Poison City

“What. The…” The leader of the pursuers knelt down by the pile of ash. His fingers hesitantly reached for the few corners left on the floor dancing from the wind coming through the broken window: “How is this possible - ”

“They just saw him - he’s getting into another building.” Another man reported via the handheld radio: “Should we pursue?”

“Get him. Dead or alive. We’ve gotta bring him back otherwise we’re dead.” The leader responded: “Tell me where he is heading.”

“To the north of the house. ” The other man responded: “He’s injured, and we’ll keep tailing.”

“Don’t rush till we flank him. If we can, I want him alive.” The leader spoke through his teeth: “As alive as possible.”

“Understood.”

“Let’s go! You, you, come with me.” The leader of the pursuers pointed at two men in black behind him, then pointed at others: “All the rest of you, circle around the house and flank the son of a bitch. Keep your positions known.”

“On it!” “Okay!”

But just when they exited this house where the burnt book was, two shotgun blasts broke the silence of the night once again. One man ran out from the backdoor of the house on the north. But his back was struck by a kitchen knife before he could get very far, which brought him down on the ground.

“Fuck! Surround the house! Surround the house!” The leader almost panicked and barked at all of his men.

“Bang! Bang!” Two shots fired from behind the backdoor, one bullet struck one man’s left shoulder, and the second shot landed on his left arm. 

“Fire! Fire!” The men outside armed with guns immediately fired back. Bullets tore apart the wooden walls, the door itself and the windows in the back.

Everyone kept firing until their current magazines and clips were empty. They did not coordinate their reload, but it seemed there was no need, for no shot was fired back in their direction.

“Let’s go in. Tread carefully.” The leader waved at all the other men around him: “Block all entrances and keep your eyes sharp. Those with guns, follow me.”

Three men followed their leader. Only one had a shotgun like the leader, and the other two only had very crude handguns. The other men, with their knives, swords and makeshift flails, gathered around the doors and windows.

The leader stepped through the backdoor and checked the ground, there was no blood or any other sign of injuries. After another look around, he waved at the three men behind him and gestured them to come in and search with him.

No one was on the first floor, so the leader commanded the one with a shotgun to lead the way, while the two other men with handguns would follow him. It was quiet, maybe even too quiet.

“Quiet, careful.” The leader used gestures to tell the first man, before raising the shotgun up and pointing ahead.

The first man swallowed, then took a few small steps up the stairs. He gasped and almost opened fire when he made it past a turn. After confirming no one was waiting to ambush him, he walked upwards with slightly hastened footsteps.

“Sir - there’s blood up here.” The first man reported: “I think he’s hurt, so we’d better - ” A gunshot shut him up. Blood splashed from his chest, shoulder and back. It was one single shotgun blast at a close range, he did not stand a chance.

The leader ducked back, and the two men with handguns began firing upwards at the thin wall around the corner of the staircase. The hail of bullets tore up the wall. And to the leader’s relief, he heard a grunt from their target.

After the two men expended their magazines, the leader took a deep breath and leapt upwards out of the staircase. There were a few pools of blood on the empty space, and some droplets leading into a room. He did not want to take a chance, so he just gestured to the two men behind him and commanded them to get ready to fire.

But before all of them could pull their triggers. A man broke through the wall with a double barrel shotgun, firing one loaded barrel. The man on the leader’s right was blasted in the chest and thrown back into the staircase. Before the leader or the man on his left could react, their target’s body already slammed into him.

The impact of a Qi-infused tackle shocked the leader and almost squeezed the air out of his lungs. Lucky for him he had his Qi defense activated this whole time, and the target was not in his prime fighting state from his injuries, he only got the wind knocked out of him, and he could still fight.

A knee in the chest was enough for the leader of the pursuers to knock his target back. He tried to point his shotgun at his target, but the target just clawed the gun off his hand.

“Bang bang!” The man with a handgun fired, the target was struck on his back. His movements stopped. This might just be the last bit of damage needed to bring him down.

The leader jumped back up, took a deep breath before looking down at his target. The man was shot in the abdomen, left leg and right shoulder. But his eyes were still open. His breathing was slowing down. Unfortunately, there was no way to bring him back alive.

“Captain Ko, right?” The leader knelt down by his target: “You fucker. You’ve got me in a lot of trouble now. Good-fucking-bye.”

The room dimmed all of a sudden. Everything was already dark, only the light posts outside and the moon were providing lighting, and none of them was blocked or dimmed. The darkness came from inside the room.

I'm having some family health emergencies and need to head home next week. So no updates next week, and the following updates might be irregular.

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