"Attack" at night

You started as soon as the sun dipped below the horizon. The last hours spent at the tavern were going over the finer details of your "****," which thankfully involved McKinley doing most of the indoor searching. That left you, however, to cover his entry and exit at every stop. By itself, it wasn’t too bad, but when you returned to the bandit camp, it dawned on you how daring this truly was. What the fuck did you get yourself into? There were a lot more out at night. It seemed there were about double the amount. They were all armored and wielding equipment that even you hadn’t seen before. Each man had an automatic Kalashnikov, which indicated they were either coming out of Canada or being supplied by some kind of gun runner. Their gear looked mostly mismatched. Some had flak vests of varying colors, others had helmets that were new while others managed to get the post-war models... The one thing they had in common was that they looked to be fairly small - they weren’t toothpicks, but they didn’t seem all that healthy. Maybe they spent too much time raiding/trading the wrong kind of caravans? Even some of the conversations were about food.

The first building McKinley checked was just a barracks. He took two of the weapons and snagged a chest rig, loaded with magazines and gear. The second building was more of the same. The third was their storage, and the fourth was being used as an infirmary, where McKinley had unfortunately found one of the hostages mutilated - very obviously going through brutal ****. He didn’t go into details, and you weren’t about to ask. By the time you started to break into the fifth building, a fair amount of time had passed. It felt like you were on the brink of being discovered, or that your luck was about to run out…

...As you feared. Someone finally heard one of your attempts.

As McKinley searched the building, someone came to investigate the louder than usual ruckus that came during his usual break-in. Fortunately, your lingering luck streak made him come alone. For some reason, he didn’t call any of the others. As he came to the window that was recently shattered, he tried to rush back for the others, but you quickly snatched and dragged him into the shadows. He thrashed and shouted. All to no avail, of course. His muffled swears fell on no ears besides your own.

“Shut up!” You hissed.

He continued.

“Shut. It!” You hissed again.

You maneuvered around your gear, just barely able to find the handle of your bayonet. It isn’t at all ideal for the situation, but you manage to yank it out and begin stabbing him in rapid succession. You pressed your palm tighter against his mouth.

Muffled gurgles escaped his mouth as you started leaning backwards, slowly letting him fall to the ground. Your heart was racing, and the thrill you just got from that was nothing short of incredible. You exhaled and inhaled - the air was much more...putrid than you remembered. The body set between your legs had gone motionless. The moment was morbidly blissful for a few silent seconds, but the moment was interrupted by McKinley returning through the busted window.

“Holy fuck.” McKinley spotted the body. “Did you do that?”

“There was no other fucking option, McKinley. Are you any closer to finding your friends?”

“Yes! They’re inside. I need help getting them out though. Think we’ll manage without being caught?” He asked, looking at the body.

“Yes!" You barked. "But we need to hurry the Hell up! There’s no way we’ll be able to sneak around for much longer.”

“Well, hide the body and come inside. The sooner we grab my guys, the better.” McKinley retreated back inside, offering no help to you as you dragged the nameless corpse behind some dumpsters.

You climbed through the broken window and started looking around. Nothing really stuck out to you until you went to the stairs that led to the basement. From down there, you could hear a hushed conversation between two characters. You descended the steps, seeing McKinley talking to someone behind some bars. When you got closer, you noticed that the man looked even more beat up than McKinley did last night.

Christ… You looked inside the cell and saw two others, all tied down to the beds; unfortunately, they were women. In the corner, there were two males; they looked tortured. No need to share any more details about their condition.

“What’s the plan?”

“Just as we talked about. We take everyone and leave as fast as possible through the same way we came from.” McKinley confirmed. “Might be a little harder than we predicted, but Kenji here can help.”

Kenji spat crimson. His dark brown eyes glared at you. He wanted nothing more than to just get out. It’s scary to think he’s the healthiest survivor here right now. You got on your knees and started picking the lock. Old ones like these tend to be pretty easy, and this time was no exception. Within 10 seconds, you were in and checking everyone’s vitals.

The males in the room, aside from Kenji, were dead. One of the two females was dead too. The one alive had her legs strapped to the bed frame, displaying a well-used body. Her arms were tied to the posts on either end as well. Her ankles and wrists were rubbed raw, they just looked to have just recently stopped bleeding.

She had dirty blonde locks, still caked with dirt from the skirmish when she last fought her captors on a more equal footing.

Strangely enough, she had a blindfold and headphones on, covering her smudged face. You grabbed her shoulder and reached for the posts, but she reacted with ****. “Stop it! Stop it! Get the fuck off me, you mother fucking pig!!”

She thrashed, her bonds digging into her skin. McKinley yelled at you to silence her, so you did. You pressed your palm against her mouth and took off her headphones. Rock music blared out at a deafening volume. “I’m not here to hurt you, okay? I’m helping.” You pulled your hand back after repeating yourself a few more times.

Her lips quivered. “I don’t believe you.”

You reached around and grabbed her blindfold. Her eyes adjusted to the light and stared at you. “Who are you?”

“No time to explain. We have to get moving.”

She didn’t seem at all embarrassed by her lack of modesty, but you still didn’t stare. It was clear everyone in here had the worst happen to them. Kenji was armed with one of the guns McKinley had taken. The girl found some clothes and covered herself with them before you headed back out. She was hardly able to walk though.

“I didn’t think you made it,” Kenji weakly admitted. “I’m glad you came back to get us out.”

McKinley groaned, helping the nameless girl out the window. “Don't say anything yet. We’re still in the wolves' den.”

The trek back was uneventful. Aside from the longer pauses and slower pace, you managed to get out undetected. You worried that maybe doing that you put Tiny’s Tavern and all of its residents in danger. But McKinley was certain that they wouldn’t attack a town that could mount a proper defensive posture. However, you didn't share his line of thinking.

Since they had no place to stay, you offered that they all crash in your room. You’d go somewhere else for the night until they could organize a way to leave. Everyone was silent, however, so McKinley made the decision to take over your living situation until otherwise, promising to compensate you for the intrusion.

Jackpot.

You acted like it was nothing, then told them to get some rest before you left the room. Though, under all the business, you did feel sympathy burning pretty hot...You had all night not to think about it though. You got another room for yourself and sat at the edge of the bed while you filtered your thoughts.