“BURN, YOU FUCKS!”
That was the only warning to the torrent of flames that assailed the bar-top the trio huddled behind, flames licking dangerously close as heat and smoke assailed them. The sounds of chaos were all around them, the sounds of gunshots, the screams of the dead and the dying and the crackling of the flames that were slowly consuming the building all around of them. Redding hurled a threat at bitch face and Annelise shot a look of bewilderment at the other man – was this guy for real? His shit had dragged all of them into this mess and now he was taunting the woman that was about to turn them all into extra crispy bits of jerky. She watched as he scrambled around grabbing two bottles and some rags, initially she thought he wanted to get drunk before he got dead, but she watched as he turned them into makeshift fire-bombs in a few moments before he twisted and stared at them.
“I'm going to throw these, you two're going to start shooting at that crazy bitch down there with the flamethrower” he instructed before hurling them. There was hardly time to think let alone time for niceties, but despite that Annelise couldn’t help but feel a prang of irritation at the way he barked the command at them. She turned her anger towards the raiders that were still shooting at them, firing several beams into the mess the bar had become. Where once there’d been chairs, tables and several people enjoying their drinks there was now a small crater where the grenade had gone off, carnage and flaming debris littered about everywhere as smoke filled the room.
As she squeezed off another few shots she noticed Redding bolt from behind the bar and disappeared into the chaos as she directed a few more shots towards bitch face before ducking down to reload again. “Think he’s coming back?” she shouted somewhat rhetorically at the other man. It was their turn to get the fuck outta dodge unless they wanted to join the rather long list of casualties she was sure this particular ‘shoot-out’ had caused. She risked a glance up as she noticed that for now fire-bitch seemed to have disappeared with the colossal beast of a man, spotting only a handful of remaining thugs between them and the front door. She was about to suggest they make a break for it when another symphony of gunfire joined the orchestra and a few moments later a figure lurched through the doorway with a pair of savage looking knives and started to fillet one of the raiders.
She watched as a round glanced off of the mask that covered his face before he nonchalantly walked through the fire and the flames before he ended the man’s life with a few quick stabs.
“Who the f...” she began as Teresa reappeared this time wielding a machete as she started to lunge aggressively at him, the slightly rusted blade coming within less than an inch of his head. She took aim at her with her pistol but they both were moving too quickly as they weaved around each other for her to risk it. She coughed as she inhaled, the smoke in the air behind the bar becoming thicker and thicker, the heat more and more unbearable – they had to move, but at least now nobody seemed to be shooting at them. She gave a quick nod to the other man as she scrambled forwards from behind the bar and moved towards the duo unsure of if she should intervene or not. Her brain screamed for her to get out, to run for the door and be done with the whole situation whilst she still could as her lungs begged for clean air but she couldn’t just leave whoever this guy was without helping – after all intentionally or not he’d created the opportunity for her to escape and she didn’t want to risk bitch-face coming out on top. She took another step closer and again aimed her AEP7 at the woman looking for any opportunity or opening to reduce her to nothing but ash before she yelled “Teresa!” in an attempt to get her to break her concentration for even a moment.
