OCC- Deleted double post. Nice posts folks. TIme to move this along.
IC-
Dwemer waited until the two men were well within, letting his breathing and heartrate calm while got comfortable taking aim.
The report of the rifle was a sharp crack in the stillness of the waste. One figure crumpled like a bag of sand.
Dwemer moved to fire on the second, but he had ducked down behind a low rise of ground.
If he had a radio, the man would call in support, a danger that increased with each moment the man stayed alive.
Dwemer reached for his pistol and moved, knowing that his sniper's perch had been discovered.
Quickly he moved down into the lower floor of the ruined structure, careful to make use of shadow and cover, down and low past windowns, crawling where he had to.
He had chosen his site well. There were only a few avenues to approach that were clear and covered from the survivor's position.
Now his heart was racing. The hunt was on. Two predators stalking each other. Whoever got the first shot, would win.
Moving through the buildings now, quickly and as carefully as he could. The stillness of the waste broken by the beat of his heart in his ears.
Dwemer slipped through ruined buildings, practically running past empty rooms and broken doors, through one building than another, closing on his prey.
Almost there, through a door.
Wham.
Sharp pain in his arm, shoulder, sending him down, dizzy, rolling away. Dwemer glances up.
The other rover, a man dressed in black, lifts a club high over his head to strike. Dwemer rolls to avoid the blow he can't stop.
The man lifts the club again, kicking out at Dwemer with his foot. THe foot connects with Dwemer's midsection in another burst of sharp pain. But now surprise is lost and Dwemer's hands are on his pistol. He points it up.
Fires once, the bullet hitting the wall behind the man.
Fires again, and catchs the man in the shoulder.
Fires twice more. One bullet misses and disappears, the second punches a bloody hole in the man's stomach. His body collapses with the club.
Dwemer catches his breath. His shoulder and abdomen sting in pain. But the blow fell on a muscled part of the arm, it is not broken. The unpleasantness of the pain to his midrift will ease.
Dwemer gets up and searches the body for useful items. He removes the black bandana that covers the face. It is a woman. This makes him think of Inne, Sam, Ved, but mostly Roadrunner. Guilt.
He shakes the feeling away, and removes the ammunition of the woman, food and few medical supplies, than the clothes that wrap around the woman's hair. No radio.
Finished, he moves out to where the first kill lies. The shot landed as expected, a headshot that killed quickly. Again, ammunition, food, medical supplies. This time a radio.
He wraps the head wound up to avoid spillage, then carries the body to where the second lie. THere he strips it of it's garments. He will use these to disguise himself. As quickly as possible he covers both with debries and dirt. Hopefully the dirt will keep the wasteland scavengers away.
WHen he is finished burying the bodies, he moves away and continues onward. THe presence is still watching him. Dwemer worries that the presence can read his mind and knows his plan.
An hour later, he looks through his binoculars. Two men in black follow from the west, two more from the north, further away. Far to the south two more. They are closing in.
But it will be dark soon, and perhaps the dark will shade his movements.