"Well, well, look at what we have here..."
I turned around to face whoever had just spoken, and let me tell you I was not happy. I was greeted by seven cannibals, I could tell they were cannibals from the shredded clothes, bite marks on most of their upper bodies and their sharpened teeth. Instinctively i reached for my guns, but my hands were met with air. Vinnie must have swiped them again, I would remember that next time I saw him.
I raised my arms up in mock surrender. "Well fellas, what you have here is a fine piece of grade A bacon." I said in a mocking tone. I loved making fun of the fact they ate other people, it really pissed them off too.
"Oh really? Then I suppose you mind if we take you home and cook you up will you?" The middle one growled
I waved a hand over me "as you can see i am no ordinary meal. I am a delectable piece from the Equestrian tribe, and deserve to be treated as such." Fear flashed in their eyes, they knew who I was now. Not exactly, but my tribe was by far the strongest in the darkness. So we are well feared by gangs and crazies, ironically we based our lifestyle off of cute, harmless ponies from a kids show.
The cannibals quickly regained their composure. "Yeah well, food is food to us so we'll be taking you anyways."
The one on the far left joined in "Yeah! I've seen better lying dead on the streets, and that was a cow!" The rest erupted in laughter.
I grinned "I'll have you know my good sir, that where I come from I'm not just good looking" I struck a pose. "I'm down right sexy!" I couldn't help but smile now It was just a joke, I was told I was good looking once by my mom so she must be right. For the mental picture I have light brown hair, dark brown eyes, and at the time I'm wearing jeans, black tennis shoes and gray t-shirt. Nothing out of the ordinary really, except for my surgical mask I'm wearing but better safe then sorry out here.
"Enough of this!" The middle one shouted. From his dominant voice it was a safe bet that he was the leader. "I'm getting hungry..."
"Awwwww.." I whined. "Does somebody need a snacky-wacky before bedy-bye?" I said adopting a baby voice. "Well come here and I'll give you something to chew on."
Clearly, he was pissed, he stomped over to me grinding his teeth. "Oh you're gonna get it now little man..." he growled.
I leaned in close. "You first." I whispered. Before he could even respond with a breath I brought my hands up to his head, then grabbed him and twisted. I was rewarded with a loud snap as I, well, snapped his neck. His lifeless form fell to my feet and I looked up to see his companions shocked from then sudden attack from their unarmed meal. "Aww" I said in mock sadness "He's all tuckered out" The cannibal closest to me was the first to respond by lunging at me. Something I had anticipated, maybe eating people makes you predictable, but I'd care about that later.
I grabbed the lunging cannibal by the neck and threw him down using his own momentum against him. Before he could roll over i gave him a hard kick to the throat, I was unsure of what that would do but he stopped moving nonetheless. The other five were now recovered and ready to fight. I could tell because now they were all holding bats and pipes. I laughed at the pitiful display "now it's a fight then!" I announced. They took this as an invitation to rush me, which they gladly accepted. The first one to get within range of me swung his bat at me, I responded by ducking under it followed by punching him in the stomach. He doubled over as another of his friends brought his pipe across down where my head was just microseconds before. I stepped back to make sure I knew where they all were, I had felt a breeze from the bat and that was all I wanted to feel.
Unfortunately the cannibals refused to give me my alone time and attacked me again. This time I kicked his knee in. He rolled on the ground in pain with his new leg rearrangement. I failed to see an oncoming bat as it connected with my stomach. I bent over, clutching my stomach. This gave the final cannibal an opening to grab my hair and throw me to the ground. I hit the ground with a thud and saw the same cannibal poised to smash my skull in. What i was curious about was why he didn't bring his bat down. It was hard to see his eyes so i couldn't tell what he was thinking exactly, it seemed to be confusion with eagerness.
He tilted his head like he was listening to something. I decided to pay attention as well. There was always noise in the darkness, mostly gunfire and screaming really, but something stood out. It was a high pitched noise that was steadily growing higher, louder, and closer. I was still looking in his eyes when I recognized the sound, this idiot on top of me recognized it a second later, but by then i had brought my fist up and hooked him in the jaw. The sound was screaming. I already said it was a common sound but this was close and it was familiar. The sound of a Bio.
The other cannibal was long gone, smart guy. I should be gone too but these guys were way to close to home to ignore. The screaming grew closer every second. It wasn't a distinct scream, it wasn't in fear, rage, pain, or sadness. It was simply undefined and senseless screaming . I picked up one of the bats dropped by the cannibals, I had gone up against some Bios unarmed before but that was only a couple, I could easily hear a good ten or fifteen at this distance.
I started to back up slowly, never taking my eyes away from the source of the screaming. Towards the direction of my tribe, that way I could get these guys in the snipers range if things got too dangerous. It was dark, it always was nowadays, but i could see about fifteen feet in front of me before everything blended into black.
Then the screaming stopped. I tightened my grip on the bat, I knew what happened next. I chanced a glance behind, I was going the right way, the edge of the lights were about another thirty yards. I wasn't too sure about the range of the snipers. I knew we had them modified so they could see into the darkness but not how far, or if they were even looking this way. Then I began to hear shuffling in the dark, just outside where I could see, I couldn't tell what it was but it was moving and fast. But I didn't have to guess.
The screaming started again suddenly and right next to me, then in front of me, then behind me. They had surrounded me. This was a rare occasion for me, Bios were never in packs large enough to completely surround someone but I didn't wait to see what would happen next. I lunged directly behind me trying to break through this circle of Bios. No doubt the guards had heard the screaming from here, and they knew I was out here, all I had to do was get them in range of their guns.
As I lunged I got close enough to finally get a look at my one of my attackers. It was a girl, probably a young one. She looked like any other crazie you'd see out here but what gave away her being a Bio, besides screaming everytime she saw something living, was her eyes. The thing was, she didn't have any, they were as black as the darkness we were fighting in and unreadable.
She lunged at me and I brought the bat across her head, knocking her over and I made a mad dash for the lights. If I could just see what I was up against I could fight them. Bios are fast too, once someone breaths in that war-gas they're a goner. What it does is it somehow triggers one of the humans most basic responses. The fight or flight response and it sticks you in the fight response. Always. It also infects your lungs so you breath out the war-gas, the same reason I happen to be wearing a surgical mask right now. As for the eyes, that's just a helpful side-affect. They can still see fine, better even. The screaming on the other hand, I'm not sure. Some people think that the Bios can still think and feel, just not control their actions, so they scream to warn others. Personally, I think whoever made the gas had made Bios scream just because he was a dick.
Due to being in the fight response they believe that if they don't kill every living thing they see they will die. So the fight to kill, and with every fiber of their being too. Nothing can stop them, there is no cure. Except decapitation but that's a little joke I use sometimes. I now have about twenty of these same chemical mistakes chasing me now.
I ran as fast as I could. I wasn't sure how far the Bios are were behind me, but I wasn't too eager to find out. I should be in the snipers range by now, so why weren't they firing? I practically jumped into the light and wheeled around to face the Bios. I was right, there was about fifteen of them, but they weren't slowing down. I held out my right arm and clothes-lined one of them. Then swung my bat down and smashed his face in, in the same motion I brought it back up and into the stomach of another guy that was in my personal space. Then I was tackled to the ground by a girl and landed on the ground with a another thud. I let go of the bat and punched her in the side of her neck.
That shouldn't have killed her but sure enough I broke her neck and rolled her off of me. I must have slipped when she pushed me to the ground, that would explain my sudden strength. Another Bio ran at me and I punched him in the head, knocking him of his feet. I ran a little closer to the lights and tried to get them where I could see all of them. There was no excuse for the snipers at this range, Vinnie must be holding them back to see how I fight. Well then, I'll show them I'm still a force to be reckoned with.
The screaming had died down for some reason and only about twelve or so Bios were left. For some reason they didn't work together if they had been injured so they would kill other Bios, but it's still a mystery as to why they work in groups in the first place. I picked up my bat and got ready to crack the next Bio's skull with extreme prejudice. The first one to lunge at me got exactly that and fell over in heap. Another trio of them ran forward while the rest slowly stalked closer.
I smacked the middle Bio in the face, and in the same fluid motion I spun around and hit the right one in the back of the head. Next I jabbed the end of the bat into the left one's stomach. Then brought it down on his head while he was bent over in a reflex, because they didn't feel pain anymore. I didn't have any time to prepare for the five that rushed me, I ducked under their arms and dislocated one of their knees with a swing from my bat. While he fell to the ground I decided to uppercut the Bio that had moved in front of me, then stomp his head in on his way down. I then grabbed the neck of the Bio on my right and threw him into the one on my left. While wrapping my arm around another Bio's neck and giving it a twist, rewarding me with a loud snap.
That left four more standing, they weren't all dead, most of them were just to injured to keep fighting. I'd kill them later. Panting from my previous attacks I looked at them, trying to predict their next move. I didn't have much time to think, they all decided to launch themselves at me all at once. I could only respond by backing up and narrowly avoiding their grabs. Just before I could counter attack four loud bangs erupted from behind me, one after the other. The standing Bios fell over with each corresponding bang, leaving a neat bullet hole in each of their heads.
Only one person had that skill, Brian.
I walked further into the light until I saw the giant wall that protected our tribe from the rest of the darkness. "Well!?" A voice shouted, I recognized it as Vinnie's
"Well what!?" I shouted back.
"How'd it go!?" Even at this distance I could tell he was smiling uncontrollably.
"What? You mean you didn't watch the entire thing? I put on that entire show because of you!" I had reached the little entrance in wall now and gave a nod to the guards to open it.
"Hey! You where far away, I couldn't see the whole thing! But thanks for bringing the show to us!" I'm beginning to hate him a little more with each word, I couldn't wait to get up there and break his nose.
The gate had opened and before I went inside I took off my mask and spared a glance at the picture of the alicorn sisters and words that were painted above the tunnel.
OUR CORNER OF EQUESTRIA.
I found Brian on the roof of the guards building, he was wearing clothes mostly similar to me, with the exception of a red t-shirt instead and he had woolen finger-less gloves.
"Hey, how you doing?" I asked.
He turned his head lazily around until he could see me out of the corner of his eye. "Hey, what's up?" He said lazily
"What's up with you?" I asked concerned for my friend."You just hit four Bios between the eyes in ten seconds flat."
He gave a small laugh at the reference. "Yeah, sorry about hogging all the fun, a guard bet that I couldn't hit one of them at that range. Now he owes me a cake." He smiled. "and when I saw you surrounded... I just didn't want you surrounded again." his smile fadded.
I cringed as I figured out what he was referencing. "I was handling them." I said quickly.
"Yeah, it looked like you were handling them before too." he said flatly.
***
"Ha! We have you surrounded now."
"Is that supposed to make a difference?"
"We-"
"Raagh!"
***
I cringed at the memory. "Just don't think about it" I told him.
Brian wasn't so easily convinced. "How? The Bloodbath was something that changed all of lives forever." he paused, going into a deep thought. "I miss my old life." He admitted.
"You think I like this one over my old one too?" I was steadily growing more and more angry. "I think about what could have happened if the Bloodbath had turned out differently every time I breathe." I was slipping again, I could feel it. Judging by Brian's expression he could feel it too.
Fun fact: if you go through what me and my two friends have been through you can develop some 'abilities'. They're not super powers or anything, just an increased understanding of the human's psych. Since Brian and Vinnie were together during the Bloodbath they can both sense pain. Any kind of pain from anyone, and they can pinpoint it exactly. Me on the other hand, I can tell what someone's thought's are. No, it's not mind reading. Your eyes give away your emotions by how they look, and I can tell what you're thinking by looking at your eyes, it's pretty handy actually.
I took a deep breath to calm myself down. "It's a lot easier when you just do your best to not think about it." I sighed, "Just, take care of your people."
"Don't you mean our people? You protect them too."
"They don't need me they can take care of themselves." I responded without a second thought.
"You're the leader of the guards though, what will they do if you're not there all of the sudden?"
"Ask you or Vinnie for help?" I offered. "Just because the head guard is gone doesn't mean that they can't depend on the head farmer." I gestured to him "or head medic."
"I'm not a farmer" Brian said defensively.
"Farmer is a lot easier to say than 'food and materials coordinator', and guards are useless without materials to defend with."
"Security is still important." He offered.
"Not as important as food and health." I countered.
"I need Vinnie to help me with this." Brian said with a defeated groan as he returned to his happier self. Then began to walk towards the stairs. I grinned and followed suit.
We found Vinnie in the cafeteria of the guards building, where else? He was wearing a dark green t-shirt with a black jacket the same color as his hair. I thought it was a good idea to grab a sandwich before I sat down across from him and Brian sat to his right. "Hey" Vinnie said happily greeting us. "So did you take care of that new cannibal group? I heard they were actually pretty tough."
"Yeah, they weren't too much of a problem without guns." I shot Vinnie a look, he just smiled. "But you probably know that they weren't the only ones out there."
Vinnie laughed "Heh, yeah. They're in your room so don't worry. We heard the commotion all the way to the medical building and wondered what was going on. So there we are watching you go bat to face with five Bios at a time then I ask Brian if could still hit one of them."
"You know how that turned out" Brian said gesturing to me.
Vinnie laughed, "Yeah, now someone owes me a cake."
"Why does someone owe you a cake?" I asked.
He shrugged. "We might have bet on whether or not Brian could actually make the shot. To bad he didn't know that Brain always hits what he's aiming at."
Brian just waved a hand dismissively at the comment. "yeah well, you know..."
"Okay" Vinnie stated clapping his hands together, distracting Brian from the memories. "Now, the big question that everyone wants to ask you but is too scared to ask." Was it just me or was the entire cafeteria dead silent and leaning towards us?
"What question?" I asked hesitantly. Something told me they weren't going to like my answer if it was this important. Despite everything, I was always left with the hard decisions. Apparently I was best with them.
"What are we going to do?" Vinnie asked seriously.
"Could you elaborate on that?" I asked.
"What is our plan? What is our future? We have a good thing going on here at the corner, so now that it's finished, what are we going to do with it?"
"Do we have to move on? What's stopping us from staying here until something happens and preparing for it?"
"Things change, they always do, if we don't change too then we'll be left behind." He fixed me with a glare, demanding an answer.
I thought about that for a second. "I honestly haven't thought about it before, I didn't think I would live to see the corner in it's prime." That was a lie, but the truth wouldn't matter to them. "But now that you mention it." Pause for dramatic affect... "Why don't we take over the remains of America?"
There was a mixed reaction, most of everyone that had heard me was shocked to silence or had gasped, a few had even burst out laughing.
"WHAT!?!" Vinnie and Brian shouted in unison.
"Like how much of it?" Brian asked cautiously.
"All of it." I said causally
"Look friend, I know that you always aim high, but right now, you need to aim at something you can hit." Brian suggested.
"I know, and I'm dead serious. We can do it."
"Just because we're the strongest in the dark doesn't mean we can do what ever we want, we have to be realistic about this. We're only the strongest that we know of too, there are others in other regions that we don't even know of, and other dangers too. You know the America's capitol? Washington D.C.?" Vinnie asked. I nodded. "It got hit by something called a nuclear missile, a lot of them actually. Now that whole region is contaminated with stuff called radiation and anything that survived is horribly mutated and worse than any number of Bios."
"And to the far west, the coastal region. I hear that there's still a functioning military that's still trying to take over and kills everyone on sight." Brian added
"Look guys, I'm not saying we run into unknown territory, I'm saying we expand. Little by little and slowly take back the world." I explained. "We don't even have to start soon, we can stock up more. But my plan is we strengthen our defenses, then when we're dead sure it's safe we start building a little bit further out and when that new point is heavily defended we repeat that process even further out. If we meet another tribe or group we can try to make peace with them so they join our cause, and if they refuse we wipe them out. Then we continue this until we have control all of whats left of America." I leaned back in my chair satisfied with my plan. "Well what do you all think?" I asked a bit louder, addressing the entire cafeteria.
There was silence at first but then a cook spoke up in that back. "I think that's the best Celestia-damned plan I've ever heard." He was answered by an applause that steadily grew into a roaring followed by shouts that said "Yeah let's take back our world!" or "We can restore peace!" and "Hey! you owe me a cake!"
I grinned sheepishly at the attention. I never really felt a connection to these people before, they always just seemed like loyal followers to me. They still did, but now I was starting to gain some respect for them.
Brain and Vinnie had managed to calm them all down after a while and turned to address them once again. "Well then, now that we have a plan." Brian grinned as he spoke. "I suggest you let everyone else know and start preparing for our first move."
"And double the guard." I added
Brian turned to me with a face full of confusion. "Why?"
"What makes you think that there isn't some gang out there planning to invade and is waiting for a slip up. The begging of a plan is always confusing to some degree, it'll be just what their waiting for, now be safe and put some more guards up." I finished seriously.
Brian didn't question it and ran off to help start the plan. That left me and Vinnie alone. Shit.
He walked up to me and said the very thing I didn't want to hear. "You were speaking from experience, weren't you?"
"Shut up." I said as cooly as I could manage. He was going to talk about the Bloodbath and that never turned out well. "You know I hate talking about what happened."
"Okay, okay. But one question, what was your plan? During the Bloodbath I mean."
"You knowing that won't help anyone so there's no reason for me to tell you."
"But will it hurt anyone?"
"It will make me remember it even more, why can't we ever just leave it at that? And how are you and Brian so cool about the Bloodbath?"
Vinnie just shrugged. "Dunno, we weren't hit as hard I guess and we talked about it together. We invited you, why don't you want to talk about it?"
"To many painful memories." I got up to go to my room to get some much needed sleep. "That fucking Bloodbath..." I muttered as I walked away.
"Quit being so cryptic." Vinnie shouted before I was out of earshot.
I walked into my room on the top floor of the guards tower. It had a basic setup. Large window, bed in the corner, wardrobe with my few clothes in it next to my desk stacked with various projects and drawings all over it and a full bookshelf on the opposite wall. Walked over to my bed and found my two custom made deep blue pistols, each with a linear silver design, laying on my bed. I picked them up and looked them over. The one in my left hand had the word love etched into either side of it. It's twin had a similar design on it except it had tolerance on it. I laughed at that, with these guns I would 'love and tolerate' the shit out of my enemies.
I checked their ammo quickly and found that they were both full, satisfied I set them on my desk and kicked off my shoes and tore off my mask then I jumped onto my bed. One problem with sleep though, you dream when you sleep. Not a problem for most people, but most dreams are made up from memories.
And I hate remembering.
***
"Ah!"
"Now stay down you dumb bastard!"
"Just...uh...kill me... already."
"Now why would we do that?"
"what?...But every.... everyone is dead."
"Not everybody, we found two more trying to make a run for it."
"No..."
"Oh? Are they important to you?"
"Wha- no. I don't... know them."
"Bring them in!"
"Let go of me you asshole!"
SMACK
"Shut up bitch."
"Good now tie them to these poles."
"Hey let go of me!"
"Yeah you big meany!"
"Please... you don't... don't do this."
"I'd like to see you stop me."
"But... she didn't... do anything...and....he's....ugh...just a kid."
"Then it sucks to be them."
"All tied up!"
"Good now poor some gasoline all over them."
"Really man? We already burned way too many, it's getting boring. Can we skin 'em?"
"No, no. I have something even better planed this time."
"Please...I beg you... don't"
"Shut the fuck up."
"Okay now what?"
"Give me your gun. Thanks. Now I'm going to give you a choice this time. I will count to ten then I will light these two up like candles, or you can take this gun and kill them yourself."
"No...I can't..."
"Then you get to watch them burn alive like the rest."
"Fuck...you."
"Glad we're on the same page. Now, here's the gun. Have fun."
***
My eyes shot open and I quickly sat up in my bed. I rubbed the sleep away from my eyes and got out of bed. "That fucking Bloodbath." I drawled. I had no way of knowing how long I slept, almost nobody kept track of time any more. There was no way you could, because there was no sun or moon anymore. No clouds and no stars, it can still rain and storm sure, but you can't see them. Technically there still is a sun and moon, you just can't see them because the sky is pure black. No one knows when it happened exactly, but it was defiantly during the 'last war'. No one knew why or when it happened but there was a world wide war for some reason and some jackass thought it was a good idea to erase the sky.
Because of the sudden darkness people panicked, governments were overthrown and the civilians fought for themselves, not their country. Or at least that's what my mother told me, I asked her how long it's been dark and she could only say it was before my great-grandma was born.
I put my shoes back on, there was no way I was risking sleep again after that memory. I put my guns in their holsters at my side and walked out of my room to find something to do. Funny thing about being the top guard, it is insanely boring. It kept me plenty busy when we first started the corner, when it was just a small town with a pile of rubble and sandbags around it and there were only ten or so guards that were constantly running around defending the place. Now it was a near city with a massive wall surrounding it and one hundred guards that all have a purpose.
We're hardly ever attacked now due to everyone knowing how strong we are so they keep out of our line of sight nowadays, so I was often bored and reduced to bugging Vinnie and Brian with their jobs. Which is exactly what I planned to do.
I walked out my door with mischief on my mind when a guard ran up to me, he was panting and spoke urgently. "There you are. Brian and Vinnie need you at the gate."
"OK, tell them I'll be there in a bit." I responded absentmindedly.
"No, they mean now." he said firmly
"Fine" I groaned and began to jog towards the gate.
I ran up to an unusual scene. There was Brian and Vinnie surrounded by five or so guards wearing full black armor and armed with assault rifles -Custom made from the Corner of Equestria thank you- standing in front of a group of eight travelers all wearing grimy rags for clothes with all small horse like creature. I think it's called a donkey, with supplies on it's back. My friends were also wearing the standard armor, with the exception of the gas mask being replaced with a surgical mask, and armed with custom made guns of their own. Brain was holding a dark red and black striped assault rifle with a short ranged scope on it, similar to the Equestrian standard -because it was based off of his rifle- but built with more power and a longer barrel. He didn't have a clever phrase etched into it. Vinnie had a good old custom pump action shot gun in his hands, colored white with an orange burst pattern starting from the handle.
"There you are." Brian announced "Where have you been? We've been waiting for a while now."
"Nice to see you too." I responded casually as I walked up to the group. "So what's up?"
"That's just the thing, we have no idea who these people are and why there here." Vinnie explained
"So what, are they on a spiritual quest or something?" I asked. We've gotten that before and we normally just shooed them off if they were too annoying.
"I wish, just talk to them and figure out what's going on, neither of us can understand these guys."
"Alright whatever." The thing about my whole 'eye reading ability', if you can call it that, is that I'm always called for the interrogations. I walked over to the mysterious visitor closest to me. "So, the usual question I start off with is why are you here?"
"Ah, the eternal question." He began in a gruff and surprisingly serious tone, given the subject. "Why are we here? What is our purpose? Is there some eternal task that has been long forgotten? Or are we just some toy for an all powerful creature?"
Oh great, a bunch of hippies. "Not what I meant." I said flatly and began to look into his eyes. "Why did you, yourself, journey to where you are currently standing?"
"Why, we seek a place."
"What kind of place?"
"A place such as this."
"Why is this place so significant?" I was really not in the mood for twenty questions right now.
"You are the leader are you not?"
"Don't change the subject." I was begging to understand Brian and Vinnie's problem with these guys. Their eyes didn't help either, they just told my what his mouth was saying but sooner.
"You answer my question and I shall answer yours." He said seriously.
I sighed "Yes I am one of this tribes three leaders."
"And, are the other two the ones behind you?" He gestured to Vinnie and Brian.
"Yes."
"What is your name?"
That's it. I pulled out tolerance and pointed it between his eyes. "Quit stalling. Now, every time you give me an answer I don't like. I'll pull the trigger." His eyes finally betrayed him.
"Shit." It wasn't a lot but it gave me something.
"Okay, okay, calm down. I'll tell you what you want to know, just put the gun down." He wasn't scared exactly, like he was prepared for a gun aimed at him, he was more rushed. Which was a bad sign.
So I kept good on my promise. "Wrong answer." I lowered Tolerance to his side, nowhere near anything vital and fired.
"Gah! Fuck!" He yelled as he cringed in pain. "They're hostile! Fire!"
Well that sounded bad.
The uninjured seven behind him pulled out guns from under their rags and took aim. I responded by taking out Love and firing it and it's twin at the new enemies. I backed up as they dove for cover and returned fire. I turned around to jump for cover myself and was hit in my left calf by a lucky bullet. I didn't even flinch, I've been hit by more than a bullet before. The guards and Brian were already behind cover and Vinnie had mysteriously vanished.
Missing Vinnie wasn't the problem right now, lethal bullets were. I limped behind the wall and got ready to fire back. I didn't get that chance however because a grenade exploded in the middle of the gate. I shielded my eyes from the shrapnel but it didn't do any good against the shrapnel puncturing the skin on my right arm and side. "I hate these guys." I said through gritted teeth.
Two loud booms echoed out above me, the snipers must be joining the fight. I looked to my right and saw three guards groaning in pain and two dead. Brian was no where to be found. Where was everyone disappearing too? A thought crossed my mind. No they wouldn't have under these conditions, we've faced worst and the jokers on the other side of the wall I was leaning on were as good as dead at this point.
With that final thought I jumped out of my cover and brought up my guns intent on murder. There was four standing now, two went down as a simultaneously shot Love and Tolerance. I readjusted and fired at the third, hitting him in the chest and throat, the fourth managed to hit me in the left shoulder before I buried two more bullets in him. I made sure they weren't getting up before I holstered my twin pistols and gave the all clear and the surviving guards were rushed to the medical house while I was bandaged by another doctor. He didn't have his medical equipment at the moment so all he could do was give me some band aids.
"Thanks." I said to the doctor who nodded and walked back to the medical to help with the wounded. I heard a groan behind me and turned to see one of the attackers was still moving. I should fix that, but I needed information. I walked over and rolled him onto his back with my foot. "Your in a lot of trouble." I told him slowly.
He coughed up some blood before speaking roughly. "No, no don't... we were forced to follow him and obey him."
"Obey who?" I asked
"That guy you shot."
I grinned, good to know I'm always making good decisions. "How were you forced to follow him?"
"He said to listen to him or he would shoot us."
I wasn't liking this. "Why was he here?"
"Dunno he just walked up to us and took over."
"So what, were you a gang?"
"Yeah, but his buddies killed most of us then took over."
Uh oh. "What buddies?" I asked quickly. I really didn't want another fight right now.
"They're over-" he was cut off by a distant boom and bullet hole appearing in the back of his head.
"Mother fu-" I began as I turned to run but I was cut off with a bullet hole of my own burying itself in my chest.