A Big Shiny Blue Marble Ch. 52

"Hi Mr. Ewan, sir. My name is Sam and I'm here today to see if you're alright."

As she watched, the pair of golden eyes opened to regard her silently for a time. When it came, the voice was low and Sam could tell that it was normally a lot louder than what she was hearing at the moment.

"If you're here to get me back to the pit, then I need a lot of medical help," he growled, "several weeks in hospital at least. The bosses won't stand for that expense, so they'll order me killed.

I want out," the voice grated quietly; "I'm in for twelve hard. Got two and a half left, but I'll never make it now. If they send me to hospital with you, I'll escape. If they keep me here, I'll eventually kill everybody. If they order me killed, it'll just go sooner and at least I'll be dead."

Sam looked at that sad face and she already knew. Two minutes in and she was feeling something that shouldn't be.

She looked down and smiled a little, "I'm trying to understand and whatever you say to D'Arcy or me is confidential. You'd probably never believe it, but if what I feel is right, we're on your side. Are you hurt at all? I mean, really hurt or damaged somehow?"

Those brown eyes looked up at her again, "You need to actually see me so that you can make your report, right?"

Sam nodded, "Sorry, Ewan --"

"No worries," he said, "And you're Sam. Samantha, right? Can I call you Sam? It 'll feel pretty strange calling somebody else that, but I think I like it."

"Sure, "Sam grinned, "I think I'd like that, actually."

She watched in a bit of awe as Ewan pulled himself up and out of the pool to sit on the edge next to her. He offered no trouble as she got her requisite samples from his arm. He had several deep wounds but they all looked to be well on the way to healing. Sam didn't know about the therapeutic effects of hot water on the rate of healing, but she could see another reason as to why a man like this could heal so quickly and it had nothing at all to do with water - hot or cold.

As much fun as it was, she was having a difficult time keeping her eyes on the task at hand. Ewan was closer to seven feet tall than he was to six, and he was covered in enough light brown fur to draw the comparison to a bear, but that wasn't correct. As large as he was, he wasn't thick. Everything was in proportion, in fact, he was built much the same way that D'Arcy was though a fair bit larger and with more body hair.

He held out his other arm for Sam to take his blood pressure and she sat with a little smile that he found endearing in a way. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

"No," she sighed with a little shrug," I've just gotta use the one with the longer cuff. This one's too short for your arm."

As she placed the stethoscope against his chest and began to pump up the cuff, Sam began to count, but in doing that, she looked into his eyes and that was when she noticed the hunger there that no bear -- or human - had ever shown.

"According to your blood pressure and pulse rate, you ought to be unconscious," she said.

"According to the Law of Averages, I ought to be dead," he smiled, "which is why I want out."

He looked away for a moment, "But nobody ever walks out of the pit free. They offer to reduce your time if you come here to work. I've seen people get out after a time, but it's never sooner than their original sentence and usually it's much longer. They always add some time for committing some bullshit infraction or something. I was here two days. I barely even knew where the washroom was for my section and they slapped on a year for "Failure to be Respectful." I didn't know who to be respectful to, so I scraped in front of everybody.

Didn't matter. I got another year added to my time. Regular prisoners get out eventually. Fighters never make it.

The problem is that they're outside the law here. They don't need anyone to add time to your sentence. They can just do it -- and they do. No fighter has ever left here with a pulse. They'll never let me go, so I guess I'm here to make my stand."

D'Arcy looked around quickly before he spoke quietly, "Listen Ewan, ...Little Suzy Prison Guard is around here somewhere, standing in the steam listening more than likely, so we oughta be a little quieter."

Ewan nodded with a curious expression and waited.

Samantha leaned in against Ewan's arm and she reached around to pull his slightly shocked face toward hers as she brought her face to his and spoke in a soft whisper, "You're wolf-born, aren't you, Ewan?"

Ewan nodded slowly and looked a little bit worried for the first time, "Does it show that much?"

"Uh-uh," Sam replied with a shake of her head, "I guess it just takes one to know one is all. From this close, I can see the gleam in your eye -- and the hunger too. Ok, so this all makes sense now. You're afraid that you can't suppress this before your time is up -- or they won't let you go before it comes out anyway, right?"

"Yeah," Ewan nodded, "I got no trouble killing any of the hub. Shit, I'd rip them all apart for the way that they use people to get richer, but I don't want to hurt nobody else."

He seemed to want to be very clear on that point so Sam smiled, "First off, you're among friends, so relax, ok? How did you come to be here?"

Ewan shrugged, "I wanted to see a bit of the world, so I left home, headed for the coast and hired on as a sailor. I didn't know anything about that, but they gave me a chance to learn, I guess. Somewhere in there, they figured out that I'm good to have around in a fight and so they made me a Marine. If you show them that you're good, they send you away to learn how to be a Marine. If you're in that program, they send you back to your ship after two years where you're like a little army to protect the ship along with some others.

I spent a few years at it. Of course, nobody ever wondered WHY I'm good at shit like that and can take a beating and like it, but that didn't matter to me. I just kept my secret hidden and I was alright.

One day, I got a letter from home that said my dad was dying, so I took a leave to go see to my Mom. When I got home, Dad was dead and they was running my Momma off our land. I stepped in so that Mom wouldn't let her other side out -- since she was obviously some upset over everything. Anyway, they killed her as a matter of convenience and they arrested me for being difficult, I guess, and I got ten years hard out of it.

I wanted to minimize the time because of what I am, so I asked for this place because I was told that I could hurry it up even more by fighting in the pits. Of course, I thought they'd play their end fairly, which was my mistake. I got another year like I said, and one after that for refusing to go to bed with one of the hub last year, and ever since, she's had it in for me. Now I don't care anymore. I guess I can die here as well as I can die anywhere else, so ..."

Sam shook her head, "No, Ewan. I'm gonna recommend that you need to come with us and get healed. You want to escape on the way, that's ok, I guess. My Uncle Clancy'll understand and he's gonna get paid for us coming here anyway so it's nothing off his back, you know? If they try to keep you here, we'll spring you, that's all."

"You can't spring me," Ewan whispered, "They've got lots of good shooters here. I might make it to the gate, but you'd all be dead, and I can't have even more on my conscience."

Samantha laughed quietly, "Ewan, my uncle doesn't just provide roadmen to keep his niece alive on the road. He's got the best roadmen in the business anywhere and one word from me and they'd fight hard to help you get out. There's a reason why they're that good."

She leaned in close enough to rub her cheek against his chin very lightly for just a second before she drew back a little with that endearing little smile of hers, "I did say it takes one to know one, didn't I?"

He looked into her eyes and saw the feral gleam for just a second before it disappeared. The next time that she spoke, he also heard the low growl in her throat, "I'm wolf-born too, the same as you, the same as D'Arcy here, and the same as every fucking one of the roadmen who brought me here. We're all the same, Ewan. We all understand how it is to have to stay hidden 24/7. We all know how injustice feels. Like I said, one word from me and you've got eight guns at your back, plus mine as well. You were a Marine, you said? What was your specialty there?"

Ewan's eyes were opened wide to hear all of this. "I was a squad gunner, 'cause I'm big enough to hump all the rounds and shit."

"There's an old belt gun in the wagon," Sam smiled, "I think it's time you came home."

"Ain't got no home," Ewan said, looking down, "Nowhere to go that's safe."

"Yeah you do," Samantha laughed, "you just don't know it yet, that's all. I like you, Ewan. We might be able to make something out of it later, but for right now baby, you just put your sweet self in Little Sam's hands if you think you can trust anybody in the world at all anymore. I've already decided on you, honey, but if that happens, there won't be any using going on. Get back in the water for the next little while, ok? I gotta have a word with a few people, that's all."

She pointed to the pool again, but Ewan touched her shoulder, "Sam, you don't know me from anybody. I've lived the last eleven years without a friend in the world, now you tell me that I've got some to help me? What do I have to do? I'd do anything in exchange for what you're talking about, but I'm afraid of getting screwed over again, I guess."

"This is no transaction," Samantha grinned, "We came to see about a busted-up fighter. What we found is a broken-down brother, that's all. I already know that there's nothing wrong with you at all that a little freedom won't fix, and the rest, well, I'm hopeful that you like me is all, but even so, getting another wolf-born free is everything that any of us need to feel good about. Now you sit tight, 'kay? I'm gonna be right back."

She had a brief word with D'Arcy, who had heard most of what had been said anyway and you almost couldn't see him for the glow of his eyes and shine of his toothy grin. The two left quickly to find their guide.

Out at the wagon, D'Arcy passed the word and reached for a long bundle of rags. When he tried to get back inside with it, he was questioned, but Sam said that Mr. Ewan required the splints inside for his leg and D'Arcy was allowed in again. When they reached the baths, Ewan was standing up to his neck in the water being berated and threatened by one of the people who ran the place -- and who also happened to be the one who had been spurned by Ewan. She stopped her stream of dismissive spittle when Sam and D'Arcy arrived.

"What's wrong with him -- specifically?" the official, whose name was Nancy, asked Sam.

"More than a few things, I'm afraid," Samantha lied as she began, "His hemoglobin is low. His blood sugar too. I'd say it's likely 'cause he's so fucking malnourished. His right ankle is sprained and he'll need a splint just to stand. This is how you treat your fighters? Holy fuck Lady, do the regulars get any food at all?"

"He gets fed enough," the woman said, "and he gets more than the ones who don't fight. Fifteen hundred calories a day."

Sam shook her head, "Fifteen hundred? For a guy his size? Are you nuts? He needs that for breakfast. And you want him to fight on that? That's like somebody handing you half a tuna-fish sandwich and asking you to work hard all day cutting down trees. He needs to be in hospital for at least a week just to get some strength back in him."

"No way," Nancy said flatly, "This one's always been trouble. I'm not paying for that. He can stay here and fight until he can't anymore. He's not worth it to me."

"Well, you do have an obligation to provide care, since he is a prisoner under your control," Sam countered, "You do whatever you think is best, but when I get back, my report will spell out the way that you treat prisoners. As far as I know, he hasn't done a thing to merit your refusing him care -- especially since you make money off him in the ring. Once you do that, it changes a lot of things. Fighting him to death is just not an option for you."

A lot of things happened in the next few moments as Nancy drew a pistol from her pocket, which unfortunately for her was not cocked. As she sought to remedy that, she told the guard to shoot D'Arcy. As the young woman raised her weapon, he slapped it out of her hand and she scrambled into the steam to crawl after it.

Ewan looked over and saw the pistol in the Nancy's hands as she was leveling it at his face. Faster than she could even register the motion, he grabbed the gun in one hand and the back of her head with the other and slammed them together twice. After that, he just took the pistol away. Sam unwrapped the "splints" which turned out to be the disassembled old machine gun and gestured to Ewan, who climbed out of the bath to sit and assemble it. He had it together in less than a minute with a piece of belted ammunition in it while Nancy, who was one of the part-owners of the quarry knelt holding her head.

The young guard came stumbling out of the fog at that point, her gun in her hand to find Ewan smiling at her with the muzzle of the machine gun against her employer's head. "I think you can guess what you ought to do right about here if you even like your boss a little bit," he grinned.

The guard licked her lips slowly as she looked from one person to the next in this. "What -- what are you gonna do?" she asked.

"We're taking Mr. Ewan away," Sam said, "Once he's in hospital, he'll be under the sanctuary of the place legally, until the investigation is completed. Places like this always think they can just fuck the prisoners over and it's ok. But all you need is one prisoner to get away and ask for asylum and the shit-storm starts."

"Shoot him, Callie," Nancy commanded, "she's right, but we never did anything wrong. All the same, they'll close the quarry and we can't let that happen. So shoot him now or - "

The guard surprised them all at that point. Sam and D'Arcy had just thought her to be someone who was only there because it was a paying job and in that, their surmisal had been essentially correct. But they assumed that she was content with the status quo and that was most definitely not the case.

She lowered the pistol and looked at D'Arcy. "I'm not killing anybody just because she orders me to. I know enough that if the law comes down, she'd let me hang. So she can go fuck herself as far as I'm concerned. Take me with you? I'd do anything to have a life of my own - away from her," she pointed directly at Nancy. "I've been here two years and I don't want to see what goes on here another day. Please, take me with you when you go."

It took them all a moment to comprehend it, but they agreed -- if she agreed to surrender her weapon, which she did, and her astonished employer became a bound and gagged hostage at that point when they gathered everything together and walked out. One of the other roadmen had a word with D'Arcy and he in turn spoke to Samantha regarding the way that the guards, who were mostly male were outfitted and armed. The wagon was loaded up with Ewan and the woman. The guard looked at D'Arcy questioningly.

He just nodded, "You can ride in the wagon. I think you'll be safer there. Just try not to fall out."

She climbed up and they left through the gate under a lot of guns, as Ewan knelt in the bed of the wagon with the machine gun against Nancy's head. "Don't think about following," he said to the guards, "Just warning you now."

As they thundered off in the proverbial cloud of dust, Ewan hoped that they could make his threat good, since he really didn't know any of these people who had suddenly offered him their friendship and protection at least for a little while. The problem was, that there were a lot of guards available to join in the hunt, and the other Ladies of the hub all made outraged noises about Nancy's abduction, saying that they wouldn't stand for it, when really, they were all a little hopeful that there would be some gunplay involved -- at least enough to kill Nancy with any luck, thereby increasing everyone else's share.

A couple of miles down the road and Ewan removed the gag from Nancy's mouth. She looked at him for a long minute. "What are you going to do with me?" she asked.

Ewan shrugged, "In a little while, I won't need you as a hostage at all, will I? I'm wondering just how angry I am at you for adding to my sentence because I refused to fuck you. Part of me wants to shoot you just for that, and the rest of me keeps asking why I should bother. If that part wins, I suppose that I'd just kick you out of the wagon -- without stopping first, of course."

"I still don't understand why you said no," she said.

He laughed a little, "You think that I'd have jumped at the chance to screw the woman who added to my time for essentially nothing, withheld food just because and insulted me every chance she got and that would be alright as long as I got my dick wet, huh? That makes it all better, right?"

"Well yes," she said, "what was the problem?"

"I think that you ought to pretend that the gag is still in your mouth," Ewan said, "or it might just go back there again."

He thought about things for a second. "You um, ... you really believe that we're all stupid? That people like me are just the primitive side of the species? That we're just knuckle-draggers who live under the awning of one huge eyebrow on a sloping forehead and that we're slow to reason and quick to anger?"

She looked at him a little nervously for a moment, but then she nodded, "Yes. It's true, isn't it? If most men had a brain that wasn't connected to their nuts, they wouldn't be in there, would they?"

He shrugged, "Well, MOST men aren't in there, are they? I think that some are that dumb, just like there are people who shoot themselves and others every day because they're too stupid to make sure their guns aren't loaded before they start to clean them, but I don't see what that has to do with their gender."

"That's because you're a man," she smiled, "and too stupid to know better."

He looked down in thought, "I guess you're right."

"I know I am," Nancy replied, "There can never be equality between the sexes, or men would just become unmanageable."

They rode in silence as Ewan peered back to see the first signs of their pursuit if it happened. Four minutes later his open palm hit Nancy's jaw hard enough to send her sprawling half out of the wagon. He leaned over and pulled her back in. When she came around, she looked up at him through tears of pain and spoke around her stunned shock, asking why he'd hit her and why so hard.

He looked up as he removed the unfired belt of ammunition from his 'new' weapon and slapped in a new and much longer one, "I hit everybody the same way pretty much, but I was light on you or you wouldn't be talking anytime soon. And I hit you to make a point which is that you're an idiot. Just because there's nobody arguing if you're in some kind of power, it doesn't make you right in some God-given way. I wasn't thinking. I was just holding my tongue. I'm not all that slow in reasoning; but I might be accused of being a little slow to get pissed off.

But that's ok, I guess," he smiled, "with enough goading, I get there all the same. So, you were gonna keep me another year for not knowing whose ass to kiss after two days. You added another year because I wouldn't fuck you -- which had nothing to do with your looks or anything. I just didn't think that I could keep from killing you for what you did to me. That's ok too, Nancy. I've found a workaround for that -- though I don't suppose that you're as hot for me now, are you? Seeing as how you probably think I broke your jaw and all.