Chương 108: 21 - THE FALL OF GRACELAND

BANG! The sound of a gunshot echoed through Graceland. And by the split second of his instinct, T'balt grabbed the gun before that bullet tore a hole through his neck.

"Wait! Stop!" He struggled with Vienna's arm, trying to get her pistol away from her. But she was combat-trained just like he assumed she was. She thrusted the point of her elbow into his exposed kidney, causing him to retch over in pain. But he kept hold of her, one hand on the gun, the other on her wrist. Two more shots went off. Her next attack went for his throat. He still tried to hold firm, knowing if he let go, he would surely die, but he couldn't breathe, and another attack was coming.

He quickly found the pistol's magazine release button and pressed it, blocking her next punch with his chin. Better than his throat again. This time, he fell to the ground, but at the same time, so did the mag in her gun. That gave him enough time to find his voice again.

"Wait! Stop! I didn't have anything to do with German taking Tyene! I swear!" He threw his hands up. She only pulled out another magazine from her waist and proceeded to load it, keeping her distance. She didn't stop. She didn't believe him.

"You know what happens if you kill me, right?" She smacked the butt of the magazine into her gun.

"Yes. We go back to the beginning, and I'm with Lady Tyene again." She aimed.

"And hopefully never see you again."

"I'm not your enemy. I can help you." She didn't pull the trigger. She was interrupted by a noise coming from a much larger threat in the sky. When T'balt first saw it, it resembled a shooting star calmly floating down from the sky. But then it got closer and closer until they could feel the heat and hear the whistle of it cut through the night sky.

"Is that a meteor?" he said. They both dropped their heads for cover. The massive ball of rock and flame, the size of a house, hit the city, causing a massive explosion on the southern coast. It wasn't close to them, but it shook the ground and sent large chunks of debris hurling their direction. T'balt jumped through the window of the closest building, protecting his head. Because there were more. Dozens more. All falling from the sky. All hurling directly towards their island.

He didn't have a single loot designed to protect himself. So all he could do was duck his head and pray.

"What the hell is going on?" He started hearing screams and feeling flames closing in around him. He almost didn't want to look outside. But when he did, Vienna was out there, mumbling something. There was a large chunk of rock between them, so he could barely make out what she said, but when he did, it felt obvious.

"Corlander."

"What are you talking about!?" He yelled at her.

"What do you know about this!?" She heard him but chose to ignore him, taking account of her ammo and a field of debris now separating them. T'balt was no longer her concern. She ran off, T'balt shouting after her. He looked around. The buildings were burning, and half the city was already destroyed. The sky itself was burning, the air too acidic to breathe. There were families here, children even. Running for their lives or already dead, screaming for someone to come and save them.

"Not again," he mumbled. On the coasts of the city, they came in droves, several ships like parading pirates in suits and bulletproof vests. They wore exotic furs and bleached leathers. T'balt could tell who they were at first sight.

"Hunters." The Hunter's Club was invading Graceland. They charged through the streets like the battlefield of a grand war, flexing their loot to attack anyone they saw. There were at least a hundred of them, running through a city of two thousand. But those two thousand weren't seasoned hunters. They were workers and families, poorly trained workers and families. They fought back, of course, but were still slaughtered by the hunter's superior loot. T'balt didn't have anything to fight with, helpless to watch.

What could he do? What could he do? Then he sprang to action. He needed to get back to the others, to Acelin, Ellie, and Cannon. They would've been just as helpless as he was, completely lootless. Maybe he could get to his bag. His bag of loot. It would've been in Tyene and Vienna's room. Then he could defend these people. He just had to survive long enough to make it there. He sprinted through the streets, over debris, past the fire and explosions of tiny pieces of meteor.

One of the hunters caught him by surprise, swinging at him with a diamond-bladed spear. He ducked the attack, but not quickly enough to avoid a slash on his right cheek. The man assumed a stance, squaring his body. T'balt kept his hands up, but out of the corner of his eye, he could see more coming. The spear was lunged at his throat, and he fell to his back and grabbed a rock on the ground, launching it at his attacker. The man dodged it, but it gave him space to run off.

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings. T'balt continued running as fast as he could, narrowly turning a corner before he was pelted by some summoned throwing knives. He heard more footsteps. A dozen of them were coming straight for him, and he was stuck at the edge of the island city. Nothing in front of him but the water reflecting the orange light of the fires. He had no choice. He had to jump in.

He splashed down below, hoping the currents didn't sweep him away, holding his breath as he descended further into the water. The daggers came cutting through the surface of the water, coming directly near his face. But he was just deep enough that they lost all velocity before reaching him. He was fine as long as he stayed down. But he didn't know if he could keep his breath held long enough for them to leave. But then he had thought and stopped holding his breath. He didn't need to breathe.

The need-nullification loot took that need too.

"That's useful," he thought. He swam underwater, coming up on one of the beaches, far enough away that the hunters didn't see him surface. The water dripped all over him, weighing him down by what felt like double his body weight. But he had to keep moving. He made his way back into the town, managing to hide until he found their little apartment. But the roof had caved in.

"Oh no." He ran to the door, struggling to get it open past the debris.

"Ellie! Cannon! Acelin!" He shouted.

"We're here, T'balt!" It was Ellie's voice. His chest dropped in immediate relief.

"But we're stuck under something!" She called.

"Alright, hold on!" He started shifting through the rocks, lifting them up piece by piece until he finally found them. They were hiding under Cannon's frame, the only thing between them and being crushed by the roof of the place. Once he removed the boulder blocking their way out, Ellie sent Acelin through it.

"Come on. Come on, it's alright." T'balt funneled the woman and boy out, leaving Cannon, huffing to stop the rest of the roof from caving in. T'balt took the weight, as much as he could, thankful for Cannon's many training sessions on the road. The big man was able to shimmy his way out. T'balt dropped the roof and leaped out of the building before it could collapse even further. Everyone needed to catch their breath. But they didn't have time. The outside was just as perilous as the inside.

"T'balt, what's happening?" Ellie asked.

"It's an attack… by the Hunter's Club."

"How are we supposed to defend ourselves? We don't have any loot!" Acelin said.

"I know. Shit." Tyene and Vienna's place was right next door. And the buildings were connected. It was caved in, too. There was no way he was going to be able to get his loot out of there.

"T'balt!" Ellie shouted his name, pointing. It was a group of the invaders. These ones were the men Corlander had guarding his walls and his personal office. They were strapped in what looked like black and grey police gear, each one of them with an automatic rifle aimed in formation. They looked like a group of mercenaries. Ten of them. They were marching straight towards them.

"We have to run!" said Cannon. One of the mercenaries noticed, aiming their rifle straight at his back. Then his head whipped backward as he fell to the floor, blood staining the ground. All of the mercenaries turned to their left in unison as one of them yelled, "Open Fire!" They were aimed at a woman, bursting their shots at her as each one of them ran for cover. It was Vienna. But she was moving so quickly that they couldn't nail down their shots on her. T'balt could only tell by the flash of her track jacket.

She zipped behind one of them, executing him with a pistol shot to the back of his neck. She ran off again before the others' fire could reach her. The men started shouting orders at one another as she started taking them out one by one. One of them tossed a piece of loot to another, and just before Vienna appeared in front of him, his skin turned to hard steel. When she fired her pistol at his head, the bullet ricocheted off, hitting her in the shoulder. She didn't even wince as the merc smiled back at her.

He tried to fire off a round with his rifle, but she slapped away the barrel, throwing him off balance, causing him to unload his clip into the dirt. The man pulled his knife, and she grabbed it, simultaneously pistol-whipping him in the throat. But the metal skin nullified any damage that would've been done. He backhanded her across the mouth with his free hand and tried to finish her with his side arm. But by the time he aimed, she was already gone. She was behind him, with a hand at the back of his neck.

She ripped his loot out, the coin flying out of his neck and into her open palm. And almost instantly, the metal skin reverted back to being squishy and pale, unable to protect itself from the bullet that ripped through his skull.

"The loot thief." T'balt thought. The remaining mercs assumed a back-to-back formation, unloading on all sides. T'balt had to make them all take cover. But Vienna didn't have just speed loot. She had a forcefield. She held a hand in front of her as the bullets bounced off that transparent reflective screen. But that's when T'balt noticed she had his bag. That loot was theirs. Or at least the ones they had when they got here.

He watched closely as she removed one of the loots from her own neck, replacing it with another. Then all of the men's guns started floating away from their own hands, lifted with psychic power. She tossed them aside, and they all reached for their side arms, one of the men charging at her. But he was stopped by a perfectly aimed knife to the throat. The other men started to panic, seeing their comrades so easily skewered. The knife seemed to remove itself from his neck and toss itself into another's.

It sliced through him like jelly. The last one tried to block his neck and bat away the knife, like he was in close combat with someone standing fighting, but it was just the knife, slashing at his hands, then his legs, and finally his head. His blood mixed with the others' on the ground as he fell over dead. And just like that, all ten of them were dealt with.

"Guess she knows what she's doing." T'balt thought. He was thankful that she didn't seem to notice them. Otherwise, he didn't know how he was going to survive that. Vienna healed herself, unequipping and requipping as she saw fit. Then she fastened T'balt's bag around over her shoulder and ran off towards the middle of the city.

"T'balt, wait, where are you going?" Ellie had hold of his arm. When Vienna moved, he must've instinctively started following. But he knew exactly why the instinct had activated. He looked at Cannon.

"Take Ellie and Acelin. And find somewhere safe to hide. Protect them, as you did before." Cannon nodded sternly.

"I'm going to follow Vienna," T'balt said. Ellie didn't let go.

"By yourself? You shouldn't be heading into this mess."

"I have to… If I let the Redeemer get away, I don't think I'm going to find her again." She let go then, understanding. It was what they came here for and what he spent the last uncalculable amount of time searching for. So she let him go.