Sledger: The Sledgening

prolog 3: Cold War

The two men stood in front of the large door, just a bit short of an average tree. The Mortar gulped; yep, he sure hoped it was a survivor, nothin' else. Surprisingly, the less quiet of the two went first, startling the Ranger from his daze. He stared in anguish as the Mortar stepped foot into the foreboding room, the door slamming shut on it's own behind him.

The railgunner blinked before reaching an arm out to the handle of the metal door to follow the Mortar, he paused, wondering if he should leave the shorter man for dead, this place was able to send a shiver down his own spine just by the looks of it. He could feel himself hunch over ever so slightly, free arm closing into his own torso.

A scream loud and sudden cut through the dead atmosphere like a hot knife to butter. The Ranger tensed with horror before quickly equipping his ever iconic railgun, ripping it off his back, tearing up the straps that held it there. Steeling himself the ex-outlaw kicked open the door, ignoring whatever pain may have erupted in his foot,

"Mort!" The Ranger cried, readying his rifle,

The railgunner surveyed the room cautiously, rifle still holstered in two trembling hands. His own voice still bounced off the walls, ringing in his ears, yet the silence was by far louder. A pitter patter of footsteps was heard behind the man. Before he could turn, a deep depression weighed his back down with a terrifying roar. Wait.. No, that roar wasn't scary at all, and this weight wasn't even one zombie... No, person!

The Ranger flipped himself over, causing the assailant's structure upon his back to be dismantled with multiple sounds of surprise from three different people. The Ranger rolled over away from the group, before letting his steely gaze fall upon them,

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

The Ranger's glare burned into the toppled bodies of the Engineer, Pyromancer, and Mortar. The Engineer rose, looking both nervous and unimpressed. She fiddled with her fingers before she spoke,

"So uh, fancy seeing you here!" She pointed finger guns at the Ranger, whose glare bore into her soul.

The ex-outlaw placed a hand on the woman's shoulder before pushing her away, heading towards something behind her, or someone.

The Mortar crawled away on his back in silent terror as the Ranger drew near. For every pace the explosive-expert took(or more so: crawled) the railgunners boot clicked against the gridded flooring as he drew nearer. The scene was something akin to a slow and agonizing game of cat and mouse. Then the moment the Mortar dreaded finally arrived, his back hit the wall. Seeing this the Ranger quickened his pace before the Mortar could find somewhere else to scram. Before the Mortar knew it, a fist held him up by the collar of his shirt, the railgunners stare stabbing into him.

Before the Mortar could speak the Ranger beat him to it,

"I could expect this type of shit from these two, but you too?" He seemed more betrayed than angry, shockingly.

The Ranger dropped the man to the ground, the latter of which fell on his ass. The railgunner backed up, a stern stare burning into the Mortar,

"Hey! Don't act so innocent! I saw you laughing at me when I fell on Minis' helmet!" The explosive-expert pointed an accusing finger at the ex-outlaw,. See! It was just rightful revenge! The Rangers eyes widened before he jolted up from his slight slouch,

"You saw that!?"

"Oh yeah, act surprised because you hid it so well." Welp, it was time for the Mortar to say goodbye to whatever form of friendship he had with the Ranger, asshole. Yet, maybe it was kind of a dick-move to pretend he got attacked by zombies? Whatever!