Ignavus : City of Blood

Act 4 : Little Guy's Demise

“He’s bleeding.”

Elisa spotted a bandage soon after she saw a flesh wound on the stranger’s knee. Gads Gilmore has laid a pressure around the flowing-down predicament to stop the rupture subsequently. One vigorous smash to the face ends the stream of bullets from his enormous machine gun, brought the unknown personality into his blacked-out self this time around,”Whoa, your punch marks a spot, Gads. I guess it’s kinda too much for a man this petite.” Sounded John once looking closer to the victim’s seat. Despite the long and less-groomed attire of the man, their attacker has rather-tiny posture than their group had estimated. He measured way shorter than Elisa Straverman’s 165 centimeters of height.

Sitting on the tiny bench that is way too diminutive for a two-meters monster like Gads Gilmore, the bearded man’s whole palm would envelope the entire skull of him and crushed them out when required. His arms weighted around the size of Shanice’s sub-machine gun. Despite the miniature-sized physique, however, the little person developed his body to become shredded mass of power.

” I suppose this is what we called a dwarf. Wow, I’m too cruel for him, really.” Said the bearded man in remorse.

Instead of agreeing with her brother’s repentance, Shanice sways her head in refusal,”Nah, he deserved it, brother. What if that person actually hits you with these long-caliber bullets? I doubt he will regret such decision like you do.” Said the woman in self-assurance,”He built this dock mainly to encounter against any bystanders. Could be a fear-mongering animal, and I am leaning to that one for sure.”

Rather than dealing with trivial matters like his teammates, John Straverman has gotten the most of his interest across the colossal weapon that stands in front of the victim. It has a tripod for mounting the steel-adorned body of the gun. Thousands of empty shells were lying under the feet and scattered close to the three-way standing of such heavy machinery below the queue of still-active 7.62 millimeters bullet stacks above. Three barrels for means of fusillade, a raw flesh would be decimated in seconds in front of the feast occurred.

“This is nothing like weapon for self-defense, Gads. He was putting this to scram crowds from entering his territory.” Explained the black-haired man in brief. Then, John follows his own description by pointing across the box of bullets in-between the tripod,” If somebody preserves these heaps of bullets, it means this is not prepared solely for self-defense. I highly doubted it.”

“Ugh...”

Elisa withdraws from her completed stitch over the bullet wound, when suddenly a writhing voice emerged from the little person’s direction. Shanice overtakes the blonde-haired woman’s position and pulled her away from the man in considerations of the dangerous atmosphere he sustains,” Good morning, sweet baby tooth.” Welcomed the woman ahead of the diminutive man’s presence.

His eyes quickly instigate an examination over the group, then realised that no joints are well-prepared for him to serve onwards. Gads Gilmore has had them all bound to the stool down below for avoiding clean escape of the man once he goes back to full consciousness after,” Very smart of you, intruders. I can sniff your intention to rob me from miles away.” Uttered the man in dead-eyes stare towards Shanice, which responding in the same manner against his menacing gaze,” What do you want from me, now? Asking for apology, huh. I’ve never owe you nothing as far as I remember.”

“No, we just want to survive, if that’s comforting for you.” Answered the curly-haired woman against his query,” We could scavenge some stuff here and there, but our colleagues could only find you in this domain. What’s that for you?”

Gads Gilmore added,”Yeah, we’ve spent hours looking for useful item in your crib, but scraps is what we can see upstairs.” Said the man, smugged slightly in expression. They both knows that merely as a ploy for their staged drama. An ego would surely thrive once being haggled with tatter noise of humiliation. His self-confidence will bring on a salve of information when threatened, attempting to put a remedy over the shreds of his own confidence that goes awry.

”Yes, how’s that for you, swindlers? I hide them all somewhere secret so you all can’t put those filthy hands nearby.”

His smirks said it all. The man feels accomplished against the tides of his assailant’s intentions and enjoyed the view of their astonishment, swerving a hidden smug within as the little man looks around. But then, John Straverman strolls directly to the stairways that their strangled opponent had mentioned in immediate fashion,”I’ll check the second floor. Probably good stuffs were there this whole time.” He muttered.

~tap-tap-tap~

“Ha-ha! You tried to intimidate me, I know it. No one was upstairs, no matter how keen you are on searching for it.”

Before the yelling victim, John Straverman sneers,” I’ll stab anyone without hesitation if they ever appeared, man. Don’t be so worried about me.”

Mouth speaks in contrary to the body down under.

Against the malicious threat posed by his adversaries, the little man struggles to escape despite the flow of bravery he flaunted across. His arms were straining against the hard-fastened ropes and attempting to tear them with mere power alone. Lips protrudes whilst hidden advance occurs for their sole opponent to be distracted away from something important He concealed,” I guess your mouth now’s worth to pipe up, midget. I’ll tie you up so hard your teeth could whimper over it.” Said Shanice to scare his might away. In front of her intimidation, however, the little man digress and flares a tension back with his stare.

“Try me, you weakling. I’ll never be defeated with the likes of you.”

Now, the black-haired man reaches the second floor. Instead of being vacate of things as the little man had claimed, there are bountiful of items inside. It ranges from empty-looking boxes to overburdened chests that goes piled up in a mess. Some of them has its content fallen down to be exposed, even, so John Straverman could become aware of what’s within in a matter of seconds,” I smell a fortune up here! I think you have to help me, honey.” Shouted him towards the group downstairs for means of support.

~tap-tap-tap~

Without further ado, Elisa approached her husband for a glimpse towards the mountain of treasure above their head. She fell in the same grasp of bewilderment with John, gaping her mouth wide before the rumpus they had to take care of,” How could we lift something that much?” she pointed towards a full stack of boxes near the window. It was located close to the wide orifice that connected them to the bottom, square-shaped wooden exhibit for many livestock to revel in delight.

“Probably with faith. You see, we don’t have to tidy them up, anyway, so it’s nothing but a piece of cake for our search.”

John Straverman started with lifting up a shiny-looking gauntlet on the ground,” Voila, an expensive one for milking the cows, eh midget? You haven’t tell us your name, so apologize for shortening the hassle.” asked the black-haired man to the little man down below. Seemingly knowledgeable over the intended reaction from their oppressed ones, John immediately put forth a circle around his ear and bent himself slightly to the right.

“How dare you, placing your dirty hands to my precious gloves!”

The black-haired man gazes across his wife,”A good bean should never be spilled.” Muttered him whilst beaming towards the exact response that the little man has given,”Come on, honey. We have to find what’s useful for our odyssey. Who knows, there could be more than one person who relished a visit in this barn.”

~clang-clang~

Sounds of metal boxes were swinging across the room between the couple upstairs. John was signing himself to be the carrier of those heavy containers around. Scrupulous over inspecting items and being keen towards small object discovery, Elisa was responsible for dealing with its content and rummaging the hidden stuff inside,” How to carry these stuffs, then, hubby? I found a lot of them, but I’m afraid we’re gonna be overburdened with these things if we’re not careful.” Questioned the blonde-haired woman amidst their search. As her man responding to the call, John found at least two neatly-structured pyramid were nesting beside her and waiting for further process to call up.

“Whoa, that much? We have to find a good sack to carry them off. All’s edibles?”

Elisa nodded to his predictions,”Yeah, most of them are chocolates and such. I’ve also seen some nuts for our pistols, too.” She replied hastily afterwards.

“Good. Good. Let’s-“

~bang-bang~

“Get down, fellas! Find something to hide yourself behind!”

Gads Gilmore abruptly shouting from downstairs after a pair of loud shots arose from outside. John Straverman captured two different rounds fired from somewhere in the dirt-made street. For place to disappear, the black-haired man ordered his wife to clear out behind a wooden partition across the corner. He piled up several metal boxes before her, then concealing himself on the flank close-by to the stairs.

~tap-tap-tap~

Someone crossed the threshold in a hurry. John Straverman heard about three dissimilar steps that draws closer and goes past the door, followed with unintelligible speech whose sounds are fairly foreign to the man upstairs. He prepared a silenced pistol before his chest for greeting anyone who enters their obscure domain.

“Good lord, Cops! Please, they’re-“

~bang~

One loud gunshot screams and reverberates against the wooden door frames, shadowed with a series of incomprehensible debate soon after. John Straverman listened close to the wooden wall for summarizing their intention but finds none other than incoherent mumbles instead. He sensed someone wanted to step up the stairs, indeed, yet refuses to do so after roaming back and forth a number of times in a row.

“They’re gone.”

John Straverman mumbled to himself. He gets up and go freeing his wife subsequently minutes later,”We have to hurry. Found something to carry those findings around, babe?” asked the black-haired man towards his wife. Elisa shook her head respectively, displaying none other than a petite-sized brown ruck-sack on her hand in subsequent manner,”Like this one, maybe?” said the woman in return.

Her husband inspects the small bag for some time. He tried to locate a number of holes that vested its rugged-up shape, but finds no speck of orifices on the bag anywhere, “Could do something worth our trouble. Let me help you pack the goods and storm out of here.” He patted his wife on the shoulder, then runs directly to the pile afterwards.