Black Market Merchant

“You are safe now.” Lisa said softly to the woman as she set her gently onto the platform.

“T-thank you…” The woman sobbed as she clutched her two sons tightly.

“How did you get here?” Nathan asked still bewildered by what just happened.

“The two you sent to the cliff told me where you were headed. I just followed the sounds of gunfire and saw what was going on and a good thing too.” Lisa answered.

“I-I tried to save her myself…” Nathan started to say but Lisa cut him off.

“We all know you were trying your best and no one is going to blame you, everything ended up just fine. I wouldn’t expect half hungry civilians to be able to deal with creatures like those without someone being killed every now and then.” Lisa then looked down at the three angry Logos Cutters. “Geez those things are ugly. Normally fuzzy bunnies are cute but add dagger claws and frothing mouths full of razor blade teeth, and they are downright nightmares.”

Nathan knew she was right, but he hated the fact of his own incompetence. Looking down at his scrawny arms, shriveled by malnutrition, he seethed to himself. “I want to get better, so that I won’t ever fail like that again. I need to be a better leader.” contemporary romance

Just then Lisa jumped across to the silo. All three Logos Cutters screeched, almost cheerily, seeing that a human was coming towards them. One of the Twisted jumped back onto the silo and started climbing eagerly for Lisa. Lisa casually watched the creatures and took her katana of its magnetic sheath and opened it to half length.

“What are you doing? Get back here, you can’t take on those things yourself!” Orin called from below.

Nathan was thinking the same thing at first. Then he recalled the speed of which she swung the katana at the water bottle during her demonstration back at the warehouse. Perhaps she could indeed somehow fight off the Twisted. Still, it was hard to imagine her wining without taking damage. After all, Orin and the others couldn’t kill them with gun just moments before.

“This will be over in a second.” Lisa called nonchalantly back while not taking her eyes off the creature climbing up towards her. “This is not my first fight with the Twisted.”

The Logos Cutter was nearly halfway up the silo now. Its long claws left deep puncture marks behind in the aluminum proving how dangerous it would be to fight such a monster up close. Lisa didn’t care, rather she seemed to be taking her time.

Lisa took a step forward so that her toes hung over the silo’s edge and then raised her katana with both hands out lengthwise next to her. The tipping forwards Lisa dropped over the edge, heading straight for the climbing Twisted. The Logos Cutter look up in surprise as Lisa fell upon it and as her blade cleanly sliced off his head. Lisa then came crashing down onto the second Logos Cutter with her boots with such force that the meter tall, smaller creature was flattened instantly.

Letting out a screech the third Logos Cutter leapt at Lisa’s backside, aiming for her blind spot. Lisa popped up from her landing position and grabbed, barehanded, the Logos Cutter under its jaw. She then bolted up, still holding the struggling creature, and spun around towards the silo’s wall before the creature could attack her. She then slammed the creature against the wall, caving in the metal and smashing the Logos Cutter like a bug on a windshield.

“Well, today was not a great day to wear a white T-shirt.” Lisa sighed as she looked down at her black blood splattered shirt. “So, where are we going to next?”

Lisa looked at the others gawking at her through the fence. She had just performed an amazing feat so effortlessly and fast they could not process it fast enough. All three Twisted were dead in seconds!

“Come on now. Its not nice to stare.” Lisa chided jokingly.

“We, uh, we should get this lady here patched up at the cliff.” Nathan stammered. “We don’t have any medical supplies with us.”

“I’ll do that.” Orin called up to Nathan. “I think I’ve seen enough crazy stuff for now.”

“Did you come alone?” Nathan asked Lisa as he helped the wounded woman to her feet.

“No, half of the ERM forces sent to work at the slope are following after me. I just ran ahead and got here first.” Lisa answered pointing in the direction of the cliff. “See, there they are.”

Nathan reached the bottom of the conveyor belt and handed the woman over to Orin’s care. Then looking where Lisa pointed, he could see a dozen men coming their way. They all were armed and looked ready to fight. Unlike those he had been leading, he noted that these militia men looked much more capable, and he couldn’t help but wonder why.

“We need to go to the warehouse headquarters immediately.” Nathan said to Lisa tossing aside his questions. “Mr. Flanagan hasn’t arrived at the cliff yet has he?”

“Not yet.” Lisa answered before turning to climb the silo’s ladder. “Is the warehouse not guarded?”

“Not really. We removed all the cars from the wall we made to the docks to then sell to the RGS. There is enough guns and ammunition to use there but the militia forces are scattered everywhere and very few were left at the warehouse.” Nathan said as he watched Lisa cross over the fence and hop off the platform to land on the ground by him.

“Alright then, lets go there immediately.” Lisa said patting his shoulder before passing by.

Nathan gulped nervously and thought, “She definitely is not like any girl I’ve ever met. I think I am starting to like tall women.” He then nodded and followed Lisa towards the newly arriving militia.

Moments later the two groups split, one was led by Orin to go for the cliff and the other being led by Nathan and Lisa with the fresh militia forces and a few from the first group now being reequipped with ammo. Nathan led the way through the streets taking the most direct route possible. They only encountered the Twisted once along the way. A pair of Night Hounds were scavenging the area when the group rounded a street corner and nearly collided into them. From this range the guns of the militia finished them off immediately. Fearing the sound of gunfire would attract more monsters like before, they hurried away from the area.

When they arrived at the warehouse, they were relieved to see that the area was not yet under attack and that people were flocking to the building from all directions. Word and sightings of the Twisted spread fast and everyone was desperate to seek shelter. The newly arriving militia had to almost force their way into the warehouse entrance to get to Mr. Flanagan who was being swamped by people pleading for help. With him were only a handful of ERM militia.

Nathan saw this and climbed up onto the nearest cargo box. “Everyone! Listen to me. I am Mayor Dees, and I must tell you all now that this place is no longer safe. We need to leave for the cliff and there we can be able to defend you all safely.”

“Why would we go to the cliff? There is nowhere to hid or run from there. Do you intend to use us as bait and leave us behind?” Someone shouted.

Hearing this, a ruckus of shouts and cry of fear rippled out amongst the crowd pressing in on all sides of the warehouse building and entrance. Nathan waved his hands above him and tried to get their attention so he could explain. The fear absorbed crowd was not listening at all to him. Someone then climbed up onto a pile of box’s across the room and knocked them onto the floor. Then two men started shouting at each other before throwing a few punches.

Worried about the possibility of a riot breaking out, Lisa grabbed one of the rifles from a militia soldier and shot the gun once into the air. People nearby screamed and dropped to the ground. For a moment everyone was silent enough for Nathan to speak.

“Hear me out! We have built a pathway up over the cliff during the past few days, and we can use it to get the high ground and fight the monsters better if they approach us.” Nathans calm voice drew the attention of most everyone and he was able to continue.

“We can’t all be safe if we waste anymore time here. The Twisted are likely just around the corner and I need all your cooperation if we are going to get through this. Over there are box’s of ammo and other supplies. The next room over is all the food we have left stored up and we need those supplies to be moved as well. Anyone able to carry a box please grab one and head for the cliff. Mr. Flanagan, I need you to lead the way to the cliff path right away with all the women and children. The militia will be the last to leave and guard our rear. Everyone please listen to the ERM, we are here to help.”

Overcoming their initial shock of the gun shot, the crowd stood up and organized into a somewhat manageable group. They had only just started to carry out these tasks when a low rumble reverberated throughout the warehouse. There was an instant uneasy feeling that settled on everyone present.

“Those of you with guns follow me.” Lisa commanded as she handed the rifle back to its owner. “Nathan, keep working. I’ll take care of things out there.”

“Thanks Lisa!” Nathan called before turning back to manage the people moving the supplies.

Lisa and the now two dozen armed militia filled outside onto the open parking lot. Looking around for the source of the rumbling, they saw that there was still a lot of people coming from the towns streets. Being on level ground with this crowd made it hard to see who was panicking from being possibly chased or just in a hurry to flee the area.

That is when the rumble swept across the parking lot once more and this time Lisa could hear where the sound was coming from. “Everyone, start moving towards the left side of the parking lot. Spread out in a line and stay two meters apart. If you see anything that is not human, shoot it! Just be sure not to hit anyone escaping in the process.”

Almost a split second after Lisa said this a woman’s scream from ahead announced the cause of the rumble. A massive red fleshy head appeared from behind a building at almost a full story high. The red head’s long horns crashed into a building corner and sent rubble crashing all around is hooved timber like legs. It was a Planes Strider!

“What in the world?!” Lisa shouted. “Open fire at that monster now!”

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