Black Market Merchant

"Get that spool rolling faster and keep the zigzag pattern as tight as you can!” Lisa yelled from atop her perch on the dam’s lakeside wall.

Tayvon and Willis were once again charged with moving the electric wire spool across the dam’s road. They had no idea as to why, only that Lisa had made them do it. After seeing so many people fleeing the from the eastern part of town they didn’t question her one bit.

“Yin, I need you and your non-combatants to be ready to distribute the ammo and reload magazines right now.” Lisa continued as she turned to look back at the powerhouse buildings sliding door entrance. “Start unboxing all the ammo now and figure out who goes to help out where.”

“I-I will try!” Yin squeaked both nervous and excitedly. She then hurried about with a dozen others, mainly women, to do as Lisa wanted.

“Bell, are the last of the people from the east part of town gone out from the dam tunnel and the immediate area?” Lisa yelled towards the western perimeter gate.

“They are gone. There are a lot of people coming from the south on this side of town though. Their numbers keep rising but I am not sure why.” Bell called back.

“Ok, assign a lookout to keep an eye on the situation.” Lisa answered. Then thinking to herself, “That better not be what I think is going on. If the Twisted are on that side too, I worry we might end up getting sandwiched by the Hoard on two fronts. Then there is John and Hanna, they went back that way to get Mary and the others. I hope they are alright and escaping north by now.”

She then shook her head to clear her thoughts and focus on the issue at hand. Looking up at the green roof of the powerhouse building she called out, “Zane, are you in place yet?”

Zane was just then taking off the last box of .50cal sniper ammo from Gillian’s hover bike. He set it down on the green roofs second level, just below the busted-out skylight, and called back, “All set, just need to lay into position.”

“Good, you will be targeting the larger Twisted and those that seem like trouble. Be sure to aim for the head or eyes. Nowhere else seems to be affective.” Lisa added. “Dixon, how much time do we have?”

Dixon raised his watch to communicate with Party Badger and a moment later her replied with a somber expression. “Party Badger says that at any second they will be breaking past her. She can’t hold them off anymore.” He stopped and listened to another message from his watch. “Sam just told me the baby Hoard Mother might be coming into view and that is where the main swarm of monsters are located!”

Lisa looked back across the dam to see the white head of the baby Hoard Mother high above the tree line. Its three pairs of red eyes were angrily watching Party Badger shooting at the Twisted encircling itself. Party Badger was doing her best to swing her sword at the smaller Twisted with one hand so that she would not be overrun by the them as they tried slashing at her legs and trying to get onto her main body. Party Badger was also using her other hand to shoot at the larger Twisted, however, her attention was too scattered for her to aim properly and many of her bullets ended up being blocked by the Land Octopus.

The Land Octopus’s were acting as the vanguard for the hoard and protecting the Plain Striders and baby Hoard Mother from getting hurt with their hardening technique. This was also the main reason for the hoards slow advance and why the human’s we able to escape across the dam so easily. The smaller Twisted too didn’t stray faraway from the baby Hoard Mothers sight. It seemed that the baby Hoard Mother was being warry of the woods around her and keeping an eye out for humans that may have been hidden within.

Party Badger stopped moving backwards for one moment as she reached the woodlands edge. There was a Night Hound that had managed to climb onto her back, and it was gnawing at the back cover of her left shoulder’s rotator cuff. The Night Hound’s bite must have been triggering a warning to notify Tammy inside and cause her to focus on removing the threat instead of retreating.

The baby Hoard Mother saw this as its chance. Letting out a rumbling roar the neck of the massive white baby Hoard Mother started to quickly stretch outwards at the Hunter Mech. The gaping double mouths of the monster’s alligator like head chomped down onto the Mech’s leg and groin area at the same time, affectively stopping the Mech from moving.

Party Badger responded by wriggling her Mechs body from side to side in an attempt to break free. The light metal armor of the Hunter Mech groaned in response and tear some as the Hoard Mothers teeth dug deeper into the machine. Frustrated, Party Badger tried to shoot at the elongated neck, but the baby Hoard Mother quickly hardened its body. The bullets were able to some damage the beast as numerous holes appeared along the neck, but only a little blood oozed out from each hit.

The skin of the baby Hoard Mother was formidable already, but not impenetrable like its adult form. Sam saw all this and acted fast by flying over top of the core of the Twisted. Reaching into his satchel he pulled out an Armadillo buster bomb, armed it, and threw it down at the main body of the baby Hoard Mother.

There was a tremendous ‘boom’ that irrupted atop of the baby Hoard Mothers scaly torso which was soon followed by a huge puff of fire and smoke. The wounded Twisted let go of the Hunter Mech with an agonizing wail! Its neck recoiled as the huge monster staggered about. However, as the smoke cleared every hopeful eye watching the fight unfold was frustrated to see that the bomb had only seared off the scaly skin and some flesh right between its shoulder blades.

Seeing their leader hurt, a Land Octopus attacked Sam with its long, black, and red extending arms. Sam was being warry of this kind of response and he was already flying far overhead to outpace the Octopus’s reach. Likewise, another Land Octopus started to use its suction cupped arms to climb on top of the baby Hoard Mother and shield the exposed area with its own body until the baby Hoard Mother skin regenerated. Party Badger saw what its intentions were and took aim at the wounded baby Hoard Mothers back.

Bursting out from the woods to her left, a Plain Strider that had been sent ahead of time by the baby Hoard Mother, tackled the Hunter Mech with its horns. The Hunter Mech fired as it was toppled over by the impact. None of the bullets found their mark.

The Plain Strider started to pound and headbutt at the Hunter Mech pined to the ground beneath itself with it massive horns. Party Badger lifted her sword and tried to block the blows as best she could, but it was a loosing battle. The situation was looking dire for her when a stream of bullets struck the Plain Striders head causing the Twisted to back away from the Mech. Dixon had left the powerhouse building and was now joining the fray.

“Get out of here Tammy!” Dixon called over the intercom. “Act like you are running away and hide in the woods nearby. Wait for Lisa’s signal and do exactly what we discussed before.”

The Party Badger started to rise back to its feet using the sword as a crutch. There were numerous areas of crushed armor, torn coverings, and several spots where wires were sticking out. The Hunter Mech was in bad shape. However, as soon as she got to her feet Party Badger swatted at the Plain Strider with her sword. The counterattack struck the Twisted’s kneecap and it crumpled to the ground.

“Fine!” Tammy’s voice wined. “I can’t believe that I was being beaten so badly by these monsters. I have fought way worse monsters!”

“You were never good at defending, attacking is what suits you best, but never mind that.” Dixon answered. “Just start running.”

Lisa watched as the Hunter Mech lumbered off into the woods by the lake before turning to address those that had chosen to stay. Zane, Sadie, Bell, Mr. Hans, Yin, Gillian, Nathan, Tayvon, Willis, Eva, Wayne, Jacob, Mr. Yates, Dan, Jennifer, Henry, and Orin were among the nearly two hundred people that were brave enough to stay at the dam and fend off the Twisted. There were people from the East River Militia, escapees from the underground factory, and other areas of town that had all come together to fight for a common goal. All were armed and ready to protect the town, their home, that they loved.

“We don’t have much time.” Lisa started to say as an angry sounding rumble came from the baby Hoard Mother. “We need to stop them here, at the dam, with everything we got. If all goes according to my plan, we can delay the Twisted just long enough to give our friends and families escaping to the north time to get away. I am proud to see so many of you willing to lay your life on the line to help. You all remind me of the soldiers I used to fight alongside of, and this makes me so proud!”

As she spoke to the crowd her grey eyes wondered from person to person. Everyone looked to be a mixture of scared, tense, worried, angry, or excited. Even Jerry was eagerly coming forward to the front of the crowd. Wait, Jerry?!

Stopping right in the middle of her encouraging speech, Lisa pointed at Jerry who had appeared out of nowhere. “What are you doing here?”

Jerry seemed to not be fully aware of the situation. He had only just entered the powerhouse building’s property moments ago and he hadn’t seen the Twisted across the river yet either. All he could see was those crowding around Lisa and knew he had to give her the deed’s file.

Jerry finished coming up to Lisa and lifted the yellow file to her. “Here you go, this is for you. Jackson also says, ‘Good luck.’”

Totally confused by what he was doing, Lisa curiously took the folder and opened it. Scanning the contents quickly Lisa slowly smiled and began to laugh a little. Her laughter suddenly got the better of her and she began to shake with laughter. Everyone watching this shifted uneasily unsure what was happening.

“Ah, I am sorry everyone.” Lisa said pulling herself together. Her smile was a refreshing sight as she spoke. “We defiantly can’t lose and there is no going back now! This paper now gives me full control of the dam and the power it produces. We can not only just hold back the Twisted, let us completely destroy them! The future of this town and our livelihoods is going to be assured and bright if we win. Let’s get ready to battle!”

The unexpected announcement from Lisa and what she might be referring too was hard to process at first. They all were expecting a hard battle to the end and the prospects of a bright future was not something they were expecting to think about. But one by one everyone lifted their fists into the air and cheered. They were all given an odd sense of hope.

That is until the sounds of Twisted screeches, warbles, and roars coming from the dam brought their excitement to an end. Lisa turned to look at the hoard as the first of the Twisted stepped onto the bridge. There was a new fire lit in her grey eyes and with the deed in her hand she could almost smell the money she had planned to make from this town. There was no way she was going to let these stupid monsters ruin her chance at a new life!