Wildale Glades PIII Chapter 5

    Chapter 5: Getting Out of Crawshare



    From that moment on, Outlaw became a member of the party. For the rest of that day and the next, he gave them more details about who he is, and Hanson, Jessie, and Evan told some personal things as well.

    The first thing Outlaw did after the discussion was show them his home.

    "Now, through this door is my room, complete with bed and...uh...bed," he said, leading them to the first door. "And over here is my most important room: my smithing room."

    The other door he opened, and in it was a great sight: tools lined the walls, an odd desk/anvil had tools of small size yet intense complexity on it, and a hearth with glowing coals heated the room. A large pile of steel whatzits was against a wall. Outlaw went to the room's center.

    "I'm an amateur gunsmith, and I also make my own bullets," he explained. He picked up one of the small metal things from the pile. "See?" He placed it into Hanson's paw.

    "What's a 'bullet?'" he asked, confused.

    "It's that thing. They're used as ammo for guns and are all the same, only my bullets are hollow."

    "Ahhhh," Hanson understood, and saw the bullet was a lot like a tip of a rounded rod, but the "flat" end was actually hollowed out, and upon further examination, the whole bullet was a mere thimble of metal with more weight at the end. "But aren't bullets meant to kill?"

    "Yes, but you see, I don't kill. That's why I have hollow bullets. They can go through flesh, but it can't go into bone, and it doesn't go very far, only far enough to have a bit sticking out for extraction. Since they're too light to go far in for penetrating, I only use them to temporarily disable targets with pain by shooting them in the arm or leg."

    "But how come you shot so many of those policemen in the head?" Jessie asked.

    "Human skulls are somewhat weak, and any non-close range shot from me will give them enough pain and a small enough concussion to knock them out for a short time without giving them long-lasting brain damage. It only works on humans and other creatures with the same or similar skull thicknesses." He took out his gun and flipped it with one hand.

    Evan watched him do a few tricks with it, then thought of something. "Outlaw? If you're only a teenager who lives...er, under the streets, how do you know how to make this all? And your gun? I'm sure you made that yourself."

    Outlaw caught his gun after another flip. "Oh, you mean Outlaw Shot here? Yeah, I made it. And, you see, Crawshare is the place known as 'Gun City.' In fact, the name, 'Crawshare,' is pronounced like the aiming view called the crosshairs that are actually used on some bows, as well as rifles with telescopic sniper scopes.

    "Anyway, this place is home to an old gunsmith, and when I ran into an old, beaten-down house I thought was abandoned when I was four, I met him. He took me under his wing, and I learned how guns work, how to make them, and how to use them. I've been there most of my life. I've in fact only been here for two years. I have a perfect level of ability for this thing, and I used my knowledge to make this after I found this place under the town." He held up Outlaw Shot.

    It had an odd steel thing, disk-like, jutting out from both sides of the breech, or where the wooden handle met the steel barrel. Outlaw said it held the gunpowder. Although it wasn't necessary, an extra-thick wooden bottom, decorated with strip designs, was on the barrel, connected to the trigger loop. Outlaw explained.

    "You see, I've had time to develop my own style of fighting with Shot here. I had made the thick bottom in a mistake, but as it gave some extra weight, it could club opponents well. I have a style using a move, called the pistol whip, in different motions, as well as using the muzzle combined with a punch and even using the breech." He demonstrated, using only his pistol whip, and with each consecutive swing, it became a stronger attack.

    After some of this, they began to talk about getting out. It was noon by then. They went back over to the giant trampoline and went on it.

    "Hey, how do you get out from here?" asked Evan, remembering how the trampoline assisted their entry.

    "Oh, I use this to grab that ladder there," Outlaw replied, pointing to a ladder on the same wall the slide was in. "It leads to a point above where the slide starts. It's a one-way exit."

    After some bouncing(hey, it's what almost everyone does on a trampoline, what'd you expect, a tea party?), Jessie thought of something. "You're wanted, right?"

    "Yeah, why?" Outlaw asked inquisitively.

    "Well, if you go to the gate, or try climbing the walls, you'll be seen and caught. How are we going to escape, than, to go to the Highlands?"

    "Good point..." Outlaw stopped bouncing. "I hadn't thought of that little factor yet..."

    Hanson, too big to use the trampoline with them and on the ground, smacked his paw on the top of his snout, while Evan and Jessie did their foreheads.

    "Okay, let's plan it out, because this will be different than just going around town where no one cares about trying to catch me," Outlaw said, blushing from embarrassment.



    ~*~*~*~*~*~



    They were in the main room and were going over what they had planned out all afternoon.

    "Okay, let's recap," Outlaw was saying. "Now, we leave through the ladder, one at a time. Once outside, and it must be night, we'll go by stealth to a wall, the eastern wall to be exact."

    "Hanson picked up. "Next, we'll split up. I'll go and distract the guards by flying up and over the wall."

    "Meanwhile," continued Evan, "I'll go north and sabotage the warning bell's ringing."

    "I'll hurry up and knock out the guards, from the south end to the north," added Jessie.

    "Right, when that's all done, I'll get the signal and climb over. If anyone tries to get me, if they didn't get past Jessie and Evan, I'll knock them out with a few shots," said Outlaw.

    "Then we all hop on over," Hanson finished.

    "Right. That's our plan." Outlaw looked up at the clock on the wall. "Now, let's get a bit of sleep. Tomorrow’s a big night."



    ~*~*~*~*~*~



    The ladder was long and tiring, but they made it. As Outlaw, the first on the ladder, popped his head out of the hatch, he saw only the darkened alleyway. When they all came out, he closed the hatch and hopped down a steep slide in the building's side.

    The others followed, and together, they made their silent way to the eastern wall. A few times, they had to hide, but they made it into the wall's shadow. Once there, Outlaw nodded, and the plan went into action.

    Hanson beat his way up into the air, and as quickly as he could, flew up and over the wall. This part of the plan worked, and the guards began to fire. At night, the shots missed by many feet, and if one did hit, Hanson's scales made them harmlessly bounce off. Hanson had to fly continuously to have attention averted for the next parts of the plan to work.

    As soon as they heard shots, Evan and Jessie bolted north and south respectively, leaving Outlaw standing pressed against the wall, being as unseen as possible. Evan moved with great speed, and as he approached the northern wall, he sprang up in a humongous jump. He, of course, landed on his feet at the top of the wall. He saw the bell, and a couple of humans tried to get to it, but he was faster. With one quick movement, he got under the actual bell and removed the clapper with a precise swipe of Unaga. The two humans looked with awe as they saw the giant bell, so high off the wall they had to use a rope to ring it, became nothing more than a gigantic metal cup.

    Evan landed from his leaping strike and turned, holding the clapper. He smirked at the humans and tossed the clapper to the ground below on the opposite side. The guards rushed at him, and a battle ensued.

    Meanwhile, Jessie had just finished scaling the wall. She hoisted herself up and onto the wall, and the guards didn't have time to react to her swift attacks. One got out a pistol and aimed, but the barrel of his sidearm was cut off before he could shoot. One other, behind him, actually got off a shot, but Jessie was ready and deflected it in a lightning-quick movement, then continued her assault.

    Together, Evan and Jessie worked their way to the center of the eastern wall, and as they approached, the guards shooting at Hanson finally got smart enough to focus on the ones actually attacking. As soon as they turned, Hanson flew in and, with a murmured, "Lights out," whacked both on the head(badly wanting to clothesline the suckers). It took about one minute, but all the guards were out cold. The western wall, having no guards on the walls, was untouched.

    Evan, panting slightly, leaned over the city side of the wall. He looked down at Outlaw and waved his weapon at him. Outlaw nodded. He began to climb up the wall, using the holes and extrusions in the stone as holds. He made it up, slightly tired, and looked around as he got up the wall.

    "Right, everyone's counting sheep. Let's go," he whispered, and they all got into position to leave. Hanson flew up again, and he hovered a little off the outside edge of the wall. He held his arms out and open, waiting, but not for long, to catch Jessie as she leapt over.

    Hanson, upon catching her, dangled her by the legs. Jessie, although slightly scared, got ready to catch Evan. Evan leapt over with ease, being the best jumper as we've obviously seen, but instead of using both paws and hanging by holding Jessie's paws, he held Unaga in one paw and carefully got a hold of Jessie's paw as he reached her. She clasped both paws around his arm, and Evan wrapped his other arm around his weapon. He held it out, ready for Outlaw.

    Outlaw got ready to jump, but before he could leap, one of the guards woke up. He looked drowsily around, and as he saw Outlaw, he shouted and got up quickly.

    "Ooooohhhhh, dear," Outlaw said softly, and after a brief half-second, leapt over anyway. In mid-air, however, everything seemed to turn into slow motion. He got out his gun from his side holster. He twisted his body to be able to grab Unaga and fire back at the same time. It was a move that seemed impossible, but he did it in a single fluid motion.

    He, after what seemed an age, finally landed into Unaga, which broke the slow-motion effect, held on with an arm and a leg, and as he swung from his momentum, he brought his gun's muzzle to the side of his head. He closed his left eye, looked carefully at the guard(who had his gun trained carefully at Outlaw), and quickly passed the handgun's muzzle in front of the open eye.

    Jessie, who could see best from her position, thought she saw a faint, tannish-orange glow surround the muzzle of Outlaw Shot for a second after he passed it across his eye. However, it blinked out quickly, so she dismissed it as an illusion of some sort.

    Meanwhile, after he passed it in front of his right eye, Outlaw brought the muzzle of his gun to his lips, and in front of everyone, kissed it. He pointed it out in front of him, and to everyone's surprise, turned his face away.

    Eyes closed, an expressionless face, he softly said, "Lucky Shot," then squeezed the trigger. The guard looked confused after the loud bang, but then, surprisingly, he reeled back like he'd been hit in the head, swayed, and fainted. Outlaw holstered Outlaw Shot, and looked up at the three awed faces.

    "Let's just get out of here, okay?" he asked, smiling slightly. Hanson obliged, but wordlessly. He gratefully glided down with a load equal to around his share of Drognan's head. He had to use a lot of energy hovering with them all. He carefully flew down, and as he approached the barren ground of the Junomo Desert side, Outlaw hopped off. He landed, and a little later Evan did, next Jessie, and finally Hanson himself.

    As the others panted, Outlaw looked around up at the wall. He smiled triumphantly, and hesitated with left arm. He settled on a simple salute.

    "See ya later, Crawshare. I ain't gonna miss you at all," he whispered, then turned to the group.


I want that eye.