Etsy, Jericho and Tsuki traversed through the alleyways of the slums of lower Sinvensen. The alleyways were thin, dark and grimy with many twists and turns with every few steps.
Jericho's body had fully regenerated around an hour ago. He was carrying a sleeping Tsuki on his back as he followed Etsy to his best ability. He felt his legs giving out from the combination of a 140-pound human on his back and the fact that his legs had just grown back.
"We've been running through these alleys for hours, are we almost there."
Without looking back Etsy crudely remarked.
"You've been running for an hour. You'll survive."
Jericho's brows furrowed.
'Whatever woman my body just regenerated!'
"Well, you don't gotta be such a bitch about it"
He mumbled under his breath while adverting his gaze from Etsy.
Suddenly Etsy stopped abruptly causing Jericho to crash into her. Tsuki tumbled off of Jericho's back onto the ground waking her up.
A cold scaley hand gripped Jericho's neck. He frantically squirmed trying to free himself from Etsy's grueling hold. He tried forcing a few words out before completely losing his ability to speak.
"Hey, hey! Let's be civil!"
Struggled gasps of Jericho filled the silent alleyways.
"Who are ya' calling a 'Bitch'."
She forcefully curled up the upper left corner of her mouth showcasing a row of threatening teeth.
'She's kind of cute.'
Her hands began to tighten around Jericho's neck, he his soul slowly slipping from his body.
'After feeling pain all of my life I could get used to being choked like this, by a beautiful giantess such as Etsy of course. Heh.'
Jericho's mind was slowly going blank as the oxygen
"What the fuck!"
Etsy instantly let go of Jericho and threw him towards a garbage can after noticing a smile form on his face and drool trickle out of his mouth.
"You gettin' off to that, you fucking freak!"
Her face was overcome with disgust and judgement as she just stared at the dazed and slightly unconscious half-naked man lying on the floor of a filthy alleyway. A soft hand tugged on her arm she looked over, then down.
"Oh, sorry bout' that little Tsuki. Jeri's just taking a quick nap."
Etsy kneeled down to Tsuki and pat her head, then shifted her attention to the grown man groaning nearby.
"Get up, we don't have much time let bud."
She grabbed Jericho and forced him off of the floor onto his feet.
"Ah, what happened."
"Nothing let's go."
As Tsuki hopped onto Etsy's back, Etsy took off leaving Jericho to try his best to keep up.
"Wha- wait up!"
Ignoring his dazed and confused state Jericho darted forward trying to catch up to Etsy. As he ran he felt a pain in his neck, every time he moved his head it hurt.
'What the hell happened to my neck.'
He looked up at Etsy still running, he opened his mouth to speak.
"I said nothing happened. So nothing happened."
Jericho felt her soul piercing gaze without even seeing her face.
'Nothing happened.'
Shortly after Etsy halted.
They were at what looked like a dead-end. It was a giant stone wall akin to all of the other surrounding walls of the alley way.
"Why'd we stop?"
Jericho asked confused.
"Because we're here."
Etsy placed down Tsuki by Jericho and jolted towards the wall. She put her shoulder forward as if she was going to truck the wall. She shot through the wall like a cannonball leaving a gaping hole that revealed a small room.
The small room was dimly lit with a single torch in the back; there were two couches and a singled tv propped up on the wall.
'What the hell kind of room is this.'
"Damn that hurt like hell"
Etsy arose from the rubble brushing off all of the dust and remains of stone that covered her. She made her way to the couch on the far left and lifted it then throwing it to the side. Under it was a manhole that led into the sewage system of Sinvensen. She pried it off and signaled for Jericho and Tsuki to come to her.
"Cmon we gotta get to the boss."
Jericho and Tsuki quickly made their way to Etsy.
"I'll go down first to make sure there's no dangers."
Jericho offered. Etsy stared at him for a moment contemplating.
"How do I know you won't try and run off; I did kidnap ya' after all."
His expression softened as he looked at Etsy.
"I promise I won't. I kind of trust you."
Giving in Etsy helped Jericho down into the manhole to make sure there were no hidden dangers hiding within the sewers.
--------
Jericho climbed down the slippery, corroded, rusted bars of the ladder that led down into the sewage system. The smell grew more pungent the closer he got to the bottom.
His grip loosened with each row of bars, until he lost his grip and tumbled down the remaining rows of the ladder.
'Awe fuck'
He landed on a giant pile of various sorts of gunk; it was mostly green with a brownish tint--- Some of it even got into his mouth.
"Ew what the hell!"
Jericho spat out the gunk in his mouth and began clawing the remaining pieces of it.
'I'll never get used to this.'
After cleaning his mouth to his best ability Jericho got up and brushed of the chunks of gunk on his torso. He began scanning the area to see if it was dangerous to carry on their journey.
There were just heaps of gunk and garbage that floated in the green radioactive looking water than flowed in-between two walkways.
Yup, nothing out of the ordinary here. While scanning the area Jericho noticed another ladder that lead outside of the sewers.
He contemplated escaping, Etsy had kidnapped him, sliced him to bits, and did something to his neck--- Not that he could remember.
'Should I just escape right now?'
Jericho thought of the life he lived before this, his daily routine of waking up, working and then coming back home to sleep for days.
It was a life without meaning, a life that was completely opposite to his goals and ideals. Jericho wanted to change the world and make it a safe place for all people to live. He wanted to create a haven where everyone could be happy.
But now he knew that these goals were nothing but dreams, there was nothing he could do to change humanity's inherent nature of sin.
Nothing could save them, but then he thought of Etsy, he thought of her power and compassion for those who are oppressed. She was taking him to her companions, could they be anything like her, and if they were it a possibility of Jericho's dreams becoming a reality.
'The world needs to be saved.'
He looked away from the ladder and waded across the thick vile water to check the other side. The water below felt extremely dense, almost too dense to be water. It was also scaley and breathing, as if it wasn't water below him at all.
Before he could even react to his realization the 'water' below him began to rise. Jericho toppled over off of whatever was emerging from the water onto one of the stone walkways.
Jericho was slightly dazed from the fall, he brushed himself off and slowly regained his vision.
'What the fuck.'
As Jericho sight fully recovered what stood before him was something straight out of a horror movie.
It was a giant scaley creature that resembled the loch ness monster in its face. It had long strands of patchy hair hanging from its head, its eyes were two white dots devoid of any life. Its jaw was hanging off, within it were 4 sets of 5-inch sharp long teeth. Its neck was disgustingly flexible and long in contrast to its thick bulky body. Its midsection was big and resembled the body of a giant crocodile.
Connected to the body were 4 long scaled flippers with razor like claws on each one.
'Just my luck, a fucking zombie evolved mutant.'
He was face to face with this disgusting creature; it inched closer until suddenly its tongue shot out from its mouth at Jericho.
Jericho swiftly evaded by rolling to the side immediately after he began running along the walkways trying to distance himself from this eldritch horror.
The sounds of water splashing, gunk flying and stone being abused rung throughout the sewers, the creature was viciously clawing his way towards Jericho, it was getting faster and it slid and propelled itself forward.
Ignoring these disgustingly approaching sounds that continued to grow near Jericho continued to run trying to think of how he could kill this abomination. He hadn't hunted a monster like this since his time as a hunter 40 years ago.
His time was running short the creature had already caught up to him.
He felt something slimy hit the back of his neck and before he knew it he couldn't breathe.
The creature's tongue had wrapped itself around Jericho's neck, as he struggled it only tightened pushing him closer to deaths door.
Suffocating now would cause him to be vulnerable to be eaten by the monster. If he was 'killed' now he would have to keep regenerating in the zombie of a living mutant corpse.
Jericho's began to think about Tsuki and Etsy, they would most likely come down him and die to this creature if he didn't do something about it. He was filled with a sense of determination; he had to survive for them--- he had to keep them safe.
He began to swing back and forth until he gained enough momentum to plunge his feet straight into the creature's neck.
The tongue's grip loosened for but a second, Jericho took advantage of this and put his hands in-between his neck and the tongue.
He forcefully pried his neck out of the tongues grasp until his head was free, but he didnt let go. He kept his firm grip on the tongue of the creature.
Due to it being a zombified mutant its defense was substantially lower than that of a regular mutant.
The creature squirmed trying to break free from the cold hands of Jericho.
He pulled harder, then harder. The creature flailed into a roll; it was about to attempt a death roll.
Jericho's began to tug at the tongue harder trying to rip it out before the monster could begin his death roll. Suddenly he was swept off of his feet into the air--he was too late.