The Messengers of Sanctuary

51 - River

River was an idiot.

At least, that's what he would have called Chicory if she'd come up with this stupid plan...Right in that moment though? He was some unholy combination of a genius, a mad survivor, and a flesh eating zombie.

To be fair he'd been that strange combination for a while now, but he never really let the 'mad survivor' part of himself have free reign.

As it was, River stood in the same area that the Viviendo emissaries had arrived. He was currently waiting for them to appear since it was the day they'd promised to 'exterminate' the remains of the Horde.

River was fairly sound of mind, but he was also (included but not limited to): laughing like a madman, fairly certain that if he died here he would stick around just to haunt someone, freaking out on the inside, the only one in the group that had actually shown up since all the pyros were scared for their lives, and he might have completely given up on not killing anyone. (Bcause as far as he was concerned, as long as they tried to kill him, he was allowed to do some murdering today)

He reflected on just how tenuous this entire situation was, wished he could turn around and just go back to Featherwood (but his pride refused to let him), and he also really wanted to just get this over with.

The sad thing was, the Viviendo were late. They'd said sunset at the end of the week. Well, the sun was rising, completely foiling his plan to just pick them off one by one from the shadows, while using his...friend as cover.

River had been standing there all night, going insane on and off as the hours passed.

But he supposed it was too much to hope that they'd seen him standing there and got scared off. He looked perfectly human at the moment, as long as you didn't look too closely at the enormous drill he held in one hand.

At long last, River spotted a battle ready group, marching forward with grim expressions, the faint scent of firearms drifting out of their pockets.

As they came within shouting distance, He immediately started the drill, plunging it into the ground and leaving it there to vibrate as he skipped away from the area, ducking into the nearby cover.

The group continued forward, warily, which was sensible since they'd seen him leave something there, and it was making some pretty loud noises too. River was kind of impressed that they weren't stupid, but also kind of sad because this would be much more fun if they left the drill alone for say...thirty more seconds.

To River's surprise, it arrived early. The thing must've been fairly close by, which also meant it would probably be twice as aggressive. Fantastic. River scaled a tree, ready to follow zombie protocol and get this thing off his back ASAP.

The tunneler erupted from the ground, snarling with anger and ready to murder whatever had disturbed its...digging? River wasn't actually sure what these things did down there. As it appeared, his instincts shifted to the defensive, content to remain as is and wait for this to all settle down.

The powerful zombie erupted from the ground and immediately started wreaking havoc.

The humans scattered, two different groups falling into defensive and offensive positions respectively. As River watched them coordinate, it became increasingly obvious that they weren't unfamiliar with dealing with tunnelers. They moved with practiced ease, stomping on the ground to attract the creature's ire, taunting it with easy prey and then retreating before it could attack.

They seemed to understand its limits intimately. Which was bad, because it tore apart River's plan like it was made of sand. He'd been expecting them to at least fumble, it would give him a good opening to pick them off.

But sadly, they were competent.

River growled slightly in annoyance and descended the tree, finally able to convince his instincts that he wasn't going to anger the tunneler. He stalked the edges of the area for a moment, searching the humans for an opening.

And then he pounced.

River tackled one of the humans to the ground, the one that was being the most annoying and effective against the tunneler. River knocked him out and he was gone again, circling the area to once again be imperceptible.

The light of dawn was annoying, as it made it much harder to blend in, but his nightstalker abilities were up for the challenge, lending him stealth impossible for a human to ever achieve.

River took out three more humans, leaving them unconscious in the field. Their comrades were still doing remarkably, and somehow they'd dragged them off to one corner to be protected as the remaining humans continued to fight off the tunneler. They had long since turned off the drill, and seemed mostly to be waiting for the tunneler to give up and leave, which...was actually something that was likely, to River's frustration.

River pounced forward to take out another relatively effective Viviendo, and he was stopped in his tracks as something familiar came barreling into the middle of the fight.

It was like a force of nature, a whirlwind in the middle of the calm, a storm that destroyed everything in its path. It was destruction incarnate, and his instincts fled from it with a force that was completely immeasurable.

River let out a low whine at the sheer force of it. Despite knowing exactly what it was, he wasn't prepared for the rage. He wasn't prepared for any of it.

River immediately fled back into the cover of the longer grass, letting his instincts control his stance and bearing. They were absolutely determined that bothering this particular zombie was a terrible idea.

River cringed as the powerful being entered into the clearing and knocked the tunneler out with a simple uppercut. As River saw the powerful zombie fall, his instincts decided once again that they were very very glad they usually saw her in a good mood. They were also jealous, which, while stupid, was entirely understandable.

Terrors were absolutely terrifying.

River would never say that out loud though, in the five seconds since the terror had punched the tunneler, it had fallen to the ground, possibly dead? She turned toward the humans and River braced himself for the inevitable destruction to come-

"RIVER, GET YOUR SORRY BUTT BACK HERE!!!"

Well, he supposed it was too much to hope that she would come find him afterward...River, severely shaking in his boots (er, shoes? That phrase always confused him) stood up from the grass."Uh...Yes, grandmother?" 

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