The empty bottle with its thin outer layer of dirt sat upon the crooked wooden fence post, barely balanced and a weak breeze away from toppling over. The sun’s rays shone down upon it, slowly heating it up as the last of the day’s unburst clouds rolled away into the distance.
Bang.
The glass shattered and its fragments sprinkled the dirt as a small whiff of smoke faded above a 9mm pistol held by a young girl. She grinned with excitement as her hand trembled, looking to the blonde haired, blue-eyed man who stood beside her looking very proud.
“I did it,” she gasped before raising her voice. “I did it, Arc!”
“And on your third shot too,” said the Hawk. “Not half bad, Julie. I wouldn’t start signing up for a sunset duel just yet, but give it a few more weeks.”
“A duel?”
“Yeah, it’s when…never mind.”
Arc looked up the road, making sure that the tracks the duo had been following hadn’t been covered by a new layer of dust that could mask them.
“Alright,” he said to Julie. “Let’s keep moving before the trail goes cold and we have to trek all the way back to Pembroke to find out where Colt is.”
“And then we’d have to walk all the way back out here,” said Julie wearily.
“Precisely. If we get this right now, then we don’t need to go through all that hassle to find your brother. Now put the safety on your gun and stick it in your belt so you can draw it quickly should the need arise. The last thing we want is to get mauled by a pack of roving goblins before we find Jack.”
Julie did as she was taught, flicking the gun’s safety lever so that she couldn’t shoot herself in the foot as she walked. She put the belt between her purple t-shirt and the belt she had tied fastened around it and her waist.
“Good girl,” said Arc. “I’d say after you, but I’ll lead the way so I’m the meat shield keeping you safe from any of Colt’s men that venture this way.”
“Do you think they will?” asked Julie.
“Nah, not unless we dilly dally for so long that they think I’m not coming for him.”
Arc and Julie set off alongside the road, keeping closer to the rocks littering the wasteland than to the asphalt itself. Should they hear the faintest of rumblings, the pair were diving for cover and would worry about what it was that was coming down the road after the fact.
The road seemed endless as they walked along, but the tracks continued along it and they were assured that they were still moving in the right direction. All the same, Julie couldn’t help but fear that Jack was already dead. All Colt needed was for Arc to think Jack was alive; he didn’t need to be alive. Arc shot down those thoughts each time she spoke them aloud, saying that Colt was a gloated and he’d want to dangle Jack in front of him before killing the young man.
“Out of all of Colt’s minions, Jolly Roger is going to pay the most,” said Arc, having silenced Julie’s doubts for the fifth.
“We’re settled on the name then?” she asked, having suggested a dozen different ones, each of them more spiteful than the last. “It doesn’t sound harsh enough to me.”
“You’ve got it wrong, Julie,” said Arc, shaking his head. “You don’t want to give him a basic or cool nickname. You want it to sound just goofy enough that it evokes a laugh the first few times you hear it. Our enemies must feel mocked, not emboldened. Something like Chuckles would work too, while some of your foul-mouthed suggestions would maybe get a wince at best.”
“I didn’t think I was capable of those words,” admitted Julie.
“Nor I.”
“I think Jack influences me more than I realise sometimes. Not that that’s always a bad—”
“Wait,” said Arc, holding up his hand and then pointing over the hills in the distance. “See that?”
“Black clouds?” asked Julie before squinting and realising that the spreading darkness was drifting upwards, not along. “Smoke?”
“Smoke,” confirmed Arc, pulling out his revolver and marching ahead. “Let’s pray that it isn’t the burning remains of the truck your brother was in.”
“Or maybe we should pray that it is and he’s safe.”
“Yeah, I’ll happily take that one.”
The arid badlands they walked along had little else except for stones and sharp grass that grew in occasional clumps where the soil retained just enough moisture to let it survive. Rain was a luxury in this part of the world, falling typically two or three times a month, and a town that wasn’t built near a river was one that wasn’t going to last for very long.
Humans had gotten used to storing large quantities of water in tanks and barrels on the streets or the roofs of their houses, collecting every last drop they could gather when the opportunity arose, for they had no idea when the next rainfall would come. It had been decades since anyone had given it a second thought; it was simply part of life now.
Arc and Julie pressed ahead and kept just far enough away from the road that they felt safe, but as they walked, it became clear that the road was drifting off to the right, while the smoke was coming from somewhere to the left. Whatever lay on the other side of the hills may not have been the car, but they had to check to be sure.
The duo crept up the sloping ground, keeping low as they moved. They managed to keep mostly quiet save for when Julie slipped on a few loose stones. Luckily, Arc was quick off the mark and grabbed her arm before she slid down and scraped the skin from her legs. After a hushed thank you from the young girl, he pulled her back up and the two proceeded more carefully until they reached the apex.
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What was causing the smoke was not that shocking; a large bonfire of wood, but what was sitting on its fat backside beside the fire left Julie stunned and Arc smirking.
“Fantastic,” he said, giving Julie a wink. “Perfect target practice for you.”
“What is it?” Julie asked, scared of the creature that was scratching its bulbous stomach.
“You’ve never seen a hill giant before?”
“I heard they existed, but I never thought I would see one in person.”
The hill giant was a fat, ugly lump of a creature that had more hair on its chest and back than it did on its head. It had vacant eyes that stared through its bonfire and a slacked jaw that you could have crammed a car tyre into if you were forceful enough. Its arms and legs were a mixture of muscle and fat with countless cuts, bruises and scars. This giant had seen plenty of battles and had survived to tell the tale.
Perhaps it had seen one recently as, on the dirt beside it, lay two human skeletons that had their bones picked clean of flesh. There were black marks on the bones of one skeleton, indicating whoever it once was had died in the fire or the giant had overcooked this portion of his succulent meal.
“That…that couldn’t be Jack and Jolly Roger, could it?” asked Julie weakly.
“Nah,” said Arc. “It would struggle to catch up to a car and one of the skeletons is too big to be your brother. It’s not them.”
Julie was reassured by this, but she still felt uneasy. “We can’t fight this thing. What should we do?” she asked, shifting her head lower, fearing that the giant would spot two more tasty morsels watching it.
“Fight it?” asked Arc. “Nah, we shoot it. It’s one thing practicing on targets that don’t move, another entirely to practice against one that’s moving. And not only that, but if you’re going to kill a human, evil as the human may be, it’ll help you if you kill a creature that feeds on your own species without a second thought. It's sad to say, but you need to be desensitised.”
The giant raised up an arm, startling Julie, but he scratched his arm pit, gave his fingers a sniff and then lowered his arm again. Julie scrunched up her face, finding the creature repulsive, but Arc found the simplicity of the beast’s mind strangely charming. Another look at the skeletons beside it rid him of that thought quickly.
“Alright, take out your gun and make sure you take the safety off,” said Arc, drawing his own revolver just in case things took a turn for the worse. “You’ve got two options, Julie. Aim for the head and hope you can take him out good and quick, or aim for the leg and cripple him so he can’t chase you easily.”
“Why would I not aim for the head first?”
“Because if you miss, he’s going to come charging in faster than a pack of coyotes, young lady. Are you confident in your accuracy after only minutes of target practice?”
“Why can’t you tell me what to do?”
“If we get ourselves into a scrap with Colt, Jolly Roger and the rest of the unruly crew, I can’t give you step by step instructions while trying to lay waste to our enemies. I’m not that good, and I can’t see out of your eyes. I need you to be able to make your own calls in the thick of it.”
“Alright,” said Julie, taking a deep breath and creeping up slightly higher. She kept low and held her pistol in both hands while staring down the sight. “Here it goes.”
“No talking,” said Arc. “Keep quiet and let yourself focus.”
Julie lined up her target and aimed carefully, trying very hard to steady her shaking hands. As vile as the creature was, she felt pity for it as she readied herself to assassinate it. When she was ready, she gently squeezed the trigger and a lone bullet erupted from her gun as the shot rang out across the badlands. Less than a second later, the giant let out a quaking roar as it clutched what was left of its nose.
“Oh shit,” said Arc with a chuckle, aiming at the giant who had sprung up and around, looking towards him and Julie. “Do something!”
Julie stood up as the giant reached into the fire and grabbed one of his burning tree stumps. He cocked his arm back as the blood streamed down his face and launched the flaming wood at the hill. Arc slid down, grabbing Julie by the leg and pulling her back onto the ground as the log whizzed overhead with the fire streaming along behind it. It smashed into the ground at the bottom of the hill and broke into hundreds of ashy pieces.
“Quite the arm on him,” said Arc, enjoying himself. Stupid foes were his favourite foes.
He grabbed Julie with one hand and pulled her back to the top of the hill, keeping his revolver at the ready. The giant ran forward with thundering footsteps and Julie aimed for his left knee, squeezing the trigger again. She was shaking so much that she missed its knee and the giant took the bullet in the stomach. It barely phased the hulking brute as he continued his heavy bounding towards the little creatures he wanted to tear asunder.
“What do I do?” squealed Julie.
“Shoot!” called Arc, not yet prepared to step in. She needed the pressure to prepare her for what may be coming next.
Julie fired three more rounds, missing once and striking the giant in the thigh twice, yet he still kept on coming. The hill shook as he stormed up it. Arc turned around and slid down the loose stones, speeding his way to the bottom and leaving Julie by herself. In a panic, she launched herself after him as the giant’s head peeked out to watch its dessert sliding away.
Arc pulled Julie to her feet and she turned around right as the giant stood atop the hill. She pointed her gun at him and emptied the rest of her magazine, managing to get three good shots into the brute’s skull. It froze and wobbled unsteadily as it fought to cling to life.
The hill giant’s face looked dopier than ever before as its eyes drooped to a close. He let out a weak groan before slumping over and tumbling down the hill. He rolled and spun, picking up speed as Arc and Julie ran to the side to avoid being flattened. The giant slowed upon reaching the flat land and came to a halt, his half-closed, dead eyes now staring at the sky and his face covered in dust that had stuck to the mess of blood from his eviscerated nose.
“Not bad, not bad,” said Arc, nodding proudly and patting Julie on the shoulder. “We’ll make a marksman out of you yet.”
“I…I…” stammered Julie as she stared at the dead giant, her entire body shaking vigorously. “Wh-what’s…ha-happening…”
“That’s the adrenaline,” said Arc. “There’s nothing like a first kill to get the body firing on all cylinders. It won’t be so bad the next time. The time after that, you’ll find it easier still. After a while, you’ll be so used to it that you’ll not even think about it.”
Julie stood silently trembling while Arc walked up to the giant and looked at the beast’s ugly face. He poked him with the tip of his revolver, checking to make sure that he was definitely dead and not just knocked out. It wouldn’t be unheard of for giants that appeared dead to simply be unconscious, so sturdy were the species. Assured that the last vestiges of life had left its body, Arc walked over to Julie and pointed at her gun.
“That thing’s empty,” he said. “You’ve only got one more magazine, so we’re not going to take any more shots unless it’s a necessity, alright?”
“Y-y-yes,” said Julie, trying to put the safety back on, but she couldn’t keep steady enough to do it.
Arc took the gun from her hand and did it for her before twirling it around on his finger and handing it back over. Julie looked at him, wanting to say thank you, but found herself unable to get the words out coherently.
“It’s all good, Julie,” said Arc. “You now know that you’ve got it in you, right?”
“R-r-right.”
“Wait until Jack hears about this. He’s going to not believe you for thirsty seconds, then he’ll sing your praises in a high-pitched voice and, finally, he’ll start muttering under his breath about how cool you are. He’ll think that you don’t hear him, but you will.”
“He…he does do that…doesn’t he?”
“Yep,” said Arc with a grin. “I’m his hero, even if he won’t admit it aloud. It’s nice to be appreciated, you know? Anyway, let’s get a move on and find that brother of yours before that mouth of his riles up Colt’s crew so much that they shoot him before we get there.”
Arc paused as Julie looked up at him with narrowed eyes and a twitching mouth.
“That was a joke,” he said before jerking his head to the side and wincing. “Alright, it wasn’t funny. You’re right.”