[h3][color=39b54a]Trevor "Shadow" Stevens[/color][/h3]

  The walk up to the fortified portion of town was rather uneventful, there were few dead wandering around and less living. This town of Arlington had a small settlement standing, tall enough walls that seemed to have been put up hastily and then fortified. The people were at least smart enough to tear down or burn out the surrounding homes and buildings next to their wall. This left little cover for about 25 yards from their wall to the rest of town.

  Trevor had been escorting Jain with one other kid he didn’t catch the name of, their mission was to establish communications and gain diplomatic entry into the town. Of course this didn’t come with its precautions, scouts and marksmen on the ridge with the Calvary out of sight but within striking distance. Going to meetings out in the open with little cover and in the mid-day sun wasn’t something he liked but Jain insisted he come along. He simply assumed that they might be more willing to open their doors to them if someone was there from another settlement that joined up.

  The talks seemed to be getting somewhere at least, yet he could smell the fear from these men. Trevor kept alert to their surroundings scanning and listening in on everything, he wasn’t carrying his spear, but he still had his other weapons. Some tingling feeling in the back of his mind made him uneasy as if many eyes were watching and something was coming. Then the report of a rifle and the thunder that echoed through the valley. The men in the tower seemed to jump and fire at the trio.

  He dove with the rest of them behind a brick wall and checked himself for injury, then the other two. The kid seemed fine but Jain got hit and was calling for something over the radio. More gunshots and distant screams from the ridge, quickly he looked from the ridge and back to Jain before turning and looking about the surrounding buildings. Movement from some buildings behind them, fast and only glimpses. “[color=39b54a]Scouts[/color]” he whispered before looking back to the kid and Jain, “[color=39b54a]I'm going to go clear our escape route.[/color]”

  Crouching up to the edge of the wall he used a small pocket mirror to see what the guards were up too. He seemed distracted, almost like they were arguing with someone behind the wall. Seeing his chance the man looked to Jain and smiled before taking off as fast as he could from cover to cover, putting as much space between him and the wall as he could.

  Once he reached the nearby buildings and wasn’t being shot at he paused to breath and drew his weapons. Holding his shield in his left hand and his sword in the other he glanced about the streets and buildings. Then something caught his eye, a small group of five unkempt and crazed looking men were arguing with each other. [u]“Forget the town we need to get back up on that hill that’s where the actions at[/u]” another interrupted, [u]“bosses orders were to distract the town until the others arrive”[/u] the biggest one there put a blade up to the last one to speak, [u]“Screw what the boss said, I'm ganna go kill some bitches whether you like it or not, now let’s go.”[/u] The others remained quiet as they began to head toward Trevor’s location, moving for the hill.

  The armored man waited and watched the group until they were almost upon him, hearing their ragged breathing he could tell they had been running for some time. Still, he waited, waited until two had passed before clothes lining the next man with the edge of his shield and slashing at the big man next to him. The sword bit into the man’s flesh at his right breast and cleaved through into his arm. With sudden blood loss the man fell and screamed. The other one he hit with the shield seemed to be unconscious and the last man charged forward only to be quickly cut down. A slash across his right shoulder to his left thigh saw to that. Blood and gore spilling from him and covering the armored man.

  A sharp pain in his leg had reminded him of the others, the first man he cut jabbed him in the side of his right leg with a small knife. With the pommel of his sword Trevor struck the man in the head rendering him motionless. The other two that passed had turned and come back, one swung at him with an old ax and the other had some sort of old pipe. He was able to block the first swing from the ax and get in close enough to pierce the man’s chest with his sword. But in doing so opened he up, and he received a hard hit to his back.

  He didn’t have time to pull his sword from the other man and instead turned striking the last man with his shield sending him to the ground. Without a second of hesitation he was on top of the man and proceeded to crush his skull with the edge of the shield. Slowly Trevor stood, breathing heavily he wiped some blood from his face and retrieved his sword making sure to dispatch the men before they could get up again. The first man he hit with the shield seemed to becoming out of his stupor in time to see this armored man kill his friends. But all he could do was beg and plead for mercy. “[color=39b54a]Stop your crying you have nothing to worry about[/color]” Trevor spoke with a stern tone. The man stopped crying and looked up at him from his knees, “[u]r-really?[/u]” all he received was a smile and a few words, and [color=39b54a]“of course, I don’t keep prisoners”[/color] the man’s face turned grim, “[u]w-w-what.[/u]” One more sword stroke quelled whatever whimper the man had left.

  Trevor sighed and began to patch his leg and check the rest of him, he could hear the Calvary now and decided to continue to head toward where they were going. Pushing through the pain in his leg and back the bloodied man continued on his way toward the sounds of battle. He could see some fighting going on up near the scouts and only hoped that they were okay, but right now he had to focus. He had gotten sloppy which resulted in him getting struck twice. But, at least now he had a focus for his unchecked rage.

[@RumikoOhara]