Fallout: Fury Blood

Chapter 26: Doom-Guy

Kelly glowered across the cavern at the Dark Blood raider, eyes narrowed into him, willing them into weapons that could slice through the distance, and him. He looked like a monster, his pale skin lavishly adorned in bloody red patterns, scars, and tattoos, but unlike Clay-Crawler's claw markings, he was marked by a variety of fangs. Accessories enwrapped several limbs, arm bands spiked with severed human fingers, anklets with animal claws, a belt studded with eyeballs, and a jawbone biting around the circumference of his neck. His entire body was on display but for scant loincloth and elaborate headdress of a human skull, dipped in red and fashioned with dangling teeth of many sources, like braided hair.

"Shy?" Doom-Guy asked silkily in their silence, a decayed smile plaguing his face. Even from this distance, he was ugly as fuck. "No need for shy. Come out, talk, like leaders."

Dogmeat was standing before him, poised in aggression, hackles flaring, barking his threat. This was Dogmeat's killer. He was already dead to Kelly.

"How about fuck you!" she served out on a blade of hatred. Every thread of her restraint was active in keeping her from dashing out and simply shooting him in the face. Whatever hand he had to play better be good, or she would do just that.

To her response, he barked a laugh. "Impressed again. A woman! With such anger. Women make good leaders, like to talk more, act less on anger. Anger makes good fighter, but good leader? Hmm..." his taunting hum trailed off into amusement, now smug little hums that riled Kelly even more. Her upper lip twitched, fingers crushing into the rock she leaned against, imagining them around his throat.

"You piece of shit. What's stopping me from stepping out right now and shooting your face off!?"

"Mistake, woman," he answered, patronizing. The device in his hand was gestured with. "See this? Yes?" He then indicated with another meaty hand toward the cages bordering the cavern, the specimens squealing from within. Half of them had been cooked from the mini-nuke, Kelly realized, but there were still an overwhelming number of them. "See them? Ah. Yes. Will release cherubs. No escape for you." His final sentence was a taunt full of a predator's delight.

So it wasn't for slave collars. She had some room to manoeuvre without having to worry about putting the ghouls in danger. Good. Because she really, really wanted to rip his throat out. "What's stopping you? Go ahead!" she snarled, seeking his angle. "We'll kill our way through to you and then I'll rip your throat out with my bare hands!"

Hancock was grinning wildly and nodding his head, clearly onside with her tactics, but Deacon slipped down his shades to pass her cautioning eyes.

Doom-Guy gave another laugh, buried within his chest. "What's stopping me? Loss of resource." The shrug of admittance he gave seemed unfitting on his savage form. "Cherubs will be killed, but not enough for you to win. Takes time to breed, feed, grow. Not want to waste precious resource." Again, that patronizing tone that vexed Kelly.

"The fuck do you want, then?" she allowed him, hating to give even an inch.

"Simple. Survival."

This time it was Kelly's turn to laugh, and it trickled out in disbelief with such a dark, maniacal quality that it sounded foreign even to her. "You think I'm just gonna let you go? After what you've done down here? Fuck no. I know who you are. I saw you back there, before the cave-in you set up for us. Dogmeat's dead because of you." She let her anger burn up from her core and feasted on it. "You deserve to die."