Walk the Minefield (Hugh Trainer)

Hugh was regretting being out here. He swore he could feel the sun burning his fair skin and making cancer as he baked out here. He was wearing khaki cargo shorts, a grey t-shirt with the geological society of America's logo on it, a white hat bearing their logo, and simple sneakers. A generous xoating of sun screen protected his skin and a set of blue, nitrile gloes protected his hands. The idea was that if anyone saw him, he could claim he was just doing a soil survey or some such. He set down his case and a little ball of light coalesced out of him and floated away from him. As it moved it split over and over with each shimmering mine splitting in two until there were twenty-five of them scattered along a 180 degree arc a meter in front of him. They would serve as a buffer if these people meant him harm and would serve as an identifier if they knew who he was. Friend or foe, he was prepared. He just hoped that they would be friend as he watched them as best he could from his position.

Hugh had a look of shock and mild disgust at the body. He had seen worse dead bodies, but it was never fun to see one dropped at your feet.  He did not know much about the man, but it was still no fun. If he did his job right he did not see the bodies most of the time. They did not show the bits of people after bombings or shootings and he did not stick around to appreciate his work. Even when he killed people or took part in torturing them he could prepare himself beforehand. This one came without that benefit.

He began moving the mines to surround the two men. Twelve mines to each of them with one hanging between them. While they moved he steeled his expression and said, "Okay, so here's the deal. I’ve only a trowel an' a small mattock. I wasn't expecting to dig much today. I suggest you get outta here with that before the others show up or you will be using them to dig your own graves at best. If they catch you while in a bad mood, your families will die in agony. If you attack me you'll be left to die from exposure and your wounds. Even if ya make it to a hospital you'll lose limbs if they can save you at all."

He looked like he was trying to be badass, but could not pull it off. He looked like an idiotic weakling in his geeky outfit. He was just one step above a pocket protector and glasses and his reaction to the dead body did not help. He was outnumbered and both of them looked like they could take him alone. The problem was that he was not trying to be a badass. The cartel ruled by fear and letting something like this pass would be a loss of face. They would have to make an example of these people. He did not want to have to torture them to death or murder their families. He did not want to have to kill them at all, but he was not going to be able to bury all the bodies before they arrived.

This was not bravado or machismo. This was a fair estimation of how things would go. He saw no guns and most people did not have access to qi. Even if they did it would be unusable and any fatigue they had developed would only be getting worse. He had freaky abilities and under most circumstances he could take out two normal people before they beat him to death. He should at least be able to hit them with a few of the mines before they closed the distance or drew weapons. Even trained people would be hard pressed to escape unscathed and that was the key. A single shot ten gauge could hold back an entire room because nobody wanted to be the one who took the shot. You might be able to kill the gunner, but that first guy goes down for sure. He simply had to hope that they would see reason.

Hugh's expression turned to worry and fear at hearing the news that the others would not be coming and the attack on their headquarters. They would not stand for such things. Their revenge would be bloody and horrible. More pressing was the fact that he was apparently going to have to dispose of these people alone. This was going to end badly no matter how sure he was of his eventual victory.

He sent in five mines at each man from those surrounding the two men.They were aimed to leave enough room to not interfere with each other and to strike along the back. One was center of mass on the back with the others taking positions on diagonals to it forming the corner to a square with the fifth one in the middle. That way he could maximize his chances of hitting with at least one. A center of mass strike would kill a good chunk of the spinal cord. Even a graze would kill import organs like a lung, liver, or spleen. Even a bit of muscle and intestine would be enough to take a lot of the fight out of a man.

He was not quick enough though. The knives came flying and the best he could do was try to get hit in less vital parts. He through up his arms and turned as best he could to decrease his profile, but that was just enough to have a few of the knives that would have killed him sink into his arms and leave deep gashes instead of plunging into his delicate organs. Some still did plunge themselves into him but the met with the arms clenched muscles rather than a soft belly or exposed chest. The mighty stomp finished the job that the knives started, knocking him to the ground where he laid bleeding. He reached for his case hoping to use it as a shield if the men were still in any condition to press the attack.

Hugh was not in a great position to offer physical resistance to the attack and the mines were not fast enough to keep pace with a running man. He sent another five mines out to meet the man from his side and called another five mines to strike along his spine hoping that with no way to send signals he would drop. The ones from behind would be hard pressed to keep up but if he was slowed by the ones coming out to meet him or stopped to hit Hugh they would make up the distance quickly. As the ones coming from Hugh were starting low they were aimed along the legs and at the groin. Even if he lived, by some miracle, he was not going to be in good shape.

Unfortunately, he did not spare the attention to call death down upon the man with the knives. If the other mines had not killed or disabled him he was going to be a tough nut to crack and the one bearing down on him was a far larger concern. There was not a lot of thought going on beyond fear, pain, and desperate attempts to make the guy coming at him stop. The implications of their continued movement did not occur to him. He did not have time to puzzle about how the man had pulled his trick or what was going on wit anything beyond just making the charging beast of a man stop.