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“What's his crime?” Clay asked, his cross hairs centered on the man's face, well what was left of it. He had a dead eye and a crooked nose.
“What? No. he's just some lunatic. The bed, look there. She's the target.” a familiar voice crackled on his radio.
“What's her crime then?” He stood, moved a dozen steps, so he could get a better angle.
“She's a siren.”
“And?” he settled in, leveled his gun and prepared to take the shot.
“she's a siren, that should be more than enough.”
“What did she do Emmett?” Clay flipped the safety back on, “I'm not gonna kill some poor woman just because of superstition and some tattoos.”
“CLAY TAKE THE SHOT!” Emmett screamed over the radio.
He sighed and stood, shouldering his gun, “What did she do? If you can't answer me that then I can't shoot.”
“--awol-- send in another squad-” he heard static and saw a dozen men closing on the small building.
Shit. He pulled his gun down. “Tell those guns to stand down!” he began to climb down the rocky slope toward the couple.
“You had your chance Lawman, but Jacobs' got rules and this one come straight from the top.” Emmett's voice split the static. “and we'll be coming for you next, might want to get some distance, maybe hide. I think I might just get a promotion outa this.”
Shit. Clay picked up the pace, half falling down the hill. “they haven't done nothing, STAND DOWN” he shouted into the radio. The men kept moving in, two circling to the door, others moving to surround the building. Gotta warn 'em. Give 'em a chance to get out. He slowed as he pulled his Unforgiven out aimed, “stand down.” muttered one last time before letting a round loose. A man who had been nearing the window crumpled. The lunatic next to the door stood and flinched as he heard the gunshot.
“STAND DOWN” he shouted again into the radio, none of the men seemed to hear, or care. A second shot rang out, the woman ducked out of the bed as the door burst open. The two men who had the bad luck of coming through first were caught, one by the shoulder, the other in the chest by the monster waiting for them. His fingers ripped through the light body armor they wore like it was paper. Shit. What the hell is he? Was all Clay could think as he watched the man slam one of the two into the ground the other into the wall next to him. “WATCH THE WINDOW!” he shouted as he holstered his pistol, pulling his rifle out. The remaining men had fanned out, but some still stuck to the walls of the shack. A bullet ricocheted off a rock near him, his eyes scanned the horizon for a good vantage point, but not too good, Emmett never could find a good spot. It took a moment, but he found him. “You never did learn how to pick where to shoot from did ya?”
“You never learned when to shut your damn mouth either. You could have retired after this, one little shot and bam! Billionaire.” another shot, this one inches from his shoulder.
“If its just money you were after Emmett, you shouldn't have asked me to be a part of this Company.” he leveled his rifle and let himself slip into the half trance he did his work in. “I should never have come here.” He pulled the trigger and flinched as he did, his shoulder going numb, his eyes flashing for a moment.
Emmett was dead, his rifle still smoking as Clay turned back to the little shack. His eyes went out of focus as the woman's tattoos flashed a brilliant blue-white, her arm held up as two of the men nearest to the building were lifted from the ground. The man with her, if you could call him that, shouted something and slammed an axe into one of them, cutting cleanly through the poor bastard before running to where the other men had started to gather.
“YOU SHOULD ALL BE RUNNING!” he heard the woman shout as bullets slammed into her and fell harmlessly to the ground, or seemed to fly back at her attackers.
“What the hell?” shit I must have been hit worse than I thought. I must be dying. The man seemed to grow larger as the rest of the company seemed to shrink in front of him. Guns roared and he could tell they were hitting. Could hear the sound of the rounds hitting flesh, but they just seemed to make him run faster, hit harder when ever he caught one. The woman, the Siren, just followed calmly behind her own gun tapping out a quick harsh message as she cut them down. Fire licked at her targets heels and danced across their backs as she kept firing switching from one to the next. Shit maybe I should have taken that shot. Not that it would have worked. He stood, his legs shaking under him as he made his way down the hill. He focused on his feet and cringed when he heard one of the men shout, or the manic laughter of the monster. He kept walking using his rifle as a crutch until he found himself leaning against the shed next to the window. With a grunt he settled against it and started to peel back his own armor to get a look at the wound. It was through, shoulder was busted with a bit of loose bone in it. At least I don't have to dig a bullet out. Arm is shot though. He laughed a little to himself “arm is shot. Damn it.” he sighed. “could be worse.”
“I don't know, looks pretty bad to me.”
Clay froze and looked up to see the Siren staring down at him.
“You were the one who fired the warning shot and shouted right?”
Clay nodded, and swallowed.
“Thanks. Could have been a real mess if you hadn't.” she smiled. “Might want to put that gun away though. Krieg doesn't like guns in strangers' hands much.”
“Krieg?” Clay asked as he holstered his gun.
“Yeah. That's what we call him anyway. I might be able to help with that” she pointed toward his bleeding shoulder, “I'll be right out.”
He considered running for a moment, but decided against it when he couldn't quite seem to stand too well, much less quit leaning against the wall. He tried his best to smile and nod as she stepped around the corner.
“What's your name anyway? Can't say I've seen anyone from Jacobs out here before.”
“Clay, Clay Dalton ma'am”
“Ma'am?” she laughed and smiled, “don't think I've been called that before. Names Maya. You might want to sit down. I've heard this hurts like a bitch.”
Clay flinched and half fell as her tattoos lit up. Well shit here I go. At least I'm not dying running like some damn coward. He took a slow deep breath as Maya placed her hand on the open wound.
“Ready?” she asked and Clay nodded and closed his eyes.
This is it. Not the worst sight to take to the great beyond with me-- “FUUUCK” he shouted as his arm went white hot for an instant, then numb again.
“I told you it was going to hurt.” Maya stood up and took a few labored breaths. “Never will get used to that.”
“Sorry ma'am, shouldn't be cursing 'round proper folk.” he paused for a second, realizing his arm didn't hurt, “What the hell was that?”
“Siren?” she looked down at him half smiling, half confused.
“Sorry again ma'am, been a while since I dealt with anyone who wasn't just a soldier. But Sirens, they're all are just stories.”
“One hell of a book you're in. you should let me read it sometime.”
Clay poked at his numb arm and relaxed a bit, don't think she minds when you curse so that's a plus at least, “So how the hell did you do that?”
“Siren?” Maya repeated. “hope you like skag, that's just about all there is to eat out here. Unless you think you can head back to the Jacobs base camp.”
“No I think I would rather stay here. I'd rather not get to meet the firing squad on a Wednesday.”
“It's Wednesday today? Huh.” Maya shrugged and started to circle the building. “KRIEG GET BACK HERE! THEY'RE ALL GONE!” she shouted, cupping her hands.
“Skag is fine. Better than the biscuits I've been eating I'll bet.” Clay kept poking at his shoulder.
“Krieg will be back soon. You might want to tread a little lightly around him. We've been a bit on edge lately. Found most of the key we're looking for, still missing a piece though.”
Clay stood and began to follow, still starring at his shoulder, “What sorta key are you looking for?”
“Its one third of an Eridian artifact. They're pretty much unbreakable and react violently when you try to.”
“Well what does it look like? We found something over at one of our mines and have been trying to figure out what the hell it is.” he heard heavy fast footsteps on the other side of the building and looked up just in time to walk face first into Krieg.
“I'M GONNA BREAK 'IM INTO PIECES!”
Clay froze eyes wide as Krieg smiled menacingly.
“No he's fine.” Maya said as Krieg glared down at Clay.
“FEED HIM THE SORROWS”
“Krieg doesn’t like my cooking. He'd rather charred or raw.” Maya smiled as she brushed a piece of something off of his face.
“Oh umm..”
“Don't worry. And don't pull a gun. He's a good guy once you've gotten to know him.”
“Right.” not sure who is more crazy here. “so what does this key look like?” I might be in the running at this rate.
Maya laughed as Krieg picked her up and dashed inside with her. Clay couldn't stop himself from smiling when he rounded the corner and saw how Maya smiled back at Krieg. Crazy but happy at least. They look more like decent folk than half the people back home.
“Here.” Maya picked up a rounded wedge, it looked like one third of a cone.
“Shit. That's just like the rock they found.”
“Really? Where at?”
Clay thought for a moment about the men in the labor camp, about the guards sitting up on the walls. Fuck 'em. Bastards sent me on a suicide mission and the people in that camp deserve to be. “North of here. 'bout two hundred kilometers. There should have been some sorta vehicle. I was dropped in to flank but it landed just a couple k out. It is a labor camp, most of the people in it deserve to be, but after today I don't know.”
Maya looked at him confused.
“Today was the first time I didn't have a reason to hit a target. I think Emmett was just too impatient to make something up though. His Company always had a bad reputation.”
“Well how about we take the key and leave the people inside to make it on their own out here. Give them a second chance.”
Clay nodded seems fair enough. “When do we move?”
“WHEN THE LIGHTS GO OUT... THE BUZZING STINGS”
“I think he means after dark, but before the bugs come out. We were caught outside the other night and it was miserable. Had to keep burning them off of him.”
“Is he alright?”
“yeah hes fine. Well sorta. He's been through a lot. We've been through a lot too though.” she leaned into Krieg. “so he's doing good.”
Clay just nodded and glanced away as she went up on her toes to kiss him on the cheek. “so we move in two hours? That should still put us a head of the mission time. Though being out of radio contact for this long might make them nervous when their ship comes flying back in.”
“Will they shoot it down?”
“No, but they will turn that camp into a deathtrap. Sharpshooters, the cheap guns they hire from everywhere, couple Lawmen like myself too. Would almost be better to just crash and burn rather than turn into a bullet riddled corpse.”
“I don't think that will be an issue. You think you can handle the sharpshooters?”
Clay scoffed, “Ma'am none of them ever even placed in the top 1200 in the IPSC, much less got third. Should have been fourth but they booted that poor kid.”
Maya looked at him for a moment before saying “Mordecai?”
“Yeah kid used a revolver. Just some small make revolver. Made us look like a bunch of blind bats.” Clay smiled, “damn that kid could shoot. Hes pretty much the reason I became a Lawman, had to earn a piece good enough to try to place with. Was 11,718 last year should be able to break ten thousand this year.”
“so you dropped from third to eleven thousand?”
“Third with a rifle. I've been using my Unforgiven these passed three years. Was the second highest placed person with a pistol. 11,718 overall though. The 1k mark is a little much for my eyes though.” Clay shook his head, “But yeah I can handle the sharpshooters.”
“Good. Kreig and I can handle the rest. So how about you take a seat and tell me about the layout while Krieg catches us some dinner?”
Clay smiled as Krieg shouted and walked out the door. “From the landing strip we're gonna need to head to the east, theres...”