Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ The Hunters ❯ Genesis End ( Chapter 4 )

It seemed as if only minutes had passed since the group arrived on Nalhz'mii and had fallen asleep. The artificial nights on the ships weren't very consistent, and they had already arrived late in the “night”. They were tired, hungry, except for the Titan that is, and still cold from the frigid wasteland they just recently arrived from. Zayl'nexs seemed to have some sort of terrible stomach pains, as if something had crawled inside of his stomachs and torn them apart. He tried to hide it from the others, but the pains were intense, he thought someone had just set off a charge in his body. He looked at where he had been lying down for the “night” and saw a puddle of blood. He wiped his hand across his teeth and rubbed off plenty of blood from them. He was worried for himself, but still hid it from the others as best as he could. He was the first one really up; the others were starting to wake up, but didn't actually get up. Til'loe was able to raise himself up, but he was so tired he stumbled some under the weight of his armor. The Titan lay there, not even bothering to move. He had an almost harmless, what a human could call, adorable look to him. He was lying on his back, feet somehow in the air and his arms perpendicular to his body.

“Looks like Jesus.” Isaac said in a groggy voice as he looked down at the Titan.

“We slept in the same room?” Marina asked also groggy and tired.

Til'loe just stared at the ground, swaying back and forth, side to side; he was too tired to even answer. He was hunched over, his arms just hanging down. Zayl'nexs stood against a wall. He had removed all his upper armor, only wearing the bandages. He had his arms rapped around his stomach, hunching over as well. He made grunting noises, but tried his hardest to hold them back.

“You ok there Zayl?” Isaac asked.

Zayl'nexs just looked at the floor; the pain in his stomachs was too unbearable. He then turned his attention to a small, bloody hole in his side. It was as if something had burrowed inside of him. The hole was a clean cut out, the blood stopped quickly he had noticed. He'd felt no pain from it at all, and it was small. The door to the room opened, and the bright white lights of the artificial morning shone in. Isaac and Marina squinted, their eyes not yet adjusted to the change in light. Til'loe still stood there hunched over and tired, but his swaying had stopped. The Titan looked almost dead if not for his legs in the air. Two Guardians, a Black Ten and White Ten minor stepped in. The only real difference from the minors and members are that members are older, more experienced Guardians, but when a member dies off, a minor is chosen to fill his or hers place.

“Armada Commander Til'loe, your wanted by the Fleet Commander immediately. Do you wish us to escort you, or do you wish to go alone?” The White minor asked.

Til'loe finally stood up straight and looked at the two Guardians.

“I'll…just take Zayl and the humans with me, since my Titan is too tired to stand.” he said still tired himself.

“Very well then, we'll see our ways out.” the Black minor said, as they both turned and headed out the door.

“To think, of two and a half billion Hunters on these ships, you just have to be the one to lead a major assault on our enemies' capitol….” Zayl'nexs said, a bit agitated and still in pain.

“Well, you see Zayl; I am the most experienced of the three ship commanders right now. If it were still Ka'maiza in control, he himself would be going alone down there and taking out those shield generators. Yol'maiza on the other hand, she's probably just wanting me there as a back up, since I do have more experience than her in fighting anyhow.”

“What ever you say, I'm just not wanting to go back to that planet.” Zayl'nexs replied smugly.

“Don't worry, you're not going. Now come on, Zayl, Isaac, Marina, we're going.” Til'loe said heading out the door. The others tagged behind slowly, being as tired as they were. As they were walking down out of Til'loe's, what could be called a house, but was more of a military barracks, Zayl'nexs fell to his knees from the pain in his stomach. Til'loe turned back and checked on him. Zayl'nexs just told him to head on, and that he'd catch up with them in a bit.

“You're sure you're fine? You don't need any help at all?” Til'loe asked him.

“Yeah…..I'm fine…..just go on….don't worry.” Zayl'nexs replied, obviously in horrid pain. Til'loe honored his requested and headed on to a transport bay near his “home”. Zayl'nexs stayed on his knees. His breathing became very heavy and raspy. He began to tremble. After only a few seconds, his trembles became much more violent, almost seizure like. His armor clanked and rattled as he shook. A normal Hunters eyes are black completely, but his turned a light grey color, and blood began to run from them. It also seeped out of his mouth between his teeth. He nearly stopped breathing all together as he stuck his long tongue out, and for almost no reason bit it clean off. His tongue fell to the ground under him; it twitched and writhed as the nerves began to die. A bulge was forming in his back, the armor itself was being bent and warped by it. His claws began to lengthen out and became much thicker. Bloody continued to run from his eyes and mouth, and was now coming out of the hole in his side. He was essentially in a pool of his own blood. No other Hunter was around him to help him out. His legs gave way as well as his arms, and he splashed in the pool. He still shook, but it became less violent. The bulge in his back had broken through his armor, and his spine was tearing out of his scaly flesh. A strange yellowish red color was on his spine. He stood up. His bleeding had all but stopped. His armor, cloth, and bandages were drenched in black. He upper armor had broken off, exposing his torso. His shoulder armor had also fallen off along with it. A lowly Hunter civilian turned a corner and looked over at Zayl'nexs. She saw all the blood around him, and his enflamed spine. She drew a Hunter pistol that she had with here just in case. Zayl or what he was now, turned and looked at her. He shrieked and ran forward, his now elongated claws spread. The female Hunter had no time to react, before she knew it, Zayl had pierced her chest and stomach. He ripped her apart and took a few chunks of the corpse with him. He broke into a large tunnel that was used mainly for secret transport of high ranking soldiers if an enemy had ever broken the ship's defenses and gotten aboard.

“I wonder where Zayl could be…” Isaac said. Til'loe shudder, and he knew something had gone horribly wrong.

 

Part 2

 

“Ner'way, when ja get up?” Isaac asked as she came out from behind a corner.

“I've been up all night, Zayl'nexs kind of woke me up with all the twitching and writhing he did.” she said obviously tired and a bit out of it.

The group of Hunters came to a large dome topped room. Three doors were on the other end. Each had a language that neither Marina nor Isaac could read.

“Which one are we heading into?” Marina asked Til'loe.

“Uh…the one on the right, that's the ship we need to head to.”

As he finished his sentence the door behind them opened, and a strange looking creature walked through in. It was about seven feet tall, and its build was quite muscular. Even more so than an average Hunter it seemed. Its most stunning features were its eyes and a large sack, bristled with tentacles, hanging off its head. The creature's skin looked almost scaly to the touch, and was a grayish blue color. It was in a similar armor to a Hunters, being russet color and very asymmetrical. It had no stomach plate, but instead was just wrapped around in the same bandages Hunters wear. Burned on its stomach was a strange symbol the humans had never seen. The creature's eyes were strange, the entire eye was white, but a line going diagonally from the top right and top left and a line going straight down the middles was all that was there. Two eye like features above were covered in lines, but seemed to pulsate, and were a yellowish color. It wore a respirator over its mouth and nose area. A tube ran from a cylinder down into the chest armor. Its pants were leathery, black, and covered in belts and zippers.

“What the fuck is this thing? Some kind of creepy fetish sex alien you Hunters keep?” Isaac asked, still staring in awe of the creature.

“That hurts…..” the thing said.

“Holy shit! It talks!” Isaac exclaimed.

“Isaac, shut up, sorry Commander, these humans have never seen a Brayer before.” Til'loe said.

“Humans? Aren't these the things we are killing?” the Brayer asked.

“Yes, but these humans are mine, pets if you will.” he said looking down at the humans.

“Hmm…well…keep them away from me, those humans are vile things, so stupid, so disgusting….” he replied looking at Isaac.

“You're one to talk you ugly son of a bitch, what the hell is that thing on the back of your head?” Isaac said, somewhat angry at what the creature just said.

“You know, Commander, if you want to set the human straight, you have my permission.” Til'loe said chuckling a bit.

The Brayer hissed a little, and began to walk towards Isaac. Isaac in turn backed away. Isaac backed as far as he could before he was against a wall, with the Brayer right on him, the cold chest plate pushing against him. The chest plate was removed by Ner'way, who knew what Isaac was in for.

“Ok, I've learned my lesson; please I don't want to be raped by a mutant FREAK!”'

Isaac looked at the creature's chest and saw a cross like slit on it. It began to open, and what looked to be like serrated teeth lined the inside. About four rows of teeth lined the opening and ended in a large opening.

“WHAT THE FUCK?! OH GOD, IT'S GOING TO EAT ME!” Isaac said as the Brayer got closer.

“Ok, I think he's learned...” Til'loe said pointing down at the puddle Isaac had made.

“You see….disgusting….” the Brayer said closing its mouth and walking away. Isaac moved away from the puddle he had made and collapsed on the floor from fright. Til'loe and Marina laughed. Til'loe actually laughed hard enough to where he had to sit down. Ner'way, still not over Jak'yif, stood there, but she did laugh a little. Til'loe stood up holding his stomach from laughing so much.

“XAN-TAN! COMMANDER XAN-TAN!” he yelled out towards the Brayer. Xan-tan turned back towards where the Hunters were.

“Come on, I'm taking you with us as an escort, besides, you made my human piss himself, you're a friend of mine now!” he said.

“Alright Armada Commander, I'll come along.” Xan-tan said, reconnecting his chest armor and heading over to the group.

“Where is Zayl? He said he'd catch up with us soon.” Til'loe said sounding a bit worried now. They heard a sound coming from behind one of the transport doors. It was as if something had broken into one. Something began to beat on the doors. Whatever it was it left dents fairly easily in the doors.

“What could it be Armada Commander? I thought nothing could bend the metal on these ships.” Xan-tan asked.

I don't…” Til'loe was unable to finish. The door was torn open. They saw what stood there. Long, black claws, dripping with black blood. A large enflamed spine, pulsing and twitching with its yellowish red color. Its large toe claws elongate but broken. It was wearing a russet color armored, though it was broken and bent. It was drooling black saliva, and its eyes were a gray color. Everyone in the room stood there in fear, looking at the creature before them.

“No….no, no, no!” Til'loe said.

“What the hell is that?” Marina asked standing behind him.

“It's whatever got Ka'maiza's body……it got Zayl'nexs….” he said pulling out the Buster he had, “and I guess we have to kill him….”

 

Part 3

 

Zayl, how the hell could this have happened? Til'loe continually ran this through his mind.

“Why isn't he trying to rip us to pieces yet?” Isaac asked.

“Zayl's still in there, his body may be a slave to that mutation, but his mind is still his some, he wouldn't try to harm me.” Til'loe said.

“What the hell makes you so special?” Isaac asked angered and confused.

“Zayl has been my top Guardian going on fifty years now. He and I have fought together, hell he saved my life from a Ravager a long time back. He even turned down my request for him to take of Nalhz'mii as the Armada Commander. He's just wanted to stay at my side, for more than one reason….but still.” Til'loe said in a solemn voice.

“So you're saying Zayl'nexs was…” Isaac was stopped when Til'loe was pointing a Hunter pistol right at his forehead.

“Human….don't speak of that…..never….” he said squeezing the trigger slowly.

“I'm sorry Til, I was just saying that he was G…..” Isaac was cut off, Til'loe had squeezed the trigger just enough for a round to fire off. Isaac's entire skull was nearly blown off. All that remained was his lower jaw. The blood have splattered on a wall behind him, some even got on Xan-tan's brain sack. He stood there, as if some greater force was holding his body up. Blood leaked out of his neck and jaw as he toppled over. He made a thud sound against the metal floor, and the blood ran freely into a small puddle.

“Armada Commander….you killed you pet? Why would you? I thought you Hunters treated your pets with some respect.” Xan-tan said.

“Commander….he was a pain, Zayl was right when he told me I should just kill him, and I did, so when I kill Zayl, he'll have someone to kick around in the spirit world.” Til'loe said turning his attention back to where Zayl was. His body was twitching and black blood was squirting from small open cuts. His gray eyes bled as well, as if he was crying blood. He stood there, though his enflamed spin caused his upper body to hunch over a bit. Til'loe put his Buster and Hunter away. He instead drew his Silencer and snapped it in two. Zayl seemed to try to mimic his moves, but dropped his sword trying to draw it. He instead separated his claws out and lunged forward. The mutation hadn't fully finished, he was slow, sluggishly moving. Til'loe simply moved out of his was. He brought both of the blades he had down into the spinal column. Zayl let out what was somewhat like a screech and a howl. The blood was no longer black, but was now yellowish orange. It sprayed up from the wound forcing the blades out. It covered the ceiling and the area around Zayl's body. He twitched and writhed, trying to stand up but just couldn't. Til'loe walked around to his head and crouched down. He stared into his black gray eyes for a moment, still seeing that Zayl was in there. He placed his foot on his head, and stomped down. The body stopped twitching almost immediately. The bloody spray stopped as well.

“Zayl…I don't know how that thing got in you….nor do I know how something as strong as you could submit to it….but there was nothing I could really do…you said you'd defend me to your dying breath….you succeeded…I know you held that thing back or else I'd be in shreds right now.” he said picking up Zayl's body.

“So now what Armada Commander?” Xan-tan asked unsure of what just happened.

“What else? We have to get to Roht'mii. I'm leading an offensive against the Genesis Human and human capitol. Got to get to Yol'maiza and get my….Ravagers…..” he said heading towards the middle door in the room.

“Til'loe I thought you said we had to take the door Zayl just broke.” Ner'way said.

“Well, since the airlock's broken, we have to use this emergency platform. Luckily the ship's here….” Til'loe said opening the door and walking in. The others followed him in slowly, knowing he was still angered and depressed. Marina didn't step in…she was scared, confused, she didn't want to be around the Hunters anymore. She tried to back away but backed into something large, cold and metallic. The Titan who was still sleeping when they left was now there. Marina looked up and saw the Titan staring down at her. He booted her into the ship and followed in behind her. The little ship dislodged from its platform and head off. It felt only like ten minutes before they reached one of Rhto'mii's transport bays. The Hunters all hopped out of the ship. The Brayer and human followed closely behind. They were in the Fleet Commanders city. Hunters with weapons walked around all over the place. Brayers were seen walking about as well, but there were fewer of them. Members of the Order of the Three also patrolled around, some standing at alters and praying, others just talking. The walked along and came to a large red bridge. On either side, large open areas with small building in them had Hunter recruits training. They came to a large white and russet door. Two Hunters, one in Black Guardian armor and the other in White Guardian armor walked out and jestured the group forwards. They walked down a long hallway filled with statues of Hunters in very elaborate armor. Many of them had names engraved on them, while other remained unknown. They came to one statue of a Hunter, and the name engraved was Ka'maiza. Til'loe stopped infront of it, he knelt down before it and uttered something before standing back up and heading on. They came to the end of the hall, and another door. This one was about Titan size, so they could fit through it easily.

“Well…I guess I have to go in alone….so Ner'way, make sure Marina stays safe and Xan-tan, if you would please hold Zayl for me.” he said giving Zayl's corpse to the Brayer. He turned to the door and opened it. All the others could see was a light and a few silhouettes before the door closed.