Deadman

I jumped from cover, finished unloading the gun I’d picked up, and tossed it to the side, bringing the third one up and firing with it as I ran toward the bus. Two women, one with a machete and another with a sledgehammer, leapt at me from behind cover. I was forced to block the sledge with the center of my rifle, bending it beyond repair, and received a nasty slice across my back. I grimaced, taking it silently and kicked the woman with the sledge at the knees, shattering one of them, and sending her to the floor. The one with the machete swung again at me, and this time I dodged, grabbing her wrist and drawing her close to me just in time to use her as a shield for a hail of bullets. I tossed her to the side, rolling and picking up the sledge as I did so.

I was pinned, just halfway to my goal on the bus. I needed to reach it before it left. There was a chance that the Khan and his forces weren’t in place to intercept it again, and after what Jantai had put me through, I refused to let her slip through our fingers. With no gun though, I was going to be mowed down before I could make it far enough, and I could hear more Widows moving to flank me. Luckily, I still had a trick up my sleeve. looking at the sledge in my hands, I dialed the knob on my wrist tech on and saw the faint shimmering that meant the shield was active in front of it. I hadn’t thought of it in the heat of the moment, but I’d managed to claw some semblance of critical thought back to the forefront. I lunged out of cover and raised up my arm, watching a number of bullets slam into the air in front of me before falling to the ground harmlessly. I moved toward the nearest of those flanking me, dropped the hammer onto her skull, then moved on to the next, making my way closer to the bus. I scooped up her pistol and slung it into my holster, as I turned and ran toward the bus, with maybe nine widows in my way.

I activated my abilities quickly, keeping one frozen, while I moved on another, and keeping them all highlighted in my vision with my arrest ability. I was surrounded by a crescent moon of raiders, and my shield was nearly empty, but I gritted my teeth. Between my healing factor and abilities I knew I could make it onto the bus, but what was after that, I wasn’t sure.

Very suddenly, all six of the remaining Widows between me and the bus were down with shots to their heads and chests. It was over so quickly it almost seemed as if the sound of the gunshots that hit them sounded out after they’d already dropped. I turned around and saw Deux, a smile still on his face as he slammed six more rounds into his revolver with an old fashioned clip, then took a small vial of something he shoved up his nose and inhaled deeply before giving me a jaunty wave and dropping a few more raiders the instant their heads peaked out of cover.

I gave him a nod, and started back on my run toward the bus, noticing a couple of dead Widows that had been hiding behind cover, now with arrows sticking out of them, a few still gasping for breath. The bus was starting to move, I leapt, managing to grab on to the rear of it as it left the garage. I learned from me last time, and crawled up to the top of the bus as it gained speed. I drew the pistol from my waist, keeping the sledgehammer in the other one, and holding on to the top of the bus with just two fingers and some grit. I could see the highlighted forms of a few of the Widows on the bus who I must’ve tagged with my ability before they’d gotten on board. Based on their positioning, they didn’t realize I was on the bus. The gunfire and chaos in the camp granted me cover. I risked a look back and saw that there were still dozens of raiders in the camp. I needed to take care of things quickly if I was going to be able to go back to help Deux and the Rens. There was still the possibility of the Khan arriving any moment, but I didn’t like to trust the possibility of outside help.

I dragged myself slowly to a small open vent at the top of the bus and peaked inside. I started marking everyone I could see for arrest, counting more than twenty on the crowded bus, all armed and dangerous. The last time I’d climbed into the bus, it was at the far end allowing them all to focus fire on me, but this time it wouldn’t be so easy.

I dropped down into the bus in the middle, emptying the entire magazine of the pistol as I did so, taking down four of them before they could even react. I bashed a fifth one in the head with the butt of my pistol, dropping it as I did so before I went to work with the hammer. I brought it down on two more of them before someone tried shooting. They missed, and shot a woman behind me, after which I froze her and kicked her in the chest hard enough to knock her and those behind her backwards.

At this point the dozen or so left, got wise and drew knives, bats, and chains to attack me with. I smiled, showing all my teeth, blood running down my cheek.

“Come ON!” I yelled, surprising them and myself.

The first of them charged, and I blocked her bat before jamming the top of the sledge into her jaw. Another stabbed at me with a combat knife and I dropped the sledge, grabbing her arm and breaking it before slamming her face into the bus wall. After that three of them rushed me at one tackling me into the freshly bloodstained wall. I felt that same surge of energy I’d had before rush through me, and I pushed all three of them back, throwing them with enough force to dent the bus wall on the other side. I stomped on one's head, catching a chain flung at my face as I did and yanking that woman toward me, headbutting her, then I swung the heavy chain into another’s chest, crushing ribs and sending her to the floor.

By the end of it, I was panting with a pile of dead, or dying Widows at my feet. I winced as I realized I had three knives sticking out of me. I yanked each of them out, not even feeling it as I was flooded with adrenaline and rage. Surprisingly the bus was still moving. I leaned over to pick up a revolver from one of the corpses, then moved toward the driver's seat where I saw Jantai driving calmly.

“Well, guess they couldn’t quite handle you huh?” she asked rhetorically.

“Guess not,” I said, pulling back the hammer. “Pull over.”

“So, getting shot, stabbed, and tortured doesn’t seem to work on you. Well, that leaves at least one thing I can try.”

“What’re you-”

She swung the steering wheel hard to the right and the entire bus lurched. There was a moment of weightlessness as we were launched into the air, and then all I saw was rolling seats, flying corpses, and blood as the bus slammed across what remained of the old world road. I remained mercilessly conscious, bashed against the walls of the bus, slammed by the corpses of the Widows I’d killed. In the end I was flung out of a window and onto the hard ground.

All, but one of my arms was a twisted mess, and I took a moment to cough up some blood.

“Fuck.”

I bent my limbs back one at a time, nearly losing consciousness as everything knitted itself back into some semblance of a humanoid shape. I stood, and lumbered over to the bus. It was a wreck, broken glass was everywhere, as were various bodyparts from its former commuters. My vision was tinged red as I saw them, and I could feel my mouth watering, but I moved on, resisting the urge to stop.

Halfway out of the front windshield was Jantai, her breathing seemed labored, and blood was trickling from the side of her mouth. She laughed as I approached. “I even threw a damned bus at you.” She raised her hand weakly and wiped her hand on her mouth. “So what’re you going to do lawman? Arrest me?”

I shook my head. “Not how the law works out here.” I drew my gun and went to aim for her heart, I knew the Khan would want her head.

She suddenly shot up and fired a pistol at me, shooting ten rounds into my body, and firing more afterward, the gun clicking impotently.

I stumbled back, the red haze around my vision closing in further. “You idiot.” I managed to grunt. “This could’ve been quick for you.” Then the red took me.