Shovels In Spades

Surprisingly, the fight with the five Barbarians was far more manageable than when there were ten of them. While it made sense that it would be easier due to there being less of them, Lyle still felt like he would have been no match for them in a fair one-on-one match.

Sarah had bound one, while Ger had shot two others. During this, Lyle had pushed his body to its limits, taking advantage of Sarah's speed buff, and he had managed to inject the two other Barbarians.

The final one was killed by another, slightly more focused bullet, from Ger's revolver. However, just before the last one had been killed, he had managed to slash Lyle on the back with an axe, creating a rather nasty wound.

Lyle and the barely-conscious Dorian now had a moment of respite. Despite the loud noise of the gunshots and the death of eleven total Barbarians, none of the remaining army had split off to kill Lyle and Dorian.

It would seem that they were too busy trying to take down Rimmy and attempting to stop his, Daz and Crusher's advances towards their Chieftain.

"Stay with me, Dorian," Lyle said calmly to the man who he was helping walk back to the base. Dorian's face was pale and he was struggling to stay conscious.

"L-Lyle... I'm... sorry... it's my fault you got injured... I should have... I should have defended you properly..." Dorian weakly said.

Lyle struggled to hear him over the noise that Daz's group were making and due to the fact that he was trying to bear the pain of his back wound.

"Worry about it later. We need to get back to the base first and recover. Our part in this fight is over. We'd better hope that the system can do something about your arm, or else you'll have to go back to being a normal Citizen.

Though I suppose you could learn how to fight with a single arm if you don't hesitate again," Lyle mumbled in response as his calculative mind thought about the consequences of what had happened to Dorian.

Dorian flinched at the word 'hesitate'. 'I-I-I... he's right. I hesitated. We could have both died... I lost an arm and Lyle got slashed... I'm pathetic,' Dorian said to himself.

"You can move on your own now, yes? If I remember correctly, you lost an arm, not a leg," Lyle said with a bit of a struggle. Clearly, holding up half of Dorian's weight was too much for the wounded and anorexic man.

"O-Of course... I-I'm sorry..." Dorian fumbled with his response before he let go of Lyle abruptly, which sent him off balance and consequently, Lyle fell to the cold, hard concrete.

Naturally, Dorian panicked at this. He crouched down and tried his best to lift Lyle with his one arm, but to no success. "D-Did he faint?" Dorian asked no one in particular. It was at that point, that he noticed how much blood Lyle's shirt was covered in.

'I-I didn't realise how badly h-hurt he was! I need to help him... w-what do I do?!' Dorian struggled to find a solution before a voice interrupted his panicked thoughts.

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"Dorian? What happened? Is Mr Middleton okay?" Ger asked over the comm.

'Of course! The comm!' Dorian exclaimed internally before he replied, "No, he's not! H-He got hit by an a-axe, and b-blood is all over the place. I-I can't stop the bleeding... H-He's going to die!"

"Fuck. I thought he was just tired," after a short pause, Ger spoke again, "Sarah's coming down now to help you carry him back. I'll cover you, so stay safe for now and don't shout. You're lucky none of the Barbarians are interested in you right now."

'Although it's kinda dangerous, Sarah can get out there and help bring them back. I hope Crusher and Daz are okay... they must be dealing with a lot of pressure from the Barbarians right now,' Ger thought while he managed to shoot and kill another man that was squeezed up at the back of the army that was assaulting Daz, Rimmy and Crusher.

Sarah used one of her skills, Call To Nature, to create a simple vine that snaked up the base's wall.