Saturday, August 27, 2011

The Unknown - Chapter 9a by nova

Chapter 9a

The next part, as usual breaks into fragments. Snapshots of images, smells, and sound. Random thoughts like advertisements from another planet flash in my brain. Lightening strikes of words, shaped like thoughts, and just as quickly gone.
My world,during this, becomes layers, and I respond with out thinking, fear, or pain. All I feel is joy and it is good. So very good.

A horse, its neck arched, snorting and eyes rolling, as it slowly drops to its forelegs. My rifle is empty. I reach back and drop it in its sheath and draw both my guns. I feel fluid, my leg is working, I am me again. It has been so long.

A round smacks me in the chest. Handgun from the feel. Hoser isn't bad but I'm better. A face screaming in rage at me. He is wearing war paint, how unoriginal, he dies.

I keep moving. I'm going downhill. I'm flying. One of the formerly mounted guys is standing behind a down horse. His? I keep coming. I don't pull the triggers. His nerve breaks. He fires but he misses. I launch into the air using a down horse as my launchpad. Something, gear? The horse? The angle isn't what I had ran in my head but I don't care. It doesn't matter and he knows it. I see it in his eyes just before I impact. He knows. I am death and I won't stop coming. He is down. I smell his stink, see his eyes widen, then I begin beating his face to a pulp with one Ruger while keeping the other ready. I don't have any more time for him. I jam the barrel in his eye and pull the trigger and roll off of him.

One of them is left and I want him. No one escapes. I hear "No mercy" in a voice from a world gone and I scream my rage at what was taken. I keep rolling. No reason why, I just do, it was the right thing to do. The sand, and the guy who I just provided an eyeopener twitched with the multiple rounds of a machine pistol running full tilt. Somebody had just spent a months pay at least.

The timing was unfortunate for me. Both Rugers were empty. I still had the Navy Colt but I noticed the lance I had seen early was less than a foot away and I grabbed it. The burst had died off far to soon, a jam, and I heard him say something that probably translated to "Motherfucker!" I stood up. He was about 20 paces away.

I grinned at him. He didn't grin back.

I hurl the lance at him. Much to my amazement, and from the look on his face, his,it punches solidly into his chest. I watched as he reached out, wrapped his hands around it, trying to pull it out was my guess, and drops to his knees. I shot him in the head with the Colt anyway. Fuck 'em. Always better to make sure they're dead then to assume it.

I look around. A chunk of falls and lies burning in the sand. Most of the hogan is gone. I hear at least two horses crying. I begin reloading while I move backward out of the firelight. Never assume its over and never stand in the spotlight. I'll move again as soon as I reload, wait a few in another spot, and then begin walking the perimeter slowly. Just to make sure. Then I'll have to kill the injured horses. I'm not looking forward to it.

14 comments:

  1. Iam not sure shooting the horses made any sense, or had a purpose. Horses are valuable. Taking the time to replace an empty rifle in a sheath really doesn't, far better to just drop it. It also seems he went thru 12 pistol rounds without hitting much, while the story has been about him being an expert shot. Sorry Nova, Iam thinks you are slipping a gear this time.

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  2. Iam

    I almost wrote as him dropping it. The expert shot thing...Where I am trying to go with this is G is still capable of being twenty something again but he can't sustain it, he really isn't as good as he once was, and in the back of his head he knows it.

    The horses? At this point he just wants to win. He has already made his money.

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  3. Iam,

    How many gunfighters lived past 35 back in the day? For everyone you can name at least 10 didn't.

    Do you know why there isn't a biography by an enlisted Marine on how he survived all the major island invasions of WWII? It's because not one did. My fathers Division in WWII had a 200% killed, and wounded rate the first 6 months.

    Why does the military let people retire after 20 years? Why did the Romans after 25? Same reason martial arts don't let 40 year olds fight 18 year olds in matches.

    Being someone like G in this type of world is like being an NFL player. Time an injuries get even the best eventually.

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  4. Anon--

    Nova's not "slipping a gear". I "am thinks" you're retarded. I'm going to help you out this time, but in the future perhaps you should stick to books with pictures.

    First, he shot the horses so none of the bad guys could get away and all that that would bring to bear. One human life is more valuable than a thousand horses.

    Second, drop the gun?! Why put it back in it's sheath? I don't even know where to begin with that. I think it's safe to say you'll go out with the first wave when the shit hits the fan.

    And, finally, who says he didn't hit much? They're all dead, aren't they?

    You have to remember G's twenty or so years older now than in the other books. He's battle worn and weary, and apparently has had everything that's dear to him ravaged. I'm suprised he hasn't just said fuck it by now and set the world ablaze...


    Nova--

    Good stuff, as usual. I espically liked "I grabbed her by the back of the head and pulled her face to me." That's just hot...

    As usual, can't wait for more!

    K

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  5. Trade the horse meat - get some sweets for Freya. Now that he's called her by name, she must be fed.

    Forrest

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  6. I'm with Anon 11:08. The passage was written proper. Shoot the horses and sheath the rifle.

    Anon 9:46, trying to Monday-morning Quarterback Nova's passage at the "shoot out" level is really silly.

    I'm all for throwing Nova some ideas in a real-time manner for larger ideas and/or plotlines, but trying to give him some tactical-tommy criticism is lame.

    No offense, Anon 9:46, but if you're fantastic at writing passages about almighty gunfighters that have AAA-rated strategies, then why dont you strike out on your own and write some bitchin' stories. Let us know where they are and I'll read them (and I mean that sincerely).

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  7. I would not be the least surprised to see G's Rugers reload by themselves.

    Wouldn't that be cool!

    Jim in MO.

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  8. "I would not be the least surprised to see G's Rugers reload by themselves."

    Ha! I take enough grief for Freya

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  9. Sweets? I bet that woman has her own full time bakery running nw

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  10. I'm okay with Iam's comments. Woof!

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  11. K - Iam not going to drop to your level with offensive comments, they do not belong in a mature forum, and Iam has too much class anyhow. I will comment, having been an avid shooter since age 5, more than 45 years in all, dropping the empty to grab a loaded piece when people are shooting at you makes excellent sense. Retrieval can be done later, assuming you survive.

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  12. Anon--

    You are absolutely right. I strongly encourage you to follow your current line of reasoning.

    K

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  13. If Gardener could run across some more revolvers, there is always the "New York reload" of a loaded weapon in a holster ready to draw.

    Steve: Nice note of "a months' pay" of 20-30 rounds of 9mm SMG ammo. This gives us a reference to widespread grinding poverty since a box of 250 rounds at Bi-Mart was $69 today.

    Let's say that a laborer works 6 days a week, 26 days a month, 10 hours a day, and gets a silver dime in pay per day, take-home. That was about what a Roman free man doing labor got in 100AD. In the AA economy, a pre-collapse 9mm cartridge is approximately worth a pre-1965 silver dime, or a day at hard labor with a shovel. In August 2011, a silver dime is worth about $3 in FRN's, meaning that a post-AA laborer in North America still earns about 3x a bare-subsistence income when working.

    Ammo is a very good deal at current prices relative to labor. Availability is excellent in civilian quantities (>10 cases). Get plenty and cache well.

    Cheers.

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  14. Hey pdxr13,

    Hmmm...I would like to say I thought all that out but it was a guess.

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