Seeds - Seven

Part 7

Bannon hovered the thumb sized shot cannister over the feeding chamber of the blunderbuss, 'What the fuck, why not!' he said to an extremely annoyed Luri.

She shook her fist at him, the spear dangling in the other, 'Shhhhht!'. Luri struggled to keep her own voice down. They stood in a washed-out dip. The mountain angled away to the left, providing them some cover. 'Come, look here.' she thrust her finger around the corner.

Bannon, nudged her aside and leaned against the stone. He poked his head out; some distance away he could make out the backs of at least six walking figures. 'Yeah, so? I can easily shoot two. Then we kill the rest.'

'Do you have any idea how much noise that thing makes?'

'Yeah, it's me boomstick.' he whispered, 'Put some fear into the fuckers.'

She stared at his back, 'They're not raiders. Do you not remember?'

'Oh, yeah. Fuck.' he rubbed his tired eyes, 'Then run out there, bring em back here.'

'No, I won't just run out there. We need to get closer.'

Bannon turned, wiping hair and sweat from his brow he tugged at his beard and looked at her strangely, 'I'm not Reince.' he jumped lowly, the backpack clinked and clanked. Luri grabbed at it, pulling it tight to stop the noise. Likewise, the big ranger grabbed the front of her shirt and thrust her out into the open, 'Now, you fucking get out there.'

'I wasn't born yesterday!' she was somewhere between tears and fury. Planting her feet, the spear tip rose up under his nose, 'Be honest and shoot me yourself.'

His small eyes narrowed; metal piped as the shot canister squeaked into the chamber. He closed the latch and held the gun at his side, the funneled tip pointing at her chest. 'I'd have one less problem.'

'You know he's alive.' she pleaded, 'Why are you like this?'

'It's what makes me a good ranger. Why I'm still alive.'

'You're afraid.' she accused him.

'Careful now, I've killed men for less.'

'So have I.' she sneered at him, 'Forty-nine men. For much less.'

Bannon relaxed and let the blunderbuss dip down. He spread his arms, 'Then how the fuck are we supposed to do this?'

Luri jumped back into cover, checking the corner. They had not been spotted. Her mind raced, 'Open up the backpack.' she told him.

'You're not taking my shit.'

'Ngrhhh.' she groaned, 'Just take off the fucking backpack.'

'Fuck, little lady. Ok, ok.'