Crimson City had seen better days. Sure, there was last Winter when they had a record snowfall. Or even in the Spring when it just rained for days and days, ruining any crops they had going.
But being ravaged by a God and almost 90% burned to the ground was definitely in the top 3 of terrible events.
Only a small percentage of the population remained - for the last few days, those that were lucky enough to still be were sifting through the rubble for loved ones and anyone in general at this point. Among those still kicking around was the revered Lt. Nickels.
He had a bandage around his left eye, dried blood on part of his face, and his military jacket was gone. He only had on a black undershirt that had holes ripped throughout it now. He lugged around his infamous machine gun behind him as it drug through the broken ground they all had to traverse.
"Lt. Nickels!" A woman yelled as she ran up to him and grabbed onto his arm. "We found someone, but they're stuck! Can you please come help?"
"Lead the way." He grunted out. The hard working lieutenant was running on fumes at this point - the entire chain of command had been broken and he didn't even know who of his superiors had survived the initial impact or just later died in the fires. Most of he remaining soldiers, with no one now giving orders, began to desert during the God attack so try to save their own skins.
Not a single one made it out.
Lt. Nickels however, had been going from shelter to shelter during the fight and rescuing those he could. A majority of the people still walking around today owe their life to Lt. Nickels. But, he was on his own. No help. No backup.
And no slayers.
Nickels kept up best as he could on his worn out legs as he tried to keep up with the lady. She rounded a corner and the screaming could already be heard on the wind's breath.
"You've got to get me out of here!! I don't wanna die, please, anyone!!" There was a crowd of people already around the trapped person as they had tried to remove the heavy pieces of building, but none had the strength to do so. If anything the slight shifting just made the pain worse.
Nickels pushed through the crowd, "Move aside, move aside! You're in the way!" He burst through the front of the crowd and got a grim look at what awaited him.
There was a man, probably 30s', whose right half of his body had been completely crushed by what looked to be part of the roof. Nickels moved his tire eyes up the length of the piece of rubble and could tell pretty quick that there was no way he could move this. Even if he was at full strength.
The man looked up with his remaining eye with a hopeful grin on his face. "Y-you're gonna help me right? I can't stay here...I still have a life to live! I can't just...die." He said as a tear rolled down his cheek.
Nickels looked upon the sad state of the man. He sighed and rubbed his hand across his face. This isn't getting any easier, Nickels thought to himself.
He laid his machine gun down on the ground and knelt next to the man.
"Hey, what are you doing? You've gotta lift this thing off me. Come on, you gotta get it off of me before something happens!" He wailed.
Nickels didn't try to cease the man's crying out because he knew all too well what he was going through. He's seen it too many times in just the past day. He also knew that deep down, the man already knew the reality of the situation.
"Listen...I can make it easier, if you want." That was all Nickels could manage to say.
The man stared up at Nickels as his face went from a fleeting chance of hope to absolute despair. "You're...you're kidding right? Please tell me you're kidding! TELL ME DAMN IT!!!" Nickels stood back up from the man. He reached in his back pocket and pulled out a small handgun.
"Lieutenant, you can't be serious!" The lady that had originally grabbed him said. The rest of the crowd also started to murmur and take a step back.
Nickels bent back down and placed the gun next to the man's hand. He then turned around, picked up his machine gun, and slowly made his way back through the crowd.
Nickels continued to walk the streets with just his machine gun. He had a fixed stare on his face as he was just moving on will power alone at this point.
"Of all the places, a God had to show here." He said to himself. "These people are broken. Lost. And for good reason. I'm the only thing they have left to depend on. I took an oath after all." He then stopped for a moment. "Sounds like something you would say....Jun." He smiled and then immediately clinched his teeth and shot off several rounds of his machine gun into a flipped over car. "Can't believe after spouting all that bullshit you turned tail and ran! Isn't this why you're here, Jun?!" He shouted to no one. "What's the point of you slayers then?! Tell me!"
Footsteps could be heard running up from behind him. "Lt. Nickels!!"
He could feel the frustration over the past few days start to bubble over. "Now WHAT?!" He turned around and saw a human head roll across the ground and lightly bump into his foot. Lt. Nickels looked down in horror at the sight. His eye drifted from the head to the long trail of fresh blood that ran from the head back to where the rest of the body laid.
Lt. Nickels looked up and saw a person wrapped in a brown cloak standing behind the body.
"What..the..." He snapped to and lifted his machine gun towards the stranger.
*SNAP*
Lt. Nickels heard the resounding snap and looked down at his arms. They had both been broken and bent backwards. The machine gun slipped out of his hands and fell to the ground.
"AHHHHHHHHH!" He yelled and fell to his knees in pain. It had happened so fast that he didn't even know how it all happened.
The cloaked figure walked closer to Nickels as he continued to scream out in pain. The person knelt down in front of him to look him in his eyes. Nickles looked in fury at the person's face, but it was completely shrouded in shadow.
"Sorry, but I'm kinda new around here. I've been asking around and breaking arms all day, but you seem to be the guy I should've asked first. So you know the slayers then?"