I moved quickly, and without thinking. I lifted the odd shaped bomb, and threw it with all my strength away from myself. It flew in a perfect spiral, exploding directly above a large cluster of the Panthers. There were screams of pain and surprise as a half dozen of them were peppered by shrapnel.

“TIME OUT! INTERFERENCE!” Screamed one of the scantily clad leaders of the Panthers as she pointed in my direction.

I bolted, moving back the way I came as both the Panthers and the Hawks turned their guns and started firing on me. I heard bullets whizzing overhead and a splinter broke off from a nearby tree as it was shot and buried itself in my cheek. I plucked it out as I moved, looking for somewhere to duck into. There were about thirty men chasing me down, armed and clearly willing to kill. I could handle those odds if I had time to prepare, but taken completely off guard, things were a lot more dicey.

I took a risk and dove into a thick part of the brush. I’d managed to open up a decent lead from my pursuers and so hoped I would go undetected and they didn’t have any experience with tracking. I drew my sword and held my pistol at the ready as I watched and waited. The smell of my pursuers reached me first. Sweat, blood, and gunpowder filled my nostrils. Then I heard them moving, no longer shooting, and now instead making their way calmly through the brush.

Eventually I saw a few of them. The majority continued ahead straight, going well past where I was hidden, but a few of them moved closer to me.

“You think it was a boogie?” asked one of them, a Panther working with two Hawks. Despite their animosity toward each other, they seemed to be more concerned with outsiders than they were with one another.

“Maybe. You scared freshie? With that attitude you’ll never be chosen for the honor of varsity.”

That caused the Panther to pause and step up to the Hawk that had spoken up, puffing up his chest and throwing his hands back in a display that reminded me of bloodmanes displaying for a mate.

“You wanna start something!? Last I checked we had you thirteen to four bitch!”

The other one made the same gesture and suddenly they were both in one another’s faces with their chests out and their arms back.

“You got lucky! We had a Hail Mary ready to take it downtown and obliterate your asses.”

In their pushing and prodding of one another they were slowly getting closer to where I had hidden, I readied my freeze, hoping that they were in the Rebuild America System.

“Guys, save it for the field of glory!” said the third one, pushing between them and forcing them apart. “Let’s focus on getting this interference sorted. We shouldn’t risk angering the leaders.”

The two men sighed and pulled apart and took a breath. The panther turned to the Hawk that had pulled them apart. “You’re right. If ever we are to score with them, we need to do all we can to honor them.”

The other Hawk nodded as well. “I plan to offer my jacket to one should I survive this.”

“I pray to coach that she accepts it.” replied the Panther. They clasped hands and seemed to have their differences settled.

The one that had broken them up sighed. “I don’t think we’ll locate the interference here. We should huddle with the others to see if they’ve found them.”

With that they began to turn and walk in the other direction. I let out a breath. We were a good distance from the rest of the group, and I was certain I could take them, but taking them without making noise or alerting the others would’ve been difficult.

I heard the sound of bullets from the direction where the rest of the humans had gone, and tensed again.

“Boogie’s! They took two leaders!” came a scream from the same direction. The men I’d been watching hefted their rifles back up and started bolting through the underbrush. I should’ve taken that moment to open up more distance, and take advantage of the sudden distraction, but my curiosity got the better of me. I still knew very little about the situation on this side of the cut, aside from the fact that the humans already rivaled among those I’d considered the strangest I’d met back in my home territory. Watching them more and seeing what they meant by ‘boogies’ could help me to get better acclimated.

I moved quickly, but quietly. Tracking the men that had walked off, and keeping a mental picture of where everyone was based on sounds and smells. Eventually I came to another clearing. This one was smaller than the other, but inside it were cramped roughly two dozen of the strange humans, and across from them maybe fifteen deadmen. The deadmen were attempting to retreat, some laying down covering fire, while others were moving into cover. The deadmen were all wearing dark green, perfect for hiding in the woods, along with a single armband of black.

One of the deadmen stumbled as she moved into cover. I saw one of the Hawks turn and aim his rifle at her. I froze him, but even as I did two more humans turned their weapons on the fallen deadwoman. I activated my force shield, raised my pistol, and opened fire. I managed to drop three of them quickly, the rest not realizing where the bullets were coming from until I bagged a fourth. By that point the deadmen had all made it to cover, but paused their retreat, as confused as the humans were about what was happening, and unwilling to risk leaving cover until they sorted things out.

I emptied my magazine, running forward toward the nearest of the humans. Not a single one of them was below six feet tall, and all were powerfully built, but I was bigger, had longer reach, and the element of surprise. I ran the nearest of them through with my sword, retrieving it as I kicked his body toward his companions. Another of them went to strike me with the butt of his gun, but he was too slow and I dodged out of the way before slitting his throat with a quick slash. I pushed his body to the side, and three of them managed to rally enough to fire on me. Bullets bounced off my shield as I closed in and reloaded, before dropping two more of them. I froze a third, and bashed in the closest one's skull with the butt of my pistol. One tackled me, aiming low and actually managed to throw me onto the ground, but once he was on me I kicked out with both feet, hitting him in the chest and throwing him several yards. He landed on his head, and his neck snapped at an impossible angle. The last of them unfroze, and surprised me, by not running, but instead raising his rifle to fire. I froze him again, and removed his head with one clean sweep of my sword.

I let out a breath. It was just me and the other deadmen. All of the humans were either dead, or had fled after I’d attacked. I was keenly aware of the fact that the other deadmen hadn’t fired a shot after I initiated my own assault.

Three of them moved out of cover, guns up, but not pointed at me, rather the woods around us.. They looked no different from the deadmen I was used to seeing back at Pott’s. Eyes ranging from yellow to red, scarred skin varying from burnt orange to blood red like mine, and teeth sharp enough to chew through a license plate. The one who came closest was yellow eyed with a patchy beard, wielding a rifle of a kind I was unfamiliar with.

He looked at all the bodies of those I’d killed with his face twisted in consternation for a few moments, before he managed to shake that look into a scowl he directed my way.“What are you doing?” he asked, gesturing to the bodies. “The goal is capture. You’re too old to be new at this.”

“New at what?” I asked.

“Being a Shepherd. I assume you’re from the southern temple? They need to learn to be patient. It’ll be their turn to stock up next.” He shook his head. “Just like y’all to show up, cowboy around, and cost us a good crop.”

Another of the deadmen, the woman I’d covered when she’d fallen stepped up. “I don’t think this guy’s a shepherd, Nate.”

The man raised an eyebrow, and looked me over, slowly moving his gun in my direction.

I kept my pistol out. It was empty, but I wasn’t sure if I’d need to pretend it wasn’t.

“Who….who are you?” He asked.

“Donovan,” I answered. “I’m from out East.”