Solitaire POV: Day 41

Current Wealth: 0 silver 0 copper

Current Debt: 6 gold 44 silver 20 copper

I had a man’s cock in my mouth, and not in the fun way. He screamed while I chewed away at it, biting through fabric, skin, then veins and gristle, tearing what was left of the mangled organs free with a sharp wrench of my neck. The man spasmed beneath me, and I was an instant away from smashing his brains out with my rock when I caught movement in my periphery.

A quick roll took me from the axe swing’s path and left the blade stuck in the first man’s belly, worsening his day. In the time its wielder took to free it, I was already up and throwing. My rock bounced from his cheek, sending him a stunned step back and leaving a chance for me to bowl him over in a tackle. He struggled, I strangled.

A fist caught my face, I answered with a headbutt that knocked the fight out of him, and before it could come back I was turning the limp gangster over and gripping his skull and jaw as tightly as I could.

One swift wrench was enough to snap the spine, then I was standing again, moving onto the next one.

He was ready for me, and wielding a big, horrible meat cleaver already stained with someone’s blood. I glanced around, saw that half our boys were dead, and the enemy starting to galvanise, and decided that not getting gutted was the better part of valour.

I turned and sprinted for the slope, arsehole in hot pursuit. He was almost on me, deliberately slow as my pace was, when I dropped to the ground and lashed a kick for his knee. It struck, with all of my force meeting all of his momentum, challenged by bones left shrivelled and thin by a lifetime of pre-industrial nutrition. The joint broke, the gangster fell, and my boot was coming down on his neck before he could even scream. I felt the snap run through my leg, oddly satisfying.

With that finished, it didn’t take long to spot my friends in the melee- even though it had long since shifted to resemble a remarkably pointy mosh pit. Beam was running around and kicking the fuck out of everybody, using his spear half like an actual spear and half like a bloody big club, and seemingly equally deadly with either. Xangô was a bit more restrained, circling the fights, staying defensive and clinging close to the Olympian. Both, however, were dangerously near to being encircled. Bollocks, I’d been hoping to save my last surprise for later.

I wasn’t actually a wizard, by the way, that was what we in the gaming community refer to as ‘a lie’. What I was, was very, very clever. And well supplied with horseshit, charcoal and elemental sulphur. All the ingredients for gunpowder. I’d used most of it in the big bomb, which by my count had either killed or de-limbed seventeen of the enemy. The rest had been split between two things, one a surprise waiting back near the “fort”, and the other…

Well, the other was in my pocket.

I withdrew the pipe bomb- fashioned from a chair leg, makeshift fuse and the rest of my explosives- and knelt down with the tinder, keeping an eye out for attackers while I lit it. I was a safe distance away from the actual fighting, though, and got it done soon enough. Standing, I steadied my aim and chucked it at the greatest concentration of enemy.

Now, I’m aware you probably think it was extremely dangerous and unwise to throw a deadly bomb into a fight my friends were actively engaged in. To answer your inevitable criticism, however, let me just say that you’re a massive pussy, probably boring to be around at parties, and likely will be useless when the government tries to kill everybody.

My aim was perfect, the bomb arced just as I’d hoped, and it went off at around chest-height. I didn’t quite see how many it killed, but it had everybody nice and panicked again. Beam and Xangô were given time for pause, and I was on them an instant later, sprint taking only a few seconds without anything in my way.

“We’re leaving.” I told them, and they both nodded and listened, turning to sprint along with me as we tore away from the fight.

It wasn’t as smooth as I’d have hoped. The other gangsters, apparently, saw the way the wind was blowing and started running too- scattering in all directions, and leaving the enemy free to pursue. We had a head start, and we were plenty faster, but the difference wasn’t as big as I’d have hoped. We tore down one alley, making a really big wish that we lost pursuit.

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We didn’t. Footsteps raced after us from behind, echoing along the cobbles, bouncing off the walls. It was one of the scariest sounds I’ve ever heard. Scary enough to risk a glance over my shoulder, and confirm the numbers.

Three. Well, it could be worse. One was a bit big, massive really, but besides that it seemed we were ahead of the curve. I heard Xangô swear beside me, and glanced to see he was looking too.

“The big guy’s fucking level 13.” He swore again. I joined in this time, and started running all the faster.

We were faster than two of them, but the big one tore ahead of his compatriots, closing in with a terrible certainty. I realised, then, that he’d catch Xangô and Beam without a doubt.

But not me. I’d put all my Skillpoints into Speed, and I was a decent sprinter even before that. By now I was the fastest, and I had the feeling I could pull ahead of this one at the worst time. Now, though, when he’d be catching two others first?

As the saying went, I didn’t even need to be faster than him. Just faster than the slowest one in our group. Faster than Xangô. I felt a chill run down my spine, as I realised what needed to be done.

I turned, rock already in my hand, wrist flicking at the end of my throw to send it hurtling at the bastard as fast as I could manage.

“Fight them here!” I roared, just an instant after the stone hit a chest. A useless throw, really, such a light projectile would never do anything unless I caught the face, but it stunned the bastard and galvanised my friends. All of us halted at once, then charged the big fucker.

I reached him first, much to my regret. He surprised me by lashing out with an open palm, stopping me instantly from my sprint and punting me onto my back. All the air left my lungs at once, and I lay there gasping while he closed in- only to be driven back as Beam smashed into him. Xangô seized my shoulder, dragging me to my feet with a concerned stare, and I forced a grin to calm him. Both of us moved to help Beam at once when we realised the Big One’s friends were already arriving.

“One each.” I barked, picking a gangster at random and lunging for him. It was a mistake, I was still winded, and the sudden stab of pain in my torso slowed me to a stumble, just about letting him crack a haymaker against my jaw that drove me back again. I caught Xangô fighting the other from the corner of my eyes, then I found my footing and closed up to block another punch.

The enemy seemed unarmed, which was likely the only reason I hadn’t died already, but he was damned good at using those fists even with nothing in them. By the time I’d recovered enough to move quickly, he’d already landed a dozen more hits. Bruising forearms and biceps, catching my head once. He was fast, skilled, and clearly experienced. Probably he’d been in more fights than me, and he definitely seemed better trained. All that, and I’d lost my knife in the melee before.

It was a shame he was half a foot shorter than me, or he’d probably have won.

Another haymaker came, and I lowered my guard for it, ducking down into the punch to catch fist with forehead. I felt the knuckles breaking against me, heard his cry of pain confirm it, then I was lunging to grab him. He backed away, desperately scrambling to break my hold as I snagged clothes with my curling fingers. Something tripped him and he went down, almost dragging me with him before I solidified my footing, corrected my hold and hauled.

One hundred and thirty pounds of gangster lifted high into the air, flailing and yelping in surprise, not stopping until it was already raised fully over my head. I held him there for a moment, even looking into his eyes as our heads rested conveniently facing one another. Then I reversed the motion, and all the muscles that had been fighting gravity now gave it a hand.

He hit the ground shoulder-first, and probably broke every bone within inches of the impact point. Actually bounced a few centimetres into the air before coming to a rest, and lay there gasping while I cocked my leg back and threw a kick into his ribs. They broke, he rolled, then stopped at a wall. Blood was leaking from his lips, and his eyes were dazed and cloudy. Not a problem, for now.

I turned to see Xangô’s opponent was just as fast, and winning. Landing punches everywhere my friend’s guard wasn’t, kicking at legs to trip him, sticking his fists in all the nasty spots my mum had taught me to aim for. He didn’t notice me closing in until I was already on him- the poor bastard, turning just in time for his face to catch the headbutt I’d thrown with all my velocity at once.

His skull cracked beneath mine, and he started falling instantly. I caught him, hoisted him up, then headbutted him again in the same spot. Then again, and the cracks became fractures. Another two and the fractures widened. By the time I finished- by the time my skull was pounding with the pain of being used as a bludgeon- the gangster’s head didn’t really resemble a head anymore.

That was just about dead enough for my taste, and I let him fall. Turning, I flashed a grin at Xangô only to see him staring ahead in horror, and slowly followed his gaze.

Beam hit the ground, rolled four yards to a stop at our feet, and coughed where he lay.

The Big Fucker stalked after him, taller than any of us, muscled like a boar and pale as a Klansman’s uniform. He looked pissed, eyes flicking between his dead and dying friends, and all I could do was raise my hands before he was on me.