Incline 44: Ivahstar

The cabboth blows its trunk, squirting acid intentionally and not. Bullets smack away at its leafy hide, melting themselves flat before they can properly do damage. The cabboth buckles about, its primal mind taking each scrape and making a grudge of it. Its eternal memory will not forget until the chamber is quiet.

It blows its trunk again, charging ahead with the sway of its head. The mobsters keep on firing and firing, unleashing everything they have. Backing up step by step. All the way until their backs hit the damaged cars. Even those with surface-touched weapons are doing little against the cabboth.

One shot gets lucky, striking an eyebrow. The beast reels back, a roar bellowing out with its earth-melting saliva. It throws its head side to side, loosing the bullets caught up in its leafy exterior. It rattles them, appearing with numerous spikes in the dark.

Cabboth legs refuse to buckle and they charge regardless of the mind. It heads straight for the machine gunner as the man using it screams his defiance. The cabboth blows its trunk again, rising up with swaying legs. Its trunk swipes for the screaming gangster, not even curling up with a full body as four parts fly away. Two bits of corpse, two bits of machinegun.

I rush out of cover, getting close enough to gesture my friend and daughter to follow. Hrurim growls at his lack of an ammo-rich weapon and Heiya smashes her musket out of the car wreck boot. She gives it a loving kiss and loads the bolt-action. A whine builds up in her throat to the backdrop of a crushing car.

I twist towards the rampaging cabboth, watching it free a foot and leg from a wreck. The metal frame jumps away, flexing open like simple paper. Its faces continue to melt and the cabboth waddles around, not particularly focused on any one of the gangsters. A sneeze of acid almost guts one, but another two are not quite that lucky.

"Eyes on me. Let's go!" I hiss, gesturing back the way we came. I don't quite recall if a cabboth has a thing against fire, but all that smoke should hide our scent from it. It's enough to block the beast out, at the very least. Mere seconds at best, if not. Useful time, either way. 

"For the love of all the gods above, no one shoot at it!" Hrurim feels the need to warn us, the irony of his position no doubt making his legs move faster. I scoff at my human friend and keep my hand locked on my daughter's. It will help her keep moving and... Should it be needed, I can throw her ahead of me. Keep her alive.

"P-Pops! It might be necessary to dump the blood wasps!" Heiya suggests, and I grunt in approval, but not in the way she is thinking. Blood wasps are not stupid. They won't stay in their hive as it melts. Though they'll certainly seek vengeance against the acidic pachyderm. Should keep the thing away from us as it rampages.

"Keep to the edges." I call out to Hrurim, knowing Heiya will hear regardless. My friend throws a gesture back at me and I glance away as my legs keep ongoing. The path ahead is clear, and I need a good view of what is going on. Cars roar with emergency energy and many scramble.

The left behind mobsters run about like a headless flock. Their numbers dropping with each odd snatch by the cabboth. Some barely manage to make it to the carnivore's mouth. Others are puddles before it can even splash molten stone their way. One gangster even thinks he's got lucky, rolling out of the way of a charge. 

The rock around the cabboth pulls apart as it reverses, dragging a mountain onto the man. One car has yet to start and the survivors rush for it. Another man screaming as he goes flying into the air. Splitting apart right as the cabboth tries to snap its jaws at him.

A trunk comes flying in on a mighty swing. Swatting another man away as the last man not on board begs for them to wait. The cabboth doesn't even care and tramples the man, lunging for the car. A chunk of automobile flies off, horizontally taking the backside off.

The piece of car falls apart. One man's barely lucky enough to get out of there. He makes a break for it, going into the shadows of the slipway as the cabboth focuses on the half-wheel. Those who remain inside it fire with all they have. Desperately clinging to the idea that they can shoot away its face before it comes close.

A thick pillar of rock gets in my way, blocking my view, and I turn my focus away. The song of churning, bubbling metal makes its way here. Other cars come by, the panic of the drivers making them loop about. A growl builds in my throat and I release my daughter's hand, tossing the hive ahead.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW!?" Hrurim cries, the metal screeching and banging bringing him to a stop. He slips ahead and rushes back, slipping about again to pick up the hive. The blood wasps within bash away, threatening his life even more than it is. I look away and nod at my daughter.

She nods herself, a twitch in her motions, and she shakily gets her musket ready. I don't know what ammo she was able to get out of the boot of that car... But I'm doubting she's got anything particularly dense with magic. We need something with a real kick to get past that acidic hide.

My weapon might have some effect against the cabboth. It is honey, after all. But I'm not much of a hwardgon for guesses. In moments like these, I want undeniable facts. Not hopes and dreams, despite how far hopes have taken me as of late.

"DOWN!" I bark, spotting a car coming this way. Despite the dangers of the cabboth as it rushes about, an unknown distance away, the gangsters are still willing to hunt us. The car goes by, firing off rounds in our general direction. Pieces and pebbles rain from above, terrible aim keeping us safe.

Another growl rumbles my throat as the cabboth's weight sends tremors about. I need to save my munitions. The beast is not far from us and I need to save rounds. The cabboth's trunk blows and a long shadow goes over us.

A car spins out of control, smashing along the ground and pancaking on a pillar. No one but a limp man comes crawling out and the cabboth approaches. It roars down, melting up the car wreck as it blazes away. Danger ticks away in my head, the acid dousing the fires in a way that leaves our options limited.

Its trunk dives into the acidic puddle, draining it all back up. It sneezes, blowing out makeshift bullets across the chamber. One car gets unlucky as it drives by, the driver losing his head. It somehow doesn't spiral out of control. It just merely snatches the cabboth's attention, driving its curiosity our way.

"RUN!" I scream with all I have, shoving my daughter ahead before she foolishly tries to shoot a mobster. The gangsters fail to get their priorities in order and one goes flying. Splatting a little too much on impact. Horrible smells chase us as much as anything else. The acid of the cabboth flowering throughout the great chamber.

The beast rears up, slamming away at the ground and practically digging itself a ditch. Even more acid from before sprays out, bringing the spikey look back. The chamber sinks with it, lowering the beast again. My eyes widen and an old story returns to me.

"Anger the cabboth, anger it now. Anger the beast, enrage the tunnelling horror. Drop it down as far as its mood will take it-!?" I recall, a whizzing bullet spooking me out of the recollection. I snarl at the lost quills and slide to a halt, turning to the beast as its head barely peeks our way past the sloppy stone.

"POPS!?" Heiya screams, a burst of sub-machinegun fire splitting her away further. The mobile source thankfully turns too abruptly to make another go at it.

"GO! GO NOW YOU STUPID GIRL!" I demand of her, throwing a head gesture at Hrurim to watch her. My friend rushes back, lobbing the poor girl into the air and back into a full sprint. I lift my spike gun, aiming for the creature's head as it does the exact opposite of what I want.

I pull the trigger, clinging desperately to the hidden potency of a blood wasp queen and its royal honey. The golden-tinted spike catches the light of a lingering flame, sparkling as it lodges its way into the cabboth's ear. The beast howls, rearing up and barely climbing. It slips, throwing itself into the ground.

One leg slams, another tramples ahead and it rises, locking eyes on me. Its trunk swells and the beast hoses acid ahead, missing me by thankful miles and more. I snort in contempt, firing off a few more shots to rear that anger right into motion. The beast howls again, threatening me with whatever animalistic tongue one could call its noise.

Each thundering step craters the earth and its bobbling seems to get lower and lower each time. But not fast enough. I run at a steady pace, keeping the distance between us alive as long as possible. More shots leave my spike gun and a potent cocktail brews in me. I know I'm running out. The specifics elude me, but my gut is wise.

The cabboth screeches in pain, the honey spikes losing their form as its rage drenches the beast. A car and its lot get too cocky and drive close, trying to slam it full of surface-touched munitions. The cabboth springs up, latching onto the car and slicing it in twain. Somehow, the metal lasts long enough to pull the beast out, only barely. It tumbles, going knee-deep into the stone.

It throws its head my way, slithering its trunk ahead to ease the path. It wades onwards, picking up the pace despite the trouble. Acid keeps splashing out of the in-progress trench. Way too much for what should be possible. The rabid animal smashes one leg ahead, breaking the dam on the downright pool-amounts of acid.

"GAH- DAMMIT!" I snap, recovering from the stalagmite that avoided my awareness. I stumble back, coming too close to the cabboth. I scramble away, spike gun at the ready. The cabboth's trunk leaps for me and I saw the thing off with a burst of rounds. It howls away, squirting blood as much as acid now.

I hop back into a run, falling into a roll and getting back up. My legs spin me around, my arms locking in place with an unbreakable grip. My thumb flicks up, setting the spike gun to fully automatic fire. The cabboth keeps sinking but not quick enough.

"I'M NOT MEETING MY END AT THE TUSKS OF SOME VEGETABLE!" I roar with all I have, bursting out every single spike I think I have left. The royal honey lodges its way across the creature's skull, driving it back with whines and roars. It bursts open, flooding the immediate area with acid.

My legs run with all they have, my free arm flapping to give me whatever force it can get me. My gun is way too light now to carry on. At most, I've only got two spikes left. I glance behind me, seeing nothing but what looks like a snake. Rock continues to collapse, creating a wide trench that only going deeper.

Each cabbothic stomp gets quieter and quieter, dragging the raging beast deeper underground with it. I collapse with an awkward, strained laugh. By the gods above... That was certainly something... Even younger me would've struggled with an animal like that.

I settle down for the moment, catching my breath as tremors echo up to me. The aimless creature is tunnelling too deep for us now. It'll either drown in its own acid or fall to its death or something. Whatever. It's not my problem anymore...

"Even in my thoughts, huh...?" I remark, my stamina not quite what it used to be. A pair of cars come driving up, their occupants quiet on the trigger. The two clown cars of mobsters screech to a halt, practically throwing their occupants out. The men in ruined suspenders and long coats surround me. Scrounged up weapons in hand.

No matter how much they've spent on me or the cabboth til this point. One of them is surely lucky enough to make their threat worthwhile. I frown, unable to quite put a finger on a solution. Unless someone is watching me I'm-

A sub-machinegun rips through the crowd, spooking their attention away from me. My arm jolts up, firing off one more spike into the one my saviour missed. I twist about, expecting to see a just-about-had-it human. Instead, I hear the chitter of a bug first.

"I really need to find more of these guns right here..." Nin breathes with a shudder as he digs about, struggling to smack open a surface-touched weapon. He clings to it, letting the magic radiate into his desperately starved body. I huff, finding my feet and giving my former prisoner no mind.

"Thank you, for saving my life again." I groan, my body aching. Though, I'm being incredibly insincere. But whatever keeps his spite away from me, if he's harbouring it. 

"Clinging to what happened years ago!" Nin points out and I nod, tipping a proverbial hat at the once-human who was also my prisoner all those years ago. Still, I've got business to attend to. If we're lucky, we can salvage a car and get going. Head on into the next town before this mess grows any more.

"Where did you two go...?" I demand to know, receiving no answer as my patience reaches its limits.