Attacked

Draco was awoken in the middle of the night by the sound of gunfire. 

He quickly grabbed his weapons and rushed out of the tent, clothed in only his undergarments from his earlier 'activities' with Snow. 

When Draco left his tent he saw that the vehicles on the outskirts of the camp were firing off into the darkness of the desert. 

Draco ran over to the vehicles and saw that Addo and another soldier were lined up and firing their rifles into the desert as well. 

"What's going on?!" Draco shouted over the gunshots. 

Addo pointed into the desert, "Attackers!" he yelled, beginning to shoot again. 

Draco looked towards the direction Addo had pointed to and saw that there were several dark figures speeding towards the camp. 

He counted at least eight of them, and they were sprinting towards the camp with seemingly no regard for their lives. 

Luckily, the combined firepower of three heavy machine guns and two soldiers had caught the attackers off guard. 

Draco watched as one of the attackers was struck with a hail of bullets and collapsed into the sand. 

However, the attackers were swift and nimble. They ran in zig-zagging patterns as they got closer and closer to the camp. 

'Those have to be the powered bandits from earlier!' Draco realized, recognizing these movements. 

One of the machine guns abruptly stopped firing as the soldier atop it fell limply off the side, a knife sticking out of his throat. 

Draco looked past the vehicles to see that the bandits were already upon them!

He told his soldiers to return to the camp and protect the scientists. He also instructed Addo to release the prisoners and give them weapons. 

"Tell them that they will need to fight with us or die with us." Draco said, turning to face the bandits. 

He had his whip in one hand and his pistol tucked into his underwear. 

Draco stood bare-chested against the cold desert wind as he watched the bandits become visible. 

There were five of them, and before Draco could wonder where the other ones went, he was already being attacked! 

Two of the bandits rushed at Draco, and he swung his whip with all of the force he could muster. 

He had never trained to use a weapon like this, but it seemed self explanatory. 

The whip's leather traveled towards the bandits and was blocked by their swords, causing sparks of light to shine in the darkness. 

This only halted them for a moment though, and two more bandits rushed past them to try and reach Draco's position. 

Draco pulled the whip back to his position, and he watched with satisfaction as it came up behind one of the bandits and struck them in the leg. 

The bandit's leg was severed below the knee and the man collapsed, leaking blood into the sand below. 

Draco prepared to strike again, but he saw a shimmer of light and dodged a knife that was thrown at him. 

He re-orientated himself and attacked with his whip again, this time aiming at the bandit closest to his position. 

The bandit blocked the whip with his sword, but Draco was trying to get the whip to do something. 

He wanted to wrap the whip around the man's sword and grab it like Yougo had to done to his pistol. 

Draco was wondering how he could do that, but then he watched with amazement as the whip seemingly obeyed his will!

The whip wrapped itself around the bandit's blade, and when Draco pulled it back, his superior strength sent the weapon flying from the man's grip.

Draco let out maniacal laughter as he sent his whip towards the man again. 

The bandit was unable to raise his guard in time as the whip struck him in the head. 

The man's head exploded like a ripe tomato, and he fell limply into the desert sand. 

There were still three more bandits approaching Draco though, and they were now too close for him to effectively swing his whip again.

Draco dropped the whip into the sand and drew his golden pistol, quickly shooting towards a bandit without taking much time to aim.

Draco's aim was true though, and the bandit was blasted backwards as a large hole was created where his heart used to be. 

The bandits had clearly not expected Draco to draw a gun, but the moment of surprise was over and they had already reached his position!

Draco jumped backwards in time to avoid a swift slash that would've disemboweled him. 

The other bandit had appeared next to him and tried to stab him in the side, but Draco's quick reactions helped him twist out of the way.

Draco struck out at the bandit with his gun, pistol-whipping him on the temple of his head.

The bandit stumbled from the impact, but before Draco could capitalize on it he was pushed back by another slash. 

Draco was unable to block the strike and was slashed on the waist.

He dripped blood as he watched the bandits circling his position, waiting for an opportunity to end his life. 

Draco's concentration was suddenly broken when he heard the sounds of gunshots coming from back at the camp.

'Damnit, that's right! There were only five bandits in front of me, two of them must've snuck around.' Draco realized.

His suspicions were confirmed when he glanced behind him to see Addo and his remaining soldiers shooting at figures behind the camp. 

The two robbers he had taken from Sabha were also firing into the darkness, but even with their combined firepower they were unable to land a hit on the bandits. 

The scientists had fled from their tents and were running towards the outskirts of the camp, and Draco winced as he saw one of them get cut down from behind by a bandit. 

The soldiers fired at the bandit in retaliation, but he jumped out of the way and threw a knife at them. 

One of Draco's soldiers abruptly dropped his rifle, clutching his neck as blood spilled through his fingers. 

Draco was forced to redirect his attention towards the bandits next to him, for they were now charging his position. 

Draco ducked a strike from one of the bandits but was slashed in the arm by the other one. 

He rolled out of the way to avoid an overhead strike that aimed to decapitate him, and when he stood up the bandits were already approaching him again. 

Draco could feel his wounds beginning to heal under the effects of his silver amulet, and that gave him an idea. 

He rushed one of the bandits and saw that they were slashing out at his head, but just before the sword landed, Draco reached out his hands!

Draco caught the blade between the palm of his hands, wincing as a deep gash opened up in his palm. 

Blood leaked all over the bandit's blade, but Draco pulled with all of his might and delivered a kick towards the bandit. 

His kick landed on the bandit's ribcage, shattering several ribs instantly. 

The bandit coughed out a mouthful of blood and relaxed his grip on his sword, and Draco took this opportunity to get ahold of it. 

He was just in time to raise it, and he blocked a thundering strike from the other bandit that was aimed at his back. 

Sparks flew through the air, and Draco jumped backwards to find that he had been pushed to the center of the camp. 

He glanced over his shoulder and saw that the scientists had all fled from the camp, and he looked around frantically to find Snow. 

Draco saw another one of his soldiers get cut down, and they clutched their severed arm in pain as one of the bandits swung down to finish him off. 

However, Snow appeared from behind a tent and ran into the bandit, throwing him off balance. 

Her strength was not enough to knock the man down though, and he turned to grab her white hair in his fist. 

Snow screamed in pain, trying to break free. 

Draco prepared to sprint over to her rescue, paying no heed to the bandits surrounding him. 

However, before Draco could move, the ground suddenly started to shake violently. 

The sand shifted beneath everyone's feet, and the bandit let go of Snow in alarm to jump backwards. 

The shaking increased in intensity and Draco stumbled when he tried to stabilize himself.

Everyone in the camp looked at the ground in shock as the sand began to seemingly rise upwards! 

Draco didn't know what was happening, but he didn't intend to stick around to find out.

"Snow, run!" Draco shouted, turning to sprint away from the camp. 

He ran past the tall bones on the outskirts and turned around to see that they too were rising from the sand!

The bandits that were next to him were slower to react and were lifted up with the sand. 

Soon, they were carried dozens of feet into the air. 

Draco saw some of his men falling from the rising mound of the sand, unable to escape in time.

The mound of sand rose until it was almost sixty meters in the air, and the sand fell to reveal something horrifying.