only sense of normality that was granted to you by being with him.

You couldn't leave him.

You wouldn't leave him.

You came to a halt atop one of the rooftops overlooking the church grounds, panting softly as you listened out, hearing the howls of many things, things that were attempting to track you. You were right at least in assuming that the worst thing you could have done was to head back, to lead these things to the group and get them killed. You needed a plan, a plan so brilliant that even he would tell you he was impressed with what you had done. You would make him feel proud, you'd make him praise you, you would make him acknowledge that you had done a good job here under the circumstances.

This was your chance to shine.

You crouched briefly, wiping sweat from your face as you glanced about. You were close to both the towns market square and the grounds of the church, you were being pursued by a number of tainted things, though it wasn't an organised group like the train attack. You needed a plan of action, but what was that plan going to be?