After stepping back the anxiety started to set in again, he turned towards the Terminal and hurried over to it.
“Terminal! I need Medjel or Limb Replacement!”
Unavailable due to hostile engagement.
A heavy feeling was spreading up from his missing thumb. He was surprised that a thumb could bleed as much as it was.
Allocation system unavailable during active combat.
He looked at his thumb and gulped then turned back to the crab. Whether it was the charred eye, the Zappa still sticking out of it, his blood on its claw, or the sight of wounded prey, whatever it was, it was in an absolute frenzy. Its chittering became a jagged staccato, a screeching sound that uncomfortably lingered somewhere in the center of his head.
I don’t have time for this shit. Literally, it seemed, he tried ripping a piece of the jumpsuit off to wrap around his still freely bleeding thumb. Despite its sharpness, or maybe because of the sharpness, he wasn’t sure, the pain was becoming increasingly hot, settling into a wrenching feeling in his chest.
He walked back to it trying to get in with renewed bloodlust and stopped a step before its reach. His left hand was balled into a fist as he stared at its little hate-filled eyes;
All 5 of them, he thought with a grim smile. It was now backing up to the other side of the hallway and flinging itself sideways into the gap. He continued to wait and watch.
On a bad launch through the door gap the creature had stuck itself downwards at a 45-degree angle. Jack moved and grabbed the Zappa, yanking with all he was worth. The Zappa pulled free with a wet sucking as the released pressure flung him onto his back half the room away. His efforts were the final bit needed for the crab to finally get through the door. He got himself up and readjusted his grip as he shook it back and forth. The crab used its extremely flexible blade arm to right itself from its back. 5 hate-filled eyes met 2 that matched them in intensity.
The creature started to strafe left and right as it moved forward. Both were wary. One strafed closer, the other backed off. Any movements to get around to the right or left of it were quickly cut off by the crab. Moving directly towards it would creep forward to match or reposition itself and hunker down.
Jack concluded some important principles in these tense seconds. It probably wasn’t great at directly turning. It probably couldn’t move directly forwards quickly either. Its blade arm seems more flexible than its claw, they are both fast.
All in all, it seemed like it had the strengths and weaknesses of a normal crab.
Well maybe not its weaknesses, but unless I want to head into its mouth I should probably try to get around it.
He decided to make the most of what he knew.
In a furious rush he faked going to the right towards its blade hand then changed and leaped around it to its left.
He heard a clack and then felt a heavy hit send his partially airborne body skidding across the ground into the wall. Taking a quarter of a second to put together that he was now missing a total of three fingers he rushed back towards the crab hoping to catch it before it could fully turn around. A surprisingly agile three-point turn put that hope to rest. He stopped his sprint short as the crab started waving its oversized claws in front of it.
The monster finished its turn and I met its red, hateful eyes. We stared at each other. The pain from my arm washed over me in waves, radiating up and collecting in my head, sharp and hot. It faded briefly after each wave of painful heat swept through. Each wave deposited some of its heat, it steadily growing, boiling away in my skull. My vision narrowed and I lost details on the corners of my vision; as I lost those though, I was seeing the crab in incredible detail. My face twisted in pain but the waves of heat flowing up from my hand kept me focused.
It skittered left and right briefly and smacked its claws together and then nearly took me by surprise as it jumped directly towards me. I dove to the right, keeping the Zappa held comfortably in my hand. My heart beat faster and faster, the heat building higher and hotter. I kept dodging around the monster. I could do this forever, I started to take in the details of it more and more. My head felt like it was going to pop, my vision a pinprick. The way the chitin on its surface flowed and moved, even the curved blade that constituted its front leg was less menacing than before. It turned towards me again.
The room grew so incredibly hot, I went right past sweating. As my vision got tighter and sharper, I heard it roar. I roared back. Suddenly my sight opened up. Everything was clear. I could see everything, the creature and the entirety of the small shitty room I was trapped in here with it. I leaped towards it and it pounced towards me. I ducked its clacking right claw and caught the base of its left blade, the tip puncturing me below where my arm met my chest. My left had already had the Zappa buzzing and arcing as I jammed the Zappa right down its fucking throat.
For being not much taller than my knees it hit like a fucking truck but I felt strong. I held it in place as my arm shredded and it twitched from its internal electrotherapy. Winning our clash and first contact, I took to the ground on its back. My fingers, wrist, and forearm were still being shredded and processed in its mouth. They seemed like they belonged to someone else.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
In the heat of the struggle, I was briefly thankful for the electricity that locked what remained of my hand against the button. Between the grinding of my wrist and forearm bones and flesh on its teeth and the lack of feeling from my hand I knew I would have let go long ago if it was still up to me. I could hear the high-pitched whine from inside its mouth start to tear at the edge of my hearing. My shoulder struggled and pushed against its right claw keeping it awkwardly away from pinching off my head and shoulder. What remained of my right hand was having a tug of war with the blade claw. I would push its blade out of my chest and it would put it back in. Full of this incredible heat, anger, and hate I could tell that even though I was stronger, its hate and its hunger came from a deep well, depths unknown.
I started to flag and my bloody, thumbless grip on my right hand started to slip. I heaved its blade back with a push of my slippery right hand in a final effort to get it away and out of my shoulder’s new hole. My body pushed forwards with it and I knew that my neck was just a quick downwards trip for the blade.
Then, it popped, and launched Jack up several feet into the air and then, roughly down to the floor.
With a pulling groan, he scrambled up and found himself standing again, drained and icy cold covered in warm, steaming ichor. Stupefied, he raised his left hand and held the Zappa up at the ready position, ready for the next. It was then he noticed that he wasn’t holding the Zappa at all as his left arm was missing just past the elbow. He stood there looking for a few moments then shuffled his feet unsteadily towards the Terminal.
“Computer, can you fix this?” he waved his amputated left arm in front of the screen.
First-time Limb Replacement: 10 credits
He saw it flash across the screen letter by letter.
“Yes, that one. Also, can you close the door?”
Door must be closed by accessing the handpad adjacent to the door.
He sighed and trundled back to the door, slapped his hand on it then trudged back to the panel.
A circular hole opened up to the right.
“But it’s my left arm…” he wasn’t sure why he bothered saying it but he was feeling a bit digested to think it fully through.
Insert desired limb for replacement
He shuffled to the right, sighed again, and squatted down as he popped his arm through just below the elbow. He felt a viscous liquid flow over the wound. He sat down, thankful at least that much was possible even if it was uncomfortable having his arm hanging above eye level.
Sitting there he took a moment to inventory himself.
He was in rough shape if “rough” had gone out and got his ass kicked by rougher and roughest. His right hand was still dripping blood and he was missing his thumb as well as his pinky and ring fingers. The thumb was taken off clean like someone drew a line down his hand that didn’t include his thumb. The other fingers were a mess, his pinky was down below the main knuckle and the ring finger was gone just below the knuckle. He noticed his thumb, or where it used to be, was still bleeding while the other two fingers had slowed to a trickle. The right side of his chest looked like a pin cushion and in taking stock, he now learned that the back legs of the crab were busy clawing against his sides during the struggle. He was impressed by the jumpsuit, it seems like it handled most of the crabs’ back legs, it was sturdier than it looked. Still, the melee left him with assorted scrapes and minor holes in his sides. His perforated chest and shoulder seriously ached and while it didn’t look like it got anything important on his chest, the wounds did not close.
He looked up to the Terminal, at some point it had moved further down so he could see and access it easily. It wouldn’t move the limb replacement port but it would lower the screen.
This damn machine needed to decide if it was going to help or not.
Available Credits: 42
He scrolled to the item he needed.
Medjel Kit: 15 credits
He pulled out the kit from a small locker in front of his face. It was in a little baby duffel bag. The bag was kind of cute even though he’d never voice that opinion out loud. He shrugged and struggled with opening the zipper one-handed sans thumb. Eventually, with the use of teeth and stubbornness, he unzipped the tiny bag. Inside were several rolls of extremely compact gauze and 10 rectangular packets that had a toothed edge and “Tear Here” written diagonally across one of the corners.
He dispensed it through his mouth and managed to coat his thumb and other missing fingers before going to his shoulder. The Medjel felt like rubbing snot but was quickly followed by a burning itch that pierced deep into the wound. He shrugged out of his sleeve. applying what he could with only two fingers and clever use of his teeth and mouth. Finally finished he looked around there was ichor, his own blood, and monster guts blown across the room, the only part of the room that was pristine was a man-shaped area above the explosion and the Terminal. The crab’s arm blade and big pincer claw looked untouched. The Zappa sat in the middle of the mess in seemingly fine shape. He couldn’t help but appreciate the durability for a moment. Childproof, he laughed.
To his left, he noticed the card that came with the Zappa. It looked different than before so he swept it over with his foot and eventually picked it up despite his missing thumb.
Instructions for safe use:
1. Grip Device firmly.
2. Aim end towards target.
3. If at a distance up to six feet away depress the center button once. An electrical charge will be emitted toward the target.
4. If target is in touch distance the Zap Kill’s Electro-Kill Zappa can be held in contact with skin (ineffective against chitin), press and hold the button until the desired effect has been reached.
Manufacturer’s Warning:
DO NOT use internally.
DO NOT hold down the button greater than 6 seconds unless immune to plasma-based reactions.
DO NOT use if wet, if target is wet, or in the presence of H2O-based bodily secretions.
DOES NOT work against organo-silico based lifeforms.
By using this item you accept full responsibility and release Zapp Kill, Zapp Kill’s Industrium Emporium, and designated retailers from any liability or damages.
Complaints can be filed by pressing the reset button on the back side of the device where the dispute will be mediated outside of a court of law under guidance of a Detronian Death Judge.
To file a dispute simply hold the device reset and say “I, (your name) formally request a dispute resolution with Zapp Kill's Industrium Emporium, witnessed by a High Arbiter of Detron as compacted by His Lord Slareel…” he tried reading the next words but they seemed almost complete nonsense, even trying to read them in his head left the area behind his eyes pounding.
Patent #159872340891-2340-914589127389-1512…
He stopped reading as a terrible itching took over his arm and in the places where he applied the Medjel.
Which was everywhere.