THE HELLHOUND OF BILLION

A/N: Part of Guardian of a Lifetime series, the fourth sub-series of Gungrave: Aftermath. Set before Brave Heart.

Cover and illustrations (WIP) by S0rahana.

All disclaimers apply.

Chapter 1: Encounter

Brandon kept looking back. Although their van had entered the ground level of Millennion Tower's parking lot, the big black mutt kept following them. This odd behavior, in addition to its red eyes and overflowing saliva, fueled Brandon's desire to leave the vehicle and attack the beast. No normal mongrels acted that way; heck, this even looked unusual for a rabid dog.

"What's wrong?" Mika, who had been sitting beside him with a bag of clean clothes, asked. He didn't answer, prompting her to look through the rear window. "That's a strange dog."

The mongrel suddenly halted, shifting its gaze to an oncoming Millennion guardsman. Brandon was momentarily puzzled, but he quickly cast his doubt aside when the hound lunged at the guard. Dark fate would befall the man - a member of Millennion - if Brandon didn't stop the dog.

He unlocked the car door and pushed it open. As he hopped out of the van, he quickly slammed it back shut. His child's safety also mattered, blood relation be damned.

Having practiced running with his prosthetic leg for at least a year, he could keep himself from falling as he sprinted. Despite that, he still couldn't reach the dog and the guardsman in time. The canine had sunk its teeth into the guard's thigh, bringing about a painful scream.

The guardsman pulled back his bitten leg to no avail; instead, more blood oozed out and stained both the dog's fangs and the guard's pants. "Bastard!" The man took a pistol out of his suit and fired at the beast.

Brandon's eye widened at the sight of dented shells falling off the hound's body. Like him, this mongrel resisted bullets. A necrolyzed being, he concluded, rushing towards the canine and the trembling man.

With a bead of sweat dribbling down his contorted face, the guard turned to Brandon and yelled, "Brandon, get rid of this monster!"

Raising his hand and drawing his extended fingers together, he approached the mongrel. His knife hand struck the back of the dog's neck, loosening the beast's grip on the guardsman.

"You go see a doctor." Brandon sent the hound flying a few feet away with a foot to the underbelly. "And report this to Mr. Biscoe."

"Yes." The man limped away. "Thanks for saving me, buddy."

Saying nothing to the withdrawing guard, Brandon stared at the mongrel. It still lay on the ground, breathing heavily. The blow to its spine earlier should've disrupted its body function, though the paralysis probably wouldn't last long.

Brandon charged and leapt into the air. Leg outstretched, he dived at the dog. However, the mongrel rolled to its left side as Brandon's sound foot came down. Chunks of concrete flew everywhere instead of skull fragments and blood.

He could no longer see the hound.

Suddenly, a pricking sensation jolted from his calf. Looking down, he found the mongrel gnawing at his lower leg. Because he - unlike a Millennion guardsman - could barely feel pain, he swung his leg forcefully. The dog earned a piece of bloody cloth and meat in its mouth as a result.

In an instant, Brandon brought his foot down on the beast's head. A sea of crimson formed beneath him.

"Brandon, the transfusion is done!"

Grunting, he opened his eye at Mika's cheery voice. Steel walls, dim lights, armrests... Wait, he had been sleeping on the armchair of his trailer all the time? But the whole incident with the necrolyzed dog felt so real. The sensation of blood trickling down his calf lingered on his sound leg.

Looking down, he saw no rip in his pants. He immediately palpated his calf. Nope. His fingers detected neither bulges from wound dressings nor openings from lacerations. Just a dream, he thought, and the discomfort of his limb faded.

As he brushed his face with his only hand, he heard Mika say, "You look like you've just had a nightmare."

Nightmare? Not quite. A small chunk of his flesh might have gone into the mongrel's maw, but he had crushed the poor dog's skull under his foot and saved the day. However, that didn't bother him as much as how tangible his dream had been. Maybe these beasts did exist in the town, and nobody was safe.

Instead of answering Mika, Brandon scanned the surroundings. William stood beside him, throwing a pair of latex gloves into the trash can. When he turned to Brandon, he snickered. "You know, it wouldn't hurt to tell us about your dream."

After returning his focus to the smiling Mika, Brandon mumbled, "A necrolyzed dog."

"Necrolyzed?" Both Mika and William exclaimed at the same time, with Mika's smile fading and eyes widening.

Brandon nodded. "It bit my leg."

"That's a nightmare!"

"But I killed it."

"That is still a nightmare, Brandon." Mika placed a hand below the band-aid on his forearm. "Did you sleep well?"

Brandon only chuckled. By paying attention to him during the transfusion, Mika should've been able to judge whether he slept soundly or not earlier. Most of the time, receiving the second unit of whole blood would remind him of his incomplete tasks and snap him out of his slumber.

"What a weird dream." Standing in front of a metallic desk, William picked up a bottle of translucent liquid – the flesh softener solution, the chemical agent that allowed the entry of steel needles into a necrolyzer's body – on the table. "I thought those monsters were no more since Harry died." Keeping it in his briefcase, he continued, "Or maybe being a necrolyzer made you dream about those necrolyzed dogs?"

With his eyelid and lips drooping, Brandon looked away. His dreams, especially nightmares, generally happened in the future. When he was still alive, Harry once fired a gun at him in his dream, and years after that, it happened in reality. Brandon still had a missing left eye and the gunshot scars on his torso to remind him of that eerie thing.

Returning his attention to a confused Mika, he finally muttered, "Experience and intuition."

Briefcase shut and locked, William told Brandon, "Well, don't worry. Dreams are rarely true." He held the bag in his hand. "But if those dogs do exist and they bite you, call me. I'll vaccinate you. Be fast, because getting the vaccine will take some time."

As Brandon nodded, Mika answered William with a "Yes."

"All right." He walked towards the trailer's exit door. Gripping the door lever, he added, "See ya." And he left.

Once the steel door had slammed shut, Mika sported the smile she usually wore when greeting Brandon. "Do you want to continue sleeping?"

Brandon sat still, racking his brain for incomplete tasks. Cleaning the trailer? He surveyed the trailer for a moment and found no rubbish on the floor. Bringing dirty clothes to the laundry? Looking back at the row of boxes, he saw none of them was overflowing with grimy apparel.

"Brandon?"

He ignored Mika and continued observing the trailer. Only when he spotted a lone piece of white bread inside a plastic wrap and an empty jar of peanut butter on the table would he speak up. "Let's go grocery shopping."

"You sure you aren't sleepy?"

Slowly rising to his feet with a thrust from his hand, he shook his head. He would rather bump his head against a pillar in the mart than having a starving Mika by his side; seeing an irritable kid grasping her own stomach often made him feel like he had shirked his responsibility as a guardian.

"Really, I don't mind if you want to sleep. We can do the shopping anytime."

He walked past Mika and towards the shoe rack beside the exit door. Picking up his black suede shoes, he looked over his shoulder. A blinking Mika remained still, but soon, she followed suit.

Brandon always preferred going everywhere by foot; walking saved money and let him practice with his artificial leg. Only long distance, urgency, or extremely humid weather would make him ride in a car.

But today, despite the gentle breeze, he wondered if going to the convenience store by foot was a good idea. At least, being in a car would provide Mika more protection. In case necrolyzed dogs truly existed and attacked, they would have to get through a layer of glass - or metal, if they wanted more challenge – before reaching her. With those beasts stalled, Brandon would have more than enough time to send them back to Hell.

He strode down the pavement with Mika, peeking into every alleyway they encountered on the way. So far, nothing in the narrow passageways had stopped his walk. Not that the alleys hadn't piqued his interest, but he had actually ignored whatever was in there. A big black hound – the monster that appeared in his dream - had once come across his sight, but because it was too busy munching a trash can as though the metallic container was a giant cracker, Brandon didn't bother it. He might put Mika in danger if he did.

He couldn't simply report the hound to Biscoe and ask for backup either; without the proof of its existence, the mob boss probably wouldn't listen. Maybe earning a dog bite and showing it to Biscoe would do, as an injured necrolyzer usually hinted something horrible. But with Mika around, how could he possibly initiate a fight with the mongrel?

Minutes later, a large one-story building loomed before them. Through the windows, Brandon could see various packaged goods lying on display shelves. Once the automatic sliding door opened, he and Mika entered the mart.

Inside, Brandon grabbed a basket before venturing the aisles. With Mika – a substitute for his lost left hand - around, whenever either of them spotted the wanted item, he needn't put down the basket so that he could load it with goods. Her height also helped him; Brandon couldn't pick up something from the bottom of the shelves without exhausting his back.

After taking a loaf of bread, a jar of peanut butter, and a carton of milk from the shelves, he headed to the cashier with Mika and placed the loaded basket on the counter. As he fished a wallet out of his pants pocket, Mika snatched it.

Looking up at him, Mika smiled. "You always look annoyed when trying to take out the money with just one hand. Let me do it for you this time, okay?"

Brandon returned the smile. Once Mika paid for the goods, he took back his wallet and returned it to his pants pocket. After picking up the shopping bag, he headed to the sliding door with her.

Outside, they retraced their steps to Millennion Tower. Unlike before, though, Brandon couldn't ignore the black mutt in the alley anymore. Hearing a woman's shriek roused him, and seeing the beast chasing the scurrying figure stimulated him further. For a moment, he realized that he would leave Mika unprotected as he went to stop the mongrel, but he wouldn't want to imagine what would happen to this skinny grey-haired woman if the dog got her.

Hunching over to hand the grocery bag to Mika, he said, "Take cover." And he streaked off without a warning.

As the hound jumped at the scooting woman, Brandon reached out his hand and seized the beast's fuzzy tail. He yanked it back, creating a distance between the beast and the old lady. "You should run," he suggested, hurling the mongrel at the wall.

The dog didn't give him the time to confirm whether the woman had escaped or not. Paws thudding off the wall, the beast launched itself back at him.

Looking at the incoming assault, Brandon shielded his face with his arm. The hound landed on his forearm, clinging to it by embedding its claws and fangs into his flesh. With gravity pulling it down, it carved larger gashes upon Brandon's skin with its nails and teeth.

Fortunately for Brandon, being a necrolyzer had turned the supposedly excruciating pain into mild irritation. Ignoring the burning and prickly sensation, he brought his bitten forearm closer to his face.

Good thing he could neither smell nor taste anything.

Brandon clamped his jaws on the upper part of the dog's head, and with a crunch, the mutt's skull gave way. Spitting out whatever he had caught in his mouth, he flung the limp body away.

Now, he only needed to go home, call the doctor, patch up his forearm, and report this case to Biscoe. However, before he could search for Mika, the little girl had rushed to him. Eyes fixed at his injuries, she called out, "Brandon, we need to treat your wounds first! They can be easily infected!"

"Let's go home," he murmured, walking past her. I can now warn Millennion about this. I've got the proof on my forearm.

Suddenly, a woman's voice spoke. It sounded too hoarse for a kid like Mika. "You may visit my house to take care of your wounds first. I live nearby."

Stopping in his tracks, Brandon turned. The raucous voice belonged to the grey-haired woman he helped earlier.

"Really, Ma'am?" Mika asked the woman.

A smile appeared on her wrinkled face. "You've saved me, and I can't thank you enough."

Together with Mika, Brandon followed the old woman whilst trying his best not to frown. Unlike Mika, who only sought the facilities to treat his injuries, Brandon couldn't bring himself to refuse a lady's kindness.

I hope this won't take too long. If I don't report this case to Millennion ASAP, everybody in the organization will be in danger.

Notes:

1. The name of the town is never mentioned in the anime, but some sources say that the name is Billion.

2. Animals can be necrolyzed as well. The first thing to ever be necrolyzed is actually a dog, as seen in episode 9.

3. Brandon is, hilariously, kinda psychic (likely thanks to his observation). And about the dream? He dreams about Harry firing a gun at the screen in episode 6. Then in episode 14, eight years after that nightmare, Harry shoots him dead. Not too long before his death, he has known that Harry will kill him someday, which is why he asks Dr. Tokioka to necrolyze him.

4. If you haven't read the previous series and wonder who Dr. William is, I'm referring to the nameless scientist who talks to Biscoe about anti-necrolyze bullets in episode 25.