Grunt

The appearance of a Grunt

The **Grunt** is a Biophage that serves as the common enemy in *The Callisto Protocol*. This Biophage is first encountered in the chapter Outbreak.

## Overview

* There are 3 variations of the Grunt, the first one simply known as 'Zombie,' the second one being the 'Infected Officer' and the third one known as 'Big Boy.'
* Prisoners and Officers are turned into Grunts through two known ways, one being swallowing the Biophage Parasite, the other being molested by a Big Mouth Biophage with its tentacles.
* When the Grunts mutate, their appearance becomes more creature-like than like zombies, however, they only mutate once.

## Combat Strategy

* The Grunt's primary attack is with melee swings. So be ready to dodge their attacks early on in the game to get an opening to counter attack with the Stun Baton.
* The 'Big Boy' variant of the Grunt takes more damage than that of the regular variant. Upgrading the damage of most weapons is ideal to kill them more quickly.
* Big Boys and Infected Officers are tougher than the regular variants and will most likely interrupt you when you're attacking another Biophage. It is highly recommended to deal with them first than their weaker counterparts.
* Acquiring the Block Break upgrade for the Stun Baton is recommended for the Grunt, as it will break their arms leaving them vulnerable to follow up attacks from the Baton and other weapons.
* Unlocking the Riot Control Swing for the Stun Baton will also help out against the Grunts as it will knock away multiple of these enemies at one time creating some breathing room for Jacob.

## Death Scenes

* The Grunt tackles Jacob to the ground and jams both its thumbs into his eyes, making him scream in agony.
* The Grunt puts Jacob in a headlock and wrenches his head until his neck snaps.
* The Grunt grabs Jacob by the throat and starts wildly pummeling his face until he falls to the ground.
* The Grunt throws Jacob to the ground and starts stomping his head. It will then place its foot on his head while pulling on his right arm. It eventually rips the arm off entirely, leaving Jacob to scream in pain and die from blood loss.
* The Grunt grabs Jacob by the shoulder and punches him multiple times in the face before shoving its fingers in his mouth and ripping off the top half of his head, which made no sense since it was pulling his lower jaw as hard as it could.
* The Grunt grabs Jacob by the waist and bodyslams him. As Jacob struggles to stand the Grunt knees him hard enough to break his nose, before delivering a sucker punch that obliterates his head.
* Jacob throws a punch at the Grunt, which it's sidesteps, countering with a trio of punches of its own. It then puts Jacob in a chokehold and yanks hard enough to tear off his head, screaming in victory as it angrily flings the severed head aside.
* Similar to the above kill, Jacob tries to punch the Grunt, who responds by grabbing Jacobs arm and breaking it off at the elbow. As Jacob tries to run away, it puts him in a chokehold and yanks off his head, howling in triumph.
* In another decapitation, the Grunt will push Jacob onto his knees and pull off his head, before starting to gnaw on his severed heads eyeballs.
* The Grunt tackles Jacob and attempts to strangle him. Jacob fights back, and so the Grunt grabs his arm and delivers three vicious headbutts and stuns him for a bit, letting out a roar of hatred as it then tears off his face.

## Execution Animations

If the player manages to get the Grunts on low health, there is a huge chance execution animations will play. Keep in mind 5 of these are DLC-only.

* Jacob will first swing his stun baton, until the Grunt manages to grab it and attempts to outsmart Jacob, but fails. Jacob then takes out his shiv and stabs the Grunt with it in the liver a couple of times. As the Grunt is stunned, Jacob finally takes his baton back and takes the Biophage out.
* Jacob swings the baton but the Grunt blocks his attack. It will then grab his stun baton and take it away from him, then Jacob is reminded and angered about how humiliated he was by the Biophages in the Contagion DLC and throws a couple of punches towards the Grunt's face. Jacob then gets his hands back on the stun baton and finishes the Grunt off.
* The Head of the Grunt gets dismembered and stunned from a swing out of the Stun Baton. Not even seconds later, Jacob pulls out the Shiv and stabs the undead. The animation finishes with Jacob grabbing the Grunt with the shiv inside its throat and slices it, thus killing the Biophage.
* Jacob gives out a combo on the Grunt through punches and baton swings and finishes the combo by deactivating his baton and charges it right to the Grunts head.
* Jacob manages to knock the Grunt to the ground. The Grunt will then attempt to get back on its feet but Jacob asserts his domination and kicks it. He gives out a powerful overhead swing to the Head as the finishing move.
* Jacob will first push and pin the Grunt towards a wall. He will then break the balance of the Biophage through breaking its right knee and slam the grunts head with the grip of the Crowbar/Stun Baton.
* Jacob kicks the Grunt a bit away from him to get a little distance and gives a charged overhead swing to the Grunts head, killing it.
* Jacob breaks the knee of the Grunt and then quickly swings the baton towards its head, which, of course, kills it.

## Trivia

* Some of the designs for the Grunts took inspiration from "car accidents."
* Jacob will become a Grunt if he is infected.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36HGu1Uqeso