49 Usagi Days / Finale, Pt 4

- 49.1 -

The Orc rushed into the crowd of bandits around the Usagi.

Most of them barely had enough time to process the mere fact that a living, breathing Orc was in front of them, before they were summarily torn apart by his bare hands.

The girls didn't waste any time. There was no hope in attempting to fix the Usagi now. They exited, and fled deeper into the Old Capital, trying their best to ignore the terrified screams behind them.

It wasn't long before the bandits' screams stopped entirely. They were all dead.

The Orc's laugh echoed and bounced off the concrete walls all around the girls as they fled, making it seem like he was everywhere, all at once.

The girls ran down streets, and alleyways. Not knowing where they were going. Turning random corners. No matter where they went, it seemed like the Orc's voice was always directly above them. Distant—but omnipresent.

"HANASAKI RUBY! HAVE THE VILLAGERS STOPPED SCREAMING YET!? OH, BY THE WAY, I'VE GOT A FRIEND HERE WITH ME! SHE WANTS TO SAY HELLO! (… Go ahead, sweetie. Don't be shy. …)"

The Orc pitched his voice higher, and then, in a mocking falsetto: "Lucy … hurts … pain. Why … Usagi girls … let me die? … Hurts. Pain. … Where … is Lucy? Lucy cold. Lucy … hurts."

Then the Orc cackled.

Ivy and Violet choked back sobs as they ran.

Anemone: "Don't listen to it. Don't listen!"

Orc: "I know a fun game we can play. It's called, 'Guess Where Louie Is'. The rules are plain and simple. Tell me where I am!"

Booming laughter thundered across the skyscrapers.

"So where am I, ladies? Am I …"—his voice coming from their right—"here? Or am I"—voice coming from the other side, now—"… here? Or am I—…"

The Orc seemingly materialized in front of them, at the far end of the street they were on, in the middle of an intersection.

"…—HERE! PEEK-A-BOO! I FOUND YOU!"

The girls froze in place.

The Orc smiled his crooked yellow smile. He slowly lifted one leg up, held it in the air for what seemed like the longest second in eternity, and then—

- 49.2 -

… BOOM!

… BOOOOOM!

… BOOOO-OOOOM!

Three stomps.

Three stomps of his Orc-foot was all it took to obliterate the entire area surrounding the intersection. To split the earth asunder, and send the nearby buildings collapsing in a cataclysm of dust and glass and rubble.

Still standing at the intersection, the Orc gleefully welcomed the falling debris with arms spread wide, his Orc-head tilted up to the sky as he laughed uproariously.

The girls scrambled, the ground beneath quaking as they searched desperately for any kind of cover. They were far enough from the epicenter that the collapsing buildings barely missed them—but even so, the resulting cloud of dust was so thick that they could hardly see more than a few inches in front of them.

Even through the cacophony of collapsing buildings—and the layers of rubble now burying him—they could still hear the Orc's laughter echoing.

- 49.3 -

The rumbling ceased.

The laughter stopped.

Total silence, save for the girls' coughs. Their lungs burning.

The four of them spun around in place. Thick, grey-white dust enveloped them on all sides. No way to tell where they were, what direction they were even facing.

Then—the Orc's voice. Just his voice, and nothing else.

"Nerves are fascinating, Hanasaki Ruby. You humans are complete slaves to what you perceive. Pain. Pleasure. Hot. Cold. … A papercut. A pebble stuck in your shoe. A tummyache from too many sweets. Enough to ruin your entire day. All because of some neurotransmitters floating around in those wrinkly sponges you're all so proud of.

"Human are just so … strangely proud of their own limitations. Before we came along, you crazy lot awarded medals amongst yourself for your athletic feats—when you can't even outrun a bear. You can't out-wrestle a chimpanzee that's barely half your height. You pride yourself on building your bodies but even a few horses can pull a giant metal dinosaur through the Wastes. … If I tie the four of you up, would you be able to pull it?

"The weakest horse can develop muscles much stronger than the strongest of your kind, just by eating grass. … Can you?

"… What's there to be proud of?"

And then he appeared, out of the white-grey haze, his body no longer green but ash white, covered from head to toe in the dust of the rubble, looking like some mad phantom out of a fever dream. His hand around Ivy's throat. Lifting her up off the ground.

- 49.4 -

Useless. Helpless.

… Why try?

Ruby watched as Anemone, wielding her rifle like a bat, tried in vain to free Ivy from the Orc's grasp.

… Hopeless. Just give up.

Ruby watched as the Orc tossed Ivy away to the side, like a ragdoll, after choking her out.

… Utterly hopeless.

Ruby watched as the Orc slapped Anemone away, the force of it knocking her back several feet, her rifle sliding neatly to Ruby's feet. (Considering Anemone didn't explode right then and there, he must have been pulling back his strikes.)

… Completely, utterly hopeless. Accept your fate.

Ruby watched as the Orc then approached Violet, who was trembling so bad she could barely stand upright. The Orc grabbed Violet's arm. A loud snapping sound. Violet screaming in pain.

Ruby, expressionless, bent down and robotically picked up Anemone's rifle. She didn't know what she was doing.

… This is it, Ruby. It's over. You failed to save your friends. You failed to save Lucy. You—

Ruby pulled the trigger. The rifle pointed at the Orc. An empty click.

The Orc turned his head. Ruby's friends lay about him. She couldn't tell if they were still breathing or not.

He smiled. As if he were amused by Ruby's actions.

He began walking to her. "I take it the R.A.B.B.I.T. eggheads couldn't unlock your full potential, eh? Well, that's too bad. It would have been interesting to see what you could do."

Ruby, face blank, pulled the bolt back, pulled the trigger again. Another empty click.

… It's over, Ruby. It's over.

Ruby backed away as he came closer.

She stumbled on an uneven slab of concrete, and lost her balance. She fell on her backside. The rifle fell out of her hands.

She was on the same level as her friends now. The Orc grinned down at her.

Orc: "No, Hanasaki Ruby. It's not over, yet. It's just started. I'm going to have so much fun with the four of you. I've got some ideas. I might start by rewiring all your nerves. I'll decide what you all feel, at all times. I might even compress the four of you into a tiny ball, which I can keep at my side, in my pocket. While you all remain conscious and aware. Would you like that, Hanasaki Ruby? We'll be together … FOREVER!"

And then he laughed.

Ruby, eyes empty of all life and color, stiffly raised an arm to the Orc. She made her fingers into the shape of a gun. Silently, she mimed shooting him.

Pew.

Pew.

The Orc grinned even wider.

"As I thought—you really are an interesting one, Hanasaki Ruby! Oh … you're gonna be my best friend, for the rest of—"

And then she felt it. Another surge, just like the one she had experienced in the Ithaca hallway, with the alarms and beacons, and the trio of wardens. A sharp pain in her head. Her vision went white. And then—

"Pew."

Some … thing shot out from the end of her finger. Something invisible. Some kind of concentrated force, that instantly traveled from her finger to the Orc's head, where she'd been pointing her finger-gun, and—

—exploded through the back of the Orc's skull.

The Orc's lifeless body remained upright for a while, before slumping forward to his knees. Still wearing that horrible grin.

Then he collapsed to the ground completely, right before Ruby's feet.

Ruby stayed where she was, her finger still in the shape of a gun. She couldn't stop shaking. Her head ached, just like it had back at Ithaca.

… At some point, she curled up into a ball on the ground.

And then she screamed.

She screamed for a very long time.