Fight or Flight

(( This was originally meant to be a comedy, but ended up being sort of a horror/thriller. Don't read if you're squeamish! ))Buddles laughed maniacally as he heard the sweet crack of a skull breaking on stone. [i]Three down, nine to go[/i] he thought joyfully. Yet, as he turned to face his next victim, he saw that his victim wasn’t facing him. He was running away! The others were too. “Not so fast” cried Buddles. “You start a fight with Buddles, you END a fight with Buddles.”With that, he climbed aboard his steed, and charged towards the exit. He managed to slice off the head of one of the enemies as he rode past. He dismounted at the door, and basked in the man’s life spraying out of his neck, as his heart frantically tried to feed a head that just wasn’t there. The other people didn’t appreciate it as much. They stood where they were, horror painted on their faces. Buddles knew that not one of them would make the first move, so he took it upon himself. His strike sliced through four of them, shattering their weak armour, and rendering it useless. Their legs collapsed as one, and their torsos hit the floor, one after the other, just like Buddles’ favourite Tauren Chieftain song. With that, he turned to the remaining four. Only one of them had the nerve to hold her weapon ready. The others seemed to have resigned themselves. “You will die quickly miss”, noted Buddles. “You three will bleed dry from your kneecaps and be eaten by Obsidian here.” Buddles motioned to his steed. Obsidian trotted around behind the adversaries. The lady with her weapon drawn lunged at Buddles, screaming her last scream. She practically killed herself, but really she couldn’t stop in time, before impaling herself on Buddles’ blade. As she slid off, and collapsed on the floor, Buddles’ sword started to drip the still-wet blood. He flicked his sword lightly, splattering the remaining three. The first one yelled in agony as Buddles thrust his sword deep into his left knee, before collapsing to the ground. The other two tried to run. Buddles quickly threw his blade into the leg of the remaining male as he ran. The female ducked past Obsidian, before being trampled moments later. The sound of her ribs breaking was loud and sharp, and Buddles thought he heard a faint pop as one of her lungs burst. She was useless to him now. “Well Obsidian, you can have your dinner now. Pick one for yourself, and I’ll take the other.”The horse trotted to the nearby male, lying on his front, trying to crawl to safety. The horse bit hard into his neck, and he didn’t make another peep after that. Buddles removed his sword from him, and walked away. He attempted to contact Falkeshall on his communificator“The interlopers have been dealt with my liege. What is my next task?”Moments passed with no response.“Air Marshall Falkeshall, can you hear me?”Again, no response“My Lord, if you are in great and terrible danger, do not reply.The device once more did not sound back to Buddles. He stepped over to the remaining female. Her leg hadn’t come completely off, there were still a few tendons keeping it on.B: “May I ask your name miss?”H: “My n-n-name? It’s… it’s Hilda.”B: “Hilda, good. You’re being co-operative. Now Hilda, this is going to go a lot better if you answer my questions without hesitation. For every time you lie to me, or you pretend not to know the answer, I’ll cut off another piece of your leg. When I run out, I’ll start on the other leg. If you tell me everything truthfully, and quickly, you’ll be dead in just a few moments, and I’ll be sure to keep Obsidian away from your corpse.”H: “P-p-please, I’ll t-t-tell you everything, just d-d-don’t kill me.”B: “Your injury is fatal Hilda, the best I can do is give you a worse one so you won’t suffer. Now, who are you working for?”H: “N-n-noone, we… we came ourselves. We thought th-th-there would be valuables.”B: “I thought we had an agreement Hilda. You may not keep your promised, but I keep mine.” Buddles swung down his sword onto Hilda’s already wounded leg, and cut off another piece. Hilda cried out in agony. The room was so big, and echoic that it sounded like there were tens of her. She coughed up some blood before speaking again.H: “Okay, okay. W-w-we work for th-th-the Airmen.”B: “The Anvilmar Airmen? What do they want?”H: “We have y-y-your prototype Whizzer. By now, we have the A-a-air Marshall, and blueprints too.”B: “Where are they being kept?”H: “At our h-h-hangar, West of Anvilmar.”B: “Thank you very much Hilda, you’ve been most helpful. Now, I’m a Gnome of my word, so it’s time for us to part. Fare well.” With as pleasant a smile as he could muster, Buddles swung his sword down into her chest. He relished in the spray for a moment, before calling his steed over. He swung himself up onto her saddle using her reins, and charged off into the night. “He-yah!”The front entrance to the enemy hangar was well-guarded. While he knew he could take them, he didn’t want to alert them to his presence just yet, in case they hurt Master Falkeshall. He found a loose panel in the wall around the side of the hanger, and entered silently. He could see some tall men standing in an arc around something, shouting. [i]It must be Master Falkeshall.[/i] They were carrying knives and guns. He waited there for a few minutes, before the tall men walked off, then went to free his master. When he got closer however, he could see that it wasn’t Falkeshall in the chair.M: “Welcome, Buddles. I was afraid you wouldn’t come.”B: “That’s not what you should be afraid of Mortimus.” Mortimus ‘the Terrible’ stood, and turned to face Buddles. For years in Arthas’ service, they had been nemeses. Now, it seemed Buddles’ past had caught up with him.M: “You shouldn’t be so quick to make threats against your superior Buddles. Or should I call you Commodore Buddles now? Second place as always; even now I have your Air Marshall, your blueprints, and your prototype. By morning, I will be soaring high above your corpse, and I will have legions of followers. Including you.”Mortimus snapped his fingers, and thirty men bustled into the room, surrounding the pair.B: “You don’t think I can get out of this?”M: “Frankly, no I don’t. Regardless, I’ll throw in some more, to be sure.” Mortimus closed his eyes, and raised his arms high. There was complete silence for a few moments, before a rotten hand burst through the surface, followed by a head, and a body with barely any skin. It’s jaw was missing, as was one of its eyes. If it wasn’t for the very large battleaxe it was holding, it wouldn’t be any trouble. But that was a very big axe. As Buddles looked around, he saw a further six such beings.M: “Now Buddles, you know I’m not one to let other people do my dirty work for me. These people will make sure you don’t try to escape.”B: “Escape? I’ve been waiting to kill you for four years. It will be a pleasure to beat off these weaklings with your spine.” Mortimus’ expression turned serious.M: “Very well, Buddles.” Mortimus launched himself at Buddles. As his sword sliced through the air, one could swear they could hear it screaming for blood. Buddles readied himself for the attack. The first blow struck Buddles’ sword with incredible force, and nearly knocked it out of his hand. As he stumbled, Mortimus saw his opportunity, and sliced at Buddles’ arm. The attack was lacking enough force to pierce Buddles’ armour, but it did crush it. The now constricting armour weakened Buddles’ counter-strike, yet it collided with Mordimus’ side at an overlap in the armour. Had Mortimus any flesh there, it would have been sliced open. He cackled as he fought back.M: “Fool, I lost that part of my torso years ago!”B: “I remember, Mortimus!” Confused, Mortimus continued fighting, making great headway into Buddles’ armour, and skin. Buddles’ attacks were getting progressively weaker, as his arm got more and more constricted, and he lost blood-flow. He quickly lost the use of his arm altogether, as it numbed. As he fought back weakly, he was being forced back to the blood-thirsty crowd behind. His few blows seemed to have little effect. Mortimus’ attacks remained as strong as ever, cutting away at Buddles, bit by bit. At last, he reached the crowd behind, and they pushed him to the ground. As he crashed down, he swung his sword one last time, with all his might. It collided with Mortimus’ side again.M: “It was obviously going to end like this Buddles. I’ve always won. That’s why I was favoured by Arthas, and that’s why the Airmen picked me. I’m a winner, and you’re a loser Buddles. And you’ve just lost for… the… last…” Mortimus fell to his knees, dizziness taking hold.M: “What… what did you do Buddles?” he asked, as the world spun and grew dark.B: “They say that the injury that kills you never truly heals. Enough aggravation will open it up again. Mortimus looked down at his side, vision blurring, and hands shaking. His blood was rapidly pooling on the floor, seeping through his armour. Buddles unhinged his left arm plate, and it dropped to the ground. The feeling began to return to it, and he stood up.B: “Losing doesn’t feel good does it Mortimus?” At least it will be the last time you ever do it.” With that, Buddles raised his blade high, and swung it down on Mortimus’ neck. It barely made a sound as it sliced through, though the head made a loud splash as it hit the scarlet pool. Buddles took a sweet moment to smell his victory, before bringing his foot down hard on Mortimus’ skull. A gleeful shiver went down his spine as he heard the crack. The onlookers barely moved, their jaws left hanging at the gory sight. Some of the closer ones had been splattered with flying blood. They were brought back to reality by the sound of axe cutting through chest. The undead, now leaderless were satisfying their urge to kill, and feed. Some favoured weaponry, while others were happy to simply bite into their victim while they still lived. The remaining living bolted for the nearest exit. Buddles cackled maniacally as they screamed for dear life. He gathered up his strength, and called for the undead. They stood behind him, ready for fresh meat. He suspected that Falkeshall was being held in the engineering office, and started towards it. As he walked, the air grew cold, and the lights above dimmed. The door felt cool to the touch. He could hear some loud clanking from the other side. He stood back, and let Mortimus’ body walk through. There was commotion inside, and the guards saw their best hope of security without a head, and trailing blood. There was even more commotion when they heard knocking and scraping at the walls. Buddles heard an order for one of the guards to check outside. He hid in the shadows as a female stepped outside. A pretty female no less. Buddles silently plunged his sword into her back, killing her instantly, and stealing her mind. When she walked back into the office, stark naked, a round of wolf whistles could be heard. This was followed by screaming as she bit hard into one man’s neck. Buddles stepped inside, only to see two guards quivering in the corner, Mortimus’ body on the floor, and the naked undead now feasting on a now-dead guard. Falkeshall was there, hiding under the desk, covering his head. A chain was around his leg to prevent his escape.B: “Master Aronius, it is good to see you alive.”F: “Commodore Buddles, I knew you would come for me!”B: “It is my sworm duty, my Lord.” He swung his blade down hard on the chain, freeing Falkeshall.F: “Let us gather the blueprints, and prototype, we have a flight to test in the morning. You have done well Commodore… Commodore… Commodore!... Commodore Buddles, wake up” Buddles awoke at the Aviators’ hangar once again.F: “Commodore, you fell asleeps on guardaling duty!”
Category:Story