18_The cost of battle

"So I decided to go and rescue the two of you. Just like heroes of old, fighting beasts with nothing more than courage and steel, bwahaha!" The man bellowed good-naturedly as he swung his massive club onto his shoulder, toad blood still dripping from it onto the ground.

"My thanks Jimbo, I thought we would be stuck there forever." Herman said.

"Finally something we both agree on." Beth murmured.

As the trio walked towards their new base. They were met by an unlikely sight: a human. But the most curious thing about him was that he wasn't trying to rob or kill them, and neither was he running away.

Herman had seen this on time to time in the real world. Once humans saw strength, they naturally levitated towards it, like moths to flame. And if the huge mountain of a man had something, it was plenty of strength.

"P..please sir, do you have any food or water? What about shelter? We need your help. The gangs have been systematically exterminating everyone they could find. Please, we will do anything, we beg of you." The desperate refugee pleaded. His skin raw and blistered, hair patchy, eyes sunken, and he moved with a weak unsteady hobble, consistent with intensive radiation exposure.

Jimbo looked wide eyed at the tiny man below him, fallen on his knees, begging like a peasant before a Greek god. Quickly the giant’s face shifted from surprise, to one of disgust.

He lifted his massive club off his shoulder, then slammed it to the ground with a heavy thud, causing the man to flinch in fear and bow his head even lower.

"Stand up man, stand up!" The giant knelt down, helping the sickly person to rise.

"I am no Oligarch, neither am I some tyrannical king of old. I am a working man, nothing more." The giant said with an earnest tone.

"You want to join us? You are welcome to it."

"However! You will have to work hard."

"No work - no food. I don’t have patience for slackers or deadbeats."

"Do we have an understanding?" The giant said, extending one colossal hand.

"Thank you, thank you, we won't betray your trust, we are hard workers all of us." The man babbled, tears in his eyes as he gripped Jimbo’s hand with both of his.

"Who is “we”?" The giant asked, unconsciously gripping his weapon tightly, preparing for an ambush.

“Oh, just a few friends, we traveled from the front of the line trying to stay away from the Gecko Gang. I will let them know it's safe.“

Then with a loud whistle from the sick man, the nearby rubble began to stir. Suddenly, dozens of rad stricken humans poked their heads out like meerkats, cautious and alert.

___

Jimbo’s massive hulk radiated strength and power, leading the group of sick and injured refugees, his mere presence discouraged any would-be opportunists or lone critters of attacking the group.

As they shuffled and limped towards the worker gang camp. Herman and Beth scavenged their immediate surroundings, searching for very specific parts.

During his past life Herman had found numerous ways to deal with radiation. He had already given Staple his homemade recipe of radaway stew. A vile concoction that made you question if perhaps it was better to try your luck with the sickness instead. Still, radiation was no joke, and once Staple was done with her cooking, he personally will make sure everyone in the camp drank the disgusting concoction.

That being said, there were better ways to deal with rads. What he was currently planning was to recreate one of his personal inventions: The rad converter.

He had spend years developing and perfecting the device, and it was one of the foundations of his dream of restoring Earth to its former glory.

The device wasn't all that hard to make, it was just a tall cylinder with a flat radio dish on top. It absorbed the radiation in certain radius and transformed it into harmless electricity.

This little invention could have made him a very rich man. However Herman was a firm believer that such vital knowledge needed to be shared freely and not secreted away or exploited for profit.

By the time the group neared the camp, he and Beth had managed to collect plenty of parts for at least one device. Satisfied with the prop hunt, Herman joined the head of the line, right along Jimbo, while Beth chose to stay behind and guard their backs.

Noticing the old man, Jimbo solemnly nodded, then continued to stride along as the camp slowly became visible in the distance.

"Wow, I can barely recognize this place. Your crew did an amazing job of building the barricades. Especially with such limited time and materials." Herman said.

"Aye." The giant smiled, puffing his chest with pride at the compliments. "We are all working people. If we know anything, it is how to work with our hands. Plus, Alice used to be a habitat architect. She knows her stuff well. I even left her in charge of camp. She could handle anything life throws at her. Very responsible, very competent she is, da." The giant spoke with unusual affection in his voice. And despite his cheeks being so high above, Herman did manage to notice them redden slightly at the mention of the woman.

"I am sure she could handle herself. However better not to tempt fate too much. I’ve found that the universe tends to challenge our boasts the more we flaunt them." The old man said with caution.

"Ahhh superstitions." Jimbo said, waving one hand in dismissal. "You will see, my Alice is strong. Plus, I don’t expect any problems to have occurred in the short time we were away."

___

"FROG! FROOOOG! Close the gates! Close them now!" Alice shouted from atop the barricades, sending the workers into a frenzy as they scattered in all directions like headless chickens.

Eventually, they did manage to close the gate. And just in time at that, as a tiny chubby toad hopped at the closed gate. It hit the metal barrier and bounced away, landing on its back and flailing its limbs as a toppled down turtle.

"Phahaha." The onlookers manning the walls mockingly laughed at the clumsy critter.

Eventually it managed to tilt its plump body and landed back on its feet, looking up at the humans with cold amphibian eyes.

"Hey Alice, with all that screaming we thought you saw Godzilla or something." Basile said with a cheerful smile as he pointed at the cute critter besieging their gates.

"Hahaha." The workers laughed good-naturedly. Relieved that the attack was just a false alarm.

Then Basile loudly proclaimed: "BOYS! Meat is back on the menu! Tonight we eat frog legs!"

As the rest of the worker gang loudly cheered, Basile leaned down from the gates toward the cute amphibian. "Who is a good frogy, yes you are , yes you are."

The toad in question tilted its head, looking emotionlessly at the human.

Splat.

"Mmmgrghmm!"

With a snap of its tongue, the toad struck the worker, the sticky tip latching onto his face. In an instant, it retracted its tongue, pulling itself toward the man like a speeding bullet, slamming into his head and knocking him off the wall to the ground.

"Idiots!" Alice shouted, still unable to pierce through the loud cheering of the gang, as apparently only she had predicted the danger and noticed the subsequent attack.

Wielding a makeshift spear, she ran along the wall, smacking her unruly comrades with the bud of the weapon without remorse. That finally did the trick and the group started following her orders. However by that time it was far too late.

…

The amphibian was defeated, Its chubby body lying limply next to Basile. However the man bore two tiny pinpricks on his forehead. Before anyone could even question the injuries…

Basile began transforming.

___

Abandoning all caution, Herman and Jimbo rushed towards the camp. At the gates, Alice Staple and the hens fought side by side.

The bot danced around the beasts with artificial grace, her four spider like appendages slicing through the vile mutants. Still the kitchen knifes were unable to do critical damage to the thick blubbery flesh of the abominations, them leaving only minor wounds.

At the same time the four hens were dashing madly around the remaining warefrogs.

Not having the necessary raw material to summon the undead, the chickens were unable to do much. Still, they kept their distance, distracting the enemies and occasionally hurling jagged bone shards at them.

Alice in tern used a makeshift shield and spear. Her eyes were wide as saucers, face pale as a ghost. The woman was obviously terrified, yet she kept fighting.

Lacking any sort of formal training, her movements looked clumsy and unrefined. Especially standing next to the assassin bot. However Alice refused to back down.

She kept darting away from the swipes of the enemy, then retaliating herself, her spear proving to be much more effective against this particular enemy.

Finally, after multiple consecutive cuts, one of the waretoads collapsed on the ground, its feet tendons sliced by the mechanoid. Seizing the opportunity, Alice lunged at the downed amphibian, impaling it with her spear and splattering neon green liquid across her face.

Spitting the blood, Alice screamed with strain, driving her weapon deeper into the beast and finally ending the mutant.

At the same time, Staple, who had began to get a sense for this bizarre enemy, managed to down yet another of the mutants.

At the sight of two of their comrades falling so quickly, the remaining warefrogs began to reconsider their chances. As one they turned around and hopped away from the camp, rapidly darting away through the gray sand.

Sensing a fleeing enemy, an ancient reptilian part of the hens’s brains activated. Causing them to rush after the fleeing amphibians, running side by side as if they were mini T-Rexes hunting in the primal jungles of old.

At that moment, fueled by a rush of adrenaline, Alice let out a fierce, primal roar. She stood atop the body of her kill, spear raised high in triumph, as if she was a hunter celebrating her first slain mammoth.

Jimbo suddenly came to a halt, startled by the intense raw emotion of his soulmate.

“Alice!” The giant called, a huge affectionate smile lighting his face.

She turned to see him watching her with pride, the man giving a single approving nod. Her cheeks reddened as she grinned back with glee, a fierce sense of accomplishment burning within her.

Before either of them could say anything else, the woman collapsed, her body shifting and transforming, bones crackling, skin peeling away, followed by brief but agonizing screams of pain.

"Allice! Noooo!" Jimbo roared.

Before the giant could reach his fiance, the woman who stood there mere moments ago was now gone. In her place stood a vile amphibian abomination.

In a blink of an eye the waretoad turned around and darted away, rapidly fleeing the scene of its conception.

"Noooo!"

"Aaaallliceeee!"

"Aaaarghhh!"