There's screams that can be heard from Harmonia's house. A survivor camp is being attacked. Harmonia runs to find the camp, in demon form. She's immediately fired upon by one of the hysterical survivors as they scream to the others, "IT TURNED INTO A FUCKING MOTH!" There's a heavy scent of copper coating the entire area.
"WHAT??" SHE GETS FUCKING SHOT AND PUTS HER HANDS UP "WAIT NO IM NOT TRYING TO HURTYOU-" She says, yelping in pain
They Do Not Care and continue shooting her as a girl runs up to them and tries to stop them from firing, "NO SHE'S NOT IT IT RAN INTO THE WOODS WITH JACK-" She eventually gets the gun away from them as they stand there, terrified still. They both look sweaty, bloodied, covered in dirt. Harmonia's got like 3 bullets wounds and shifts into human form, walking over in pain.
"H-hey- uh- whats going on-" Her wounds are bleeding black blood as she tries to not lose it from the pain.
The one shooting her looks at the girl. "Did hyou not fucking she that she just shapeshifted like the thing did give me the fucking gun GIVE ME" They try to grab the gun but the girl has a tight grip on it.
"Something just attacked us,, got a lot of our group, either that or they ran off into the woods during everything." Another scream can be heard, this time closer to Harmonia's house, but still in the general area. "We can't go after them if we want to live," the girl sighs.
Spider appears close to where Harmonia is standing, sniffing the air as they take everything in. "Well this looks like a fun time." Spider is unable to place where the copper scent is coming from.
"Fuck. Okay." Harmonia nods. "Just get somewhere safe, I'll go find them." She jumps when Spider appears, putting a hand over a bullet wound in her side. "Shit- hi-"
The movement catches Spider's eye as she tilts her head slightly at Harmonia, "You alright?"
The girl sighs, "We have a small bunker a quarter mile north, if you find anything, meet us there." She nudges the one who initially held the gun. "Let's go." They leave. Another scream is heard from the opposite direction, but is cut off by a hard crunch.
Harmonia shakes her head. "I'm fine just got shot a couple times... I'll be fine." Shes clearly not enjoying the pain but seems capable. Then she starts running in the direction of the scream. Cole almost slides to a stop then groans as he starts running again, following Harmonia.
As they run, they see, scattered around, what would be called corpses, but in this state? They're barely corpses. Just puddles of blood with vague skeletal parts half submerged in them. Something moves out of the corner of Spider's eye. The smell of copper grows stronger. Harmonia comes to a stop, trying to see if the corpses still have souls in them, but they don't. Spider growls and, working purely off instinct, lunges in the direction of the movement. She dove headfirst into a puddle of blood with a broken ribcage in it. A guttural laugh can be heard in the distance as the squelch of wet flesh follows.
Harmonia scans the area and swaps back to demon form, cracking her knuckles. She has a gunshot wound in her right side, left arm, and left shoulder. Spider groans and shakes in an attempt to get the blood off of her before heading in the direction of the laughter.
"Oh wonderful we are chasing a crazy bitch my favorite," Cole follows Spider with a slight sigh. Harmonia follows as well. The smell of copper becomes stronger, and then dissipates. Everything goes quiet. The group freezes. Spider grumbles as her ear twitches, trying to locate any sounds.
"Yeah this is gonna end well.." She mutters. Cole puts a hand in his jacket and he keeps his head on a swivel as he stays quiet. There's a low growl before a pale white, hairless Hound jumps out from a bush at Cole. It has digitigrade hind legs and claws, but otherwise a 'human' body.
"COLE-" Harmonia screams.
Cole draws his revolver and fires at it, "WHAT THE DOG DOIN-" It's downed instantly. Everything is quiet again. Has the issue been dealt with? Can't be that easy. How would they mistake Harmonia for a Hound..??? Hm. Maybe they should head to that bunker they were talking about... Harmonia realizes it might've doubled back and starts sprinting towards the bunker. "....damn," Cole sprints after Harmonia.
"For fuck sake," Spider grumbles and legs it after the two. They eventually come across a small hatch in the ground, an old bomb shelter. Looks like it was opened recently. Harmonia opens it and goes in.
Cole takes a deep breath, "Lord jesus I hope we don't get tetanus." They head down into a small room. There's a doorway into another room at the far end of the wall, and the smell of copper returns. It's very strong this time. Harmonia gags and speed walks into the other room. "Mmm copper," Cole follows Harmonia.
"Is this even worth it? Cause from what I can tell those lot are fucked," Spider starts walking into the other room.
Harmonia huffs. "You can leave if you want-"
"And leave you two to get mauled? Fat chance"
"I won't get mauled how dare you?" Cole turns to Spider.
It leads into a small room that's decorated with christmas lights along the top. Pages akin to those in Slender: The Eight Pages are scattered along the walls, as well as notes on various monsters and... notes on people as well. Just normal people. It details everything about them, name, age, blood type, height, weight, even their daily schedules.
And then, in the center of the room, the person who shot Harmonia. Their entire lower half torn from their body, their ribcage fully exposed and gutted. Their face appears to have been bashed in.
The smell of copper strengthens as a scream comes from outside the bunker. Harmonia holds back from puking and makes another run out of the bunker to find the scream.
"Damn, we got a great value Ted Bundy," Cole runs out of the bunker towards the scream again.
Spider looks at the pages curiously before hearing the scream, "Seriously? Starting to feel like a fucking yo-yo here," She once again grumbles to herself and follows. Outside the bunker is the girl from before. She's standing completely stationary, although appearing limp. She screams again, only her jaw moving. The smell of copper is stroooong. Harmonia feels a chill run down her spine as she looks at the girls eyes.
"Who's out here doing arts and crafts with dead bodies?" Cole groans.
"Well that's just great," Spider covers her ears from the screaming. The girl's eyes appear empty before springing to life, appearing almost too human, like when a dog has human eyes, but on a human. She remains still and screams again. "Fuck this, I can't hear myself think," Spider growls and attempts to deck the girl to shut her up.
The girl's face is torn open, revealing bloody, wet, jet black fur. The rest of her face begins to tear away as she grows taller as well, claws tearing out from her fingers and her clothes either tearing away or fading into the black fur. As the human skin of the head and face fall away, horns and long, goat-like ears fade into place almost seamlessly. Before them stands a 10ft tall pitch black pygmy goat with human teeth and human eyes, standing like a human.
It lets out a deep chuckle before lunging at Harmonia, hissing with a smile.
"I'm adding defiling a corpse to your list of crimes, Spider," Cole fires at it with his revolver in an attempt to block the lunge.
"Eh, it's not like that's the worst thing I've ever done."
Cole's shot barely does anything other than catch Taunt's attention as he turns his head to face Cole. "We love a treasonous king." He pushes Harmonia to the side before clawing at Cole.
Harmonia screams when lunged at and stumbles back, watching to see what Cole does. "What the FUCK ARE YOU??"
Cole's chest is clawed as a mixture of blood and coolant seeps out of the wound as he groans and winces, "I never committed treason you great value Ted Bundy???" Cole tries to pistol whip it. It forcefully places a hand on Cole's neck as it places the other on the hand with his gun, trying to rip his fucking arm off with a smile and a laugh. Harmonia jumps on it's back, digging her claws into her neck and trying to tear. Cole's arm is hanging on by wires as a coolant line rips as coolant dribbles out and blood pours out of the wound as he lets out a guttural scream of pain. Spider growls and lunges at Taunt, her key piece appears in her hand as she attempts to stab it in the neck.
Black, shadowy tentacles reach out from Taunts back, trying to grab at and impale Harmonia as Taunt turns, getting stabbed in the neck as bright, candy red blood splurts out onto Spider's face. Taunt kicks Cole to the ground before lunging at Spider, putting his hands around her neck and digging her claws into it. She goes into full panic mode, abandoneding the key peice as her nails morph into claws and she starts tearing wildly at it's face, hands, and just anywhere she can reach.
Cole falls to the ground as he clutches his barely hanging on arm as he struggles to control his breathing, "YOU FUCKING DICK HOLY SHIT THAT HURTS," Cole snaps his obsidian scythe into his non hurt arm as he stays laying on the ground. Harmonia is grabbed and tries to dodge but she gets impaled in her side where she was shot. She screeches in pain, desperately trying to scratch at the tendrils or Taunt. Whatevers available.
Taunt's face is scratched up but it continues to smile, opening its mouth as bloodied drool drops from its mouth. The smell of copper is almost unbearable. It begins to press down on Spider's windpipe with its claws. A group of tentacles wrap around Harmonia and throw her at Cole. Harmonia teleports away before she can hit Cole, appearing on the grass a few feet away and holding her side, sobbing. Spider gets stabbed, impurity starting to slowly dribble from the wounds as she winces and continues clawing pretty much just attempting to rip his face off at this point.
Cole groans in pain as he grabs his arm and slams back onto the wound. It heals and he drops his revolver, "I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU" Cole's eyes glow pink as he jumps to his feet and aims a slash at Taunt's chest with the scythe.
Taunt faces Cole, taking the hit. It picks Spider up and throws her to the ground forcefully. It takes a few steps towards Cole. "Treacherous. How disappointing. Myself and the others saw potential in you, Cole." It kicks Cole in the stomach.
Cole groans as he's kicked in the stomach he stumbles back slightly, "Who are the others! Your fucking gang of goons you fucking cunt?" Cole charges forward as he leaps and tries to hook it's neck with the scythe and cut it's head clean off. Spider yelps as she hits the ground. She soon gets up, backing away from Taunt as she tries to calm down.
The scythe hooks onto something in the neck. "Are you done with your games, Cole?" Taunt leans down, putting a hand around Cole's neck, beginning to squeeze.
Cole smiles as he manages to choke out, "I'm not done till I'm fucking dead," and drops the scythe. He plunges his hand into Taunt's chest and fishes around for a soul.
There's something in there. It feels like it's got thorns around it. Taunt doesn't react at all. "That's a risk I'm allowed to take." He begins to dig his claws into Cole's neck.
Cole grips it as he barely manages to choke out again, "I'll see you in hell, you fucking devil!" Cole rips their soul out. The soul pulled out is a ball of flesh with thorny vines wrapped around and through it. Taunt seems entirely unaffected.
"I'm much worse than any devil you've met." Taunt attempts to tear out Cole's throat. Cole rears his head back and tries to headbutt it before it can tear his throat out. Taunt's face bleeds as it laughs, kicking Cole in the stomach again, pushing his face against a tree. Spider's finally recovered as her key peice reappears in her hand, she then darts forward aiming a strong slash at Taunt's neck.
Cole groans as he stares it in the eyes and bites into it's soul like an apple. Cole's mauth is full of thorns now. The soul appears unaffected. It bashes Cole's face into the tree, attempting to grab the soul back, smiling as blood pours from its neck after Spider's attack. Cole's nose breaks as blood runs down his face and digs his hand into the soul, ignoring the pain. Arcs cover his body, Taunt is hit with a shock similar to that of a power line.
Spider attempts to stab it in the heart, or where the heart should be, just trying anything she can to down it at this point. It ignores all the pain, attempting to grab the soul from Cole.
Cole grabs it's wrist to stop it as he mutters, "You should have aimed for the head," Taunt grabs Cole by the neck and starts digging his neck into the tree, grinding away as much flesh as possible. Cole winces and groans as coolant and blood seep out of the wound, "You can have your soul back when you pry it from my cold, dead, hands"
Taunt tears Cole's head off, but there's no blood. There's nothing for a couple seconds.
Then there's a fountain of boiling tar and black smoke. Harmonia is covered in tar and begins going goop mode. "Oh." Shes still crying a bit bc pain.
Spider dodges out the way before lunging at Taunt, stabbing, clawing, and hitting anywhere she can reach trying to damage it as much as possible. Taunt takes his soul rather easily as the fountain and smoke slows as Cole's head starts to reform from his neck up. Taunt absorbs the soul and fuckin dips lol. The copper smell is gone.
Cole's head fully reforms as he groans and all of his wounds close, "Getting your head ripped off is not fun at all, my god."
Spider snarls, looking annoyed, "Fucking Ava, and yeah I know it's not mate"
Harmonia nods. "I agree.." She wipes her face. "Im gonna go back now..." And she disappears.
"You know that bitch?" Cole stands up as he uses the tree as support.
"Yeah, she's one of the Branch House lot," She growls again to herself before shaking her head and looking over at Cole, "You need a hand over there?"
"No, I'm fine, I'm just a little woozy," Cole yawns as he groans, "Fuck that took a lot out of me, Im gonna go to sleep and hope I don't have a nightmare," Cole chuckles lightly.
"Well good luck I guess...I think I'm gonna stay out here for a bit." Spider sighs and leans against a tree
"Alright, have a good night Spider," Cole gives spider a small smile and disappears.