Hive Buster

Daisy looked down at the bodies in the water below us and noticed the holes in their torsos.

"W-what did those monsters do to those people down there?" she asked.

"I suspect they keep some of their victims as a food source, and others are... used as a host to incubate larvae with." I responded.

Below us, a body began to twitch, until an infant Killer Hornet burst forth from the chest cavity. The body it had burst from remained alive, spasming violently. Daisy made a small, choked sound.

"They're still alive," she whispered, horrified.

I sighed. "Yes. The Hornets preserve them just enough to serve as incubators."

Daisy's grip on her dagger tightened until her knuckles turned white. She stared at the twitching, half-consumed corpse with wide, frightened eyes. "This is... wrong." She whispered the words with difficulty, speaking hoarsely.

I placed my hand on her shoulder, feeling the tense muscle beneath her skin. "Yes," I said, keeping my tone steady. "This is wrong. They'll suffer no more. We need to destroy the nest before they can do this to anyone else."

"H-how can you be so calm about this?"

I looked down at the mass of writhing larvae below, then at the Queen hovering in the darkness behind her. "I'm not calm," I corrected her. "I'm calculating. I've seen worse. Much worse."

I looked up and could see Killer Hornets coming out of holes in the ceiling.

Another larger creature sauntered into the light.

It stood a little over twice the height of a regular Hornet Killer, its skin looking more chitinous. Its face was an even more grotesque melding of human faces with the center of its face looking exactly like a yellow human skull. Its mandibles were twice as large as that of the smaller Hornets and its jaw was wide. The top of its head was crowned with bloody crystalline formations like it was royalty.

Daisy shivered and drew her dagger. "Scourge..." she whispered hoarsely. "That... that thing..."

"It's the Queen," I said simply, sighting down my shotgun. "You're not ready to face these Killer Hornets," I said as the Hornet Queen flew up to the plateau we were on, "Hide in that alcove behind me, I will handle this."

Daisy didn't argue, instead willingly following the order and hiding in a tiny alcove. Once she was safely under the rock, I squared up as the Killer Hornets began to surround us.

I gestured a 'come at me' sign as she turned around.

With a lunge I attacked the Hornet Queen.

I can't beat the shit out of you without getting closer.

I unleashed a devastating punch of the Hornet Queen's thorax sending cracks cracking up and down its chitinous exoskeleton before dashing back to avoid a claw strike. The Queen reared her head and screeched out to her drones.

Dozens of Killer Hornets formed up and charged me. I dropped into a sliding dodge, my shotgun barking once, twice—two Hornets exploded in gory showers as my shells torn through them. The **** sent their gore splattering across the Queen's thorax, the chunks steaming where they land.

I got a leg up, throwing myself onto the Queen's back. Grabbing the Queen's crown, I steered the large Hornet Queen to attack the Killer Hornets. I dug my fingers into the cracks I'd made, wrenching at them. The Queen screamed, a high-pitched shriek that vibrated the very bones in my skull.

My shotgun was in my free hand now, pressing the barrel into the gaping wound. I fired.

The blast tore upward, obliterating internal organs, splattering the already-cracked shell with fresh red gore. The Queen convulsed, throwing me off.

I jumped down and blasted the Queen's chest armor with the shotgun finally shattering its exoskeletal armor.

I cut upward into the demon bug's exposed thorax. The Queen thrashed wildly as I sawed through chitin and muscle, SkullHacker's blade leaving a smoking wound in its wake.

"Die, bitch!" I snarled, yanking SkullHacker free and plunging it back in deeper. The blade lodged firmly now, vibrating as the Queen convulsed. Her screeching became more frantic, more pained. Blood spurted in arcs. Its mandibles clacked frantically near my head as I carved deeper, feeling the softening flesh give way to something more vital within.

I struck the Queen's heart.

A final agonized shriek tore from its mandibles as I gutted it completely, hot ichor drenching me in waves as I carved up to its throat. The Queen slumped, its final **** throes spraying gore in all directions as it crashed to the floor. I stood there, chest heaving, covered in blood that wasn't my own, surrounded by dozens of dead Killer Hornets. The remaining drones scattered, fleeing in terror.

Daisy watched the symphony of chaos before her, unable to take her eyes off it. "By the gods..." she whispered, her attention fixed on the grotesque scene before her. "You just killed that monster..." These Killer Hornets had a snowball's chance in hell against me. The rock above her suddenly shifted, with the distinct chittering of a Killer Hornet following. Daisy's eyes widened as she suddenly rolled out of the alcove with just enough time to avoid getting squashed by the collapsing rock. A Hornet Killer flew over with its mandibles wide.

Daisy slashed its throat on instinct with her dagger. The beast gurgled and thrashed, dark ichor spraying across her bare torso as she shoved it aside with her foot. It fell in a twitching heap, one of its spindly legs still spasming.

She then looked over to me, who was still wrangling the remaining Killer Hornets. She looked around the nest and all the featureless faces and dead Killer Hornets along the cave.

Usapila's Hellhound came in and attacked us. I lunged forward, blasting away at the dog. The dog swiped at me with his claws, only for me to jump up and kick the hound in its left head.

I rolled across the ground onto my back with the hound landing atop me.

Daisy's eyes went wide with hopeless terror.

Then I sent the dog flying up and back with a harsh kick to its stomach. I got back up to my feet, completely unharmed.

She turned around and shrieked as she saw the dog charge her.

"Quickly, Daisy! Take your dagger and stab it in the throat!" I snapped.

Daisy froze for a second.

Then she looked back at the dog.

With a snap, Daisy took her dagger and stabbed the devil hound repeatedly in the neck.

And kept stabbing it even after it stopped twitching.

At which point I jumped forward and pulled Daisy away from the dead monster.

Daisy squirmed and screamed, I had to physically hold her back.

"You stupid dog! Stupid, stupid dog monster! I hate you! You took my papa!"

"Daisy, you must calm down! The dog is dead! The Hornets are all dead! It's over!" I said with a shocked tone.

"N-NO! My home, my friends, my brothers, my father. We were all hurt and it's all this monsters' fault!"

I retaliated, "I know you were abused and hurt. We know you've suffered. But losing yourself to that pain will only make it worse."

Daisy stopped squirming, breaking down into tears.

I let her go, allowing her to turn around and face me. "How do you know that?" she asked.

"I too have suffered lose and untold pain. I don't just fight monsters because it's the right thing to do. I do it because I hate them. I hate them with a pure, burning passion."

Daisy looked down at herself, at the blood on her hands. Her tears evolved into sobs. I pulled her into a tight hug.

Daisy returned the hug, burying her face in my chest as she sobbed. She had endured years of horrific ****, and this outburst was a necessary release of that pent-up trauma. I held her for several minutes, letting her cry it out.

I said, "This is one of the reasons I fight. So fewer people will go through what you did, or worse."

"They... they hurt me, hurt my friends," Daisy said weakly, drawing a shaky breath, "I see papa die when I close my eyes. It hurts, sir Scourge, it hurts so much."

I opted to gently pat the back of Daisy's head.

I know. I know it far too well. Her breathing came fast and shallow. "Why does it feel like my anger is growing instead of fading?"

"Because that anger is who you are now," I said. "Just as I am who I am. It's forged us into something stronger." I reached out, grasping her chin gently but firmly. "It doesn't mean you have to hate yourself."

"But I do hate myself," Daisy murmured. "For crying... for being scared... for not being strong enough to save anyone..."

"You survived. That's why you're standing here. Your hatred kept you alive." I gave Daisy a small but steady smile. "And now that you're alive, it can help you save others."

She sniffed, wiping at her nose with the back of her hand. "I don't want to kill... I just want to forget what happened."

I shook my head. "No. You don't get to forget. I certainly don't. But you can channel it. You can use it to protect the next person from going through what you did." My hand moved from her back to her cheek, wiping away a stray tear with my thumb. "What would your father think if he saw you like this?"

Daisy's breath hitched. She tried to speak, but only choked on the first syllable.

She stared into my eyes, conflicted. "I... I don't know," she finally whispered. "He would be ashamed. Disgusted by my weakness." The admission felt raw, painful.

"Would he want you to suffer? To blame yourself?" I spoke gently but firmly.

Daisy's mouth worked silently for a moment. Her lower lip quivered before she pressed it into a thin line. When she spoke again, her words emerged quietly but steadily. "No... no, he would have slapped me silly for giving up. He would tell me to... to be brave. He'd want me to live. You saved me from them. I should be grateful. ...Please... don't leave me." she choked out between cries. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to lose control like that."

"It's okay," I said, running a hand through her hair. "You've been through hell. A breakdown was bound to happen sooner or later."

Daisy looked around at the carnage surrounding us, her face drawn. "I thought I was past this," she said softly. "I thought I was getting better."

"You are getting better," I told her firmly. "But for now, let's get you cleaned up. You're covered in monster gore and it can't be comfortable."

Daisy pulled away slightly, nodding as she wiped at her face. "You're right," she said hoarsely. "I... I don't want to smell like this."

I reached for a waterskin hanging from my belt and offered it to her. "Here. Rinse off what you can. The rest we'll take care of once we're back at camp."

Daisy took the waterskin with unsteady hands, taking small sips before beginning to clean the dark ichor from her body, wincing as the cool water made contact with her whip scars. The act was painfully intimate, and I felt a strong urge to look away, but I didn't want to leave her alone in such a **** state.

Once she had cleaned herself as best she could, she looked at me with renewed composure. "Thank you," she said softly. "For everything. For the water, for being there when I needed you."