Francisco stopped and let his rifle hang on his chest, the metal of the weapon extremely cold to the touch. He let out a breath and it came out in a billow of white mist. He cupped his hands together and breathed into them, trying to warm up. Another patrol on another freezing night. What he wouldn't do for a pair of gloves right about now. He continued onwards into the inky night. He glanced around, checking to make sure he wasn't about to be snatched up by a giant spider or something. He's seen too much of that shit over the years. He continued onwards across the flat landscape, stepping over rocks and being careful not to step onto any cactus. "We haven't seen any damn thing out here for a long time. Why do we still do these damn patrols?" He annoyingly thought to himself. He thought back to his time in the Mexican military. He had to deal with this then as well, but at least there weren't any giant bugs back then. The thought brought a tinge of sadness, but he shoved the feeling away the moment it came up. The distracting images in his mind almost made him walk directly into a cactus. He shook his head and sidestepped the spiky plant. His mind was diligent, replacing the distracting thought with another. His wife's face appeared in his mind's eye, along with his two boys standing in front of her. The cartel had said that they would be safe, back at the main compound. He still would rather have them here with him. Not like he had a choice though. The cartel practically owned his life, and there's nothing he could do about it. "You could have done something back then." He thought to himself. He stopped for a moment and tried to think of something else. Anything else. The past was not a place Francisco could handle. He successfully suppressed the agonizing memory, clenching his eyes closed and biting his tongue. He opened his eyes with a tear coming down.
He walked for another few minutes, snippets of a cold and dark memory begging to be remembered. He was heading back to the settlement he was ordered to protect. He glanced upwards as the small group of buildings came into view on a short hill ahead of him. A few lights were on and he could make out the silhouettes of a few people on top of the rise. He started towards the hill, coming up to its base a few moments later. He began the ascent up, when he heard shouting coming from above him. People flooded out and down the incline, running past Francisco and pointing outwards. Everyone was holding a weapon. He whirled to see the moonlit horizon start to glow a bright purplish pink color. A loud boom rumbled past him. The light intensified and the landscape was painted pink. It was gone an instant later. Francisco shook off the shock and started jogging towards where everyone else was going. What could have made an intense light like that? He hadn't seen much of the fighting during the invasion, staying close to his family. He had seen a lot of horrendous things from the aliens and creatures. "And humans." He thought as he ran. But he had never seen anything like this before. And in a world of giant insects and aliens, they had to be ready for literally anything. Varying trucks and cars had managed to make their way down the incline and sped towards where the light originated. A truck stopped and Francisco hopped in the back with a few others. They continued on. He could hear cheering and whooping as vehicles sped by, the people being excited for some action.
The whipping wind made the air feel even colder, and Francisco tried to duck beneath the cab of the truck to shield from the wind. It didn't help much. The truck he was in rocked and bounced its way over the rough and difficult terrain, every once and while bouncing its passengers into the air. They had fallen behind the makeshift convoy of trucks and cars, and were now being enveloped in a thick cloud of dust. Visibility reduced drastically, but a glance forwards showed they could still manage a way forwards. The truck continued along slowly, dipping slightly downwards as the truck started its way down a hill. Francisco suddenly heard a gunshot in the distance and he froze in the back of the truck. He heard another, then another. As the truck went forwards, Francisco started to hear more cheers and whoops. That made him relax a little bit. They made it to the base of the hill and it flattened out, a huge arch of rock and stone coming into view through the dust lit up by multiple pairs of headlights. Cars and trucks were parked in a makeshift circle underneath the arch, some with people standing on hoods and roofs. They were all shouting and cheering towards the center. Many more stood on the ground, every once and awhile firing a bullet or two into the air. The truck came to a stop and people piled out, excited to get in on the action underneath the arch. Francisco hung behind them, and slowly made his way over. He hopped up into the bed of a different pickup truck, pointed towards the center of the ring. He could see dust and dirt flying upwards. He approached the trucks cab and peered into the space.
"Holy shit" was the only thought to cross his mind. In the wide open space beneath the stone arch, brightly lit up by the surrounding vehicles, was the absolutely largest man Francisco had ever seen. And he was wiping the floor with any man or woman entering the makeshift ring. He had to be at least seven feet tall. Half of the man's face was burnt, one eye gone out of its socket. His long stringy hair flung with every blow thrown. On the ground beneath him was an EDF Fencer and Air Raider, and a woman with short white hair wearing a lab coat. They seemed to be unconscious. A small metal ball floated next to the massive man. "You fucks want some of us!?" A shrewd, woman's voice came from the direction of the fighter. That was confusing. This entire situation was confusing. A man and woman standing on the hood of the truck Francisco was in jumped to the dirt and approached the mass of muscle and strength. The guy turned towards them and held up his fists. The man that entered the ring advanced and took a swing, aiming for the guys stomach. He let the blow land, not even reacting to the strike. The man that punched looked up at his combatants face. He was smiling. The guy picked him up by the throat with one hand and tossed him to the side. He flew and slammed his head into the bumper of a car. The woman that entered the ring with him had made her way around and behind the guy. She threw a punch at the back of his head. The blow connected, and he slowly turned around. He looked down on her, then threw a quick jab with his left hand, striking her squarely in the face. She took a step back with a surprised look, then fell backwards. Another man across from where Francisco was drew a long knife, and sprinted at the guy. He spun around, his hand extended outwards. He backhanded the man holding the knife across his face, spinning his head around with a crack. He slumped to the ground, limp. Three men and a woman jumped in next, the woman wielding a dagger. The giant let out a roar and barreled towards the group. He cocked his right fist back and let it fly, smashing the face of the lead attacker inwards. There was a loud crunch as blood and teeth flew. He fell to the ground, blood spilling from his broken face. The second attacker was close behind, jumping in the air as he ran, coming in with a flying punch. The huge guy threw an uppercut with his left fist, connecting with the man's jaw, and sending him into a flip. He hit the ground with the back of his head first, tumbling away. The third was in close now and struck, bringing his fist around in a right hook. It slammed into the big guys face, sending a tooth flying. That only seemed to piss the guy off. He clasped the man's shoulders and head butted him in the face. He staggered backwards, bringing his hands to his now bloodied red face. The giant brought a leg up and kicked him like a spartan, sending him careening into the hood of a car spine first. There was a resounding crack and the man went limp. He turned towards the woman wielding the knife just in time to bring a hand up as she brought it down at his face. The knife pierced the soft flesh of his hand, jutting out the back. There was a tinge of pain on the man's face and he staggered back a step with the knife still in his hand. The woman had a maniacal smile on her face revealing blackened and rotting teeth. There was a flash of silver, and the floating metal ball smacked her in the temple, dropping her in the dirt like a sack of potatoes. Another man that Francisco hadn't seen came up and yanked the sphere out of mid air, holding it in his hand and bringing it to eye level. An intense flash of blue exploded from the orb, releasing brilliantly bright tendrils of electricity. They sparked from his hand to his face, burning and charring flesh. The man convulsed for a moment and the blue light winked out. He fell to the earth, smoke rising from his face and hand. Francisco suddenly realized the crowd to his left had quieted. He turned his gaze and saw one of the few men he had hoped to never see.
The crowd parted as a man strode through, only the top of his hat visible. He passed the threshold of people at the edge of the ring, and entered. He was about six foot tall and had a wide muscular frame. His face was covered in scars and wrinkles, and one of his ears was missing. His cracked lips were clamped shut around a long cigar. Smoke floated lazily upwards from one end. Every one of his fingers had a different brilliantly jeweled ring, and had three long golden necklaces hanging from his neck. His sleeves on his shirt were rolled halfway up his forearm, and the top two buttons unbuttoned. He was holding a golf club in one hand, with the other resting on a revolver on his side. It was one of the brothers that ran the cartel. The whole crowd was absolutely silent now. "Aaahhh so it was you who interrupted my game?" A deep and raspy voice escaped the man's lips. He raised and pointed the club at the huge man as he said it. He smiled wide revealing golden teeth. The ones that were there anyways. "Fuck you." The giant growled. "The troll can speak!" The boss shouted as he spun, hands in the air. The crowd cheered. Francisco just watched. A silver figure streaked from behind the big man and shot towards the boss. He brought the golf club down and smashed the sphere out of the air. The metal ball crunched inwards and was flung back towards the unconscious people on the ground. It had a large dent in the side, and its faint blue glow faded. "Ooooohhhhh that felt good!" The boss shouted, throwing his hands to the air again. There was another cheer from the crowd. The giant man seemed to hear enough. He roared and launched himself towards the boss. Francisco blinked, and there was a gunshot. The boss had his revolver in his hand, barrel smoking. Any sign of a smirk or smugness was erased from the boss's face. His mouth was twisted into a snarl, his brows furrowed. The giant man was stopped in his tracks, a small red hole in his stomach. Blood gushed and soaked his shirt. The fluid dripped from his already saturated shirt, pooling in the dirt and sand below him. He fell to his knees. The boss walked over to the giant, and looked down on him. He leaned in close and said, "Waste of fucking time." He put his hand on the guys face and lightly shoved backwards. He fell on his back into his own pool of blood, hands to his side and eyes closed.
The boss picked up the destroyed metal ball and slipped it into his pocket. He backed away and looked at the crowd. "Clean this shit up and take them back to the compound. I'm sure we can put them to use." There was no time wasted. The second the words left his mouth, people were already dragging the bodies to vehicles. Francisco lost sight of the boss as the crowd surged. He stayed in the truck he was watching the fight from, as two of the bodies were being dragged towards him. The unconscious woman with white hair, and the Air Raider. He reached down and helped haul the bodies up into the bed. A man came over and started stripping equipment and anything valuable from the pair. He took the Air Raiders communications backpack and what looked like a grenade launcher. He took a few more things and started to back away. He stopped and turned back, and reached for the Air Raiders helmet. He slowly removed the helmet, revealing the features of the unconscious man. Francisco practically fell out of the bed of the truck. His body convulsed and he vomited out the side. He slowly turned with sad eyes back towards his old best friend.