Kyle didn’t know what he expected to find when he and C.H.A.D.D. decided to go southwest, but in just a few days of normal-paced travel they’d encountered their first group of refugees. Their story lined up closely with what Frank had told them about roving groups of raiders, and the awakened warlords that were leading the groups. Several more days had passed as they travelled, slowly accumulating survivors into a caravan headed towards Nierburg.

Other than healing the injuries and damage from the chaotic mana, Kyle mostly kept to himself. For their part, these people were in markedly worse condition than Frank and his granddaughters, having lost both supplies and people to the various raider groups. Many eyed Kyle with suspicion, and Kyle couldn’t fault them after what they’d been through.

He didn’t push the issue, taking time in the mornings before the caravan left and in the evenings after it settled in to run through varied sets of the drills he’d accumulated over the last months. C.H.A.D.D. was a tremendous help during these training sessions, projecting overlays of the movements and offering correction and criticism as he practiced. When he got the slower movements down, he'd then practice at increasing levels of speed and from different positions.

Kyle felt the pieces coming together as he practiced, but he also realized how much he had yet to learn to get any degree of mastery over the techniques. Despite the challenges, he felt incredibly motivated to keep practicing and learning. He knew he didn’t have the makings of a truly top-tier fighter, but the struggle reminded him of his early days of medical school. The long hours, challenging content, and constant practice were all familiar to him, and finding a new outlet to apply himself was much-needed stress relief.

Even better, having C.H.A.D.D. available to offer recordings of Frank and Garth as reference material allowed him to study the movements as they travelled. He was aware that the people tossed some strange looks his way, but he didn’t mind in the least. One of the most important things he’d decided going in was that he didn’t want to get too close to the people he was bringing in. That created opportunity for the Central Authority in Nierburg to learn more than was safe if they pressed the issue, and he thought it best for both the civilians and himself if they kept a degree of distance. They were cordial and appreciative of his help, but were not going to get overly friendly.

Their travels were slow and uneventful until the fifth day, when C.H.A.D.D. stopped them barely an hour into their travels.

[DR. MAYHEW, I’M DETECTING TWELVE UNAWAKENED SIGNATURES CONSISTENT WITH HUMANS WAITING AHEAD ON EITHER SIDE OF THE ROAD.] Kyle nodded at that, surprised it had taken this long. They weren’t exactly making efforts to hide their passage, and as the caravan had grown it was expected that they would draw attention.

While there were nearly forty people in the group Kyle was leading to Nierburg, they were mostly elderly, women, and children. There were certainly some younger men in the group, but the attacks from the raider groups had been particularly hard on that population.

Kyle turned to one of the older women who had been an unofficial leader of the largest group. “Tabitha, trouble ahead. Keep the group here, I’m going to handle it.”

Her tired eyes rested on him for a moment, seeming to take his measure before nodding. “Be safe.” Nodding in return, Kyle turned to C.H.A.D.D.

“Stay here and let Tabitha know if you pick up anything else, or if things go badly for me out there. Any advanced notice could be life or death for the people here.”

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

[UNDERSTOOD, DR. MAYHEW.]

Kyle walked down the middle of the dilapidated highway, arms casually at his side. When he’d made it to the spot where he’d expected to see the ambush, he stopped. Nobody emerged, so he decided to take a more direct approach. “I know you’re here. I know you’re after the caravan. You and the people like you have already taken more than enough from them. I’m going to give you one opportunity to leave peacefully.”

In response, a group of men came out of the underbrush and cover of the trees on either side of the road.

“Ain’t this cute, we gots ourself a hero, boys. If you had any idea who we work for you’d have kept your filthy trap shut.”

That was met by rough laughter as more and more men made themselves visible, Kyle counting eleven of the twelve C.H.A.D.D. had identified. Either a scout, a runner, or a sniper. Not a bad idea to be honest.

“Awful big talk, considering the lot of you have no idea who I am. Ask yourself, what kind of man walks alone and unarmed into an ambush?”

He had hoped the veiled threat would be enough to get them to reconsider, but unfortunately these weren’t exactly the brains of the operation.

“A dead man, that’s who! Get him!” With that, the group descended on Kyle, brandishing their weapons. Mostly they wielded cudgels made from whatever they had on hand, but there were a couple knives and a full-blown machete in the hands of the raiders as well. With a deep exhale, Kyle took his stance and prepared to fight.

Against hordes of awakened insects, Kyle didn’t put too much stock in his combat abilities. Even against enemies like Garth and Carlyle he knew he would still have trouble. An uncoordinated group of poorly trained thugs? It wasn’t a fight.

Kyle exploded into motion, smashing into the closest club-wielding opponent. He quickly got inside the reach of the club and landed a strike with his elbow into the man’s jaw. The man’s momentum completely stalled, Kyle reached around his arms and slammed him into a nearby man with a knife, causing both to stumble. Not letting up, Kyle grabbed the discarded club and battered both men, careful not to kill but certainly cracking bones in their arms.

As the others closed, Kyle threw the club at a man approaching on his left, stunning him as he dove into the man on his right. Tackling the man to the ground, Kyle followed up with a couple of savage punches to the ribs before getting to his feet and once again creating distance. In the span of just a few seconds, he had taken three of the men completely out of the fight. Thunder cracked the air, and Kyle felt an impact in his back, just to the left of his spine. It was a sniper, good call.

The stopping power and impact was much weaker than the rifles he’d been shot by before, and Kyle expected it came from a smaller caliber sidearm. I’ve been shot enough to start drawing comparisons. That’s probably not good. The bullet didn’t even break his skin.

Watching him stand there unbothered after taking a bullet seemed to give the group pause, and Kyle heard cracking sticks and crunching leaves as the man hiding at the forest’s edge tried to get back to cover. Activating HASTE, Kyle closed the distance in the blink of an eye, registering the terror on the man’s face as he struck him twice in rapid succession, snapping his ribs like twigs. He took up the discarded firearm in one hand and dragged the other man by his collar as he approached the group that still stood unmoving. Grunting with effort, he tossed the defeated man to the ground.

“I didn’t come here for bloodshed, in fact, I came here to try to avoid it. Against my better judgment, I’m going to give you all another chance. Take your injured, run to whoever the hell your boss is, and tell him that he’s on notice. I’m not inclined to leave survivors if I cross your paths again.”

Looking at the fear plain on the other men’s faces, he could tell they finally realized the danger they were in. They grabbed their injured men and took off to the south, opposite the direction that the caravan would be heading.

A short while later, Kyle returned to the group. Tabitha eyed him with a modicum of surprise.

“That didn’t take long. We heard the gunshot and thought the worst.”

“What can I say, he was a bad shot. Let’s get moving, plenty of road left to cover between here and Nierburg."

Kyle turned to lead the group, but if he’d looked back he would have seen Tabitha’s eyes widen as she saw the bullet hole in his shirt, the skin underneath pristine.