Chapter 3

"Lilith GO NOW!" Hayes screamed. Breaking out of her shocked trance Lilith ran into a nearby home slamming the door behind her. The man was approaching at an alarming rate. CLANG! CLANG! Hayes fired his shotgun at the man and frowned. Besides his face this enormous man had covered himself in a metal armor, the two shots had not slowed his pace one bit. Hayes began to reload then. WHOOSH! WHOOSH! The colossal man swung his mace just missing Hayes. 'He's so fast!' Hayes thought. Hayes knew he couldn't keep this up for long. He was running away now, there was no way he could defeat the colossal man in direct combat. Suddenly a raider appearing in his way blocking Hayes from running away. The raider swung its machete at Hayes. Hayes blocked with his shotgun across his chest with both his hands. He was trapped. The colossal man grinned a dreadful grin. He arched himself for a big swing and released, but what was heard was not flesh being obliterated. It was the sound of a metal hammer blocking the attack. The two paused locked together. Odis had his hammer blocking the mace while Ronos struggled on the opposite side. Ronos had a slightly larger build but Odis was in no way weaker than him. After the brief struggle the force pushed them both away from each other.

Meanwhile Hayes redirected the machete away from himself and sent the blood raider off balance. BANG! BANG! The raiders head exploded into bits of flesh and skull onto the pavement. Another blood raider rushed Hayes from behind, without second thought Hayes retrieved his machete. This raider had a bat with nails pointing out. It was covered in the blood of what Hayes assumed to be the other settlers. He slung his double barrel over his back and readied himself machete in hand. The raider came fast with an overhead swing, Hayes dodged to the right and swung the machete. The raider quickly blocked the blow with the bat, but both combatants soon realized their weapons were now useless. The machete had stuck into the bat not fully cutting through its thick wood. Hayes dropped his weapon due to the recoil from the collision. Hayes raised his hands signifying hand to hand combat, the raider did the same. Hayes and the raider charged each other. Right before they could collide Hayes slid his knife from his belt and pushed it deep into the raider's torso. The raider let out a long howl before falling lifelessly to the ground. In this world fighting fair was not a risk Hayes would take. He felt sorrow for the deceased settlers, this was the end of the settlement and life as he knew it.

Ronos and Odis had been trading blows during Hayes battle across the settlement. Both were drenched in sweat and panting clearly both were exhausted. Just when the battle seemed stagnant five more raiders appeared from all sides. "Come my boys, lets slaughter these pigs!" Ronos grinned. Three of the raiders ran towards Hayes. BANG! BANG! Two of the raiders had been blasted away. The third raider was about to reach Hayes. THUNK! A bolt struck the raider through the chest his eyes went dark and he fell to the ground. Dead. Lilith waved from a distance, she had a crossbow in her arms aimed at where the raider had been. The other two raiders had caused Odis to lose ground in the stalemate between the hulking men. The two raiders had come at the same time from opposing sides. CRACK! Odis killed one slamming a crushing blow to his sternum. The force of the blow killed the raider instantly. The other of the two had managed to use their spiked bat to strike one of Odis' legs, tearing the flesh away with the nails. Hayes rushed to help Odis, but the damage was already done. Odis was slowed significantly. This gave Ronos the opportunity to land a deciding blow to Odis. The spiked mace connected to Odis' chest, a cracking noise could be heard. Odis had fallen.

BANG! BANG! Hayes shot the raider standing near Odis' body. "NOOOOOOO!" Hayes heard Lilith scream in agony. Now it was only Ronos and Hayes left on the battlefield, the settlement had deadened. Not a sound could be heard, they were the only ones left. Ronos grinned his dreadful grin. "Its just you and me ghost! Your time has come!" Ronos charged at lightning speed towards Hayes. He would reach him in a moments time. Hayes loaded two more slugs and charged, rage had overcome him. Odis was like a father to Hayes. He had never known his father, his mother said he died before he was born. This colossal man had to die. When Ronos was close enough, Hayes fired two shots at Ronos' head. DING! DING! Ronos was quick to react blocking his face with his metal bracers. Now Ronos struck back with a powerful swing of his mace but before it could hit Hayes it stopped. A groan came from the colossal man. A bolt was stuck straight through his elbow. Ronos swung his other arm punching Hayes in the stomach sending him flying yards away, he then grabbed the bolt from his arm and looked towards its source. "YOU BITCH!" Ronos charged towards her. Hayes was recovering as he saw Ronos charging towards Lilith. 'No I can't let this happen! Get up! Get up!' Hayes willed himself up and ran after the colossal man.

Lilith franticly loaded another arrow into the crossbow. SNAP! It was deflected by the incoming target. The colossal man was just a few yards away now. 'I only have one more shot.' Lilith focused. After loading the next bolt she didn't fire right away, she scanned the colossal man. He had metal armor covering most of his body, except down there. She watched as he inched closer and noticed he was barefoot. This time she won't miss. THUNK! "AAAAAAAAH!" The colossal man screeched. The bolt had gone through the top of his left foot causing him to fall over. The momentum carried him the rest of the way to Lilith, his ginormous body bumped into hers knocking her into the house knocking her unconscious. Witnessing this Hayes slowed his pursuit to load his weapon, now it really was just him and the colossal man. The colossal man got back up now with a limp. Even after the two injuries he still had his spiked mace in hand; "I'll come back for you later!" he dismissed the unconscious girl and headed for Hayes.

The two men headed straight two each other, each filled with rage. Hayes hated this giant man, he had killed the two people left he truly cared about. Hayes would be patient this time, he only had two shots he had to make them count. Ronos swung his mace at Hayes in a diagonal cross. Each missed by just a hair. Hayes watched the mace closely. Hayes noticed something when he was fighting the man the second time. Each attack hit something after it missed, the colossal man didn't care what he was hitting with each swing. WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! Three more swings, despite being injured the colossal man still posed a great threat; the speed of the swings did not slow one bit. Hayes retreated his way to Odis' workshop. WHOOSH! WHOOSH! 'I can't do this for much longer. Its only a matter of time before one of those hits me." Hayes thought. Hayes stood in front of a large object, WHOO-THUNK! The mace had struck an object and stopped. The colossal man still had a grip on the mace when Hayes fired two shots at his hands. BANG! BANG! Ronos' hands exploded into a mess of blood and bone. His massive fingers flew in all directions. Hayes' plan had worked.

Before Hayes could relish in victory the colossal man lunged and him. The large man wrapped Hayes in a bear hug with his now handless arms. Ronos squeezed him with all his might. Hayes could feel his breathing get tighter and tighter. Each breath harder than the last. With a struggle Hayes freed one of his hands. He was face to face with this colossal man, he had to think of something. Hayes punched the man repeatedly in the mount with his fist. He could feel his air getting lighter, he began to slow his assault. "HAHAHA, FINALLY I HAVE CAUGHT YOU GHO-" Hayes thrust his fist straight down the colossal mans throat reaching as far as he could. The colossal man began to bite Hayes arm, but the lack of air took great affect on the colossal man and his grip loosened. Hayes pushed harder, the biting had torn into Hayes forearm. The beast of a man started to thrash around the workshop like a wild animal on its last legs. Ronos' face was purple the lack of oxygen had a greater effect on a man of his size. The last moments of struggle left the colossal man's body, he was dead.