'Ware Moose for the Short Affair Challenge 17/10/2016

[otherhawk.livejournal.com]

Prompt word: plunge
Prompt colour: purple
Word count 907

Sorry, this is a little too on the ridiculous side. I've been watching too much X Files.

“So what do you think?” Napoleon asked, peering dubiously into the lake, almost gagging at the putrid smell coming off the foaming purple water.

“I think we have found what we are looking for,” Illya replied darkly, looking towards the factory on the opposite shore, the waste pipes clearly pouring something into the water.

Yes, he’d already figured that much. “Yes, but what is it,” he asked, toeing gingerly at the stained rocks underfoot. There was an oily green residue that somehow mingled with the purple, swirling in some way that almost made him sick to look at. “Aren’t you supposed to be a scientist?”

Illya shrugged. “I can take samples and get it analysed, but just from looking I have no idea. If you are looking for my scientific opinion, then scientifically speaking, I advise you refrain from taking a plunge.”

“Ah, the wonders of education,” he said wryly, his eyes scanning the tree line. Despite their bickering, they were both on high alert. This THRUSH plant was in the middle of nowhere, but in their hike up to it they had passed three concealed checkpoints. All were empty. All showed signs of having been abandoned in a hurry. And, their voices and footsteps apart, there was a silence hanging in the air that felt unnatural. If the only water supply had been contaminated by whatever THRUSH was doing here then the local wildlife might have simply been forced to move on, but that didn’t stop the quiet from being eerie. It didn’t stop him being sure someone was watching them either. “Let’s go.”

Quietly - carefully - they made their way around the shore to the factory entrance. It was obvious immediately that something had gone badly wrong here. The wide wooden door had been reduced to so many splinters. He and Illya exchanged a quick look and drew their guns before venturing inside.

There were bodies inside. At least a dozen or so, all bloodied and mangled, many of them still wearing the remains of their THRUSH uniforms.

"Apparently someone else got here first," Illya said in a low voice.

"Or something," Napoleon answered, catching sight of movement in the shadows at the far side of the enormous room, something far larger than a human. Cautiously they crept closer until they could see a large, four legged bulk standing over a corpse.

"It's an elk," Illya blinked.

The creature moved quickly, it's head whipping around revealing blood-staining a mouth that was never meant to hold so many sharp teeth. It started lumbering towards them, gaining speed, and its hide was stained with the same sickly purple and green residue they'd seen in the water outside.

They both fired in quick succession, but the darts didn't even seem to slow it down.

"Run?" Illya suggested.

"Run," he agreed, and they sprinted for the stairs, taking them two at a time in instinctive, and mildly embarrassing, flight. It was a deer. It was a really big carnivorous deer. This was not the scene he wanted described in his obituary.

He could hear the thing crashing up the stairs behind them, and he grabbed Illya's arm and pulled him through a narrow door that led onto a narrower catwalk high above the factory floor. It wouldn't be able to reach them here. This should give them a chance to regroup.

"I'm pretty sure it's a moose," he said, as he regained his breath. "Not an elk."

"Alces Alces is known as a moose in North America, an elk in Europe, and los in Russian," Illya told him crisply, reloading his gun with bullets. "It is also not known for eating people. I think it is safe to say this is not a normal example of the species."

"Probably not," he agreed, looking back at the doorway where the moose was madly thrusting its antlers against the frame, trying to force its way through to get at them. "What was THRUSH doing here?"

"I very much doubt this was their intention," Illya said. “It seems more likely - “

“ - that they have a really bad toxic waste situation?” Napoleon finished. “Just as well your expert knowledge kept us from taking a swim, hmm?”

Illya rolled his eyes, and at a loud bellow from the moose, they both turned and fired, aiming at anything that looked like it might be a vulnerable spot.

It took ten shots before it crumpled to the ground and lay unmoving. He was still wary about approaching it. “Kind of makes you feel bad.”

“I doubt this was the outcome it intended either.” Illya considered it for a moment. “Perhaps - “

“ - hey! You!”

They looked up to see a frightened man in a lab coat staring down at them from the floor above. “You're UNCLE, aren't you?” he said, babbling on before they even had a chance to answer. “Oh, thank God. Dr Nicholls, THRUSH. And I'd be more than happy to tell you anything you want to know if you would just get me out of here. I've been stuck here for days.”

“At least we will have something to show for this trip,” Illya said. “Perhaps Dr Nicholls can explain exactly what THRUSH was doing to bring about this whole mess.”

Napoleon glanced down at the scene of death and devastation and sighed. “I think I'd rather have brought back the moose.”

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"There moose. There castle!' I love that film. Thanks for commenting.