Shoot Ashley

You aren't going to be able to get Arabella or any of the others out of this the way you want to with these three here. You exhale and look at Arabella as she struggles. "I don't think you're gonna like what's going through my mind, Ashley..."

He slung his rifle and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Why would that be, Visser?"

The other two were distracted, preoccupied with the other girls. "I've got some rough history with this one in particular. I've been meaning to make up for it."

Arabella stops struggling, as if just now realizing who you are. "...You're not who I think you are...Are you?"

Ashley, now relaxed from the engagement, reaches for a cigarette from his breast pocket. He’s looking at you, but he doesn’t understand your direction still. As swiftly as you can, you grab your submachine gun and spray him with a storm of hollow tipped bullets that tear his torso into shreds as he falls down.

Dillon, you think, is the first turn, but you have more than enough reaction time to pepper him as well. The surprise must've failed to administer a dose of adrenaline, so he falls as quickly as Ashley. The last man who’s standing breaks for the exit - the last remaining bullets break harmlessly into the structure. You exchange magazines as fast as you can, but the trigger time behind your Mexican MPL bleeds as badly as Dillon and Ashley.

As he bolts, you get off of Arabella and sprint after the lone survivor. You can’t let him get out of view! You can’t let him get away! The floorboards under your weight and shift awkwardly before it breaks into pieces. You let out shout, not so much in pain, but anger that you just let something so stupid happen to you.

You twist your ankle in an attempt to break free and it works...The pursuit is quickly initiated once more. You forget about marksmanship and dump your magazine at the figure nearing the beginning of the beaten trail that you arrived in.

You hold the wire stock of the gun into the well of your shoulder as it’s automatic fire cracks into the air. The steam interrupts your view as the heat of the violent reaction of your firearm spits his machined hornets. You break from the entry and start running towards the trail, where a body lays lumped over an AKM.

Your throat and lips had gone dry. Your eyes are wild, the feverish intent to cause harm is on a high. Is he dead? Is it worth the risk? No.

Sticking the gun out in front of you, you hold the curve of the magwell and empty the remainder of the magazine into the still-figure. The silence that follows is deafening, yet satisfying. You sling the compact machine gun around your back and drag the body off to the bushes, knowing that the blood you had left behind will be covered in just a few minutes.

Hollow-eyed, you stare at the dead body in the bushes, thanking God almighty that you somehow pulled off that shitty maneuver, despite the odds being nowhere near your favor… You lean against the tree and survey the area. That engagement was loud enough it could have brought the attention of some unwanted visitors. But the forest is dense and the snow is falling at an increasing rate - no one would be crazy enough to venture this near a settlement and go poking around a firefight; unless the guards had a patrol lingering outside at this hour.

Feeling better about the situation, you returned to the collapsed building. Arabella and the other surviving members of her group have already disarmed and piled the bodies (both Ashley and his gang, and the other males from their group.)

Arabella, now armed with her milled firearm shifts slightly in your direction. “You’re fucking insane.”

“Yeah, well...You’re safe now.” You reply.

She looks at the males. “You did a bigger favor than you think…”

“Dare I ask what I did for you?” You’re still a little tense. The mutant you had almost **** hardly a day ago was standing before you armed. You weren’t sure if your luck would hold up again. Especially with the other two fixed on you too.

She smiles, to your surprise. “Trust me. I actually…”

...Her smile fades and she blinks. “I actually owe you a little bit now.”

Mikko stepped up. “But what do we do now? Amari is going to be furious at us!”

Arabella gaze darted at Mikko. “Amari will hear about the males and assume we got taken by slavers.” Her voice was soft and hopeful.

Mikko didn’t seem convinced. “But, Arabella we’ll have to skip the state!”

Your stomach churned. What did you get yourself into exactly? “What’s going on?”

All of a sudden, all eyes were on you, even the mutant that hadn’t said anything. Arabella put down the gun and stepped towards you. “We’re are gun runners-”

“WE WERE.” The once silent mutant corrected. “Sometimes other things…”

Everyone's expressions darkened. “What’s going on?” You repeated.

“Me, Mikko, and Gwendolion were under management from the local ARS.” She sighed when she noticed your expression - blank and unfazed... “Automatic Rifle Syndicate. We’ve been running guns into Canada since Spring. Things were simple up until recently when management changed from someone that came out of the West, out of Boston I think. Our manager is rather cruel and doesn’t care a whole lot about us. Used the males as muscle to **** everyone else into sub-submiss-submission…”

Despite words coming out in an orderly fashion, you could tell she was about to cry, so you told her stop for a moment and to relax. “You can breathe a little easier now. It doesn’t really sound like you want anything to do with that Amari character, so I’m assuming you’re just gonna lay low and wait for a way to leave?”

She shrugs. “I’ll be fine. These two though…”

Mikko’s eyebrows knitted before she crossed her arms. Arabella shook her head and told her to stop, prompting Mikko’s show of toughness to melt like ice. “My sister and I...we were **** into this position. I have no idea how to live on my own.”

Gwendolion folds her hands in front of her. “We were promised a better life, as long as we did what we were told. We’ve never had a proper master or anything-”

You stretched your hand out. “I’m not interested in your life story here. We’re not fuckin’ friends.”

All the girls looked at you, clearly questioning why you did what you just did if that were true. So you followed yourself. “I felt bad about what I did to you back at the warehouse. But I’m not gonna take you under my wing and be your god damn master. Killing those idiots was probably the closest thing to a good deed I’ve done since Summer of 78’...”

“You’re going to leave us after pulling that stunt?” Arabella said in an upset tone.

“I can’t help you. I’ve got too much on my plate as it is. You’re clearly smart, I’m sure you’ll manage better on your own now that I’ve clipped your dead weight off.” You tried to get out of this trap, but the look on her face tells you that you’ve failed.

“You have to help! I get that I said I owe you for what you did, but to leave the 3 of us out here in the cold and without direction…?? You have basically cut off our legs and arms here!! You are no better than those bounty hunters or those males you helped ****!!!” Arabella stomped, now shouting at you.

“Alright, alright! Jesus. You have a pair of lungs, I get it…” The fire has started to die, so you kick some splitters into it, teasing the flames with fuel. “It’s late. We need to sleep. There’s one more person that’ll be here in the morning, we’ll have to clip him off once he gets here.”

Mikko smiles, and so does Gwendolion. They start tending the fire as you step away. You feel dizzy, confused, pissed… Real good fucking deed.

You straighten yourself and cranes your neck. Untouched and fully aware of the world around you. That couldn't have turned out better. However, with that said, you now tasked with dealing with the 3 mutants left in the chaos of the your aftermath. It'd be weird to ignore all them now...