Ignavus : City of Blood

Act 7 : Headshot

“It’s good for me. Can execute them on the spot, so why not?”

Shanice agreed on the brief proposal that John Straverman had requested. Gads and his glimmering shotgun will obliterate the opponent at the store’s backyard, whilst her lean intake drives away the nutheads inside with silenced pistol in hand,” Engage with the one at the front, first. Distract them down for me.” Asked the bearded man towards his partner, which replies such plea with a simple nod.

Shanice aimed her pistol on the first target at their front, a young guy wearing beanie to cover his baldness against the harrowing wind,”Don’t move too much, please. I don’t wanna hurt you.” mumbled the woman, slightly whispering to herself as she draws the weapon directly to his face,”take out the other opponent with Gads’ drone, John. You can double-click on their circle to do so.”

“You sure? I’ll check them out.”

John Straverman examines the screen to go along with instructions that his leader has demanded. He speedily flicks over the circles and tapping on their orbs consecutively, summoning the main interface to glow in red afterwards,”Now it’s colored. What do I do next?” he asked.

“Just swipe your finger across the gun symbol. Isn’t that easy?” Gads Gilmore retorted,”I’ve set them up easy enough to be used by newbies. You shouldn’t miss any of it, really.”

Despite the thorough explanation from the owner himself, John sees no such interface to play with. He locates none of them under the panels that the bearded man has mentioned,”Your app is bugged. I can’t see what you have said anywhere down.” He replied in mild confusion attuned to his voice,” I can do that manually for you guys, how about it? I’ll hand this device down to my wife.”

“No, you have to protect her. If it’s jammed then I can’t help you but to do that myself.”

~bang~

One clean shot to the temple. Shanice hits a bullseye onto the face of unwary stranger behind the cashier deck. Without further delay, the curly-haired woman slides under the rectangle-shaped flower pots in front of PangaeaMart. She crawls sluggishly forward to gain an exact position in front of the automatic door. The barrel pointed at the blank headshot standpoint ahead of their opponent’s detection, preparing for immediate wipe-out once they decided to take a trip outside.

“Halt your advance, Gads. Wait for my cue.” Shanice raised her hands slightly above whilst whispering to her radio receiver at once. She switched her weapon to the silencer-equipped sub-machine gun in immediate fashion and pointing towards the main entrance door once more,”If they all marched outside from the front door, help me take them all out. If the other three stormed their way behind me, can’t do nothing but to blast them out with your shotgun once I eliminated the in-store goons.”

“affirmative.”

The bearded man quickly targeted his shotgun barrel ahead of the store entrance. His weapon would diffuse wide-array pellets in bullet-speed fashion, therefore expansive burst rate of fire before their whole face. He looks around the proximity to find nobody on either end of the street,”protect my rear, John. Shoo civilians away with the drones if it’s difficult to come by.” The bearded man glances towards the back, looking upon John Straverman and his wife on the other side of the road. He saw an instant reply for his request by the following nod from the drone operator in return.

“I heard them rumbling about. About time, really.” Shanice announced over their transmission,”Reload if you need to, Gads. Could miss your shots, too, so be prepared for the worst.”

A simple c**k on the gun to ensure its readiness, the bearded man then looked upon the main entrance in confidence,“Locked and loaded, sister. Bring them all to me!”

Within the store, the two thugs were still waging a war against each other in an intense conversation. Shanice heard off the pair’s diverse interest towards PangaeaMart and its current resources at hand. For the revolutionary guy on the left, He wanted to limit their usage for extending chances of livelihood in this survival game. A month on his scheme with guarding shift cycle in-between twelve hours every day. Once their supply goes obsolete, they have to locate another fresh resources on the other city and travelled on bare foot with hope of growing their own group in the process.

The second guy across the right, on the other hand, devise a plan to sell the store’s content for higher price than it should. Nobody would dare to commit a protest against the fully-weaponised brutes guarding the store. Their needs will overcome the limit of money they have possessed, thus impending extravagance occurs in a flash. In his mind, the resources left at the store will suffice for a full week before completely sell-out to the lustful civilians around. They will travel on the other city for another plunder onwards with identical strategy at hand.

Their intense debate eventually grows weary. The left-side guy who faced the cashier desk noticed of no presence behind the bar. His vision roams the whole amenities to locate exact position of their missing man. It goes all in vain, however, until the guy perceives a shade of blood on the wall.

‘James’ been shot dead!’

His allies finally noticed of their teammates’ fate and equipped themselves with weapons straight after. Their abrupt cry of war alerted three other ruffians on the rear-end of the store, immediately brought them all to organise themselves behind compartments they could get concealed within.

’We’ll go defensive. Don’t come out unless we’re sure of their position. It’s possible that they are actually nearby and waiting for our response.’ Instructed the man with green-colored hoodie. He appeared to be the leader of their small unit. Waving towards the flanks, exerting his peak authority amongst the member in utmost bravery.

‘Roger that, Honda.’

Said the other man in response.

Shanice was hanging on near the pot flower, now leaning herself a little to the left for eavesdropping their tactical strategy in profound manner. From their leader’s method on reloading the rifle, the curly-haired woman recognised its behavior in an instant. An infamous assault rifle from the once-Russian authorities and one cheap-manufacturing weapon to oscillate with. Upgraded ones from the prized invention of AK-47, this weapon vaunts lighter recoil than its prior ancestry. Most will recall them as ‘AK-74’ due to its date of assemblage. Fairly more expensive than the common quality provided by its previous generation, its refined superiority esteemed most of the reason for people to buy them at such price.

He props the assault rifle on the chest, peeking over the tiny gap found in-between the shelves to search around the red-brick confinement area before covering himself under the display table shortly after. His fellow ruffian inside the room quickly adhered to his example and sheltered his own weaponised self somewhere down below the opponent’s vision.

Pointing across the northern shelf in utmost ambience, their leader swayed himself close to the entrance door and moving forward in a sequence. Shanice captured their near noiseless advance because of how close she is, apparently, forcing her to give another hand gesture for the men behind.

“Damn it. Adjust to plan C, John. Come here and help us, quick.”

Shanice almost shouted over the earpiece, before then quickly smothering her noise seconds later. No expectations for a messed-up gang to become strategic and defensive instead of an aggressive mob in counter-acting against thrashing opponent outside. Gads Gilmore also pulled himself back against the wall after the breach. In his assumption, their prompt would lead the other ruffians to buzz outside and given them absolute window for elimination.

Insistence to avenge their teammates’ death could drive someone struggled to lay their vengeance. It was obsolete in this very occasion, however, as their immediate retreat professed wrongful conjecture straight away. Their constant regroup indicated professional influence within misdeeds. A bully whose skills were trained by an expert hitman, no doubt, for themselves to defy an urge of vengeance along the way.

To aid his teammates, John Straverman shifted his burden of surveillance towards his wife, which received the device in questionable look,”what if I say that I’m not ready, honey?” posed the blonde-haired woman towards John, which then bobbed his head slightly against her query,” It’ll only be about 10 minutes at maximum. Hold Gads’ stuff for me, please.”

John Straverman crosses the road, then fitting himself on the other end of the red brick fence,”I’ll cover your advance, Shanice. Take them out as soon as you can.” Notified the black-haired man towards his leader, which was affirming with a nod afterwards. His eyes wander across the bearded man’s position, as well, giving a hint of follow-up direction from him next,” You have to take out the rest, Gads. I’ve seen them fried at the back of wooden boxes behind the store. For defense, you can stack your body behind a car there to save yourself from return fire.”

“Well, you’re not my boss, but it’s an a-okay from me.” Replied Gads Gilmore in mild hesitation,”Good luck for you.”

~clack-clack~

“Hyaa!”

His MP5 sub-machine gun screams against the transparent window. John Sprays them out for giving a chance to Shanice on letting herself inside, which was his sole reason to make headway on the risk instead of waiting around the clock. He obliterated the crystal-made entrance door for delivering an entry point into the hunting zone. Being an adept soldier, Shanice swiftly enters the now-accessible indoor area of PangaeaMart, spewing her bullets straight into the head of two unsuspected ruffian inside,”Hmph, amateur.” Mumbled the woman after finishing off their two targets at once.

Gads Gilmore, on the other hand, run in frantically slower tempo than his sister. Such gigantic posture of the man remained the only hindrance over the course of their counter-attack, but Shanice was there to cover the flank for dispersing the attention of three remaining opponent across the rear side of PangaeaMart. She peeks through the back door and immediately rushing upon all of them without any thought of counter-attack. Luckily, her shots fly straight into the guts and vital points of them all, annihilated every last drip of blood from their living body in an instant.

“She’s too good, I’m starting to doubt my whole point of existence, now.” Muttered the bearded man over his sister in mild insinuation. Instead of arguing towards her insane capabilities, Gads Gilmore approached her close and embrace the woman as soon as she gets out from the door,” You’re okay? I sense no blood, so you should be.”

“Yeah, thanks for asking, big guy. Now, let’s scavenge on what’s left and get out of here quick.”