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[center][i][h3]Earlier[/h3][/i][/center]
Sam did his best to move softly in the growing night. He’d been tracking an ex-Legion Raiding party for close to a week now, purely of his own accord; he’d discovered the remains of a small caravan, 3 adults 4 children, all butchered…among other indignities, and marked with Legion iconography. The group hadn’t been bothering to hide their tracks, so the only reason it had taken this long to catch up was the head start they’d had. 

Now he picked his way slowly through the scrub, ever so often catching a hit of wood smoke and voices that bit by bit grew louder. Bearing wide of the camp once he saw it not too far off, he made his way along a nearby ridge until he found himself overlooking the raider’s overnight camp. It was a small party of four, sitting around their fire, eating and talking about how they ‘struck a blow’ against the profligates and bragged to each other about what they had done. It took almost all his self-control not to open fire right then, but they were all still awake and in the ensuing confusion one might escape and he wasn’t going to allow that. Instead he made himself rest in his perch, try and quiet the voice that raged for their deaths, and waited for the right time.

To his surprise he actually dozed off, though he only realized he’d done so after he woke up to the sounds of the sentries below him trading off. It was now well into the night and the moon was now starting to set, though it would still be a while before dawn. Shifting forward he brought his rifle to bear, flicking the switch to run it on ‘hot shot’ mode; he didn’t want to take chances.

Below him, the newly awoken sentry stood before the embers of their fire and stretched, his back to Sam’s position, what little glow remained enough to just outline him in Sam’s eyes. Sam settled the sights and fired, closing his eyes as he did to save his night vision. He’d intended to kill his target outright, but several factors interfered and instead the flash of energy struck the Legionnaire in the small of his back and burned a hole straight through skin and bone.

The man screamed in pain and terror as he pitched forwards, unable to stop himself from falling into the embers.[color=54C571][i]One.[/i][/color] The recently relieved sentry, still being partially awake most likely, reacted faster than his still sleeping companions, though that just sealed his fate faster. A twitch of movement in the gloom caught Sam’s eye and he fired again, this time hitting his target square in the face killing him instantly. [color=54C571][i]Two.[/i][/color] Over the screams of the first man, he heard crashing in the brush and realized the two sleepers were trying to run.

The low moon was casting deep shadows, and either on purpose, or through sheer luck the pair had bolted into a low crease that gave them decent concealment from Sam’s position. He lanced the dark with a couple of speculative shots at likely targets, his third one drawing another shout. [color=54C571][i]Three.[/i][/color] He was annoyed that it looked like the last one would escape, he could still hear someone crashing through the scrub, but the shadows were too deep to see anything, when he heard a short ‘yelp’ of surprise followed by more crashing and then quiet. [color=54C571][i]Four.[/i][/color]

Picking his way down, he swapped to his pistol and went to investigate the camp. His first target had stopped screaming, having lost consciousness even though he still lay on the coals, he wouldn’t last much longer. After confirming the fate of his second target, he cautiously followed after the remaining two. The third one he appeared to have hit in the upper back, possibly through the heart and left lung as he was dead by the time Sam got to him. The fourth he found just as dawn broke, laying at the bottom of a small crevasse having obviously fallen while running at full speed.

Both his legs were at decidedly unhealthy angles and smears of blood marked his passage down. Following the sounds of wounded sobbing, Sam stuck his head over the edge of the drop and looked down. Upon seeing the dark silhouette of Sam, the Legionnaire called out between gasps of pain. [color=yellow]“Bastard..just...just end already…”[/color] Before he could reply, Sam heard a sound, geckos, probably awoken by the noise and smell of blood. It was still a bit too cool for them to be very active, but once the sun was up they’d be swarming this whole area. The Legionnaire had heard the sound too, fear now etched on his pain wracked face. [color=yellow]“P-please…just do it…you can’t, [i]you can’t leave me like this![/i]”[/color]

Sam studied him for a moment then shrugged. [color=54C571]”Why not?”[/color] He said before turning away, it would still be awhile before it was warm enough for the geckos and he wanted to be well away from here before then. Tuning out the shouting and invectives from behind him he started making his way North.