​     Trevor came to after an eyeblink's worth of blackout to find himself surrounded by people with clubs...

     and it looked like they planned to beat on him with them.

​     His skull throbbed like someone had ripped the top of his skull off.

     He rolled to his left and back to his feet, blades extended. As he rose, he sliced at legs to drop people without actually killing them. Some wore thick padding, others homemade armor, although his blades, both wrist and laser, could slice easily through any of that. Once back on his feet, he kicked at hips and knees, but there were so many of them. He dodged more than he did anything else.

     And, fuck, his head throbbed.

     Twenty feet straight up, Niki used her laser whip to keep everyone on anti-gravs away from her and to hack away at those fucking clubs. She hit someone's anti-grav, which sent an assailant hurtling for the ground...

     and also creating a spark.

     That spark hit the undergrowth that grew alongside one of the silos.

     Several villagers exclaimed in a way that Niki assumed translated into either "No!" or "Fire!".

​     They ran for the water tank.

     Okay, so whatever's in that silo is both valuable to them and flammable, Niki thought.

     Okay, then.

     Niki flitted alongside the silo, setting off sparks with her laser whip.

     Villagers ran for the tanks for buckets of water even as others on anti-gravs came at Niki with their clubs.

     Fuck! Niki thought.

​     What is it with these people?

     Niki swung at everyone she saw with her laser whip while still kicking and twisting and avoiding what seemed to be hundreds of clubs. 

     Now the silo really caught fire, like what was inside exploded into flames.

     One of Niki's attackers shrieked as Niki sliced his club wielding arm away from the rest of his body. That shriek scared the other attackers enough so that a bubble of hope rose in Niki of getting to Trevor so that they could get the fuck out of there and find the slightest bit of privacy so that, together, they could figure out some sort of...

     No!

     Below, Trevor fended off dozens of club wielding attackers.

​     I've had it with these assholes, Niki thought.

​     I'm just going to start ripping on some ass.

CONTINUE