33_Frogomancer

The half destroyed mess hall was full to the brim with people. Each person represented one of the few surviving gangs that now ruled over the remains of the queue.

After the bombs fell and everything went to shit, the surviving gangs fiercely fought over every scrap and piece of garbage in the neutral zone. Now however a fragile truce had been established. For how long it would last though, remained to be seen.

Salakender observed the gaggle of people in the meeting room, taking notice of each and every member of his guests.

There were the garbage gang, their members being unable to stay unnoticed due to their distinctive… musk. Wearing gray and brown ratty attire, they looked like a group of feral rodents, staying silent at the shadowy corners, but ready to pounce at the slightest sign of weakness from their opponents.

Next, there were the water merchants, who even after the literal apocalypse somehow managed to maintain their pristine stylish atire. Their fancy blue robes and substantial turbans lacked even the tiniest speck of dust or wrinkle, as if taunting everyone around with their superiority and status. And if that wasn't enough, their haughty attitudes and turned-up noses further completed their arrogant image.

Next, there was the smuggler crew. They looked even more shifty than usual, as hard that was to believe... The shady bastards weren't part of the rest of the miserable fucks inside the mess hall. Oh no, they worked directly for the Mayor of Fence Town beyond the wall. It was sort of an open secret, and none of the other gangs trusted them as far as they could throw them.

Regardless of their reputation though, they were a useful bunch, so they were reluctantly invited to this meeting.

And finally there was Salakender. He was the proud leader of the Wall Geckos. The strongest and fiercest of all the gangs in the neutral zone. Their monopoly on fresh meat had assured them a unique position among the queue economy. A position which they guarded most jealously. Everyone knew their wannabe competitors had the odd habit of ending up with their kneecaps crushed.

Till now Salakender was content with leaving things such as they were. They all had an unspoken understanding with one another.

The plan was simple, once all the gangs exterminated each other, the winner (which naturally would be the Gecko Gang) would instantly jump in the queue positioning and be able to instantly pass the gates and enter the world of Generica. There was one problem though…

Someone wasn't playing by the rules!

"Oh yeah, and what are you gonna do about it dungman, throw feces at me?" The water merchant leader sneered, veering his nose arrogantly above the ratty like chieftain of the garbage crew, then instantly grimacing at the putrid stench and regretting his choice of getting anywhere near the savage.

"If it wasn't for me and my boys, you and your fancy dandelions would be rolling up in your own shit! Show some respect for our work before I make you!"

"Oh yeah Ratboy, and how do you intend to follow up on your threat? Everyone knows that your gang are made out of cowards slinking in the shadows and collecting garbage for consumption. Know your place, vermin." The water merchant sneered, spitting in the face of Ratboy.

The garbage leader didn't even flinch or acknowledge in any way the spit on his face. Instead, he and his crew pulled out nasty looking daggers, which would no doubt give you tetanus from looking at them for too long, but also various other ailments judging by the “stuff” they were coated with.

The water merchants instantly reacted by summoning water barriers around themselves adored with watery spikes.

"ENOUGH!"

Just before the situation could escalate any further, the voice of Salakender boomed throughout the mess hall.

"Both of you, stand down!"

"We have bigger things to worry about than your petty squabbles."

Ordinarily Salakender would have welcomed nothing more than seeing two of his competitors duke it out. However as he had said already, they had other stuff to worry about…

Reluctantly both leaders lowered their weapons, stepping away from each other and substantially lowering the tension in the room.

"Alright." SalaKender said.

"I have gathered all of you here because of a common threat we all share."

"By now all of you have heard the rumors of the new guys at the end of the queue."

A chorus of murmurs erupted at the mention of the mysterious camp at the end of the queue.

"Alright settle down, SETTLE DOWN!"

"I propose we ALL go there and murderise the new guys. After that we will go back to business as usual."

At that proclamation, the other gang members exploded in an uproar.

"And who do you think you are to order us around!?" The water merchant shouted, followed by supportive shouts from his people.

"The trash panda gang has not forgotten your scheming nature, Salakender. We do have long memories." Ratboy said in his characteristical feral ratty voice. His sentiment echoed by the angry shouts and snarls of his gang.

"The smuggler group are willing to listen to what the Wall Gecko leader has to say." The shifty leader of the smugglers said.

The whole room went silent, everyone looking at the smuggler as if he had grown a second nose or tree.

"What the fuck did you just say? What is your angle in this? Everyone knows you smugglers are nothing more than puppets for the big fat mayor!"

Ratboy said with deep suspicion, squinting his beady black eyes at the shifty smuggler leader.

"Yees… It ails me to admit it, but for once me and the rat agree on something. If you and the gecko leader are together in this, then whatever IT is, I want to have nothing to do with it." The water merchant said.

"Well said brother!" Ratboy replied in an uncharacteristic sign of camaraderie.

In a few seconds the two previously warring factions stepped next to each other and formed a unified front against the obvious scheme of the Smuglers and Wall Geckos, all their previous disagreements forgotten.

"Urgh…" Salakender facepalmed and groaned with frustration. The one time those creepozoids agree on something and it was to side against him…

"Listen…" The wall gecko leader said, trying to bring back the original point of the meeting. "The new gang at the end of the queue is a threat to all of us. While we are here bickering among ourselves, they grow ever stronger.”

“Just as ourselves, they have found a way to protect themselves from the radiation. So while we kill each other off, they can afford to just sit there and watch. Then when we are weakened, they would swoop in and claim the prize for themselves!"

"We literally cannot afford to let them live. Every minute we delay wiping them out is a minute they have to prepare to annihilate us all."

At first the two gangs were skeptical, but the more Salakender spoke, the more they got convinced that what he said was the truth. But then, the damn G-man had to open his mouth.

"The smuggler crew agrees with this statement and is willing to share our supply of gear and weapons in order to crush this threat." The leader of the smugglers said, with his characteristic emotionless voice, as some sort of robotic apparition, the man staring blankly at nothing in particular. Which in turn served to rekindle the suspicions of the others. And whatever trust the gecko leader had managed to build had quickly crumbled.

"Will you stay quiet! You are going to fuck this up!” Salakender hissed at the smuggler leader, all the while enduring the accusatory shouts of the other leaders.

In any case they were absolutely right. Salakender 100% intended to betray both of them. He and the smugglers had signed a deal which would set the trash pandas and water merchant gangs for failure.

Once they dealt with their common enemy, the Smugglers and Wall geckos would slit the throats of their former allies in their sleep. Thus leaving the wall geckos as the winner of their three way stalemate. The smugglers were outside force and didn't really counted towards the 3 way war they were fighting so far.

Eventually Salakender had managed to once again divide the other two groups. A few off the hand comments here, a few slight mentions of previous grievances there, and the two leaders were once again at each other's throats.

Now that they were once again divided, it was easy as pie to convince them to join in his plan and attack the camp at the end of the queue. After all, neither party could afford not to participate, less the other one gains unfair advantage over the other.

And so the pact was sealed. The Wall geckos, The Trash Pandas and The Water Merchants would form a unified front. Together with The Smuggler’s support they would trek to the end of the queue and exterminate the camp there. And then Salakender would enter Generica and form the Gecko mercenary company. A thing he had always dreamed off. The Mayor had promised him his full support after all, so success was pretty much guaranteed.

Though little did he know that the mysterious smugglers had quite different orders from the Mayor. Once the 3 gangs reached the worker camp, the smugglers were to assassinate the 3 leaders. After which the remaining members would be absorbed by the worker gang and form one big unified mass of people.

"Alright! It is settled. After resting, we will depart in the morning." Salakender said, bringing an end to the meeting.

As the various gang members began to leave, a shy mousy voice addressed the gecko gang leader.

"Excuse me, amm, can I say something? I mean I didn’t want to bother you during the meeting, but since it is already over I though…"

"Who the fuck are you supposed to be?!" The leader barked, making the rest of the departing people stop and listed at the commotion.

"Oh, am, I am sorry, I didn’t want to startle you, I am, you know, I am the, the…"

"Spit it out already!" Salakender snapped.

"Oh am, I am the gecko farmer, you know I am the one who clones the geckos and farms their tails."

"Oh, you are that old nerd we captured." Salakender said, finally realizing who the awkward old fool was.

"Captured? Oh there has to be some mistake, I thought I was supposed to be paid for my services." The man replied in confusion.

"Mistake? Bahahah! The slave thought he was getting paid." Salakender exclaimed, laughing along with the rest of his gang members around him.

SLAP!

"Get back to work before I decide to further encourage you." Ken said after slapping the weird old man across his face. The strike reverberated across the mess hall and made all the other gang members wince with the intensity of the blow.

"Ah, well, that is the thing though, I came here to tell you that, I will no longer work for you." The old man said in his characteristical awkward demeanor, completely ignoring the strike from the most powerful member of all the queue people.

A prolonged silence reigned throughout the hall, everyone gawking, Salakender included, their mouths hanging open at the completely unharmed elderly man.

"So, am I guess I am not getting paid am I?" The old man finally said, looking down at his feet and shuffling in place, completely dreading the situation he currently found himself in. He utterly hated being the center of attention.

"I..I will just go now." The man finally said. As he turned away, and unbeknownst to everyone, a small white critter hopped out of his green robe sleeve and landed on the table next to the gecko leader.

Then the old man rushed out of the room, his cheeks burning with anxiety, swearing to never again talk to anyone in such a public manner ever again, then immediately breaking that promise.

"Oh, since you aren’t paying me, I will be taking possession of the lab for myself. Thank you." The old man said, his voice breaking and his intonation drifting off key as usual. Then he finally left the meeting room and yet again cursed himself for being so awkward with people. Talking to animals was so much easier than humans…

He will never again leave his lab! This time he really meant it!

…

"Hey, HEY! Where the hell do you think you are going?" Ken said, finally snapping out from the weird situation.

The man with the green robes was so fucking awkward and weird that he had this... this… aura around himself that stunned everyone around.

"Get him, get him back here!" Ken snapped at his subordinates, trying to reign order back.

"Rrribbbit."

"What the…" Salakender said as he finally noticed the chubby albino critter sitting next to him on the table.

"Is that…."

"Ribbit, ribbit, ribbit."

Multiple sinister croaks echoed throughout the room as more and more, this time green, toads appeared from behind various furniture and corners, their bright red eyes gleaming with malicious light, making the other gang members step back with agitation and worry from the chubby critters.

"Aarrrghhhgdhaaaa!!!"

That and many more screams of agony and terror came out from the mess hall.

…

Meanwhile, Genady was pacing back and forward at the entrance of the cracked building, his green druid robe swishing with each step. His heart kept thumping in his chest as if he had ran a marathon.

"Ah gosh dang it, why did I have to say all those stuff in front of everyone, I might as well have left a note. Isn’t that how people do it usually, quit notices or whatever they were called."

"Nno... please no nooooooo….."

A desperate raider begged from inside the building, finally managing to crawl half way to the doorway. He managed to see the pacing old man mumbling to himself, then before he could scream for help, his entire body got dragged back, accompanied with more panicked screams.

"Gosh dangily darn it, stupid stupid, and the way everyone looked at me at the end… I shouldn't have left so abruptly. Maybe I should get back and make things clear again, I really hate leaving things unsaid like this. Everything has to be settled, it has to be perfect." With his mind made up, the old man took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself for the challenge ahead.

"Rrribit." A chubby, alabaster white critter hopped out of the doorway, leaving bloody froggy paw prints as he hopped toward his master.

"Oh Larry, when did you ran out again? I swear you keep getting in trouble all the time. Come on, up you go." The man picked up his unruly familiar, pulled a handkerchief and began wiping the blood off his feet.

"Come on, we have to get back in there, we have to make sure they understood that I am quitting for good. I don’t want them relying on my help when…"

"Oh, you settled the matter already? Well that was kind of you. Thank you Larry, you are a good toad, yes you are, yes you are."

"I guess there isn’t any point in going in there anymore. Ah well, back to the lab!" The man said, pivoting on his heels with one finger raised in the air.

"We have to make more of your friends, yes we do , yes we doo."

And with that The old man departed the murder scene, promptly followed by a horde of green colored amphibians spilling out of the mess hall entrance.