Black Market Merchant

Chapter 118: Hunters Charge
56 felt concerned hearing that the Hoard Mother’s kind had only been defeated just twice before and that Moab City or the Hunter Clan had no way to beat it. Still, they didn’t seem to be hopeless and he himself could guess why. Just because the massive creature couldn’t be beaten by them didn’t mean that another means of victory wasn’t attainable.

”So, what’s the plan then?” 56 asked.

”Firstly, keep it away from the plasma wall towers.” Dixon replied promptly. ”The cities safety comes first, and we can’t let it destroy a single tower. The Hunter Leader has a team working along with the Moab Government on delivering a solution and we just need to buy time. As soon as we get the command, we’ll engage the Twisted. Things will work out.”

”I hope your right.” 56 said looking back at the intense battle unfolding below. ”So which group are we going to be attacking with?”

”I was wondering that myself.” Tammy chimed in listening in on the conversation. ”Depending on where we go, I need to know what ammo to use.”

”The ammo all do the same thing.” Sam scoffed.

”No, they don’t!” Tammy replied rolling her eyes at him. ”You know bullets and lasers all have a wide variety of impacts and secondary implosions.”

”Knock it off already you two.” Dixon shouted. The two huffed and turned away from each other. ”To answer the question, we are going to be in group two. All we need to do is attack the Twisted assaulting the towers. The tower defenses can handle the smallest of the creatures, it’s the medium and large ones we need to worry about. If they destroy a tower before the others can deal with the Mother, then defending the city is going to be exceedingly difficult.”

”I see. Well in that case shooting them down with this bad boy should be easy.” 56 replied patting the laser gun on his lap.

”I wish that were so. Twisted come in a large variety of types and some can be harder to kill than others.” Dixon said stroking the hair on his chin. ”Oh look, there is a good example of a hard to kill Twisted coming out of the dust.”

56 and the others looked down to see a strange thick creature lumbering out of the dust. It was headed for the center of the battle. Its features reminded 56 of a Bison, however, that was as far as the resemblance went. Though its larger head and thick hairy front looked like a Bison it couldn’t be called that.

The creature was twice the size of a Bison with horns like a Texans Longhorn Steer. Its fur was now gone and replaced with a thick scaly, skin hide that was the same color of the suntanned ground it walked on. Also, instead of a sleek streamlined appearance, it now had three rows of spiny plates that ran along its spine along with noticeable plates that emphasized its hips and shoulder blades. Its muscles were also rippling far out of proportion, as if it was completely lacking fat and ate nothing but steroids.

”That Twisted is called a Plain Strider. As you can guess, scientists say that it is a mutated North American Bison. That thick looking hide is capable of deflecting bullets and lasers from a far distance or if they are of a smaller caliber. Aiming for the eyes, mouth, and joints of those creatures and others like it, will give your best chances to kill them.” Dixon explained. ”The rabbit resembling creatures are known as Lagos Cutters. They were some of the first creatures to show signs of the mutation. Unfortunately, due to their short gestation times, their population went out of control very quickly. Also, they are no longer vegetarian, as you could have guessed by their claws.”

”They do look terrifying.” 56 remarked as he watched one such creature leaping nearly three meters at a time. ”A swarm of those would be hard to deal with on the ground.”

”Yes, they would be hard to handle on the ground.” Dixon said giving a knowing nod. ”Luckily for us they only attack in groups when they are with a Hoard. Normally they are completely solitary creatures. Now those bigger ones with the strange, elongated heads are more dangerous. They used to be of the canine variety of all types, ranging from Wolves, Labradors, Foxes and even Chihuahuas. These Twisted are voracious hunters and travel normally in packs at night. They are called Night Hounds.”

”Very strange appearances they have now. They almost look nothing like dogs in any way.” 56 pointed out.

”Yes, some Twisted creatures had a higher reaction to the nuclear mutations and look completely different than what they used too. Best example would be the Hoard Mother. DNA tests claim that it used to be a Dairy Cow.” Dixon said shaking his head as if not believing his own words.

”A Dairy Cow?!” 56 shouted in disbelief and with a bit of laughter. ”That’s definitely hard to imagine.” He then zoomed out his binoculars as he looked over the rest of battle. ”It’s too hard to see anything else moving down there in the dust. So, I guess I’ll learn more about them another time or as we start fighting.”

”That’s pretty much how we learned about them too. There are still many strange variations out there to be discovered. Who knows, we might even discover a new type ourselves in this fight.” Dixon said thoughtfully. He checked his watch once again, but still no change. ”Keep an eye out for any changes in the battle. Maybe you’ll see another type for me to explain.”

”Will do.” 56 replied. However, his gaze had wandered away from the Twisted and he was now looking at the Cities defensive force that was quickly amassing behind the Plasma wall.

The force was largely robotic, just like he had seen, studied, and fought against when at the AFR base. Instead of Infantryman being the core of the ground fighters, they had been replaced by thin arm and legged humanoid robots. They almost reminded him of the Droids from ’Star Wars’, however, these darkly painted robots were more human in appearance and armor more streamlined. The blue glow of their eye sensors and weapons mounted into their arms looked very cool, especially the weapons. Being mounted into the very framework of their design prevented them from ever being dropped or disarmed.

Seeing them he couldn’t help but want to take one apart and study them. The complex functions and technology that had to of been put into them just had to be fascinating. He even wondered if they could be hacked and remotely controlled. If so, the amount of cyber hacking ideas and cyber defense to overcome would be exhilarating to try and break into. His nerdy side was definitely thinking up a plethora of possibilities.

The tanks and artillery appeared to also be robotic in nature, however, their basic design had not changed much in two hundred odd years. They just had a lower and slimmer profile due to the lack of humans being inside or traveling in them. This city’s forces didn’t appear as technologically up to date as the ones he had fought against. It was possible that they were a generation or two behind the AFR. Yet they still looked quite formidable.

The Plasma wall had been built a good distance away from the city buildings and the forces were able to assemble in an orderly fashion to deal with the attackers. Their numbers appeared to be several thousands of ground troops, three dozen tanks and five dozen artilleries. Quite the sizable robotic force for a single city to have under its command. No wonder the AFR or other larger political groups hadn’t tried attacking this place yet.

A large series of booms sounded out at this moment, as the artillery and tanks started firing volleys of shells and incendiaries into the encroaching dust plume. Even from here 56 could hear the shrieks of creatures being struck by the bombardment. Several of these shells struck the neck and torso of the Hoard Mother, but to no avail the beast just shook itself as if annoyed and kept marching on. It seemed more irritated by the artillery shots than injured. The sight of this reaction made 56 shutter inwardly.

”You are recording all this still, Orville?” 56 asked the egg-shaped robot floating alongside him.

”Yes Boss 56! Everything is coming in clearly.” Orville chanted back.

”Looks like the main forces have started to engage, so we should be joining in soon.” Dixon called out to everyone. ”Double check all our gear and guns are in order.”

”Already to go. Checked them three times already!” Tammy said sliding a magazine into her immensely customized assault rifle.

”What about my ammo?” 56 asked.

”Your laser rifle has ammo cartridges in that green crate behind you. You shouldn’t end up using many of the cartridges. They usually last a pretty long time.” Sam answered checking his pouches on his Hover Bike and pulling out a grenade.

”Alright, I think when we go to defend the towers just let the defense systems focus on the smaller ones and we focus mostly on the larger ones like that Plain Strider. I’ll check on the Hoard Mother’s progress and if the defenses can’t handle the Mothers approach, we will break off and join them in the attack.” Dixon said placing a large LMG like gun into his back. Its drum magazine looked as if it could hold hundreds of rounds. Seeing it 56 wanted to get one for himself.

Dixon then held up his watch and watched it carefully waiting for the signal. Several minutes went by and the silence was stifling out the distant battle rumbling below. Everyone just wanted to attack. A few of the towers were now being rammed by Plain Striders and even more were now missing a lot of barbed wire. 56 thought he saw a Night Hound make it onto a tower’s defensive platform, but the robots must have shot it down immediately, because he didn’t see it there when he did a double take.

”Got a message!” Dixon shouted. Everyone raised their guns and gripped the handles to their Hover Bikes in anticipation. ”It says here that we are to defend towers 44-48. That is right in the middle. Let’s move!”

Simultaneously all three of the Hunters pulled back on their bikes handles and sent them diving straight down. Additionally, all the other Hunters waiting in the air with them did likewise, heading for their designated locations without a single thought. The rush of the wind and the weightless feeling of falling excitedly drove up 56s adrenaline levels. It was the feeling that he craved every time he himself flew with his Armament.

”Finally! A fight worth having!” 56 though as he held on tightly to the trailer safety bar.

The sights and screams of the creature growing ever closer added evermore so to the excitement. As soon as they came to a jerking halt only meters above the ground and tower forty-six, 56 raised his gun at the thick of the action. Aiming right at the closest Night Hound he pulled the trigger without hesitation.

”Cer-slpat!”

Black blood splattered everywhere as a huge hole appeared in the Night Hounds elongated head. The body crumpled immediately onto the ground and twitched once as life left it.

56 looked curiously at the laser gun in his hand before he let out a fit of laughter and took aim eagerly at the next creature. ”No recoil? No sight of the bullet or its contrail? Awesome, this is going to be just like laser tag; easy, but with blood!”