I raked the sword across his chest, opening a hideous but not lethal wound. “It’s only that I do not wish to cause your woman and child harm that you continue to draw breath.” I grabbed him by the neck. “Where is the next encampment?”
“Down the hill, follow the road. About five miles.”
“Excellent.”
A quick knock to the head with the butt of the sword dropped the hulking man to the ground. He’d get home just fine.
I took two steps in the direction he’d indicated, then stopped. I was just going to run the distance, but I could get farther into the camp if I used one of their vehicles.
The small machine with an open-top, a wheel, and two pedals sat near the road. I had never done this before, but I’d also watched enough television that I was sure I could fake it.
The seat was warm from the heat of the sun. I found the key and turned it, and the vehicle roared to life. This wasn’t going to be a problem at all.
A moment later, I was pulling down the road, slightly unsteady because I wasn’t used to the amount of power this had compared to a bicycle or a horse. It pulled me down the road quickly, and I was able to steady myself and keep going.
No one noticed me as I pulled into the second camp. They were buzzing around, and I heard a few murmurs that no one had heard from the top command in nearly fifteen minutes.
This time, I wasn’t going to destroy them. I was going to make them suffer. I didn’t care if they lived or died. This war would end one way or another, and I would do what I could to end it quickly.
The wordmunitionswas plastered on the side of a building.
I hoped they had one of those rocket launchers.
Parking the vehicle next to the building, I jumped out and walked around to where two guards were on duty. One shot each from the handgun, and they weren’t a problem anymore.
With a shot to the lock, the door opened easily, and I marched in.
Oh, the glorious destruction housed here.
Grabbing a few more handguns and something that Gwen had said was a shotgun, I loaded myself up. At the other end was something called an RG-6, and while it didn’t look exactly like what had fired and killed the twins, it did look like it would do just fine.
I recognized the hand-thrown grenades, as well.
This was going to be such beautiful revenge.
Grateful to Gwen for introducing me to pants, I didn’t have to try to walk in skirts. They just weren’t conducive to murder, really. I weighed myself down with all the weapons and ammunition I could.
And by that time, people were starting to notice the two dead guards.
I stepped out with my sword in one hand, the handgun in the other, and the RG-6 slung over my back.
Two of the soldiers gathering there saw me and died the next instant.
That sent them all into a frenzy.
I followed with my own raging fury.
If my blooded mother were the teacher, the peaceful leader, then this was my blooded father come to occupy my soul, as well.
When my handgun ran out, I tossed it away. I had four more with ammunition that would fit. I unslung the massive RG-6 and pulled the trigger.
A massive compression wave from it threatened to knock me off my feet, but I held on. A canister flew through the air and punched through the top of a tent fifty long strides—fiftymeters, Gwen would say—away, and a moment later, the whole tent went up in a glorious blast of smoke and flame.
I could feel the heat, and it felt like justice.
Revenge.
Wonderful.
