HROT 2: Brink of Annihilation

Chapter 16: Those Who Remain

Tony gasped for breath as he awoke from his nightmare. He sat up in the infirmary bed. His heart was still pounding. His eye glanced across the room. Marie was sitting in the corner, watching him. She got to her feet and sat at the edge of the bed. "Bad dream?" she asked.

Tony tried to slow down his breathing. "I dreamt that everyone left was dead, and I was all alone, against everything."

Marie smiled warmly. "We're all still here. There's a reason for that. Those who remain have earned their place, and we're not going anywhere."

"How long was I out?" Tony asked.

"A couple days. We're still about three days out from Harout's Bed."

Tony sighed. His heart twinged at the thought of facing down the Warnger yet again, especially after all the physical trauma he had endured. He knew he wasn't ready, but when would he be? "I'm afraid we won't win," he muttered.

Marie sneered. "Clearly you underestimate us."

"We got humiliated last time we met him."

"We've been through a lot since then. We're stronger now."

"We're wounded and fewer in number now."

"But we know what to expect this time. We can do it. Have some faith."

Tony grimaced. "I think spending so much time with Leon made me lose a little faith."

Marie bent down and locked eyes with him. "You don't have to carry the weight of all of this on your shoulders alone. If you're not ready, that's fine, but you're still gonna fight like hell with the rest of us."

She stood and walked out of the room, calling back, "I'll be on the bridge when you're feeling up to it."

Tony groaned as he scooted to the edge of the bed. He sighed as he stroked the bandage covering where his right eye had been. It was disorienting to only see out of one eye, and his depth perception was clearly poorer. He gingerly let his feet touch the floor, and was surprised that he could put much of his weight on his bad leg, but he wasn't going to push it. He grabbed his staff and leaned on it.

He heard shallow, labored breathing nearby. He turned and saw a mutilated figure lying in a nearby bed. As he walked closer, he was horrified to recognize it as Dom. "What happened to you?" Tony asked in shock.

Dom's head slowly turned toward him. A bandage similar to Tony's covered his left eye, his left arm seemed to be missing a hand and was wrapped delicately, and his left leg was splinted. A melancholy expression was on Dom's face. "Ran into some bad luck." He sneered as he saw Tony's own wounds. "Looks like you didn't fare much better."

"Are...are you okay?" Tony asked carefully.

Dom scowled deeply. He turned his head away. "Do I look like I'm okay?"

"Leave him be," a weak, muffled voice muttered. Tony turned around and saw Crunk struggling to his feet, leaning against the wall.

Tony rushed to help him. He saw the bruises and bloodstains showing through the bandages wrapped around his friend's torso. "Crunk? What happened to you two?"

Crunk shook his head. It sounded like he was holding back tears as he replied, "We ran into a very bad man. Cheesecawk was with him."

Tony was taken aback. "What are you talking about? Cheesecawk has been dead for weeks."

Crunk shook his head more violently and looked at Tony. "No. No he isn't. He's been turned into a monster. And he...he killed TF."

Tony's heart sank. "No...not TF. Dammit."