'A' had a death grip on the chair, his claws slicing holes in the thick leather of the arm rests. His teeth were clamped together as he tried to swallow the anxiety rising in his gut. Axton was growling under his breath, doing his best to keep the ship from completely nose diving into the ground of the dark planet. Lights flashed, warning signs buzzed, the whole atmosphere was pure chaos.
The damaged air craft spun in a downwards spiral. The stars were lost off in space and all the soldier could see out the frontal glass was the nearing ground.
“Hang on!” He shouted back, hoping the kid had buckled his seat. The ship smacked through a tree, then another before skidding down into a muddy bog. The thick brown slime slowed the ship until it completely stopped, half submerged in the dark swamp. Axton's arms shook from unused adrenaline, his neck ached with what he was positive was whiplash, but he was still alive so that was a plus. After a shaky breath he turned towards the back seat, chuckling at how “braced for impact” 'A' looked. His eye was still squeezed shut, his teeth gritted.
“You ok?” The Dahl-soldier questioned, watching as 'A' seemed to finally relax. He peeped his eye open, smiling as he realized it was all over.
“I-I was terrified.” He managed, hugging himself with his arms. Axton offered a kind grin, earning a nervous laugh from the kid. However, they weren't out of the woods yet.
The ship groaned as it suddenly jolted, the nose beginning to sink down into the thick mud. Axton spun back around to the control panel, it was completely fried now. The outer glass had a massive crack that was slowly splitting its way down the middle. Dark trails of slime was oozing into the cockpit and Axton knew they needed to abandon ship.
“Hurry, we need to get out of here before we are completely encased in mud.” He unstrapped himself from his seat and moved towards the ship's door. 'A' was close behind him. Once the door had slid open, they made the discovery that there wasn't anywhere to go. They were surrounded by at least twenty feet of thick mud on each side of the air craft. Axton began to search for a way out, he wasn't about to meet his end on some dark swamp planet. Spying a large tree branch hanging above the ship, he pushed 'A' onto the air craft's roof before climbing up after him.
“Can you climb?” Axton asked, eyeing the experiment's frail form doubtfully. 'A' gave a sly smirk as quickly leapt onto the soldier's shoulders, earning a startled yelp from him. Before Axton could question what the child was up to, 'A' had sprang up, grabbing the thick limb with his claws and swooping himself over it. Within seconds he was standing on top of the branch triumphantly, arms smugly crossed over his chest.
“Well then,” Axton half smiled, “looks like you got some tricks up your sleeve after all.” He jumped up to grab the limb, stretching both hands over the top of it. Quickly he moved his hands along the branch, dangling out over the mud water. By now 'A' was already at the base of the tree, watching him from the shore. He was amazed at the way the soldier carried himself, releasing his grip with one arm thin swinging to move further down the branch like it was the easiest thing he had ever done. 'A' imagined his own arms would give out before he could get halfway over the mud, no, he was much better suited to climbing.
When Axton finally swooped down from the limb, landing near 'A', the ship had almost completely vanished. They turned, watching as the last bit of shiny metallic yellow was sucked under and a large brown bubble popped as it disappeared into the swamp.
“Well...” Axton frowned, “Guess I'll be needing more than a new navigational system.” He huffed, turning to walk off through the moss covered trees. He hoped they had landed on a planet where there was civilization. It would be just his luck to get stranded on an uninhabited planet.
“Who shot at the ship?” 'A' asked, following Axton through the thick woods.
“That's right!” Axton's eyes widened. “Someone shot us down. So there has to be people on this swamp ball!” He exclaimed triumphantly. As if on cue, an angry shout echoed out around them, followed by tromping feet and whistles.
“Over here!” Someone called, and Axton immediately froze. A bright light all at once beamed at them through the brush, followed by another, then another.
“There them Hyperion scum are!” Another voice hollered. The Dahl-soldier quickly realized they were surrounded, and held his hand out in front of 'A' protectively. He thought to throw out his turret, but then remembered he hadn't set 'A' as a friendly in her systems yet so chances are he would get shot too.
“Put yer hands where we can see em!” One voice gruffly demanded. Reluctantly Axton complied, nodding for 'A' to do the same. The poor kid's hands trembled as he held them over his head, fear shaking his emerald eye. He scooted his side against Axton's leg, trying to get as far as possible from whoever had them surrounded. The thought crossed the kid's mind to turn invisible and get the heck outta dodge, but he didn't know where he could even run too. Instead, he convinced himself that Axton would surely get them out of the situation.
“What do y'all Hyperion trash want with us now? We refused yer offer months ago. You ain't taking our mines. That purple gold is ours! We don't need yer protection.” One of the men bellowed and Axton heard the familiar sound of a gun being cocked.
“We aren't Hyperion!” He blurted out, fearing he was close to getting a bullet between the eyes.
“We saw yer yellow paint on that air craft. That was Hyperion merchandise!” Another hollered.
“We stole it. I don't work for Hyperion.” Axton quickly explained. He could easily flash his Dahl badges, but he wasn't exactly sure how they would feel about the other super company.
“We'll be the judges of that.” Another voice scoffed as the end of a double barrel shotgun was pressed between the soldier's shoulder blades. Axton gritted his teeth, raising his chest to stand tall. 'A' whimpered beside him, pressing even closer after a man stepped out of the shrubs.
He wore a mish-mesh of leather and cotton, both dirtied from use. His head was shaved bald except for a scraggly beard that just tickled the collar of his cotton shirt. A light was strapped across his forehead, and a beat up Jacob's gun rested in his grasp.
“We're taking you to the sheriff, and don't even think of trying no funny business.” He spat a wad of brown gunk near the soldier's feet. “We ain't above letting yer little friend there have it. Best you keep yer hands where's we can sees em.” He threatened. As he turned, he gestured for them to follow. Axton winced as the barrel pressed against his back was harshly jabbed into his spine, urging him forward.
The band of locals led 'A' and Axton through the thick marsh and moss tangled trees. Axton wasn't sure how much experience 'A' had in the outside world, but he guessed he was new to being ushered through a forest during the night at gun point. He felt somewhat guilty, like he was responsible for the child having to suffer through this. The poor kid had fallen at his feet just hours ago, thanking him for his liberation, and now here he was, being forced back into captivity. This was a cruel universe indeed.
The soldier wanted to offer 'A' some sort of comfort, a pat on the back, an assuring smile or even a comforting word. But, he feared anything would be taken wrong by the men escorting them away, and he wasn't about to risk their lives for it.
The bald individual led the group onto a wide dirt path that split through the marsh and stretched out of sight in one direction, and up over a hill in the other. The men moved onward towards the hill, pausing once they reached the top. Despite the thick darkness settled on the planet, Axton could easily make out a small town just a ways down the hill where the marsh met a broad river. It was speckled with tiny lights as it's inhabitants bustled about in the street going about their business. The soldier thought it strangely odd how busy the village was even though the moon was high in the sky.
The man leading the crowd stopped on the hill, taking in the scene of his hometown. He was quiet for several moments as if contemplating the best way to bring in the captives, when suddenly a shriek arose from the small town down the road. Gun shots rang out into the night air, causing the men to halt in their tracks. However, before any of them could react, an ear splitting boom rippled through the air and one of the buildings in the middle of town burst into a huge ball of flames.
“What in the blazes!” The bald man cried, mouth gaping open. Axton furrowed his brows, things were starting to get complicated. He noticed how 'A' immediately dropped his hands after the explosion, wrapping his arms around Axton's leg instead. He figured the poor kid had seen more destruction in one day then most kids his age have ever seen their whole life.
“I need to get him out of here.” Axton thought. Sadly, he wasn't given much time to formulate a plan before the group was racing down the hill, forcing 'A' and Axton with them.
“It's that dang blasted Clanton Gang again!” One of the men hollered as he charged down the hill towards the chaotic town bellow. Axton and 'A' were shoved against the first building of the town, next to a sign reading,
“Coffeyville. Home of the Daltons. Scram.” Two men from the group kept their guns aimed carefully at them, refusing to even blink. However, the rest of them had raced into the town, firing at a massive stage coach that barreled up and down the street. It was decked out in spikes and cow bones. Several wild looking men were riding atop it, throwing flaming bottles every which a way. They wore an equal amount of spikes and cow bones on their persons.
Axton thought perhaps this was the diversion he needed, he could easily take out the two men left guarding him. Then while the others fought the men in the stage coach, he could grab 'A' and run for it.
His arm twitched, ready to reach for one of the guns strapped to his back, when, for the first time in years, he had another thought. He began to second guess his own plan, which was very out of the ordinary of him. Immediately he began to question his own sanity as he stood there motionless, not acting on his first idea. Instead, he gave way to this new formed idea, which was this.
“So many things could go wrong.” And it wasn't just his life on the line this time, no he had someone else with, someone he wanted to keep alive if he could. If he was to pull his gun out, who's to say one of them wouldn't react quicker than him and shoot 'A'? Or perhaps they were able to escape the town, then what? They would more than likely be hunted down later, and it wasn't like he had a safe place to go. For all he knew this could be the only town on the whole god forsaken planet, and he wasn't about to get on their bad side.
So the soldier made the out of character decision to not go with his first whim, and to give in to rational thought. He needed to get on the people of Coffeyville's good side. The question now was how was he going to accomplish that.
Fate was on his side that night, unfortunately so for the two men keeping guard. One of the men in spiked carriage had pulled out machine gun, firing in every direction as the vehicle spun in circles in the middle of the town. A stray bullet zipped through the cold night air, breaking the glass on an oil lamp just above the guard's heads. Within seconds they were leaping up and down, howling as they patted out the hungry flames eating holes in their stained clothes. Axton sprang off the wall, grabbing his sniper rifle from his back before racing for the commotion in the middle of town. He cast one quick glance behind him at 'A' who was staring after him with pleading eyes, begging the soldier not to leave him.
“Stay there, I don't want you to get shot!” He called back to the child who nodded obediently. The two guards, after relieving themselves of the fire, pointed off at him as he darted into the street. They nudged each other as if urging the other to go and retrieve the soldier, but the wild fight raging in the town was enough to keep them safe behind the building. They watched, bewildered as Axton took a shot at one of the men atop the dingy chariot of sorts. His aim was true and the man jolted as the bullet ripped through his chest, causing him to topple lifeless into the dirt street.
“One.” Axton smiled. Having seen their comrade fall, the Clanton gang atop the vehicle shouted and proceeded to throw molotovs in his direction. Axton quickly rolled into an alley, running for a back street where the carriage couldn't go.
“Hey, what are you doing!? Escaping??” He nearly ran smack into the bald man from before. He was holding his shoulder where a trail of blood was sliding down his arm and onto the shotgun held tightly to his side.
“No. But it looks like you guys could use the extra ammo...and I could use a place to stay.” Axton huffed, firing a shot at another Clanton member who ran up out of the alley. The man collapsed, motionless, with a wound two his eye.
“What's yer name boy?” The bald man asked, sneering at the very thought of being friendly.
“Axton.”
“Well we'll just see about that Axton. If you help us chase out that damned Clanton Gang then maybe I'll let you talk with the mayor.” He snorted.
“I'd appreciate that.” Axton smiled back, reaching out to shake the man's hands.
“Name's Sheriff Renick.” He grabbed Axton's hand with his own bloodied palm, creating a vulgar squelching noise as they shook. Axton nodded, not bothering to wipe the crimson ooze from his hand as he re-loaded his sniper rifle. Now he just had to take out the stage coach. He just wasn't exactly sure how he was going to do it. He couldn't use his turret, otherwise she'd shoot up the whole town. He was fresh out of grenades after the ambush on the Hyperion base, and his rocket launcher was long gone.
He racked his mind for ideas as he quickly scanned his surroundings. His eyes fell on a stack of crated behind one of the shorter buildings in the town. He raced toward them, leaving Sheriff (NAME) to his own devices. The soldier heaved himself onto the roof using the stairs of boxes. Once his feet rested on the rickety roof, his crouched down and eased his way towards the main street. He was one story up from the street, squatting behind a conveniently placed sign that was nailed to the front of the building. If he played his cards right, no one would even know he was there.
He propped his scope over the edge of the sign, peering over it just barely. The stage coach spun into his range and the instant a Clanton's head came into view, he fired.
“Three.” He muttered, ducking back behind the sign before the other's could see where the shot had come from. The street was crawling with Clanton's as they raided buildings and fought the locals. However, Axton knew he needed to take out the stage coach first. He couldn't protect the town until that fire spewing cart was out of the way.
Using the same trick as before, Axton took out two more men from atop the stage coach. Only one man was left.
“Five.” Axton sighed to himself. Just as he was about to peer back into the gun's sights, a spray of round bullet's whizzed above the sign, taking out a chunk of the corner. Axton rolled backwards as the sign splintered into the air. The last man had managed to spy the barrel of his sniper and was now demolishing his cover with a spray of shot gun shells. Soon Axton would have to retreat back to the alley to save his face from the dangerous balls of metal. He watched as the sign got smaller and smaller, chiseled away by the bullets.
Just as Axton was prepared to leap back to where Sheriff Renick was hiding, there was a frustrated shout from the carriage.
“Eat this!” The man hollered. Axton looked up just in time to see the man fling his shotgun back over his shoulder as he reached for a bottle strapped on his belt. He grabbed a match from his pocket, growing impatient with the soldier. Axton saw his opportunity and flung himself forward over the roof. He yanked his tomahawk from it's holster impaling deep into the man's neck as he landed with a thud on the caravan. The lit molotov rolled out of the mans hand and Axton quickly grabbed it. He ripped his weapon from the mans dying form and returned it, dripping blood, to his belt.
Realizing the soldier was atop the vehicle, the driver of the stage coach began to do doughnuts in the middle of the street, attempting to fling him off. Axton gripped one of the spikes tight, his knuckles paling.
“It's now or never.” He gritted his teeth. Eyeing a particularly large bush growing next to one of the alleys Axton pushed himself onto his knees. He leapt for the brambly shrub as the vehicle skidded by it, chucking the molotov at the carriage's open front window. As the soldier landed with an “oof” in the flimsy branches of the plant, a ball of flames engulfed the carriage. The driver could be heard screaming as the vehicle spun out of control. With a sharp turn the whole cart tilted to the side, doing a whole barrel roll before exploding violently, sending a spray of spikes, cow bones, and wood into the air.
Axton shielded his own eyes while burning sparks scattered through the air.
“Seven.” He let his head plop back, that was his lowest kill streak ever. He heard a roar of victory from the towns folks. With the deadly vehicle nothing more that a burning pile of rubble, the locals gained the courage to fight back. Women and teens rushed from the moss covered buildings wielding kitchen knives, bb-guns, and even the occasional broom. Within minutes the town was free of the Clanton gang and everyone scurried about to clean up the mess left by the battle.
Axton pulled himself from the bush, yanking a broken twig out of his arm with a hiss. He needed a bath, a bed and maybe a big whopping burger. He figured it had been a good day and a half since his last meal. His mouth watered at the sheer thought of something...anything edible.
While he let his imagination taunt him with meals of days past, he was approached by Sheriff Renick. Renick was followed by the two men who had been left to guard the experiment. 'A' was walking between the two, hugging his arms close. When he saw Axton he immediately ran for the soldier, earning frowns from the guards. 'A' didn't say a word and silently stood just behind Axton, peeking out from behind him to watch the people bustle about the town.
“Is he your...” Renick paused, not even sure what the child was exactly or how he could be in relation to this clearly trained soldier. “Is he like an alien refuge or somthin?” He finally decided, yeah that sounded right. Axton carefully contemplated his response, what was it to them what 'A' was?
“He is a refuge, I guess. But I don't think he's really an “alien” in the way you are suggesting. He's part human...that's all I know.” Axton offered, moving his hip in a way to block their view of the child.
Renick nodded, scratching at his beard thoughtfully before nodding for the other men to go about their own business. The two “guards” dispersed across the town, but their eyes never left the strange soldier and kid.
“Well. You saved our skins. I reckon we owe you a shot to get up with Mayor Gratton.” Renick waved for the soldier to follow. “He'll be the one questioning ya, deciding if ya can stay and all that.” He led them through the damaged street and passed the still burning carriage. They walked up to one of the taller building in town, a wooden town hall of sorts, painted a bright red and white. Three armed men stood outside the doors, nodding to the Sheriff as he guided Axton and 'A' into the building.
“We don't get too man visitors around these parts, so ya'll understand if we take extra precautions before lettin ya stay here. What with the Clanton Gang trying to take our half of the river and such, we can never be too careful.” Renick explained, ushering them towards a wide set of curling stairs. 'A' still clung close to Axton's side as they neared a shiny red office door with a golden plaque nailed to it.
“Mayor Gratton.” Was etched into the plaque, clearly this was his office. Renick knocked lightly on the glistening painted door.
“Yes?” Someone called from inside.
“Mayor Gratton, it's the Sheriff. I got some new comers you might like to meet.” He called.
“Well come on in.” The mayor responded and Renick quickly pushed the door open.
The group stepped into the warm candle light of the spacious office. A small fire cracked and flickered from the fire place against the far wall. Odd paintings of big fiery orbs were hung on the walls, next to all sorts of metal sun shaped ornaments. A rather orange colored fur rug was draped over the finished wood floors. The mayor had a large cigar pressed between his cracked lips, a smile spreading over his leathery face. Everything in the room gave off the illusion of heat and 'A' couldn't help but relax at the embracing warmth.
“How do.” The mayor stood to shake Axton's hand, gesturing to a dark red chair for the soldier to sit in.
“I'm fine sir.” Axton nodded, taking the offered seat. Renick positioned himself near the door, leaning against the wall while the mayor returned to his spot behind his desk. 'A' took up to sitting on the floor beside Axton's chair, refusing to leave his side no matter how at ease he felt.
“So,” The Mayor Gratton began, lacing his fingers together on his desk, “I'm assuming you two fellas were the ones flying that Hyperion ship we shot out the sky.” He questioned, raising a brow.
“Yes sir, only that wasn't exactly our ship. We stole it to escape a Hyperion base.” Axton explained, wanting to make it painfully obvious that neither him or 'A' had anything to do with the super company that these people seemed to loath.
“Ah I see. Well as long as you ain't with em, then ya'll are alright in my books. What made you come to Spurcus?” Gratton questioned.
“The ship we stole got damaged and we needed our navigational system fixed. This was the closest planet and I was hoping there would be someone here who could help.” Axton shrugged.
“Hmmm, I reckon now you'll need more than a navigational system huh?” Gratton snickered, “My apologies for having you blasted out the sky like that. We can't be too careful here though. The Hyperion vermin have been after our purple gold mines lately and we ain't about to give em to em.” He sighed, rubbing at his temples.
“It's alright.” Axton smiled. Although it was in fact not alright, but he wasn't about to fuss at the man who had the authority to have him kicked out of town, or maybe worse. “Do you think it would be alright if we stayed in town while we figured out a way to get home?” Axton tried. Gratton squinted his eyes, considering the request.
Renick, piped up from the corner, pushing himself off the wall.
“Sir, with all due respect, Axton here is the one who took out that wild carriage. If it wasn't for him we would have lost a lot of the town today. Heck, the Clanton's may have taken it.” He explained. “We at least owe him a thank you.”
Gratton's brows raised, amazement settling on his face.
“I...I didn't realize. Well I ain't one to owe no man.” He smiled. “Take Mr. Axton and the youngun down to the honkey-tonk. Tell ol Em to set em up in one of his rooms, I'll pay for it.” Gratton waved to Renick who in turn gestured for Axton to follow him again. Before the three had left the office, Mayor Gratton called after them.
“Coffeyville is grateful to ya son, stay as long as you like.” He waved as his office door slowly closed.
Clap-Trap: Yeeeeehaaaaw! Howdy folks, welcome to Spurcus!
Author: What are you doing?
Clap-Trap: Just blending in with all the locals. When in Rome....
Author: You are literally on the other side of the galaxy.
Clap-Trap: But....no fair! Why couldn't I get stranded on a super fun southwestern planet?
Author: *sighs* this is ridiculous.
Clap-Trap: You know how much I like a good hoedown.
ns 15.158.61.23da2
