Crispy Sushi @damnwtfisgoingon - Tumblr Blog

damnwtfisgoingon

Dec 3, 2025

failingtomakegoodthings

Chapter 6

Generational Differences, and An Unwanted Surgery Attempt

(YAAAY!!!! Also some important lore hints regarding Mallory finally pop up 🙏)

Chapter 5

Mallory actually didn’t really mind being hauled around, even if the hands holding her were as big as she was, but now she felt all…antsy. She slumped down, making some sort of half-assed attempt at folding her arms before giving up at the dull pain that throbbed when she moved her right arm, opting to stare at the sky, staring at the heavy clouds overhead…or was that smoke? Dust? She didn’t know, the damn place probably needed rain anyways. Now that she was thinking about it, it hadn’t rained since the whole “World Ending” thing happened.

…how did that big ass tree even grow then? I remember hearing once that trees take FOREVER to grow, and I know damn well that thing wasn’t there before everything happened.

She exhaled slowly through her nose, mentally hyping herself to even try to ask him how the tree got there in the first place, starting a countdown in her head that she hesitated on. “…Ulthane?” “Yes lass?” Cmon now. Ask. Ask before the silence goes on for too long.

“How’d the tree grow so fast? Well, I mean, how’d it get there in the first place?” Mallory found herself stumbling a little over her words, and before she could try to correct herself, Ulthane hummed deep, watching his steps carefully as he walked along one of the tree’s massive roots. “Used m’ magic lass, drained me quite a lot…you can tell I don’t quite have an affinity for plant work, put too much magic in th’ saplin and now I gotta eat n’ drink n’ sleep.”

Mallory whipped around to look at him wide eyed, feeling so completely baffled that he implied that he usually DIDN’T do any of those rather important things. “…You- You don’t usually do any of that???” “No? Used to when I was young though, all makers gotta eat until they’re about Vawula’s age-“ Ulthane made a vague motion to Vawula, who was having her own conversation with Jones. “-but up till then a maker’s magic ain’t strong enough to keep a kid alive without a bit of extra help from eating n sleepin and the sort.”

Mallory blinked hard at him, before turning away, staring forward. That…made sense. But she hadn’t seen him eat yet…she hadn’t seen him eat any of the canned peaches either. He certainly seemed to have the teeth for it though, sharp tusks that looked like two sets of sharper, larger canine teeth on his lower jaw. She only caught glimpses of them when he spoke, but when he had yelled at her earlier that morning…that was scary.

I mean…he’s gotta have those for a reason, right?

“…do you bite things to kill them?” Ulthane turned to look at her, his thick brows tightening into a look of…amusement? No, he didn’t look happy, he looked confused. “…do I what now?” Mallory opened and closed her mouth like a fish for a moment, struggling to make a word form. “I mean, you gotta have those teeth for a reason, right? I don’t know how it works from where you come from but animals with sharp teeth here usually bite things to kill them.”

Ulthane gave her a nice, good stare, his blue-sclera eyes looking at her like she was a rock he couldn’t quite remember the name of, before his lips twitched into a smirk, then he huffed a laugh, turning to look ahead again. “No, not particularly, I have m’ hammer to do that for me. Not bite things but-…ya get it, no I don’t bite things to kill em. I hit them very hard.” He gave her a gentle but hesitant prod to her left side as if to get his point across, his voice carrying a tone like how one would explain why the sky was blue.

Mallory felt herself tense at the prod, a reaction that Ulthane must’ve noticed by how he pulled his hand away, the fingers of the hand she was being held in twitching a bit to hold her a little better. She huffed, slumping down a bit more, her back and head resting against his chest. The next few minutes were silent as the two makers walked along the roots, before Ulthane stopped, turning to Vawula. “…ye mentioned a hoard yeah?” Vawula gave a nod, looking up and trying to find the sun through the clouds, before pointing to the right. “Out west, Atmeas should still be there. Said he’d help keep em away from tha’ center of the city.”

Mallory grimaced a bit at the reminder that there was a whole hoard of dead people...so there were zombies now. Great. Fucking fun. “Jones, do ya know where you spotted them humans at? Two of em you said?” Jones, who had been somewhat perched on Vawula’s shoulder, made a vague motion with his hand towards some of the more intact buildings of the city. “Yeah, I can’t remember the exact buildin’ but it’s one of the few that doesn’t have a tree root through it.”

Ulthane grumbled, now quite a growl but more of a tired rumble that Mallory felt right against her back and head, and she tensed a bit, that unnerving self-awareness of how small she was coming back to her. She felt herself growing more aware of her current position, how his chest rising and falling moved her a bit with his breathing, how his hand stayed level as he walked along the branch.

At least he’s warm…God I’m tired.

She found her mind wandering as Ulthane and Jones’ talking faded into background sound, staring up at the sky like it had the answers she needed, the answers she wanted to why the world had decided to end. What month was it? What class would she be in now had she been at school?

“-there. That’s it right there, that’s where I scared em off into last night.”

Mallory turned from craning her neck to stare up, shifting to look to her left, and Jones’ was right; it was one of the few buildings that didn’t have a lovely plant accessory that ripped through it. It looked like an office building, and she narrowed her eyes, trying to read a faded logo that was still stuck onto the building like a dirty sticker, the once shiny windows now faded and dusty.

“Well just how’d you scare em Jones?” Vawula asked rather dryly as she let Jones drop from his perching spot, dropping onto the broken concrete. “…maybe I approached them too fast?” Mallory looked up at Ulthane, trying to read his expression to this new information, but he was staring straight at the building like it was something bad he found in the back of the fridge, his ears flicking and turning like how a cat’s ears would when it was trying to find something.

“…m’kay.” Ulthane murmured, his voice lowering to a quieter tone. Mallory felt his hand shift beneath her, gingerly setting her down onto the concrete. She felt her legs tremble for a moment as her boots planted onto the broken ground, but she quickly steeled herself, sucking in a sharp breath, staring at the broken glass doors. The four of them stood there quietly for moment, and Mallory broke the silence, tapping her foot quickly. “…are these guys adults or kids? You mentioned em being brothers.” “Yeah, they’re grown, a fair bit bigger than you are.”

Mallory, rationally, logically knew that his comment wasn’t a jab at her height, but she shot him a stare none the less, scratching the back of her head as she thought. “…Okay, adults are more reasonable but also more dangerous logically, a grown man can hit much harder than what I can-“ She paused, glancing at Ulthane before turning back. “-Me n’ Jones can go in first? I doubt they’re gonna attack us, and I think we’ll be a more reassuring sight then...well…”

Mallory turned, and with her good arm she made a vague motion to the two makers, waving her arm up and down to try and get the point across. Jones gave a short laugh, shaking his head and staring his way towards the doors. Ulthane made a sound, a grunt of either amusement or mild exasperation, while Vawula huffed a laugh. “I’ll be right here, let’s do this quickly.” Ulthane muttered, his ears still twitching about as he looked up at the building walls, his lips tightening into a thin line. Jones walked to the doors, pushing the rusted turn-door open and waiting for her to walk through, following her behind when she entered.

Mallory felt her face scrunch up at the strong smell of mold and mildew, the air feeling damp and uncomfortably cold. “…Hello?” Her voice felt a bit strained as she looked around the empty building lobby, walking forward and staring down at the ground, trying to avoid the shards of broken glass that littered the floor like leaf litter in a forest.

Jones followed with an unnerving silence, and Mallory kicked a rock, letting it slide across the floor to hit a knocked over desk, the sound ringing in the stale environment. Mallory looked around, not noticing any hiding spots that she could see, only old furniture, the occasionally mystery stain on the tiled floor, and…some weird growths along the floors and walls. She swallowed hard, and she lowers her voice, turning a bit to Jones, her face still a bit wrinkled up from the smell of mildew. “…They might be on the second floor…or this is just the wrong b- “ “Hello?”

Mallory froze, turning to look around for the sound, and she managed to find a source; a young man, maybe mid 20’s wearing a baseball cap and holding what looked to be a whole stop sign, metal rod and all, partially behind a staircase that led to the second floor. Mallory blinked hard, and she managed to grin, her expression still a little scrunched. “Hey- Hey! How you doing-“ “We’re doin’ just fine.”

That must’ve been the second one Jones had mentioned, his tone almost angry sounding as he emerged like a ghost behind him. He looked a fair bit older than the Cap-Man, grumpy with a thick beard and eyes that looked at her with mild disdain. Mallory felt herself stutter, but she quickly pulled herself together, sucking in a sharp breath. He looked between her and Jones for a moment, before taking a few steps forward, and she saw he was holding what looked to be a metal pipe in one hand.

“You sound like you were lookin for us in particular, hmm?” He narrowed his eyes, pausing once he was about 2 yards away from Mallory and Jones. Mallory looked at Jones, then back at the man, trying to come up with some decent unsuspicious excuse for the words she spoke, but Jones jumped in before she could speak. “We’ve just been tryin to regroup with other survivors and spotted you two a few days ago. Been lookin for you since.”

This response seemed to at least soothe a bit of the old man’s grumpiness, as he huffed, crossing his arms. “…neither of you two look familiar. Your names?” Jones pointed to Mallory, giving a quick response. “Mallory, n Jones.” He pointed himself when he said his name, raising his eyebrows up, his eyes narrowing a bit. “You’re awful closed off aintcha? Cmon now, let us hear your names. Fair exchange.”

He narrowed his eyes, giving Jones a good look over, before expression tightens. The Cap-Man was the one to speak, mimicking how Jones had said their names; “Matthew-“ He pointed to the old man, then pointing at himself. “-Andrew.” Jones gave a slow nod, folding his arms. Mallory, meanwhile, stood still as she watched, and when she opened her mouth to speak, Matt put his hand up, his expression shifting into one of almost anger.

“I don’t wanna hear useless shit. You’re about to tell me what the fuck those things that were with you outside are. Are you here to lure us out? Are you two even human? Is this some sick joke?”

Mallory felt her good hand clench, annoyance bubbling into anger that she couldn’t quite stomp down all the way. Why was this guy so…mean? Why was he acting like this??? Mallory knew that he must just be suspicious, he’s probably just trying to protect himself and Andrew, but God damn he could be a LITTLE nicer about it huh?

“We’re human, yes. Those things outside aren’t here to kill you either, they’re both fine.”

“How would YOU know that they’re fine??” Matthew shot back, while Andrew glanced between them and the door. Mallory sucked in a slow breath, her annoyance growing.

“I’ve been stuck with em for the past 2…Almost 3 days, I think they’re fine-“

“You sound hesitant about that,” Andrew muttered, now looking back at her.

“Well yeah I am but they didn’t hurt me or- well one of them did break my arm but I don’t know fully if they’re- “

"Who's side are you on here?! Are you trying to get us killed?!"

“NO! NO IM NOT! If you could shut up and listen for a minute- “

This cluster-fuck of words came to a halt as a metal screech rang in all their ears, and the four turned to look at the source. There was Ulthane, crouched down and looking at them through a broken door he pushed open. Mallory watched the two’s reaction, Andy froze up while Matthew took one step forward, gripping his metal pipe with a vice-grip that Mallory wasn’t even sure Ulthane would be able to pry open. Speaking of, Ulthane had at least crouched down to appear smaller, but his blank stare certainly didn’t help. “…hello there.”

God NO ULTHANE FUCK you’re fucking it up GO AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mallory tried to speak, her mouth agape as she stuttered out a few words. “don’t-don’t panic-“ She was rather rudely yanked back by one of the two men, a quick scuffle of feet as she was dragged away, her legs barely managing to keep herself upright. Jones meanwhile looked disgruntled, throwing his arms in the air with an audible sound of frustration. “If he wanted you dead he would’ve killed you 20 minutes ago! Think with me real quick-” “HELL no I’m not getting near that fucking thing, it used a kid to try and lure us out-“

Mallory tried to yank her arm out of Andy’s grip, but it simply hardened, with Matthew in front of him, holding his metal pipe and pointing at Ulthane as if it were a sword. She let out a loud groan of annoyance, trying to get her arm out of his grip again. “Jones is right, if he wanted us dead- if he had wanted ME dead, he would’ve let me die a while ago, hell he gave me canned peaches. Do you want canned peaches? We have more canned peaches- “

“Say canned peaches one more time and I’ll whack ya upside the head.”

This came from Matthew, who turned to look at her with the angriest expression she had seen since that morning. “Aren’t you just a jolly fellow-“ “Are you stupid, kid?” Mallory felt herself mentally stumbling, and she gave another pull to try and get Andy to let go. “Well- sure yeah I am a little stupid.” Mallory muttered, backing up away from the two. Ulthane looked…mildly annoyed. “…if I wanted ye dead I would’ve killed ya 2 weeks ago. And no, I aint human but lemme tell you this, there’s something here that ain’t gonna be as proper as I am if ya don’t hurry up and get out of this building.”

Matthew clenched his jaw, staring at the old maker, not daring to look away, and he started to slowly back away, keeping Andrew behind him. Mallory stood still, eyes wide in the dim environment as she watched them, before Matthew suddenly turned, taking his eyes off the maker as he dashed up the stairs, pulling Andrew along with him, which in turn dragged Mallory along. Andrew’s grip faltered when Matthew grabbed his other arm, letting her get free, albeit at the price of her boot catching on one of the steps, and she fell with a hard thump, managing to catch herself on her good arm before she could further ruin her broken one. “owugh..” “Hey-HEY!” Jones followed quickly as Mallory pulled herself up, a dull throb now echoing through her jaw.

“Let’s not be rash now! If you’re any smarter than you come across as then you’ll believe the maker when he says there’s something here he doesn’t like!” “That’s what you call em now? Maker?? Seem like they’re makin a lot of problems-“

Man, this fucking sucks. I’m never doing this shit again I swear to God-

Mallory had just gotten to the second floor, following the three before the building gave a subtle shake, it sounded like footsteps, but…they weren’t inside. Through the dusted, grimed windows, Mallory could vaguely make out the silhouette of Ulthane- ah. He had climbed- HE CAN CLIMB???

Theres- Theres almost NOTHING for him to hang onto out there??? How the hell is he doing that???

Mallory’s train of thought was cut off as he broke the glass rather quickly, hand shooting out at an unnerving speed that nothing his size should have. Matthew scrambled back, but Andrew wasn’t fast enough. Ulthane grabbed the back of his shirt, and with very little effort pulled him back, pulling the poor boy out through the window. Mallory could hear him yelling something, then a loud CLAAANG that followed; Andrew had hit Ulthane right on the head with that stop sign. Matthew was quick to recover from this shock of having his companion pulled away, and he lunged forward for the window as Ulthane started to climb down.

Jones was faster though, managing to get a grip on the man before he could jump out the window. “I said don’t be rash.” “GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME-“ Matthew barked, managing to free himself for a moment before Jones grabbed both of his arms, yanking them behind his back. Matt looked increasingly distraught, Mallory almost felt a little bad as Jones pulled him towards the window Ulthane had just broke, dragging the thrashing man along like he was some feral cat. “I done TOLD YOU TO-“ “Shut your mouth n stay still-“ Jones muttered, his patience a little thin now.

Vawula climbed up a bit slower than what Ulthane did (Mallory was still recovering mentally from that horrific realization), and pulled Matt from Jones’ grip, seemingly unaware just how pissed Matt looked. “Thank ya Jones-“ “That’s his name!? THAT’S HIS- WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU JONES-“ “Bye.” Jones huffed, waving a bit as Vawula climbed down.

That…that was fast…

Jones and Mallory stood there in silence for a good few moments, before Mallory exhaled slowly, swallowing hard as her frustration slowly simmered away in the now near quiet- save for the mild arguing outside from the two makers and two humans. Jones gave a short, dry chuckle, moving back towards the stairwell. Mallory was secretly grateful she had passed out after being grabbed in that gas station…she had felt warm and at ease for a bit, for the first time in weeks. But with what Matt and Andy sound like outside…she could imagine herself acting similarly if she had managed to stay conscious.

“…we should tell Ulthane to knock em out, that’s what he did to me when he got ahold of me, although I don’t think he really meant to do that.” Mallory muttered after a string of foul words rang through the air, likely from Matt. Jones gave a short laugh as she started her way back to the staircase, the events of the day slowly catching up to her and exhaustion starting to cling to the back of her mind. “…I’m gonna be regrounded when I get back, hopefully Ulthane’s forgotten about-“

She froze when she looked down the dim staircase, only to be met with two eyes staring right back.

Mallory could feel her blood running cold, her face draining of color as she locked eyes with it. Its face was like some weird fucked up flower, a skull-like face in the center with sharp teeth and red eyes, arms like a preying mantis and its lower body made up of what looked like the bottom of a tree made of meat. Was...was that thing from the weird growths on the walls...?

“…Jones.” “Hm?” “There's something here-“ It stared at her, seemingly deciding she was the next meal it would have, and it lunged, clawing up the stairs with a hiss. Mallory was barely quick enough to avoid getting shanked by one of it’s arms, and it caught ahold of the wall that was only about 2 yards in front of the staircase entrance, knocking the crumbling brick to the ground.

Mallory felt her body move on it’s own accord, her legs feeling like lead as she stumbled backwards. It was big, not as big as Ulthane but easily thrice her size. It looked between her and Jones, going as still as a statue as it stared, realizing that there was more then one opponent. It give another insect-like sound, a soft clicking as it seemed to think, before it fully turned to Mallory, moving to jump at her.

Jones was just as fast. He pulled a revolver from his belt, taking aim and firing off a few shots. The thing hissed at him, sweeping some of the rubble it had pulled down in between him and it, blocking him any good access to Mallory. She watched in mild horror, before dashing up the stairwell, hearing Jones yell. “ULTHANE! VAWULA! There’s a mimic and its-“

The rest of his sentence was cut off by another hideous insect-like hiss as it pulled down more of the wall, blocking off full access to the stairwell. Mallory was already up two flights of stairs, the soft scuttling making her skin crawl as it continued following near her. It hadn’t struck her yet, to Mallory’s horror. …this thing’s smarter than it looks. It’s doing something, it blocked off Jones.

Mallory felt the building shake, the loud, quaking sounds that couldn’t have come from the mimic reverberating throughout the stairwell. She managed to get herself to the third floor, shaking from adrenaline as she dashed forward, stumbling towards the nearest window. This floor looked to be a proper workspace, desks and computers lining the walls with cubical-like walls between some.

Ulthane, meanwhile, had scaled the building, pulling himself along the wall as quickly as he could without further damaging the building. He knew he wasn’t light weight, he knew one wrong move could bring this whole thing down atop him and the others. He could probably survive it, but no human could survive having tons of brick and metal collapse on top of them.

Mallory looked around, darting between the desks as she tried to make her way to one of the windows, hoping to be able to get to a window Ulthane would break. She didn't even hear as the mimic quickly cut her off, forcing her away from the window with a snarl. She stumbled back, bumping into one of the many desk chairs strewn about the room, her hand slamming into the desk to catch herself, and she grimaced when whatever dried liquid on the desk she touched flaked off onto her palms.

She didn't give herself much time to be disgusted, once again weaving through the various cubicles, trying to ignore the clacking of its movement. What IS it doing??? It hasn't even hit me yet, it's just chasing me around, it can move faster than this right?

Then it hit her. It was trying to tire her out.

She looked around rather frantically, continuing to hear the building tremble, and the occasional yell from Jones as he tried to move the rubble that the mimic had tossed down, blocking off the stairway.

What’d Coach say about breathing- breathe deep. Deep. Get as much oxygen in your blood as you can. You need to slow this thing down, think….

Mallory grabbed a rusted stapler off one of the desks, before taking aim at it’s head when it turned around the corner of a cubicle, and she didn’t give herself much more time to think before throwing it hard. It smashed against it’s skull-like face with a gut-wrenching sound, it let out a screech of pain as it seemed to crumble a bit, making a sound almost like gasping for air.

She looked around, before trying to get to another window before it could recover, before it could cut her off again. She pushed past office chairs, barely managing to keep herself from tripping as she got to the filmy window, her breathing no longer deep and slow and precise like she had tried to do seconds earlier. She heard a hiss, whipping around and bumping into a desk chair, causing her to stumble and fall down backwards. It was right there, staring at her and staying deathly still. She couldn’t hear any breathing from it, one of it’s claws digging into a computer screen with slow cracking filling the air.

…call for someone! While you’re near a window!

“ULTHANE!! JONES- VAWULA!! ANYONE-!!!”

She whipped towards the window, banging her good fist against it rapidly in hopes that she could potentially break it, or at least get someone to hear her. But she made the mistake of turning her back to it. She didn’t even hear it as it moved across the floor, before a searing hot white pain spread across her upper back, like a hot, dull knife cutting through her skin. Mallory let out a scream, her fist going slack as she nearly collapsed. Not more than a second later though, the thing behind her screeched in what sounded like pain.

Through watery eyes, she turned to look, gasping for air as she felt something warm run down her side and bleed through her shirt. It was on the floor now, writhing in pain, that horrible gasping sound coming back, before it slowly went silent and still. Who…who did that? Theres no one here, and I certainly didn’t do that… Mallory could barely make out what looked to be a slash across it’s back, deep and seeping dark blood onto the nearly white tile. She felt a rapid thmp thmp thmp that subtly shook the walls as this was happening, and she looked at the grimy window behind her, breathing heavily and her eyes watering. She managed to get herself to move before the window’s glass shattered, not breaking into a million pieces, but falling limply onto the floor in a cragged sheet. And there was Ulthane, the sight of the maker feeling almost relieving.

“Ye okay lass-?” Mallory gave a weak shake of her head, no doubt looking like proper shit after nearly being mauled. “I…hhh…fuck, hold on…where’s Jones-“ Mallory turned her back to the window, only managing to make a few shaky steps towards the stairwell before Ulthane’s hand wrapped around her torso, picking her up almost like a cat. “…Youre not doin anythin’ for a while. It nicked you ‘cross the back-“ he muttered, his voice now carrying a tone of concern even Mallory could pick up in her state. “…where’s Jones at?” “the 2nd floor- stairwell got blocked off by…what’d he call it….mimic.” She could feel the adrenaline wearing off, her brain now suddenly VERY aware of every little scrape, every cut and especially the slice across her back. Ulthane shifted her a bit, holding her closer as he made his way back down. Vawula was waiting, holding a human under each arm. Andrew looked to have given up, while Matt was FAR from being done regarding trying to get away. Ulthane looked up to see Jones climbing down from the second floor, using the same window he had broken prior as an exit point, before landing on the ground with a huff.

Ulthane, now able to use both hands, was looking over Mallory, checking her injury. “She got nicked?” “…worse it seems, bleedin’ quite a bit..” Ulthane muttered, shifting her so she could at least be a little comfortable, shifting her so she was laying on her left side, across his hand and arm. Mallory felt God awful, the past 2 months of barely surviving seemingly catching up to her. “…Im fine-“ “Shut it.” Ulthane growled this in response, his voice was…not softer, no, that was too gentle of a word. He didn’t sound so grumpy.

Vawula moved over, looking at the injury with him, and this was enough to get Matt to go still, no doubt also getting a glimpse of it.

Mallory wanted nothing more than to curl up and fall asleep, or at least just be away from staring eyes. Ulthane’s frown softened a bit, and with his free hand he lifted up his cowl from his shoulders, exposing what looked to be a fraction of armor, a strip of chainmail and linked pieces of metal connecting his shoulder plates. He shook out his cowl, a bit of dust seeping into the air as he did . Mallory didnt (and couldn’t really) do much as he tucked it in around her like a blanket of some sorts.

She didn’t mind being manhandled if she were gonna be honest to herself, but man did she feel pathetic, being carried around like she was made of glass. “no no no I’m bleeding, ill get blood on it.” Mallory protested rather weakly, which only earned her a huff from Ulthane, pulling his hammer from his back and gripping it tight in his other hand, beginning to walk along with Vawula and Jones following behind.

“…what’re the names of the two Vawula’s carryin?” “uhh….Matthew and Andrew. Matt’s the one with grey hair.” Ulthane nodded, exhaling a deep sigh. “..sorry ‘bout makin you handle two of em at once lass.” “Dontcha worry, one of em- Andrew, yeah, I think he’s given up. The other one is…angry.” “Damn right I am…”

All these words started to become a bit blurry to Mal, and she exhaled slow, the throbbing pain in her back having started to calm a bit now that she wasn’t moving. At least this was a good time to be grounded. She knew she wouldn’t be doing anything for a while.

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

Crispy Sushi