User blog:Redknight910/WWYD Harpy SpyCrab

I've seen the damage these... things can cause, so many dead, and I have to wonder if it would hesitate to kill me. Taking aim I it whimpers, looking away. That's when a nearby blast knocks me off my feet, my gun flying off into the distance. I feel something running down my cheek, and I don't need to look to see what it is. It's not the only wound I have, but it's the first I notice. There's a thump and I hear a feminine voice.

I hear a second voice before a shadow falls over me. Looking up I spot what appears to be a woman, with two great wings in place of arms. Her face isn't pleased, gloating, or even angry. It's sad. She says something, but my ears are still ringing, when she puts a taloned foot on my throat, I know what's coming. I close my eyes, and wait for it.

When the foot leaves my neck I open my eyes again, and I see tears. Tears rolling down her face, s she seems to say one thing over and over. My ears have stopped ringing enough for me to make out the word.

Why?

I give her a look, opening my mouth to say something. Anything. But they don't come. Why did this happen? Didn't they hit us first? Did we open fire on them? Everything’s such a whirlwind that I can't remember it clearly. Nothing but the purple haired cat woman. I look over, and my heart drops. She's clearly gone. I try to get up, pushing my torso up, when that talon slams me back down.

"WHY?!" She screams. Looking up at her, I have nothing to offer. I don't know why. I'm a grunt, a soldier. I do what I'm told, when I'm told. I can only think of two words to say.

I'm sorry.

Nothing else comes to mind as I look at the body. Were they friends? They must have been. I put a hand on the talon holding me down, and feel even more pressure on it, but I just hold it. She doesn't have hands, or I'd probably be getting throttled instead of just pinned down. So I hold her foot, squeezing it gently.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">This isn't right, is it? Why am I apologising to something so... monstrous. She looks as much bird as human. So why do I feel this pain. This grief. I know that most of my friends are dead too. I can hear the fighting raging around us. But why do I feel this tightness in my chest. Even when she lifts her foot off of me, it remains. Nothing makes sense, and when I try to get up again, she doesn't stop me.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">I ask if they were friends. Sniffling, she nods. I put a hand around her. I can never apologise enough, so I don't even try, just sit there, holding her.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Will you... come with me?" She looks up at me, wiping away tears with her wing. "Please, I... I can take you away. Away from the fighting. Away from..." She takes another look at her friend. "This." I look at her. Would saying yes make me a traitor? Of course it would, don't be stupid. But staying... what would that make me? A killer? A murderer? What would it cost me to stay, compared to what it would cost to leave.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">I look around, seeing that most of the corpses around us are either the strange women, or our own soldiers riddled with shrapnel. Very few are marked by claws and teeth. I start to make a realisation. These creatures, these... women. They don't want to fight. This is us. This is all on us. That realisation, that epiphany. That's what seals my answer. I don't want to fight for the side who shoots first. I want to go. Leave and never come back.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">She nods, grabbing me by the shoulders with her talons. She gives me an awkward smile.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">"This is probably gonna hurt. You've got a few wounds that need treating." I nod, with the adrenaline pumping through me, it probably won't feel like anything.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">We fly out to the ocean, and I see that they weren't only coming from the sky. Ships are swarming with aquatic monster women too. Female forms with squid tentacles, or things that look like mermaids. I watch our carriers and battleships being overrun, and the number of corpses falling from the decks. Almost all of them are female. I spot one ship though. One of our smaller ships, where they're fighting back. A squid girl, her tentacles wrapped around ten men’s throats, while she shakes another in her arms. What horror did she witness? Did her friends die too?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">It doesn't matter to her anymore. She doesn't care as she squeezes the life from so many at once. She's been broken. I look up, the bird woman's trying not to look. Focusing on the horizon. That's when I see it.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">A great swirling light, sitting on the surface of the water. And it's getting bigger. I see a single figure, with bat-like wings and white hair, directing the invasion. My saviour flies straight passed her, getting us close enough to hear her voice as she issues commands. Her voice is like honey, sweet and rich. When she notices me, she gives a tired smile. She knows. She knows what's happening out there, and she won't stop until they're all either gone, or forgiven. She won't let the deaths of her soldiers be for nothing.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">We fly into the great swirling light, and I lose consciousness.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">When I wake up, I'm in what looks like a giant, primitive field hospital. Looking around I see some women with large hands and flowers in their hair tending to people. Many are other girls, but a few are men like me. I get up, feeling a tightness across my chest and one of my eyes is covered.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Oh, you're awake." One of the large women walks up to me, picking something from her hair. "Please, eat this. It will help with the pain." I hesitate, then remember what happened. Who am I to not trust them? I eat the small thing, and start to feel the pain in my wounds recede. I thank her and ask her name.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Tania. Please relax, your wounds are minor, many others weren't so lucky." She casts a glance around the countless tents. I look around, and ask if she saw the girl who brought me in. The bird girl. She gives me a warm smile.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">"I'm sorry, I saw dozens of harpy's carrying wounded in. I'll see if anyone has some information for you." I nod, thanking her. Harpy, huh? So that's what she was. I get out of bed and look around, then promptly wish I hadn't. Men, with wounds so bad any soldier would give them a bullet just to end the pain. Girls with whole limbs missing. I spot the squid girl, the one who'd lost it, staring at the roof of the tent, several tentacles missing and eyes blank.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">She rolls over, facing me, and I can't bear to look into those eyes. That's when I hear it. A soft, spirited voice.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">"You're okay!" I'm then smothered in feathers. "Thank the gods you're okay." She looks at me, and I can see she hasn't slept well. I ask why she's so happy to have a monster like me alive. She pulls back, her face growing confused, then her eyes widen, and she pulls me into an even tighter embrace.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">"You're  not  a monster. You're not. You can't be. You didn't want to fight." I push her back slightly. I  did  fight, and that's the problem. I didn't think about what I was doing. I shot a good dozen of her kind before a shell hit near my position and hurt that... that poor cat woman.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Linda... yeah. You shot us. You might have even shot Linda. But when you found out. When you realised we didn't want to fight, you left. You left and let me bring you here. You didn't  want  to be a monster." I look at her, thinking about it. I nod, slowly, then look at her, asking if there's anything I can do to help. She gives me a quiet smile.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">"No. There's nothing for us to do. We've all been called back, and now only the strongest are allowed through the portal. Dragon knights, baphomet's, lichs, the strongest races." She looks around the tent, sadly taking it all in. "If only we'd known before..." I put a hand on her shoulder, trying to smile for her. I thought she was meant to be cheering me up. She laughs sadly.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Yeah, yeah I was, wasn't I?" I stand up, much to her protest, and ask that if I can't help with the attack, maybe I could help around here? An operation of this scale would need hundred of supply trucks going in and out. Looking around I realise that there aren't any trucks around. Nor any vehicles at all actually. I don't even see anyone holding a gun. There are some lizard-like girls with swords, if Luke could see them he'd flip his shit about the lizardmen, and a few centaurs with bows, but I don't see anything more advanced than a crossbow.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">I look at...shit, I don't even know her name. I introduce myself, asking for her name.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Oh, I'm Ally. Sorry, things have been so hectic, I completely forgot." Nodding I ask just what kind of tech they have here. From what I'm seeing it's not much.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Oh, hang on. I've got this book. We're meant to give it out to all the new arrivals who..." She holds for a moment. "Who make it through." I look at the book she hands me. The Monster Girl Encyclopedia, by the Wandering Scholar. I thank her, and ask if she wouldn't mind staying with me as I read it.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Of course I wouldn't." She says happily, and the two of us sit down, reading the book. As I read I quickly start to realise just what kind of place I've found myself in. This might take a bit of adjustment, but I get the feeling my new friend is going to be more before long, if this book is anything to go by.