"Oi! You! Over there! What do you think you're doing?" An average height, rubber clad man came marching from the street. He was wearing armor made from old stripped tires and carrying a rusty longsword.<br/><br/>A tall well built man looks up from the dirt he was digging in with a makeshift pickaxe, his worldly eyes narrowing in on the man walking up. He recognized him as one of the corrupt 'lawmen' of the settlement. "I'm just getting ready for harvesting season." He bellowed out to the man who was still approaching, sword in hand.<br/><br/>"Is this your land? Do you have a permit to dig here?" The man returned with a cry of his own, his grip tightening around the hilt of the sword. "What's your name?"<br/><br/>"You may call me Z. And I didnt know anybody owned land anymore these days. I thought it was first come first serve and I've been here quite a while doing this same thing every year." The man picked up a tunic from a nearby fence and brushed off his dirty, muscular chest. "Is there a problem?"<br/><br/>"Yeah I've got a problem, have you paid your taxes yet this month?" The man got closer, his hand tightening around the hilt of the sword again, holding it at the ready.<br/><br/>"Taxes? I have never had to pay taxes before." The man ran the shirt over his head, brushing out any dirt from his long pony tail before throwing the shirt back on the fence. He turned his scarred back to the man and set the pick down in the dirt before walking closer to his shack.<br/><br/>"Well then, we do have a problem. You owe back taxes. That'll be three cans of food." The soldier walked onto the property where the man was working. "Hey! I'm talking to you!"<br/><br/>"I'm getting the food for you sir. Just wait there." The man quickly moved into the door of the shanty, disappearing into the darkness inside.<br/><br/>"Good!" The soldier looked around and scooped up a few pieces of fruit from the ground and shoving them into a pouch hanging from his hip.<br/><br/>"Now, how do you want the payment?" Z walked out of the shanty, a large steel claymore resting on his shoulder, the hilt just barely bigger than his massive hand. "Want it dead or alive?"<br/><br/>With this, the soldiers jaw dropped and his pants stained with wetness at the sight of the large sword. He raised his own sword arm, his legs quaking. "Uh... I dont want any trouble here. I'll forget about the payment. I swear."<br/><br/>"Yeah that'd probably be a good idea.. Get out of here you runt!" Z snarled after the man as he skittered down the highway he came from. He let out a light sigh and looked down at the dirt he was digging at. "Well, I guess I'm done here... Might as well have some fun before I leave this time." He quickly moved into the house, his tree trunks carrying him faster than most could walk. Moments later, a large group of men all carrying various weapons and wearing similar 'armor' to that of the runt.<br/><br/>"Where'd he go Jimmy?! You said you needed some help with someone. Where is he? You pullin our legs again?" One of the larger men called out to the man from before.<br/><br/>"I dunno man, he was here... Maybe he ran?" As the runt quibbled back, Z walked out of the shanty wearing a heavy plate shoulder guard on his right shoulder and his claymore sticking up over his back in it's sheath. He was wearing a similar tunic to the one he used to wipe down his face and his black trousers were held up by an expensive looking belt buckle. A grin stretched across his face as he looked on at the group of seven men all carrying weapons and looking ready for a fight.<br/><br/>"You guys looking for me?" In his right hand he was carrying a small bag with a bed roll attached to it. He swung it over his right shoulder, the strap on the bag staying firmly in place as it hooked under the plate armor. "Now we can do this the dead way or the alive way.. You make the choice."<br/><br/>"I choose the dead way! GET HIM!" The bigger man in the group howled out and the other six charged in. An arrow flew by the head of Z and he ducked out of the way before stepping forward, knocking a sword away from him and slamming his massive arms into the chest of one of the charging men. The man flew backwards with a loud cough, his sword dropping to the ground with a clanking sound. The mountainous man ducked under a swing of a makeshift axe and rolled across the ground, grabbing the sword on his way up. He quickly parried a thrust from another sword and broke the rusted piece of metal against the blade of his fifth attacker.<br/><br/>"This isnt..." He ducked under another swing from the axe and sliced the under arm of one of the soldiers with the rusted sword piece. The man let out a yelp and blood began to pour out from the wound under his arm. "A fair fight." As he was falling to the ground, his sword arm gushing blood, the sword dropped and Z caught it in the air before thrusting it through the tire armor of the ax wielder. The man let out a gurgled groan and the axe fell from his grip as Z kicked him in the chest, sending him flying into another soldier. "For you."<br/><br/>"What are you idiots doing?! Kill him already!" The big man, still standing back yelled out to the group of four soldiers left standing. Z quickly dispatched one of the soldiers after this command as he rolled across the dirt, scooping up the axe and hurling it into the mans skull, his bow dropping to the ground in a puff of dust.<br/><br/>"You really should run!" Z grinned wildly as he caught the hand of the runt and brought his own sword around, ramming it into his gut. The eyes of the runt went wide as he let out a gurgle and fell over. "There's only 3 of you left. Are you sure you want to keep this up?" As he said this, a brilliant flash of light shot through the sky and landed a few miles to the east of his location, upon impact the ground rumbled and shook. Z took this as his opportunity to take the other two distracted guards out. He shot forward and reached out, placing one hand on the chin of one of the soldiers and the other on the back of his head before twisting upwards, severing the spinal column with a sickening snapping sound.<br/><br/>Z quickly grabbed the mallet of the man who's neck he just broke and brought it over his head and down as hard as he could on the skull of the final peon in the group. Blood sprayed on his face from the impact and he let out a light chuckle before stepping forward, heading towards the final man. "You ready for this biggun?"<br/><br/>"Look who's talking you giant freak." The man stepped forward, pulling a steel longsword from a sheath on his hip.<br/><br/>"Oh you actually have a weapon?" The gargantuan man grinned as he stepped closer to the soldier. The only thing showing on his face was pure entertainment. He stepped forward and quickly rolled his shoulder back, stepping away from a downward swipe from the longsword. He laughed loudly and jumped back and spun to the side as the man jabbed at him wildly. "Do you even know how to use that thing?"<br/><br/>"You're quite cocky arent you?" The soldier looked a little worried as he continued to swing wildly at the big man. The man laughed more, dipping and dodging each swing, he almost couldnt stop his laughter as he ducked under a swing. The soldier however was not laughing and he threw a powerful and quick slash in his direction. Z was surprised by this attack, barely ducking out of the way only in time to take a cut across his cheek. Z rolled away from the soldier and brought a hand to his cheek slowly.<br/><br/>"You actually cut me..." He sighed and drew his sword from the sheath, parrying the longsword to the side with a powerful block and stopping him dead in his tracks with yet another. His face was solemn and sincere now, almost angry as he continued walking towards the man, blocking and parrying each and every swing of the sword. The soldier panted lightly and swung one final blow only to have it blocked and his shoulder cleaved down to his rib cage with a powerful downward swipe.<br/><br/>"I told you it was unfair." He kicked the larger soldier off of his sword and grabbed his pant leg, cleaning the blade of the sword off on his pants. He made sure the blade was shiny again before sheathing it and picking up the dinged longsword from the dirt. "I can sell this later..." He slid the blade into his belt before looking off in the direction of the blaring light. With a sigh he started walking down the highway, leaving his previous home layered with dead bodies.<br/><br/>"Only a few miles..." He adjusted the pack on his back and let his massive limbs carry him down the highway with a quickness not matched by many. Almost an hour later, he finally approached a large crater in the ground, his eyes wide from how deep it was. "What the hell?" He looked down and saw a young woman at the base of the crater. His first instinct was to go down and see if she was okay. His second instinct was to wait and see who would go down and lay claim to the woman.<br/><br/>"This place just gets weirder and weirder." He brought a hand to his cheek where the cut was and grinned. "Yet another story to tell of an easy victory." His massive calloused hand lowered to his belt, fingers hitching under the leather as he stood at the edge of the crater, looking out to the surrounding edges.