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Disclaimer: I do not own Trigun, although I wish I owned Vash and Wolfwood. They are the property of Yasuhiro Nightow, Young King Ours, and Madhouse.
When
his life was ruined, his family killed, his farm destroyed, Job knelt down on
the ground and yelled up to the heavens, "Why god? Why me?" and the
thundering voice of God answered, "There's just something about you that
pisses me off."
~Stephen King
****************
Wolfwood and Vash both had the same idea.
In one swift move from each, they reached in front, grabbed a hold of the girl in front, and pulled them back. Meryl and Millie went crashing unceremoniously back out the door, while the two men dodged in different directions.
With a shriek the two insurance girls topple out the door and landed in a pile on the steps. The landing was just in time to trip the unexpected bounty hunter as he came up the stairs and he soon became part of the pile up.
“Get off you two!” Meryl yelled, “I have to get back in there.”
The man in the brown coat rose and helped the two girls to their feet.
“Why thank you,” Millie said smiling.
“Come on Millie!” Meryl said grabbing the larger woman’s hand.
“If they think we are going to stay out here then…”
Meryl was cut off as the man behind her grabbed a hold of her arm to stop her.
“Actually ma’am you will be staying out of this fight,” he said calmly, but with finality.
Meryl easily caught the tone of the bounty hunter’s voice and stared up at him wide eyed.
******************
Inside, Vash and Wolfwood hit the floor yelling with bullets trailing all around. Vash landed behind an overturned table and Wolfwood crashed into one overturning it.
The two shot back from their respective cover sending the gang member scrambling for their own hiding spot. Wolfwood winced as one of the bullets ricocheted off of the wall and whizzed close to his head.
“That’s it!” the priest yelled and started to pull the white cloth from the cross.
“No!” Vash shouted to him from over the noise.
“What! Why not?!” Wolfwood yelled back.
Vash craned his head to look slightly over the top of the table. He fired at the chain holding one of the lights up. The bullet tore through the material and the heavy light came crashing to the floor. It landed on one of the gang men knocking him senseless, but to Vash’s dismay, almost clipped a woman, hiding nearby, in the head. He had to get those people out of here before they were caught in the crossfire.
“Hello out there!” he yelled above the noise, “I’m sure we could talk this out.”
Wolfwood just ground his teeth and for the second time that day, tiredly ran a hand over his face.
A break in the gunfire came and the room fell silent.
“Sure,” came a booming voice, “just as soon as you’re dead.”
Wolfwood flashed Vash a dry; I told you so, look.
“Come on, at least let the other people out of here!” Vash pleaded.
“How about you come out, and I’ll let them go, even your buddy there.”
Wolfwood saw Vash thinking about the offer. Was he nuts? That thug would shoot him down as soon as he rose.
“Let them go first and I’ll give up.”
Big Jim was stunned by the offer. Was this guy for real? Vash the Stampede was going to give up, to him, just to save these strangers?! What were these lowlife’s worth to him anyway? A triumphant and wicked smile crossed the big man’s face. A deep and rumbling laugh came from the big man.
“Alright, Vash the Stampede, we have a deal!” Big Jim called merrily.
Wolfwood, staring at Vash open mouthed, was even more stunned.
“You idiot! They aren’t going to take you in, they are going kill you!” Wolfwood shouted.
“I have to try Nick,” Vash answered softly.
Big Jim rose from his hiding spot and his men stared at him in disbelief.
“Get out of here! All of you!” he shouted, firing into the air.
The people hiding didn’t need to be told twice. They sprang up screaming and ran for the door, pushing and shoving at each other to get out. Once they had all fled Big Jim called for Vash to come out.
Vash looked over at Wolfwood, and the priest shook his head.
“He held up his end, Nick, I have to,” Vash explained.
Still keeping a hold of his gun, Vash slowly rose. Big Jim Matterson laughed at his luck and pointed his gun at the blonde. Wolfwood glanced over his table, apparently forgotten, and watched as the other gang members slowly rose. He spotted the top of a man’s head, that didn’t rise, however.
“We had a deal, I held up, now drop it,” Big Jim ordered.
Vash looked around calmly, but didn’t see anyone left in the building. He nodded to the big man, a deal was a deal, and dropped his gun. A big smile crossed the big man’s face. He was going to be rich!
“Well, nice doing business with you,” the big man said as he raised his gun to point at the blonde’s head, “but it’s time to say good night.”
“Good night!” Wolfwood yelled as he rose and before the bandit could fire, the priest threw the table at him.
The table crashed into the big man and knocked the gun out of his hand and he went tumbling backwards.
“What are you doing?” Vash yelled.
But as soon as he the big man fell backwards he heard it. A woman’s shriek cut through the air. So, he hadn’t let everyone go! He kept a hostage for leverage if need be and that meant the bandit didn’t hold up his end. The hostage reflexively jumped when the big man came crashing down. With lightening reflexes, the blonde rolled to his discarded weapon and came up firing. The first bullet caught the man holding the woman in the arm and he released her. The others sent the gang members scattering for cover again.
Wolfwood, since Vash wouldn’t let him kill anyone, used the cross in a different way. In the confusion caused by Vash’s shots, the priest ran up to the woman and swung the heavy cross like a club, a very big club, at the two men near her. The impact sent the two flying backwards and the man in black grabbed a hold of the woman’s hand.
“Come on!” he shouted.
The woman obediently followed and the two high tailed it back towards Vash, still keeping the gang members ducking. As soon as the priest and woman passed him, the blonde bolted after them. The three burst through the door followed by the angry shouts of the men as they recovered.
The door crashed into someone on the other side, sending the man sprawling backwards onto his rump.
“Sorry,” Vash yelled as the three ran past.
The man on the ground gritted his teeth and clenched his fist. Damn it! That was the second time in the past few minutes! First those girls and now his mark. Drake picked himself up just in time to step out of the way as angry gang members flew out the door. He resisted the urge to shot them all now as they came out. This could potentially be a problem, he thought. He had no doubts they would never catch Vash the Stampede, but a hotheaded gang would tare up the town. The innocent didn’t need to suffer with the guilty.
With a change of tactics, the man in the brown coat took off for the sheriff’s office. He could clam his prize after the hoodlums were dealt with.
After all, the outlaw wasn’t going anywhere.
Not without his pretty ladies, anyway.
**************
After the three cleared the corner, Wolfwood let go of the woman.
“Run!” he told her.
“T, t, thank you both,” she finally stuttered out.
“No problem ma’am,” Vash said smiling, “but you should probably get away from us now, they will be following I’m sure.”
She nodded her head.
“Alright, but if you need a place to hide, I’m on the south side of town, 116 Sandy Lane. Come there if you need to,” she said, then started running toward that side of the city.
“Now what?” Wolfwood asked.
“Where are Meryl and Millie?” Vash asked suddenly.
“I don’t know, but they can definitely take care of themselves, especially if Meryl is in the mood I think she is going to be in for you tarring up the restaurant.”
“Me?” Vash shrieked.
“Yeah, you!”
Wolfwood’s statement was followed by a few bullets flying by. The streets were fairly crowded with people and when the shooting started, everyone panicked and ran for cover screaming.
So too did Wolfwood and Vash. The two yelled and took off again.
“We’ve got to lead them away from the middle of town! There are too many people here,” Vash called as they were running.
“Of course we would,” Wolfwood began sarcastically, “why did I think you would do something that wasn’t reckless?”
The two dodged bullets by dodging through the buildings, all the while leading the angry gang away from the center of town. The two easily out ran the others and managed to stay ahead of them. Neither really paid attention where they were running. Where was there to go after all?
Vash hadn’t thought about it in the restaurant where peoples lives were at stake or while they lead the woman out of the building, but he thought about it now. As he ran all of his strength seemed to seep of him to the surrounding area leaving him feeling empty inside. His adrenaline was all gone and only the fatigue remained. Tired or not, he had to keep running if he wished not to get gunned down.
Wolfwood, breathing hard, imaged himself sitting in a bar under a fan and having a nice cold one. Even through his breathing, the priest managed a sigh. Maybe after this was all over, he thought with a side-glance at his companion. Vash was being awfully quiet and with one look he knew why. The blonde’s complexion was pallid and the priest knew what was going to happen if they didn’t stop soon.
“Damn,” Wolfwood muttered under his breath.
He saw it coming, and cursed out loud this time. Wolfwood grabbed out as the blonde stumbled and in one swift move pulled the gunman to the side and into an alley. Vash stumbled back and rested his back against the building, desperately trying to keep the world from going black. Wolfwood’s face appeared right in his line of sight and he saw the priest as if through a tunnel. No, no, no, he pleaded with his body, not now. As he stood still, his vision slowly began to focus again.
Wolfwood hide his sigh of relief as he watched the blonde’s eyes clear.
“You look like you could use a break,” Wolfwood joked.
“We have to keep going,” he said a moment later, becoming serious.
Vash swallowed and nodded for the man to continue. The two ran, slower now because Wolfwood had to help his companion run. They made it to the end of the alley and peered out. Deciding to stay in the alleys, they bolted across the open road.
As they got half way across the street, three things happened.
Two of the gang members, crossing the street farther up, spotted them and started shooting.
From the other end of the street, a posse led by the sheriff emerged and spotted everyone. The posse opened fire at the gang members and the pair was caught in the crossfire.
The two men yelled and dashed for the cover of the alley. They almost made it clear of the fighting, but as they were about to duck into cover one of the bullets struck Wolfwood from behind. Wolfwood, who was half dragging Vash, fell forward and pulled the blonde down with him. Vash had enough sense, as he fell, to not land on his injured friend, and he tried to roll out of the way.
The blonde managed to not land on Wolfwood and he hit the ground hard and lay there. The action was to fast and confusing for his tiring body and the world began to dim again. This time, he knew, there would be no pushing it back. All he could do was push on until he dropped from exhaustion.
Gritting his teeth Vash pushed himself up into a sitting position and leaned over towards Wolfwood. The priest was not totally unconscious, but he was stunned and Vash figured he had struck the wall on the way down. Barely pulling himself up to stand, and forgetting the cross to carry its owner, the blonde grabbed a hold of the priest’s jacket and hauled him to his feet. They had to move, and now.
With what little energy he had left, and his friend leaning heavily on him, Vash didn’t make it far before he dropped to his knees again. The sound of fighting seemed to be closing in and the gunman did the only thing he could. He guided his wounded friend to the ground and leaned the priest up against the wall. That done he stood unsteadily and drew his gun.
If everyone was after Vash the Stampede, then that was the only one they would find. Hating what he would have to do, and knowing that he could barely stand, it would be his last fight, but he would not let that gang get a hold of Nick.
“I hope you and Millie find happiness together,” Vash said softly.
Ch.1 / Ch.2 / Ch.3 / Ch.4 / back