_________Craig cursed the Bobcats. If they hadn’t been so greedy and agreed to share the city with them, the attacking army wouldn’t have been such a threat. The attackers were a clan from the south, Clan of the Scorpion to be exact. Craig knew that they wouldn’t want to rebuild the city, The just wanted to loot and destroy it.

_________Craig was the general of his clan’s army. Craig’s clan, Clan of the Rock, had taken the ruined city of Denver from the Bobcat Clan in ordder to rebuild the city after it’s destruction during the appocalypse. Currently Craig was fending off the Clan of the Scorpion while his clan’s scholars attempted to open the city’s old weapon vault.

_________Craig was on his way to the City’s main gate when he heard the noise. It was a kind of dull, rumbling roar that he head never heard before. Stopping at the street corner before the gate, Craig looked down at his right arm. Due to an incident with one of the Bobcat’s makeshift weapons (specifically,a large device known as a lawnmower-blade- thrower) Craig’s natural arm ended just past his right elbow. The rest was a crude metal that was detachable and could be replaced with various weapons.

_________Curently he was using his “standard” arm (a hand with five fingers). Detaching the metal arm from the joint that was pinned to his remaining arm bones, he selected the next piece to attach. Craig chose his “combat” arm, a heavily armored hand with three powerful fingers.

_________With a metallic “click”, Craig attached his combat arm. Craig unfastened his old shield and remembered the ancient piece of machinery it used to be a part of. According to the clan’s remaker, the machine was a “car” and the shield was it’s door. Craig forgot about it and slipped his left arm through the shield’s strap. Noticing the rumbling sound was getting louder, Craig jumped around the corner ready for combat. It was a short distance between Craig’s corner and the perimeter wall so Craig had a farely good view of the battle.

_________The wall(on the average) was 20 ft tall and had enough room at the top to let three men walk side by side along the top. It was made of various materials (wood, stone, metal) the outer layer was completely covered in metal (so that it could not be broken or burnt). The gate structure, which was the only safe way into the city, towered forty feet into the air and was twice the width of the wall. The gate itself was once the wall of a military bunker that had been excavated, cut in half, and reinforced so that it would serve as the main entrance to the city.

_________Using weapons stolen from an ancient military instalation and ones they had made, the members of the Clan of the Scorpion were slowly begining to enter the city. A few of them had scaled the wall and were trying to keep the defenders away from the gate. It seemed strange to Craig that no-one took the time to unlock and open the giant door. The rumbling sound was beginning to make the ground quiver slightly.

_________Suddenly a strange howl screamed out from the opposite side of the gate. At that moment, as if signaled by that howl, the Scorpions surrounding the gate split into two groups, one on each side of the gate. Taking advantage of their enemies’ pause, Craig’s soldiers advanced.Craig relized something was strange but before he could say anything, the gate blew/fell open with a crash. The advancing defenders were blown back by the explosion and debris flew into the air. The rumbling sound was replaced by a sporadic clatter as what was left of the gate fell to the ground. Craig helped some of his men up as he moved towards the pile of rubble that used to be the city’s gate.

_________Leaving his men to deal with the nearby Scorpions, Craig investigated the still noisy machine that had broken down his city’s gate. Upon entering the archway the rubble shifted and revealed studded metal armorplates attached to the front of an old-world vehicle which was known as a “semi” by the scholars and remakers. Craig stifled his amazement that the Scorpions had managed to rebuild something so complex (even if it was a weapon) because he knew that it was his enemy and was still alive.

_________With a lurch, the rebuilt truck pulled backward to allow the army waiting outside to enter through the “remodeled” opening. A smirk appeared on Craig’s usually grim features when the semi’s withdrawal waschecked by a long piece of concrete that had jammed itself between the truck and the archway.

_________Realizing the Scorpion driver wasn’t going anywhere, Craig sauntered up the mound of debris on the vehicles side. Panic spread across the driver’s face as he saw Craig coming towards hims. The driver opened the door of the semi so that he would not be trapped inside the vehicle, but it was to late.

_________As soon as he swung his legs out the door to get out, Craig delivered a kick to the door and slammed it shut on the Scorpion’s lower legs. The man’s screams were dispatched by a quick karate-like chop to the neck with his powerful metal hand.

_________Another scream, this time from one of craig’s fighters, drew his attention away from the dead man. Running out of the archway, he saw the cause of the noise. A Scorpion warrior stood on the wall throwing explosive devices at the defenders below. None of his troops could approach the grenadier because he was guarded on each side by several skilled Scorpion warriors. Using a strange curved device, the grenadier was launching his grenades about fifty yards away. Without anyone to stop himhe was slowly breaking down part of the wall.

_________Craig realized that if he was allowed to continue, the rest of the fighting force outside the wall would enter the city and the fight would be lost. Jumping up the stairs three at a time, he knocked over the enemy running towards him by crouching down with his shield above him, hitting the man’s legs, tripping him, and launching him into the air by quickly pushing up. This manuever sent Craig’s adversary rolling down the stairs behind him.

_________When he reached the top of the stairs Craig saw that two warriors stood between him and the grenade thrower. The two were both women, one of which wielded a large axe and the other a sword. The enemies moved toward each other when somone in the building closest to the gate anounced thsat the vault had beenopened and reinforcements were on the way. Craig knew that if he didn’t stop the grenade thrower soon, the reinforcements wouldn’t matter. But right now Craig had to deal with the advancing pair of warriors.

_________Once they were close enough, the women (on Craig’s left) who held the axe lunged at Craig with her weapon raised. As he had on the stairs, Craig crouched with his shield above him and blocked the axes powerful downward chop. Craig then did a complicated manuever that befit a clan’s general.

_________What Craig did was this; after the axe hit his shield, he delivered a punch to the axe woman’s stomach and unsheathed a knife from her belt (while slowly risng and beginning a clockwise turn), angled his shield so that his rising and spin knocked away the first woman’s axe, spun and continued to spin to gain power for his knife swing (which was aimed for the now nearby swordswoman). The swordswoman (on Craigs right) attacked with a slice at Craig’s side, but by the time she had brought her sword through it’s swing it was too late.

_________Completing his swing, Craig had brought his metal arm and blocked the woman’s sword at the hilt with his metal arm. Craig then jammed the stolen knife into her side (still contueing his turn), let go of the knife and used his momentum to give her a smashing uppercut. And finally, he finished his spin with a kick to the recovering axe woman.

_________After making sure both women wer down for good, Craig began running toward the man who was blowing up the wall. The man saw Craig coming and prepared to throw his last grenade at the weakened side of the wall.

_________Craig began to give a battle cry as this enemyleaned over the railing to toss his grenade at the walls foundation. As the man swung his metal devicein a low arc, Craig leaped towards him. Craig hit just as the grenade lft the scoop. The two flipped over the railing an d began to fall to the ground because of the force of Craig’s tackle.

_________Kicking out from the wall, Craig managed to catch the grenade. When the other man hit the ground, he saw sevaral squads of heavily armed troops coming out of the city while he was trying to catch his breath. Unforunately, Craig never had the pleasure of seeing his reinforcements to arrive, because the only part of him that was his left fore-arm; still protected by his make-shift shield.