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![[COMM] Extinction Protocols (4/4)](http://d.furaffinity.net/art/retroinferno/stories/1763729647/1763729647.thumbnail.retroinferno_extinction_protocols_iv.pdf.jpg "Click to change the View")
A lone wolf finally brings things to their conclusion.
Previous Part
Flóra found herself in a haze. Maybe it was the lingering adrenaline still pumping through her veins, but something about firm and fluffy fingers surrounding her frail human form made her want to forget about her harsh life for just a fleeting moment…
Only the lone wolf making a low growl snapped her out of it.
[Friends of yours?] he asked, extending his hand away from his armored torso.
After a few moments, Flóra regained her focus. She noticed her rifle was still held between two of the wolf’s canine fingers and reached out to take it back. Rising to her full height, Flóra stood at the edge of the wolf’s padded palm, gaining a clear view of the parliament building. From this high vantage point, she could see the full extent of the recent skirmish: holes scattered across the structure, charred silhouettes on the walls, and claw marks gouged into stone walls.
Eventually, a stray human man emerged from the entrance, and he shouted a single name…
“Flóra! FLŐRRRAAAA!”
Balázs’s shouting fully revealed his position near the parliament’s entrance, all while he held a satchel charge with one hand. Only two other armed scavengers flanked him from the sides.
The lone wolf’s ears folded against his head. [I take it that you two know each other?]
Flóra squinted, struggling to see through her gas mask’s visor. Explosives held by Balázs alongside additional satchel charges strapped to his back and chest made her wince. “Wait…” she said under her breath, stiffening up and straightening her posture. “Balázs… NO!”
As if on cue, the rest of the scavenging team emerged from various windows on different floors. They aimed their small arms at the lone wolf, whether it be assault rifles or rocket launchers. Balázs held a single hand in the air, motioning downward, and then others slowly lowered their rifles.
“Hold your fire!” he said with his voice bellowing down multiple hallways. “The damned wolf has Flóra in its grasp!”
Alajas stepped to the side, joining Balázs with his RPG prepared for action. “What happened to the scaly one? Don't recall ever seeing a furry one…” He paused for a moment before grimacing. “Unless…?”
Balázs grunted. “Ugh. Maybe Flóra wasn’t just seeing things then.”
“Maybe.” Alajas said, shaking his head. “Doesn’t mean it's friendly.”
“Well, it has one of our own…” Balázs replied with a frown. “What would you have me do?”
Alajas gave him a death stare. “I think you know the answer already. Do what must be done.”
Balázs rolled his shoulders and sighed. “Point taken, but I’d rather not have it come to that.”
The lone wolf stayed stationary and silent for a time. [You little people might not understand a single word that I say, but I’ll stand here and let you shoot me if you have to. I’m not sure how else you’re supposed to know that I’m not hostile…]
Several humans present exchanged nervous looks, hearing nothing but bizarre alien vocalizations.
Flóra blinked, not understanding a single word. She took a hand off her rifle and waved it in the air to catch everyone’s attention. “THE WOLF IS FRIENDLY! He… HE KILLED THE DRAGON!”
Balázs and Alajas just looked at each other in disbelief.
“Well… I guess the aliens are a self-solving problem if they kill each other.” Balázs said, shrugging.
Alajas blinked several times. “Don’t they usually attack us?”
Balázs let out another grunt. “Only if we’re in the way. Usually they ignore us, so I’m struggling to wrap my head around this.” He took a step forward, cupping his hand around his mouth as he shouted at the top of his lungs. “CAN THE WOLVES SPEAK MAGYAR?”
Flóra winced at his words. “What? Uh… NO, THEY CAN’T! BUT HE’S HERE TO HELP!”
The lone wolf watched the scene and exhaled, relaxing his posture. [I guess they aren’t going to shoot…] he said to himself, pausing to gently brush Flóra with his thumb. This made Flóra’s cheeks flush briefly. [Good work, little lady.]
With that, the lone wolf started to circle around the parliament building with Flóra in tow.
Balázs took a step back. “What’s the wolf doing now?”
Alajas didn’t speak. He spoke through nothing but his actions, raising his weapon once more.
Ignoring this, the lone wolf just walked around the humans at the front entrance. His massive form, already adorned in sleek armor, made the ground ever so slightly rumble everywhere he walked. A fluffy tail also made audible swishing sounds in the air. This left the scavenging party dumbfounded or in awe at the sight before he rapidly vanished from their collective vision.
“The hell just happened?” Alajas asked, keeping his weapon aimed at the sky.
“Don’t know…” Balázs replied, shaking his head yet again. “I guess we better follow the wolf? God knows what he wants with Flóra, much less the rest of his lot!”
~~~~~
Flóra struggled to step off the lone wolf’s palm as he lowered her to the ground. She eventually settled for hopping off with her rifle held in both hands, hesitant to leave its now familiar warmth.
She then looked back at the wolf over her shoulder. “I… I still don’t know how else to thank you!” Flóra looked forward after saying this, just to find herself in the middle of a courtyard. Shrubbery and other plants in the garden were now nothing but ashes and cinders, revealing ominous metal doors in their stead. “Um… what is this, exactly?”
The lone wolf simply kneeled down, then used the knuckles on his armored hand to knock on the door. Subsequent thumps and bangs caught Flóra off-guard as she recoiled, but the loud knocking stopped as quickly as it started.
With that, the lone wolf began walking away from Flóra altogether.
She looked up at him in confusion. “Wait, wait… where are you going?!”
The lone wolf paused in place, pointing at the metal doors. [Stay here. You’ll be safe, and that’s all that matters.]
Flóra looked back at the massive metal doors, baring her teeth once she heard a low hiss. An intact camera suddenly swirled to focus on her position as the lenses shifted accordingly.
“Flóra!”
The woman in question shuddered upon hearing her name. “Balázs?”
“Where in god’s name is the wolf?” he asked, looking back at the other scavengers securing the perimeter. “What was he doing with you? I wanna know exactly what just happened!”
She glanced at the ground, then back at the ominous metal doors. “I think… I think he was trying to protect me? I couldn’t understand anything he was saying, but I think he wanted me to take shelter here too?”
Balázs’s eyes went wide once he saw the metal doors for himself. “Wait, here?” He spent a moment rubbing his eyes with a free hand. “My head is still spinning with all this shit flying so fast…”
A speaker mounted to the metal doors crackled to life before a masculine voice filled the air.
“Sergeant Balázs? Do my eyes deceive me?”
Those words caught his attention as his heart skipped a beat. “Hot damn, lieutenant?! I must be fucking dreaming…”
“It’s captain now, actually.” said the man on the other end. “Is the woman with you? Because I was thinking that the lone wolf just brought us another stray survivor, not a whole party!”
Before Balázs could respond, mechanical clicks and clacks began to fill the air.
Balázs remained speechless for a moment. “Yeah, she’s with us. I wasn’t expecting you to survive this shitstorm after what happened to our unit… you holed up like rats with the politicians?”
The captain chuckled for a moment. “There’s no politicians here. Just soldiers and survivors. However, I’m gonna have to ask you and your men to lower your weapons.”
With the usual gesture to stand down, Balázs looked back at the scavengers as they relaxed a little.
Balázs spoke under his breath. “Stay ready for anything. The captain and I might have some history, but I have no clue if he’s a different man now… much less someone we can trust.”
Flóra nodded and looked away. “Understood…”
“Affirmative.” Alajas said with a grim look on his face.
After a few long moments, the door gave way to several armed men. Unlike the scavengers, everything about their attire was almost strictly professional. One even had a patch with the Hungarian coat of arms on his shoulder, emphasizing exactly who and what he fought for.
The captain himself stood in the center, walking out to greet the scavengers personally. The only odd part of his regal officer uniform was a gas mask to protect his face…
Nonetheless, the captain smiled before giving Balázs a salute. “It’s always a pleasure to see an old friend, especially during dark days where we need good men.”
Balázs frowned a little as he returned the salute. “Maybe we could help each other.”
At these words, the captain blinked. “Oh? How so? Because I’d gladly welcome your people into our little sanctuary.”
Balázs grunted, scanning his dreary surroundings. “It’s not that simple. We have our own folks elsewhere we need to take care of, and we’re out here trying to scavenge for some medicine.”
The officer stayed still for a moment. “Medicine?”
“It’s for a little girl!” Flóra said, raising her voice a little. “Please, if you’re what’s left of the government, you have to help us!”
The captain glanced at Flóra. “Perhaps we could spare a little, depending on exactly what you need, but maybe we should talk about it inside? I do hate being out here, and we have our own issues at the moment.”
Balázs grunted. “How about I talk to you about it alone? Mostly since I’m not sure if you’re still my superior or even trustworthy for lack of a better term.”
“Understandable.” replied the captain with a nod. “We need to catch up, and I do understand the… caution.” He paused to motion at Balázs. “Come on then. This should be brief before I send you and your people on your way if you’d rather not stay.”
With a nod of his own, Balázs began to walk forward. “Fair enough.” He only paused to say a few more words. “Alajas, if I don’t come back, you know what to do.”
Alajas sighed. “Noted.”
The assembled soldiers soon walked through the ominous doorway with Balázs joining them, and another hiss and additional clicks marked the moment the entrance began to reseal itself as the camera focused on the other scavengers instead.
As other scavengers fanned out to take point around the hidden bunker entrance, Alajas approached Flóra first and foremost. His eyes failed to meet her own as he stared at the ground.
“I just wanted to tell you something, Flóra…”
She balled a free hand into a fist. “You gonna apologize for being a relentless asshole?”
He sneered. “No. I just wanted to let you know that you earned my respect. That stupid stunt where you lured that goddamn demon away from the rest of us saved our lives.”
Flóra let out a sigh. “I… I had to help. Somehow, even if it was stupid. I didn’t want to be a weak link…”
“Then I won’t doubt you again.” Alajas said, nodding. “If you pull your weight, we won’t have any issues in the future.”
Without another word, Alajas walked away to join the others.
This left Flóra alone with her own thoughts. Against all odds, she had a feeling in her heart that everything was going to be okay… like seeing a flicker of light at the end of a long, dark tunnel.
~~~~~
The lone wolf started the meticulous process of cleaning his weapon once he settled down. His battle brothers and sisters surrounded him on all sides as they shared a communal barracks, and the structure itself eclipsed the minuscule human ruins nearby it.
“Hadúr? Where are you?!”
Hadúr stopped in place, looking up to see an angry superior rapidly approaching him.
“How many times do I have to tell you this?!” said the other wolf, baring his fangs. “Your role is to harass the enemy and gather intelligence! Not to frolic with the natives.”
Rather than responding, Hadúr just gave the other man a blank and emotionless stare.
Others watched on with wide eyes or bemusement at the situation.
His superior growled. “If anything, you should be killing any natives that get in your way rather than treating them like stray pups that need to be saved! By the almighty, how many times are you going to go off the radar or delay your recon operations with these soft-hearted diversions?!”
Hadúr rolled his shoulders before rising to his full height. He stood nearly a head over almost everyone else present, including his superior. With a low growl, Hadúr deliberately got right up in his superior’s face, staring him down with icy blue eyes behind a combat helmet visor before letting out a huff… puffing hot air from his flaring nostrils.
His superior reeled a little with his tail going between his legs before taking a step back.
Content with this, Hadúr took his leave and began to exit the scene.
His superior yapped like a dog behind him. “The pack leader will know of this defiance!”
Hadúr reacted with the equivalent of a shrug, more than happy to be punished for a good deed.
~~~~~
The metro was never the same once Flóra returned with the scavenger party.
Word spread quickly. The Hungarian military still existed in some form, and their holdout beneath the parliament building served as a nexus for other survivors and makeshift settlements. Soon, supply runs linked their people even closer together as brave souls willing to make the endeavor ventured across the river, and fresh radio waves went unnoticed by the titanic alien giants fighting for control of the wasteland that was the surface world.
Through the airwaves, a few people made contact with long-lost friends or family members against all odds. Volunteers played music or ran radio shows. For the first time in many months, the dreary metro and its people showed some signs of hope rather than despair as the future grew brighter.
Flóra herself finally found peace once she saw Etzer, her practical adopted daughter or foster sister, visibly calming down once she took a standard dosage from her daily inhaler.
Yet a lone wolf that lingered in her mind made Flóra wonder if she would ever see her savior again.
Previous Part
Previous Part
Flóra found herself in a haze. Maybe it was the lingering adrenaline still pumping through her veins, but something about firm and fluffy fingers surrounding her frail human form made her want to forget about her harsh life for just a fleeting moment…
Only the lone wolf making a low growl snapped her out of it.
[Friends of yours?] he asked, extending his hand away from his armored torso.
After a few moments, Flóra regained her focus. She noticed her rifle was still held between two of the wolf’s canine fingers and reached out to take it back. Rising to her full height, Flóra stood at the edge of the wolf’s padded palm, gaining a clear view of the parliament building. From this high vantage point, she could see the full extent of the recent skirmish: holes scattered across the structure, charred silhouettes on the walls, and claw marks gouged into stone walls.
Eventually, a stray human man emerged from the entrance, and he shouted a single name…
“Flóra! FLŐRRRAAAA!”
Balázs’s shouting fully revealed his position near the parliament’s entrance, all while he held a satchel charge with one hand. Only two other armed scavengers flanked him from the sides.
The lone wolf’s ears folded against his head. [I take it that you two know each other?]
Flóra squinted, struggling to see through her gas mask’s visor. Explosives held by Balázs alongside additional satchel charges strapped to his back and chest made her wince. “Wait…” she said under her breath, stiffening up and straightening her posture. “Balázs… NO!”
As if on cue, the rest of the scavenging team emerged from various windows on different floors. They aimed their small arms at the lone wolf, whether it be assault rifles or rocket launchers. Balázs held a single hand in the air, motioning downward, and then others slowly lowered their rifles.
“Hold your fire!” he said with his voice bellowing down multiple hallways. “The damned wolf has Flóra in its grasp!”
Alajas stepped to the side, joining Balázs with his RPG prepared for action. “What happened to the scaly one? Don't recall ever seeing a furry one…” He paused for a moment before grimacing. “Unless…?”
Balázs grunted. “Ugh. Maybe Flóra wasn’t just seeing things then.”
“Maybe.” Alajas said, shaking his head. “Doesn’t mean it's friendly.”
“Well, it has one of our own…” Balázs replied with a frown. “What would you have me do?”
Alajas gave him a death stare. “I think you know the answer already. Do what must be done.”
Balázs rolled his shoulders and sighed. “Point taken, but I’d rather not have it come to that.”
The lone wolf stayed stationary and silent for a time. [You little people might not understand a single word that I say, but I’ll stand here and let you shoot me if you have to. I’m not sure how else you’re supposed to know that I’m not hostile…]
Several humans present exchanged nervous looks, hearing nothing but bizarre alien vocalizations.
Flóra blinked, not understanding a single word. She took a hand off her rifle and waved it in the air to catch everyone’s attention. “THE WOLF IS FRIENDLY! He… HE KILLED THE DRAGON!”
Balázs and Alajas just looked at each other in disbelief.
“Well… I guess the aliens are a self-solving problem if they kill each other.” Balázs said, shrugging.
Alajas blinked several times. “Don’t they usually attack us?”
Balázs let out another grunt. “Only if we’re in the way. Usually they ignore us, so I’m struggling to wrap my head around this.” He took a step forward, cupping his hand around his mouth as he shouted at the top of his lungs. “CAN THE WOLVES SPEAK MAGYAR?”
Flóra winced at his words. “What? Uh… NO, THEY CAN’T! BUT HE’S HERE TO HELP!”
The lone wolf watched the scene and exhaled, relaxing his posture. [I guess they aren’t going to shoot…] he said to himself, pausing to gently brush Flóra with his thumb. This made Flóra’s cheeks flush briefly. [Good work, little lady.]
With that, the lone wolf started to circle around the parliament building with Flóra in tow.
Balázs took a step back. “What’s the wolf doing now?”
Alajas didn’t speak. He spoke through nothing but his actions, raising his weapon once more.
Ignoring this, the lone wolf just walked around the humans at the front entrance. His massive form, already adorned in sleek armor, made the ground ever so slightly rumble everywhere he walked. A fluffy tail also made audible swishing sounds in the air. This left the scavenging party dumbfounded or in awe at the sight before he rapidly vanished from their collective vision.
“The hell just happened?” Alajas asked, keeping his weapon aimed at the sky.
“Don’t know…” Balázs replied, shaking his head yet again. “I guess we better follow the wolf? God knows what he wants with Flóra, much less the rest of his lot!”
~~~~~
Flóra struggled to step off the lone wolf’s palm as he lowered her to the ground. She eventually settled for hopping off with her rifle held in both hands, hesitant to leave its now familiar warmth.
She then looked back at the wolf over her shoulder. “I… I still don’t know how else to thank you!” Flóra looked forward after saying this, just to find herself in the middle of a courtyard. Shrubbery and other plants in the garden were now nothing but ashes and cinders, revealing ominous metal doors in their stead. “Um… what is this, exactly?”
The lone wolf simply kneeled down, then used the knuckles on his armored hand to knock on the door. Subsequent thumps and bangs caught Flóra off-guard as she recoiled, but the loud knocking stopped as quickly as it started.
With that, the lone wolf began walking away from Flóra altogether.
She looked up at him in confusion. “Wait, wait… where are you going?!”
The lone wolf paused in place, pointing at the metal doors. [Stay here. You’ll be safe, and that’s all that matters.]
Flóra looked back at the massive metal doors, baring her teeth once she heard a low hiss. An intact camera suddenly swirled to focus on her position as the lenses shifted accordingly.
“Flóra!”
The woman in question shuddered upon hearing her name. “Balázs?”
“Where in god’s name is the wolf?” he asked, looking back at the other scavengers securing the perimeter. “What was he doing with you? I wanna know exactly what just happened!”
She glanced at the ground, then back at the ominous metal doors. “I think… I think he was trying to protect me? I couldn’t understand anything he was saying, but I think he wanted me to take shelter here too?”
Balázs’s eyes went wide once he saw the metal doors for himself. “Wait, here?” He spent a moment rubbing his eyes with a free hand. “My head is still spinning with all this shit flying so fast…”
A speaker mounted to the metal doors crackled to life before a masculine voice filled the air.
“Sergeant Balázs? Do my eyes deceive me?”
Those words caught his attention as his heart skipped a beat. “Hot damn, lieutenant?! I must be fucking dreaming…”
“It’s captain now, actually.” said the man on the other end. “Is the woman with you? Because I was thinking that the lone wolf just brought us another stray survivor, not a whole party!”
Before Balázs could respond, mechanical clicks and clacks began to fill the air.
Balázs remained speechless for a moment. “Yeah, she’s with us. I wasn’t expecting you to survive this shitstorm after what happened to our unit… you holed up like rats with the politicians?”
The captain chuckled for a moment. “There’s no politicians here. Just soldiers and survivors. However, I’m gonna have to ask you and your men to lower your weapons.”
With the usual gesture to stand down, Balázs looked back at the scavengers as they relaxed a little.
Balázs spoke under his breath. “Stay ready for anything. The captain and I might have some history, but I have no clue if he’s a different man now… much less someone we can trust.”
Flóra nodded and looked away. “Understood…”
“Affirmative.” Alajas said with a grim look on his face.
After a few long moments, the door gave way to several armed men. Unlike the scavengers, everything about their attire was almost strictly professional. One even had a patch with the Hungarian coat of arms on his shoulder, emphasizing exactly who and what he fought for.
The captain himself stood in the center, walking out to greet the scavengers personally. The only odd part of his regal officer uniform was a gas mask to protect his face…
Nonetheless, the captain smiled before giving Balázs a salute. “It’s always a pleasure to see an old friend, especially during dark days where we need good men.”
Balázs frowned a little as he returned the salute. “Maybe we could help each other.”
At these words, the captain blinked. “Oh? How so? Because I’d gladly welcome your people into our little sanctuary.”
Balázs grunted, scanning his dreary surroundings. “It’s not that simple. We have our own folks elsewhere we need to take care of, and we’re out here trying to scavenge for some medicine.”
The officer stayed still for a moment. “Medicine?”
“It’s for a little girl!” Flóra said, raising her voice a little. “Please, if you’re what’s left of the government, you have to help us!”
The captain glanced at Flóra. “Perhaps we could spare a little, depending on exactly what you need, but maybe we should talk about it inside? I do hate being out here, and we have our own issues at the moment.”
Balázs grunted. “How about I talk to you about it alone? Mostly since I’m not sure if you’re still my superior or even trustworthy for lack of a better term.”
“Understandable.” replied the captain with a nod. “We need to catch up, and I do understand the… caution.” He paused to motion at Balázs. “Come on then. This should be brief before I send you and your people on your way if you’d rather not stay.”
With a nod of his own, Balázs began to walk forward. “Fair enough.” He only paused to say a few more words. “Alajas, if I don’t come back, you know what to do.”
Alajas sighed. “Noted.”
The assembled soldiers soon walked through the ominous doorway with Balázs joining them, and another hiss and additional clicks marked the moment the entrance began to reseal itself as the camera focused on the other scavengers instead.
As other scavengers fanned out to take point around the hidden bunker entrance, Alajas approached Flóra first and foremost. His eyes failed to meet her own as he stared at the ground.
“I just wanted to tell you something, Flóra…”
She balled a free hand into a fist. “You gonna apologize for being a relentless asshole?”
He sneered. “No. I just wanted to let you know that you earned my respect. That stupid stunt where you lured that goddamn demon away from the rest of us saved our lives.”
Flóra let out a sigh. “I… I had to help. Somehow, even if it was stupid. I didn’t want to be a weak link…”
“Then I won’t doubt you again.” Alajas said, nodding. “If you pull your weight, we won’t have any issues in the future.”
Without another word, Alajas walked away to join the others.
This left Flóra alone with her own thoughts. Against all odds, she had a feeling in her heart that everything was going to be okay… like seeing a flicker of light at the end of a long, dark tunnel.
~~~~~
The lone wolf started the meticulous process of cleaning his weapon once he settled down. His battle brothers and sisters surrounded him on all sides as they shared a communal barracks, and the structure itself eclipsed the minuscule human ruins nearby it.
“Hadúr? Where are you?!”
Hadúr stopped in place, looking up to see an angry superior rapidly approaching him.
“How many times do I have to tell you this?!” said the other wolf, baring his fangs. “Your role is to harass the enemy and gather intelligence! Not to frolic with the natives.”
Rather than responding, Hadúr just gave the other man a blank and emotionless stare.
Others watched on with wide eyes or bemusement at the situation.
His superior growled. “If anything, you should be killing any natives that get in your way rather than treating them like stray pups that need to be saved! By the almighty, how many times are you going to go off the radar or delay your recon operations with these soft-hearted diversions?!”
Hadúr rolled his shoulders before rising to his full height. He stood nearly a head over almost everyone else present, including his superior. With a low growl, Hadúr deliberately got right up in his superior’s face, staring him down with icy blue eyes behind a combat helmet visor before letting out a huff… puffing hot air from his flaring nostrils.
His superior reeled a little with his tail going between his legs before taking a step back.
Content with this, Hadúr took his leave and began to exit the scene.
His superior yapped like a dog behind him. “The pack leader will know of this defiance!”
Hadúr reacted with the equivalent of a shrug, more than happy to be punished for a good deed.
~~~~~
The metro was never the same once Flóra returned with the scavenger party.
Word spread quickly. The Hungarian military still existed in some form, and their holdout beneath the parliament building served as a nexus for other survivors and makeshift settlements. Soon, supply runs linked their people even closer together as brave souls willing to make the endeavor ventured across the river, and fresh radio waves went unnoticed by the titanic alien giants fighting for control of the wasteland that was the surface world.
Through the airwaves, a few people made contact with long-lost friends or family members against all odds. Volunteers played music or ran radio shows. For the first time in many months, the dreary metro and its people showed some signs of hope rather than despair as the future grew brighter.
Flóra herself finally found peace once she saw Etzer, her practical adopted daughter or foster sister, visibly calming down once she took a standard dosage from her daily inhaler.
Yet a lone wolf that lingered in her mind made Flóra wonder if she would ever see her savior again.
Previous Part
Category Story / Macro / Micro
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 120 x 120px
File Size 136.4 kB
Listed in Folders
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