They snuck along the road as gunfire rang out between the tall grass and the barn. Most of the attackers had small caliber weapons, and were piss poor shots. But there were a lot of them, and even a wild hip shooting moron who twisted his gun sideways to look cool got lucky sometimes. The gunfire from the grass was nearly constant. Most of it hit the cars parked outside before impacting harmlessly on the barn’s thick wood and stone wall. But more than a few ate through the wood paneling on the building’s side.

Isaka could only hope that people were taking cover, and the higher level citizens who could take a bullet without being crippled or dying were the ones shooting back. That seemed likely to her as the massive caliber booms that resounded in response echoed over the fields and through the dark. They came from the barn, but occasionally Isaka thought they came from behind her as her mother joined the fight with her elephant gun. Each round silenced the pistols and rifles for a couple of milliseconds as one of the figures in the dark fell, most never to rise again.

The ones that stood back up gave her the chills. Isaka and Wendy found a good vantage a few seconds later, hiding behind a downed log along the road. They had clear line-of-sight over the fight, and tall grass concealed them pretty well. Isaka pointed at the last attackers to get targeted by a larger caliber round, only to shrug it off and stand back up. The bullet had knocked him to the ground, but it had done nothing else. The guy was far forward from the attacker’s line, and his body looked like a mutated monstrosity of pure muscle mass. Like a bodybuilder that had an apes muscle and skin surgically fused to him. “That one first,” Isaka mouthed, and the two sisters bedded down and took aim.

Their first shots hit home on the creature’s shoulder, staggering it a few feet and sending up a mist of blood. Its mangled arm fell limp as it screamed in mad rage. The thing raised a club high into the air with its other arm and charged directly at a car. The club hit home, lifting the car up a few feet and denting the frame. “What the hell . . .” Wendy said from next to her.

Isaka didn’t hesitate. She pulled the rifle tight to her shoulder again and pulled the trigger, sighting in on the back of the mutated man’s skull. The bullet hit home, and dug deep into the thing’s flesh but instead of a spray of bloody brain matter which is what she was expecting, the mutant staggered forward, falling unconscious onto the very vehicle it had just destroyed. “Holy shit, that would have taken down a moose.” Wendy said as Isaka sighted in on the downed man and pulled the trigger again. The man’s brains exploded, this time in a spray of gore. The only reason Isaka could think for her round working this time was there was no give. The man’s skull was braced against the metal frame of the vehicle.

Congratulations! You have slain Tyler the Brawler Mauler, level 9. XP Gained 1352.

Level Up! You have gained an unassigned level, current unassigned levels: 4.

Level Up! You have gained an unassigned level, current unassigned levels: 5.

Level Up! You have gained an unassigned level, current unassigned levels: 6.

Congratulations! You have upgraded your trait Giant Slayer 1, to Giant Slayer 3 for killing an enemy at least three times your current level (or accumulated unassigned levels) and at least two size categories larger than you.

Effect: +3 to accuracy of all ranged weapons. +3 to damage output from all ranged weapons when attacking a foe that is physically larger than you. Bonus to damage is multiplied by 3 for every size category difference that exists between you and the target.

Isaka pushed the notifications away with a mental command and hit the ground next to her sister, hiding behind the log. “Stay down, we don’t know if anyone saw us.” Isaka didn’t want to speak and give away their position as the fighting died down to minor exchanges rather than a continuous drumbeat of fire.

Isaka peaked over the log a few heartbeats later and found dozens of bodies littering the ground just outside the tall grass. Among the dead and dying stood three figures that made her blood run cold. The first was a tall, lanky man whose image seemed to blur, making it hard for her to see him. Harder because he stood in the shadows just outside the light coming from the barn. He held some kind of weapon, and Isaka couldn’t quite make out exactly what it was.

The second was a woman; she was small, and lith as an Olympic gymnast. She held a shotgun on her hip like she would a baby. Gunfire had turned her black dress to ribbons , but she seemed completely unphased. She radiated sex appeal, and Isaka had a hard time tearing her eyes off the gorgeous woman. She had to fight a spike of jealousy that whatever ability the woman had, had reached into Isaka’s soul to create. Gritting her teeth, Isaka forced herself to examine the last of the trio. The man was wearing so much gold jewelry Isaka could have mistaken him for having just robbed a Tiffanys. Then again, she realized he might have actually done that. The wannabe Tupac held two pistols, each gold plated. If the woman radiated sex and lust, this dude made Isaka’s skin crawl.

“We heard!” The gangster man said, stepping forward as the last of the gunfire died off. “That you all were getting together a little possy to round us up! Well, we’re here to save you all that lookin, and to see if you guys got what it takes to man up and face us!”

Wendy waved a hand at her, and Isaka looked over. She mouthed the words ‘they’re here for the sheriff’. Isaka nodded. She was worried that might be the case. Her sister was better with people than Isaka was, understanding their motivations, feelings, and interests. Wendy, confirming her suspicions, solidified it for her. These men were here to kill or be killed. They had beef with the sheriff and anyone who supported him. Which meant they had a problem with Isaka.

“So, any of you assholes in there got what it takes to man up, and fight us? We’ll even make it even, one on one! Five-minute break if you beat one of us which, honestly, won’t happen. But if it does, we’ll let you take a breather to absorb the XP and get yourself ready for the next one.” No one responded. Silence filled the night. “Look people, we’re just here for the easy XP! But you guys started getting in the way. We were just going to do a little farming, kill some god damn cows, have a little fun, and then jet on home back to the city. I mean, honestly who wants to stay all the way out here in fuck-all middle of Utah, anyway?” Again, no one responded.

“But no! Your damn sheriff, and the goddamned Asian chick had to get in the way. The cop locked up my friend Jersey Mike, someone killed Tyler.” The man gestured towards the muscled monster that now lay dead, his brains splattered along the bottom side of a car. “Though he was always weird. So I can forgive that one. But that squint-eyed . . .”

The woman interrupted, screaming at the top of her voice. “That BITCH Killed My Billy!” Isaka’s eyes went wide, and the jealousy and anger she had felt towards the woman ran cold through her veins. Isaka looked at her sister and mouthed the words ‘her first’ and Wendy shot her a smirk and a thumbs up. ‘Text mom, tell her’. Another thumbs up and Wendy pulled out her phone and shot off the text. Wendy was a few years older, but Isaka was slower at texting then her. Isaka didn't mind texting, tech, and social media stuff, but it was more of her sisters thing.

“Either come out now or I’ll set fire to the whole goddamn farm!” The insane woman screamed, her voice shriller than the shattering of glass. Isaka raised her rifle from her prone position. Using the grass and darkness, she kept her weapon hidden from view as she aimed down the iron sight. Her sister mirrored her movements. Before they could pull their triggers and put an end to the nutbag, the front door of the barn opened and the Sheriff stepped out. His revolver raised over his head, his arm sling gone.

“I’m coming out! Don’t shoot!” He walked out into the center of the gravel driveway, past the cars and the corpse of the dead hulking mutant. The gravel crunched under his feet as he stopped a dozen feet away from the trio. “You want to test yourselves against the best in the area? Well, that’s me. I’ll spar with you. But don’t go killing anyone else.”

“Text mom. Tell her to go for the one furthest from us, not the one fighting the sheriff. We’ll go for the one closer in.” Isaka whispered, and Wendy began furiously typing out the text.

“Well, well well! Look what we have here!” The woman said as she sauntered forward and looked the sheriff over from head to toe. “So you’re the one who locked up Jersey Mike, huh? How did you do it? Really, tell us the truth, no lies.”

“I dislocated his joints and tied him up with a six inch thick cable.” The tall blurry one shifted to one side, as if trying to get a better look at the Sheriff. Mr. Gold Chain Rapper Wannabe scoffed.

“Ain’t no way you beat Jersey Mike by yourself. Who helped you? Maybe that little Asian chick Billys boys told me about?” The sheriff shook his head.

“Want to test that yourself?” The sheriff said, inviting the fight with a becking finger.

“I like him,” the woman said as she walked behind the sheriff. She put a finger on his shoulders and dragged it along as she walked until she was in front of him. “You’ve got spunk. Reminds me of Billy a little.” She giggled, and Isaka knew she had to be insane.

“Alright. Blur you’re up.” The gangster said.

“Yeah, I agree. Blur you go, I’m afraid I’ll get too excited if I have to wrestle with such a big, strong, handsome man in a uniform.” The woman giggled and walked back to where she started in the middle of the trio. Blur stepped forward, and the Sheriff whipped out his baton. “Wow, wow, wow, big guy. You don’t get a weapon.”

“I’m not going to fight someone who has a club with nothing but my bare hands.” The Sheriff said incredulously.

“Smart, but still. You don’t get to make the rules, we do. Throw it away.” The woman had grown stern, and more sane as she filled the role of leader again. “Do it, or you’re a dead man.” She raised her shotgun with one hand, holding it rock steady at Barn’s head. Growling, the sheriff tossed the baton to the side. “Good, now. Go!” She lifted the shotgun into the air and fired.

The blur dashed forward and smashed into the sheriff, sending him flying away and back into a car. As the sheriff crashed back to the earth, three quick rifle shots echoed through the night, followed by a massive sky shattering BOOM! Isaka blinked, and the woman lay bleeding on the ground, holding a massive hole in the side of her torso. She was bleeding from what looked to Isaka like two head wounds.

“Now!” Wendy said as she pulled the trigger of her own large game hunting rifle. Isaka realized she had been staring at the aftermath of their mother and father’s work rather than doing her job. She pulled the rifle to her shoulder in the prone position over the log, sighted in on the gangster, and fired. As she pulled the trigger, her sister, let loose a second round.

The first hit did little but stagger him. The second two shots had much more effect. One clipped his right shoulder, the other hit square in the center of his throat, exposing arteries to the night air. He tried to raise his guns to shoot back, but didn’t have the strength to steady the guns. The pistols went off, impacting the ground a few feet between him and the sisters. The blood loss and missing chunks out of his shoulder were crippling, he was dying, and Isaka saw the moment of realization cross his face.

The city gangsters, bikers, and thugs all opened fire in seemingly random directions. Their boss locked eyes with Isaka as she let loose a second round and her sister a third. She aimed for his head but missed. Her sister’s round however tore through the same neck wound, decapitating the bastard where he stood. The BOOM! of the custom elephant gun their mother loved, and the repeated steady strikes of their father’s more manageable AR-15, impacted the woman as she lay twitching on the ground. Apparently her parents had seen more of what the woman was capable of than Isaka had and did not like what they had seen, as they kept pouring round after round into the insane woman. More bullet holes sprung to life on her torso and arms, and before one of her lackeys could drag her to safety, they riddled her with more holes than a pincushion.

Seeing the attacker’s leaders who had seemed nearly indestructible a few minutes ago dead, or occupied, the people inside the barn opened fire from rafters, windows, and the roof. The gangs, seeing their leaders eviscerated, and under attack from weapons strong enough to fell moose and bears, scattered to the wind. They ran through the tall grass and over the hill to the road as fast as they could, leaving their dead and wounded for coyotes and wolves. Or the Hutchins to deal with when the time came.

Isaka wanted to collapse then and there. The night’s excitement and effort had drained her to where she knew if she stopped, she wouldn’t be waking up for some time. But there was still one thing to deal with. Isaka and Wendy watched as the sheriff tried to grapple with the unknowable figure that was ‘Blur’. But he couldn’t get his hands on the slippery gangster. The Blur hit Barns several times with some kind of club wrapped in wire. Each time the club came away, it dug small divots in the sheriff’s skin. But the attacks themselves barely phased the sheriff, who took each blow like it was a kid hitting him with a wet pool noodle.

“You know what, screw it!” Sheriff Barns yelled, as he pulled his TASER and shot it into the center of the burly image. At least one barb hit home, and the universal electrical discharge sound filled the night. The blurry guy stopped being blurry and fell to the ground, shaking in some kind of fit. He was naked except for his underwear, and he looked insane. Covered in filth, hair overgrown and wild.

“Well, that’s more effective than I thought it would be.” Isaka said. Wendy giggled.

“The sound always gives me the chills.” Wendy giggled again and Isaka had to fight from rolling her eyes.

“Come on, Sheriff Barns is going to need our help I think.”