Chapter 5

Huffing, Bigs was making his way back to the Court. Dealing a devastating blow to the Savage Raiders, they had to blow up their entry to the nursery to escape the rampaging giant.

Bigs himself was mostly unhurt. Acid had torn his uniform, reminding him of a certain veteran, but his thick skin prevented any permanent damage to his body.

Still, anger filled him as he thought back to the pilfered nursery, the scattered empty capsules, and the slayn nurses.

"What a loss. Why didn't I notice sooner..."

Pounding into the tunnel's wall with the base of his fist in rage.

The guilt dropped to his stomach, however, as he arrived to see the Court's ivory doors bloodstained and bits of debris falling off the newly created hole at its center.

Besides the intense musky smell, nothing seemed too abnormal until Bigs reached the throne room.

Back turned to him, a large humanoid creature was crouched over the throne, tearing into its prey. Cracking bones and ripping flesh in a wicked frenzy.

Shame and guilt caught his words as he silently stepped forward.

"Your Highness... No..."

His approach was interrupted as the royal guard extended their spears in his direction. The small commotion enough to grab the creature's attention.

Turning its head, its innocent smile revealed rows of small jagged teeth. Covered in blood-soaked fabric and pieces of gore, the Queen's mutilated corpse resting lifeless beneath it.

"I'm busy, my dear subject. If you have something to report, please do so at a later moment."

Its empty pitch-black eyes were fixed on Bigs, assessing and awaiting his response.

Bigs looked at the empty-eyed soldiers that had him surrounded and let out a defeated sigh.

"As you command, Your Highness."

Lowering their weapons, the Queen's devious smile returned before resuming her task.

A heavy snap from behind however interrupted her once more.

Two guards lay flattened on the floor and another was being hurled towards her.

"Kill him!" she screeched, watching in horror as Bigs dismantled them in mere seconds.

"They are our kin! What are you doing, defying your own blood and crown!"

Shaking erratically, the musky scent thickened and even Bigs began feeling its effect.

Catching himself from hitting the ground, he looked up at the corpse of his true Queen and, behind a nearby pillar, recognized the white sleeve of a nurse's uniform.

"Chip? Is that you?"

Chip revealed herself, approaching him with the same empty eyes the soldiers had.

"So it's true. You are a monster that kills us without remorse. A traitor to our Queen, to our Kingdom, to me."

Tears ran down Chip's face.

"How could you, Bigs? Of all the people, why did it have to be you?"

Bigs rose slowly without lifting his head. Noticing only a feeding injection in her hands.

"Where's the princess, Chip?"

She hesitated for a moment before answering.

"Her Highness is safe. They took her. Took her to a place far away where she will be safe from monsters like you."

Bigs looked at the fake monarch. Her fiendish expression affirming Chip's statement.

Furious, Bigs stormed the throne, grabbing the Queen by the neck.

Lifting the giant through rage-imbued adrenaline, Bigs held the intruder overhead and began ripping her apart.

Pained screeches vibrated throughout the court, desperately seeking anything to answer their call. But with only vegetation around, the tearing of flesh and muscle slowly grew louder.

Panicking, the musky smell became unbearable and the Queen began spitting acid at Bigs.

In agony, only one of her shots landed and Bigs felt the right side of his face burning starting to sag, with bits of skin falling before him.

The searing pain however adding to his spite, he tensed his muscles and, with a final jerk, tore the beast in two. With a loud smack the two pieces crashed to the floor. Inbetween, bitter and exhausted, Bigs tried drowning his pain out. Instead focused on the warm blood that was seeping into the rags that were once a proud uniform. A symbol of hope and peace for anyone who laid eyes upon it.

But it wasn't enough to drown out Chip's little fists flailing at him in vain.

Clasping Chip's entire head with one hand, Bigs silenced her pained cries and held. But unlike his wishes, Chip's assault didnt cease and unable to drag this out any further, Bigs closed his eyes, pressed, and wept.

The injector she was holding rolling across the bloodied courtyard.