Black Market Merchant

Nathan could not believe his eyes. There was an actual Hunter Class Mech standing before him. Today was getting out of hand and if he didn’t know better today might as well have been a dream or nightmare.

There was an electric engine sound coming from above and Nathan looked up to see two Hover Bikes following behind the Party Badger. One of the bikes had a huge man with an equally large beard to match driving it. Following behind him were two other young men, one had on a green hoody on and the other was holding a large sniper rifle.

The bearded man stopped overhead of the Party Badger and yelled down, “Tammy! Less talking more shooting! Look, the Twisted are nearly up the path!”

“Ok, ok!” The woman’s electric voice replied from the Mech.

The Party Badger raised the Mechanized 76.2mm Rifle in its hands and pointed it at the lead Plain Strider that was swiftly approaching Jake’s defensive line. The Mech’s rifle shot out a three round burst that sounded so powerful that Nathan and the others nearby covered their heads out of fear that they were going to be shot by it. The burst of 76.2mm bullets struck the Plain Strider and punched a hole clean through the Twisted’s middle before blasting off a portion of the cliff beyond.

“Watch your aim!” Dixon shouted. “You almost hit humans that time. The three of us will handle the shooting, you get down their and deal with them with hand-to-hand combat.”

“Fine with me!” Party Badger cheered. She then quickly traded the rifle for the massive sword hanging on her back. Then leaning forwards, she jumped.

“Womp!”

There was an orange electrified pulse that shot out from behind the Mech, and it catapulted the mechanized monster high above the heads of everyone. The blast was nearly as stunning as the rifles gunshot and the shock from experiencing it for the first time knocked one man onto his butt. Arching back Party Badger raised her sword behind her as she sailed for the last of the three initial Plain Striders. The Plain Strider saw what had happened to the one in front of it and looked back to see what the cause was only to see Party Badgers sword coming down on its head!

Everyone watching let out a huge cheer for the Twisted didn’t stand a chance and it was slain in one single chop. The two-story tall Twisted had been stopped and in such an impressive way, no one could have ever dreamed that help would have come for them. The Party Badger grabbed the now headless Plain Strider by a leg and chucked it at the path teaming with Night Hounds and Logos Cutters. The dead corpse bowled down many of the Twisted and effectively slowed their advance, temporarily.

“Who are you people?” Nathan called out to Dixon still hovering above.

Dixon heard him and lowered his bike to just two meters above ground. “We are from the Moab City Hunters Clan. We were tracking the small Twisted Hoard coming this way to hunt it down. The name is Dixon, and I am sorry we couldn’t be here sooner.”

“I won’t blame you at all, in fact, as Mayor of this side of town, I thank you for coming at all!” Nathan said feeling the weight on his shoulders lift some.

“Oh, so you are the one in charge here. Well, this makes things easier. Can you tell us where the Hoard Mother is at?” Dixon asked.

“Hoard Mother?” Nathan repeated. “I am not sure what that is exactly.”

Then the man with the huge sniper rifle leaned out from behind Dixon and spoke. “You know the white one with the long neck and six legs. You can’t miss it.”

“Oh, its out there somewhere.” Nathan answered pointing below into the dust cloud.

“That figures.” Dixon sighed. “It is probably getting ready to make a big push to attack now. Otherwise, you all would have been overwhelmed by now.”

“Was it waiting? I thought it was sending the Twisted after us in full already.” Nathan said scratching his head.

“I hate to say this, but the hoard was probably finishing off every human corpse down there. Those monsters hadn’t eaten for days now.” Dixon said lowering his head.

Nathan gulped nervously. “So, what do we do then? Will your Hunter Mech be able to defend the path from the rest of the hoard for us? We will still do what we can to fight, though as you can see, we are ill equipped for fighting.”

“I’m not sure we can hold off them for much longer.” Dixon answered. “Tammy, our Mech pilot, is really skilled but we don’t know what Twisted types this Hoard Mother has with it or in what numbers. It would be best if you all could find refuge somewhere. Is there no place on the other side of the river everyone can hide, or did you just escape from that side?”

“We are from this side of the river and most of the women and children are already headed for the dam. As for the west side of town, we don’t control that area, the Mad Dogs gang does. They are not the nicest of people either and likely not willing to help us.” Nathan explained.

“I see. Sam, what can you tell me about the situation right now?” Dixon yelled looking above him at the other hover bike.

“The dust is too thick to see properly, but from the readings the tracker is giving the Hoard Mother is down there. As for the defenses on this cliff, not looking good. Those guys closer to the river are looking close to being overrun. The Twisted have nearly climbed to the top.” Sam called back as he looked at the scenery through his binoculars.

“Orin and the others can’t hold out much longer?” Nathan said with a worried look. He then turned around to look back towards the cliff. “Where is Gillian at?”

Just as Nathan asked this, Gillian was already pushing through the civilian crowding around Dixon’s hover bike. He heard Nathans voice and answered. “Care to fill me in on what is going on?”

Nathan shook his head. “No time to explain. I am going to be taking everyone here with me to help Orin. That man flying above say’s the Twisted are climbing the cliff and Orin can’t stop them.”

“Shouldn’t I go then? You all don’t have guns.” Gillian pointed out.

“No, I need to make sure the others are evacuating to the dam alright. Besides, if we fail to stop the Twisted then everyone with me will be unable to escape anywhere if we stay here, its best if we go that way now.” Nathan replied.

“Alright then, what about Lisa? She hasn’t come back yet.” Gillian asked looking down into the swirling dust.

Nathan had been so distracted by the Mech and Dixon that he totally forgot about her!

“I-I don’t know. Maybe you can try searching for her real quick while the Hunter Mech holds off the Twisted.” Nathan said.

“I can try. That is if you can get that Mech to do it?” Gillian said to Dixon.

“She can do it no problem. You won’t have much time I suspect; the Hoard Mother might appear any moment.” Dixon replied before calling on the intercom, “Party Badger get ready to move down the path and give these people some time to look for a comrade they are missing.”

Tammy’s voice radioed back, “No problem. These little Twisted are such a bore! When are the big ones coming?”

“Let’s get moving then. 56, Sam and I will also support you from the air. Wave to us if you find your missing person.” Dixon said as he pulled back on his bikes handles and the hover bike raised into the air.

Gillian turned back to go inform his team of what they were doing next. While Nathan started having everyone evacuate towards the dam. Moments later Gillian was about to start heading down the path to look for Lisa when Terisa stopped him.

“What are you doing?” Terisa said throwing her hands up with exasperation. “How am I going to block up the path again if you are going down there?”

“We won’t be long.” Gillian replied casually, though he was annoyed by her pestering. “We are going to look for Lisa really quick.”

“Pfft, leave that annoying woman be. She is probably already dead.” Terisa scoffed.

“No, she is not dead!” Hanna yelled from the door of her Mover Mech. “Aunt Lisa is strong, you’ll see!”

“Got you!” John said as he swung off the Mover Mech’s ladder to grab Hanna by the arm. She tried to pull away, but he easily extracted her from the cockpit. John then started to carry her down with Hanna being tucked under his arm. “We are going to cross the river right now. You are done playing hero.”

“But Aunt Lisa is still out there. I want to help search too!” Hanna whimpered.

There were tears brimming Hanna’s light green eyes and John forced himself not to look at them lest his mind be swayed. “Absolutely not. I am not letting you any closer to those monsters.”

“You can’t take her away just yet.” Terisa said crossing her arms defiantly. “I need her to finish blocking up the path again.”

“You can kiss my a**!” John yelled pointing a finger at her. “I saw what you ordered them to do before and I assure you that Hanna will never work with you again.”

Gillian sighed. “Come on guys lets go.”

Terisa was about to let out a furry of insults at both John and Gillian when another deep rumble from the baby Hoard Mother rang out. Only this time it sounded directly below them. They all looked down to see a white head with six red eyes looking up at them. The Hoard Mother had arrived!

A split second later the rumble was followed by a series of brays, screeches, and roars coming from the paths bottom. There were hundreds of Twisted monsters all rushing out from the dust cloud and onto the path. Leading them was the Plain Strider the Party Badger had first shot with her rocket. Its eyes were full of vengeful furry, and now aiming for the Party Badger.

“Ah ha! You think you can take me on, my little piñata?” Party Badger laughed. Tossing her heavy sword down with a plop onto the sand, she reached back and grabbed the bow-staff like weapon from off her back. “Well too bad! I am going to knock you into next year with this little baby right here!”

Turning a switch on the staff suddenly split into two parts and spread apart to cover the entire area in front of the Hunter Mech with a blue plasma field! The staff was a portable plasma shield, just like the one the Moab City used for its defenses, only smaller. The battery of the plasma shield was only able to last for ten minutes and would overheat if left on for longer than thirty seconds. This incredible shield was only supposed to be used in emergency situations or in a gunfight, but Tammy was planning to use it like a bat and club the charging hoard!

Just then, from within the swirling dust, just past the Party Badger, a figure leapt out from it to reach a height equal to that of the Hunter Mech’s head. It was Lisa!

She landed on the path and a puff of dust ringed around her. Without skipping a beat, she instantly started running at 65kmh down the path towards the Plain Strider. Gillian, Hanna, John, Tammy, Dixon, 56, and Terisa were stunned by the sight of her appearing and running at such incomprehensible speeds that no human moved.

Lisa zoomed down the path, spotted her katana’s hilt sticking out from the sand, grabbed it, and disappeared underneath the charging Plain Strider before the beast knew what just happened. Lisa reappeared on the other side of the Plain Strider with her katana raised high into the air. The Plain Strider stopped running as a giant gash appeared lengthwise on its belly and all its guts gushed out covered in black blood. Lisa had nearly split the Plain Strider in two with one swing!

Nathan was the only one to see Lisa’s face as she stopped moving after cutting the Twisted in half. He couldn’t get a clear look, but to himself he swore her eyes were glowing silver!