Thursday, October 29, 2009

Rip's Adventures: Rip and the Tunnel, Part 1

The juicer tore another one of the gigantic humanoid rats off of his back and threw it against the wall. “I told you we shouldn’t have used the old sewer system!” he screamed at his companion, a comparatively frail young woman in a nightvision optics band and light body armor who was trying to keep a pair of the enormous rats at bay with her Vibro-Blade.

“They weren’t here when I visited the excavation site last week!" the woman screamed back, "They must have recently rifted in or something!” she hollered, taking a swipe at a rat that got a little to close for comfort. She missed, but it was still enough to anger the creature. It wrinkled its nose and hissed in anger before taking a lunge towards her with its claws. She just barely dodged.

The juicer was still being accosted by five of rat-men. Three of them were crawling all over him, biting and scratching at him in places where his armor didn’t cover. The other two hovered around him like vultures, ready to dive in for the carrion when the time was right. He took advantage of this and let one of the hovering rat-men think there was an opening. When the rat leapt at the chance to sink his teeth into the juicer, he found himself the victim of a brutal body flip into the drainage water. The juicer made sure to plant his foot right on top of the rat-man’s neck to prevent him from coming up and breathing.

“What the hell did you call these things again?” the juicer asked his comrade.

“Ratlings. They’re D-Bees, like most things. Not native to this world. I believe they come from a place called Palla…” she didn’t get to finish.

“That’s fine sister,” the juicer said, tossing another ratling off his back and crushing its spine with his bare hands, “I didn’t ask for their life story or anything. Why are they attacking us anyway?”

After the woman had to parry a near-hit from one of the ratlings that got dangerously close to her right eye, she replied, “Probably because they outnumbered us. They only attack when they think they have the advantage. You’re making short work of that advantage though.”

“Sweetheart,” the juicer nodded with a twinkle in his eye while twisting the neck of another ratling, “it’s what I do.”

A ratling got too close to the woman and she let fly with her blade like a furious wind, slicing its hand and claw clean off. Blood spurted all over her as the creature wailed in horrible pain, grasping the bloody stump in its other hand. It fell to its knees, continuing to screech a horrible, wretched cry of misery. Meanwhile, the other ratling curled its lips in what could only be a grin as it began to move in on the horror-stricken woman who had become paralyzed by the gruesome sight. The woman was so fixated on the gushing blood from the ratling’s hand and its horrible cries of anguish that she didn’t even notice the other ratling preparing to deliver a death blow. The very next second there was a burst of light from behind the ratlings, and then their heads were both immediately vaporized. The bodies of the two ratlings, now headless, slumped to the ground. The woman looked over to the area where the juicer had been fighting and saw utter carnage. Ratling blood, guts, bone, and brain matter was splattered everywhere. He stood in the middle of it all with a red-hot NG-57 ion gun in each hand.

Disclaimer

What follows is my collection of fan fiction written about characters within the fantasy world of Rifts Earth as created by Kevin Siembieda and published by Palladium Books Inc. It is the sole intent of this site to exalt, laud, praise, and honor the work of Mr. Siembieda and his excellent staff at Palladium Books and not to diminish or harm in any way their success or future endeavors. No attempt has been made by this website to steal or use the intellectual property of Mr. Siembieda and Palladium Books except where allowed by precedent by the doctrine of fair use under the copyright law of the government of the United States of America. The author of this site seeks no profit or compensation for his works; they are offered pro bono, for the enjoyment of fans everywhere. Please do not distribute the work found on this site for profit or compensation of any kind and except with the express permission of the author.

As an avid fan of the Rifts roleplaying game, I simply wish to share my adoration of the game with other fans in the medium of the written word. While I have borrowed some concepts and ideas from the Rifts books, I have not copied any sections word-for-word, nor would I. All of the following passages are my original work. In addition, all characters depicted herein are fictitious. Any resemblance to real-life persons, implied or otherwise, is merely coincidence and not intended.