Internet again
I'm very pleased with myself having written about 2,000+ words on my own without the internet. So I was caught up as of yesterday but couldn't update my wordcount till today because I'm home for Thanksgiving. So hopefully I'll get caught up again tonight or maybe tomorrow. The write-in tonight helped too.
I've finally kicked off the first challenge of what's going to be three challenges for my MC. (Obviously this story has gotten too big and even if I make it to 50k, it's not going to be the end of the story)
It was a very hard landing that almost knocked the wind out of her. Somehow she managed to get a grip before falling off as the wind rushed loudly by. Gen raised her head to try and look around but got a face full of smoke instead. She put her head back down on the ground again, coughing and sputtering. The ‘ground’ felt awfully rough and metallic. Gen’s eyes went wide as she saw trees and scenery whizzing by. A whistle cut through the rushing wind and Gen realized what she was on top of. It was a train. A speeding train that she was hanging onto for dear life. Gen liquefied her hands and really dug into the top of the boxcar she was on top of to renew her grip. The trees cleared by and Gen finally got a good look at where she was. It was beautiful country that the train was going through. The sun was shining down over mountains and valleys. There was a bit of desert here and there, the rest was trees and forest. Colorado maybe, Gen supposed. She tossed that idea aside as they were getting into more and more desert area. The heat was starting to get to her too. It’s probably more west than that, she thought. She didn’t know where this train was headed, but Gen hoped it would get there soon. She didn’t want to have to try and hang on for hours at a time, she didn’t know how long her hands could grip inside of wood and metal.
The whistle blew a couple more times in a row, more frantically now, and with a screech of brakes, the train began to pull to a stop. Gen almost lost her balance as her feet slid off of the top of the boxcar but thankfully her hands held fast under the whiplash effect. She dragged herself back up onto the roof, trying to see where the engine was stopping.
She could just make out what was in front of the engine. It was a lone boxcar sitting in the middle of the tracks, blocking their way. The engineer in his blue and white striped outfit was getting out of the engine along with a conductor. Another conductor was coming from the back of the car. Gen kept low, making sure not to be seen. She could hear the second conductor complaining at his watch as he passed that they were late enough already. He called up to the two who were investigating the boxcar. “Anyone in it, Bill?” he asked. Gen could see the engineer shaking his head no. The first conductor called down, “We could push it to Green Creek and leave it off with the station master.” Gen couldn’t hear the answer as the second conductor was now out of earshot and talking with the other two. Great, more train riding after this, Gen thought as she let go of the roof for a second to give her hands a break. She’d always wanted to try riding on a train, but not like this. A thought struck her and she smiled at the idea. Who says I got to ride on top? She slowly turned her whole body to the silvery black plasma and let herself slide right down through the roof. She held on with her hands until the last minute so she could hang down and land on her feet instead of her face. It would have worked if there wasn’t something in the way. Gen landed on a large trunk, tripped, and fell on the wooden floor. “Ow!” she said with a frown. She quickly covered her mouth, hoping no one had heard her. It didn’t seem like they had. She couldn’t see very well in the car. The only light was coming through the slats in the wood. Gen felt around, finding the trunk she’d fallen on. It wasn’t broken, thank goodness. On a whim, Gen phased through the lock and opened it up to see what was inside. It was a bunch of women’s clothing. “Aha,” Gen said, holding up a brown and white long dress with frills on the hem. “Definetly gone back in time,” she said, looking at all the small buttons down the front. “Either that or there’s actors on this train.” She was getting better at the whole disguise thing too. She’d already matched her skin to the dress she was holding. It felt a bit constricting but Gen figured that was the way it was made. “I guess girls aren’t supposed to move around much here.”
The rest of the car was all dark lumps of different sizes. Gen found more luggage and different pieces of things here and there. Over in one corner though, she fell onto something hard. It was under a burlap covering and felt like a bunch of bricks. That’s odd, she thought and pulled up the covering. “Whoa,” Gen couldn’t believe her eyes. The light through the slats was just enough to make out the glint of the gold bars that were stacked neatly underneath the covering. “Wow, oh wow. There must be...” she did some estimating and counting. “...at least 100 bars in here. No wonder that conductor was upset they got stopped.”
There was a shout and two loud cracks that came from outside the boxcar. Gen dropped the cover back over the gold and ran up to one of the larger slats to see if she could see what was going on. At first all she could see was trees. But then two things rushed by that looked and sounded like galloping horses. There was more yelling and hollering. It sounded like a gang of them, whoever they were. Oh no, Gen’s heart sank. Don’t tell me it’s Indians.
Another shot sounded, tearing a hole in the side of the boxcar and narrowly missing Gen. She threw herself down on the floor, trying to get as low as possible. Maybe not Indians, she thought. A loud rough voice bellowed from just outside the door. “Don’t move Mr. Conductor, unless you ain’t enjoyin’ the daylight no more.” He laughed and called to his gang. “Come on, boys. It’s all ours.” There were yells and whooping of the gang as they started pounding on the door. Oh, this is bad, Gen thought as the door was starting to slide. Before they could get it open, she slid through the floor, dress and all. There wasn’t any sign of her as the robbers busted open the boxcar’s lock and slid open the wooden door. Gen dropped in-between the tracks under the train, getting her liquefied self clear of the gears before re-solidifying. She could see different people’s feet that were standing next to the train. All of them were in cowboy boots. Train robbers, she thought, trying to stay still so she wouldn’t be seen. I’m in the old west on a train that’s being robbed. So long as nobody looked down under the train, she was going to be ok till they left.
“Yup, here it is!” someone said over her head in the boxcar. “Shore is purty, ain’t it?”
“You can look at it later,” his friend elbowed him in the ribs, handing him some bags. “Start loading it up, we haven’t got much time.” Gen could see some wheels and horses feet coming their way alongside the train. It was a horse and wagon. That’s how they plan on making a getaway, she thought. There’s no way they could carry all of that gold on them otherwise. “Hurry it up, you lazy varmits!” The man who was obviously the boss of this operation was standing no more than two feet away from where Gen was hiding, looking into the boxcar to make sure nobody was hiding anything from him. “Right, boss. We’re hurryin’” The boss man turned to one of the guys and pointed down where the engine was. “You go up and make sure Sal doesn’t mess it up keepin’ the conductors and engineer covered.”
“Right boss,” the man left to help down near the engine. The other men were unloading the gold from the car as fast as they could. “Pick it up, mister, you ain’t never going to go on another raid if you don’t quit your yappin’ and get to work!” The boss was scolding a lazy member and walked a pace closer to the boxcar. As he did, he scuffed his feet in the dust. The dust flew up and hit Gen right in the face. It caught Gen right in the mouth and face. She coughed and blindly tried to rub the dust out of her eyes. She wanted to stop coughing, but it was too late. “Well, lookee here,” The boss man was looking under the carriage of the boxcar right at her. Before she could gather herself, he reached under and dragged her out of her hiding place. “We got us a little spy,” he held her arms behind her back as she tried to struggle. Gen still couldn’t see entirely and the dust was still in her throat. She finally gave up struggling and coughed and hacked till she could breath on her own. “Ow, you’re hurting me,” she said as she blinked the dust from her eyes. The gang was all looking at her. They were big tough looking men dressed in boots, jeans, and cowboy hats. Gen never wanted more in her life to disappear right then. “Great catch, boss.” One of the gang came up to them as he complimented his leader’s find. He was a short skinny man but still seemed just as menacing as the rest of them. “Mebbe she’s the one that opened the trunk in there. I thought that looked a bit suspicious, boss.”
“Shut up, Jeb. You done enough talkin’, now get back to work. I’ll handle this little girly myself.” Gen was scared but wasn’t going to panic just yet. She let herself be led over to the wagon where the boss was handed a piece of rope. He had a grip like a vice and Gen knew better than to try and break it. Better to phase through the rope when I get a chance, she thought to herself. “I don’t know what you was doin’ in there, missy, but you picked the wrong train to play around on,” the boss said, finishing his knots. “I wasn’t playing,” Gen said, and then thought better of it. “What were you doin’ in there then? Playin’ dressup with the trunk?” The boss man laughed at his own joke, the wagon driver joining in, just in case he was expected to. Gen suppressed a smile, knowing that he was closer to the truth than he realized. “I was lost,” she tried to explain, but he was finished listening to her. He hoisted her up into the back of the wagon and tied her legs together. “Well, looks like you’re gonna get more lost...with us.” He looked her up and down meaningfully and yanked on the rope around her legs to tighten it more. Gen winced as it bit painfully, but didn’t say anything. The boss left her there and went back towards where the men were unloading the gold. “Keep an eye on her, Rusty,” he called back to the driver. “Right boss,” he replied and turned to give Gen a grin that was missing a few teeth. Ugh, Gen thought. Where’s a dentist when you need one?
The gang was just finishing up when a shot rang out down near the engine side. “Easy boys, Sal can handle himself. Let’s git this job finished and head for home.” The boss clapped his hands to get them moving faster. His gang obliged and soon had all the gold unloaded from the boxcar and stacked in the wagon. The short wiry one named Jeb jumped up next to the driver while the rest got on their horses. With a jerk, the wagon started moving and they all rode away from the train, hollering and shooting over their victory. Gen was having trouble keeping her place in the wagon. She could see Sal was the last one leaving the train in a hurry. As he jumped on his horse, the conductor appeared at the engine’s doorway with a gun in hand. Gen could only watch as he shot at the robber. Sal’s arms went up as his horse reared and he pitched in the saddle onto the ground. He didn’t get up while the conductor came over to him. At that point, the wagon made a turn and Gen couldn’t see the train anymore for the trees in the way.
They were riding out over rocks and sand of the desert, leaving the forests behind. Gen was still bouncing painfully in her seat. She was trying to keep from rolling over onto the gold, which would hurt a lot more. Gen was glad that the wagon had a tail up on the back or she would have fallen out awhile back. Now she just had to find a good place to get untied and get away from these guys. The two in the driver’s seat weren’t looking behind and the ones on horses were running on ahead of them. Now and again, one of the mounted robbers would circle around back to make sure the gold was still ok. Gen waited till that guy had gone back to rejoin the pack in front before she began working on her wrists. She’d had enough practice with using her phasing abilities, but she was finding it harder while bouncing around like a maniac. She jokingly told herself that if she had half a mind, she’d go up and tell those hoodlums to slow down so she could escape. Finally it worked, her hands were free. She made like she was still tied up as another robber made the rounds to check the back of the wagon. When he’d gone, Gen checked to make sure the drivers weren’t looking. She could see Jeb holding a wicked looking shotgun in his hands. Gotta be quick and careful, she told herself as she leaned over and pulled up her skirt to untie her feet.
When she looked up, they were coming up on a cabin. There was smoke coming out of the chimney reassuringly, but Gen wasn’t reassured. When the wagon started slowing down as the driver was calling whoa to them, Gen made a break for it. She jumped over the side of the wagon as it turned and she made sure that she rolled to break her fall. There was a shout from one of the train robbers as she got to her feet as fast as she could and began to run. They’d already seen her jump from the wagon. Gen could see there wasn’t much out here but desert to run in, but off to the right was the beginnings of trees so she made for them. The ground was awfully uneven as she ran. She could feel her heart beating through her chest as she heard hoofbeats coming after her. Gen tried to run faster, but looked back to see how close they were. That was a mistake. The long train of her dress caught under her ladylike boot and she went down in a heap in the dust.
Gen tried to untangle herself and managed to get partially stood up again. But the horse was almost on her and an arm swooped down around her waist and lifted her up onto the horse. It was the boss man again. He set her in front of her on the saddle, despite her protests and flailing and began riding back to the cabin. “Let me go!” Gen struggled, but didn’t really want to fall off the horse now that she was up on it. It was a lot higher than she thought it would be. She had no idea how people jumped up and off of them in the movies. “You hush up now, missy. Or you’ll find yourself dropped off that there cliff over there and we’ll be done with ya, ok?” Gen stopped struggling at that and sat sullenly as they galloped back to the cabin. The boys were unloading the gold into a shed off to the side. A couple of them smiled and whistled at their leader for his handiwork.
“She’s a slippery one,” Jeb commented as the Boss dismounted and helped Gen down. “Didn’t even break the rope, look the knots still tied in it.” He held up the knotted rope to show him, but the Boss wasn’t interested. He had a good grip on Gen’s arm and led her into the cabin.
Gen noted that her self made dress was starting to look very dingy from all her crawling and moving around. She wondered fleetingly if that meant her skin was getting scuffed up as well. The boss led her over to the corner and put one of his men on guard over her. He tied each of her hands spread eagle to two pegs on either side of the corner, presumably to keep her from reaching the knots. Gen realized she could still get out of them, but with the lackey having the gun trained in her, it wouldn’t make much difference if she got shot. So she sat quietly, listening to everyone else working outside. They sounded
Like they were unloading the gold from the wagon. She could hear grunts and groans from the guys doing the lifting. As per usual, the boss was supervising, not helping with the lifting. “Great job, boys. Once we get this gold stashed away for a couple of days, then we can leave for Mexico and kiss this dustbowl goodbye.”
“Boss,” Jeb had sidled up alongside the leader and was talking low, but Gen could still hear him. “What about the girl? What are we going to do with her?”
“I’m still working that one out Jeb.”
“What is there to work out? She’s seen our faces, she could identify us. We got to get rid of her.” There was a sharp “Ow!” following that statement, and Gen figured that the boss didn’t like other people doing his thinking for him. “I decide what happens to the girl so keep your notions to y’self. Any more talkin’ like that and you’ll be the one left in the valley, not her.”
Jeb mumbled an apology and the Boss released him. Gen hoped that the Boss was stalling by saying he was still thinking about what to do with her. Maybe he didn’t like killing women, she hoped.
“Boss! Someone’s a-comin’ over the hill!” One of the lookouts sang out to the group down at the cabin. The boss looked up the hill to see a lone rider approaching on horseback. They weren’t coming very fast, it was as if they were taking their time to reach the cabin. It was a man, so far as he could make out. The problem was they hadn’t finished unloading all the gold yet. “He’s seen us, you boys go take him out!” He pointed at three of his best sharpshooters. The three men nodded, drawing their sixshooters and running to take aim against the rocks next to the cabin. The horseman was almost in range. Gen tried to stand to see what all the ruckus was about, but the guard shoved the gun towards her and she sat back down obediently.
The stranger was in range and the hidden sharpshooters let their bullets fly. The rider didn’t even flinch as he stayed on his horse and kept riding as if they had been shooting blanks at him. The shooters emptied their guns into him as he came closer. It was a black cowboy outfit he wore with a black hat. When their guns were empty, the three of them ran back to the cabin for cover. “He ain’t goin’ down, boss!” they reported. “We emptied three guns into him, there’s no way we could have missed that many times.” The boss frowned, looking at the half emptied wagon. “You see his face?” he asked. The three shook their heads, “But if he keeps comin’ we will.”
“Ok, boys, everyone take cover. Leave the gold for now, we gotta take this critter out.” The men dropped everything and drew their weapons, taking cover at different points around the cabin. The boss was hidden where he could see everything. His man next to him pointed at the stranger. “He looks kinda familiar, don’t he, boss?” The boss nodded. “That’s that no good thieving James boy. I don’t know what he’s doin’ here, but you can bet he’s up to nothin’ good.” On his command, the entire group fired on the oncoming stranger. It didn’t seem to do any good though. The bullets didn’t bounce off, but the stranger didn’t even bat an eyelash. He kept riding along, ignoring the robbers completely. The horse was a bit more skittish, but it kept going where it’s master told it to go.
“He still ain’t goin’ down, what are we gonna do?” The men were starting to get spooked. They were used to everything they shot at going down, but this man didn’t seem to be anything human. The boss however was getting really aggravated. He certainly recognized that figure and he knew that it was nothing but a man. The stranger was close enough for earshot and the boss called out to him. “James you polecat swindler! You ain’t welcome here or anywhere else in the Carson gang territory! You hear?!” The horse and rider stopped and the man looked straight at the boss. A chill went down his back as the boss looked into the deadest eyes he’d ever seen on a man. Something about him just wasn’t right. Before he could move, the stranger had pulled out a strange looking weapon and fired dead center at his chest. The boss recoiled, finding a dart thing sticking out of him. That was the last thing he saw before blacking out.
His men were shocked as their leader went down. A few grabbed a couple of two by fours and ran yelling at the top of their lungs at the stranger on the horse. There was a couple of quick pops and two more men went down in the dirt with darts in them. As the third one went down, the rest of the men gave in and fled from the cabin. This man was picking them off like flies and they weren’t going to stick around to get picked off.
Inside the cabin, Gen couldn’t really hear what was going on, but as the men started running away, the guard forgot all about her and looked out the window to see what was going on. He broke the glass with his gun and fired through the hole in the window. He emptied all six rounds into the stranger but to no avail. “What is it?” Gen’s curiosity got the better of her. The guard was reloading as fast as he could. “He ain’t going down, I’m sure I hit him.” The guard carefully aimed this time and put all six of the shots in the guard’s head as he dismounted and approached the cabin. He was close enough for the guard to make out one of his bullets pass right through the stranger and go out the other side without leaving a mark. Gen was staying low so long as the bullets were flying. “He ain’t human!” The guard panicked, backing away. As he turned to run, the glass broke again on the window as a dart flew through it and straight into the guard’s back. Gen gasped as the man went down without a sound, out cold. Quickly, she freed her hands by phasing through the ropes. She came over, staying low, and inspected the object sticking out of the person’s back. It looked like a tranquilizer dart but there was no way a cowboy was using that. It struck a chord for her. “Not of this time,” she whispered to herself. That reeked of Truax’s doing.
Footsteps were circling the cabin. Gen tensed, looking around quickly for someplace to hide. There was only a table and chair in the whole place and they didn’t afford much cover. She quickly slipped over to the side of the door, picking up a piece of wood from the fireplace to defend herself with. The footsteps stopped over in the vicinity of the wagon and paused for a moment. Gen wondered if the person was after the gold. The footsteps turned and started walking towards the open door of the cabin. Gen raised her weapon up slowly, getting ready to strike.
She never got a chance to. A hand encircled her throat and she dropped the wood onto the floor. Gen could just make out that the hand had come through the wall next to her head. She grabbed onto the hand, trying to loosen it. The arm phased through the wall as the person walked around through the doorway to face her. He was holding her up above the ground now, her feet swinging in midair. Gen found herself face to face with a strange face, but a very familiar set of eyes. The same dead empty eyes that she had seen the night she was kidnapped. She mouthed the word “Quatrix”, unable to speak.
I've finally kicked off the first challenge of what's going to be three challenges for my MC. (Obviously this story has gotten too big and even if I make it to 50k, it's not going to be the end of the story)
It was a very hard landing that almost knocked the wind out of her. Somehow she managed to get a grip before falling off as the wind rushed loudly by. Gen raised her head to try and look around but got a face full of smoke instead. She put her head back down on the ground again, coughing and sputtering. The ‘ground’ felt awfully rough and metallic. Gen’s eyes went wide as she saw trees and scenery whizzing by. A whistle cut through the rushing wind and Gen realized what she was on top of. It was a train. A speeding train that she was hanging onto for dear life. Gen liquefied her hands and really dug into the top of the boxcar she was on top of to renew her grip. The trees cleared by and Gen finally got a good look at where she was. It was beautiful country that the train was going through. The sun was shining down over mountains and valleys. There was a bit of desert here and there, the rest was trees and forest. Colorado maybe, Gen supposed. She tossed that idea aside as they were getting into more and more desert area. The heat was starting to get to her too. It’s probably more west than that, she thought. She didn’t know where this train was headed, but Gen hoped it would get there soon. She didn’t want to have to try and hang on for hours at a time, she didn’t know how long her hands could grip inside of wood and metal.
The whistle blew a couple more times in a row, more frantically now, and with a screech of brakes, the train began to pull to a stop. Gen almost lost her balance as her feet slid off of the top of the boxcar but thankfully her hands held fast under the whiplash effect. She dragged herself back up onto the roof, trying to see where the engine was stopping.
She could just make out what was in front of the engine. It was a lone boxcar sitting in the middle of the tracks, blocking their way. The engineer in his blue and white striped outfit was getting out of the engine along with a conductor. Another conductor was coming from the back of the car. Gen kept low, making sure not to be seen. She could hear the second conductor complaining at his watch as he passed that they were late enough already. He called up to the two who were investigating the boxcar. “Anyone in it, Bill?” he asked. Gen could see the engineer shaking his head no. The first conductor called down, “We could push it to Green Creek and leave it off with the station master.” Gen couldn’t hear the answer as the second conductor was now out of earshot and talking with the other two. Great, more train riding after this, Gen thought as she let go of the roof for a second to give her hands a break. She’d always wanted to try riding on a train, but not like this. A thought struck her and she smiled at the idea. Who says I got to ride on top? She slowly turned her whole body to the silvery black plasma and let herself slide right down through the roof. She held on with her hands until the last minute so she could hang down and land on her feet instead of her face. It would have worked if there wasn’t something in the way. Gen landed on a large trunk, tripped, and fell on the wooden floor. “Ow!” she said with a frown. She quickly covered her mouth, hoping no one had heard her. It didn’t seem like they had. She couldn’t see very well in the car. The only light was coming through the slats in the wood. Gen felt around, finding the trunk she’d fallen on. It wasn’t broken, thank goodness. On a whim, Gen phased through the lock and opened it up to see what was inside. It was a bunch of women’s clothing. “Aha,” Gen said, holding up a brown and white long dress with frills on the hem. “Definetly gone back in time,” she said, looking at all the small buttons down the front. “Either that or there’s actors on this train.” She was getting better at the whole disguise thing too. She’d already matched her skin to the dress she was holding. It felt a bit constricting but Gen figured that was the way it was made. “I guess girls aren’t supposed to move around much here.”
The rest of the car was all dark lumps of different sizes. Gen found more luggage and different pieces of things here and there. Over in one corner though, she fell onto something hard. It was under a burlap covering and felt like a bunch of bricks. That’s odd, she thought and pulled up the covering. “Whoa,” Gen couldn’t believe her eyes. The light through the slats was just enough to make out the glint of the gold bars that were stacked neatly underneath the covering. “Wow, oh wow. There must be...” she did some estimating and counting. “...at least 100 bars in here. No wonder that conductor was upset they got stopped.”
There was a shout and two loud cracks that came from outside the boxcar. Gen dropped the cover back over the gold and ran up to one of the larger slats to see if she could see what was going on. At first all she could see was trees. But then two things rushed by that looked and sounded like galloping horses. There was more yelling and hollering. It sounded like a gang of them, whoever they were. Oh no, Gen’s heart sank. Don’t tell me it’s Indians.
Another shot sounded, tearing a hole in the side of the boxcar and narrowly missing Gen. She threw herself down on the floor, trying to get as low as possible. Maybe not Indians, she thought. A loud rough voice bellowed from just outside the door. “Don’t move Mr. Conductor, unless you ain’t enjoyin’ the daylight no more.” He laughed and called to his gang. “Come on, boys. It’s all ours.” There were yells and whooping of the gang as they started pounding on the door. Oh, this is bad, Gen thought as the door was starting to slide. Before they could get it open, she slid through the floor, dress and all. There wasn’t any sign of her as the robbers busted open the boxcar’s lock and slid open the wooden door. Gen dropped in-between the tracks under the train, getting her liquefied self clear of the gears before re-solidifying. She could see different people’s feet that were standing next to the train. All of them were in cowboy boots. Train robbers, she thought, trying to stay still so she wouldn’t be seen. I’m in the old west on a train that’s being robbed. So long as nobody looked down under the train, she was going to be ok till they left.
“Yup, here it is!” someone said over her head in the boxcar. “Shore is purty, ain’t it?”
“You can look at it later,” his friend elbowed him in the ribs, handing him some bags. “Start loading it up, we haven’t got much time.” Gen could see some wheels and horses feet coming their way alongside the train. It was a horse and wagon. That’s how they plan on making a getaway, she thought. There’s no way they could carry all of that gold on them otherwise. “Hurry it up, you lazy varmits!” The man who was obviously the boss of this operation was standing no more than two feet away from where Gen was hiding, looking into the boxcar to make sure nobody was hiding anything from him. “Right, boss. We’re hurryin’” The boss man turned to one of the guys and pointed down where the engine was. “You go up and make sure Sal doesn’t mess it up keepin’ the conductors and engineer covered.”
“Right boss,” the man left to help down near the engine. The other men were unloading the gold from the car as fast as they could. “Pick it up, mister, you ain’t never going to go on another raid if you don’t quit your yappin’ and get to work!” The boss was scolding a lazy member and walked a pace closer to the boxcar. As he did, he scuffed his feet in the dust. The dust flew up and hit Gen right in the face. It caught Gen right in the mouth and face. She coughed and blindly tried to rub the dust out of her eyes. She wanted to stop coughing, but it was too late. “Well, lookee here,” The boss man was looking under the carriage of the boxcar right at her. Before she could gather herself, he reached under and dragged her out of her hiding place. “We got us a little spy,” he held her arms behind her back as she tried to struggle. Gen still couldn’t see entirely and the dust was still in her throat. She finally gave up struggling and coughed and hacked till she could breath on her own. “Ow, you’re hurting me,” she said as she blinked the dust from her eyes. The gang was all looking at her. They were big tough looking men dressed in boots, jeans, and cowboy hats. Gen never wanted more in her life to disappear right then. “Great catch, boss.” One of the gang came up to them as he complimented his leader’s find. He was a short skinny man but still seemed just as menacing as the rest of them. “Mebbe she’s the one that opened the trunk in there. I thought that looked a bit suspicious, boss.”
“Shut up, Jeb. You done enough talkin’, now get back to work. I’ll handle this little girly myself.” Gen was scared but wasn’t going to panic just yet. She let herself be led over to the wagon where the boss was handed a piece of rope. He had a grip like a vice and Gen knew better than to try and break it. Better to phase through the rope when I get a chance, she thought to herself. “I don’t know what you was doin’ in there, missy, but you picked the wrong train to play around on,” the boss said, finishing his knots. “I wasn’t playing,” Gen said, and then thought better of it. “What were you doin’ in there then? Playin’ dressup with the trunk?” The boss man laughed at his own joke, the wagon driver joining in, just in case he was expected to. Gen suppressed a smile, knowing that he was closer to the truth than he realized. “I was lost,” she tried to explain, but he was finished listening to her. He hoisted her up into the back of the wagon and tied her legs together. “Well, looks like you’re gonna get more lost...with us.” He looked her up and down meaningfully and yanked on the rope around her legs to tighten it more. Gen winced as it bit painfully, but didn’t say anything. The boss left her there and went back towards where the men were unloading the gold. “Keep an eye on her, Rusty,” he called back to the driver. “Right boss,” he replied and turned to give Gen a grin that was missing a few teeth. Ugh, Gen thought. Where’s a dentist when you need one?
The gang was just finishing up when a shot rang out down near the engine side. “Easy boys, Sal can handle himself. Let’s git this job finished and head for home.” The boss clapped his hands to get them moving faster. His gang obliged and soon had all the gold unloaded from the boxcar and stacked in the wagon. The short wiry one named Jeb jumped up next to the driver while the rest got on their horses. With a jerk, the wagon started moving and they all rode away from the train, hollering and shooting over their victory. Gen was having trouble keeping her place in the wagon. She could see Sal was the last one leaving the train in a hurry. As he jumped on his horse, the conductor appeared at the engine’s doorway with a gun in hand. Gen could only watch as he shot at the robber. Sal’s arms went up as his horse reared and he pitched in the saddle onto the ground. He didn’t get up while the conductor came over to him. At that point, the wagon made a turn and Gen couldn’t see the train anymore for the trees in the way.
They were riding out over rocks and sand of the desert, leaving the forests behind. Gen was still bouncing painfully in her seat. She was trying to keep from rolling over onto the gold, which would hurt a lot more. Gen was glad that the wagon had a tail up on the back or she would have fallen out awhile back. Now she just had to find a good place to get untied and get away from these guys. The two in the driver’s seat weren’t looking behind and the ones on horses were running on ahead of them. Now and again, one of the mounted robbers would circle around back to make sure the gold was still ok. Gen waited till that guy had gone back to rejoin the pack in front before she began working on her wrists. She’d had enough practice with using her phasing abilities, but she was finding it harder while bouncing around like a maniac. She jokingly told herself that if she had half a mind, she’d go up and tell those hoodlums to slow down so she could escape. Finally it worked, her hands were free. She made like she was still tied up as another robber made the rounds to check the back of the wagon. When he’d gone, Gen checked to make sure the drivers weren’t looking. She could see Jeb holding a wicked looking shotgun in his hands. Gotta be quick and careful, she told herself as she leaned over and pulled up her skirt to untie her feet.
When she looked up, they were coming up on a cabin. There was smoke coming out of the chimney reassuringly, but Gen wasn’t reassured. When the wagon started slowing down as the driver was calling whoa to them, Gen made a break for it. She jumped over the side of the wagon as it turned and she made sure that she rolled to break her fall. There was a shout from one of the train robbers as she got to her feet as fast as she could and began to run. They’d already seen her jump from the wagon. Gen could see there wasn’t much out here but desert to run in, but off to the right was the beginnings of trees so she made for them. The ground was awfully uneven as she ran. She could feel her heart beating through her chest as she heard hoofbeats coming after her. Gen tried to run faster, but looked back to see how close they were. That was a mistake. The long train of her dress caught under her ladylike boot and she went down in a heap in the dust.
Gen tried to untangle herself and managed to get partially stood up again. But the horse was almost on her and an arm swooped down around her waist and lifted her up onto the horse. It was the boss man again. He set her in front of her on the saddle, despite her protests and flailing and began riding back to the cabin. “Let me go!” Gen struggled, but didn’t really want to fall off the horse now that she was up on it. It was a lot higher than she thought it would be. She had no idea how people jumped up and off of them in the movies. “You hush up now, missy. Or you’ll find yourself dropped off that there cliff over there and we’ll be done with ya, ok?” Gen stopped struggling at that and sat sullenly as they galloped back to the cabin. The boys were unloading the gold into a shed off to the side. A couple of them smiled and whistled at their leader for his handiwork.
“She’s a slippery one,” Jeb commented as the Boss dismounted and helped Gen down. “Didn’t even break the rope, look the knots still tied in it.” He held up the knotted rope to show him, but the Boss wasn’t interested. He had a good grip on Gen’s arm and led her into the cabin.
Gen noted that her self made dress was starting to look very dingy from all her crawling and moving around. She wondered fleetingly if that meant her skin was getting scuffed up as well. The boss led her over to the corner and put one of his men on guard over her. He tied each of her hands spread eagle to two pegs on either side of the corner, presumably to keep her from reaching the knots. Gen realized she could still get out of them, but with the lackey having the gun trained in her, it wouldn’t make much difference if she got shot. So she sat quietly, listening to everyone else working outside. They sounded
Like they were unloading the gold from the wagon. She could hear grunts and groans from the guys doing the lifting. As per usual, the boss was supervising, not helping with the lifting. “Great job, boys. Once we get this gold stashed away for a couple of days, then we can leave for Mexico and kiss this dustbowl goodbye.”
“Boss,” Jeb had sidled up alongside the leader and was talking low, but Gen could still hear him. “What about the girl? What are we going to do with her?”
“I’m still working that one out Jeb.”
“What is there to work out? She’s seen our faces, she could identify us. We got to get rid of her.” There was a sharp “Ow!” following that statement, and Gen figured that the boss didn’t like other people doing his thinking for him. “I decide what happens to the girl so keep your notions to y’self. Any more talkin’ like that and you’ll be the one left in the valley, not her.”
Jeb mumbled an apology and the Boss released him. Gen hoped that the Boss was stalling by saying he was still thinking about what to do with her. Maybe he didn’t like killing women, she hoped.
“Boss! Someone’s a-comin’ over the hill!” One of the lookouts sang out to the group down at the cabin. The boss looked up the hill to see a lone rider approaching on horseback. They weren’t coming very fast, it was as if they were taking their time to reach the cabin. It was a man, so far as he could make out. The problem was they hadn’t finished unloading all the gold yet. “He’s seen us, you boys go take him out!” He pointed at three of his best sharpshooters. The three men nodded, drawing their sixshooters and running to take aim against the rocks next to the cabin. The horseman was almost in range. Gen tried to stand to see what all the ruckus was about, but the guard shoved the gun towards her and she sat back down obediently.
The stranger was in range and the hidden sharpshooters let their bullets fly. The rider didn’t even flinch as he stayed on his horse and kept riding as if they had been shooting blanks at him. The shooters emptied their guns into him as he came closer. It was a black cowboy outfit he wore with a black hat. When their guns were empty, the three of them ran back to the cabin for cover. “He ain’t goin’ down, boss!” they reported. “We emptied three guns into him, there’s no way we could have missed that many times.” The boss frowned, looking at the half emptied wagon. “You see his face?” he asked. The three shook their heads, “But if he keeps comin’ we will.”
“Ok, boys, everyone take cover. Leave the gold for now, we gotta take this critter out.” The men dropped everything and drew their weapons, taking cover at different points around the cabin. The boss was hidden where he could see everything. His man next to him pointed at the stranger. “He looks kinda familiar, don’t he, boss?” The boss nodded. “That’s that no good thieving James boy. I don’t know what he’s doin’ here, but you can bet he’s up to nothin’ good.” On his command, the entire group fired on the oncoming stranger. It didn’t seem to do any good though. The bullets didn’t bounce off, but the stranger didn’t even bat an eyelash. He kept riding along, ignoring the robbers completely. The horse was a bit more skittish, but it kept going where it’s master told it to go.
“He still ain’t goin’ down, what are we gonna do?” The men were starting to get spooked. They were used to everything they shot at going down, but this man didn’t seem to be anything human. The boss however was getting really aggravated. He certainly recognized that figure and he knew that it was nothing but a man. The stranger was close enough for earshot and the boss called out to him. “James you polecat swindler! You ain’t welcome here or anywhere else in the Carson gang territory! You hear?!” The horse and rider stopped and the man looked straight at the boss. A chill went down his back as the boss looked into the deadest eyes he’d ever seen on a man. Something about him just wasn’t right. Before he could move, the stranger had pulled out a strange looking weapon and fired dead center at his chest. The boss recoiled, finding a dart thing sticking out of him. That was the last thing he saw before blacking out.
His men were shocked as their leader went down. A few grabbed a couple of two by fours and ran yelling at the top of their lungs at the stranger on the horse. There was a couple of quick pops and two more men went down in the dirt with darts in them. As the third one went down, the rest of the men gave in and fled from the cabin. This man was picking them off like flies and they weren’t going to stick around to get picked off.
Inside the cabin, Gen couldn’t really hear what was going on, but as the men started running away, the guard forgot all about her and looked out the window to see what was going on. He broke the glass with his gun and fired through the hole in the window. He emptied all six rounds into the stranger but to no avail. “What is it?” Gen’s curiosity got the better of her. The guard was reloading as fast as he could. “He ain’t going down, I’m sure I hit him.” The guard carefully aimed this time and put all six of the shots in the guard’s head as he dismounted and approached the cabin. He was close enough for the guard to make out one of his bullets pass right through the stranger and go out the other side without leaving a mark. Gen was staying low so long as the bullets were flying. “He ain’t human!” The guard panicked, backing away. As he turned to run, the glass broke again on the window as a dart flew through it and straight into the guard’s back. Gen gasped as the man went down without a sound, out cold. Quickly, she freed her hands by phasing through the ropes. She came over, staying low, and inspected the object sticking out of the person’s back. It looked like a tranquilizer dart but there was no way a cowboy was using that. It struck a chord for her. “Not of this time,” she whispered to herself. That reeked of Truax’s doing.
Footsteps were circling the cabin. Gen tensed, looking around quickly for someplace to hide. There was only a table and chair in the whole place and they didn’t afford much cover. She quickly slipped over to the side of the door, picking up a piece of wood from the fireplace to defend herself with. The footsteps stopped over in the vicinity of the wagon and paused for a moment. Gen wondered if the person was after the gold. The footsteps turned and started walking towards the open door of the cabin. Gen raised her weapon up slowly, getting ready to strike.
She never got a chance to. A hand encircled her throat and she dropped the wood onto the floor. Gen could just make out that the hand had come through the wall next to her head. She grabbed onto the hand, trying to loosen it. The arm phased through the wall as the person walked around through the doorway to face her. He was holding her up above the ground now, her feet swinging in midair. Gen found herself face to face with a strange face, but a very familiar set of eyes. The same dead empty eyes that she had seen the night she was kidnapped. She mouthed the word “Quatrix”, unable to speak.