traveler

preface: another short story

The sun bore down on the stranger’s back with an unbending glare. Despite the bitter rays the man kept his steady pace without faltering. Sweat trickled down his hard face in small grimy rivulets. His long cloak seemed to spread as much dust into the air as his boots did striking the dry road. His face remained hidden behind a deep hood and he seemed to be moving with extreme purpose but in no particular direction at the same time. The sky gave off a blood red glow with scattered clouds of smog unnatural with darkness in the bleak horizon. All around him nothing moved but small bursts of dust. His head remained focused on the ground and small patches of blood could be seen passing under his feet as he walked onward.
Approaching from the west a vehicle was moving fast and headed to intercept the path of the hooded figure. Without breaking his stride in the least the man calmly withdrew long slender firearm from within the depths of his cloak and aimed towards the vehicle. With a small click that seemed to echo in the desolate wasteland, a flash leapt from the strangers hands and hit the vehicle with a resounding sound of tearing metal. The gasoline tank burst in a orgasm of dark orange and black as the vehicle was strewn about its former path in a ruthless fashion.
The man replaced his sidearm and returned his attention to his unwavering march forward. After a few more hours he came to a hill which only served to quicken his pace. As he sprang up the incline with unknown energy he crested the summit and surveyed his surroundings quickly. A small encampment lay in a crater-like valley, probably formed from some long forgotten blast. Sentries walked its perimeter with unenthused interest, only five or so on watch, clearly not worried about any threat. If they only knew what was in store for them.
The traveler once again reached in his cloak and withdrew a spherical object which he tossed lightly in one hand. He gauged the distance from the hill to the camp, about 60 or 80 yards. He withdrew a circle of metal from the sphere with a grinding noise and hurled it past the sentries heads with ease. He then broke into a full sprint down the hill while putting a thick revolver in one hand and a large knife in the other. The sentries finally noticed his presence but before they could react a huge explosion from behind them knocked them towards their assailant. He quickly fired off 5 unfaltering shots and then crept into the shadows of a nearby tent.
He waited calmly for a handful of tense seconds and then suddenly another sentry burst out of hiding and fired blindly where the stranger had formely been. The traveler raised his hand and shot the sentry in the head. He replaced the spent weapon within his cavernous garment and started to search the tents quickly an silently.
In the first tent he found four captives, slaves to their former masters. He quickly released their bonds with his knife and herded them to the center of the camp. They looked at him in fear and confusion. Was this a savior or merely a new master? Without muttering a single word he quickly gathered the weapons of his fallen foes and laid them in pile at the feet of the freed slaves. Knife still in hand he made to walk away but then quickly spun back around and threw the blade into the forehead of one of the more fit slaves. He strode towards the corpse and withdrew his blade and then ripped the slave’s tattered garments off to reveal another slaver, the leader according to the quality of his garments. He tore off a ranking insignia and placed it in his cloak along with his other secrets. He then tipped his knife to the dumbfounded slaves and wiped the blood from the blade with his hands and walked away towards the next hill with blood dripping from his fingers.