Dawn of the Epoch

Chapter LXVII - Vigilante

“We have a vigilante down there.” Hunter said.

“It certainly seems so. Think he knows anything useful?” Tiyana asked.

“We certainly ought to find out, and if we save lives in the process, then, it’s all in a day’s work.” Hunter said in a tone of mock conceit. “What do you say, Vee?”

“Yes, let us go.” Came the steely reply.

The buildings were on the northwest edge of town, up in the foothills of the mountainous ridge that they had crested. Hunter and Virgil moved quickly, Hunter in his Dahjaat form and Virgil with inexplicable dexterity. Tiyana and Hongo brought up the rear, carrying as much gear as they could without sacrificing too much speed. Hunter and Virgil came upon the scene in the nick of time. A much larger contingent of yzorak reinforcements had arrived. The building with the vigilante or vigilantes had been isolated. The surrounding buildings had been decimated. It seemed that the ghouls wanted their attackers taken alive.

They saw Hunter coming at them from an alley, but not in time to do anything about it. Hunter’s swords whisked through the air briskly. Two ghoul heads fell to the cobbled old street. As Hunter turned, he saw electric blue beams coming at him. He jumped and they passed harmlessly beneath his feet. As he jumped, he threw his boomerangs. When he hit the ground, he threw knives. The knives dropped two more ghouls while the boomerangs swept around in wide arcs.

The ghouls never fired a second volley at Hunter because they heard a loud shout from behind. The turned to see Virgil standing in the middle of the street with his staff pointed at them. The leader grunted loudly and they all fired at Virgil’s apparition. As the decoy absorbed their blasts and evaporated, Hunter’s boomerangs returned. The ghouls who remained alive saw the boomerangs bury themselves deep in the skulls of those less fortunate.

With their mates down, they turned a final time to face Hunter. They unleashed another volley in his general direction. He dove forward and rolled beneath the blasts. As the blasts passed above him, he leapt to his feet. Having closed the gap between himself and the ghouls, he made quick and thorough work of them with his blades.

The battle was brief, but it gave Tiyana and Hongo time to catch up. They came running down the slope and through the alley to the street where they saw Hunter and Virgil standing over the whole defeated contingent. They collapsed and heaved for breath. Both carried heavy guns and other supplies, and both were utterly winded.

Hunter approached and said glibly, “You snooze, you lose, we already got them all, sorry.”

“Shut up.” Tiyana said between gasps.

Hunter laughed. He laughed infectiously and it caught on. The quick victory left a trail of endorphins in its wake and the group felt a brief, fleeting high. Even Virgil chuckled tersely.

“I suppose we should greet our new friend.” Hunter said as the laughter died down.

He started walking toward the front door of the formerly besieged building.

Tiyana stopped him, “Hold on there bushranger! You can’t greet anyone like that. Look at yourself; you’re liable to scare whoever it is out of their skin.”

Hunter was still Dahjaat. He was about Ghaelvord’s height, actually, which was a similarity that could be highly suspicious to anyone who recently watched Ghaelvord’s broadcast.

“Well you can’t send Virgil in there.” Hunter replied.

Virgil, as he did when they were not in public, wore his robes and carried his staff. He looked like an ancient Roman patrician. He spoke excellent English, but had an inimitable accent.