The burnt smell of bodies and wood dominated the air. Magnum ran past the town gate and a few pitch-black houses while controlling his breath so as not to inhale too much of it. Many dead bodies were still scattered on the streets. Several of them lay along beside each other near the town gate, they were facing towards the town.

“They held the demons here...”

There was enough debris to resemble a weak barricade. They held weapons, spears, swords, and shields but these weapons were no match for the demons. He quickly inspected them. They have cuts and bites on them, the barricade didn’t last long. He then saw another body in front several steps away.

“A woman?”

Magnum looked at the face but she didn’t look like the chief.

“You’re the leader? You did well. All of you. Looks like you held them enough for the people to get away. I’ll come back for you.”

Magnum moved on. He wondered if she was the chief’s daughter but he had other priorities.

“Where is that bank?”

The town was small, four streets make up a square at the center and it already contained all the necessary stores the town needed. He ran across the second street but he did not see the bank, a group of infected critters found him instead. A rooster flew to him and he hit it with a blast that sent it back to its pack. Blood-red dust crept out of its neck trying to fly to another rooster.

"You're not going anywhere!" Magnum said then he ran towards it and blasted it along with the others.

Magnum kept fighting the demons as he ran around. Finally, he heard a voice. He followed it and heard a shotgun blast. Magnum ran faster and turned right on the corner street.

“One, two, three, four, five. Five wolves!” he said.

The Wolves were as big as Magnum and they were all trying to gnaw at the base of a burning house. He looked up and saw a man peeking at the window on the third floor.

"What are you doing?" the man said to Magnum.

"Saving you!" Magnum said.

The man pointed to the other side of the street. Magnum looked and an old woman was hiding behind a wall of tables and chairs. He grabbed a marble from his bag and threw it near the wolves.

The wolves were startled by the explosion and then looked at Magnum. They howled calling more wolves.

"Good job dumb guy!” the man waved his hand telling Magnum to go away but he didn't hear him.

Magnum ran towards the wolves while the animals stood ready waiting for him to come. He then took a big step before swinging his gunblade sideways to the nearest one. A strong blast exploded the head of the wolf and it fell to the ground. The others were furious. Two of them jumped towards him, its fangs glinting and eager.

Magnum hopped backward to evade, "Follow me!" he said then started running. The wolves followed him but more wolves came and blocked his path.

"Huh! I don’t like this," he said as he found himself surrounded. He threw several marbles on the ground in front of the wolves. The explosion threw dust and stones distracting the wolves and Magnum took the offensive along with the chaos. He targeted one and it evaded his first swing, but not the second swing. The demon's body fell to the ground, its head gone. Some of its blood-red dust went to another wolf, making it bigger. Magnum attacked the other wolves hitting several and cutting its number in half.

The wolves looked defensive except for the one who got some extra dust. This one growled with its dead red eyes, leading the others to attack. The biggest was the first to go down, Magnum hit it with a two-handed swing and blasted it into pieces. He walked towards the remaining, his eyes glaring staring them down. The wolves cried and then ran away.

"Too small to be the mother demon. I'll deal with you later," he said running back to the burning house. The fire reached the second floor now.

"Hey!" Magnum called.

"He doesn't want to leave," the old woman came out of her store.

"What? Why?"

"We’re slow. We’ll just get everyone killed"

“Ah stupid!” Magnum ran to the old woman's store to look for water. He found a bucket and soaked the short cloak on his back, then bolted towards the burning house under it. Fire and smoke engulfed him but he pushed through. He found the man sitting beside the window, coughing excessively.

The fire intensified and the house was starting to crumble. The old woman was horrified but like a hero escaping a sure death, Magnum jumped out of the window carrying the man.

"Goodness! I was really worried!" the old woman said.

The man and Magnum coughed the smoke out of their bodies. The man has several burns on his arms but never acted hurt.

The fire consumed the house and everything near it. It collapsed, taking the building beside it. A wooden plank flew near them. Something was written on it.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"Fool! You didn't have to save me!" the man said crawling away, pulling his thin legs.

Magnum stood up. He instantly noticed the man’s thick eyebrows. Exactly like David’s, and with the legs there's no mistaking it. This is him.

"Dumbass! I won't be able to face your son if I let you die here!" Magnum said.

“David? My son!”

The old woman went close to the plank that fell. "Oh! The bank!" she said.

"Ahh! The bank…" Magnum sighed as his dreams of beautiful armor and weapon upgrades collapsed with the bank.

“David? He's okay?” the man said looking at Magnum.

“No, he's not! He was crying like a baby!"

“Goodness! He is safe Gerry!” the old woman said.

Gerry sat down on the ground, his body relaxed. “They were being chased! A group of infected critters! I tried to get their attention but only caught a few wolves. Then Lady Brena and her squad tried to fight the critters. I didn't know what happened after that," he closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, "Where is David now?"

“Brena?”

Magnum remembered the chief. He didn't see anyone alive when he came to the town other than the two he is with now.

“Is she the chief’s daughter?" Magnum asked.

"Yes,” the old woman said. “She was always brave and sweet and smiled a lot. Oh, Brena! I hope she escaped!”

“Where’s David now?” Gerry said.

“Your son was with a band of people with a nosy old man and his assistant," he said.

The man sighed, “Oh Gods! That's the chief. When was it?"

"Two hours ago," Magnum said.

"But why didn't you escort them? They are still far away from the Midandria!" Gerry said.

"To save you! Dumbass!" Magnum scratched his head in frustration.

"Where are your manners you two!" The old woman glared at them, her hands on her waist.

"Gerry, you should be thankful that he saved you! And you! Don't shout at him! He's older than you! You two follow me to my house!"

Both guys looked away as Sina started to walk.

“Hold on, I need to confirm something first,” Magnum said.

“What is it?” Sina said.

“I saw a woman’s body with dark brown hair near the gate. I think it's the chief’s daughter,” he said.

“Let’s take a look!” Gerry said.

The three walked and confirmed it was Brena’s body.

“What are we gonna do with all these dead?” Sina said.

Magnum carried Brena’s body. “I’ll burn them all later but for Brena, she deserved a separate release.”

“I’ll help you”, Gerry said.

The old woman, Sina, cooked food for them at her house. Meanwhile, Magnum was walking around the elegant-looking home, strategically placing some red demon dust. Magnum sniffed the smell coming out from the kitchen. It has been a while since he ate good food. Vegetables and fruits were always plenty since there were lots for farms that were left unattended but meat wasn't. It was expensive, and if he ever caught a boar or a chicken, it was always wiser to sell them to any surviving towns. Many are willing to buy, no matter the price.

Gerry was sitting on the couch admiring the gunblade on the table in front of him.

"Time to eat!" Sina said.

Magnum and Gerry quickly moved. They got their share of meat, eggs and a saucy dish then went to the living room sitting in front of each other. Sina shook her head as they left her on her long table alone.

"What you did outside?" Gerry asked.

"What?" Magnum said.

Gerry shook his head, "You have a hearing problem, don’t you? What you did outside?" he said louder.

"Adding protection to the house. So that demons won't smell you here," he said.

"Won’t smell? What do you mean?” Gerry said.

Magnum started attacking his meal, “Exactly as I said, demons look for non-infected. They will ignore you if they think you are infected”

“But how?” Gerry said.

“Demon Dust!” he said.

“Demon Dust? What’s that?” Gerry said but it looked like Magnum did not hear him again. He then got distracted at the intricacies of the weapon in front of him.

“This weapon. Who customized this?” Gerry puts a little effort into his voice so that Magnum can hear him from the couch in front.

“I did,” he said.

“You did?” He said in awe, “Can I?”

“Yes," Magnum said still busy eating.

“Heavy!” Gerry said.

He looked at the huge hilt, there was only one trigger but there were two buttons reachable by the thumb. Two revolving cylinders were conveniently placed to give space for one another. One was closer to the hilt near the back of the blade and its barrel runs upwards at the back. The other cylinder is at the lower front, closer to the blade, and its barrel is lined up at the center of the tip.

“Beautiful isn't it?" Magnum said after finishing his meal.

“It's beautiful! It's bigger and longer than my grandfather’s gunblade. But that one only has one cylinder and the blade only has holes in front. This one has holes at the back as well! And your ears are broken because of this!" Gerry said.

"My ears? I know it's loud but tolerable. Wait your grandfather had a gunblade?" Magnum said but Gerry wasn't even listening, he was turning the gunblade over at the table marvelling at the weapon.

“You are strong if you can swing this with one hand,” he said. "But this shouldn’t be enough. My shotgun can't even hurt them”

Magnum pulled a small bottle from his pocket and placed it on the table. “Here,” he said. He opened the bottle and poured the powder on the table.

Gerry leaned away from the table, “Is that? Hey! That’s the Demon’s soul! Is that the dust you mentioned earlier?”

“This red dust, we call this Demon Dust okay? It's the thing that possesses the animals and us humans. It is the demon itself. But its dead now, so don't worry.” he said. “I mix this with my gunpowder and the explosion destroys their thick scales."

Gerry nodded, “But how did you get this?” he asked.

“First, kill them by fire, and then you get this dust. Then you use it against them and they die. Then you collect more."

“Huhhh good stuff,” Gerry said.

“So your grandfather didn’t teach you anything?" Magnum finished his food, stood and took his weapon and wore it on his back.

“My grandfather? No, he was a merc but he retired early. He was too traumatized to teach us anything about fighting demons. Where you going?” Gerry said.

“You should rest!” Sina said.

“Sorry, Lola but there might be others around that still need help. Don't worry, they won't be coming here and keep this bottle close to you," he tossed the bottle to Sina.

“What’s this?” Sina inspected the bottle after catching it.

"Tell her Gerry. Just hide here, don't be aggressive and they won't come to you if you have that. Bye!" Magnum said and he went off.

"How about me?" Gerry said.