Dust, smoke, fire and metal ball bearings rushed from the blast area as Julius, Selena and Carter hunkered down. The sound was near deafening inside the enclosed room. Screams and cries from dying men could soon be heard.
Julius jumped back up, eyes blinking against the smoke and the dust. But it soon cleared thanks to the windows of the lobby being blowed out by the blast. Fresh, ice-cold winds rushed though, sending the dust out and letting the sunlight back in. It revealed a grisly sight.
Nervous Nelly was sprawled on the floor, bleeding from a dozen cuts and perforations on his back, his legs and arms. His eardrums were blown to hell, blood dripping from both sides. He was screaming. Two of his men were sent flying to either side of the room, badly concussed or likely dead or certainly badly injured.
And as for the fourth man… well, let’s just say that Carter will have a few months spent picking out the fragments of bone and meat from his undamaged furnishings. The man was dead, at least Julius hoped he would be. The man’s legs were blown out from under him and lay in shattered pieces across the room. His legless body lay there, twitching.
God, Julius hoped he was dead. He had seen firsthand how a man reacted to a limb being taken from him. It was not, and nor should it ever be, a pretty sight.
Coughs came to his right. Julius looked and saw the Carrion crew staggering to their feet, though they were disoriented and injured. They looked at him, eyes murderous.
Julius raised his hands. “Don’t blame me! Wasn’t my grenade!”
“Dammit all, Darwin!” Came Fredrick’s voice from outside. “What if you killed the son of a bitch?”
There was a pause.
“Yeah yeah yeah, excuses and more excuses. Jesus wept, you’d think you wanted to kill him! Remember, none dead or full alive? Oh well, if he’s dead then we just have to get in there and find out, don’t we? Get ready…. Knock knock!”
Running feet thudded on the threshold and Julius saw the Hunter’s crew, Fredrick and Darwin, leaping into the room. Both of them armed with… hand-held pneumatic gatling guns.
Darwin sighted Julius and made a click with his tongue.
Fredrick grinned. “Hello Bechman. Still alive, are we?”
“Aw shit!” Julius screamed and dove back down.
The Hunters unleashed hell.
They had one hand on their guns’ handle and trigger, loaded with a chain magazine that lopped around their belts. Twin air canisters piped into the back of the guns’s main chamber for the ammunition. With the other hand, they cranked the handle on the side of the weapons, sending air-powered iron ball bearings slicing through the air. The sound of air coughed in a rapid, frenzied staccato. Put-put-put-put-put-put!
Nervous Nelly, who had not heard the new arrivals, chose that unfortunate moment to stagger back up. Only to be unceremoniously cut down and shredded to Emmental-like pieces.
The Carrion crewmen dove back down to the floor, blindly firing at the Hunters.
But the Hunters ignored them and focused their fire on the bar.
Julius covered his head with his hands as broken glass and drink cascaded down on him. The bar’s back wall made of polished glass, with all the wine displays, the whiskeys, the vodkas and the rest of the spirits, was shown no mercy. If his life wasn’t in danger at that moment, Julius would have cried out in agony over such wanton slaughter.
Carter was howling. Selena made no noise, she was curled into a ball, eyes screwed shut and teeth gritted. Julius couldn’t hear himself think over the mass chaos.
The mad din finally ceased after what seemed like a year. Julius could hear the tinkering of metal. Possibly them reloading their death-dealing contraptions.
“Still breathing, Bechman?” Fredrick called out.
Julius gritted his teeth. Carter and Selena looked at him. Julius met their gaze and put a finger on his lips.
“You’ve been a popular boy.” Fredrick said. Boots crunched on the detritus of the ruined lobby. His voice moved to the side of the room. “Everyone’s looking for a piece of you.”
Julius furrowed his brow. What?
“Not just Captain Dandy. You’ve got the big boys on you now. MC crew wants you in shackles. Alive, but in shackles.”
“Bastards! The Cap’n is gonna skin you alive!” Screamed the Carrion crewman, miraculously still alive. A few cracks of gunfire exploded from the other side, causing Fredrick and Darwin to move swiftly and open fire in return.
Julius whipped his head towards Carter. “We need to get out! Please tell me you still have it!”
Carter nodded frantically. He crawled on his elbows and knees, still holding onto his shotgun. He moved towards the corner of the bar, closely followed by a crawling Julius. Julius paused and whipped his head towards Selena, who was rooted to the spot.
“Selena!” He hissed. He grabbed her hand.
That shook her out from her stupor. She ripped her hand out from his and met his glare with her own.
“Come. On.” Julius snapped, gesturing with his head towards Carter, who was fiddling with a wooden panel. Selena growled but crawled with Julius to the connector. Carter pressed the panel and it fell away from the wall, revealing a small wooden lever. He pulled it down and a part of the lower wall beside him lifted up, revealing a corridor that led to the back of the building.
Rushing madly, the three hiders made a mad crawl through the gap and scrabbled to their feet.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
A groan of pain seared the air. “Darwin!” Fredrick screamed amidst the gunfire.
Julius did not look back, he ran hard. Carter practically kicked open the back door. Finally, they spilled out into the fresh air outside. With a rush around the corner, they were back at the front veranda. To be greeted with a soul-sucking sight.
The Hunter was moored away from the Respite now, left to hover away with iron chains linking it to the platform.
And all of the Tesla Bikes were destroyed.
Julius stared. They had been dismantled, pieces of pipes and electrical wiring were stripped and thrown across the grass. The glass gauges were smashed, needle arrows twisted and broken. The battery compartments for the Tesla stones were broken into and the wiring was all torn out. They were ruined.
Selena shoved past Julius and wrung her hands at the sight of her bike, one painted turquoise which Julius had noted on his way in. It was just as damaged as the rest. Julius’ bike was not spared any cruelty either.
Selena whirled around with rage in her eyes. She stormed towards Julius, then diverted her attention towards the building. She unzipped her bag and pulled out a revolver.“I will kill them.” She hissed.
Julius grabbed her shoulder. “Leave it!”
“Don’t you touch me!” She snapped. “Everything is going wrong because you!”
Julius felt a pang of guilt and pain. She wasn’t wrong, just not in this case.
“Selena-” he started to say but Carter interrupted with a rack of his shotgun.
“Oh no you don’t, asshole!” He shouted whilst aiming the gun.
Julius whirled and saw Fredrick leaping through the broken window with his gatling gun. Darwin was pushing through the front door.
Carter did not waste time. He fired. The slug round blasted from the barrel and struck Fredrick in the chest. He was sent flying back through the window.
Darwin raised his gun but Julius and Selena were faster. Both had their revolvers up and they opened fire, striking Darwin multiple times in the chest. The mute Hunter dropped to the ground.
Julius sighed bitterly. “Well,” he looked towards the Hunter ship. “I guess that’ll do.”
The three of them were aboard the airship after some tense climbing around the chains, getting the ship to land close enough to the platform for Julius to untie all the moorings themselves, before flying away from the Respite.
*****
It was a simple craft. Similar in technology as the Tesla bike, the standard iron helm of the ship had two columns of pressure and power gauges running on either side. But it had a larger amount of power boosting the propulsion system in its keel. What Julius found interesting was that the ship itself relied more on the wind power to carry it forth, and much less the propulsion exhausts on its stern. Its central and only mast held two main leather sails, one top sail and one sidewinder sail of each side. Such coverage caught plenty of gusts and breezes. That way, it used less energy than that of the bike, for example. Naturally and also due to its bulk, this made the vessel slower than the bike and less stable at higher altitudes, but that was the trade-off in these designs. With the slower speed and the lower altitude though, Julius and the others were able to keep their oxygen masks off and allow their heads to be free from their flight helmets.
As they continued their flight, Julius observed his reluctant companions. Carter was seated by the wall of the main deck, looking back in morose sadness of his abandoned and damaged lodge. Julius felt bad for him. It wasn’t Carter’s fault. He just had the shitty luck of being the one to have Julius coming through his door. And now he was on the run too or at least, in danger of being in Julius’ proximity. Carter rubbed the side of his head.
“Damn it all…” he groaned to himself. “They didn’t even care about the Truce… What’s the world coming to?”
Julius sighed. It was a damned shame. His mind soon wandered back to the Respite, back to what Fredrick had said. Big boys wanted him. The ‘MC crew’. Who were they? Not a pirate gang he’d ever heard of. And it was a capture contract. Not like Dandelion’s. What for? Was it a contract to contradict Dandelion’s own? Julius scratched his head. He had two contracts on him now… This was getting very complicated.
And speaking of complications…
He looked to his right, seeing the red-haired woman glaring at him with those icy blues.
“Hello.” He said at last. “It’s….” He had meant to say; ‘it’s nice to see you’, but that would not be suitable. Not for this woman. So he just resolved with saying, “Hello.” again.
Selena said nothing. She was just sitting there, on that overturned barrel. She was grabbing a hold of her hair as it flipped wildly in the wind.
Julius chewed his lip as he turned away to focus on his flying and to make a pleasing comment to quell her anger. “Your hair’s longer. It looks nice.”
Selena hissed out her breath as she spoke with a voice so sharp, it cut across the wind. She flicked out one finger at a time as she made her points clear.
“4,000 Pesos for the bike itself. 250 for the Tesla stone they threw away. 100 for the food and drink I had to leave behind. I am down by half a grand. Half a grand and you’re telling me how nice my hair looks?”
Julius skewed his mouth. Not a good choice of words then… “Well, when you say it like that…”
Selena stood up and marched right for him. She put her hands on her hips and leant forward, getting in very close to Julius’ face. “You owe me, Bechman. You. Bloody. Owe. Me.”
Julius nodded with vigour. “I know. I know. I know I do.”
“Good. That’s clear at least.” She turned away and headed down the main deck away from him.
“Where are you going?” He asked her.
“To visit the lavatory.” She snapped, whipping her head at him. “Unless you care to watch??”
Julius shook his head.
Selena upturned her chin and stormed down under the deck.
Carter watched this all take place. He headed towards Julius.
“I know it’s not much of my business…” he said.
“It isn’t.’ Julius replied.
“But I have never seen someone hate you as much as she does. And I’ve known you for two years.”
Julius smiled ruefully. “Well, you know me best… I’m a charmer with the best type of people.”
“Julius… what happened between you two? How do you even know eachother?”
Julius sighed wearily. He hung his head.
“I was having such a lovely start to the day…” he muttered before answering. “Selena is- was myy girlfriend. And I was an immature louse. And then… one day… I cheated on her.”
Carter stared at him.
Julius nodded. “Trust me. I hate myself for it. So please no lectures or admonishments.”
“Holy hell, man.”
Julius rubbed his shoulder. The dull pain had flared a couple of times since leaving the Respite. But now with the memory of that day… the pain was consistent. He winced as he rolled his shoulder in an attempt to massage the agony away. That did not work.
“I don’t want to talk about it.” Julius said. “When we get to where I’m taking us, I’ll drop you two off and get hell away from you before someone follows me.”
Carter rubbed his hands. “I’m sorry to hear that. I’ll drop it… Where are we going exactly?”
Julius sighed again. The weariness of the day was really starting to get to him. He was twenty-five years old. But God help him, he was feeling like he was fifty.
“To see my family.”
Carter stared at him. “You said you had no family. That they’re dead. ”
Julius gave Carter a look with a well of pain behind it. “They’re dead to me and me to them. But we’re still going. Because I need their help.”
And with that, Julius gunned the throttle of the Hunter, activating the stern’s boosters and sending the airship streaming ahead the winds and along the clouds.
Towards the one place he thought he would never return to. His family home.