The complete abomination was… a bit horrific. It had a fat, bulbous mass of chitin at the center, at least twenty limbs, and a maw which was formed of a dozen sharp mandibles surrounding a central point.

  He examined it once it finished forming.

  Well. That was just nasty. He looked around at the cells. “Who is willing to shoot the Militiamen?”

  A few of them just… stared at him. Four of them raised their hands, while the one who’d just been staring at him almost growled. “I would love to.”

  He studied them in turn. “You…. don’t look up to fighting. You…” He looked at the angry one for a moment. He felt a certain kinship, there; she seemed to feel about these Militia the way he did about Nightfire. She was currently just wearing white lingerie on her dark skin, and had a nasty bruise on her face.

  He summoned the Casull revolver from storage, and the ammunition. “Swear by the system you will not harm me, will return this weapon once they are all dead, and will tell no-one about my equipment or what methods I used to kill the Militia.”

  She looked at the revolver for a moment. “Thats… an Uncommon-grade revolver. A big one.”

  “There’s at least half a dozen of them. Maybe more. Some of them are high level. They need killing. Will you make the oath?”

  “...I swear not to hurt you, to tell no-one how you killed these fuckers or what you used, and that I’ll give you the weapon back once the last one dies. So long as you release me.”

  Grey nodded; and extended the revolver to her… as the abomination started tearing the door off its hinges. The sound was a horrible squealing of metal; and from what he could see through the stalking abomination on the surface, it had attracted attention.

  “We’ll have company soon. Put this on, and pass one to each of the others.” He removed a stack of T-shirts directly from his storage; they would be oversized on the women, almost like a nightgown. The woman hurried to cover herself, and started tossing t-shirts to the others.

  “You.” He looked at the next girl… and the TK pistol appeared in his hands. “Doesn’t hit as hard as that one, doesn’t need bullets. Turn the dial this way for fire, this way for kinetic energy. I’d recommend fire for these guys. Same oath.”

  “..I swear not to attack you, not to tell anyone about how you killed them or what you used, and to return the weapon.”

  He extended the pistol to her, handle-first; she was already putting on an oversized t-shirt and paused a moment before holding it… and as the abomination started tearing that door open, stopped at the third.

  She didn’t look as well put-together as the third. He regretted the order he did things, for a moment. Outside, he could see the remaining Militia troops… perhaps eight or nine of them… were heading for the building they were in the basement of.

  Two of them were keeping an eye out behind them… and one of them was carrying what was very clearly a grenade.

  He nodded… and turned to the third girl. She was already wearing a plain white T-shirt over whatever they’d left her in. “They’re on the way. Same oath.” He gestured; the Multi-Rifle snapped into existence. If it came down to it, he’d use the Right Hand of Death.

  “Done. Won’t hurt you, won’t reveal your secrets, will return the gun. I swear by the system. Hand it over.”

  Close enough. He nodded… and handed her the weapon, as the Abomination tore her door off…. And then ran for the stairs, dropping the door as it moved.

  It would beat the Militiamen there. But it needed to do more than that. It needed to be waiting at the landing, in stealth, when they tried to use that grenade.

  The abomination outside was slowly creeping closer as they entered the building…. And as the newborn monster faded from view partway down the stairs, he lost sight of the group… but could hear footsteps. Angry muttering. Chatter.

  Two of them stayed outside, rifles raised, looking around… that left seven coming in.

  He could see it when they reached the top of the stairs… there was no door, just an open hatch into what was clearly a living room. One of them raised a grenade. The zombie could hear him. “I toss the grenade. When it goes off, we head down. Shoot all of them; yes, the women too.”

  Grey inhaled. He needed to time this properly. “Cover your ears with both hands, keep your weapon by you. This is gonna be loud, and fast.”

  The man at the top pulled the pin on the grenade, raising his arm to throw…

  The abomination leapt on him with a shriek; bursts of venom splattering on nearby soldiers as the grenade bounced to the floor.

  “Auugh!” “No, fuck!” “Its live, its live, its..”

  He could hear it, through his hands, through any other effort. A loud, sharp crack; louder than any gunshot he’d heard. The abomination was gone, shredded. The Militiamen had clearly taken casualties… but not enough to stop them.

  The two outside had been distracted by the blast, and screaming… actually approaching the door, concerned…

  The outside Abomination took advantage; splattering one of them with another gout of venom, before dropping into cover; leaving the unfortunate, dying man to fall to his knees, clutching his blind eyes, screaming as his companion opened fire into the night, aiming where he thought it was.

  This didn’t matter for the ones charging down the stairs. They were firing down as they ran, and however hurt they were, however bad the situation, they were clearly good shots; in the first few seconds, Grey took two rounds to the chest, smacked back against the bars where he knelt, as he raised the Right Hand of Death, pulling the trigger as fast as he could, feeling a third round hit him and actually penetrate; a spike of pain somewhere in his left leg.

  He wasn’t the only target. The women; both the ones currently firing at the stairway, and the ones who were unarmed… received fire as well. The intensely angry one with the Casull falling to a round through the gut, even as she nailed one man in the chest; the heavy round piercing through armor, bone, flesh… and through the man’s back, smacking into the legs of the man behind him.

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  The combined fire made short work of the charging militiamen… and while Grey was barely conscious from the pain of what was undoubtedly more broken ribs, two of the unarmed girls were dead and one was wounded…

  All of the ones who’d entered had died, unless there was someone crippled and wounded at the top of the stairs.

  Grey grunted and studied the survivors. “...Mmph. Been hit… a few times. I think only one is still alive. Outside, just firing into the….”

  He could see it through the outside. The man dropped an empty magazine to the ground, looking around in a panic, and fumbled his replacement, dropping it as well… and actually picked up the spent magazine by mistake.

  The abomination pounced on the opportunity…. Mandibles jamming into the man’s throat as he shrieked.

  Grey sighed. “There we go. I think that was the last one.”

  The angry woman had a soft glow about her; she must’ve hit the level 5 threshold as well. Good thing, too; she could level up and pick something that would survive a gut shot.

  He groaned as he took hold of one of the cell bars, slowly raising himself to his feet.. And felt as if something were burning, tearing in his leg with each step, blood seeping down his leg into his boot… and walked up to one of the other cells. “Ungh. Swear an oath to keep my secrets, tell no-one of how I killed them or the equipment I used.”

  The woman stared at him. “No oath not to hurt you?”

  “I’m in a bit of pain, and a touch distracted. Yes, that too, please.”

  “I swear it. No breaking secrets, no hurting you.”

  A loud bang; the Right Hand cracked, and the lock broke, as he moved on to the next… until all of the survivors were free, and he sat back down; the weight off of the wounded leg a relief.

  “Ugh. There might be more out there. I first ran into a group of them out in the desert; they’ve been patrolling and leveling up like everyone else. The first of those monsters is upstairs, keeping watch. If one of you ladies that just leveled up picked up a healing power, I’d appreciate it. I’m losing a not inconsiderable amount of blood, as is she. If not, we can rest here, or you can go steal one of their cars and get the fuck out. Leave my guns, take one of theirs for each of you who can use one..”

  The girl with the bullet embedded… most likely in her kidney… grimaced. “....Is that what you need, then? A healer?”

  “At the moment. It would also be a good choice overall; healers are in demand out there.”

  She nodded. “And… after that? What if I wanted to go with you?”

  He blinked. “Go with me?”

  “...They killed my family. I’m alone. I’m sure most of these girls want to go home. I have no home to go to. I could use someone strong for the next group like this I run into, since I’m sure there will be another. I promise I’ll be solid. Dependable. Do whatever you want.” She seemed to struggle with what she was saying; and the implications were pretty clear.

  Should he be interested? Grey suspected that a part of his brain that wasn’t really working anymore would’ve jumped on that sales pitch. And the cold, merciless part that remained viewed it from a different angle; she might be useful if she were willing to help kill Nightfire. She was only level 5 now because of the dead Militiamen; if she chose things the right way….. She'd need to understand his objective going in, or she might abandon him at some point and waste the effort invested.

  He focused on her. Spoke more softly. “I’m not interested in what you’re implying. Someone hurt me. Tried to kill me. Left me to die in the desert. I’m going to track her and her friend down and kill them. Thats it. All I care about. Everything I do is in service of that goal… and to be frank, if I could have sacrificed you and your friends to kill them, I would have. If I needed to die myself to do it, I would. If you come with me, there may come a time when I do exactly that, and take you with me into hell.”

  She studied him for a moment, keeping her distance from the others, who were watching them with interest and concern, and toned her voice down as well. “...I would have gladly killed every one of these women and myself to kill some of the men for what they did to me. I planned to set the whole basement on fire and kill us all in the night while they slept after raping us. You did it for me. And not just a few of them; all of them. My life is yours. Just tell me who is it that needs to die.”

  She seemed as if she meant it. He’d actually forgotten the pain for a few seconds, as they spoke… but suddenly felt it afresh as one of the other women stepped closer, pointing a hand at Grey…. And suddenly the pain seemed to grow more intense, focused…. And shrink away. Fading to a dull ache.

  The woman seemed to be healthier, leaner; her dirty appearance become clean, elegant… and she nodded. “I’m a healer now, sir. It was the least I could do. If you need help, please let me know.” Apparently the process was faster and easier if you didn't switch races? Or... he wasn't certain. He knew it had taken him longer to become a Serpentfolk Hand of Death.

  She turned to the angry one, and started to do the same; and the woman hissed in pain for a few seconds… before a bullet audibly fell to the floor; she gave a silent nod as the now-elf woman started up the stairs… pausing at the landing.

  “They’re all gone?”

  He nodded. “I can see through those things I create. One of them is outside. He’s checking bodies right now, but if any are still alive, they’re probably not inside the compound.”

  She nodded. “..Are the police on the way?”

  Grey looked at her thoughtfully. His phone was in his pocket. His real, actual, pocket. They’d taken it. “Not yet. My phone is… somewhere around there. If you can find a working phone on one of them, might as well give them a call.”

  He pulled to his feet, patting his leg. He could still feel the blood drying on his leg… but the wound itself was gone. “Thank you. If the cops don’t respond… they might not, nowadays… you can just use one of those SUVs the Militia has to drive into town.”

  He looked thoughtful. “Not sure how much you know about whats going on… but money isn’t really a thing for most folks now. I’d load up on some of the Militia’s stuff. If they have any gold, silver, maybe even packaged food…. But aside from keeping one for each of you, leave the rest of the guns. I have a use for those.”

  Trading them back to the system at about 40 credits a pop, probably.

  The woman nodded… and stooped down to search the first man’s pockets… producing a smartphone after a few seconds. The device was locked… but like most of them, had an emergency call function.

  Grey stared at it for a moment. He hadn’t looted any phones from people yet. But they were probably carrying them. But it looted wallets. Keys. How did it decide what was worth preserving, and what to just convert into mana?

  It didn’t matter.

  As the woman called the police, he focused on the bodies.

  He blinked. After a few seconds, he summoned the desert eagle to examine it. Rare always meant something special; and a greater credit value. He was definitely going to be able to get a fire resistance mutagen now.

  The angry woman was looking at the weapon as it appeared.

  Grey nodded thoughtfully. Vendor trash. He’d sell it for credits when he got home and next used the kiosk. On the plus side, the weapon’s description actually meant that they’d definitely finished off the last member of the militia.

  She seemed to see the same notice… and deflated a bit, nodding. “So thats it, then. Well.” She nodded sharply. “What do I need to do? How can I help you kill those people?”

  "Well. If we're going to work together, best start with a name. I'm Grey. Yourself?"