[ 1 v 1 ] Devour ( Merric & Alex )

[kuropeco]

He had never been to the Haunted House.

It was a dark place, bleak and cold; Merric was grateful for his heavy coat and its fur trim, pulling it a little more securely around himself as he passed through a cobwebbed hall. In here, everything felt somehow worse; as though something was waiting for him around the corner.

He felt on edge, but patrolling was a duty he took seriously, especially in a place like this, which meant that he had to be careful, regardless.

Seussi

 

[Seussi]

It wasn't the first time that Alex had come upon the Haunted House out of seemingly nowhere. He'd been heading towards the monster dorms, but when he'd opened up the door that should have led him outside....

Well, he was outside, but not of the school. Instead, he was staring directly at the gloomy structure he'd come visit and revisit many times over his years at Amity.

The question was, why? Alex had always felt as though he had found himself to the House for a reason. Like it felt the undying and desperate need that ate away inside of him, to hurt, to destroy, those who had made his own unlife so awful. Looking on, he was filled with memories of times passed, of the feel of flesh giving beneath his teeth, of the screams of terror when he grasped and clawed.....

He thought about Yin, his bonded, the love he had for him, and how the hunters had nearly destroyed him. How he had been irrevocably changed by their meddling, how he would never be the same.

It didn't take long for the anger, normally lidded but always simmering, to become uncovered and mount inside of him again, boiling to a rage. If there was a hunter inside, or even several, he would find them, he would, as much as he was capable, make them pay.

Grimy, bloodstained fingers curled into tightly clenched fists, and the zombie shuffled his way inside, shoving the door open with a loud creak of hinges and a slam as it hit the inner wall.

"Hello?" He called out, seeing little point in trying to hide his own presence at this point.

If there were hunters nearby, he knew they weren't likely to run.

Not until he gave them a reason to.

kuropeco

 

[kuropeco]

He heard a noise.

The creak of a floorboard somewhere behind him, a tell tale sign that something - or someone - had moved. It was followed by the unpleasant, grating screech of a door hinge, and then the heavy tread of footsteps - and a call, from a rasping, unfamiliar voice.

He was not alone anymore.

Merric felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Clenching the pick tightly in his gloved hands, he made his way quietly and carefully through the room, feeling his heart beating painfully hard in his throat. It was so loud it felt audible to everyone around; as though whoever had entered could hear it too.

< Do not answer back. I sense... >

Rinzler's voice was a low, growing sound in his head. Merric had had no intention of answering the call as it was, making his way down one of the shabby, gray hallways overlaid with cobwebs and with layers of dust so thick that the air itself felt gray and clogging.

What is it?

< I do not know. >

Seussi

 

[Seussi]

There was no answer, of course. He had only been faintly hopeful that anyone would have been stupid enough to. Of course, there was also the chance that Alex was actually alone in the house, but he couldn't really believe that. Out of all of the times he had found himself in the house, never once had it just been him. There was always somebody else, or several someones. There were always hunters, as if they took turns, and he wouldn't doubt it if that were the case.

Eyes narrowed, he slammed the door shut again behind him, and crept further inside.

"I know you're here!" He shouted, and shuffled along, dead eyes looking down long hallways as he passed them.

"A hunter...." He said, more quietly, head tilting as he swiveled to change directions, something in the air shifting, the house....it almost felt as if it was holding it's breath, as if it were alive.

"Aren't you looking for something?" Louder he called out again. "A student? Someone to convince to be one of your weapons?" There was a snarl in his voice at that last, and he turned down another corridor, and stopped.

"Ah." He smiled, as he caught sight of someone in a white jacket at the end of the hallway.

"There you are~"

kuropeco

 

[kuropeco]

The tension felt so thick that it was almost tangible; as though he could reach out a hand and feel it in the air around him. Merric closed his eyes against the second shout, feeling it shiver unpleasantly up and down his spine as he shifted as quietly as possible down the hall.

It was hard to be quiet in a place like this. Merric could hear the yelling, could still sense that whatever was calling to him was near, too near, near enough that he was growing more and more apprehensive about it. A cobweb caught on his arm and dragged free, spindly white legs drifting idly to the ground.

< Find them and kill them. >

I can't do that, Merric wanted to reply, but didn't, at least not vocally. Rinzler sensed his thoughts and made a noise of disapproval and disgust, a low growl that thrummed through Merric's thoughts. He took a breath, trying to decide what to do next.

"There you are."

Merric's head slowly rose.

Down the hall from him, a figure stood, half shrouded in shadows; human-ish in some respects, tall and rangy, but there was something off about him - something about the way his arm tapered off, the way his face was half cast in darkness, that made Merric's breath catch in his throat.

He gripped the pick tighter.

"Who are you?"

Seussi

 

[Seussi]

Alex was tall, close to 6'4, but his shoulders were hunched, his hands in the front pocket of his hoodie as he slouched forward, peering with eerily pale eyes towards the figure at the end of the hallway, a manic smile playing on his lips.

What a question. There were so many answers the zomboil thought that he could give...but they were all pretty jack-damned corny, so he kept them to himself.

"That's not important." He said, taking one slow shuffling step forward, and then another. He moved, in a way that looked impossibly, deceptively slow, though each long stride ate up the distance between him and the hunter, and he continued to stare, unblinking.

"Just know that I've killed your kind before, and I'll happily, gladly, do it again." He smiled a decayed smile, teeth stained, face dirty with hints of rot and blood.

He stopped, only a few feet away now, as long as the hunter hadn't decided to run off.

He hated fast food.

"So, what are you going to do about it?"

kuropeco

 

[kuropeco]

He was used to Lysander's height; used to that lazy, imposing form, because it was human, and it was a friend.

He was not used to this.

A creature, pale eyed and hollow cheeked, the grin spreading across his face like a Cheshire cat smile, sending shivers up and down Merric's spine. He took an instinctive step back, his heart clattering in his chest; gray eyes fell lower, traced the outline of a skeletal wrist and bony fingers before they moved back up to the grimy, rotting face.

It was getting hard to breathe. Merric had never seen anything like it before.

I've killed your kind before, and I'll happily, gladly, do it again.

Rinzler was saying something, but Merric wasn't listening. He dragged in a breath, painful in his chest, trying to sort through the haze of fear and uncertainty that seemed to lie like a fog around his thoughts. The pick was lifted, just a little.

"I can't - let you do that - " Merric said breathlessly, and swung.


HP: 40 / 40
DMG: 2

Seussi

 

[Seussi]

The hunter could have run, but didn't, and that alone was enough to make Alex grin. He felt the air around them being to electrify with the promise of a fight, and pale eyes flicked towards the pick held in the mans hands in front of him.

A shiver ran down the zomboils spine, and the grin faded. What had it been, before? Who's lives, or possibly unlives, had been ruined, just so that some awful human could have a shiny little weapon that they used just to ruin more lives and unlives?

He felt a sneer on his lips now, and instead of trying to dodge the swing, he moved forward, fingers curled into claws, the nails of his good hand ragged and black. Alex felt the thud of the weapon against his shoulder, but he shrugged it aside and lunged, fingers dragging down to scratch and claw at whatever they could reach.

HP: 48
Damage: 3

kuropeco

 

[kuropeco]

The hallway felt oppressive, dangerous, thick with a tension that weighed on Merric, caught on him like the strands of cobwebs that littered the walls and the ceiling. He didn't want to be here - he wanted to be anywhere, anywhere else but here.

His first swing did hardly any damage at all, just grazing the creature. And the retaliation he got back, while not as powerful as it could have been, still caused Merric to stagger back, letting out a half choked gasp as nails scraped along his neck, narrowly missing his face.

Merric swung the pick again, trying to get it away from him, something akin to terror clogging his throat.


HP: 37 / 40
DMG: 1

Seussi

 

[Seussi]

Now that he was up close, Merric could probably smell it. The rotting, cloying scent of decay in the air, which only seemed to intensify as Alex attempted to focus his Fear, arm catching the second blow from the pick and shoving it away.

The disgusting reek of flesh well past it's expiration date overwhelmed everything, the point of it all meant to catch the hunter off guard long enough for the zomboil to land two solid blows, hands curled into fists that he swung with an angry, wordless shout.


HP: 47
Damage: 9
Fear attack: T3 Double Take

kuropeco

 

[kuropeco]

The acrid stench filled his nostrils, curled through the hall, permeating past the scent of wood and dust and dampness. Merric wanted to vomit, nausea roiling in his stomach; Rinzler fluttered through his thoughts, a growl that persisted hotly, almost a snarl, feral and unpleasant.

He could not throw up. He needed to -

One of the creature's fists caught him in the chest, the other lower, against his stomach. Merric let out a gasp of pain, staggering backwards, eyes flying wide as he crashed into one of the hallway walls. Under his weight, a board splintered and cracked, the sound snapping through the air, dust exploding in a cloud.

< Focus, scareling. >

I'm trying -

The fear coiled in him. Merric shoved himself upright with a sharp inhale, coughing, and swung the pick desperately, gloved fingers sliding along the metal handle.


HP: 28
DMG: 9

Seussi

 

[Seussi]

The hunter swung and struck with such force that Alex found himself actually pushed back, stumbling across the floor with both bare foot and bone, each skeletal toe scraping against the wood beneath them. Until that moment, he hadn't really paid the hunters weapon much mind. He had seemed weak, and untrained. Now, the zomboil gazed at him with a slightly more wary eye.

Head hunched down, arms only slightly raised at his sides as if held at the ready, Alex couldn't circle the man in front of him because their wasn't enough room, but he could pace, with a sneer still in place, only a few mere feet distance between them.

"Why are you here?" He suddenly snarled, pinkish tinted spittle flying from his undead mouth.

"You shouldn't have come here." He growled, in a quieter, but no less menacing way, and lunged again, this time barreling full bodied into the hunter in an attempt to take him down to the floor.

HP: 38
Damage: 12

kuropeco

the dice are forgiven~

 

[kuropeco]

The impact of the hit shivered up and down Merric's arm as he stumbled back, breathing heavily. He'd managed to get in a solid blow, but the scrape of exposed bone across wood was like nails on a chalkboard, high pitched and painful to hear. He felt the fear clogging up his throat, curling through his chest like a cold wind, shards of ice beginning to jam themselves in his heart.

Merric took a step back, ignoring Rinzler's growl.

"I - this is where I - " He tried to say, but words wouldn't come, and besides, it looked like he wasn't going to get a chance to answer honestly anyway. The creature was lunging towards him, shooting across the floor; his shoulder slammed painfully into Merric's chest and they both went down with a crash, dust and splintered wood cracking and flying into the air.

Merric let out a cry, a choked gasp that wasn't quite a word. Like this, he couldn't get his weapon around, didn't have the distance to swing it, every part of him screaming with a desperate desire to get up, get away, get this thing off of me -

He pushed upwards, gasping, shoving a knee at the creature's stomach.


HP: 16
DMG: 7

Seussi

/gaze

 

[Seussi]

To be fair, Alex didn't really care what the hunters answer was to his question. The fact was, the zomboil didn't feel as though the hunter belonged there, and so, he was going to make sure that he never came back, ever again.

Even if he had to kill him in order to make that happen.

The zomboil had managed to get the hunter on the floor, and snapped his teeth in front of the others face menacingly, and for someone who was nothing more than rotting flesh barely stretched over bone he was surprisingly strong, though clearly not very agile.

When the hunter pushed his knee up into Alex's stomach the zombie grunted, but it was impossible to have the wind knocked out of him when he didn't actually breathe. Still, it was...uncomfortable. And he was thin enough that the knee basically slammed into him just below his ribs, and easily pushed back to towards his spine, jolting him up to the base of his skull and down to his tail bone.

He gritted his teeth but kept them bared, and with one balled up fist he struck against the side of the hunters head in retaliation.

HP: 31
Damage: 7

kuropeco

/gazes with

 

[kuropeco]

The smell was awful, a rancid, dead scent that filled Merric's nose, of wet flesh and decaying skin and rotting bones. Bile was rising in the back of his throat, and he tamped down on the instinctive urge to gag, or maybe to vomit, his body shaking for control.

The teeth snapped too close. Merric jerked violently away, gasping -

- something slammed into the side of his head.

Stars exploded in Merric's vision, bright and hot, and he wasn't really aware of crying out, though he must have, because something was echoing around him, thin and pathetic sounding. Rinzler was shouting something, a growling hiss, and Merric shoved up again, moving without thinking, desperate to get away.

Please no please no please -


HP: 9 / 40
DMG: 3

Seussi