The Legend of Gray Lee

This story is the whole truth as imagined by the legendary gunslinger Gray Lee. Of course, Gray has a tendency to get confused and so he forgets sometimes what was really the truth. That’s what legends are made of.

The loan cowboy, dressed in all black stares down the barrel of his revolver cannon. He’s got one eye closed to focus. “Clip,” he pulls the trigger on the unloaded weapon and smiles.

He stands on a desert dune, young, and free from the institutions which once held him captive in the Heartland; the United Trade Republic of Acirema’s wealthy central territory, walled off for miles around to separate it from the untamed surrounding desert. “I’ll never return.”

A painful cry from behind Gray brings him back to task. He turns to face the body of one of the desert’s Lord’s of Chaos, a notorious raider gang with interest in the violent life. Gray loads his revolver as he approaches the now legless raider who bleeds out in the sand, a bullet in each knee. The lifeless bodies of three of his tattooed brethren lay scattered about.

“You mother fucker,” shouts the raider, “You took my goddamn legs.”

“Doesn’t matter how long you avoided retribution. In the end, all will be accounted for,” Gray explains.

“Fucking psycho,” the raider shrieks.

“Where’s the girl?” Grays interrogates.

“I don’t know what the fffuck you’re sayin man,” replies the raider, but Gray hears only, “I don’t know,” and thinks the raider’s hiding something. He pulls out his machete, “I been following y’all since you left that gas hole in New Vegas. Haven’t caught ya in any rapes or murders but I know the Lord’s of Chaos well enough to know y’all a bunch of rapist murderers. I show no remorse to your sort. And for a Legion sympathizer, I’ll take my time,” Gray remarks. Lifting the sharpened blade up against the raiders face Gray slices an ear off. The raider screams. Gray moves on to the other ear.

In all the incomprehensible human noise Gray hears the creep start talking, “Silent Springs, Carson Sink.”

“Silent Springs,” Gray says back to himself, dropping the blade down by his side. It sticks out in the sand. The voice in his head whispers in echoes, “You’re too late. She’s dead before you make it there. Hell will walk Terra.”

“Hell’s already here,” he replies. Then raising his revolver quick he blasts the now unconscious raider in the head and turns back to the desert.

*

Gray drives a jet-black Ford Cavall, terrestrial hover vehicle with the trademark horse on the front hood. He zooms across the desert following increasing woodland, exotic cacti and shrubbery, feather grass and leafless bark siding dirt roads. He comes across a little diner with a large white sign out front reading “Clean Water” in black marker. He pulls in the lot and parks the Ford. He goes inside and heads to an open booth toward the back corner.

The place is pretty crowded, mostly civilian types but he thinks he can spot a raider or two. He overhears two waitresses in a vigorous chat. One is very pretty, young looking, with dirty-blonde hair, and lots of attitude. She’s got scars on her face that seem to match her pizazz. The other waitress is a bit older, brunette, full and voluptuous, softly built. Gray takes note of each as he sits down.

The blonde is talking about her cheating boyfriend, and how she’s been withholding sex as punishment. The brunette is getting a kick out of the story. “I told him if I see that big ole dick anywhere near my face imma bite it in off,” says the blonde in her thick southern twang. Their pudgy manager watches from the kitchen. His beat-red face looks annoyed.

“So he put a ring on it or what?” asks the brunette.

“No money for the ring yet, but, he got down on one knee and ask me to be his bride.”

“Oh Anna-Belle I’m so happy for you,” replies the brunette. The two giggle and hug congratulations.

Bossman takes the frying spatula and starts slamming it on the counter, “Hey, get the fuck back to work,” he shouts, “I don’t pay you bitches to stand around and yap.”

Anna grabs a waiting order, Brahma burger with carrot fries and a mutant fish soup. She gives bossman the finger. Bossman replies “Sit on it for me babe.”

Brunette comes over to serve Gray who appears to be deeply distracted by inner monologue. “Hey there handsome,” she interrupts, “Can I get ya a coffee?”

“No stimulants. Bad for the brain. I’ll take water,” he replies in brief.

“One bottle of water coming up,” she smiles as she turns away from his table. He grabs her gently by the wrist before she’s gone and asks if she’s ever heard of Silent Springs.

“Sure. I know the place. Muh daddy did some time at Silent Springs penitentiary before the UTR shut it down. It’s a bit south from here but not too long a travel if you got something to ride,” she winks and bites her lip.

“Two days ’till the full moon,” he remarks to himself.

“Will that be it then?” she asks. Gray still holding her wrist looks up and day dreams, “I’ll take some sugar with that water if you don’t mind me asking.” He recalls pulling her down to his lap and to her surprise laying a big ole kiss on her lips. Some commotion from behind the counter snaps him out of it. He lets go of the waitresses’ wrist and looks to see Anna-Belle pressing the bossman’s short stubby body up against the wall as she holds him by the balls.

“I told you to never touch me like that again you hemorrhoid. I quit,” she shouts. Moments later she’s out the door in her short cut jean shorts and a light hoodie sweater.

Gray watches from the diner window as she hops on a little red bicycle and rides off down the road. Gray stands from the booth, “That could be her.” Gray drops some coin on the table and he’s out the door without his water.

A bit down the road Gray followed at a distance, hovering along the dust until she pulled over to the side. “Shit,” he hears her exclaims as she hops from the bike, tossing it aside and then kneeling by the front wheel. “Fucking tire.”

Gray pulls up quietly, “Hey there. Need a lift?” Anna turns to see Gray with his big black glasses starring down at her. “Weren’t you just at the diner?” she asks.

“Yes,” he responds.

“You not some kinda serial killer are ya?”

Gray stares back a moment without a word, realizing how this might appear before responding, “No,” in deadpan. “…Good,” she responds. She gives her coordinates and Gray pops the trunk door. Anna tosses her bike into the back of the Ford on top of an old hunting rifle. Gray enters the coordinates into the car’s GPS as Anna hops in the front. “You a hunter?” she asks. “Not exactly,” he responds before pulling off.

Fifteen minutes later back at the diner, bossman has the brunette waitress carry a big bag of trash to the outside incinerator. He tags along just to make sure he sees to it she does it right. He snickers as he watches her struggles to carry the oversized black bag.

Bossman goes to his car to avoid the coming debris. The waitress lifts the bag high to place into the large incinerator. She almost falls on her back with the motion of shifting gravity. Just then a dashing fellow in a suit approaches with the wind to catch her before she falls. He gently guides her body with support and drops the bag into the incinerator. From the opposite side of the incinerator ashes come flying out to create a myst.

“Mmm, environmental,” remarks the suited man. She turns around to exchange a warm glance with the middle-aged gentlemen. She’s captivated by his bright blue eyes. He gives a gentle smirk in return and takes a nice deep breath as if he enjoyed her full body up against his own.

He turns to bossman as bossman exits his vehicle. “Hey, fat fuck. Come here,” he waves in the bossman.

“What you just call me?” replies bossman. Blue-eyed fella turns back to the waitresses and stares with a mild leer. Bossman asks again with even more indignation as he approaches. Blue-eyes returns his glance and announces, “I called you fat fuck,” with a pause between fat and fuck. “And we’d better leave it at that,” explains blue-eyes, “Unless you’d rather I call you dead fuck.”

“Huh?” replies bossman beneath a halo of question marks.

“I’m looking for someone. Young face. Oriental looking. Sinitic perhaps.” Blue-eyes sniffs the air. “He was probably traveling light,” continues blue-eyes, “A bit—distracted seeming?”

“Who are you?” asks bossman.

“You can call me Marvelous Max,” he replies, handing bossman a business card reading “Marvelous Max and his many mysterious feats“. “Traveling magician,” Max adds. He then focuses on the waitress who now stands at the bossman’s side. She’s still trapped in Max’s eyes like a deer in the headlights. “You had something to say?” says Max to the waitresses.

“He was here earlier. He was asking about Silent Springs.”

“I see,” Max replies as he approaches her. Bossman steps aside. “Was he alone?” asks Max.

“He was. He was driving a hover-car. Ford I think. He was following that road there,” the waitress explains pointing down the long dirt path leading deeper into desert woodland.

“You need to get your cute little ass back in their and serve my customers,” bossman commands the waitress. She stares at Max as if waiting for permission to go. Bossman still looks confused.

“You were very helpful. Perhaps if I get a break from work I’ll come back for waffles,” remarks Max.

“Anytime,” she replies. Max winks and the waitress begins to walk backward toward the diner. She’s still locking eyes with Max and sexual desire. Bossman takes one last look at Max and shakes head before turning back to the diner, “Fuckin freak,” he mumbles under his breath.

Once they’re back in the diner Max walks over to bossman’s antique wheeled vehicle. Max snaps his fingers and remarks “Open sesame,” as another strong gust of wind blows on down the road.

*

Gray mouths a full conversation to himself on the way to Ana-Belle’s place. He does so without making a peep. It freaks her out but she stays quiet with her hand on the switch blade in her hoodie pocket.

The ride is short, about a half a mile strait down the road. Back at her trailer park she thanks Gray for the ride, and apologizes she has nothing to offer in return.

Gray gets back in his car and watches as she heads into the trailer home He starts to whistle a miscellaneous tune he doesn’t know the name of. Moments later he hears a commotion coming from inside. He goes for his revolver as a raven-haired woman comes stumbling out in the buff, her big breasts wobbling about like jello. The nosey neighbors watch from their stoops.

“I outta skin you alive,” shouts Anna-Belle as she follows behind, kicking the lady in her little tush with her leather boots to speed her up. The woman gains some balance and starts creating her own momentum, dashing down the row of trailers, covering her boobies with her arms. Anna turns back into the trailer. Gray can hear her arguing with a man inside before storming out of the trailer with a small travel bag of things. She picks up her bike and makes her way to the road.

Her shirtless boyfriend comes out following after her in jean pants, a bald man with a goatee like Stone Cold Steve Williams. “Come on Anna-Belle,” he goes on, “Where ya gonna go? We’re miles from damn civilization.” She makes it to an old fashioned pickup truck which rides on wheels. It’s pulled over on the side of the road. She tosses her bike onto the back.

“Oh hell nah. You think imma give you a ride to the train stop?” her boyfriend exclaims. She lifts up her hand to reveal the keys hanging from her finger.

“To hell you not taken muh goddamn vehicle,” he exclaims again, reaching out and grabbing her wrist to spin her around. “I been paying this thing off for months. This truck belongs to me,” she roars back, snatching her wrist from his grasp.

“No you not,” he says as he goes for her wrist again. She moves back and throws a right hook. The punch lands solid on his chin stumbling him backward. She follows with the left to complete the combination.

Gray steps out of the Ford with eyes glued to the scene as he approaches. Anna goes for another right but Stone Cold Steve gains his bearings and catches the blow mid air with his left, returning with a right hand of his own, knocking Anna-Belle to the ground. Her nose and lip is bloodied by his big fist.

She attempts to gain her composure but he sits down on her belly in full mount. “Now look what you made me do. Come on darling, let’s go back inside and work this out,” he says caressing her face gently and grabbing her right wrist to hold up to his bare chest.

“Fuck you,” she fires back, spitting the dripping blood in his face.

He wipes off the blood and replies, “You don’ wanna be wit me no more? Fine. When I’m done with ya, nobody gonna want you either.” He raises his right fist prepared to strike down. Gray blasts the fist in half. Her boyfriend’s barely able to look Gray in the face before the second shot lands. Right between the eyes. His bald head body falls back to the road.

Anna screams as she rises to her feet to face Gray who stares back at her with his gun at his side. “Why don’t I take you where you need to go,” he says casually, “I know people like driving those old cars because they have less electronic issues, but this Ford I got here runs on solar power. We got solar for days out here.”

Anna stares back with confusion. She turns and spits more blood onto the road, then wipes her face off with her right forearm. Suddenly she doesn’t feel so scared of Gray. She turns back to the trailer park. The nosey neighbors all look back in fear. Then she looks down at her ex-boyfriend and back at Gray. “You some kinda wild cowboy,” she remarks with a smile. “We better get outta here quick. I’m sure one of these rednecks gonna call the local fuzz. They got a poliseer tower just about a half a mile off.”

Gray looks to the side for a moment and then back to Anna, “They say we should go off the grid. Sometimes they help ya know?”

Anna raises an eyebrow, “They?”

“Yeah,” he freezes, unable to explain. A loud siren blares from the distance. “There goes the tower,” Anna-Belle recognizes. She turns to the trailers as those outside begin heading in. “Nosey fuckers,” she grumbles as she grabs her little travel bag. Gray pulls up beside her and she jumps back into the Ford.

“Buckle up,” Gray insists and as soon as the belt clips he speeds off like a bullet down the road and then off into the woods.

Twenty minutes pass and the sun starts setting. Two large muscular poliseers show up to the crime scene on hover-scooters. One is dark brown with the badge name Gordon. The other’s white, a bit sunburn with sun damaged blonde hair, badge name Bulk. They find Marvelous Max kneeling over the corpse of Anna-Belle’s late ex-lover.

“Get your hands up where I can see ’em asshole,” shouts Bulk as he pulls out his vaporizer-pistol. Gordon pulls his out slowly as he runs up to see Max face to face.

“I’m looking for a cowboy, about five-nine, medium build,” Max replies standing from his squat calmly as ever. Gordon holds his vaporizer aimed low. Surprised by Max’s chill he says nothing.

“The fuck you sayin,” exclaims Bulk from behind as he makes his way to the front still aiming his pistol. Max flips a coin which upon landing in his palm transforms instantly into UTR identification, which he places in direct eye-shot of the poliseers.

“Federal agent,” remarks Gordon. “I’m looking for a fugitive of the state. Armed and dangerous. Likely the culprit of this little mishap,” remarks Max.

They both lower their weapons and Bulk’s tone turns to mush, “Sorry about that detective. I should know by the suit.”

“Hey, comes with the territory am I right? A lotta animals round these parts,” replies Max as he places the badge into his jacket pocket. “Call me Max. Listen boys, I can use some help. You two ambitious?”

“I guess,” responds Gordon. “We certainly are,” responds Bulk as he nudges Gordon with his elbow.

“I can tell you are,” Max insists, ” If we three can take this fugitive down your stocks go up. Promotion, pay-raise, I can garaun-fuckin-tee it.”

“Yes sir,” Bulks exclaims standing at attention like a soldier. He grabs his radio, “You said it was hover-car?” asks the officer.

“Ford.”

“We got drones for that sort of thing round here,” Bulk replies as he clicks on the radio, “I need you looking out for a Ford hover-car in the area,” Bulk informs.

“We like to go minimal on jobs like these,” smirks Max, “Travel light.”

Gordon looks on with suspicion as a computerized drone reports back about a Ford hover-vehicle speeding through woods, coordinates and everything. “Sounds like our guy,” reacts Max. “Now I know it’s against protocol but I want you guys to be real wild bores on this mission, a second of hesitation could cost you your lives.”

“Oh I’m ready to put this animal down,” insists Bulk.

Max looks at Gordon now, “You better be, or you might get put down. Shall we travel together?” Max remarks as he approaches what appears to the troopers as a modernized version of the bossman’s car from back at the diner. Doors slide up on both sides. Gordon and Bulk walk over with eyes of zombies as if they’ve also stumbled across the light of G-d.

With the direction of Anna, Gray managed to blow through the woods quick and on to an abandoned train tunnel. A little drone comes down to follow but loses connectivity the deeper they go. Gray pulls over, steps out of the vehicle, aims and fire the drone down. He then asks Anna to get in the drivers seat, informing her he has some things to think about. They drive off.

“I’m afraid we lost our tail in an old underground tunnel,” a robot voice chirps over Bulk and Gordon’s radios.

“Mmm, and where is this tunnel? Would it happen to be in the direction of Silent Springs?” Max asks.

“Silent Springs, haven’t heard that one in a while,” remarks Gordon.

New coordinates come through, Max, Gordon and Bulk turn right off the road into the woods and on their way south.

*

Gray talked to himself for a little while as a passenger, requesting Anna-Belle drive south on any road she could. She never heard of Silent Springs but she knew the way to Carson Sink and by the time the sun fell Gray was fast asleep, drooling and mumbling. Anna questions her own decision to join this strange man on his wild goose chase. She could easily have allowed him to take the fall, it’s not as if she had shot her boyfriend, though of course she would’ve. She knew however that staying back at that trailer park would only make for more gossip, and she hated poolisers since she was a little girl.

Gray was off in another dimension, at a brothel/motel off the beaten path called “Fannies and Hooters”. His life, a constant existential crisis, unable to remember the name of his father. Thoughts fly in and out of his head like flies about a dingy old room. As he remembers it the old room was brown, red and orange, cheap imitation wood all around, the smell of cigarettes. Gray sits calmly on a queen-sized bed against the wall, a large breasted blonde lady hops up and down on his lap. She’s all sorts of animated, demanding him to “Move that dick,” though his face remains solid as stone. He doesn’t remember how he even got there and takes note of the large lit brown cigar hanging from his own lips. “I don’t smoke,” he reminds himself.

Commotion comes from the hall but he just raises the volume of his thoughts to block it out. Screams, gun fire and slicing flesh. The bedroom door busts open and a man carrying a makeshift axe of wood and metal comes flying through. “Legion,” Gray recognizes the cyberpunk pilgrim look immediately. He snatches his revolver from the hip and blasts a shot right into the legionnaire’s heart.

An old-world tune plays from the transsister, “Tempted by the fruit of another, tempted but the truth is discovered. What’s bein going on, now that you’ve been gone, there’s no other…”

Immediately after the axe wielder another legionnaire enters with a sledge hammer swinging down at Gray and the woman. Gray rolls off the bed with the woman still attached by the hip moaning in ecstasy. Once they’re off, Gray stands on his feet holding the blonde clasped to his torso by the butt-cheeks with his left hand. He raises the right and fires another shot into the forehead of the legionnaire who raises the sledge hammer to smash the mirror beside him as he falls back.

In a single shard of falling glass Gray manages to spot a legionnaire with a machete hopping in through his open window. Dropping the blonde to the bed, he turns sideways, placing the gun behind his back to fire. The leggionaire raises the blade for slicing but is met with the opposing force of a bullet, pushing the blade back into the legionnaire’s own forehead.

The blonde grabs Gray back to her pelvis using her long legs. Gray is surprised, and still aroused. He pops right back in as if choreographed and begins to wonder again about how he made it to bed with this lady. In the moment of distraction another legionnaire manages to sneak in and tase Gray from behind, the shocks flowing from his body into hers. As Gray looks up and toward the wall opposite the bed he sees the little hands of a child grasping a yellow stuffed animal. He cries out.

“Wake up,” shouts Anna, “You’re given me the heeby jeebies over there.”

“Huh? What happened?” Gray awakens in alert.

“You okay there? You’re mumbling all types of madness in your sleep.”

“Oh yeah, just a dream.” Gray stretches out his arm and legs as far as he can moaning in satisfaction.

“What’s at this Silent Spring anyway?” Anna asks.

“A little girl. Innocent.” He turns to Anna-Belle, “This is probably too much for you right? You don’t have to come along. It’s gonna be dangerous. You can hop out at the next rest stop.”

“Why do I trust him?” Anna asks herself, and replying to Gray, “So you’re saving an innocent kid. Sounds noble.” She thinks for a moment. “I guess I kinda owe you for saving my face.” The conversation ends as suddenly as that.

Some miles pass and another day. Gray and Anna proceed through a road surrounded by dense wooding. They take turns at the wheel, and sleeping in the back seat, following the built Ford navigation system south.

Anna thinks a lot about what she’s lost and thinks it wasn’t such a loss in retrospect. Her boyfriend was a real asshole. Her job sucked, and she only had one friend. She figures wherever she ends up she’ll send a postcard. She’s a traveler now like Gray she’s decided. “Bring on the adventure.”

There’s not much in the way of civilization this deep south outside the occasional automated supply trucks that drive themselves on by. Not much in the way of conversation either though the the couple manage to stop for a decent bite by nightfall; a rustic old inn off road called Carson Sink Rest Stop. The owners got a nice sized farm out back and share their surplus for free to the rare passing visitor. “It’s the Christian way to feed the hungry,” insists the old grey host named Clara. She’s no more than five feet tall with the kindest little smile, and thick curly hair. Her silent husband Jim-Bob’s face is so old it’s pinched shut, his eyes hidden by the thickest eyebrows, and a permanent lipless smirk. They got robots serving the food and managing the livestock. Clara cooks, and knits by the counter.

Neither Anna nor Gray have ever heard of a Christian but they really appreciate “their way”. They were starving having not come across food in miles, and Gray refusing to hunt for ethical reasons. Anna was very close to grabbing the rifle from the trunk and taking down some game while he was asleep.

This inn dinning area is quite clean compared to Anna-Belle’s former work place, and with better food. Both Gray and Anna take note. Anna watches Gray grind down a bunch of grilled vegetables like a rabbit as he appears to be falling asleep. “I must be outta sorts following you around,” she smirks. Then bringing a thick juicy piece of brahma steak cooked rare up to her lips for a chew she whispers, “Wake up lover boy.” Or at least that’s what Gray remembers. At the time he was floating deeply into outer space on a dandelion seed he holds like balloons. He hums to the sounds of a smooth jazz tune stuck in his head.

When the jazz stops he looks up and the balloon pops, blowing him all about the universe, until he finds himself once again afloat, on a cloud hovering above a sand dune. He looks up to see the full-moon clear as daylight.

“We’re almost there,” Gray exclaims suddenly before finishing the last of the vegetables.

Before they leave, Anna asks Clara if she’s ever heard of Silent Springs. “Not in quite some time but I can tell you just about where it was while it lasted,” Clara explains, writing down coordinates on napkin. “It’s not far from here, but you’ll never catch it in the dark. You’re welcomed to stay the night here for an affordable six coin a night.”

Anna looks to Gray who agrees immediately, “I’m fuckin’ exhausted.” The nice old lady shows them to a room in a small red and white cottage some yards away from where the building they ate dinner. The room is quaint, all wood like the cottage, with red rugs and a convex ceiling design. There’s one king-sized bed, a cushy red chair, a large closet with sliding doors and a mirror with a vanity.

“Um, I’m gonna need that bed. You got roll or a cot or something for him to sleep on?” Anna asks.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I thought you two was a couple. I’ll grab one right away.”

“Fuck it,” Gray interjects, “I’ll sleep on the floor he says before collapsing to his back by the foot of the bed. “Well that’s settled,” Anna smiles as she heads to the freshly made bed and takes a squat. “Thank you kindly Mrs. Clara.”

Clara smiles, “It was nothing dear. Y’all have a good night now,” then gently she closes the door. Anna stretches out on the bed, her first night in true comfort since she left the trailer park. “The travel life’s not so bad,” she remarks as she rests her eyes, and before she know sit, she’s out like a light.

At six in the morning a two headed rooster crows with both heads, just slightly out of rhythm with one another. Gray sits up and cracks his stiff back. He then stands up and walks to the window to take a look outside. He watches the sun rise and then takes a seat in the cushy red chair facing the bed. He watches Anna-Belle sleep peaceful wrapped up like a burrito in a thick red cover, visions of sugar plums dancing about her head. He’d smile at the sugar plums if he wasn’t again in deep conversation with “them”. He doesn’t regret the life he’s chose as it would seem the only one available, but he really wouldn’t mind settling down one day with a beautiful woman. Maybe have some children to teach to care for this world better than those before them. He’s thinking about that while trying to remember his own father’s name. He lost it back in the institution.

Forty minutes later and Anna opens her eyes to Gray’s impolite scowl. “You’re up early,” she remarks in her tired voice, stretching her neck out from the cover.

“We should probably get on the road. The full moon’s almost up.”

Anna stares back with the usual confusion, messy hair in her face, repeating to herself, “Full moon?”

As usually the case she takes Gray’s word on it because she trusts him. She brushes her teeth, and makes good use of the shower down the hall. They thank Clara and Jim-Bob for all their hospitality and they’re back on the road.

Within fifteen minutes Anna is back off to sleep napping in the passenger seat with Gray at the wheel. He hasn’t lost the scowl. A half an hour of travel and they’re back in the desert, no trees and not a soul in side.

Anna-Belle awakens on a bump over a rock. “Oh shit, my neck,” she remarks.

“We’re almost there.”

Anna looks around, “Wudda fooled my ass.”

Moments later the Ford Cavall hover drifts to the right as Gray hits the breaks, a sand cloud forming around the vehicle. “Just up that hill,” he remarks. As the dust clears, the hill is suddenly apparent to Anna’s eyes. There’s a bit of surprise in her gaze. She yawns, “Brain’s still wakin’ up.” What’s most unusual to Anna is the apparent full moon she can still see in the sky above the dune, even in this sun.

Gray turns to Anna, “You ready for this?” he asks with an out of place grin. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. “About as ready as I’ll ever be I guess,” she responds looking back at Gray. She turns to face the hill again and gets a funny feeling in her stomach. “What exactly are we looking for up there?” she asks. Gray remains silent as he continues gazing up the dune. She turns to the dune again. The two of them stare together for a whole forty seconds, right up until Gray hops out of the car. Anna follows suit. Gray goes to the trunk and grabs the hunting rifle, old-world style with a leather strap, and runs on bullets like his revolvers. He hangs it from his back with the barrel facing the sun.

Gray hands Anna one of his revolvers before heading up the sand dune. “Watch my back,” he instructs. Another sandstorm begins to brew. Gray quickly vanishes into the sandy winds. Anna-Belle struggles harder, clomping up the dune until she can see Gray again. Now he’s standing before a metal-door, once automatic she assumes though it’s stuck in the position of nearly closed with just enough space to squeeze through. Gray turn back to Anna and calls something down inaudibly under the wind’s howl. With another surprise gust he vanishes into the entrance.

Anna comes to realize there are steps beneath the sand, hard and sure for the feet. It gives a slight sureness that pushes her now exhausted legs up the last seven or so steps. She now can make out the compound as largely submerged. She enters the dark entrance to see Gray studying the metal walls like an archeologist. There’s confusion on his face though his words portray confirmation.

“Here it is,” he claims, “This is where it happens.”

Continuing downward though a zig-zagging tunnel lit by bright magnetized LEDs it comes to Anna’s mind that this may have been some sort of mega-bomb shelter in the past. The presence of magnetized lights suggested these corridors weren’t completely abandoned. As they descend a row of empty human cages become the defining feature for Anna, along with the grime. There’s a chilly draft coming from below. “Almost there,” Gray ensures. Anna-Belle begins humming the tune “You Wish You Were Red” by the Trailer Trash Tracys, an attempt to calm the crescendoing anxiety. “What I get myself into this time?” she wonders.

Finally they find a straight path, a smooth metal ramp down to the bottom. Voices can be heard clearly now as they approach the final room, the light chant of the name Yaldabaoth. Gray proceeds in a slow motion crouch, raising is gun up on the left side, turning only briefly to Anna with his right finger over the lips, “Shhhh.” He crouches along the right side of the circular room hiding miscellaneous junk, from workout benches to steel operating tables, even a jumbo-sized tweety stuffed animal. Anna’s pulse races as she focuses on the center of the room, a group of eight legionnaires stand a circle with their heads facing the ceiling and their hands out at their sides, open palm as if waiting for a gift from above. Their chant of Yaldabaoth has dissipated into gibberish tongues spoken in common rhythm. A small female child sits on the floor in the center of the circle. She appears to be sedated, whining softly in confusion with tears in here eyes as she looks around at the entranced Legion. Gray whispers back to Anna, “Cover me,” as he stands up with his revolver and begins firing the Legion down one by one.

The legionnaire furthest from Gray turns to the wall, grabs a shotgun and fires back after witnesses two of his colleagues executed by headshot. The five other legionnaires take cover behind the junk of old-fashioned computers and a water bed filled with stand which bursts a moment later, creating a momentary myst. The shotgun wielder takes cover behind a big marble seat, crafted to resemble something from Greco-Roman antiquity. Gray fires until he’s one round down in ammo. Anna-Belle fires too but a bit more conservative. She manages to hit a legionnaire in the leg as he scrambles to fall behind a tall wooden bookshelf filled with dusty old books. Afterwards she knocks over the operating table and ducks behind it. Rather than reload Gray switches to the rifle. He turns to Anna-Belle who’s heavily exhaling from her mouth and lathered in sweat as she takes cover. “Cover me,” Gray shouts as he fires at the shotgun wielder, proceeding toward the little girl who’s now frozen in shock. When he stops to pick up the child with his right arm he’s still aiming the rifle at the marble seat with his left. He heads toward cover to his right behind an old pool table. The shotgun wielder pops out again to fire shot back at Anna-Belle. When the stops pause Anna peaks out to see he’s hiding, and then stands up from cover to fire back, noticing four other legionnaires carrying machetes inching their way through the junk toward her.

Gray peaks out beside the pool table and notices the legionnaire with the shotgun reloading from a musette backpack labeled “US”. He sits the shocked child down next to him and raises up again, this time standing in focus with his eyes closed. Anna-Belle notices as she drops for cover. She peaks out the side of the operating table and thinks to herself, “What the fuck is he doing?”

Gray reveals his secret talent to the surprise of all present, a large sound wave that visibly bends the air as it blasts from his forehead and through the junk, knocking the bookshelf down on the injured legionnaire still holding the back side of his left leg. In addition, all four of those with machete’s are knocked unconscious. Coincidently the blast manages to completely miss the legionnaire carrying the shotgun. He looks over at his fallen brethren with with amazement. Breathing heavy and in a panic, the legionnaire pops up again while grinding his teeth turning toward Gray. The legionnaire is once again surprised to find the rifle aimed directly in the his face. The legionaries drops the gun and attempts to put his hands up. The moment Gray can see those bulging eyes though he shouts “Blasted to hell,” and pulls the trigger. “Shotgun wielder no more.”

After a seconds of silence Anna calls out to Gray, “Are they dead?” Gray’s already on his way across the room to finish those unconscious legion with shots to the head. “Yup, all dead,” he announces blithely. Anna slowly raises up with sweat on her bro, “What the fuck,” she mutters.

“You did good,” Gray remarks as he walks back over to the child, “I didn’t actually think you’d make it.” Gray giggles like Goofy. Anna looks over with annoyance as Gray grabs the child by her hand and gently guides her over to the tweety. “Hey look, I gotcha something,” he tells her as he kneels down to look her in the face, “You’re okay now,” he speaks gently. She’s still in shock but with a flat expression on her face she takes tight hold of the jumbo-tweety which is visibly larger than her.

“Hmm,” Anna murmurs, taking notice that tweety managed to remain unscathed. “So you must be one of those mutants,” Anna remarks, “Never figured I’d catch one of y’all this deep south. I thought y’all suppose to be green skinned and northern. Now you wanna tell me what the hell this was?” Anna asks with an exhausted relief.

Gray stands up and looks around the room, “Human sacrifice ritual?” he wonders aloud. Anna just squints.

*

On their way out of the complex Anna immediately notices the storm has totally died down as she squeezes out after Gray, the little girl, and the giant tweety she drags along behind her. When he reaches the top of the sandy stairway Gray immediately goes for his rifle and is winged by laser-fire from below. Anna ducks and pulls aside the child. She holds her aim steady at the stairway.

“I think I got him,” she hears from the voice below. “Well go up and check then, I got your back,” another responds. The child’s eyes widen as she stares at Gray laying in the sand, “Fuck,” he mutters as he looks over at his steaming left shoulder. The crimson color of blood slowly leaks unto his black jacket as the wide forehead of Gordon peaks out from the stairs, Gray grabs his rifle with his right hand and fires, blasting Gordons ear off.

Gordan takes a long tumble back down. “Man down,” Bulk shouts as he runs forward firing vaporizer blasts that tear apart the old stairs. His pulse is beating through the skin on his neck. Gray waits until he can see the forehead to fire, this time taking the top of the scalp. Gray turns to Anna and the child, “Wait here. Keep her safe.”

Anna nods. Still crouching, Anna gently takes the girl by her little hand and guides her and tweety back into the compound. “It’s gonna be okay honey,” her voice shivers. Gray crawls over to the edge of the steps and takes a peak. Gordon is down there screaming and crying while holding his left side where the ear use to be. Bulk lies beside him, a puddle of blood forming around his skull. Leaning up against Gray’s Ford stands Max performing card tricks in a jester’s uniform. Gray raises one eyebrow before taking a shot and Max seems to poof into thin air. Gray raises up to his feet, “Sorcerer,” he proclaims with zealous conviction. He slowly walks down the steps to approach the Ford, recognizing bossman’s empty old hooptie a few yards away. The Ford turns on. Gray aims the rifle at the window though all he can see inside is pure blackness. He starts firing as the vehicle takes off in his direction. He tumbles to the right side avoiding direct collision, and then rolls again to avoid the hover jets as the vehicle turns again toward him. Focusing as he rolls allows Gray to send another blast from his forehead at the old Ford. It manages to blow out a window and the car swerves into a pile of sand.

Gray stands up quickly, still aimed at the Ford. He can hear Max’s incorporeal voice as he approaches,”You’ve always been a tricky mother fucker.”

“Hey I know that voice,” Gray remarks as he looks about, “I can’t seem to place ya though, where do I know ya from?” Gray asks. “Mmm, a traveling man has trouble keeping tabs on told friends.”

Gray pokes the rifle through the broken window. There’s none to be found. He begins circling the car looking about as Max’s voice begins to jump around.

“Well mister Lee, we weren’t far from where we are now last time we met. A cantina in a mutant safe-town called Humanity. Ring any bells?”

“I been there,” Gray responds, “Can’t quite recall our encounter. Why don’t ya put a face on it?” Gray suggests. After a moment of silence a vaporizer buzzes from behind and Gray falls to the sand. Max appears a shadow above Gray’s unconscious body. “Oh goody,” Max remarks as he crouches over the body. Looking down at Gray he smiles, “I was really hoping you’d wear a vaporizer resistant vest so we could have our little chat.” Gray slowly opens his eyes to see Max, who appears to Gray a rusty old bearded fellow. His left eye is white, with a scar straight down the eyelid. Rather than a suit, he’s dressed in rags. He smiles a cheesy grin with green teeth and then asks, “Jogging any memories?”

“Gambler,” Gray recalls.

“Oh yeah,” Max continues, “Big time. You and your boar-tooth alein buddies took a lot of money from me that day and then split. Come to find out your buddies were notorious fixers of cards.”

“I don’t even know how to play any card games,” Gray claims, “Occasionally I get lucky.”

“Now, I can take losing a fair game, and a little change but I got principles,” Max explains as he stands back up, “And by principle. I think you owe me something special. If not the money, we’ll I’ll have to take something more precious.”

Max aims the vaporizer down at Gray’s face, “What can ya do for me?”

“Will an apology suffice?” Gray responds. Max exhales with an agitated smirk before an immediate zap comes from behind. Max’s face melts near instantly from the white-eye down. Anna’s still aiming as Max’s vision fades, “Wow,” she exclaims, “That was fuckin rad.”

Gray looks over to see the little girl sitting in the sand facing the opposite direction holding tweety tight, then up at Anna. For a moment he sees his good old dad’s fade away with a grin before Anna’s. Gray smiles. Anna blows a lock of her blonde hair out of her face, “Now we’re even.”

Anna helps Gray back to his feet, allowing he lean on her with his right arm over her shoulder. Gray notices Gordon on his walkie giving approximate coordinates, calling for backup before he begins crying again. “Sorry about the ear,” Gray remarks as Anna helps him into his backseat to rest.

“Please, I have a family,” Gordon pleads as he squints from the sun while looking up at Anna. She glares back for a second before she remarking, “You outta find a more noble line of work when ya get back.” Then she goes to the little girl in the sand, taking her by the hand and guiding her to the front seat, belting her in with tweety. Finally Anna gets in the driver side before turning to the little girl and asking, “You got a name?” The little girl looks up at Anna and speaks for the first time. “Molly.” Her cute little voice warms Anna’s heart to smile. “Where ya from Molly?” Anna asks.

Molly’s eyes begin to shake back and forth as they swell with tears. “I don’t remember,” she responds with a whimper. Molly wipes her eyes. “It’s okay honey. Everything’s gonna be okay,” Anna insures with heartbreak.

“Me neither,” Gray abruptly interjects as he sits up from the seat. “Ooo,” he exclaims in pain.

“Nice nap?” Anna asks.

Gray is daydreaming again, mouthing words to himself. Molly looks back to see that he didn’t disappear on her. “Hey little girl,” he smiles. Molly smiles again. “You got a mommy and daddy?” Gray asks. Molly nods yes.

“I had a good dream. I think I know where we needa to head next.

“Do ya,” Anna responds as she attempts to start the Ford up.

“Yeah,” Gray responds after another short pause. The car starts on the second rev. “What’s the nearest polis?” he asks. Anna searches the car’s GPS for the nearest polis. “It’s pretty far northwest,” she informs Gray. “Think that’s where her parents are. They’re civil city folk. They’re worried sick about you,” he tells Molly. He then sits back and looks off at the sun, “Yeah,” he ensures himself.

You’re one hell of a daydreamer,” Anna remarks as she sets the destination and her, Gray, and Molly take off toward the midday sun.

Share
Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply