Chapter 233: (Hesstla)

"Look," Tru said, pointing at where Punee was laying belly down on the floor. The little infant had pushed herself up on all fours, her little elbows wobbling as she gave a big nearly toothless grin, her sole tooth peeking out of the gum glistening with drool. She was staring at her sucky, which sat where she had spit it, just beyond her reach.

"I see her. Good girl, Punee. Good girl," Dambree said, smiling at her sister, who was starting to rock back and forth, primal instincts trying to get her to move.

Punee's feet kicked and she fell chest down on the floor, her little pointed chin thumping against the floor of the cellar.

Dambree could hear her growl of frustration as Punee glared at the sucky as if it was the sucky's fault she'd fallen.

Punee kept kicking her feet, trying to get purchase, and scooted forward an inch or so.

"She's getting dirty," Tru said, unwrapping a nibble.

"She'll be fine," Dambree said, leaning back against the cool stone wall of the cellar and closing her eyes.

After a moment Elu spoke. "She's eating dirt off the floor."

"She'll be fine," Dambree said, not bothering to open her eyes.

"Ew, she ate a bug," Tru squealed.

"She'll be fine," Dambree said, sighing. She opened her eyes and stared at Punee, who was busy chewing away, slobber coating her fuzzy chin. "See, the bug came out the loser."

"She ate a bug," Tru protested.

"Yeah, well, it doesn't seem to bother her, does it?" Dambree sighed. She reached over and picked up a bottle of fizzybrew and popped the top, feeling the bottle cool in her hand.

"But she ate a bug," Elu added.

"I know," Dambree sighed.

"I'm bored," Tru whined.

"I know. Play a game on the slate with Mister Mewmew," Dambree said, then took a long drink off the bottle, soothing her sore throat. She'd had a nagging sore throat since her crazy flight from Makeout Point that refused to go away.

"I want to play too," Elu said.

"I know. Tru, play with your brother," Dambree said, closing her eyes again. Her ears were tilted back, pressed against the stone wall. Faintly, from a long distance, her sensitive ears felt a rumble through the rock.

They're still fighting up there. It's been two days, she thought to herself. That's a good thing, I guess.

She closed her eyes, sipping at the fizzybrew, as Tru and Elu played with Mister Mewmew on the dataslate. She's noticed that the majority of the games Mister Mewmew played with them had educational themes underpinning them but were still fun enough that her younger siblings wanted to play them over and over.

Every now and then Dambree would open one eye and check on Punee, who was busy pushing herself up on her hands and knees before rocking back and forth until she fell down. Every time she landed back on her tummy she'd growl in frustration and struggle to try again.

You'll get it, Dambree thought, watching for a moment.

She had cracked open the next one when Punee laid there for a little bit, her eyes closed, then relaxed, moving from awake to asleep without the little baby noticing it. Dambree saw that Punee was kicking slightly in her sleep.

Learning dreams, Dambree thought to herself. She remembered that tidbit from school, from Health Class, taught by a three foot tall russet mantis person.

She wondered what happened to Missus LessonsShow the Way when the Slorpys had invaded.

Miss Way would probably just tell me to make sure that Punee doesn't bump her soft head on things and let her try and fail, Dambree mused, taking another sip off the drink.

She felt Mister Mewmew butt against her foot and looked up. Her siblings were eating out of cans of self-heat and Mister Mewmew had pushed the dataslate to her. She picked up the dataslate, lifting her knees and resting it against her legs so she could see the slate and Mister Mewmew both.

"Yes?" She asked softly.

A picture of cartoon trees appeared with rain. It showed Mister Mewmew standing on his hind legs and checking the rain and air with a datapad. Mister Mewmew had on a lab-coat like a doctor and glasses. It looked kind of silly to Dambree and made her smile.

"You need to go outside?" she asked.

Mister Mewmew's picture shot sparkles and ribbons.

"I'll come with you," Dambree said, grabbing the dataslate and pushing herself up against the wall.

Mister Mewmew frowned as well as had a :-| appear on his forehead.

"You two stay down here, Mister Mewmew and I are going upstairs," Dambree said.

"Why?" Tru asked.

"To look at the rain."

"Why?" Elu asked.

"To see if the rain is still black," Dambree said.

"I don't like black rain," Tru said.

"I know. Neither do I," Dambree said. Mister Mewmew had already gotten to the top of the stairs and was oozing through the wood hatch. Dambree tucked the dataslate into her belt, pulled down the last of the fizzybrew in the bottle and set the bottle in the cluster of empties, then followed.

When she opened the hatch the smell of wet forest rushed into her nose, making her sneeze three times in quick succession. The doors and windows were still closed and the interior of the cabin dry as she got out and slowly closed the hatch. The pistol was heavy in her waistband as she moved around slowly.

It was late in the day, the shadows deep in the woods around the cabin. As she watched Mister Mewmew oozed through the closed door.

The first time she'd seen that it had creeped her out, not it didn't bother her at all.

She set the dataslate on the counter and grabbed a can of fizzybrew, cracking it open and taking a drink. Dambree leaned against the counter, sipping at her drink, watching the rain fall. The black sticky stuff had been washed off and now the rain was clear, washing away the dust and dirt. The car looked better than it had since Dambree had ripped the door off, making her feel a little better.

After a bit, Mister Mewmew came back in, showing a smiley face on his head.

"Is it better now?" she asked.

The dataslate pinged and Dambree watched the cartoon that came up. It showed a bomb exploding into a fist-like cloud that had stink lines radiating off it. The stink lines went 'up' and hit clouds, which started emitting stink lines. Then rain fell, all of the oversized drops surrounded by stink lines. The rain fell on a car, trees, rocks, all of which began to emit stink lines. The cartoon then switched to a Terran looking at a strange looking instrument that made the stink lines glow. The Terran moved to a rocket, punched in numbers, and the rocket launched into the clouds, where it exploded in a puff of dust. The cartoon focused on the dust, making it larger and larger, until it reveal the dust was really super-tiny machines. It showed the machines looking around with big googly eyes for stink lines. When it found a stink-line it would wave to the others and they would rush up and cover the thing with stink-lines. The little machines would take pieces out of the atoms and eat them and the stink lines would go away.

"Nanites? Terran nanites to get rid of radiation?" Dambree asked. She vaguely remembered learning about radiation in science class. It was why reactors were dangerous and why the Lanaktallan forbid them from being on the surface of the planet, instead using giant solar collectors in orbit and beaming the power down to massive receptor stations in order to provide power to the planet.

The cartoon Mister Mewmew appeared, its eyes replaced with beating cartoon hearts and sparkles and ribbons shooting off from behind his head.

"That's good to know," Dambree said. "Can they come up?"

The cartoon switched to Dambee and her siblings in the basement while the sun went twice across the sky before they climbed out with big smiles.

"Two days. OK. Two days, we can do that," Dambree sighed. She moved over to the hatch. "It could be worse."

The cartoon Mister Mewmew nodded, its face serious.

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Two days passed slowly for Dambree, who watched Punee get better and better at moving around. She kept moving backwards, which made her growl in frustration. Dambree had learned quickly that as soon as Punee saw the pistol she'd try to get to it, but so far she could only scoot backwards, so she always ended up moving away from it.

Dambree managed to convince Mister Mewmew to put instructions for the pistol on the dataslate and while Punee and the others were sleeping she would do the firing stances for the pistol, learning how to use the holographic sight on the top, even how to use the 'non-firing training mode' to practice her aim. Dambree learned how to set the different ammunition types, marvelling that they all come from a solid block of metal.

Still, every time she set it down and Punee saw it, the baby would try to reach it, scootching backwards instead of forwards toward what she wanted.

That didn't stop her from trying, and when Dambree put it in her pocket she'd glare at Dambree with her beautiful amber eyes, baring the tiny sliver of tooth that had managed to extend past the gumline.

She also ate a couple of bugs.

Dambree just shrugged. It seemed to make her happy, so Dambree just figured the bugs were shit out of luck, as her gym teacher would say.

Tru and Elu had a big fight the second night over the last choco-nibble. Dambree solved it by taking it away and eating it herself, giving Punee half of it, ignoring her younger siblings' protest that it was the last one and both of their favorites.

Tru and Elu sulked till they went to sleep.

For a long time after her siblings were asleep, Punee chewing on her own fist and frowning while she kicked, Dambree stayed up and stared at the darkness. She could see Mister Mewmew open his eyes now and then to stare at her, but he usually went back to sleep.

Dambree sat in the dark, nursing her fizzybrews, staring at the shelves that were lost in the darkness.

Her mother and father were gone. She hoped that the Terrans had destroyed the Slorpy that had gotten her father so that her father was no longer inside of it.

She kept having nightmares of her father inside one of those crysteel globes, screaming as he was forced to hurt other people, pounding on the crysteel and tearfully begging to be let go. Every time she woke up crying and shivering.

Which is why she was nursing her fizzybrew when she heard it.

A vehicle. The whining of the electric engine.

She got up quietly, checking the pistol in her pocket. She snuck up the stairs, carefully opening the hatch and sliding out. She closed it and kicked the carpet over it, staying ducked down in the darkness.

A single door slammed and Dambree froze, listening closely, as she half-crawled to the couch and peeked over. After so long in the basement the night looked brightly lit to her.

There was an adult walking around the car, kicking the tires and looking inside. He was wearing eyeshades and had on a LawSec uniform.

Dambree opened her mouth to call out, feeling a flood of relief that a LawSec had found her.

Then the man turned around and Dambree closed her mouth.

The tan of the LawSec uniform was dark, had a tear in the front. The badge was flashing red instead of showing the LawSec officer's face and ID number. The man didn't have the belt that all LawSec wore.

There was something about him that made her mouth go dry and her little tail twitch.

The man walked up to the door, opening it. He walked inside and looked around, his glasses obviously letting him see in the dark.

"Lotta loot here," he mumbled. He took a step forward and stopped, staring at where Dambree was crouched down behind the couch. "Well, hello there, little miss," he said, his voice sounding friendly.

Dambree knew, she didn't know how, but she knew that it was faked.

"Hello," Dambree said, standing up and moving slowly to put the table between her and the strange man.

"Where are you parents, little girl?" the man asked, moving forward with her, a smile on his face.

"I'm here all alone," she lied.

"Are you now," the man said. He looked around. "You drive that car yourself?"

Dambree nodded. "Yes, but I wasn't good at it."

"You in town down the road when all the fighting started?" the man asked, slowly moving around the table.

Dambree moved with him, keeping the table between them. "Yes," she lied.

The man stopped, putting his hands on the table. "Well now, someone should protect you, little miss," he said. "There's killer robots around and the Terrans are killing everything that moves."

"They are? I thought they were our friends," Dambree said.

The man shook his head. "Nope. They're helping the robots kill everyone. I saw it with my own eyes," he said. "They kill any of us they find, just like the robots."

Dambree knew that was a lie. The Terrans could have killed her a dozen times and had done nothing but help when they could.

"Oh," Dambree said softly. She reached out and grabbed a bottle of fizzybrew, cracking it open and taking a sip.

The man copied her and took a can, taking a long swallow. When he was done he smacked his lips and looked at her, his eyes hidden by his dark glasses. "You shouldn't be drinking this stuff, little miss. You don't look old enough to be drinking."

Dambree didn't answer, just shifted around the table a little so she had her back to the back door and took a drink.

"You know, maybe I should stay here and protect you," the man said slowly.

"You'd protect me from the Terrans and the robots?" Dambree asked, trying to sound innocent.

"Well," the man said, and his smile got wide and ugly, his ears, shorter than Dambree's because he was a male, stood straight up from his head. "Maybe if you're nice to me I'll protect you."

Dambree swallowed thickly, getting a gut feeling what he meant. "Nice how, mister?" she asked, taking a sip and dropping her hand under the table.

The man's smile got uglier. "How about we start by you taking off those shirts?"

Dambree started shivering, covering what she was doing under the table with it. "My momma said never to take your shirt off in front of strangers," she said in her best little girl voice.

"Your momma isn't here, little miss," the man said. "If you're old enough to be drinking booze, you're old enough to be nice to me if you want my protection."

Dambree yanked her hand up toward the end of his sentence, her thumb over the top of the fizzybrew, and sprayed him in the face with the dark foaming liquid. Before she even saw the effect she turned and bolted, throwing her shoulder against the back door and crashing through.

She got about ten steps before his hand grabbed one of her ears, yanking her backwards. She gritted her teeth so she didn't scream as he pulled her around and back handed her, sending her sprawling to the ground. The pistol fell from her waistband and the man saw it.

"No you don't, little girl," he laughed, stepping forward and kicking it away. Dambree rolled on the ground, trying to get away, but he kicked her in the back.

Dambree grunted, unwilling to cry out, her hands going to her back.

The man stepped on one of her ears and looked down at her. He reached up and slowly removed the eyeshades.

Dambree went still, staring in shock.

His eyes were sunken in his head, bloodshot, the flesh around the eyes bruised black, with dried blood on the fur beneath them.

"Take off your shirt," the man ordered.

Dambree nodded, reaching her hand up. The man licked his lips, leering, and put his eyeshades back on.

Before Dambree could get the first button undone the man yelled out in pain, jerking back from Dambree and looking around.

"Something bit me!" he cried out. He staggered to the side and Dambree noticed he was starting to drool. "Bit me! Bit my ankle!" he slurred out.

Dambree saw Mister Mewmew dart forward, his mouth open to reveal sharp little teeth and two long fangs, and bite the back of the man's other ankle before darting away. Mister Mewmew didn't look soft and cuddly, instead he looked like he had a black shell that drank in the light.

The man staggered away, mumbling "biting me, bit me, bit my ankles" as Dambree slowly stood up. She walked over and picked up the pistol as the man crumpled to the ground. She lifted it up, then lowered it before putting it back in her waistband.

It would be loud and scare the little ones.

Mister Mewmew trotted up, rubbing against her ankles as she walked over to the shed. She opened the door and took down a tool hanging on the wall. She looked down when Mister Mewmew made a noise. The unhappy face was on his head.

"I have to, Mister Mewmew," she said softly, standing in the rain, the tool in her hand.

She walked back to the man slowly. He was on his back, staring up at the sky. He was breathing heavy, panting, foam oozing out of his nose.

"Help me, little girl. Help me," he said.

Dambree hit him in the face with the shovel until he didn't move any more.

-------------------

Mister Mewmew followed her as she dragged the man back to his vehicle. It was a LawSec car and Dambree carefully went over it. She found nibbles in the glove box, supplies in the trunk after Mister Mewmew cracked the lock, including a big gun and a bunch of really fat bullets with plastic casings. There was a belt for a neural pistol in the trunk and she took it, hiding it under her checkered shirt, tossing the neural pistol onto the top shelf of the cupboard, and put the heavy pistol into the holster.

She carried everything into the cabin, setting it down. She took two breaks, drinking a fizzybrew each time, then when she was finished cracked open another bottle of fizzybrew and walked back out to the cars. She moved her little battered car she had inherited from her boyfriend to behind the cabin, then walked back to the LawSec vehicle.

She had dumped the man's body in the trunk.

Dambree opened the door to the LawSec vehicle and looked down at where Mister Mewmew was sitting on the ground, looking at her.

"I need you to stay here and guard the littles, Mister Mewmew," she said. Mister Mewmew showed a :-( on his head, but faded away. Some time while she had been working Mister Mewmew had gone back to looking fuzzy and soft.

Dambree got behind the wheel and started it up, turning around.

Dambree drove slow through the dark, until she saw a turnoff from the main road that led to other cabins, further away. She drove the car to next to one of the cabins and stopped, leaving the lights on and the car on. The battery was only at a third as she got out and turned on the spotlight to shine on the front of the empty cabin.

She dragged the man's body out of the trunk and over by the door, laying him on his back, facing up, and dropped his broken eyeshades on his face.

Dambree knew she couldn't leave the LawSec car in front of her cabin. It would attract too much attention.

Leaving all the lights on, knowing it would quickly drain the battery, she walked away, through the rain, and down the road.

She knew it should bother her. The man had still been alive when she had started to hit him with the shovel, not making any sounds but grunts of effort. It should bother her, knowing she had killed him.

It didn't. Not even the gurgling noises he had made or the wet meaty thwacks the shovel had made.

She took another drink off her bottle of fizzybrew.

Dambree knew it wouldn't have just been her. She didn't know how she knew, but she knew that when he found out that her siblings were in the basement he would have hurt them too, maybe even killed them.

Her ear still hurt from where he had grabbed it then stomped on it.

She finished her fizzybrew, slinging the bottle into the woods, and walked down the road. She didn't really think about anything, her brain in neutral as she just put one foot in front of the other. She was soaked through but didn't care, just walking through the darkness. Her ear and her shoulder hurt, and her butt hurt from where she'd hit the ground, but the pain receded as she walked through the rainy night.

After a little bit Dambree came out at the intersection. The store was in front of her and the long walk back to the cabin was to her left. She sighed, realized that she was thirsty again, and headed into the store.

She went in through the back door that she'd left unlocked. This time, after she got a fizzybrew, she looked for things she hadn't thought of before. She got a couple of boxes with games in them and stacked them up, then grabbed a large backpack with a metal frame so she could shove the boxes inside of them. She grabbed a few medical kits when she saw it.

CAMPING FOR N00BZ was the title, and it showed a confused Terran staring at two sticks with a sad looking tent half collapsed behind him and a big furry animal running away with a wicker basket that had a red and white checkered cloth fluttering out from it.

She grabbed that, walking back and shoving it in the backpack.

Curious, she looked behind the bar, looking under the counter. She was surprised to see a bat under the bar, but she got it and went back to put it on the frame of the backpack. She added some camping tools to the frame, and a sleeping bag at the bottom, then attached a waterproof cover to it.

Picking up the backpack, she went back and stood behind the bar, looking at the handles, licking her lips. After a moment she set the backpack on the bar, picked up a glass mug from the shelf, put it under the nozzle, and hit the lever.

It blew spluttery foam into the mug. She held it down until fizzybrew started pouring out.

It took her a couple of tries to get a mug full that wasn't mostly foam. By the time she managed it the first one had settled, the foam gone, and the mug half full. She picked up the mug and took a long drink, closing her eyes.

Which meant she heard the vehicle pull up.

You have to be kidding me, she thought, bringing down the mug. She heard two doors slam as she refilled the mug, watching the front door.

Two men came into the bar. They looked around and when they saw her setting the fizzybrew mug on the bar they both smiled.

"Hey, now, little miss," one said.

Dambree slid the mug down the bar, happy it only spilled a little bit. It came to a stop at the end and both of the males watched the mug.

She started filling another one.

"This your bar?" they asked.

"My daddy's," she lied. She finished pouring the fizzybrew into the mug and slid it down. "He got slorped."

Both men moved up and picked up the mug as Dambree reached down and picked up another mug. They drained their mugs quickly, but Dambree filled up two more, sliding them down the bar.

"Say, you ain't seen a friend of ours, have you?" one asked. He was portly and heavy-set, jowls on either side of his mouth. Dambree could see a slight discoloration in his fur below his eyeshades.

"LawSec?" Dambree asked, feigning disinterest, pretending she was one of the rich and popular girls at school, or a Lanaktallan.

"Yup, that's him, little miss," the fat one said.

"You're a cutey. He say anything to you?" the other said, setting down his almost empty second mug. Dambree smiled at him, noticing that he too was wearing eyeshades and there was a slight discoloration below his eyeshades.

"Just that he wanted me to be nice to him," Dambree said. She pointed at the mugs in front of them in the dimness. "Another?"

"Yeah, pour us a couple more, little girl," the first one laughed.

"Sure thing," Dambree said, reaching down and grabbing a mug. She set it down under the tap and reached back down.

"You see which way he went, cutey pie?" the skinnier one asked.

Dambree pointed with the hand that had been holding onto the tap, pointing out the window. "That way."

They both turned to look.

When they looked back their eyes widened behind their eyeshades. Not just the suddenly ice cold eyes of the teenage girl, not just the calm way she stood, but at the heavy pistol in her hand with a burning green light on the side that she was looking down the holographic sight of.

Dambree fired twice.