In all his previous incarnations and lives, B-64 had never seen anything quite like what happened to the town of Little Rock. And he's seen a lot of things.
But neither the Massacre of the Slitherians nor the War Between Stars had seen such abhorrent displays of brutality and bloodshed as that little town.
The roads were literally paved in blood, dark black webs from several other worldly creatures clustered around trees and in between buildings like a cold and dead dense fog. Mason felt despair in the very air as he slowly drove onto the main street.
"What happened here?" Axel asked, staring out of the passenger window. The sidewalk was coated in blue and red blood, and it splattered against the buildings surrounding the town. The disturbing sight only amplified by the constant wet squelching sounds coming from underneath the car as it drove over the blood.
Thank heavens that Hannah went to sleep, thought Marissa. She peered out into the dense spiderwebs as the car drove at a meager three miles an hour. B-64 attempted to scan his surroundings, but found that nothing worked. It was like whatever the webs were, they were disrupting his functions.
Mason reached a small gas station, though it was completely covered in the black webs. Mason saw that their gas tank was running low, and even though Little Rock didn't work out as planned, they could still keep going.
"B? You're coming with me." Mason stated plainly, turning his hand to turn off the car. B-64 nodded cutely, a small trill showing that he understood. Mason nodded as well, turning back to his friends and sleeping sister.
"We'll be back with gas. If anything happens, any yelling or the like, I want you to turn on the car and start driving." He told them, Axel and Marissa nodding solemnly. Turning his attention back to B-64, they nodded and exited the vehicle.
Mason felt a cold shudder creep up his spine as he plopped right on the soaking wet blood. He tried not to think about anything, just keeping his mind right to the gas station, and not pay attention.
Never mind the wetness, nevermind how it sounded. Nevermind the itching feeling crawling up his leg, nor the shadows in the corner of his eyes. Just focus on the gas station, he repeated to himself over and over again.
B-64, however, paid more attention to the contents of the blood. He knew how that planet's blood behaves, but the blood he was stepping on and through was much more sticky, corrosive and slimy even. And he could plainly see a thin layer of purple and blue blood here and there.
He let Mason enter the gas station first, mostly because he had no idea what Mason was attempting to do and how cars worked. His species mostly used flying vehicles.
He kept watch, though he was barely able to see the thin gray outline of the car ahead of him, and he could swear he could see small glimpses of blackness in the corners of his sensors, being able to pick up the slight movements.
B-64 tilted his head inside, seeing Mason filling up a red canister with some clearish liquid. Finding that it would take some time, B-64 squatted down and began to observe the blood and its properties.
B-64 slowly let his programming take over, allowing for his left hand to slowly convert into organic matter, and then slowly slide into his somewhat metallic arm. He activated his scanning mode, and took a sample of the blood with extended equipment now taking over for his hands.
The blood was mostly congealed at this point, though it somehow still retained it's wet and fresh appearance, it was undoubtedly old blood. It was mostly from reptiles, snakes and cobras, but he could definitely see the faint imprint of blue blood.
His visor's screen shifted for a moment, displaying several thousand lines of ones and zeros, before B-64 got the result. Even after all three trillion species locked into his database, this blood only belonged to one specific species.
The Menetins. A race of insects with the distinct feature of resembling earthen spiders, eight legs and all, but the body of another species, often reflecting the viewers species onto the top half to better harbor fear and mistrust, of which they both feed and die from.
B-64 slowly let his dagger slide down his wrist, more alert than ever before. The dense black fog and the webs combined created a sort of mechanical buzz that seemed to reverberate with the very air, stinging his sensitive nerves the more he stayed in one place.
B-64 quickly turned his shoulder, firing the sharp blade through the air and landing with a sharp and wet thunk against something. He had heard something there, but had no heart to investigate it further than throwing his blade.
After all, all his scans on his vision showed up as errors.
Bringing his green claws into a fist, he brought the balde back to him. He held up his palm, letting the blade land directly into it with a satisfying pop. He let it go, letting the programming to cybernetically withdraw the blade back into his wrist.
His left ear twitched as he heard Mason curse at the same time as he heard a large plastic thunk hit the gas station floor. B-64 turned to look inside and trilled lightly, asking what had happened.
"Nothing B. I just spilled something. It won't be long." Mason responded, easily understanding what the trill meant.
B-64 nodded his head and returned his vision to the fog and the webs as green pixelated 'Angry' eyes appeared on them. Fortunately, he didn't hear anything else.
Mason soon came out, carrying two large red containers that smelled extremely badly, and one smaller one that only smelled about half as bad. B-64 followed him to the trunk, standing guard as Mason heaved the containers into the trunk, and then softly closed it.
Mason quickly got in the car, and so did B-64.
Mason felt relief as soon as he was back in the driver's seat, breathing heavily despite not doing all that much. He flexed his fingers, placing them back onto the steering wheel cautiously.
He tried to remember where the nearest town was. He swore that it was nearly an hour away, but the map inside the gas station seemed somehow warped, twisted and distorted somehow. The paint and paper moved on it like a living thing, even the time between each distance changed the more he had looked at it.
Shaking his head, Mason peered at the console, stunned at what he saw. The time displayed constantly shifted, at one time it was three thirty in the morning, the other it was three thirty in the afternoon, and the next midnight.
Mason thought about what he should do, what they should do, "Do you think we should stop to rest here, like at the grocery store or something? We don't have any food, and the next town is a long way away." Mason asked behind him.
B-64 was the first to answer, shaking his head frantically. Menetins were the lowliest of troopers, but they wrecked havoc on any being or planet if they were given the opportunity of being promoted.
But Marissa and Axel both nodded. B-64 noted how physically and mentaly exhausted they were. Each hard dark bag underneath their eyes looks like they haven't slept in months, despite only being close to an hour since they left the ridge where they crashed.
Hannah was still pleasantly asleep, cuddled up in a tiny ball next to Marissa. B-64 produced a sound akin to sighing, and then nodded his head, "Okay. Is this okay?" Mason asked, slowing down and pointing at what looked like a very old, but still functional grocery mart.
B-64 nodded again, knowing that whatever the two in the back would say, it would be a yes too. They looked horrible.
Mason slowly pulled into one of the parking spaces in front of the store, bumping up against the cement bumper. He felt another cold shiver run up his spine as he stepped onto the ground, feeling the asphalt give as if it was somewhat liquid. It felt hot to the touch.
B-64 helped unload Marissa and Axel from the back seat while Mason handled Hannah. B-64 had a relatively easy time helping both enter the store, only having to support the two slightly as their own adrenaline from being out in the open seemed to give them some much needed energy.
Mason rocked his sister back and forth as he entered the store just a few seconds after B-64 did. He walked slowly so as to not disturb her sleep. Each step felt really, really warm. Like the point where one could touch hot coals without being severly burned.
Mason quietly let his sister slide from his arms and into the arms of Marissa, who was asking for her like a three year old asking for their plush toy. She hugged Hannah, slipping in and out of sleep as both got comfy in an old chair.
Axel slowly dragged himself to one of the checkout counters and lifted himself onto the conveyor belt. He was asleep before Mason started to look around.
The store was rather large, most likely holding much more than just food as most small towns as the aptly named Little Rock usually have. Mason softly turned over the car keys in his hand as he ventured into the aisles.
B-64 was a little amazed about it all. It had been centuries since his species had used public shopping, but then again, some places on his planet do have public shopping, mostly for organic matter they can gulp down for power.
He slowly drifted between the aisles, tilting his head at every little thing. His clawed hand managed to find the soup aisle. He grabbed one tightly and brought it up to his visor to scan, which worked surprisngly.
It looked good enough, so with a gusty trill, B-64 opened his visor to reveal his synthetic tongue and popped the can, metal and all, into his mouth.
He chewed for a moment, taking in the flavor, and nodded his head. It tasted good enough, so he grabbed an armful of the metal containers and started to walk back to the main, sleeping group.
B-64 managed to get a laugh out of Mason as he observed him popping another one of the metallic things into his mouth, of which B-64 gave a questioning gaze. Mason shook his head, setting down a red basket filled with items and walking over to him.
Mason grabbed a bowl from one of the shelves and asked for the container, of which B-64, albeit reluctantly, "Here, this is how you do it." Mason said, grabbing a can opener from the basket.
Once he opened the can, he poured the contents into the bowl. B-64 trilled happily, the unique sound of the meaty bits along with the broth was another new sound. All the food on his planet had the same texture, bland and much like earhern salt.
Still B-64 drank that as well, then without much of a second thought, popped one of the metal containers into his mouth. Mason just shook his head, and retrieve an item from the basket, or more so, several items.
With a smile, B-64 retrieved the golden colored grain and chopped down hard, releasing the taste of it. Mason just sighed happily, growing a little drowsy himself.
Without much thought, Mason leaned against B-64, and closed his eyes.
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So, uhh, yeah. This is probably one of the better chapters in my opinion. I like how it turned out actually.
I hope you did to, but please don't hesitate to comment on any errors in writing or lore if you find them. I wrote this early in the morning, like one, so it's probably not the best written.
Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!
~ Candle