As the night fell–the pitch black kept us comfortable as the winds of sand grind their teeth against the wood and cracked cement. With the creaking of the olden floorboards; its fumblement flashed me awake. The glowing of the lantern light singed my eyes as I creaked them closed-before pitifully opening them, with the response of my body laying off the hardened floor–my presence was noticed. “Oh, you're up? Sorry to wake you so early; but something popped up on my radar” with the familiar voice adhering to my actions–I didn’t get a say before the beeping of his radar paid his attention. Picking up the machine with an unshakable hold–he soon furrowed the lids of his brows, “W-What is it?” I questionably asked. With a moment's pause his expression grew more warry, “It looks like we’ll have some company..”. Confused–I then quickly realized what he meant. I got up from my position and grabbed my gear which lay beside me, “Hey, make sure you’re stocked up on ammo” nodding my head; our faces were only seen by the still light of the illuminated lantern–conveying our expressions. Waiting in the dark–the adjustment of my eyes poked out the figure of my colleague and the edges of my rifle. For hours we waited–and waited; but nothing showed itself. In the long hours of what I presume was dusk–light slowly appeared through the cracks of the boarded doorways and windows before fully integrating vision into the hall. ~GURGLE~ cried the pits of our stomachs, “We need to find those cache boxes–fast..” I nodded my head in agreement. Getting up on our feet we collected our extra gear and prepared a patrol, “Hey–should we wake Alaine up?” I uttered. Dax looked at me for a second before quickly stating, “Well–the last time I woke them up, I got kicked in the ribs” then the sound of her movement rose into a counterattack. “That’s because you already knew that the girls didn’t like waking up at three in the morning, but gee–thanks for making a girl feel special; oh and Linden, here’s your hairband”. Moving to grab it I said, “Ah..thanks”.Tying the ends of my longing hair into a more tactical tail–Dax quickly took position and said, “Everyone ready? Good–now be on your guard”. Carrying her rifle around her right shoulder Alaine warily stated, “Don’t you think you're being a little too firm? I mean what kind of enemy are we facing if-; SSHhhh” Cutting her off with the compressed click of his breath–he frowned at the boarded window down the left side of the hall and collected his rifle before sitting still. Standing in position, Alaine whisperly spoke towards me, “Hey, don’t you think Dax is-”But before she got to expressing her worries, a loud, KRACK! Came from the left hall of the boarded window. Out came a man wearing a dull pink shirt with rounded red shorts; with his braided tail he said, “Well, well–it's been a while since I’ve seen a wild woman out here”. But before he could make a move–Dax butted the gun towards the man's face from behind; landing a scurrying, POOM! Before shouting, “HURRY AND GET OUT OF HERE!”. Standing still for a bit–Alaine boldly broke the shock which held me in place, “D-DAX!-” reaching out and grabbing her hand, she looked at me with full contemplation while I looked back with an anxious anomaly. Sprinting towards the battered window–Alaine exclaimed, “Wait, what about Dax..!”. Trying to reassure her I said, “Don’t worry–he’s second to best behind the number one remember?”, as we hopped out of the building we heard a striking, THUD! Before everything was silent. Unable to relinquish our past action; it was then we spotted some figures atop a sand dune in front of us–we were cornered. It was then an aggressive voice spoke in irritation, “Huh? The hell you two lookin’ at?”.
With the sands dancing its’ cruel rhythms to the beat of infinite hearts–the minor winds carried its chorus down the base of my spine; chilling me with panic and unease. Three men with athletical builds stood tall–looking down at us with faces of glee, excitement and irritation. “Is this it? I was hoping for a little more” laughing with joy–the other mans’ twin expressed, “Haha–I think we got lucky! Especially when there’s a woman! Hehe; Ahh! You two are too loud, just get down there already!” exhaled the fiery redhead. Turning back he seemed to be conversing with someone else; until another man with darker clothes jumped from the top–trailing down the dune without solidarity. Landing one by one–each of the men stood tall with a daunting look; “~Wow~ you would never catch me dead with a body like that” the darker clothed man exclaimed. I sunk the insult into my consciousness–furrowing my brows as a response to the mans’ snippy tongue. Noticing Alaine walking towards them–she furratingly states, “It seems that you’ve taken my friend here for a small fry”. With the man maniacally peering down to mock her height–he boldly stated, “Oh? And whatta’re you gonna do about it?”. Not even a second into the conversation–there was a sound of a fist which pounded a skull of bone and flesh–bringing a beckoning PING! The man who was standing tall soon fell onto the barrel of his knees–slurring the thoughts he put into words, “U-Uhhggh..Hhuh..?” as a red tinge dripped onto the beating sand. The blood vessels bursting from his right eye–faintly held his vision in place before the fading of his consciousness kept him somberly quiet. “Who’s next?” with a smoked up fist–Alaine clutched her hand with aggression as the winds carried her hefty pecan hair. Unable to read her expression I soon came back to my senses and raised the barrel of my rifle. “G-GET HER!” the once excited man screamed; but before he was able to move an inch–I shot my rifle at his feet, BANG–BANG-BANG! “Move one more step and I won’t stop shooting until you’ve dropped dead”. The man hesitated a little before carefully and slowly taking one, more, step. BANG! Shooting the mans’ shoulder pad, the cracking and shattering of weak polycule material gripped the vibration of my ears as the smoke embedded the mouth of my rifle. Reeling from the pain the man screamed in anguish and shock, “AAAUUGGGHHH! YOU BASTARD!” quickly checking on my colleague–Alaine’s swift movements made the man's powered blows unable to conflict with the intended areas of contact; giving Alaine useless gusts of wind. As the man tries to overpower her with his sheer might–she lands an overhead hook, then quickly lands a lower rib jab before flicking an overhead kick towards the man's face–splatting blood and spit before falting him to fall onto the horroring sands. As the sight of my vision shifted–I quickly noticed the other man not five feet away before grabbing the tips of my hair; ready to smash the brim of my face into a cascade of grains before I ever got the chance to fire. With his fist closing the minute distance from the edge of my nose–his quicken offense was stopped by a quicker offense to the base of his neck, beckoning a loud, POW! Before falling backwards towards the grappling hooks of the sands. With the shivering of his fading consciousness–Alaine turned to me and said, “Hey, everything alright?” I stumbled upon my words as I tried to grasp my reality. “Aah..huh? Y-Yeah, I’m alright” we stood still for moments before a roar of an engine postponed my concentrated thoughts of a concentrated plan. It was then Alaine too noticed the sound far off in the distance–making her face give off an anxious confidence. It was at that point the overwhelming twisting and turning of my gut told me to escape right then and there. Grabbing her hand–I quickly moved towards the opposite direction of the sound, “Woah! Hey what’re you-” she looked at me with confusion and stumblement as I looked back with a concerned certainty. “J-Just trust me..” speaking the words of desperation–I thought to myself that I can’t let her die, not again.
Circling around towards a rift with an overhead–We did our best to stay undetected; in exactly a paranoid manner–I poked my head around each corner we turned and each spot we yet to be in. “Hey Linden, you alright?” With almost a frightening question, the edges of my skin crawled with sweat before I found myself with her mundane yet worried expression. “Ah..sorry–am I worrying you too much..?” Shivering my tone, I tried and failed at keeping my composure. Pitifully narrowing her brow to reassure my crumbling confidence, Alaine said, “Ah, well..you’re acting kind of weird again” pausing for a moment–I gathered my thoughts before I suddenly said, “Well..it's just a; gut feeling?” cutting me off–we both stared at each other before she spoke again, “Either way–we have to find a way to rescue dax”. With her standing underneath the overhead about to explain our next course of action; I suddenly spotted a figure atop the cliff, with his fiery red mohawk–the smiling glare of his eyes seized my arms to take position to shoot. It was then I felt a force pushing me from the sideline and a loud engine of a motorbike dashing past me towards the cliff face into the abyss. But without looking away–I close one eye to keep focus on the figure until, BANG! Two loud gunshots were heard; and the clashing of metal violently vibrated the tips of my fingers until they were numbed. Standing with our guards raised, the two of us watched as the figure atop the cliff slid down the overhead onto the eye leveled ground. Popping the back of his neck he exhaled before saying, “Aye, you in the blue–ain’t mucha fighter aren't chu?” I stood in place without movement as I inspected his next course of action. “So? What's it to you?” Stepping in front of me with her arm stretched–Alaine snapped back at the man with a snarky remark. Grinning to himself–the fiery mohawk man put his arm up in front of him before saying, “I wanna make a proposal; The hell do you mean?” Alaine guardedly asked, “Exactly what it sounds like dumbass!”. Putting up two fingers he leaned his head in a playful manner, “You have only two choices, one have a duel with me; or two–end up as brunch for them howlers”. Tilting her head towards the ground, Alaine mumbled to herself before looking back up and tossing her rifle towards the greedy sands. “Take care of this for a sec” popping the back of her neck–she soon exhaled a breath before fastly dashing towards the man–gripping the handle of her blade which strapped to the back of her belt. Unsheathing the glinted metallic blade–she swung with intention, but dodging out of the way–the man smirked before dodging another swing towards his stomach. Quickly reaching for his ax–he swung the massive chunks of metal vertically before hitting thin air. With a swift wrap-around, Alaine carried her momentum with the curvature of her blade which gripped solace in the flesh in where it wanted it to divide. CLANK! Though there was no sound of flesh being sliced and chopped; instead there was a clashing of metallic metal which filled the area with an empty whisper. “Well you’ve got quite the moves there missy; What? Your reflexes can’t catch up? Or are you really not as good as you think-” pulling both of their weapons away for a second–the fiery redhead only scoffed before saying, “Heh, let's test it then!”. With the two of them clashing again–I thought of how I could assist my colleague in this skilling gap of a ‘game’. It was then my eyes landed on her rifle; but without even lifting it off the ground–the sound of a gunshot drew my attention. With the twisting knot and turnature of my stomach breaking me from my reality–my strength flew out, and panic setted in. “No, no, no, no, no, not-not agai-” but before I got to fully thinking–I realized that the man pointed the magnum into the clouds, not towards my colleague. There were no signs of blood nor struggle either; it was then I realized my ‘unconscious’ colleague signaling her fingers–assigning me to obvert him away. Dripping with sweat I soon realized my position, puffing and huffing–the redhead man proudly said, “It's your turn you blue crayola” concentrating my thoughts–I quickly adjusted my mind. “If it's a fight you want, I won’t oppose the idea” raising my guarded hands–the sweat that slid down the side of my cheek only told of my worries.
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