The research squad moved carefully into the dogtree forest, their bodies staining red from the raining fluids. The sky was blotted out with the bloodied canopies, gory entrails hanging down from the branches like withered grapevines. Ryder pulled an assault rifle on his back and held it with shaking hands, his fearful gaze darting in all directions with every dogtree they passed. Marshall kept behind Rocky, the dogs keeping close under the dangling meat above. No one spoke for the longest time, their muzzle sealed in fear of speaking over the hushed whispers emitting from the meaty foliage above. Small portions of the ground bumped out like rubbery pimples, moving as if they were breathing air in the hive. Marshall stopped to peer into one, even poking it with his paw and making it bounce slightly, but the pumping organ didn't respond.
The ungodly smell was the disgusting icing on the mold-slathered cake, a finishing touch that assaulted the squad with the heated stench of rotted meat and sweet flesh. No one could walk anywhere without getting their feet soaked in some kind of liquid, be it blood, filthy water, or a milky white fluid no one dared to identify. Not a single square inch of The Omnihive was dry, spanning for miles with gore-soaked terrain.
Jagged carvings of hard, white material were scattered all over the ground like rocks. Some were tiny as pebbles, and others were the size of entire boulders. Some were scratched, some were stained yellow or red, some were slightly flat on top, and others were pointed like dislocated fangs. Ryder tapped one with the barrel of gun, somewhat memorized by the echoing tap sound it produced.
"Solid bone," Ryder said aloud, trying to keep his voice steady. "Amazing to see an ecosystem like this, I assume Feroxmalis turned the basement into a similar sight?"
"We didn't even know there was a basement, first of all," Rocky quipped, flashing his old leader a glare. "You sure love to keep things from us."
"It wasn't any of your business, and besides, I had my own work to do down there."
"What could you have possibly been doing that we weren't allowed to see? Were we not all family?"
"You're just dogs, Rocky," Ryder muttered, sighing under his breath. "I didn't expect you to understand any of my affairs. I built machines down there, okay?"
Marshall spoke up, "what kind of machines? You mean like the pup packs we wore?"
"Not exactly," the boy shook his head, looking wearily up at a hanging clump of bloodied biomass. "You think skills like mine were limited to those skimpy backpacks? Nah," he chuckled. "I was meant for greater things, you know. It started with Adventure City and that weather machine, that was a new step for me."
"What, destroying it?" Rocky picked up his pace, coming to Ryder's side.
"Destroying it? That was Skye's fault," Ryder rolled his eyes. "Flew her fuckin' helicopter right into an eight-thousand-dollar machine. Coulda' just turned the thing off, good thing I saved the blueprints."
"The-" the mix narrowed his eyes. "Wait, why did you have blueprints of Humdinger's machine?" He weaved around a small puddle of red liquid.
The boy stopped in his tracks, turning around to meet the mix's gaze. "It wasn't his machine, Rocky," he crossed his arms. "It was mine, he just bought it from me afterward."
"Bought it from you?!" Marshall halted, making one of the scientists crash into him from behind. "You made it for him?!"
"It wasn't for him; nothing was for him!" Ryder argued. "The whole project was commissioned by the Archline Foundation. Turns out they never wanted to control the weather, just wanted to see what I was capable of. I finished the thing, brought the prototype to them and everything! But Dutch just nodded, paid me, and sent me home. That was when I sold it to Humdinger," he finished, his voice weighed with exasperation. "What followed was several weeks of commissions, dozens of projects Dutch practically shoved down my throat. As far as the weather machine went, I just wanted the thing out of my basement, but that purple idiot could've at least been less destructive with it. Took me like months to build..."
Dumbfounded at his leader's words, Rocky watched him walk with disbelief on his face. "But- but Humdinger said he made it, or those-" he shook his head, searching his memories. "Those weird scientists from the city made it, I don't remember. But he said he-"
"Of course he did," shrugged the boy. "That idiot takes credit for everything, you should know that," he looked aside for a moment. "I did tell him to keep our transaction under wraps, though."
"So, what-" Marshall raced ahead to face him, a sinking betrayal infecting his heart. A part of him refused to believe the words he was hearing, the very words that endangered the only prized memories he had left. "You dragged us all the way to Adventure City to destroy a machine you made?! For what!?"
"Marshall, let's not talk about this right now," Ryder waved him off, stepping over the Dalmatian. "We need to get to the outpost before-"
"Screw it!" snapped the medic, baring his teeth at him. "Why, Ryder!? Why!?"
The three scientists following behind were looking at one another awkwardly, feeling out of place in this personal conversation.
"It was all a test, okay?!" The boy almost yelled, becoming defensive at all the eyes on him. "Not for the weather thing, for me! Archline wanted proof of my craft and I gave it! They wanted my help to build all kinds of things! I had to keep it under wraps though, I couldn't let anyone know my involvement. I had to play dumb when the fiasco in Adventure City started."
"But why did you have to keep that from us?" Rocky flattened his ears, mortified at the words he was hearing. "Why did you keep anything from us, didn't we mean anything to you!?"
The question hung for a while, Ryder stopping with visible pain on his face. Letting his arms fall to his sides, he spoke softly. "You did, Rocky. You were my dogs, and I loved you all," he said sadly. "But the things Archline offered me... it was like my own dreams on a silver platter. It wasn't even that harmful at first, sure there was the whole 'weather machine' thing, but that was it," he went on, his vision gazing out into the bloodied scene of the forest. "At least at first, but Dutch wanted bigger things; war machines, advanced technologies, I even designed the Gates of Heaven for him. When he sent me that final message to abandon you guys in the tower, I promise you I didn't take it at first."
"But you eventually did," Rocky pointed out.
"Well, maybe, but you need to understand me here! I knew you guys had a shorter lifespan than I, and Dutch just had all this money on the table and... well what did you expect me to do?!"
"Stay with us like you always have been!" Marshall barked, tears forming in his eyes. "It was the one time we truly needed you the most and you just left!"
"Marshall," Rocky reached out a paw to his brother, trying to calm him.
"Piss off," the medic shoved the captain away, starting to back Ryder into a dogtree. "All these years, missions, the bad times, good times, we looked up to you! You were the one human being in a town full of idiots that knew how to save the day!"
"Marshall, wait," the boy stammered, flinching as a hanging intestine brushed his backside.
"Was it all a lie!? Is everything about dogs being man's best friend just a manipulative lie!? Because we're stupid, expendable animals with no cognitive thought?!"
"Marshall-" Ryder flinched, a boiling heat rising in him.
"Is that it, huh? Is that all we ever were to you? We lost Digger in that accident and you just... replaced him! Now don't get me wrong, I never hated Rubble, he was one of my best friends, but you barely cried for ten minutes!" Shouted the Dalmatian. "Me and the others were distraught for days!"
"Weeks," Rocky muttered, remembering a tragic loss that seemed ages ago.
"So we're just expendable?" Marshall was visibly breaking down, tears streaking down his voice as cracking emotion broke his voice. "That's it? We're just left to rot and-"
With no warning, Ryder completely lunged forward, shouting into the air as his breaking point snapped. "Yes!!" He screamed, releasing a burst of pent-up aggravation straight into the dog's face. Marshall flinched, his expression widening with surprise at the sudden verbal punch. Rocky was taken aback too, frozen in place at the volatile answer.
"Yes, okay!?" The boy shouted, clenching his fists with boiled agitation. "Fucking hell, yes you are! Is that what you want to hear?! You're just animals, Marshall! Do you realize that dogs didn't always speak perfect English? All you did was bark, fetch tennis balls and piss in the yard! That's exactly what you were, Marshall! Just animals! Did you know that some religions believe dogs don't have souls? It's because we, the humans, are the dominant species, and we always have been! God!" He turned and walked off, leaving a trail of frustration in his path. He stopped by a dogtree, leaning against its soiled truck to catch his breath.
Marshall hadn't moved, standing motionless with confusion. Rocky watched his brother's expression slowly frown, then give way into hopeless despair. What little remained of his spark was snuffed away in an instant, Marshall's entire life he treasured so closely now ripped to shreds in front of him. The past was gone, but still he clung to the hope that Ryder would return to them, a dream that provided the only motivation to keep the medic going. Feeling his heartstrings breaking one by one, Marshall hung his head with silent anguish, letting each memory of his old life fade away. Rocky was quick to run to him, taking the Dalmatian with one arm for support. Still hanging back, the scientists stood dumbstruck at the scene that had taken place before them. Not one had a clue what the argument had been about, feeling more inclined to stay farther back even within the hellscape of The Omnihive.
"Should we... say something?" Averus leaned into the ear of his colleague, watching the trio with uncertainty.
"Uh... guys?" Parker called out. "The outpost is just a little way away. We really shouldn't..." his voice trailed off. "We shouldn't be stopping."
"Go on ahead," Marshall said dejectedly.
"No, no one's splitting up, not out here," Rocky jumped into the conversation. He turned his head to Ryder, "we'll deal with you later, for now we need to concentrate on not getting torn apart, we're exposed standing in the open like this!"
"We are," Ryder sighed, recollecting himself.
Marshall bared his teeth in the boy's direction, "I'm going nowhere with you."
"Of course you aren't," Rocky said to his brother, meeting his gaze. "You're following me, remember?"
The Dalmatian frowned for a moment, thinking over the situation in his head. "Course, captain. How could I forget?" he said, a crippling sadness in his voice.
"What are we even doing out here in this meat hell?" the mixed breed turned back to the scientists. "What's even at the outpost, what's the mission?"
Sneaking uncertain looks at one another, the lab-coated dogs contemplated their answer, wondering how to reveal at a time. Averus was the one who spoke up, walking forward to the captain. "FRX is the mission," said the husky.
"The vaccine Dutch used on himself," Rocky nodded, following along.
"Like he said, we've only been to make two, the first one he already used. Our mission is to pick up where the last team left off; gathering genetic samples to make more of the vaccine."
"What happened to the last team?"
Averus grimaced slightly, discomfort flashing on his face. "They... tried to catch a ferox warrior. Emphasis on 'tried,' now we have to pick up their pieces."
"Literally," Parker uttered under his breath.
The husky shot an annoyed glare back at his coworker before continuing. "We needed more capable dogs, and that's why all of you are here. It's not an easy feat getting more of this stuff."
"Well how did Dutch get the first two?" Rocky asked.
"From Feroxmalis," Averus replied. "And that was after months of work. Not to mention, the whole reason we got it in the first place was because Feroxmalis was born directly into containment."
Marshall looked over, "are you saying we have to catch a ferox warrior?"
"Well... I didn't want to sugarcoat it..."
"Great," the mix flattened his ears. "No, fuck it. Let's just jump right into the abyss and throw a net or something."
Rejoining the group, Ryder ran his hand through his hair, trying to ease his own anxieties. "No, we can't be that reckless. I have a contraption in my backpack designed entirely to snare one, it's the only shot we have."
"I'm really not keen on seeing one of those things again," Marshall whimpered, looking around the blood-soaked forest grounds.
Averus came to Rocky's side, "If you manage to trap one of the warriors, we can seal the cage and transport it back through the Gates of Heaven."
"You want to take one out of The Omnihive and into the facility?" the mix scoffed. "Great fuckin' idea, can't think of a single way that will go wrong."
"Well you clearly seem to know how to deal with these things, why can't you?" Averus argued. "Dutch wants as many as we can grab, but fifteen at minimum."
"Fifteen..." Rocky met his gaze, staring into the husky's soul. "He wants us to trap fifteen psychopathic creatures, transport each one all the way back to the lab, and repeat?"
"All without dying, preferably."
"Look, let's just get to the outpost, and survey our plan of action from there!" Ryder said aloud, trying to shut down the argument. "We've been standing out here for too long, can we all just stop talking and keep walking?"
As much as he still wanted to argue, Rocky knew it was dangerously unsafe to stay exposed in a world like this. Shaking his head of the insults he wanted to spit, he pushed down his emotions and motioned for Marshall to follow. Relieved the uncomfortable interaction had ended, Ryder held his weapon closely and continued the march through, the three scientists still following nervously at the back of the line.
Rocky eyed the boy's weapon, "are you really sure that'll be effective against the ferox warriors?"
"Do you have a better idea?" said Ryder without turning his head.
"I guess not, but I've seen it before; bullets don't really do much."
"Maybe it won't kill them, but it's still a bullet tearing through your body," the boy rolled his eyes. "It should hurt enough to make them at least hesitate."
The mix bristled slightly, annoyance channeling through him. "Why couldn't we bring in a bunch of flamethrowers? That'll be more than useful in a hellhole like this."
"Oh trust me, we know," Averus spoke up from the back of the line. "But there's not enough fuel in the entire world to make a fire capable of burning all this down. Also, Dutch doesn't want us damaging his 'prizes.'" He made air quotes with his paws.
"Figures," Rocky mumbled. "One minute you think things are easy, but then they aren't."
The Omnihive emitted a low gurgling below, amused at the discordance within the group. The fleshy ground gently contorted and pulsed under their footsteps, faint whispers floating around the branches of the dogtrees. The gruesome flora seemingly had no end, towering over the invaders with its strewn gore. Ruptured muscles and burst organs hung down from above as far as an eye could see, the entire forest nothing but an infinite trail of dripping disembowelment. Stringy intestines wove around each tree like rotted Christmas lights, tying every last one into a sanguinary spiderweb. Marshall swore he heard a tree whisper to him, jumping away from it with spiked fur. Rocky put a quizzical ear its blood-soaked trunk but heard nothing.
Then the eyes started appearing. As silent as a mouse at midnight, a single eye suddenly opened on one of the trees, watching the group with its yellow iris and slitted pupil. It shut before anyone could spot it, the tree perfectly camouflaging with the rest. More eyes began gradually appearing, most on the trees, but some even in the ground they walked on. They opened slightly, like children peeking at a surprise, then quickly shut before their presence was noted. The first to see them was Rocky, an eye opening in the very corner of his vision. The mix noticed it and snapped his attention over with a fixed gaze, but the eye was quick, shutting swiftly.
"Did anyone-" he muttered with a raised eyebrow, then turned back to the group. "Did anyone else just see that?"
"See what?" Ryder looked back. The second he turned his vision away from the path forward, a peeping eye opened on a tree to look at him.
"I- I think I saw something," Rocky approached the dogtree carefully. "Not... entirely sure what it was."
"There's no telling what kind of stuff is down here," Parker shrugged, oblivious to the eye in the ground scanning him.
Ryder turned his gaze back to the path, prompting the eye surveying him to shut quickly. "I'd rather not find out what most of those things are, let's keep moving," he picked up his pace, unknowingly stepping on a closed eye. "It's the silence that worries me."
Still watching the tree closely, Rocky finally shrugged and went back to rejoin the group, not realizing the eye opened again the moment he turned away. The orb watched him closely, along with five others that opened behind the group, observing them all as they disappeared further into the forest.