Chapter 322 - Payback.

*BANGBANGBANGBANGBANG!*

The ear wrenching sound of gunfire could be heard across the whole of Zion, as the Burned Man, Joshua Grahm leads the Sorrows and Dead Horse tribe into battle against the White Legs. They are currently trying to fight their way through the canyon passage leading to Three Marys Caverns.​​

The White Legs had already been residing in this place for a significant amount of time. Enough so that they'd created many fortifications to stop any kind of frontal assault. Due to this and the layout of Zion itself, most considered it to be impenetrable...

Tamia and Veronica had joined this battle as well, even with Daniel, the leader of the Sorrows begging them not to. He wished to try and flee Zion with the maps the duo had provided, and wished to peacefully exit without causing more bloodshed. However, both Tamia and Veronica had agreed with Joshua, in that trying to escape Zion without either completely crushing or crippling the White Legs would result in catastrophic losses.

As such, they stood beside Joshua as the bullets started flying, both retaliating with equal if not greater force. Weaponry in Zion had been somewhat lacking due to their rather primitive ways, but Joshua had managed to scavenge and outfit most of the Dead Horses and Sorrows with .45 Auto-Pistols, and .45 Submachine guns.

Both Tamia and Veronica were slightly shocked at the ferocity Joshua fought with... He was light a tornado of bullets, brutally massacring any who dared cross him. The White Legs seemed to be in a similar situation as well, as whenever they were forced to fight him, they shouted things like 'DEMON!' or 'KUNA-MAN'.

Unfortunately, the Sorrows and Dead Horses weren't as experienced or skilled in this kind of fighting, more used to melee combat as opposed to modern ballistics. The White Legs fortified positions allowed them to easily kill most who approached, in fact, the only reason the attacking force was gaining any ground whatsoever is because Joshua was cutting a line straight through them.

Tamia and Veronica were no slouches either though, they'd found themselves in some of the side caves that interweaved throughout the cavern passage, some even leading to higher positions were the White Legs were firing from.

"HAH!" Tamia roars as she brings her axe down towards an enemy, cutting their arm clean off as they try to point their weapon towards her. With her other hand she points her .45 Pistol and gives a bullet lobotamization which instantly kill them.

Nearby Veronica has been hiding amongst the rocks, awaiting the reinforcements which intended to attack Tamia, once they passed her position she jumps out, punching one in the back of their head with her powerfist. This literally causes their head to explode in red mist, the unfortunate persons eyeballs flying out and striking the person ahead in the back.

If they hadn't heard the sound of their friends head breaking apart like a dropped melon, the eyes would've keyed them to the problem. Veroncia doesn't wait for them to react though, barreling forwards and slamming her foot against the back of one of their knees, causing them to tumble to the floor as she punches the person next to them.

*CRACK!!*

They'd just turned to face her when they got hit, their head wrenching side with their neck loudly snapping. This isn't a Looney toons cartoon however, and someone's next twisting 180 degrees isn't something you can recover from.

By they time ther mangled body hits the floor, Veronica had crushed the third and last person attempting to help against Tamia's axe-rampage.

Veronica flicks her fist to rid her weapon of the blood covering it... *Bang!*, a bullet flies past her head, and a body dropping behind her signals that it wasn't intended for her.

"Get your head in the game, there's still a shit-load of them to deal with." Tamia says, blowing the smoke from her pistol.

"Would you, well I don't know, give me a warning instead of almost shooting me in the face?" Veronica retorts sarcastically

Tamia shakes her head and suddenly points behind Veronica "LOOK OUT!"

Veronica spins but doesn't see anyone aside from the person had just shot...

"There, I did it. Slightly late but you can't get everything you asked for." Tamia says, walking past and over the corpse to reach the tunnel exit.

"You're soooo funny. When this is over, I'm definitely getting payback." Veronica mutters, giving the corpse a kick before following her companion.

The duo continued fighting through the White Legs, occasionally receiving injuries but nothing that could be considered life-threatening.

Soon enough, they managed to get to the area where Joshua was fighting, but before they and the other troops caught up a massive explosion occurs. This causes the upper part of the canyon to collapse, completely blocking off access to where Joshua is.

"Fuck!" Tamia growls, still hearing the fighting from the other side. Quickly she looks around, eventually finding a cave that may or may not lead to where they need to go... Without much other choice, she leads the remaining warriors through it.

Inside they came across more White Legs, but these ones seemed to also be setting up explosives, probably to block off this entrance as well. They hadn't been expected a veritable army to suddenly appear in their midst though.

The Sorrows and Dead Horses easily kill all White Legs inside. Tamia and Veronica eventually reach the exit, but what they see before them is quite surprising... Joshua was standing behind three bound White Legs captives with his weapon drawn, all of them looking absolutely terrified.

Joshua doesn't hold anything back, instantly killing two of them before he leans down next to the last. "We warned you at Syracuse, Salt-Upon-Wounds. Yet you persisted. You took advantage of us at New Canaan to drive us out, and like the dogs of Caeser you are, you followed us to Zion.

And now you stand on holy ground, a temple to god's glory on Earth. But the only use for an animal in our temple is sacrifice!... Kale watcha nei conserva ho! You understand me, don't you? Don't you!?" he growls, his scarred and burned visage behind the bandages matching brutal and determined soul.

The bound man, Salt-Upon-Wounds looks up at Tamia and Veronica with utter dread in his eyes, "Y-you! H-help! Kuna-man mad! He kill all White Legs! You talk! You stop!" he begs in broken English.

Tamia scoffs but Veronica looks slightly sympathetic, she knew of the atrocities these people have committed. But she was still pretty reluctant to utterly wipe them out... Genocide wasn't something she wished to be apart of.

"I-" She starts but is interrupted as Tamia steps forwards, grabbing the man and digging her fingers into his cheeks.

"You who rapes, pillages, and murders wish for mercy? I don't know whether this funny, or just sad." Tamia quietly says, giving a hard back-hand to his face, almost causing him to lose his balance and fall onto his side. "Do you remember when we first arrived in Zion? We were ambushed by your men, killing my friends and employer... It doesn't matter if you don't, just know that I consider this... Payback." she states, holstering her pistol and holding her axe high.

"Wait don't-" Veronica tries, attempting to find some other option but is already too late.

*SLASH!* *Thud*

Tamia beheads the man in one swift swing, the ugly face rolling across the sand and eventually coming to a stop in the shallow stream nearby, the blood pooling from it colouring the water red.