Black Market Merchant

Lisa gripped her katana’s hilt tightly. “Dixon, change of plans! Follow behind me and get those napalm canisters ready. Bell, hold out here for another minute then signal Yin. I might need help by then.”

Lisa turned quickly to leave the dam’s front lines to then cross the powerhouse building’s parking lot at breakneck speeds. She didn’t even slow down as she leapt over the barbed wire fence with a single bound. While briefly airborne, Lisa saw the situation John, Hanna and the others were in. She ended up summing the problem in an instant, it was not looking good.

John and the rest of the townspeople were burdened by their belongs and young children. They were already lagging in the wake of the other distinct group of people. Just before Lisa landed halfway down the hill, she spotted their arm bands telling her they were Mad Dogs. Though fully armed, they all looked ready to drop dead at any moment. If she didn’t hurry, they were not going to make it to the dam.

Lisa hit the sandy hillside and kept right on running at full speed as if there were no incline at all. Flicking her katana out to reach full length she carried it horizontally behind herself in preparation to swing it. A bullet whizzed over head to strike a Night Hound that was gaining on the fleeing townspeople, Zane was now providing support and it gave her the time needed to reach them.

Hugo was starting to lose consciousness. His vision was fading in and out causing his limbs to not want to keep on moving. The blue bandana gangster was basically carrying him at this moment as they ran. Reaching the hillside, the two of them quickly fell behind the rest and were now last.

Hugo felt a tug on his boot as its laces caught onto a craggy rock. This caused him to lose his already fumbling balance and fall. The added dead weight of Hugo falling caused the blue bandana gangster to lose his grip entirely and Hugo began rolling back downhill.

Rolling over twice Hugo grunted with exhaustion and pain before coming to a skidding stop in the sand on his back. Knowing he was about to die; Hugo went to pull the long knife off from his belt and prepare to stab the first Twisted that dared attack him. What happened next to Hugo, for the rest of his life, he would never forget.

A Logos Cutter was already pouncing downwards at him as he came to a standstill. The Logos Cutters fangs were stark white, its tan raggedy hair was fluttering in the wind, the enraged black eyes of the beast staired into the depths of his mind, and its claws that were larger than his own knife. All this spelled death for him. The image of this falling, maddened Twisted, backed by the deep blue sky, was painted into his mind.

Then, as if he was seeing things happen in slow motion, a blackened blade entered the Twisted’s mouth and traveled cleanly through the head, torso, and hind legs of the Logos Cutter so perfectly that it split in two equal parts. A spray of hot, black blood and bits of guts splattered onto Hugo as the split body of the Logos Cutter landed on either side of him. Holding onto this blade was a tall, fair skinned woman with glossy black hair that was charging straight for the oncoming hoard. In the tinniest moment Hugo saw her face, he saw not one hint of fear or hesitation. This was his first impression of Lisa Cunningham, the Queen.

Lisa pressed onwards to slash at a Night Hound’s middle before turning sharply in the direction of the group of struggling townspeople. Benny and Richard were at the rear, shooting occasionally behind them as they ran. Richard looked to have already taken a hit and his arm was bleeding heavily.

“Keep running!” Lisa shouted as she passed by them to get between them and the oncoming Twisted.

She then grabbed, barehanded, a Logos Cutter by the neck as it leapt at her as a Night Hound too was also swinging its long claws at her legs. Lisa responded by throwing the Logos Cutter’s body at the oncoming Night Hounds head. The two bodies collied and knocked both to the ground. Unable to follow up and kill them, Lisa was assaulted by another Night Hound from her right. Its serrated mouth snapped at her extended throwing arm, but it missed only by centimeters.

Lisa then knocked the Night Hound on the side of its elongated head with her elbow before turning back to catch the mouth of another Night Hound’s claws with her katana’s blade. The previous Logos Cutter had been slain on impact, but the three other Night Hound’s had her surrounded. Unperturbed, Lisa held her katana’s hilt with both hands as she spun around clockwise to decapitate all three monsters in one swing.

Matching her impressive display of power, Zane sent bullet after bullet down range to ravage the Twisted trying to get around Lisa. Thanks to the amazing scope the sniper was equipped with, he almost never missed a shot. The two’s combined attack created enough space between the Twisted and humans for their escape to become possible.

Hugo was barely able to watch as Lisa continued to press deeper into the oncoming monsters, killing all in her path as she went. It seemed impossible to him to imagine any human taking on the Twisted in such a reckless manner. The last thing he recalled before passing out was the blue bandana gangster’s face as he returned to pick him up and the back of Lisa.

“Get through the gate! Come on, move!” John yelled as they entered the powerhouse property by way of the hidden west gate.

Both the townspeople and Mad Dogs flooded through the hidden entrance within the crushed car wall without a second thought. As the last child passed through, John looked back to see Lisa mowing down the monsters. There was already a sand-stained path of black bloodied bodies lying behind her as she was still moving deeper into the oncoming Twisted. He then closed the hidden gate in disbelief that she was a human just like himself and that she alone could pull off fighting that kind of fighting style.

John looked around him at the exhausted and in some cases sprawled out on the ground, people that he had help bring back to the dam. Then being drawn to the sound of gunfire at the dam his heart sank when he saw the flood of Twisted nearly stampeding over those defending there. It looked like the Twisted were about to crash into the defending line and end any chance of their survival.

Then he saw Bell waving her arms wildly. At first, he thought she was yelling at the others to start running and he prepared to turn and reopen the hidden gate. Then he caught a glimpse of someone in the powerhouse building’s entrance copying Bell’s actions. He stopped turning just in time to see and hear the Twisted let out a collection of wails and roars.

“W-what? They stopped crossing the dam. Why?” Kirk wheezed as he too saw what had transpired.

“I-I don’t know.” John panted in reply. “The defending line also stopped shooting at them. I have no idea what is going on anymore!”

“John!” A voice called from behind him.

Slightly bewildered, John looked back through the chain link fence at Lisa running his way. The Twisted were pursuing her still, but they were being far outpaced. In their hunger they stopped to cannibalize their fallen kind and had yet to reach the bottom of the hill. He then was dumbstruck as she leapt over the entire barbed wire fence and landed softly on her feet next to him.

As soon as she landed, Lisa yelled upwards. “Bomb them now Dixon!”

Passing overhead was the rumble of a Hover Bike as Dixon and 56 prepared to strike. The Twisted were just coming up the sandy hill when numerous metal cylinders came tumbling down. One Night Hound looked up just as one of these cylinders struck its forehead. The cylinder burst into liquid napalm flames, engulfing the Night Hound before spreading to those behind. Likewise, the rest of the napalm canisters exploded to wash red flames and deep black smoke over the entire western side of the sandy hill.

Zane was still sniping from above on the green powerhouse roof and shot down the few Twisted that were ahead of the napalm explosions. John and those that were also watching were relieved to now see this wall of flames had completely stopped the Twisted. This, however, was only going to last until either the Twisted passed around the flames or until the flames eventually died out.

Lisa surveyed the current state of the battle and saw that the electrical lines were still on and shocking the hoard on the dam. The defenders there were finishing up reloading and preparing to reengage. Then looking over the people that had just arrived Lisa was happy, but warry, to see many of them had weapons still.

Lisa turned to John. “John, get those unable to fight into the dam tunnel. Everyone has already left there, and it is empty. Once you are done, I need you for something else.”

“Alright.” John sighed with both relief they escaped and disappointment his job was not done.

“Which one of you is leading the Mad Dogs?” Lisa called out turning back to face the gangsters.

“Well, it was Hugo.” The blue bandana gangster replied. “But as you can see, he has passed out. Do you have any bandages or medical supplies? He has been fighting with an arrow in his back all this time.”

Lisa was curious to hear he had such an injury. “How did that happen?”

“We were fighting the Skull on the other side of town and just as the Twisted attacked us out of nowhere, he was shot from behind.” The blue bandana gangster replied.

Lisa came over and inspected the broken arrow. “Wow, I have to admit that I am impressed he lived this long. I’ll see what I can do. Take him into the big building and ask for a woman named Joan to help him.”

“Alright. Can someone help me carry him?” The blue bandana gangster called to the rest of the gang.

It was at this time Bell had come across the parking lot to speak with Lisa. “What are we going to do now? I heard the Twisted are attacking us from the back. Should we split our forces in two?”

“No.” Lisa replied shaking her head. “Keep everyone where they are. Do you know how to pick a lock?”

“Um, yes, I do. I learned how when I was being trained for security work.” Bell replied.

“Good.” Lisa answered. “I need you to go and get the truck parked in the back of the powerhouse building. Get inside of it anyway you can. The fire won’t fend off the Twisted for much longer and the fence is to weak and long to defend well. We will need all the extra firepower we can to hold them off.”

As Bell hurried away, Lisa faced the Mad Dogs. “Alright you tired mutts. You are going to have to follow my instructions perfectly if you want to live! Anyone that doesn’t will get us all killed.”