The Chief woke us up early. We were all outside, standing around the large two story cabin that he made his personal abode. And up front was the large blue steamer chest that was reserved for any loot we found.
Everyone was some kind of groggy; Pharrel couldn’t keep his head up, eyes flickering desperately to remain conscious. While Ina’s fur was all frizzy and her whiskers were bent.
Unlike last night Katarina was with us.
Kind of like me she disliked getting inebriated, Pharrel theorized that liquor might be too much for her. She was from the European Isles, moderately short blonde hair that she had in a messy bun, wearing a light blue button down shirt with brown pants. She usually wore an ancestral mask while on jobs in order to hide her identity like the rest of us. Except when I offered to make modifications to it she turned me down. She was almost offended by the idea anyone would touch her precious mask. I mistook it for a tool when it obviously meant more than that and I felt bad.
“He sure does take his precious time, doesn’t he?” Khan asked to noone in particular.
Katarina answered, “Have you considered not being a drunk idiot?”
His face contorted angrily within itself, his skin dried up, “Shut up, princess.” he snarled.
“Touchy subject” she shrugged.
“She's right, you act like you have nine livers like Ina!”, I joked.
“Say one more thing to me Walt and I’ll bury you.” Khan's face looked like his threat, blood red either from the morning sun beating down or his impudent rage.
An uncomfortable silence hung in the air, that comment was enough to tell us that Khan wasn’t even in the mood for jokes. The big three were still inside the cabin doing who knows what. They got upset with us if we moved on to other things before they gave their daily spiel, and we’d make it more bearable by shooting the shit, only at the time I was afraid Khan was going to lose his shit. Not even the lively chirping of the forest or the pleasant breeze that blew in from the eastern coast was going to be enough to cool off that furnace of a man.
“I just don’t get it… why do we need to listen to those… has-beens.” There went Isaiah, slithering his way into trouble. He loved to talk and to hear the sound of his raspy voice.
Ina bared her fangs, hissing in outrage, “What did you say, snake?”
The cat girl had a similar upbringing to me in the Apostates. She was brought in even younger than I was, eight years old, with Claudia and Chief being mostly responsible for her upbringing.
“You heard me, pussy cat.” he chuckled dryly as he lazily twirled his revolvers in each hand.
I asked him, “Care to elaborate?”
“All I’m saying is that maybe we need new blood in the old guard.” he winked at me. Ignoring the blatant disrespect, it would have been charming if it came from any other person.
Surprisingly, Khan’s temper simmered into a mild grumpiness, as he said to Isaiah, “Oh yeah? I bet you imagine yourself as the next best thing.”
Khan was stupid. Like really stupid. But he was the kind of stupid that liked to dream a lot. Or more like he believes in every thought in his head and instead of reflecting he does. He’s a man of action, which is what Chief loves the most.
“Well obviously I ain’t talkin’ about Walter. He nearly fumbled the heist cause he couldn’t control the stiffy he had for that cape." he said with as much slyness as a sun-burnt tortoise. I supposed he had somewhat of a point, half of the bank did split in half. The half that fell into the ocean could have had the payday we so desperately wanted.
“Gross.” said Kata under her breath, “I don’t want to think of Walter’s dick.”
Pharrel stood to my defense, fighting off his oppressive hangover, speech still slurred but not unintelligible, “Hop off his dick!”
Ina growled, “Not even been with us for a year and you act like you’re the boss,”
“I’m not starting shit for no reason, pussy cat! We shouldn’t let in the likes of rat-boy on raids if he isn’t going to pull his own weight. The fact that those three even allowed it is telling of an entirely different issue.”
“You have no idea of what you speak of you smelly bastard, and I recommend you silence your mouth before I turn you into something even uglier!” Ina said maliciously as her typically feline eyes morphed into a deep black.
Evidently Ina’s tail had a mind of its own at times, and depending on her mood it moved unpredictably. During that argument it must have been grazing Khan’s back a bit too much for his liking.
Like a hot kettle, Khan bellowed, “For the love of GODSPEED, I’m gonna CHOP that tail off if it keeps acting up, Ina!”
The already enraged cat girl had spun around to face Khan, the fur on the back of her neck rose as she told him, “Stop interrupting me, you alcoholic fuck!”
And in that moment, Kata formed a ball of snow in her hand and slapped it down Khan’s back. He yelped like a little girl, flailing his arms around at the out-of-season prank dripping down his backside. The uncharacteristic noise that Khan made in comparison to his strong mountain man physique was enough to get a rise out of all of us. We were all standing around the embarrassed man laughing at his minor misfortune, not caring of the small rough scales that started to pierce through his skin.
He had enough, his entire body was suddenly covered in rough armored plating. Fish scales of brutality and stubbornness made him look jagged and wild like a thorny boulder. He called out to Ina and challenged her to a duel of all things. Khan hated anyone who was bigger and stronger than him and even though Ina was not big she was definitely stronger. He would have ended up embarrassing himself even more.
We all made space for them, as they took twenty paces away from each other. Suddenly little Ronnie came running out of a bush, the curly mop of hair on her head bounced in anticipation, surely eavesdropping on our argument and yelled with much joy and excitement. Too much in fact, Kata shushed her immediately.
The cat and the boulder were having a good old-fashioned face-off. Out west there was less law so more people did them. And not just people with guns or swords but quasi too. It was a little barbaric for my liking, but Andre said to me that sometimes humans need to kill each other to feel better. I asked him why, since it sounded ridiculous and he said that's just what he saw.
After waiting for so long for either of them to make a move, Andre finally burst open through the cabin's front door, and with a voice that made your skeleton shiver he said, “Stop fighting little un’s, the Chief is ready to speak!”
We all snapped to attention, lining up in a single file line. Whatever poisonous spell Ina was about to utter from her lips ended in thought and the stubborn armor crawled underneath Khan’s thin skin.
Following Andre was Claudia, holding her top hat close to her chest, an expression of uncertainty was plastered on her painted face. I had half the desire to ask what she was thinking about, until I heard,
JINGLE
JANGLE
JINGLE
JANGLE
I wonder what funny words we’d be subjected to today. He was the greatest man we all knew. When he spoke, you believed him.
And after a few proud and loud steps, there he was standing before us: The Chief
“Ladies and gentlemen! What a beautiful day we have ahead of us, right?”, with a bright smile and taking big puffs out of his cigar he walked down our line with his hands on his gun belt, red velvet vest glistening in the morning sun, “Makes you proud of being an American. A true American.”
Andre and Claudia stood back and remained quiet as he continued on, us junior guns did the same, like pawns on a chess board.
“We are the last line of defense, in a world that has forgotten its spirit in the debilitating deception of industry and laws. What good is being blessed with our special gifts, us quasi, if we are colonized? The people of New Geweld… they’re trapped… like a hamster on a wheel trying to catch its chuck cheese. How can one dream of a better life if you are so busy trying to survive?”
In the middle of his speech he stopped right in front of me, pulled out his cigar and laid a hand on my shoulder, squeezing it firmly. His face was gently unexpressive, you couldn’t see a drop of anger, despair, happiness, or desire. His dark brown eyes told a different story however, one that was long and part of a small ember in the fire that burned within. It was scary but knowing Chief meant we were set.
Then he said with as much force as a hurricane yet an inch above a whisper, “We do more than survival. We live. And by Godspeed we will win!”
After his morning sermon, he discussed more practical matters. He gave orders to each of us, detailing the general goals we should work to accomplish. Claudia also reminded us to not forget to donate whatever cash or valuables we found to the loot chest.
Then Andre said, “And don’t forget to find some food for Nando to cook. Nothing spoiled and it has to be edible ....” while obviously looking at Isaiah and Pharrel with squinted eyes, the latter seemed ashamed of his past silly mistake while the former spat a lump of phlegm on the ground.
“Now, one more thing before I set y’all free. Walter… do you have something you want to share?”
Oh boy.
I stammered a bit, absentmindedly rubbing at my nub, it didn’t help that I knew the boys were looking at me.
“So… uh. I… what did I want to share?” I asked, I felt a sudden hotness on my face and it wasn’t from Pharrell's flames.
“What you told Andre last night, apparently.” said Claudia with one eyebrow raised.
“Well… why do I have to say it?”
Andre grumbled in irritation, “Come on Walt just open up about it! It was your idea.”
Then Ina jumped up smiling brightly, tonally whiplashing all of us and said “If it makes you feel any better, Walt, I read your mind so I already know.”
“What?!” I said, now I was really gripping my nub as if I’d lose the rest of my arm.
I shouldn’t have hesitated in the first place, Kata was barely holding in a snicker and Isaiah enjoyed seeing me suffer.
Until the Chief looked at me with a soft expression, “It’s ok son, you should not feel ashamed for sharing your ideas. We are a family, you know that?”
The Apostates took me in when no one else did. I’d still be rummaging through dumpsters and abandoned warehouses if it wasn’t for Chief stumbling into my life, I’d probably be worse off. If they didn’t have my side, no one else did.
I relented, and with a sigh I said, “I think we should work with Power-Jack.”
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