Chapter 708 - Monkey Presents Wrench

The occupants of the aircraft actually consisted of everyone Afton was close to, his companions such as Karl, Boone, Anja, Veronica, Christine... And his other friends, Miles, Melissa, Usanagi, and Ulysses.

Despite their importance to the burgeoning society that was forming, as soon as they were informed of Afton's supposed location, almost all had jumped at the chance to rescue him from whatever fate had befallen him.

For obvious reasons, Rose had been left behind, the only non-combatant on board being Usanagi who'd been suited up with bulky power armour with a powerful shield generator strapped to the back of it... She was more there as a doctor than anything else, the group not wanting to need her and having left her back in the Mojave.

As for how the group knew where Afton was? With Afton's extended leave, everyone had basically been begging Shani to find his location, asking at every chance for her to use her powers to find him.... It was only after Tamia had announced the construction of the bomber, and her intent for everyone to go to Africa to search for him that Shani finally had a vision.

Everyone was terribly confused when she started murmuring things about some sort of 'monkey-man', but when she gave her suspicions that said man was Afton, they didn't wait another moment had left for Africa, not wanting to leave Afton as some sort of mutated creature much longer.

Even with Afton's power, the chaos caused by the crashing mothership had uplifted a significant amount of buried radioactive material, launching it high into the air and making previously inhabitable areas unsafe.

This, as well as the tsunami which disturbed the largest and most dangerous creatures in the ocean, had made most coasts of every continent incredibly perilous to go near... And the group had no idea how this would have altered the African continent, the place most affected by the falling mothership in the first place.

The group watches Tamia sigh again, and Boone finally decides to speak up, "Look, if you're going to keep doing that then just sit in the cargo hold... And no, I'm not going to ask you what's wrong." he states, sounding harsher than most had ever heard from him.

Tamia crooks a brow, "What crawled in your ass and died?"

Shani clutches his hand and gives him a pointedly look, causing him to sigh as well, everyone else making sure to make snide comments in response.

Karl reholsters his revolver after wiping it down and cleaning it for the n'th time this trip, "Look, I get that ya're worried on the kid's state when we find him, but worrying about it now ain't gonna change what we find. So, just relax and enjoy the-Guhk!" he pauses as some sudden turbulence causes the aircraft to jolt and shudder, making Karl's aching back shudder with pain, "*Huugk!... Enjoy the... Ride..." he manages to get out as the others chuckle at his expense.

Veronica leans forwards toward Tamia with a smug look, "Or maybe you're worried about something else... Maybe that message Josie left with Glados for you... Wanna tell us what it said?"

Tamia quickly shakes her head, her cheeks flushing for a moment before memories of her old best friend flash through her mind. "No." she firmly responds, not wishing to make such an intimate thing known, even amongst the group both she and Josie was closest with.

She goes back to observing the view out of the small aircraft window, her eyes widening as she spots land in the distance.

It only takes another hour for them to finally reach Africa, the former-remnant, Orion finding a relatively flat, safe place to land the vehicle so they might safe enough fuel for the return trip.

The rest of the group funnel out of the aircraft, getting themselves geared up and taking enough supplies to last a few days. Shani's vision had apparently involved the coast, so the group was planning to travel around all of the coasts of Africa to locate their lost friend.

Unfortunately, the state of Africa was far worse than they'd initially anticipated... The creature's that'd inhabited this place before the great war had mutated into far worse monsters than even the mad scientists could come up with.

Giant crocodiles with hides and scales thick enough to block even .50 Calibre rounds, and jaws so powerful they could crush a block of tungsten with relative ease.

Large prides of monstrous-looking Lions, with claws that, while being much smaller than your typical Deathclaw's, would still produce similar, if not more damage with each swipe. Not to mention their incredible teamwork made them so dangerous that the group almost lost a couple people, even despite their power armour and high-tech weaponry.

Large groups of monkeys, apes, and other primates were far stronger than their unmutated brethren. Efficient and brutal, while being smart enough to attack at the weak points of someone who was wearing armour... Without the excellent design of the armour Afton had produced in the past, many would be missing their arms, legs, eyes, or even their genitals at this point.

The sky was filled with large flocks of various birds who only seemed interested in the new visitors that graced their territory. Vultures, Eagles, and other creatures that were made only more dangerous due to the high levels of radiation.

Huge snakes that had poison strong enough to melt the ground it touches.

Giant mosquitoes able to shoot large globules of acid.

Rhino's that could literally charge through boulders of rock and come out unscathed.

Giant predatory elephants that had two or three trunks lined with sharp teeth that'd easily tear tree's out of their foundations...

Indeed, it was the latter creatures that had the group on the ropes currently. They'd been following the remnants of burnt-out campfires when they'd accidentally wandered into a group of Rad-Elephants, the five females and large bull elephant immediately becoming aggressive and charging them.

Boone easily fires his Railgun into the head of the bull, but its skull was so thick that the projectile simply buried itself in the creature's skull, leaving a large indentation in its forehead while dealing almost no damage...

The tree's separating the group from the elephant were no issue either, as the elephant either charged through them, or tore them out of the ground and threw them as make-shift projectiles.

By now Dr Usanagi was panicking and rapidly backing away, along with Shani who wasn't nearly as experienced as the others in this sort of environment.

Veronica was about to get stomped on by one of the female elephants when a loud, bellowing shout, "AAAwooahwoahaaaawww … ooohhhaaa!!!" (AN : Tarzan Yell) as a dark figure swings out of nowhere and kicks the female elephant with both feet, launching both it, and the creature a couple hundred meters of so from the sheer impact of the attack.

The elephant itself had its skull completely caved in, with its mulched brian slowly leaking out of its large ears... But the figure had seemingly vanished and reappeared next to the other elephants.

The group could only take a step back and watch as the elephants tried to flee as soon as they heard the shout, but the figure continued chasing, systematically wiping out the creatures before finally approaching the group.

...

They couldn't really see it properly due to the fact that it was completely covered in dirt and wearing a large pelt around its shoulders, but it was definitely humanoid... It was hard to tell under the huge beard it sported, but everyone was sure it was smiling at them, with white teeth uncharacteristic of what you'd expect from someone who looked like that.

"Haha! You guys finally came! If I waited any longer I'd have definitely become this age's Tarzan!" the man laughs, the group quickly recognising the person's voice.

"Afton!?" Veronica exclaims, the others parroting the same in equally shocked tones.

He laughs again, "Hell yeah it's me! How have you guys been!? God, I'm so relieved that you guys are alive!" he states, holding his arms out and quickly enveloping everyone in a hug. The females of the group turning up their noses at the putrid smell coming from his body.

"G-god damn, boy! Have you not touched water since you got here!?" Karl shouts, prying himself out of Afton's grip.

Afton scoffs, "Have you not noticed how much dangerous shit is around here? If I washed I'd be chased for another couple weeks until I managed to hide my scent again."

"Hide!? Why'd you have to hide? You just one-shot those things!" Veronica shouts in disbelief.

Afton nods, "Yeah, but constantly having to kill those things gets boring very quickly... Because of my size, most things think that I'm an easy meal, and my scent seems to drive them into a frenzy whenever they smell it... With it covered though, they have enough sense to leave me alone." he explains.

Boone glares at him for a couple seconds before turning back to Shani and nodding, "Mmhm, definitely a monkey."

"Hah!? What was that? You dull-faced bastard? You guys have been on vacation compared to me! I wasn't even able to move days after the ship came down! Do you know how painful it is to get eaten alive by ants!?" he exclaims, causing the group to grimace.

Afton lets out a breath and palms his face, "Whatever, I don't care about it anymore... All I want is to get home and see my girl!" his eyes light up, "How is Rosie anyway? Has she grown at all? How long have I even been here!?"

The group send awkward looks to one another, realising that Afton's isolation had made him far more excitable than usual... Something they might have to fix before taking him back, otherwise those religion nuts would take full advantage of it.

"Yeah, she's great. Just a little down since she'd been waiting for you the entire time." Tamia states, causing Afton to look a little downtrodden.

"Yeah, well, I'm sorry about that. But saving the planet more times than I can count made it slightly difficult to plan my landing." he grumpily retorts, his immature attitude causing a few of the group to chuckle at his expense.

Tamia walks up and takes Afton's hand, "As much as I like waiting around, I think it'd be better if we spoke on the way back." she squeezes his hand affectionately, "Trust me in saying we'd like to get away from this shit hole as much as you."

Afton pauses at Tamia's rather strange actions, but nods with a smile regardless, "Yeah, let's go home... Say, I know its a lot to ask but, did you guys bring any snacks? A guy can only last on radioactive meat for so long ya-know... Oh! And some alcohol... I'd even drink hand sanitiser if you gave it to me." he says semi-sarcastically, but not hiding the slightly crazed glint in his eyes.

Tamia shakes her head, "Before you're getting any snacks, we're shaving that damn fluff off of your face." she states, causing him to grumble good-humouredly.

Afton takes one last look up at the sky and his goofy attitude fades for a moment, as he begins plotting on how to recover the scraps of alien parts that'd crashed into the earth, and use them to find the alien homeworld... During his months of isolation, only the thoughts of his friends, family, and getting back at the aliens had kept him relatively sane, even without all the comforts and luxuries he was so dependant on nowadays.

He shakes his head and looks at the others, "Race you guys to the ship, or whatever you used to get here." he says before jogging at a light pace down the coast... Only for Veronica to interrupt him, "It's the other way you mad idiot!" with which he turns straight around and races in the other direction.