Doomsday Hunter

by Eric Vall

  I moved the makeshift flamethrower in a back and forth motion along the crowd of bugs, and one by one their disgusting, oily bodies were scorched by the fire.

  The bastards tried to skitter off in all directions, but it was no use. They were already engulfed in flames, and it was only a matter of time before they keeled over and died.

  Natalie pulled herself back to her feet as we both watched the flaming bugs dart off into the forest. The blonde woman had a few bruises on her cheeks, and her hair was now a filthy, matted mess. Her jacket was also covered with blood, guts, and an unidentifiable clear goo, but she appeared to be fine.

  “You okay?” I asked as I ran my hands up and down her shoulders.

  “You… You saved me,” Natalie noted in disbelief. “I was about to become bug food, but you saved me.”

  “Of course, I saved you.” I shrugged. “We’re partners, remember?”

  Natalie bit her lip as if she were trying to hold back her emotions, but I could see right through her facade.

  “That was the closest to death I’ve ever come,” she admitted. “Even on all my missions against the Rubberfaces, the situation has never been quite so dire. If it wasn’t for you--”

  “Don’t worry about it,” I reassured the Scavenger with a smile. “I’m a Pest Control Technician. Killing bugs is my specialty.”

  The corner of Natalie’s mouth stretched up into a small grin, and then she raised her head to look at me fully.

  “Thank you.” She nodded. “I don’t know how I can ever repay you.”

  “Just help me finish this mission,” I offered, “that’ll be all the payment I could ever want.”

  Hunter? Karla grumbled. Are you still alive, or am I talking to a giant roach right now?

  “Very funny,” I snorted. “I’m fine. We’re fine. All the bugs are either dead, or we scared them away. Turns out, they really don’t like fire.”

  I wouldn’t get very comfortable, the voice in my head continued. You of all people should know insects like that have short memories. They might be gone now, but they’ll eventually come back to investigate.

  Karla had a point.

  “What’s the voice in your head saying now?” Natalie questioned.

  “She’s saying the bugs will be back,” I explained. “That our victory is only temporary… I’m guessing she wants us to keep moving forward?”

  That is precisely what I’m suggesting, Karla sighed. If you keep pushing forward, you can be at the power plant long before sunrise.

  “We can’t push forward,” Natalie stated matter-of-factly. “Look at us. There’s no way we can handle wandering through these woods for much longer.”

  “So, you’re suggesting we, what, make camp?” I asked. “We’d need to build a shelter and a fire, but I think I’ve got all the proper tools in my bag here.”

  I pulled the backpack off my shoulder, tossed the lighter and bug spray back inside, and then produced the rope I’d snagged.

  However, Natalie simply shook her head.

  “We can’t camp out here,” she explained. “We’d be sitting ducks if any more of those creatures showed up.”

  “Where can we go, then?”

  “The beach.” The Scavenger nodded. “Or, at least, what passes for a beach in the Forest of Fallout. There will be clean water there, and we will be far enough away from the insects’ territory that they might just leave us alone. Though that’s an uneducated guess.”

  Hey, I’d take an uneducated guess at this point.

  “Let’s go, then,” I agreed as I put the tools back into my bag. “The beach it is.”

  “Round up any of the fallen weapons and supplies we can find.” Natalie instructed. “We’re going to recharge for the night, and then we’ll head out to the power plant first thing in the morning.”

  As I watched Natalie pick up her backpack and the shotgun from the battlefield, I knew Karla wasn’t going to be too happy with this development.

  Then again, she didn’t seem to be happy about any new development that didn’t fit into her father’s algorithm.

  I folded up the E-Tool but didn’t put it away.

  There was still a short journey to our campsite, and I really didn’t want to let my guard down.

  Who knew what else was lurking out there in the Forest of Fallout?

  Chapter 12

  What is going on? Karla’s voice demanded as Natalie and I stomped through the Forest of Fallout. Why are you heading west? The nuclear plant is north.

  I considered just not answering Miss Nash. No matter what I told her, she was going to be pissed we weren’t following her plan to a tee. However, I then remembered she had a microchip implanted in my head.

  For all I knew, she might make this thing self-destruct if she thought I was dead.

  “We’re not going to the plant,” I explained as I cringed and prepared for the verbal assault. “Not tonight, anyways. We’re going to set up camp near the lake and then head out first thing in the morning.”

  That is a terrible idea, Hunter… Karla sighed. You already encountered giant bugs. Do you have any idea what else could be out there, just waiting for you to lower your guard?

  “I’m not an idiot,” I reminded the woman on the other line. “We’re going to have a fire to scare away any potential predators, and we’re going to be taking turns on watch while the other one sleeps. I may not have ever done anything like this before, but Natalie certainly has. And I’d trust this woman with my life.”

  Even though she didn’t say anything, I could see the blonde woman was flattered by my compliment. Her posture straightened up tensely, and she suddenly had a bit of a swagger in her gait.

  Ugh, Karla grumbled. If I was there--

  “You’re not,” I interjected. “Natalie knows this area better than either of us, and she’s the one who’s been living in this dimension her entire life. If she says we should camp out for the night, then we should camp out for the night. Also, have you checked my vitals lately? I don’t know how it looks on your end, but my whole body is killing me.”

  Your vitals are fine, the voice in my head explained. Your adrenaline, however, is still through the roof. You’ll be fine with just a little bit of rest.

  “Exactly!” I grumbled. “That’s why we’re making camp for the night. I don’t know what to expect when we get to the plant, and I think it’d be wise to go in there completely refreshed and healed up.”

  It doesn’t matter what I say, Karla sighed. The worst I can do is nag you until you go crazy and try to cut the microchip out of your brain.

  “Is--Is that something I should be worried about?” I chuckled, though I was dead serious.

  I’m messing with you, Hunter, the voice reassured me. That’d be kind of counterproductive, no? You’re our Wayfarer, and we need you alive for as long as possible.

  “As long as possible?” I raised my eyebrows. “That doesn’t inspire much confidence.”

  You know what I mean, she snarked. If you need my father or me, we’ll still be here, watching over your vitals.

  “When the hell do you guys sleep?” I questioned. “Are you seriously going to watch me for twenty-four hours straight?”

  Obviously, sleep isn’t something my father needs, Karla explained. As for me? Well… once you’re safely back in Dimension One, I can snooze for days on end.

  “Don’t even talk about that,” I warned, “I’m going to crash so hard tonight, it’s not going to be funny.”

  I wouldn’t imagine it would be, the voice in my head noted. Karla Nash, over and out. For now.

  “Over and out,” I repeated, and then the voice went silent.

  “That sounded like it went better than we thought it might,” Natalie observed.

  “Karla definitely wasn’t happy,” I confirmed as I pushed a bit of brush out of the way. “But she really doesn’t have much say in the matter.”

  “I think we’re almost there… ” the blonde woman announced as she paused her gait.
“Listen.”

  Both of us stopped talking, and instantly I could hear the soft crash of waves against the land.

  We were definitely close to the beach.

  The two of us continued onward for another ten minutes, and then we came out of the forest onto a small sandbar just on the edge of Lake Michigan.

  “Welcome to paradise,” Natalie chuckled. “Or, at least, the closest thing to paradise you’ll get to see in this dimension.”

  It really was a tiny spot to set up camp. There must have only been ten feet of sand between the forest and the lake, barely enough room for the two of us and our fire.

  Then again, that probably meant other creatures were less likely to hang around here, too.

  “Hey,” I snorted, “this beats the bug-infested forest any day.”

  “It’s a nice night, so I doubt we’ll need any sort of shelter,” the blonde woman noted. “But we will need a fire and some sort of ground coverings, unless we want to sleep on the gritty sand.”

  “Probably not,” I agreed. “I didn’t find any blankets back in the supply house, but I can try to whip us up some makeshift cots out of sticks and rope. It’ll be no Serta, but it’s better than sleeping on the ground.”

  “Excellent.” She nodded. “Then I will start building the fire, and you can begin to gather the materials for our beds.”

  “Right away,” I confirmed as I pulled my backpack off my shoulders and plopped it down on the ground by Natalie. “I’ll be back shortly.”

  As I turned to walk away, the Scavenger’s voice stopped me.

  “Hunter?” Natalie spoke up timidly. “Make sure you don’t wander too far into the forest. Neither of us really have the energy for a rescue mission right now.”

  “Noted,” I chuckled, and then I headed into the tree line.

  I’d made plenty of prototype cots and shelters and the like in my yard back in Minnesota, but this was way different. In those instances, I’d used simple twigs from the spruce trees behind my property. However, I had no freaking clue how Radon’s Root functioned as a construction material.

  Was it sturdy enough that it would only need a few lashings and a horizontal flat? Or, was I going to have to build up a small tower if I wanted to build a bed higher off the ground?

  There was only one way to find out.

  I spent the next twenty minutes walking around the forest and hacking off the branches of Radon’s Root trees with my E-Tool. When all was said and done, I had a full armful of the shimmering white sticks, so I headed back to our campsite.

  Natalie was sitting there in front of a bunch of sticks that had been arranged in a teepee-style setup, and she had her head down by the base of the structure as she blew at the tiny embers that danced around in the kindling. Finally, one of the sparks lit up, and the kindling caught on fire.

  “Haha!” The blonde woman held her hands up high as she sat up. “Success!”

  “Don’t get too ahead of yourself,” I joked as I dropped my armful of sticks. “It still hasn’t caught the rest of the teepee yet. I’m more of a log cabin guy myself.”

  “The log cabin?” Natalie scoffed. “Please. That’s the fire-building structure of amateurs.”

  “What can I say?” I knelt down and pulled the twine out of my pocket. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Now, would you mind coming over here and helping me out? It’s gonna take two sets of hands to make sure these things are sturdy.”

  The blonde scavenger stood from her fire and sauntered over to my position. Then she knelt down and looked me squarely in the eyes.

  “Just tell me what to do,” she noted. “I mean, I already know how I’d do it… but this is your baby, so I’ll follow your lead.”

  How thoughtful of her.

  “Okay, fine.” I shrugged. “I’m going to try the standard cot structure first. You know, the one with the little ‘x’es and the bed on top?”

  Natalie raised her eyebrows, but she remained silent.

  I stabbed two of the larger sticks into the sand so they’d form an “X” pattern, and then I had Natalie hold them tight while I lashed them together at their overlap. I repeated the action on another set of sticks about six feet away, and then again about halfway in between. After those were done, I got to work on the bed portion of the cot.

  For that, I simply lined up a bunch of the longer sticks horizontally and then tied each one of them up with a series of shear lashings. When all was said and done, I placed the structure up on top of the three “X”s and then took a step back.

  “There.” I whistled. “That doesn’t look too shabby, does it?”

  “Not at all,” Natalie agreed. “Now, one of us just needs to test it out.”

  “I guess I will,” I chuckled and shrugged. “Maybe it’s just my tired ass talking, but it actually looks kinda comfy.”

  I walked over to the stick-cot, turned around, and sat down on the middle section. I then swung my legs up onto the structure, laid my head back, and stared up at the stars of the night sky.

  I did it. Holy crap… I just made a freaking cot out of nothing but sticks, twine, and my own intuition.

  Natalie and I spent the next ten minutes building the second bed, and then we rolled it over to the other side of the fire. Our campfire had now grown from a small spark into a tiny inferno whose heat radiated hotter than even the Radon’s Root in the forest.

  “There,” Natalie mused as she clapped her hands together. “We should be all set for the night. Now, I don’t know about you… but I want to get this gunk off me. It’s hard to sleep with the blood and innards of your enemies crusted to your body.”

  The blonde Scavenger twirled around and then headed down to the water.

  “Hold on,” I called out. “I thought you said the water here was dangerous?”

  “It is,” she admitted. “But as long as you stay in the shallows, you’ll be fine. The bigger creatures can’t swim up that close to the shore.”

  I watched as Natalie waded out into the water, only about ankle deep, and then reached down and scooped up a handful of the murky liquid with her cupped hands.

  She raised the makeshift basin over her head, closed her eyes, and poured it down the front of her body. The water dampened her clothes, and I couldn’t help but stare as the fabric of her garments began to cling to her body as if it wasn’t even there.

  Then my mind snapped me out of my trance.

  “Oh, wait!” I called out as I ran for my bag. “I’ve got something that’ll help.”

  I pulled out the canister of baking soda, made sure there was still some left inside, and jogged down to where Natalie was standing. Then I tossed the can into the air and whistled for her attention.

  “What’s this?” she mused as she caught the canister. “Some of your bug killer?”

  “Not quite,” I chuckled. “Here… Take a little bit on your hand, and then mix it with the water and rub it over your body. It’s not the most powerful of soaps, but I’ve used baking soda to freshen up and clean myself off on plenty of camping trips.”

  She poured some of the powder out into her hands, and then I watched as she began to scrub her skin with the sudsy mixture.

  Slowly but surely, the blood and guts came off her body, and her skin looked as good as new.

  “What are you waiting for?” Natalie questioned as she cocked an eyebrow at me. “Don’t you want to get clean, too? Don’t tell me you’re one of those weirdos who gets off on violence?”

  “What?” I shook my head. “No way. I just don’t want to get my clothes all wet.”

  “Hunter,” the blonde woman laughed as she cleaned her neck, “that fire over there is made from Radon’s Root. Do you have any idea how hot that stuff burns? As long as we sleep next to the flames, our clothes will be dried by morning.”

  I guess I could use a little bit of freshening up.

  So, I pulled my boots off my feet, threw them up on the shore, and then stepped into the water of Lake Michigan. A chill shot through
my entire being as I waded out into the frigid depths of the lake, and soon I found myself right next to the blonde Scavenger.

  “It’s freaking freezing out here.” I shivered as I began to splash the water up onto my body.

  “You don’t have to stay out here long,” Natalie chuckled. “Just get clean, and then you can go take a nap by the fire and get warm again. I’ll even offer to take the first watch.”

  “Really?” I mused, and then Natalie poured some baking soda into my hands.

  I rubbed them together to get them sudded up, and then I ran the natural soap over the stains on my clothing. Once that was done, I grabbed some more and got to work on my filthy skin.

  “Of course.” The blonde woman shrugged. “It’s the least I can do after you saved my ass back there.”

  “Natalie… ” I sighed. “You don’t owe me any sort of life debt or anything like that. I just did what I thought was right. In fact, if anything we’re even now, since you saved me back in the Fallen Lands.”

  “I suppose you’re right,” she said nonchalantly as she turned around. “Could you get my back for me, please?”

  My heart began to flutter as her words sunk into my brain.

  “Huh?” I gulped.

  “My back,” Natalie repeated as she glanced over her shoulder. “It’s still covered with bug guts, right? I can’t reach it, so scrub it for me.”

  “O-Oh,” I muttered and feigned ignorance. “Right.”

  I rubbed my hands together and placed them firmly on Natalie’s backside. Then I began to massage her gently as I worked the faux soap into the fabric of her jacket.

  “Hold on… ” the woman grumbled, and then she pulled her jacket off her body and then tossed it up onto the sandy shore. “There. I know some of it got onto my actual back. Now, it should be easier to get to it.”

  Without the cover of her jacket, Natalie’s garment left her back completely exposed, save for two long strips of leather that traveled from her pants up over her shoulders.

  My heart was now thumping intensely as I marveled at the blonde woman’s exposed skin, and when I actually reached out and touched her soft skin, I thought I was going to have a freaking heart attack.