Smack-dab, in the Middle of Nowhere (Waste Stories #1)

30. ...Run in Circles, Scream and Shout (Part 5)

Hurl brought his three-headed axe down in a wide, heavy swing, thick blue veins popping beneath his leathery skin as muscles roiled and inflated. Bert cursed at her weapon and flung herself backwards, feeling the cool hiss of air as the blades narrowly avoided kissing her forehead goodnight. She rolled skillfully in the food-littered dust, toppling over her right shoulder to land in a low kneeling position. Meanwhile, Hurl was already moving in for his second attack, using the relative nimbleness of his short-handled weapon for a quick follow-up.

Bert wasn't prepared for a fight with a fast opponent. All her assumptions about Hurl told her he would be slow, lumbering, and dedicated purely to strength. He'd take a few hits, but only needed one of his own to win. But, sadly, like they say: When you assume, you make an ass out of you, me, and the bits of brain that end up draining though the dust at the victor's feet. These thoughts poured through Bert's brain as she pounced sideways a second time, an axe swing singing past her face.

Her ears fought for breath in the noise of his battle cry, a long, rumbling roar with no particular wit or catch phrase - just straight up volume. It curdled her insides even as she clicked back the hammer on her weapon to shift the dud bullet out the way and load up, hopefully, a functioning one. The noise speared through her Bertrage and felt around in the darkest recesses of her mind for old memories, ones that she didn't dare think about. She couldn't afford a flash back right now, she needed to focus.

Bert regained a decent foothold in the dust as she landed just off to the side, while Hurl closed in a third time. He lifted his axe, and his silhouette, outlined by the turbulent orange bonfire glow, looked eerily familiar to the time she was freed from the Awesome Squad's prison cell. When Hurl had brought her out by the hair, forced her to her knees and...

She pulled the trigger, her ears ringing equally from the blood rushing through her head, the deafening bang of her revolver, and the sheer din of Hurl's various angry cries. Instantly she felt the satisfying shudder of a bullet exploding out the barrel, the force of it rocking her arm back into her shoulder socket. But the shot was too wide, slashing through the side of Hurl's abdomen just below his ribs. His flesh was seared open and blood began to pour as he staggered a step backwards, but he remained quite noticeably upright.

Understandably, Hurl howled with pain. No longer was it only his face flushing a deep angry red, but his entire body seemed glowing with the hot crimson of a man slowly losing his tether on human decency, rational thought, and being generally calm. He swung again, but Bert was growing familiar with his style of attack. Hurl seemed to prefer wide, long swings, either cutting horizontally or striking straight down like a bladed, handheld meteor. Bert deftly stepped around the powerful strike, her thumb already pulling the hammer back on her pistol. She arced through the air and into a position just behind her opponent, who was recovering from making the dinosaurs extinct. This was it, she thought. Bert lifted her weapon, planted her feet to fire into the back of his big ol' skull, and...

...got kicked in the stomach.

Indeed a large, metal-capped boot connected with her abs, causing her to pull the trigger and send a surprised shot flying off into the dust somewhere near the bonfire. The bonfire, meanwhile, didn't seem to mind. Bert was lifted from her feet and flung briefly into the air from the sheer force of the boot, sending her reeling into the dust behind. Pain flooded her system as air struggled to find any traction in her winded lungs. She found herself lost in a sea of coughing, floundering on the filthy courtyard ground as dust clung to her clothing and exposed skin. Something felt loose in her mouth from where she landed on her face.

"Yer gon' pay for what ya did t' me face, Berty," an animal hissed somewhere above her. "I'm gon' chop yer limbs off one by one an' use ya like a toy until ya starve."