The halo breed episode 93 – 94

THE HALO BREED
SEASON 5
HELL IN HADES

The Author

EPISODE 19

Sacrificial Lamb

Sena opened his eyes with a grimace on his face.

The back of his head throbbed painfully, and there was a hærdness on his nape that spoke of dried blood. A splitting headache made him clench his teeth as his fury against the man who had struck him came to mind.

He tried moving his hands and feet and realized that he had been tied up with strong cords. His hands were tied up behind him, and ankles were expertly tied too. He was lying on his back on a hærd surface and a light brighter than the sun was piercing his eyes.

Sena mo-ned and struggled until he was lying on his side and that bright orb was no longer burning into his eyes. There was no shade anywhere, only a vast stretch of hærd, brown rock-like formation he was lying on.

He saw the people!

They were many, more than a hundred, both men and women. They looked tired, hungry, thirsty and violent.

Most of them were standing holding their crude weapons and looking into the horizon. Sena saw sheer desperation and fear on many of the faces.

There was a group of about ten people near where he was lying. Sena guessed it was a sort of meeting. The group consisted of six women and ten men. The men had covered their uncladness with leather-like material around their loins. The women had similar covering around their wa-ists in short skirts and over their br-asts.

The huge, muscular man who had hit Sena with the club was furious and he spoke with animation. The others appeared to be in agreement with him as he gestured towards the face of an old man in front of him.

The man was short and squat with a powerful body, but he was an old man with a shock of hair so grey that they appeared like fine, woolly clouds. He was holding a huge, thick club swung across his shoulder as he listened to the younger, masculine man.

The younger man had the heavy club leaning as he leaned forward and jabbed a stiff finger viciously into the chest of the old man.

“He is the sacrifice, Jabo! Whether you like it or not, we’re going to put him on the s₱0t for Balu! Why are you being such a sissy over this! You remember who designed this system! You made new Travellors face Balu to save our community. Why then are you fighting this?”

The old man called Jabo glanced at Sena with a face filled with compassion.

“I know I supported this in the past, that I instituted it, my dear Zico. But there comes a time we need to sit in retrospect and consider our actions. We don’t know who this Traveller is, or where he came from. The least we can do is try to give him a chance to survive too!”

“Stop the crap, Jabo!” Zico cried and stretched a hand across the plains. “All those here are our brothers and sisters! We’ve been running from Balu ever since we got here, and now it is a dead end! Look at how the land is melting down there, Jabo! We can’t retreat again! We have to go back up otherwise we’ll all die. If we sacrifice this stranger, Balu will feast on him, and we can take the opportunity to flee in the opposite direction to safety!”

Jabo looked around at the stony faces of his comrades as they looked at him with fury and hatred.

“Think about the futility, my brothers!” he said, keeping his voice earnest and compassionate. “Balu appears, finds this young man tied and helpless, and begins to eat him. So, we take the chance to flee in the opposite direction. Then what? All we would have would be a short span, then that demon would come back looking for us, to terrify us again, to take one to eat! Travellers pass through occasionally, so no matter how many we sacrifice, Balu would eventually kill all of us! So, please, let’s be kind to the Travellers. This one, to me, looks different! There’s something about him that I can’t place!’

“It doesn’t matter if he’s the Creator himself!” Zico cried coldly. “We will sacrifice him to Balu to gain an edge and beat it back the way we came. Hopefully, something might change, and we would find somewhere safe to hide from that monster forever!”

Jabu began to speak again, but he sighed and kept quiet. He sighed and looked at Sena, then he nodded and turned around to survey the harsh horizon.

The cords tying Sena were too tight, and already his arms and legs were going numb due to the denial of proper flow of blood.

“Jabu would come any time now,” Zico said. “Our only hope would be to wait behind the boy, and when Jabu starts feeding, we would race past him and head out. Bring the Traveller and put him on the path!”

Four huge men with grim faces approached Sena and lifted him. Sena did not struggle but his eyes burned with fury as they took him to a s₱0t where there was a raised rock table on the formation. They put him on it and withdrew.

Lying on the rock bed, Sena turned his head and looked to one side. Just an expanse of harsh brown rocky plate! He turned his head and looked in the opposite direction.

He gasped with horror!

The land beyond seemed to be melting and boiling!

It was a simmering, hissing, boiling mass that was climbing slowly towards them! There was absolutely no escape there, and that was why Zico was prepared to sacrifice him to allow the others to flee.

A young, beautiful, brown-skinned woman walked slowly towards the bed and looked at Sena with troubled eyes.

“What’s your name, Traveller?” she asked.

Sena appraised her.

She was young, just around his age or just a little bit older.

“Senanu Kukah,” he said, and she smiled sadly.

“It is a beautiful name,” she said. “My name is Gazel. But I’m mighty sorry to see you in this situation. I wish I could help you, but Zico!”

And right on cue, Zico’s furious scre-m filled the air.

“Gazel! Stay away from him!”

The girl gasped and beat a hasty retreat.

Just then another scre-m rent the hot environment, and another, and another!

“Baluuuuuuu!” they scre-med with horror.

Sena turned and looked up the land.

He saw the creature then.

It made his blood ran cold as he stared with horror!

EPISODE 20

In the Company of Balu

Balu was a hideous creature, a terrifying evil straight from hell!

It was huge, well above fifteen feet. Its body was red, scaly and covered with tufts of green hair. It had had three thick legs which were jointed at four places. Its arms were four. Perhaps, the most horrible thing about Balu was its head. It looked like the head of an anaconda, complete with a flicking tongue that was split into three forks above the base.

On each side of its snake-like head were three red eyes which were now fixed balefully on the group.

Then it began to move!

It moved like a crab, emitting an unpleasant and ear-splitting sizzling noise as it bore down towards them at great speed, its multi-forked tongue beating angrily, and when its mouth opened, Sena shuddered at the four wicked-looking curved fangs on its upper jaw.

The people were terrified, and Sena noticed that there was horror on Zico’s face even though he was trying desperately to remain level-headed and in charge.

Most of the women and some of the men were whimpering and shaking visibly.

“Keep calm, everybody!” Zico said tightly as he glared at them. “Remember, Balu needs just one prey to keep it happy for a few turns of the orb. And it always picks the weak one. We have the Traveller tied up, so do not panic!”

His words brought hope to the group, and they moved closer in a huddle. Jabo and Gazel still stole glances at Sena as he lay on the hærd rock and glared at Zico with sheer wrath.

“It has settled on the Traveller!” Zico cried, his voice filled with tension. “See? It is moving in his trajectory! Now, carefully, let’s head to the side and separate ourselves from the Traveller! As soon as Balu begins to feed on him, we’ll move up again!”

“Rock’s melting faster!” someone cried, and they all turned their heads and looked behind them.

Sena also turned his head and noticed that the thick melting mass was indeed coming towards them at increased speed! It was like molten lava; a mixture of crimson, amber and deadly burning heat! Sparks of fire shot into the air and steam spiralled upwards ominously.

“Do not panic!” Zico said sharply. “I have seen it before! The lava will never move past Balu. The elements here protect each other. Our prime concern now is this monster! Move away to the left! Fast, fast and steady!”

They moved cautiously at first, but when they noticed that Balu kept its focus on the tied man on the ground, their movements quickened and they moved faster without much caution.

“You bastards!” Sena hissed as he strained at the cords binding him.

Jabo, the last in the line, heard him and stopped.

He turned around.

The beast was in a frenzy now as it bore down on the helpless Sena.

Jabo sighed softly and narrowed his eyes.

“Jabo!” Zico’s shout echoed around them. “What do you think you’re doing? Gazel, move!”

There was horror on Gazel’s face as he looked at the old man.

“No, Jabo, please, don’t do it, please!”

The old man looked at her with tears suddenly shimmering in his eyes.

“Go on, Gazel,” he said gently, but his voice was not steady. “Go on, girl. go with them. I have to help this young man. Can’t leave him like this, and frankly, I’m tired of running.”

“Jabo, no!” Gazel shouted: she was highly traumatized. “Please, come with us! If you stay Balu will kill you both!”

Jabo smiled sadly with tears in his eyes.

“I’m done running, my dear kind Gazel. Let us meet at a better place!”

And with that Jabo turned around and sped towards Sena as the beast bore down at them.

“Jaboooo!” Gazel scre-med in anguish.

Zico had retraced his steps quickly when he saw what was happening, and he took Gazel’s arm.

“Come on, Gazel! Jabo chose his path, and wants to follow his non-existent dreams. Let’s go before you also fall victim!”

Gazel shook her head, still shocked.

“No, not Jabo!” she cried desperately as Zico tried to drag her up the incline.

“Gazel, get away from here!” Jabo scre-med as he dropped to one knee beside Sena.
Balu was now almost on top of them!

“Let me be!” Gazel shouted and slipped out of Zico’s arms.

“Noooo!” Zico scre-med with horror. “Gazel! You fool! You’re going to die!”

He watched, sick to his stomach, as Gazel used her sword to cut through the cords biding Sena’s feet.

Zico began to race up the incline to safety.

Sena was on his feet instantly.

“I thank you,” he said grimly. “Now, stay back, please. Leave this to me!”

The monster straightened to its full height and its snake-like eyes glared down at Sena with evil and baleful intensity!

Tbc