Infinity Legends

Chapter 42: The Gunslinger

That time, at least nobody fell on any Sand Hoots.

As the five adventurers laid across the cave floor, their flashlights rolling over the stone to illuminate their surroundings randomly and poorly, a new and extremely disturbing noise filled the air. Thousands of low crickets and the crescent flicker of cuticle wings emanating from all directions. Gurm hurried to recover Arlak’s flashlight, and Kramen lit his own. As the twin beams danced around the underground walls, hundreds upon hundreds of huge bugs lazily awoke from their slumber and crawled out of the holes in the walls. Their red colored bodies contorted as they navigated the walls, dark eyes turning to the invaders while theirs wings parted to reveal oversized abdomens filled with the all-present resin in its liquid form.

“Guys,” Gurm whispered. “I’m scared.”

“Not gonna lie, I’m with her,” Takol did not dare move to retrieve his flashlight, but instead had shifted his rifle from plasma to laser mode. “This things won’t kill us. They’ll cover us in goo. We won’t respawn, we’ll be stuck in this hell until someone finds us.”

“So, what now?” Serry asked.

“Now we get one of their eggs, then get the heck out,” Arlak said, already back on his feet. He cracked his neck, then made motion to c***k his fingers but stopped when he recalled one of his hands was but a chunk of resin.

Around them, more Sand Hoots crawled out of the walls, and some already had their wings ready and fleeting.

“Freeze’em!” Takol yelled and opened continuous laser fire on the wall. The hot beam immediately set fire to every insect it touched, creating a luminous curtain over one of the walls, making the whole chamber visible.

Immediately, Hoots from every direction took off and charged the group. Serry and Gurm were quick to use their powers to keep the creatures at bay. Serry froze several of the bugs midair, their resin sacks solidifying and making them burst in brown colored snowflakes. Gurm raised her staff in a different direction, slowing the advance of an entire swarm to a halt.

Some of the bugs still managed to get through their defenses, but Arlak was ready for them. Cackling, the brute swung his fists at the approaching arthropods, each of them instantly exploding in a spay of resin.

“Careful!” Kramen yelled as he pointlessly gunned Hoots one by one. “That’s what they want!”

The warning made Arlak stop and look at his fists. The one previously free was now also gloved in resin, while the one already petrified was now covered by a much thicker crust. The realization only got a shrug out of the giant. Larger fists just meant heavier punches.

“Go get the egg!” Arlak screamed to Kramen, then squished a bug between his two rocky hands.

Kramen took off running towards the closest visible egg, a gooey, soft, inflated red sphere over a rocky nest. As he did, Arlak kept getting bombarded by the exploding critters, and kept punching them into oblivion. One of the insects managed to land on his back and exploded into another splatter of resin, creating a carapace over Arlak’s neck and shoulders.

Kramen kept running and gunning the approaching Sand Hoots, but his pistol was no match to the volume of the swarm. Eventually, two bugs, flying low, collided with his knees, bathing his legs in their brown secretion. Kramen stopped, feet glued to the ground and to each other. There would be no getting to the egg.

“I got it!” Arlak yelled and charged to the egg, shoving bugs aside, each time adding to the resinous armor on his torso. Still, Arlak’s superior size and strength gave him some wiggle room when it came to being overwhelmed. Maybe he would be able to…

Arlak stopped before the egg, studying it, then studying the petrified covers on his hands.

“Didn’t quite think this through, did you?” Kramen yelled, laughing.

Arlak growled. The goo over the egg would make it too slippery to hold without fingers. Arlak looked to Kramen. The cyborg was being hit by another exploding bug, this one covering his torso in resin, but his arms were still free.

“Kid, catch!” Arlak swung his arm and hit the egg like a golf ball. The purple orb arched through the cave and fell right into Kramen’s hands.

“Now what?” Kramen asked, legs still frozen.

Arlak didn’t answer. He just took off running and hugged Kramen with his rock-hard arms, ripping the human from the ground and charging to the closest exit tunnel.

The bugs had realized one of their eggs was being poached, and redirected their suicidal flights to intercept the thieves.

Gurm joined Arlak and Kramen on their escape, using the flashlight to illuminate the path outside and the staff to keep the bugs at bay.

“Wait!” Kramen grunted, holding tight to the egg while Arlak carried him outside. “Serry and Takol…”

“We’ll come back for’em! Now we have a city to terrorize!”

***

A Sand Hoot had glued Takol’s tail to the wall while he was not looking, and another one had managed to pin his feet to the floor. His left arm had been covered in resin as well, forcing him to shoot his rifle with a single hand. That drastically reduced accuracy, but it sure looked badass.

Serry was doing much better, being able to use her powers to repel most of the resin still in its liquid form after the Hoots exploded. Still, now that it was down to her and a onehanded Takol pinned to a wall, she was bound to get overrun.

Puncturing the bugs’ resin sacks with propelled icicles, the white-clad mage ran to Takol.

“Guess we’re screwed!” Takol said, wildly shooting at the air as his good arm grew tired.

“Give me that!” Serry snatched the rifle from his hands and opened fire over the coming bugs, slicing them down with incredible precision. For every dead bug, a cloud of liquid resin was launched in the air, and before it could solidify Serry tossed the rifle down and used her abilities to raise the brown liquid in a protective bubble around her and Takol, adding a coat of ice to the resulting structure.

Takol watched awestruck as the resin they had been fearing was turned to protection. Outside the translucent dome, the Hoots kept pointlessly charging at them, exploding against the bubble and adding even more resin to it.

Serry quickly turned to the holes on the wall behind them and plugged them with ice.

“Now we wait,” she muttered, sitting down besides Takol. The buzz and pops of the suicide bugs outside was disturbing and stomach wrenching, but at least they were safe now.  

“Didn’t know you had ranks in marksmanship,” Takol nodded to his rifle on the ground.

“I don’t,” Serry shrugged. “Grew up in a farm in real life. Dad taught me a thing or two. It’s a long story…”

“Then it’s a good thing we’re not going anywhere.”

***

“And the grand winner of the tournament is Jake Nebula!” the referee of the dueling contest raised the arm of a young and handsome human who had outgunned every other gunslinger who bothered to show up.

The live audience cheered and applauded. Some of the other competitors joined in, while some, like Damien Swipe, grumbled in discontent.

The referee proceeded to present the victor with a pair of extremely advanced pistols, and just as he would speak, a distant and growing buzz stole everyone’s attention.

Just to the south of the city, a huge hairy alien ran through the desert. He was holding a smaller man who, in turn, held a red egg, and they were both boosted the by speeding spells of a dark-matter sage. Behind the trio, a cloud of insects darkened the skies, spilled from a breach in the rocky surface of a nearby hill.

“Now we’re talking!” one of the defeated gunslingers yelled and fired plasma rounds at the red sky.

Many more joined him. Some of the audience took off running, looking for shelter or taking off in spaceships, and some picked up weapons of all sorts and found cover.

Jake Nebula, the tournament winner, snatched the prize pistols from the referee’s hands and ran off to a nearby ship. He had gotten what he came for, a Sand Hoot swarm was way too much trouble for nothing!

“Hey!” Damien Swipe, one of the beaten semi-finalists ran after the champion. “That’s my ship!”

But Damien was too late. From the cockpit, Jake Nebula saluted and winked, then shot to the atmosphere.

Damien sighed, unholstered his own dual guns and turned to the south. Time to shoot some bugs. Time to show these people what a real gunslinger was all about.

Time to shine!

While everyone else in town got ready to fight from behind barrels and on top of rooftops, Damien paced to the edge of the village, his long dark overcoat brushing the red dust on the streets. He leaned over a fence marking the edge of town and effortlessly rolled over it, pulling a cowboy hat hooked to a pole and resting it on top of his oily shoulder-length hair.

Behind him, men and women asked what he was doing, walking towards the coming swarm. They would see.

Spinning the pistols on his middle fingers, he took aim and fired two blue bolts of plasma that sizzled across the dry desert air between him and the coming players.

To him, Kramen and Arlak were but small figures in the distance, but the shots were sure. The charging hairy alien crumpled over with a burning hole on each kneecap. The cyborg he carried was launched forward, rolling over the sand unable to use his petrified legs to get up and run.

That would make sure the swarm didn’t reach town. Now he could see about helping the poor adventurers for some extra reputation points.

As the swarm converged to dive onto the fallen cyborg, the black-hooded mage stepped in to try and delay the inevitable, but the gunslinger was already running towards them.

Damien opened fire without slowing down, twin slugs of blue plasma quickly chopping through the ranks of the Sand Hoots, never missing a mark. Behind Damien, the rest of the players in the village had been inspired to copy him in his heroic charge.

Thousands of Sand Hoots flew from one side.

Thousands of plasma bolts flew from the other.

On the ground, Kramen smiled and crushed the egg on the sand. That plan was done, and it had worked perfectly. They had found what they came for.

By luring a cloud of Sand Hoots to the village, they had singled out the one Gunslinger they needed. Clever, precise, brave and an excellent shot.

Now that the egg was no more, the Hoots that had already left the nest dispersed to attack the coming gunslingers. Most of the players scored hits before getting petrified, but the one leading the charge, Damien Swipe, rained fiery death on the Hoots without getting a single drop of resin on his magnificent coat.

 “Looks like we found our gunslinger,” Gurm said waving her staff to reverse the damage on Arlak’s legs.

“And I hate him already,” Arlak grunted. “If you guys ever go up against the Star Rangers, remind me to wear kneepads.”