The Ballad of Decker Crane Ch. 08

Harp here. So, I'm just loading the queue and the mediators will release chapters on their judgment. As a result, I'm writing this before the first chapter posts. I don't know what's going on. I hope you like it and are commenting. For any issues or updates or comments that can't be taken care of in the comments section, see my profile. Thanks for reading.

All characters are under the age of eighteen

Chapter Eight

(Decker)

Nine days later, it happened. Things got all fucked up again. They got a ping on the electronic net Bai had cast between themselves and the Red Door. It was early morning, not yet light. Cochrain had been been sent on a chase across the system, Bai laughing to himself sometimes. Bai's favorite thing was to disappear after a job. It pleased him to fool others because he was smart with electronics.

But even that oily little bastard Cochrain must have finally noticed that one Pedigean consort had gone missing on Decker's land and then, shortly after, all his Pedigean consorts had gone missing.

If he'd done any investigating into Decker's past, Cochrain was going to know. A man that wealthy could pull in Prime resources. He was going to find out that his neighbor was what might be called notorious. And after Cochrain got done feeling like an asshole for not having taken the time to learn that sooner, he was going to start getting convinced and then real mad, the little pissant.

Cochrain had all sorts of power to call on others. It was a problem he and Kay and Bai had been chewing on since they took the women, and especially since they took all of them and didn't give them back to Prime. They'd had to get inventive, working with what they had. It was a heist, but they hadn't made their getaway. They couldn't. They had to stand where they were once they were discovered and fight to free themselves of it.

That was all the warning they got. Bai took the two young girls on his horse with him and headed northeast toward the briken enclosure, going like hell. Regardless of what happened, there was no way that fucker was going to get his hands on the girls. The briken enclosure was the safest place for them.

Persya was out of bed and getting dressed. Decker's console showed multiple incursions, his perimeter alerts pinging. A whole lot of bad news and that fuckwad Emmet in the lead, waving his dick around.

Decker gathered the women, who were quiet. They couldn't ride well enough yet and he didn't have enough horses anyway. Horses were another thing he was going to have to buy, and they weren't cheap on the frontier planets, being mostly cloned.

They walked northeast and then mostly east, just dawn. Kay had vanished with their air transport at that first ping and was doing what he'd always been best at.

A couple hours later, Decker was walking east with the women when his back began to prickle. Those fuckers. He felt himself getting cold. Pissed.

A single rider appeared ahead, getting off his horse and waiting. Decker turned his head to look as more men appeared to his left and right and then behind him. He slowed and stopped as the men closed in, the women gathering behind him in a clump, facing outward. Persya stayed beside him.

It was bad. He was counting. They faced eighteen men who surrounded them, coming out of the landscape. Decker was counting on the fact that Emmet would want to talk to him and gloat like a prick and wouldn't shoot him right off. Probably wouldn't. Well, they'd find out soon enough.

Decker's eyes were roaming. Son of a bitch. Cochrain had put some of them in Prime armor, impervious to bullets. That was not something he and Bai and Kay had anticipated. Expensive. Cochrain wasn't messing around. Only safron bullets from a pressure rifle could get through Prime armor, and Decker didn't have any of those. He'd like to have some of those. That'd be nice.

All these cocksuckers had their guns drawn, pointed at him, universally. It was going to be a shit show.

"Well, Decker," Emmet said. "Why don't you throw your gun down so you can live long enough to watch me rape your woman before I put a bullet in you?"

That answered that. This son of a bitch was going to talk, already going on. Decker pulled his pistol out and tossed it in front of himself with a grimace. He liked that gun. It was special to him. Sentimental.

Approaching and bending down, the man who retrieved Decker's gun looked up at Chione. His armor was thick enough to absorb even rounds from heavy artillery at close range.

"Hey there, girl," he said. "Show me your tits."

"Screw you," Chione replied, who didn't tend to hold back.

The guy grinned and brought Decker's pistol to Emmet, who dropped it into the pocket of his duster. Decker's eyes followed it. Dammit.

"So you are Decker Crane," Emmet said to him. "The Decker Crane. Everyone has said you are a terribly handsome man, and here you are. I always did wonder what you'd be like. Mr. Cochrain says he's going to keep your pistol as a souvenir and hang it above the mantle in the Red Door with a small engraving of your wanted poster. Everyone thought you were in prison."

"I was," Decker said.

Emmet dropped the reins to his horse and strode forward. "When he learned who you were, Cochrain sent eighteen men to take you down, one transport after another, five of them armored. Now, that is a compliment, because he's a stingy man. It doesn't really appear to have been necessary, if I don't offend you to say so. You know, I have got to ask. Do they really call you Deadman Crane because you once shot a man dead over the price of a glass of frontier whiskey?"

"How would I know why they call me that?" Decker said, getting pissed. He didn't like that name, and he didn't like to talk about the past, either. That was done.

"People will hear of it one side of the frontier planets to the other, how Emmet Miner took out Decker Crane, leader of the Deadman Gang, the meanest outlaws on the frontier planets."

"Your last name is Miner?" Decker said, making a face.

While Emmet frowned, another man spoke. "Is it true you took eight men on Sena Moon with eight bullets, no more and no less?"

Decker sighed. "I don't remember."

All the women had turned to stare at him, including Persya. Decker met her eyes. They would have heard of him even in Prime. His name did travel. Fuck of a lot more than he did, as a matter of fact.

"These sweet things didn't know who you are? That's rich." Emmet crowed, laughing. "This is Deadman Crane, girls. He and his gang robbed the Katis Prime air transport full of safron and killed fourteen men in cold blood."

"It wasn't fourteen men," Decker scoffed. "And it only had a tiny bit of safron. Our informant was wrong. Mostly it was synth-tea. They never get it right who tells those stories."

But Emmet just kept on listing Decker's exploits and associations, like it was everyone's business, like Decker had no right to any privacy in his personal life whatsoever.

"He runs with Darrel Pikens, who was shot in the face last year and had to be identified by his fingerprints," Emmet went on. "And Kay Gaurt, a sodomizer who has killed more men than mine cough. Bai Cree, who it's said can make himself invisible and no bullet can touch him, and Garrett Lundt, who was lynched by men led by Frey Tucker, a cattleman."

"I heard that in Prime, Mr. Joel Fremont bought Lundt's body from Tucker and had it shipped in-system and made a pair of shoes out of Lundt's skin, with a nipple sticking up on the top of each one," a second man said. "Fremont had his bones boiled down and he gave Mrs. Fremont his skull to use as a doorstop."

Decker grimaced. And they said he was ruthless and bloody. Well. Garrett had been an evil son of a bitch, but Decker wasn't sure he'd deserved that, to be made into a trophy for those pricks, nipples and all.

"I heard that too," Emmet said. "The Deadman Gang have done robbery, horse thieving, rustling, assault, bribery, smuggling, murder and grand larceny. Decker Crane here is a outlaw and a killer of men, the worst there is."

Another man spoke to Decker. "I heard you almost got lynched by three men on Aper. The law found them hanging instead, their tongues purple and a bullet in each six legs."

"I shot one man in the leg because I missed his head and then I shot the rest," Decker said, frowning. "How the fuck was I going to get three men into nooses by myself?" Those bastards, coming for him.

Nobody was listening to him, he saw. He looked away, getting more pissed.

A fourth man chimed in. "I heard Pat Coombs, the famous bounty hunter, disappeared trying to capture you. They never found his body. What'd you do with him, Decker Crane?"

Decker could hear his own breathing. That pussy, laying in wait for him, like he was any better, a fucking man-hunter. Decker had taken a bullet in his arm. This was why he didn't like to talk about these things. It upset him. Decker had tied that asshole's hands and dragged him screaming behind the horse and dumped his dead body in a shaft so nobody would find him.

"I didn't do nothing to him," Decker answered, his voice rough and his lip curling. "He's probably still out there looking for me, that fucker. I'm a rancher."

"You're a no-good thieving and murdering son of a bitch and you'll die today, Decker Crane," Emmet said. His eyes shifted to Persya, Emmet doing an exaggerated double-take. "Son of a bitch. Look at you, girl. Shit. I couldn't hardly figure which one I was going to fuck first, you're all so pretty. I thought maybe we'd put all of you on your hands and knees and form two lines." He began laughing, looking around. "Shit, that was too easy. What do you think? Let me do the figuring now. Eighteen of us. Six women. That'd be, for each one..." His eyes went up and he turned to one of the other men. "What'd that be, Todd?"

Persya stirred beside Decker. "Three, stupid."

"Damn, that is a beautiful woman you got there, Decker Crane," Emmet said. "Is she your girl? She has got such a mouth. That's what I'm going to call her from now on. I can think of all sorts of uses for that mouth."

"Emil, right?" Decker said.

Emmet's smile faded and his eyes shifting away from Persya. "Emmet. I did say you'd see me again, Decker."

"I must have forgotten the conversation," Decker said.

Emmet's good humor seemed to return, gesturing at Persya. "I imagine you remember now. She is such a sexy little thing. There's just something about her. "

Decker's nostrils flared and his lip curled. "She's mine."

"I don't blame you a bit. She's the sweetest thing I ever seen. I'll make sure to take her on the ground with you dying next to us. She'll be squealing and crying and calling out your name while I'm raping her, my fingers dug into that beautiful round ass--"

The f in Decker's hand squawked.

"Someone wants to talk to you, Emil," Decker said.

Cochrain's voice came through. "Emmet?"

Emmet's smile faded and he looked at the radio, his brows crooking. "Boss?"

"Emmet," Cochrain said, his voice rough. "Call it off."

"What? We got them right here. We got Decker Crane and the women. All of them except for the girls, and we'll get those little sluts, too. They can't be far. We'll put Decker Crane down and be back in a couple hours."

Cochrain breathed. His voice was a little rhythmic. "Come back here. Bring all the men I hired. I'll still pay them and they can fuck any woman in the Red Door they want."

"Why?" Emmet said, frowning.

"Dammit," Cochrain said, his voice getting tighter. "Call it off, you hear me? Come back to the Red Door. The job's off."

Emmet looked rebellious. "Fuck that, Mister Cochrain. It doesn't make any sense."

"Stop arguing with me," Cochrain said, his voice wavering. "Right now. I'm telling you to. Emmet. Come on now." What sounded like tears seemed to thicken in his throat. "He'll stop when you come back. He says he'll stop when you come back, so come back now, Emmet."

"Ah, shit," Emmet said, throwing up his hand.

"Kay?" Decker said.

Kay's voice came through the speaker, his breathing rough. He grunted. "Remember Billy Dapper in Rocher Prison, Decker?" Kay panted. "Don't wait up."

Decker winced. Billy Dapper had deserved everything he'd gotten, to be sure, a real crazy son of a bitch who'd done things that'd make you sick if you thought on them too long. But what had been left still alive after Billy had crossed Kay had been downright pitiful.

Cochrain gave a high gibbering cry that stopped as Kay cut the communication.

"That's Kay Guart?" one of the armored men said. "Shit. I heard about him."

"It sure is," Emmet sighed. "That does change things, Decker, I admit. You know, it's not easy to find steady, good-paying work in this fuckhole of a place. But a man can adapt. I'm afraid that if you were laboring under the idea that Cochrain could call us off, the truth is going to be an unpleasant surprise to you. I have been thinking about becoming independent anyway. Being my own boss has always had a certain appeal to me. Maybe I'll make a name for myself like you. What do you think?"

Decker shook his head. "You talk too much." Not to mention the asshole's last name, which was truly unfortunate.

Emmet looked pissed. "Do I, now? Well, I'm just trying to clarify your position here. Forgive me if I take a moment. I think these men are going to agree with the change in the Red Door's ownership, given how fuckable these women look. What do you say, boys?"

He turned his head from one side to the other as the men laughed and whistled, voicing general agreement all around.

"See, you've done me a favor," Emmet said when it died down. "After I kill you and these men break the women in and we go kill Kay Guart and whatever is left of Cockring, as you once so poetically named him, I'll be home in front of my fire in my whorehouse with a fine stable of Pedigean pussy, your pistol over my fireplace, and your woman in my bed." He spoke to Persya. "What's your name, little mouth? You can call me boss."

"My name is Persya, boss," she answered, pointing beyond Emmet. "And that's Bane."

They all turned to look. Bane was silhouetted against the sky. That big fucker. One-by-one, Bane was joined by his hunting party. It was a large one this time. Twelve brikens and no fence stopping them from trotting right over where there were a whole bunch of meaty people already neatly gathered and waiting.

For a moment, everyone just paused, taking that in, including the brikens.

Voicing a trumpet of fear that startled the men around them, one crying out, Emmet's horse bolted, heading south as fast as its legs could take it, being the smartest of the lot. It had only been a matter of moving some fences and Bai making noise. Bane was vigilant. Getting Emmet and his men here and holding them for long enough had been the tricky part. The armor wouldn't protect the ones that wore it. The brikens would just rip their limbs apart and suck out the juicy parts.

Emmet turned and looked at Decker, his face getting red. "What the hell?"

"You might make it to the gate if you go now," Decker said.

He was lying about the gate. The men around them, including Emmet, had their eyes fixed on the brikens and had started to back away, glancing behind themselves at the fencing far, far behind them. Several stumbled back. All of them had just forgotten about everything else. Vengeance, murderousness, ambition, lust, all that just fell away when you were staring into your own certain death, especially if it involved teeth.

Emmet, having led these assholes to their end and joining them in it, turned and ran. There went Decker's favorite pistol, as he'd predicted. They all broke. A couple yelled out in fear again. With that, the brikens moved, chasing down the hill toward them, shaking the world.

"It's not a good idea to run from a predator if you can help it," Decker called after the men, raising his voice, being helpful.

"Did you get those fuckers yet, Decker?" Bryn bellowed into his radio, which made a terrible sound in his ear.

"Don't say fuckers, girl," Decker said as the animals gained speed and then charged, a briken attack. He raised his voice to be heard, putting his finger in his other ear in case Bai had missed it. "Bane is here."

Grace and Dawine, Chione and Lily, Persya and Yenna formed a circle around Decker as the brikens reached them. Decker had counted on the fact that Brikens didn't attack women. It wasn't something anybody would exactly have tested on Sur before, but he'd seen it work twice. He couldn't hear anything over the thunder of the animals. They were going to find out real soon.

They flowed around the women like water.

The men didn't get very far, Decker turning around to watch, taller than the women around him. As the brikens reached the slower ones, stragglers because the armor was heavy, some of the men turned and fired. Decker could have told them a pistol didn't mean shit against a briken, but a desperate man wasn't always alert to nuances. Might as well piss into the wind. It was just going to come back at you.

It got ugly after that, men run down and gored, tossed and stomped on and bludgeoned, pieces of them flung every which way and the chomping and screaming and then the eating began, followed by more screaming. The only thing the armor did for the ones who wore it was prolong their ends long after they probably would have liked to put the whole issue to rest. Women were making noises all around him, horror and shock. Chione made a sound somewhere between satisfaction and disgust. Dawine had her eyes closed tight, but Grace was looking on with a certain creepy interest.

Persya turned around and faced inward, grimacing, her eyes going to his face.

He reached for her wrist and pulled her close. "How am I going to find my pistol in all that mess?" he complained, his arm coming around her waist.

"Decker Crane?" she said, her tone accusing and her hand on his chest.

His mouth screwed up. "It doesn't matter. You're still mine," he told her.

"I think everyone knows that now, Decker," she said.

"Good," he muttered.

#

Decker was sitting on the porch in the shadows. He was watching a reddish-gold head sometimes visible in the light of the windows inside. The women were back where they belonged, including his woman. He was waiting for it to be bedtime and too impatient to be around others, his gut sinking and his cock thick. The front door opened and Bai came out, Kay following. They sat on the porch stairs. Decker ignored them. They didn't interest him.

"Well, that'll be another story about Deadman Crane," Bai said, evidently resuming an earlier conversation.

"Fuck you," Decker said from the darkness, getting pissed. He was just sitting on his porch in his own home. He didn't have to listen to that crap here. He hated that name.

The two men were quiet.

"We thought you were in the barn, Decker," Bai said without turning around.

"I'm not, assholes."A reddish-gold head showed up again, a flash of her sweet round shoulder, Decker's eyes shifting.

There was the sound of a door closing. Fewer heads were visible and then the light got turned out in the kitchen. Decker rose, going inside, the men still quiet on the step. He'd been waiting all day long for Persya to go to bed so he could fuck her.

He walked through his bedroom door and closed it behind himself.

She turned and saw his face. "Decker."

Walking to her, his hands went to her shirt.

"Wait," she said as he tugged upward, getting her hair through, those pretty tits bouncing out.

His hands went to her pants, tugging the string.

"Decker," she said, protesting. "I want to talk."

Decker pulled his hands back. Talk. "About what?"

She tied the string again, her tits right there.

"Anything," she replied. "You can't just come in here and attack me."