The Journeymen

The Ambush: Part Four

"Did you see him go down?" Evan shouted over Jack's rifle fire while the elite soldier rammed in a new magazine into his powerful semiautomatic rifle.

Firing the last round from his bolt action rifle, Jack grabbed the AK that sat next to his pack and racked a round into the chamber.

"I did but I can't see him anymore. We need to get downrange to make sure he's dead!" Jack said, leaping up and firing a burst of automatic fire as he ran.

He heard Evan shout, "Wait!" but ignored him as he dashed forward.

Nothing would stop the vengeful hunter from ensuring that his foe was truly defeated, that his revenge had been achieved. He would look at the body of Gabriel Franks and empty a magazine into his lifeless corpse to make sure he would never be able to hurt anybody again.

Firing as he ran, Jack took down goblin after goblin. Occasionally he saw one drop that he had not shot. Evan must have been trying to catch up or at least keep him covered.

He felt a presence to his left and ducked instinctively, rolling into a crouch. Narrowly missing his head, a goblin wielding a crooked sword regained its balance and wound up for another sweeping blow. Jack dumped the remaining rounds from his magazine, seven in total, into the torso of the ugly creature.

Another goblin rushed him and he drew his pistol to confront the threat, unable to reload his rifle quickly enough. The goblin thudded to the ground, it's head exploding in a pink mist at the hands of the other master Journeyman, who Jack saw was sprinting to catch up with him. Jack took the moment of covering fire to reholster his pistol and put a new magazine into his rifle.

"Hey!" Evan shouted, causing Jack to look at him momentarily.

"What?" Jack shouted back as he fired a burst at a new target.

"Stay together!" was Evan's hasty reply.

Jack nodded and began moving at a slower and more careful pace. The two men walked forward as they continued to fire, dropping goblins around them as they went, Jack covering the front and right side, Evan covering the rear and left side.

Before they reached the clearing, Jack heard something in the distance. It was faint and far away. It was gunshots and he assumed it was the militia arriving. They were quicker than he expected.

Then he heard a desperate scream, "Jack! Help!"

He and Evan looked at each other, fear in both of their eyes.

"Anya," Evan said and looked in the direction of the scream.

"Find the wizard and make sure he's gone," Jack said as he tore off into the woods where his apprentice in need of help was waiting.

"You find her, Jack!" Evan shouted after him as he emptied another magazine and reloaded in a flash.

Sprinting and firing, Jack spent more of the precious ammunition he carried as the goblins he encountered did everything they could to prevent him from rescuing the young woman who he knew was his responsibility. He had brought her along. He had chosen her to become his apprentice. He had given the okay for her to walk right into the enemy camp to provide the distraction in his relentless pursuit of revenge. And now he had not protected her. He had not made sure she got away safely because he had been so focused on making sure Gabe was dead. Her call for help was his fault. Just like Chuck.

Dropping his empty rifle on the ground, Jack drew his tomahawk in his right hand and the wickedly curved kukri in his left. The goblins in his path were no match for his desperate onslaught. A bloody gash on his cheek from a close call did nothing to slow him. Instead it only made him look more fearsome as black goblin blood splattered onto his skin and camouflage clothing.

He heard another scream, "Jack! Evan!" and knew he was getting closer. He also recognized the fear and desperation in her voice. She thought she was going to die.

Burying the spike of his tomahawk into the skull of a spear wielding goblin, the gore covered warrior ripped out the weapon, spraying blood and brain matter into the air. To his left he saw a new challenger, rushing in with a huge double handed axe. The goblin who, based off of his weapon of finer make and larger size was likely a chieftain or some kind of champion, made a huge sweeping slash at Jack as he came in range.

Knowing that blocking such a heavy blow from a large weapon would be impossible with his light hand weapons, Jack ducked and rolled to the side. He knew that would not be a sustainable strategy but he needed space to get his footing. Landing on his feet, he ducked under the next blow and slashed the goblin's side with his kukri as he darted past.

He had never seen a goblin that was close to his height but this one was actually taller. But it was slower. Dodging sweeping blows, the master Journeyman cut into his foe again and again, cutting limbs with the hope of disabling. Cutting the torso, face and neck with the hope of causing significant blood loss until finally the gigantic creature fell to its knees. It felt like minutes to the the man but in reality he knew the fight lasted only seconds.

Jack tried to approach for a finishing blow but the goblin made one last feeble attempt at a one handed slash. He easily sidestepped it and smashed it in the face with the bladed end of the tomahawk. It took several strikes before the monster stopped struggling. Jack stood, face dripping a mixture of black goblin blood and his own blood that dropped from the wound on his face.

Then he heard a scream. Anya's scream. It was wordless, loud and long. It was filled with fear, pain, hurt. He felt power surging around him, felt the trees shift as if they were alive. Wiping blood from his eyes with his sleeve, he hurried to where the scream came from, no matter what dangers awaited.