Scavenger Hunt. (3)

The dim light from the glowing, beady eyes began to appear from behind the smog, ever increasing in number, indicating that there were A LOT more of them than there were previously.

"The goal here is to buy enough time for the Scavengers to get away, and load the Wagon so that after we turn tail and run, all we have to do is board that thing and get the fuck outta here." Ruon said, as he was flanked by both Banshee and Jace.

"Understood." Jace acknowledged, as he pulled two large swords from his back.

The single edged blades that adorned the swords had serrated edges with teeth so large, they were clearly made with the intention of rending flesh from bone with every swing. They essentially looked like Chainswords that were not motorised, and also appeared to be quite heavy. Jace did a few stretches and warm up exercises with his weapons in hand, which was just as well, as seconds later, a multitude of critters pierced trough the mist and leapt towards the trio. Jace exploded from a squat, pushing off from where he was crouched and flew towards and into the mass of vampiric tunnel mobs. Thick, clotted blood and viscera sprayed about in every direction as Jace powerfully dispatched the mobs. He didn't have the finesse or elegance of Banshee, but what he lacked in refinement, he more than made up for with effectiveness and aggression. Banshee, who had previously yanked on the coils and was spinning them once again, assisted Jace from rage, having adopted a more supportive role than when she was fighting alone. Ruon, who was standing with his Bolt Rifle at the ready, was watching in silence, as if waiting to see when and where the Mud Blood was going to pop up.

"Where the fuck is it?" Ruon whispered more to himself than anybody else.

Yet funnily enough, Banshee shrugged nonchalantly as she performed a sweeping attack which forced Jace to crouch down about as low as he could while a rapier swung across and cleaved many a rat and Tunnel Mutt in two. He simply shot her a brief dirty look, before going about his business again.

"Thralls are typically used for food, and are only killed once their blood no longer mimics that of a living creature. Thick as the blood of these ones is, it's not burning up under the UV lights, which means these are still viable food sources. That means that smiley fuck must be planning to take one of us. Be careful."

As if on cue, the Mud Blood's visage appeared through the fog, hunched over on all fours, watching patiently. The moment both Ruon's and Banshee's UV lights shone in its direction, the Vampire moved with such speed, it practically disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"Shit." Ruon said before looking at Banshee. "This is a well-fed Mud Fucker. Size and speed appear to be far above the average Mud Blood."

He then looked towards Jace and tapped his Rig in a sequence that spelled out the exact same thing to Jace – with the added taps telling him to be vigilant, and he tapped the hilt of his swords together in acknowledgement. The sightings of that giant head became more and more frequent, something that coincided with the thinning of the Thralls. Yet in spite of the lowering numbers, the attacks became more aggressive and desperate, with a lot more of them jumping and seemingly attempting to get Jace's neck. He was alert to this however, as Ruon, who was practically sweating due to how hard he was focusing, had warned him through a series of taps. Every now and again, the Vampire would be visible for a brief second, before disappearing again into the fog. This was worrying Ruon – and for good reason – as it didn't take all that much more time for an unidentified object to come flying towards Jace from beyond the smog. He barely evaded it, but unfortunately, that wasn't the last object to be thrown at him. In conjunction with the leaping mobs, Jace was having to contend with quite a bit – especially considering how they were trying to buy time more than anything. The led to Banshee pulling her rapiers back into her hands and deciding to engage the critters up close. Just as she was about to enter the fray, a rock zipped in from a different angle and smashed Jace on the shoulder, damaging he shoulder pad as well as destroying one of his UV lights – something that was met with a gleeful shriek.

"Fuck!" Jace boomed as he held his shoulder momentarily, but that was enough time for a wave of attacks from the mobs.

Banshee came flying in and sliced them to bits, before turning her head in the direction the last rock came from and readying herself to attack, as if she was about to leap into the fog. She didn't though, and continued to defend Jace against the ever-dwindling Thralls, and after a few seconds, he tapped her shoulder in appreciation and rejoined the fray, having sufficiently recovered. Another rock came flying towards them, however Banshee anticipated that it was coming, and sliced through it. A few seconds later, more rocks came flying towards them, and she beat and sliced them away. Banshee then pulled on the coils, spun, and then launched her rapiers into the fog, thinking she was about to hit the Vampire. All she hit however was rock face, and the resulting clang made the Thralls shriek. Before she could pull the rapiers back however, long, gnarled, amber coloured spear-like claws flew through the fog and pierced not only Banshee's armour, but her left shoulder and abdomen.

"Banshee!!" Ruon called as he aimed his rifle in the direction the claws had come from.

Jace moved quickly and attempted sliced through the amber spears, but was swatted away by some more spears that were whipped through the air like a smacked him like a flog. Before Ruon could fire his gun, Banshee, who hadn't made a sound even after having being impaled, tapped her armour to relay a message to Ruon.

"Don't fire. There might be more."

"I have the grenade." Ruon tapped back.

Just then, the claws that had swatted Jace away like a fly shot through the air and stabbed Banshee through the abdomen again.

"Don't make a fuss." She tapped.

Just then, the Vampire pulled back, trying to force Banshee to disappear into the fog with it. She dug her feet in to the ground with all of her remaining strength, and tapped again.

"The mission is the priority. The Scavengers must be escorted."

"I'll come for you!" Ruon bellowed as his voice cracked a bit, no longer tapping.

"Don't bother." Banshee tapped, before being yoinked into the mist violently.