Rene, robed in the shade of buildings, made his way through the dim alleyways.
His role was stealth, keeping an eye on Ruth while also surveilling the area ahead.
'To think she would offer this approach...' Rene thought as he watched Ruth's awkward traversal, sighing with slight disbelief as he recalled her plan,
"I'll play bait, and while I probe for information, keep an eye on anyone else that may be in the vicinity. If you find anyone, act accordingly."
Eventually, Rene reached the town's square, Ruth—figuratively—right behind him. He gave her a discreet signal before leaving for the alleyways.
When he saw the man sitting on the fountain of the square, Rene also noticed the subtle glint from a distant building. Thus, he made his way there.
...
"To think that survivors actually reached the shore, and a lone lass like her of all people?" A voice quietly mused, "D'you think she's Carpediem?"
"Obviously! How else could she have gotten here? She had to have been on that fleet."
"But she sounded so meek on the other end, hardly what those people usually sound like."
"That's fair... but still...!"
Quiet banter filled the otherwise silent room; the first voice was easygoing, wearing a dark reddish-brown overcoat and a pair of dim goggles.
The other voice held a more serious tone, also dressed in a dark reddish-brown overcoat, and wearing a black cap.
Both wielded sniper rifles equipped with silencers, both stood before the closed blinds of a window, and both had their attention fixed on the man and woman standing in the town's square.
Granted, they still mused among themselves.
"So, reckon he'll keep her alive?"
"It's Hans, obviously, he won't spa—Argh!"
The first man choked on the word 'spare'.
Hard soles smashed into his back; leather boots crushing his spine. The sheer force of impact sent him flying, folding over the windowsill, before descending a two-story fall with a choked scream.
The other man watched his companion fly out the window, stuck in his stupor before he could turn back in time to see the assailant,
A great pressure struck his neck, pinning him to the windowsill, terror shaking his vision as a voice entered his left ear,
"Shoot him down, and I'll spare your life." Rene threatened, raising the other man's rifle to the ledge and urging the man to act.
For a moment, the man's vision remained blurred, but as it settled on the two figures in the distance, he aimed and pulled the trigger to release a quiet—
Pop.
...
Rene hauled the captive man down the stairs, dragging him out the front door and made his way towards Ruth.
Not before looking at the fallen man by his feet, neck twisted to an odd angle, breath sputtering with flicks of blood.
"Still alive, huh?"
Rene commented, moving his boot above the man's throat before stomping down hard, withdrawing as the resounding crunch silenced the fallen man's wheezing.
He turned back to the captive man and urged him to keep moving.
They approached Ruth, who was rummaging through the dead man's, Han's, overcoat.
"Finding anything useful?" Rene asked, keeping the captive man's head down in submission.
"Here." Ruth flicked something to Rene.
A wallet with an I.D. reading,
'Hans Werner. Age: forty-six. Country...'
There were also a few small photos, some of which pictured the man himself with comrades. One had a crimson kiss marking the corner.
Ruth also tossed up a dog tag and a packet of cigarettes, but kept hold of a snack bar; the packaging was in a foreign language.
Of course, Rene did not miss the unusual pistol model clutched within her grasp, too.
"So... these people are with Pandemonium, huh?"
"Mmhm." Ruth stood up, straightening her dishevelled state as she looked at the captive man, "You did well keeping one of them alive."
"Yeah... I wanted to keep that guy, too, but he took himself out first, huh?"
"It matters not," Ruth turned to the captive man, poking at him bluntly, "What we do with you depends on your answers. Do you understand?"
"Yeah... I got it." He meekly responded.
Ruth pressed something on her Comm. Device before asking her first question,
"Do you have an outpost? Where do you rest; in what direction?"
"Our base...? Just south of here, it's in a... one of the market buildings, a clothing store?"
"Right. Where is the rest of your group?"
"Rest of us..." the captive man's voice went quiet, eyes flicking away for an instant,
"There is one other guy, but that's all, just the four—"
"It's obvious that there are more of you here. Scum of Pandemonium, you expect me to believe that four people are watching over this entire town?"
Ruth coldly assessed, her rebuttal sounded almost mocking.
She looked into the man's eyes, then across his body, searching as she spoke up,
"Final question, how many survivors have you run into? This female Cleaner here couldn't have been the first, right?"
"She is, I swear! Or... at least, she is the first one our group found... Honest, I haven't seen anyone else of your people."
"Is that so?" Ruth scrutinised him again, holding her gaze for a tense moment before stepping away,
"Right, steady him."
"On it." Rene held the captive man to the side.
The latter's confusion was evident, and a great sense of unease bloomed in his chest.
"What do you—!"
Bang!
The resounding gunshot silenced his question, leaving nothing but a shocked expression on his face; a hole penetrating the centre of his brows.
Rene knelt and laid the body flat on the ground, but Ruth shot another bullet into the man's waist.
His bewilderment forced him to ask a question,
"Why'd you shoot him again?"
Ruth clicked the handgun's safety mechanism before pocketing it.
"We have to leave," she urged him, checking under her shirt as a faint red bled through the white.
"You opened your wound..." Rene muttered solemnly.
Ruth sighed as she straightened herself, ignoring the faint pain building in her abdomen,
"Still, we must leave. The gunshots are definitely going to draw attention, and this scum had a communication device on him, too."
Ruth gestured to the area she shot—the waist; a rectangular bulge under the clothing.
"So someone was listening to us? Wait, why shoot him with that gun, then, if it would only attract people?"
Rene questioned as he finished ransacking the corpse.
Ruth replied simply,
"To send a message."