Ignavus : City of Blood

Act 3 : Wild North

Gads Gilmore burns another cigarette he left in the drawer. Three remains inside the box for later, as the stout-structured man slammed it back to where those white-tinted rollup once belongs. Being the strong-man in the chamber, Gads Gilmore has a dragon tattoo sleeping within the rainbow-colored shirt that the bearded man wears on for today’s brawl. He boasts curly black hair in identical resonance to John Straverman’s crown. The man decorates them to define his own character as a freedom-loving person and a lone ranger to boot. So, He maintains them to develop around the length that he could achieve and modeled the scalp into numerous braids hereafter.

“So, who’s the company? You’ve never make acquaintance with our family before.”

Gads Gilmore drawn the puff from his lighted-up stick and closes both eyes soon after,”Ah, that’s the stuff.” Mumbled the man towards his own cigarette, ignoring the peeled-up stare emanated from his surroundings,” You should try this sometime, man. It blows your mind.”

“Nah, it’s just making you a little more numb against problems, Mr. smoky-style. Where’s the gun?”

Shanice tapped on the main issue that they wish to comprehend. Her eyes masks a great intent of solving them straight away. Staring upon the man wherever he struggles, Shanice seemingly appeared to never letting him escape anymore and keeping his movements within her vision,” You do know we’re in trouble, right? I’ve seen two dead man in your store, holding something like this.” she lifted up a pistol from her pocket, fitting a quizzed look upon her face.

The bearded man fields nothing from his perspective straight away. He examines its compact yet little construction firsthand, looking straight over the barrel to the magazine it can uphold,” You’re correct that I blast them off with my shotgun, but that’s not mine if you ask about them steels instead.” He muttered. Gads Gilmore approached his sister close and quickly claim the weapon straight from her hand,”Sorry, Shanice. Need to see them first since you tell me about it.” He blurted as the bearded man pulls the weapon away from her possession.

“I don’t need that, but your heavy things it’s what we require, and of course it’s also you to our group.”

Shanice seizes her brother’s left hand in immediate fashion. She could feel insurmountable tension vibrates all over his burly palms. Hints of endeavor flourished across the veins due to trade-offs that the bearded man has to encounter awhile ago,” We have to work together to win that 20 billions. You’re okay with that, right?” her eyes begged in front of the man, which was frowning slightly as their bidding progressed.

Gads Gilmore’s eyes were roaming across the other member of their small crew. He wanted to redeem their thoughts, for the bearded man halted mid-way across before gazing straight into John Straverman’s eyes after,” You’re absolutely okay with me? I’m a close-combat specialist. Can do a few jabs and bits of throw for you guys.” He squashed a flurry of punches up front.

“I’m fine with that. We’re looking for extra person in our group to cover our flanks anyway.” Replied John Straverman. His hands were resting behind the back side of his head, looking comfortable and having himself a sense of freedom before the wooden desk inside,” How about you, honey? Is he compatible with our team?”

Elisa holds both hands in front of her chest. A spot of wrinkle appears in-between the eyebrows, giving a sense of thoughts within the mind,”Nevermind, it’s your choice, babe. I don’t wanna set up things for myself.” Said the woman afterwards. Of course, such rejoinder sparks a query for the bearded man across the side. He gazes upon the woman in rather-puzzled perception and trying to ponder about reasons that Elisa considered vague to understand.

“What’s wrong about me, mi’lady? I can protect you from the back, if you wish.”

Gads Gilmore tried to convince, but the woman shook her head instead of laying down a confirmation straight after,” No, I’m not rejecting you. I’m just thinking what kind of weapon is suitable for your size, that’s all.”

It brought a somber ambience in the middle for the other three. The bearded man brings forth a wonder about their current upheaval, looking upon the blonde-haired woman in disbelief. John Straverman shrugged a little, but happened to take a nod in front of her plain strategy instead.

For Shanice, though, her statement spurs a laughter,”Ha-ha-ha! She thinks of the perfect weapon for you, brother. It’s kinda discouraging if you ask me. “ said the woman within her chuckle,” No worries, ma’am. Being a weapon hoarder means that my brother could use anything as long as it has a trigger. He could do melee thingy, too, if you wished him to do it for you.”

“He’s a firearm hustler, honey. No way would that man have a problem with blasting pistols to our enemies.” Followed her husband into the flow,” He might be more accurate in wielding one than me, you know.”

Gads Gilmore goes flustered by the horde of compliment tossed to his side. He scrubbed the back of his head a number of times before the blonde-haired woman that grows unsettled by the stream of doubts she flared,”I’m apologize, Mr. Gilmore. I don’t mean to-“

“It’s alright, really. You should have a thought over my best choice to use, so it’s pure strategic if not wise.”

~clack-clack~

The bearded man c***s his shotgun straight away,”I’m fine with this boy right here, ma’am. You don’t have to worry about me that much.”

---

Gads Gilmore assigned across the back of their formation. Being a burly-armed strongman from their group, the bearded man braces brass knuckles in each fists for dealing with close combat troubles against many enemies that goes near. A ready-to-fire shotgun nestled behind his back for ease of access whenever their opponents pulled up the brawl even further abroad. Certainly, those are never the least of his means that the bearded man wanted to convey, for him to add sprinkles of smoke and explosive grenade in the pocket to distract their enemy across.

For the Straverman family, the husband carries an assault rifle on his back. Elisa pushes on the road with a pistol on her hand. She was never a gunman in the first place so the woman fits herself with something friendly-making. John had asked her about preference with several tone of suggestion along the way, but the blonde-haired lady speaks of non-violence behavior that the woman wanted to keep along, therefore John lets his spouse to equip herself with something small instead.

Last but never least, Shanice Gilmore brought up to wield a sub-machine gun for their advance to the north. She is a frontman in this scenario and a leader for their team’s voyage. Without a doubt, her presence covers the spearhead with additional smoke grenades within the bag to throw whenever a group of enemies appeared. The woman fits an additional vest upon her torso, as well, putting up toughness before the martial law that goes enacted down the street.

“We’ll gonna be reaching north. That’s where our gunner families claimed a shelter. You okay with that, John?”

Shanice called the black-haired man behind for a thought to reply. John Straverman heard it, yet feels a little bit to much for shouting back in response, so the man nodded a number of times straight away. There are no sight of tragedies upon the dirt-beaten road. Rice and corn fields were thriving around their side. Puddles of water were established on random occasion below their feet that weaves their thought of rain-clouds way ahead,”Look at that. Someone has been pissing above us a minute ago. What a lucky group, we are.” Stated the bearded man from their rear.

~krrsk-krrsk~

“You capture that?”

Before John’s mild statement over the sudden rustling noise nearby, Gads Gilmore drives himself concealed by slightly crawling on the dirt,”Get down!” said the bearded man in his loud whisper. Shanice, on the other hand, swiftly prepared a silenced pistol on her hand. She followed the route by jogging them a little as the woman crouched below the height of fences on their flanks,”I’ll deploy the smoke, it’s our only hope for distraction.” Shanice announced.

~poof~

A white vapor emitted over their front once the woman throws them out for concealment. They known nothing of the possible opponent’s whereabouts. In prospect to lure them away, Shanice flings the pair of smokes across a number of distant area from their position to lead them out of the fields in immediate fashion.

~ratatatatata~

Machine gun howls towards the zone filled with smokes at once. Quite a few distance from the quartet’s current position, indeed, but still formidable to be called a forthcoming threat. Someone has been waiting with full armament on their side and fielding themselves somewhere. Yet, the four of them has no time to locate such opponent in the wilderness. They have to make headway for the farm-house across the northeastern side before their opponent could harrass them with fear even more.

“Run!”

Only a few hundred meters ahead to the nearest wooden house and an open field. Her leader orders them to make a leaping strides, a sprint of their life, so they adhere to it and blasts themselves with everything they got. John Straverman lets his wife to run before him as the man tracks her on the rear. Elisa was never an athletic type, but the pressure contends her to press the limit before it takes her freedom in a flash. Gads Gilmore stomping on the dirt in sluggish fashion than the rest of their group because of heavily-loaded equipment in his backpack.

~slides~

Shanice Gilmore arrives first. She quickly skates her way under the vision from the wooden house’ window to prevent their possible adversary on noticing their disembark. From their position, John Straverman could see a thundering flash within the darkness of the red-painted barn before them,”We should neutralize him first. My brother will take care of that, He’s a hitman.” Shanice draws a forefinger towards the bearded man behind. Gads Gilmore recognises them from far away, nodded a little to inform them of his advance.

~tap-tap-tap~

The bearded man leaps forward without a noise. He kept himself below until reaching the door across the barn’s rear and moves at a snail’s pace to ensure his stealth mode intact. Gads Gilmore places his silenced pistol up front for a quick shot to the knee, the ones that a person should devise for a knockdown to make up.

“What’s this man doing for having a party here? Is he insane?” said the bearded man in his flared-out thoughts. Most of them were blurted out without an actual whisper, as Gads Gilmore spoke in a noiseless mumble,”I’ll take a sneak peek, first.”

He looks inside by the small vent at the heart of the barn’s entrance. A small figure has mounted the machine gun and pressing the trigger in maniacal laugh. Long and untreated hair decorates the back and almost devoured the whole stature of such person in one gulp.

“I have to do this swiftly, or that gun will be placed at me guts instead.”

Gads Gilmore calms himself down by breathing some fresh air of the farm into the lungs. A scent of rained-up soil wafted in the mixture. To soothe the heart from racing the blood, the bearded man close his eyes for an empty image it would create,” Here I come.” Spelled the man afterwards.

~kriek~

It all happened in a blitz.

Once entered the dragon’s lair, Gads Gilmore shots a direct hit to the person’s leg in immediate fashion. The bearded man sliding forward before the man squealed and punched him to the jaw right away. It knocks his consciousness away in an instant, letting no scream to ever running out from his mouth anymore.