Heart and Claw Update

3.1k words

***

“… Oooooh yaw-awwwn, slept like a big old scaley log,” -came from around the bend, the two hunters stopping as the voice grew louder. “Would have slept a bit better if you weren’t shouting all morning, Coopsie~”

Pearl turned the corner, her pink scales catching the light spilling in from the tunnel mouth. She was picking at something on her bicep, her gaze turned to the floor, oblivious to all the humans gawking at her.

“What’s with all the ruckus? Thought I’d fucked your brains out enough to leave you speechless yet again, but I guess…” She finally deigned to look up, her speech faltering as she did a double take on the hunters. “… Oh,” she said, her amber eyes going wide. “uh, hiiiiiii? Friends of yours, Coopsie?”

The two sides didn’t know what to do apart from stare at one another. Even the armoured hunter looked like he’d frozen up, caught off guard by Pearl’s flawless speech, the source of which was undeniable.

“D-Did that thing just say… ‘Coopsie’?” the woman, Jade, asked, her question directed to no one in particular.

“So, ah,” Pearl began, holding up a hand. “Come here often, or…?”

Time seemed to slow as Cooper sprang into action, climbing to his feet and shouldering into the man called Jorden in one swift movement, taking advantage of Pearl’s distraction. He struggled with the man for a moment, prying the rifle from his hands and decking him across the chin. Jade whirled on him, taking aim, but Cooper had overpowered the man, compressing his backside to Cooper’s chest and covering his neck in a headlock, the man choking out indecipherable words as he tightened his hold.

Jade hesitated, Cooper using Jorden’s body as his own personal meat shield. Jade was a guard, used to dealing with stray animals, not potential hostage situations, and Cooper didn’t give her the chance to form a plan. He levelled Jorden’s rifle one-handed, and pulled the trigger, the woman’s shoulder splintering like broken wood as her flesh parted, a red mist spraying out behind her, the gunshot echoing loudly off the walls of the tunnel. The weapon kicked so much that the muzzle pointed to the ceiling.

The woman went down with a cry, Cooper meeting the eyes of Carlson further down the tunnel, who turned to look back at the commotion. Unlike Jade, he held no reservations about collateral damage, bracing his weapon against his shoulder, sending a burst of rounds his way.

A bullet hit Jorden in the chest, while the others went wide, Cooper feeling wet blood trail down his front as his meat shield wailed in pain. He couldn’t pull back the loading bolt while gripping Jorden, but he didn’t have to restrain the man anymore, shoving his hostage to the ground as he reached across to chamber a round. He took to a knee, peering down the iron sights, the weapon banging as he fired another shot. It missed, a distinct ricocheting sound filling the tunnel as the bullet crashed into the walls.

Cooper thought it was the end, staring down the barrel of Carlson’s gun, when Pearl unleashed a dreadful roar, the kind one might here late at night, travelled on the wind by some unseen mutant horror. The horror was in plain view this time, however, Pearl hunching onto her forelimbs like a cat preparing to strike.

Carlson looked as though he’d just soiled himself, but the other hunter was as unfazed as Cooper was by the sound, the man bracing his laser weapon, part of the weapon spooling up like a chain gun. There was a brilliant flash of red light, and then a series of strobes began to lance down the tunnel, birthing from the lenses of the barrel.

Pearl charged, her chest inches from the ground, bounding across the tunnel like a charging stag, the tips of her horns bathed in red light as the lasers sailed over her head. Attempting to throw off the hunter’s aim, she weaved from left to right as she closed the distance, her spiky shoulders brushing the walls, but the lack of space wasn’t doing her any favours, and she cried out again, her roar now one born from pain.

There was a sizzling sound as the hunter adjusted his aim, the strobes of light crisscrossing over Pearl’s chest. She shielded her face with an arm, her white scales burning to black as the lasers scorched her limb. Cooper had seen energy wounds before, the superheated light could melt entire limbs if given enough time, and for one horrible second he thought that would happen, but Pearl kept up her momentum, her scales protecting her from a grisly fate.

The hunter with the laser gun held his ground, even as the hulking mass of scales rushed down the tunnel, perhaps thinking that he could stop Pearl if he plugged her with enough energy. He aimed for her chest and stomach, the lasers burning black lines into her torso, but she was on him a moment later. Like a yao guai pouncing on a gecko, she barreled into him, following the hunter as she fell down on top of him, pinning him under her momentous weight.

She raised her hand, holding the claws out as though she intended to decapitate him, but the hunter reacted first. His arm a blur, he reached for his belt, taking out a giant hunting knife and swiping it across Pearl’s face. She blocked it with her horn, winding her long neck and goring its tip through his wrist, the man snarling through his teeth as he tried to pull his arm back.

The one called Carlson regained enough sense to take aim at Pearl, holding his gun in shaking hands. He fired in full automatic, the muzzle flashes lighting up the tunnel in a dim yellow. He delivered ten or so rounds into her flank, some of the bullets sparking off her dorsal spikes, before Cooper was reloaded. This time he didn’t miss, Carlson going down with a golf ball sized hole in the side of his neck.

Cooper winced as Pearl finished off the incapacitated hunter, swiping across his chest with her powerful claws, a wet gurgle emanating from his lips. The fight couldn’t have lasted more than fifteen seconds, but it was all over, the echoing gunshots subsiding to the ever-present sound of rushing wind.

Before Pearl had time to utter a word, Cooper rushed over, holding her in a tight hug as he wrapped his arms around her. She’d been snarling like a beast starving for air, but that quickly turned into a rumbling purr as she returned his embrace.

“Fuck me!” she sighed. “that’s the second group of hunters that’s tried to kill me this week, and it’s only Wednesday!”

He chuckled into her bosom, the humor relieving him of some of the tension in his heart. “You okay, Pearl? I thought… I thought I was going to watch you…”

“It’ll take more than superheated light to take me down,” she replied, but the way her chest hammered against his own betrayed her concern.

He was about to see to her wounds, when someone coughed behind them, the pair turning to see one of the hunters was still alive. It was the woman, propping herself up against the wall, one of her shoulders shattered apart.

“P-Please,” she said, her bottom lip trembling as she raised her working arm in surrender.

Cooper glanced at Pearl, raising his brow in a silent question.

“Reckon I should send a message and eat her?” Pearl asked, her chops curling into a grin.

“Oh god!” the woman gasped, trembling even harder now.

“Pearl,” Cooper chided.

“I was joking!” she explained. “Look, wait here, be back in a tick.”

She turned around, heading back into the mine, Cooper standing over the woman as he waited. She looked up at him with questioning eyes, no doubt confused as all hell at why he was on the same side as a killing machine, but he wasn’t in the mood to give explanations.

When Pearl returned, she was carrying a small case in one hand, the cover stenciled with a white medical cross. She hunkered next to the woman, but held the kit out of her reach when she made to grab it.

“Ah-ah,” Pearl scolded, wagging a claw, the movement causing the woman to shrink away. “First, you’re gonna give me a little information, then I’ll give you some meds. Deal, miss…?”

The woman looked too flummoxed to answer, so Cooper did it for her. “Jade,” he said. “She was on the night watch when you escaped.”

“Really? How ironic,” Pearl chuckled. “I don’t know if carelessness should be rewarded with gratitude, but if you hadn’t been such a terrible guard, Jade, I wouldn’t be here. So I’m going to return the favour, on the condition,” she added. “That you answer me one tiny little question. Ready for it?” she asked, her smile coming off as a little more toothy than normal. It was obviously meant to scare Jade, and it looked like it was working.

“How did Hendrix find us?” Pearl asked. “And I’m not talking about today, I meant last week, when you captured my pack and I. How’d you get the jump on us? Speak up now, you’re bleeding out fast.”

“I-I don’t know!” Jade replied, her voice shaky. “Hendrix, he told us to head out one day, he makes all the patrol routes, w-we just follow his orders!”

“I don’t know~” Pearl said, singing out the last word. “Starting to get hungry over here with all this useless info…”

“I swear that’s all I know!” Jade pleaded. “Hendrix does all the organizing, I just do the legwork! Please, that’s everything!”

“Alright, I believe you,” Pearl replied, placing the kit on Jade’s lap. “You’re just a minionafter all, shouldn’t have expected much. Begone now.”

The woman looked between Cooper and Pearl, her eyes wild and confused. “Go on,” Cooper added. “She really will eat you if you don’t get out of here.”

Jade scrambled to her feet, almost dropping the medkit in her haste, turning to flee into the snow. She turned to look back as she waded into the powder, and then she was gone, her footsteps fading soon after.

He dropped the hunting rifle, the weapon clattering on the gravel as he turned to Pearl, who was glaring out at the snow.

“Sure that was a good idea?” he asked. “She’ll tell the whole lodge where your den is.”

“They would have found it sooner or later, if they haven’t already,” she said, gesturing to the bodies.

“What was that all about anyway?” Cooper continued. “You said Hendrix got the jump on you, what did you mean by that?”

“Just following a hunch,” she answered. “tell you later, right now we should get these corpses out of here, before they stink up the place.”

She grabbed one of the bodies from under the armpits, Cooper doing the same with another. He followed her out into the snow for a good hundred meters or so, until she stopped by a tree, depositing the body unceremoniously next to the trunk. She held no pity for the hunters, and he wondered how many times she’d had to dispose of her would-be killers.

“Could you bring over the last one?” she asked as he dragged the one called Carlson beside the other. “That guy really burned up my arms with that laser thingy, should probably run them under some cold water.”

“Sure,” he said. As they made to return, Pearl placed a hand on his shoulder, turning him left and right as she played her eyes over him. “Just making sure you’re not hurt,” she explained. “Meet you in the pool?”

“Yeah,” he replied. They retreated to the entrance of the mine, Pearl hurrying inside while Cooper hauled out the last corpse, the one belonging to the experienced hunter. His chest piece was ruined, three rend marks slashed diagonally across the plating. He was glad she hadn’t done that to him when he’d been in this guy’s shoes.

He placed the body beside the two others, the corpses already partially submerged in the snow. He mumbled an apology as he rolled it onto its side, fishing in its pockets and pulling out a handful of battery cells, the equivalent of a magazine for an energy weapon. He needed all the guns he could get after his fight with Pearl.

Shivering in the cold wind, he turned back to the mine, retrieving the hunter’s laser gun when he arrived. It looked in pretty good condition. The sights were slightly unaligned when he peered down them, but that was nothing he couldn’t fix.

He left the rifles, as they were unremarkable, moving further inside, the tight walls staving off the cold as he moved to the first intersection. Pearl was standing in the passage veering off towards her room, her beige backside to him.

“Hope you don’t mind me holding onto this,” he said, turning the energy weapon over. “Not many of these around, especially not in good working…”

Wait a moment, Pearl wasn’t beige, she was pale and pink. He paused not five feet away from the deathclaw, his heart beating faster as it turned to look back at him, Cooper vaguely recognizing it as a member from the pack, though he couldn’t be certain which, as they all mostly looked the same.

There was intelligence in its eyes, but not as much as Pearl’s, and unlike her, this one saw him as prey. It turned, its arching tail flowing through the air behind it, the beast hunching to keep its head from hitting the ceiling, giving it a very predatory posture.

Cooper tried to move, but couldn’t, his body freezing up as it decided whether to treat this thing like Pearl, or a wild beast. It took one slow, agonizing step towards him, and Cooper retreated an equal pace, his boot catching on one of the minecart rails. He tried to catch himself, but his brain couldn’t keep up with his body, and he tripped, the laser gun falling to his side as he crawled away on his ass, moving like he was in slow motion.

Its breath washed over his face as it leered closer, planted its giant fists on either side of his head. It opened its jaws, presenting its ivory teeth, Cooper choking out a few unintelligible words as its chops pressed against his neck.

Its musky smell filled his nose as it poised over him, drawing out the killing blow with a long pause. Instead of a bite, it retracted its fangs against its scaly chops, pushing its nostrils into his face as it breathed in his smell. It pushed the back of his head into the gravel, turning his head this way and that as it nuzzled its face into his, far more interested in smelling him than killing him.

Its maw opened again, its forked tongue snaking out draw a line across his face, Cooper grimacing as it left a smear of drool in its wake. What was it doing? Surely it remembered him shooting it a few days ago, he should be dead, but this was the second time a deathclaw had his life in its hands, but didn’t take it.

“P-Pearl?” he asked, regaining control of his voice, raising it as much as he dared without startling the creature. It cocked its head at him, then resumed to push its nose into his neck. “Pearl? A little help, please?”

Hoping her sensitive hearing would catch his words, he waited, the beast scenting him for a few moments longer before he heard footsteps. He looked around the deathclaw’s muscular arm, but his heart sank at what he saw. Another deathclaw had rounded the passage, its coat of scales a dark brown that bordered on black. Its creamy eyes locked onto his, and then the thing started to prowl closer.

“Pearl!” he shouted, starting to panic, even as the curious deathclaw lapped at his throat, dragging its organ up and down from his cheek to his collar.

More footsteps responded, and he thought for a second it wouldn’t be his companion. He sighed when this time it was Pearl who appeared around the corner, a bemused expression on her face as she watched the deathclaw lick him like some kind of overgrown puppy.

“Can’t I leave you alone for two seconds without you getting into trouble?” she said, seemingly oblivious to his peril.

“Get this thing off me!” he exclaimed.

She responded by emitting a series of growls and purrs, interspersed with the occasional hiss. That must be deathclaw speech. The one busy licking him suddenly stood up straight, peering over at Pearl with a confused expression. It growled back, which Pearl replied to with another couple of growls, pointing a claw at Cooper with the final ‘word’.

The deathclaw, who looked even more muscular than Pearl, dipped its head in a display of obedience, the one that had been watching doing the same. It stood clear, Cooper pickinghimself up, along with his weapon, the deathclaws stepping out of the way as he returned to Pearl’s side.

“Thought I was gone for a second there,” he admitted, the deathclaws cocking their heads as he spoke, they mustn’t hear speech all that often. “That big one was about to swallow my head whole, but then it stopped.”

“I think she smelled me on you,” Pearl replied. “My scent is all over you from head to toe after our romps last night. I’ve claimed you, and they don’t want to piss me off by hurting you, so you’re good.”

“Claimed me?” he asked.

“That’s what we do when we find a mate. You lather your pheromones on them, helps keep the other deathclaws from getting any ideas. We’ll have to apply it regularlythough, make sure the pack knows you’re my man.”

After a few moments, more of the members of the pack began to creep in from the passages, exposing their jaws as they yawned like cats waking up from a nap. Cooper was a little alarmed by their presence, especially from the bigger ones, but he felt comfortable enough around Pearl that she swould keep him safe if any of them decided they were hungry.

“They must be hungry after being starved for a few days,” Pearl said, clapping her hands together. “How about some brekkie? You guys remember that word, don’t you? Brekk-ie.”

The largest one of the bunch, the one that had licked Cooper like he was a damned ice cream cone, grunted in a way that came off as an affirmative, as did one of the others.

“Been teaching them English in my spare time, which is all the time really,” Pearl explained, switching languages as she translated for the others. “They mostly understand yes and no, so if someone tries anything just say no, they should get the message. I’ll go get the carcass.”