Volume 1: Issue 2: Early Fall
Hunter Hunted - A Gamma World short story Fabian Benavente Night was fast approaching and the humanoid smiled. Night meant death, many times violent and cruel, but this did not seem to bother the man. In fact, he had the look of desperation etched on his weather-worn face. Perhaps it was because he had given up hope of ever seeing a semi-civilized village ever again but he was prepared to sell his life dearly. He cursed himself time and time again for his last misfortune; he never should have gone into the ruined complex. Stories told many times in lonely bars in unnamed towns got the better of him: riches, artifacts, energy weapons... He had vowed never to touch 'ancient' relics again after that energy pistol blew up on his partner's face but curiosity got the better of him. He had become greedy again; way too greedy. The alarms triggered told him that he had warned something and "it" was after him. He dreaded the thought of those large 'droids coming after him. He was out on another hunting trip trying to make an honest living; run an errand for one, fetch some device for another, gather some information for the next. Anyone would do really since P'ter wasn't too picky on selecting his patrons. The fat old man wanted a jaget pelt to hang on his wall and he had the money for it. That was all that P'ter needed; a paying customer. So he had asked around and was told to come to this particular forest. That had been a couple of weeks ago and he had been in these woods ever since. They were not too different from other forests he had hunted on. It had your normal animals and plants and the 'cursed' variety as well. 'Cursed'; the word still brought back bitter memories from his childhood. His home village and its narrow-minded beliefs..."Damn 'em all; they can all rot for all I cares!" He had searched the forest for the past 13 days or so; he had lost count after the tenth and P'ter had seen no sign of any jaget nor anything remotely similar but a couple of things stood out from these particular woods. The first, of course, had been the ruins; it seemed to be some sort of processing plant; maybe it was where they cut up the logs or something. The second interesting thing was what he guessed to be a gren village. He had never actually seen one but had heard tales about the green men villages and from the rumors he had been told, these people weren't too friendly with outsiders; specially mutants. This suited him fine; a loner since small age, P'ter did not feel too comfortable around crowds anyway. A trained hunter by profession, the humanoid was able to venture close enough to find out where their outposts were. He learned enough to keep away after taking a look at the creatures that kept the green men company. The sun had fallen behind the trees and his "curse" awoke. A pair of 30 cm long antenna became erect disentangling themselves from his long, blond mane. The strange appendages started to slowly move about with a life of their own. The night was pitch dark, as the moon's rays did not pierce the dense canopy overhead but P'ter continued to smoothly move away from the forest's heart. He made little noise even though he had hard black boots on his feet; brown pants and a sleeveless slug proof vest completed his outfit. The man traveled light and most of his gear fit in the small pack at his back. His musket strapped on his back as well, his black 'power' bag hung at his neck, his long hunting knife at his leather belt, and he carried his heavy, duraloy spear as a walking stick. It wasn't really a spear but he had sharpened one of its ends and it suited him fine for other purposes as well... P'ter stopped a moment to catch his breath and to listen now that his antenna were out. He had been able to put some distance on the 'droid but the thing, albeit slower than him, did not seem to tire. Perhaps he had a couple of hours lead on the 'droid but he was tired and it was catching up on him. The humanoid took out his long knife and checked his bearings; he pointed his antenna back where he had been running away from and cursed loudly. "Damn machine, may yee rust in hell!" He then made a dangerous decision and turned 90 degrees into the forest again. It takes a desperate man to make desperate decisions and he was way past that point. The humanoid decided not to risk his skin against the cyborg; he would pay the green men a visit and see how good their village was defended. Making an extra effort not to rest on the way, P'ter struggled on; it was still a few hours to the village and he would need any extra time available. The forest was alive with the night's predators but his antenna gave him ample warning to steer away from them. A few hours passed and he saw sure telltale signs that he was fast approaching the village. The clearings were larger and there were even some fields that were obviously tended by civilized hands; human green hands. He followed a clear trail that would lead him into an outpost hoping the 'droid did the same thing. After what seemed an eternity, he picked up distinct noises. P'ter stepped off the trail and waited. The trail ended in a large clearing and P'ter waited on his side while having a clear view of the tree-house outpost. Sure enough, the 'droid appeared and the three grens were startled but soon fell into a practiced drill. Two of the men jumped off their tree house and challenged the cyborg while another gren made strange shrill calls and looked towards the open sky. The cyborg completely ignored them and continued on its way while the grens took up their spears and threatened the android. They soon closed in battle as neither side gave way. The robot raised his right hand and a strange light appeared from his forearm. It wasn't long by any means, maybe as long as Pter's knife but it hummed and throbbed with energy. He pointed his other hand at an oncoming gren and light streaked towards the gren's chest followed by a loud fizzle. The gren fell on the spot, deep red blood contrasting with its green skin seeping from a large hole on its chest. The other gren wielding a large spear screamed a hoarse cry and closed in with the 'droid. P'ter debated what to do but his hands were loading black 'power' onto his musket before he realized he had made up his mind. He wasn't sentimental about the fate he had brought upon the grens but was again thinking of himself, this was his best chance to rid himself of the 'droid. The gren had managed to draw blood from the 'droid and this surprised P'ter. "If the devil can bleed, then maybe he can be killed as well." His hope was abruptly cut short as the android neatly slashed the gren's midsection with his 'light'. The green man slowly fell to his knees trying in vain to catch his guts from falling onto the moist ground.  Two more players joined the fray as the other gren entered the clearing and a large bat-like creature hovered overhead. The obb made a pass at the 'droid and its large eye issued forth a violet ray of light. The energy ray hit dead center on the 'droid's head melting half of it away and the machine-man was seen stumbling about as if really hurt. He nevertheless raised his gun hand and killed the obb in mid-flight before it could make another pass. The shriveled creature fell near P'ter and the offending smell of its burnt flesh was overwhelming. P'ter leveled his sight and his musket spit fire and death, the dull kick from the gun was followed by a meaty thud as the metal ball entered the cyborg on its lower back. The 'droid was shaken back almost as much as P'ter was from the kickback of the musket. There would be no time to reload so the mutant dropped his musket, grabbed his spear and entered the clearing. The last gren was no match even for a wounded 'droid and quickly fell to the onslaught of the energy blade which seemed to cut as easily through the gren's head as it did through the wooden shaft of his spear. Hoping that the android was almost dead was too much for P'ter but its back was turned and the humanoid would be able to get at least one strike at him. He dreaded his choice but it was a life or death situation and there was no turning back now. As quickly and silently as he could, the man closed the distance separating them. The 'droid turned around just in time to greet him.  P'ter saw its hideously damaged face which sported a mixture of burnt flesh and wires sticking from it. He had no time to wonder how it was all built before he plunged his spear deep into the droid's guts. It was then that P'ter closed his eyes, bit hard and still screamed through clenched teeth. The mutant had called upon his other power, the power to generate electric energy that traveled through the metal spear into his enemy. Both 'droid and mutant shook together for a few seconds dancing to the deadly melody of P'ter's scream. P'ter, as usual, lost consciousness for a couple of seconds from the energy coursing through his body. When he opened his eyes again, the 'droid was motionless on the ground as was everyone else in the clearing. The humanoid slowly walked trying to rid himself of the excess energy but spasms shook his body for a few more seconds and the man just could not coordinate his muscles.  The sun rose and lighted the small clearing. P'ter's gamble had paid off; he was sullen for the grens but his cynical side quickly explained to him that "better 'em than me." Sulking nevertheless, he slowly sauntered over to the 'droid to see what the life of three grens had bought him. He examined the 'droid to see what it was that cut through wood and burned holes into full grown green men...