"No!" My voice was hollow. The ma lay still before me, his mechanical breaths silent in the still air. Specks of blood stained his stormchaser hat near where the bullet had hit. I rushed over to his side, my body numb. Tears filled my eyes, streaking my grime covered face as they fell down to my cheeks. I buried my face in the man's dusty coat. "No, no, no, no, no! You can't die! You can't..."
A hand was gently placed atop my head.
The masked man pushed himself up so that he was sitting upright. He rubbed at his head where the bullet had struck him, tracing a gloved finger along the cracks the spiderwebbed across his visor. I lunged into him, wrapping my scrawny arms tightly around his waist, unable to stem the flow of tears any longer. After a moment the man returned the hug, embracing me tightly like my father had once done.
"Be more careful next time," I begged. The man shrugged, and I laughed, just a little.
Gunfire tore into the walls around us. Three raiders inched as close as possible over the destroyed bridge, firing across the expanse with all the skill of a toddler. His arm still draped protectively around me, the masked man raised his rifle and fired from the hip, striking one raider and sending him tumbling off the edge. The remaining two retreated back into the safety of the building, disappearing from sight.
I helped the faceless man to his feet – he was a little unsteady – and we continued through the building. Sunlight flooded into the interior from where the building's northern wall had once stood. The structure had long since collapsed, leaving a gaping hole that opened up to a long avenue.
In the distance I could see the desert.
The man slung his rifle over his shoulder and then pointed directly ahead to the sandy horizon, indicating that that was where we were headed. He reached into an inner coat pocket and held up a magnum revolver, its tempered steel glistening in the sunlight. He checked the chambers and nodded his head once, looking down on me.
I nodded back, a smile plastered to my thin face.
Revolver at the ready, the masked man led our charge to freedom, sliding down the rubble embankment to the streets below. I followed after him, nearly falling flat onto my face. We both hit the ground running.
A small contingent of raiders poured into the avenue from an alleyway in an attempt to block our escape. Two raised their assault rifles to fire and were quickly gunned down by the masked man, not once slowing as his magnum roared like caged thunder. A third charged recklessly towards us with only a battered machete and soon met his end. A fourth, armed with a handgun, met a similar fate. The fifth raider ambushed us from behind a wrecked Corvega, brandishing a nailed baseball bat and a metal garbage can lid. The raiders swung at my head, but the faceless deflected the attack with his forearm, the rusted nails tearing into the sleeve of his long coat. The man then pressed the barrel of his magnum against the raider's makeshift shield and squeezed the trigger. The thin metal did little to stop the bullet and the raider fell to the ground, screaming in agony. The final raider popped up from behind cover ahead of us, a heavy rocket launcher slung across his shoulder. He was deftly shot by the masked man and fell, along with his launcher, harmlessly to the asphalt.
Gunfire erupted from behind us as more raiders flooded into the street, led personally by their leader, Samuil. The man and I dove for cover behind where the rocket toting raider had hidden, pressing our backs against the warm cement as bullets tore through the air above. Chips flew off as the cement chunk was struck, pulverized dust wafting into the air.
The masked man slid the cylinder for his revolver, removing the spent casing and inserting new rounds. He then handed the weapon to me. I held it, its weight heavy in my small hands. The man took his rucksack and slid its loose strap around me, tightening it so that it was snug but not too tight. He reloaded his hunting rifle and pointed out to the desert in the distance.
It then dawned on me as to what he intended to do.
I shook my head vigorously. "No. No! You have to come with me!"
He pointed again out to the desert, as if commanding me to run.
I looked into the man's face, into my own frightened one, and shook my head again.
He nodded once, hard.
The man wasn't about to give me a choice. "Don't take long."
The man nodded and spun out of cover, firing upon the nearest raider. A red mist appeared behind his head as his skull blew out. I ran from my cover, towards the deserted the loomed before me, the magnum held gingerly in my grasp. The man fired a second shot and followed, grabbing onto the discarded rocket launcher that lay near his feet. The raiders fired upon us, but we were too far out of range.
We're gonna make it.
Me and the man our going to make it and we are going to live happily every after.
I smiled.
Glass shattered and rained from above as two more of Samuil's Praetorian Guard burst free of the building the man and I now ran pass. One landed behind me and turned to face the masked man, spear raised; the second came after me.
I gripped the magnum tight in my hands.
A rocket flew through the air, impacting the fourth floor of a small high-rise overlooking the avenue. The explosion gutted the rooms there, destroying several columns that supported the weight of the structure. The facade crumbled. Tons of concrete and steel fell from the sky, crashing into the ground below.
The Praetorian chasing after me was caught under a large boulder and crushed.
I turned to look back. The masked man stood beyond the curtain of falling rubble, the Praetorian dead at his feet, his neck twisted at an odd angle. He cast aside the spent and still smoking rocket tube, raising an arm to point ahead at the desert horizon.
I yelled out to him, but the man merely shook his head.
He stared directly into my eyes from behind his mask.
Then the man with no face gave me a small wave goodbye...
And then turned to face Samuil and his Vultures.
The small high-rise leaned dangerously before toppling, an avalanche that fell into the avenue with a thunderous crash. Dust billowed up like smoke from a fire, clouding the sky above until all was dark. The masked man, along with Samuil and his army, disappeared from sight behind the newly created mountain of rubble.
Leaving me, once again, alone in the world.