Jagger awoke to the sound of frantic knocking from the front door. Pulling on some robes, he ran from his bedroom and down the staircase. In the hall, he ran into Trey, running in from the Barracks. The two paused for a minute, watching each other. Then Trey sighed.
"What're yer waitin fer? 'S your house..."
Hesitiating a second, Jagger strode up to the door, and swung back a panel in it, looking out into the night. He recognised Selten, the old captain of the guard, but something seemed wrong. "What do you want?"
Selten was sweating profusely. "I need to speak to Tobias."
Jagger was about to say that there wasn't a Tobias there, but then he realised that it could be one of the soldiers. "You'll want the Barracks. Round the back, where the warehouse used to be..."
He saw an expression of something approaching relief as he slammed the panel shut.
Turning to Trey, he saw that the slig was frowning. "None of my guys'd have a poncy name like that..."
Jagger nodded. "There's something up."
Trey pulled open the panel, and craned his neck to look at the retreating figure. "Hey, there's someone else out there!"
Jagger moved forward to join him. "Who?"
"Don't recognise 'im. Looks heavily armed, though..." He turned to Jagger. "Should we let 'em in?"
Jagger hesitated, but nodded. "Better get some of the troops up and ready for trouble, though."
Nodding, Trey ran upstairs to the dormitories, while Jagger went to the back door.
Selten was outside when he opened the door, but the stranger was nowhere to be seen. "Trey is just getting Tobias. You want to come in?"
Selten sighed with relief, and couldn't get inside fast enough. As he crossed the threshold, however, a shadowy figure dropped down from above the doorway, knocking Selten to the ground...
************
The Hunter was getting impatient. It hadn't smelt Tobias for several minutes, and there was certainly no scent here. The scent had been much stronger a quarter of an hour back. This mudokon was misleading it, trying to guide it away from its goal. It had had enough. This pathetic creature would learn the error of its ways, then it would get back to Tobias...
Leaping from its vantage point on the doorframe, it raked its claws across its unwilling guide's back, before grasping its arm, and twisting it behind its back. As it felt the dull snap of the bones, it heard the rattle of gunfire. Turning angrily, it saw a small group of sligs gathered inside the building. Tossing the mudokon aside angrily, it charged into the building, ignoring the bullets that ricocheted off its armour. Grabbing the first slig, it picked it up and pulled it from its pants. The flesh around the join tore, and the slig screamed as it was flung against the wall. Extending its claws, the Hunter raked them across the face of two other sligs, before plunging them into their stomachs.
Suddenly it felt a feeling it was unfamiliar with. Pain. The bullets were beginning to wear through its armour, and scratching its flesh. Looking up, it saw more and more sligs emerging, firing at it. Growling, it realised that it might be overwhelmed by sheer firepower. Opting to pursue its appointed task instead of this diversion, the Hunter turned, snarling, gave the mudokon one last kick, and disappeared into the night...
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Guns don't kill people, People kill people! Using Guns.
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