The Boot Shiner (Destiny x Male Reader)

Chapter 28: Gaia

The television fires up inside the ruined home, speaking in static. I don't know what it wants, nor what it wants me for, but... I'll listen as I wait for the sun to come up.

Television: H... hey... hell... hello...

Me: Hmmm...

Television: Y-yo... u...

Me: What about me?

The television goes to static, and a silhouette of... something I can't quite put my finger on begins to mold from the static. It speaks in a rather feminine tone, but still in mostly static. It's in gibberish, and I'm unable to hear what she's trying to say. I wonder if she's trying to say my name. I must have one. Everyone has one.

Television: Come...

Me: Come... w-where?

Television: H-h-ho-ome... Home-home-home...

The tone darkens, and it starts to repeat the phrase, "come home", over and over again. It continues to speak like this until the television overheats from its rough shape, ultimately burning out. That last thing it said was, "come back to me.", in a softer tone. Peaking through the boards in the windows, the sky begins to lighten up. The plague of the darkness stops moving, and the branches seem to borrow back into the ground.

However... the animals, some of the creatures... they stay. They look like savages, missing clothes, pale, skinny, however their heads are covered in trinkets, their bodies carved with symbols, and the darkness' plague tendrils waving around around their waists, feet, hands, and on top of their head. The savages beat the beasts that nearly killed me ages ago. However, now, I'm well rested, healthy, and better equipped.

I pray that one may have a compass so I may follow the mysterious stranger's advice, which is to pace north, find water, I'm guessing a pond or lake, and pace west. Upon exiting the home, the savages snarl, the woman in front screeching at me, rushing me instantly. I whip out the leg, the foot dangling on the end of it, and reel back for a hit.

*CLONK!*

I had the right idea taking the robot's good leg. Not only was the leg somehow easy to control, but it was devastating to flesh as it was almost all metal. It sends the savage rolling back onto the ground, where one hit was enough. It fractured her jaw for sure, and it looks as if their bodies are weakened by the plague, because... it broke her head open. The savages all run blindly to me, the last two attempting to take me down as a group effort.

*CLONK! CLONK!*

I let the weight of the leg carry me as I swing, spinning in a circle to slaughter both of them. The one survived the hit, their arm however, did not. As they try to crawl away, I can't risk them regrouping or spreading their infection. They can't find my hideout...

*CLONK! CLONK!*

Their body splatters, disintegrates, stains the bottom of my coat as I slam down twice, giving them a finishing blow for them and for the infection. Since they won't be using it anymore, I take their trinkets in hopes it will bring me some luck, or perhaps to sell. Surely, there are some people hoping to make a profit off misery, yes?

I pick a random clearing in the woods, not walking far so that I don't lose my hideout, but far enough to where I can see things I have not seen before. I see less gray greenery swapped out for actual... green... greenery. I feel a squish when I step. I look down at my boot after stomping on a mushroom on accident, what seems to be a toxic mushroom, similar to the ones that was in my sack...

This is why we boil them... I begin to cough, heave as I accidentally inhale the fumes. It goes away, but it leaves my chest burning for a few more moments as I keep walking. Once again, I'm back to feeling just slightly off. I wonder if I need to try and make essence. Perhaps I should go back to the oven and boil some things I've picked up. I pluck some of the mushrooms safely, and upon smelling them, they're sweet, really sweet... I... I fight my temptation to take a bite and continue walking.