Both girls did not hesitate to follow Blake's orders. They both went left and right while Blake shot toward the group of men. There were four in total. Blake ran right up to them and smashed into the one in the back. "What the fuck!?"
"Ah! Sorry I was in a hurry and tripped over some rubble." Blake pointed at the broken bits of the buildings that were scattered everywhere.
"I don't give a fuck if you jerked off to some porn. You dared to smash into me!?" The man yelled out in anger causing his friends to all stop and turn towards Blake.
"Huh? Why are you being so grumpy? I apologized, didn't I?" Blake scratched his head and pretended not to understand what the man was about to do. He watched as the man rolled up his sleeves and stepped towards him.
"Jack, don't be too harsh on the kid. He could come in handy later." One of the men yelled out from behind the man named Jack, the same person Blake ran into.
"Don't worry, I will just let off some steam," Jack replied as he went to raise his fist, but before he could even thrust it out, three shots were heard, followed by three thumps.
Blake tilted to the side and looked at the figures lying on the ground behind Jack, and shook his head. "Ahhh… look at that, your friends seemed to have gotten a headache and died. That sucks. Now then…. I think it's time for you to also get a headache."
Jack was confused as to what was going on. He only felt his face being grabbed before everything went black permanently. "Ah shit, messy…."
"You! You killed them!" A man yelled out from not too far away. Blake looked up to see the family he had just protected staring at him in horror.
"Of course I did. Look at their necks." Blake said, pointing at the skull tattoos. "They are called the headhunters. They would have taken you and your family. Your girls and wife would have become breeders, and you would have become a laborer. I do not want any thanks, but you should understand you came this close to being slaves on many levels."
The man stared at Blake in silence, unsure of what to say. Blake did not say a word as he turned around and began walking away. He had not planned to get involved until he was ready, but this was something he could not watch happen. It was fine if they would die but to be subjected to what these guys do was not something he could stand and watch.
The man watched as two girls arrived at Blake's side with guns in their hands and felt a bit of complex emotion well up inside him. He turned to his family, who were pale in the face, and decided to just leave it be. He had no idea if Blake was telling the truth or not, but if what he said was true, he could only be grateful.
Blake and the girls continued walking down the destroyed streets of the city. "Tina, you okay?" Blake asked when he noticed she had been quiet this entire time.
"Yeah, I just…." Tina had helped kill dragons but shooting one of her own race was a different story, and she killed two on top of it.
"Get used to it. You may have to do it more than you think." Blake had no words to sugarcoat what had happened. He could only say to get used to it. This was a world where killing was going to be commonplace.
"I know. I mean, I pulled the trigger, right?" Tina was a bit annoyed at Blake's lack of delicacy, but she didn't blame him.
"You both did a good job. Three dead in almost an instant. However, I need to get used to my strength. I almost got crap all over me." Blake replied as he reached out to Lillia, who quickly took his hand. "Your aim is much better now."
"I had plenty of time to practice. Tina also helped a lot." Lillia replied as she interlocked her fingers with Blake's. "So where to now?"
"We will search for that faction I was talking about. I did hear that they formed close to this area. I am not sure if it was inside the city or out. But we do need to watch our surroundings. This city might be already sectioned off." Blake replied as he looked down the road ahead of him.
"Don't worry, I can detect all humans around us, so even if they try to sneak up on us, we will be able to react in time," Lillia whispered. Blake nodded and waved to Tina, who was lagging behind.
"Stay close." Tina raised her head and hurried forward.
Blake could see a brighter future ahead not only for himself but for those who were willing to join him. If he could pull in this faction, then things would be much simpler, or else he would need to build one from scratch with people who had no training. He did not mind this, but he did wish to have people with more experience under their belt to help with training.
"For now, let's go to the college and see if we can scavenge anything useful." Blake decided to go there first as he might be able to salvage a few parts and chemicals that could come in handy later on. While things were highly doubtful to be of any use, it was still at least worth a try to check. "If there are people there, we should ask around for information."
"I will take that role," Tina spoke up. "It was my occupation to question people before, so I should be able to pull any information we need."
"Alright, then, Lillia, you stay at her side in case something happens. I should be fine if I am just scavenging. We can contact one another with the shortwave radios we have. Just don't go out of range." Blake knew if Lillia and Tina grouped up they would be fine. He was only going to be searching for certain items anyway and if they were on campus then they were close enough that if they did call for help he could easily reach them. Luckily the radios they got should work within the grounds of the campus as long as they stayed in range.
