Chapter 24 - Where The Rider Forgets Only To Laugh

She couldn't even see the first shot. The tunnels were bright enough for her to see where she was going, but not where the first wave was coming from. It didn't take long to find an entrance and took even shorter to find someone else wandering through them. Lozen knee she should have heard the footsteps, though. The manor was still quiet despite that commotion she was sure was about to erupt, so she shouldn't have had a problem hearing something coming down the corridor. It didn't matter much though.

The attack came nevertheless and she didn't have time for hindsight. As far as she could tell, a dark shape rounded a corner she approached and before she even knew they were even armed, Lozen found her finger slamming down on the trigger. It was a pure reaction that she didn't even realize she made until the body hit the ground.

"Wow. I assumed-" Finch started saying as her entire body trembled like a hillside on the verge of a landslide, but Lozen cut her off before long. "Another word and I'll see if you're as good of a shield dead." She muttered before pushing Alberta over the corpse and taking a minute to glance down at the body. Not a single feature could be seen through the darkness, but she could just make out the one obedience that confirmed her theory. A rifle now lying flat on the floor next to the body. If she were to waver a guess, she would say it was the same model as the guards out there.

It was a shame. As much as she knew otherwise, she had been hoping this whole plan that Judas's ego could be practically smelled wafting off was just some delusion brought upon from expecting the worse. The creature itself wasn't trying to lead an army, just kill yet another madman. Same old story. Murderous bastards killing more murderous bastards. Simple, predictable, and something she could plan against. Now there was what amounted to an army could be between her and that thing. Maybe if she could get to Judas, she might be able to form another plan, but she doubted he'd be able to convince him otherwise. By now, he was intoxicated on his own pride and was going to chase that high until the end. Lozen knew better than otherwise.

"So, are you sure that's one of the slaves and not a guard." Finch said, her voice tumbling out through her teeth and inciting a quick burst of rage within Lozen's that pulled her gaze off the faceless corpse. At this point, she didn't care. Slaves or guards, they were just more people with guns trying to keep her from her bounty. Even if there were quite a lot of them.

Though, she did take some comfort in the other shots that came echoing through the corridors. They weren't the symphony of single shooters taking pop shots at her that she expected and were instead a choir of returning fire that she knew all too well. Somewhere out there, a fire fight had just started with the shouts of both the guards and slaves starting to echo down the corridor. It sounded mostly like insults more than anything with a few of the slaves talking of retreating or calling for help and one or two of the guards talking about backup. Whatever the case, she was going to have to find the climax of all those shoots. That hopeful fool would surely be there trying to save his people.

"We're not actually going to the source of all this, right?" Finch asked and Lozen ignored. Another shape came out dark, this one much faster than the other, but it fell to the ground nonetheless with the bullet count in her head increasing. Until she found that creature, she only had three weapons in total and maybe 34 rounds in total. It wasn't enough to kill all of the slaves, but it should have been enough to get her where she needed to. Besides, the corridors were barely big enough for two people and she was better on the trigger.

It sounded like all the gunfire was centered around the third floor and from the sound of it, it would stay like that for a long time. There was never a pause in the cacophony of flying bullets, though one by one, there were less voice hurling insults at each other. Even though no one shouted anything about ghosts or saviors or whatever else that creature would be called, it was still enough for her to find where the violence was being centered.

The journey towards it was anything but easy. Long, dark, too quiet and too loud at the same time, and with not enough encounters to satisfy her. She didn't want to get into a firefight, but it was better than being left in the dark, waiting for something to jump out at you and put you in an early grave. That anticipation was its own poison, every second becoming on that threatened to be the one where everything went black and quiet forever. There were times it broke, Lord above were there ever, even if they only lasted for moments at a time. Sometimes it was just one person who rounded her wrong corner, other times it was a small group that made her retreat back behind a wall. They made her afraid for a moment, but never for long.

One by one they feel like they should have. As just more bodies to the yet another slaughter. Nothing more and she was tired of people telling her otherwise. They lived as just more lifeless shells and killing them wouldn't change them. Over and over she stopped them in their tracks and trampled over the lifeless sacks of flesh that replaced them. Like she said they were and like everyone forgot they had always been. Then there were the times light streamed into the halls and corpses lined to floors without her having to do anything. Bullet holes that had been punched through the walls and let pinpricks of light shining down into the corridor. Though they didn't do much good at illuminating the bodies.

Bastards must have forgotten to be quiet. The walls could block out sound, not bullets. They weren't too difficult to cross however and Lozen didn't pay them much kind. Not as much as what they indicated that is. She was getting close, judging from the sheer amount of bodies there were on the floor and holes in the walls. Not to mention the sound of gunfire. It had been steadily increasing with every step she took, but it was only after she turned a corner and looked down at the massacre that she noticed such a minute detail. The smell of gunpowder in the compact space was still lingering, so the guards couldn't have gotten far.

She kept her ears peeled for any sign of the approaching fire fight and made sure to keep both Alberta's and her own footsteps slow and quiet. With any luck, the sound of gunfire would obscure their approach to any other slaves. A reasonable precaution, but not the one she expected to save her life. The deeper they went, the more the gunshots started to obscure her hearing. Second by second they all started to increase until she swore the firefighting was taking place right on the other side of those walls. She had hoped that meant there would be less people still in the walls, but it wasn't long before their approach was interrupted by the sound of voices coming down the corridors. Lots of them.

Lozen pressed herself against the right wall and swung Alberta behind her before slowly inching towards the intersection. She poked a single eye out and saw that right around the corner there was a cluster of shadowy figures. Not part of them could be discerned apart from their outlines and if it wasn't for the whispers of Iroquois, she would have no way of knowing they were slaves. Five in total by her count and they all looked like they were huddled in the walls, hiding from fighting to doubt, but at least three of them were armed. Most importantly, they were in her way.

"We shouldn't be doing this." One whispered. "We should have just stayed in the basement."

"How could you say that?!" Another hissed back to which the first said "Maybe he would be merciful? He's only killing the ones who are fighting. If we just go back to the crypt-" Lozen could think of no other translation for the name they had given the basement. "He'll let us live."

"Go back?! Go back to what!!? What lives would we have to look forward to!? More days full of torture and labor!!? More of our loved ones being slaughtered in front of us!!?"

"He's right!" Another spat. "And if you want to leave, just go already!! I'm not going back!!"

Fools, she thought. More idealist to the slaughter. "Stay here." She whispered to Alberta as holstered her revolver and slowly swung her rifle over her shoulder. Not the most ideal weapon to use in such close quarters, but her revolver only had three shots left and the one she got from Cane was special. There was only one way to harm that creature and she was saving that weapon for such a confrontation.

She knelt down close to the ground and thought for a moment before saying in as pathetic of a voice as she could "H-Hello?" The sound of swiveling bodies could be heard coming from the corridor as the crowd undoubtedly panic, but none of them were dumb enough to fire. "I-Is someone there? Please. I need help. Everyone else...they kill them all!" Lozen continued, raising her voice just enough to sound alarmed, but not be heard from outside. "All of you, put those weapons down. She's just another one of us." One of them said and the others seemed to agree with a few saying something along the limes of "It's alright, Miss. Come here. We can keep you safe." Lozen latched into those conversations and responded "But.....they have guns and-and I'm out of bullets."

"It's okay. We have guns." One of them said.

"R-Really? But just one didn't save the others!!"

"But we have three."

"And bullets."

"Well.....we are going to try and find others you do. The guards don't know about this place and the others can't be far."

That was all she needed. In one swift motion she swung herself around the corner, backed up to give herself more room and then opened fire. If this were an ideal world, she could have only wasted a shot on each of them, but in the dark, it was harder to know if her shots landed more than once, she had to use two or three shots instead. They all went down in time with only a few hells and not a single shot being returned. Apart from one.

Just as her rifle went empty, Lozen heard the sounds of someone gasping out wet breaths of air that made her shudder. This happened sometimes. A bullet hit the exact spots to knock someone down, but usually left the actual killing up to blood loss.

She should have left it up to that. Just move on and wait for the body to run dry before someone else comes along. But of course it had to start talking. "Help....I can't....help me." That was all she needed to hear before she tossed her rifle away and drew her revolver, firing one more shot right into the squealing man's head. With one more shot, she silenced the pigs grunts and let the corridor fall into silence.

"Move." Lozen said as she pulled Alberta in front of her again and pushed her forward onto the

carpet of corpses laid out in front of her. They should have been able to continue on their trek, but just when they passed the fine layer of cadavers, she heard something else break through the gunfire. Footsteps. Too many of them and the words that came tumbling down from their direction weren't good. "They're in the walls!!" She heard one shout just before the sound of a gunshot came ringing out and the footsteps of the approaching spaces drew too close for comfort.

Lozen smashed Alberta up against the wall once again, hoping the wooden plank they hid behind would give them enough cover to hide from the approaching natives, but knew better. The scurry of feet was approaching the corner and would round it any second. She needed to think fast because soon there was going to be another blood bath.

Her eyes whipped around her, trying to find something she could use as a shield of the like with her eyes resting on the corpses in front of her in an instant. Just as the steps started rounding the corner, she skidded down to the ground and pulled up one of the corpses just enough to give her something to crouch behind. She managed to position her remaining rifle on the shoulder of the cadaver as the first shadowy body rounded the corner, giving her a chance to take the first shot. The outline went down like a ton of bricks and fell right into the next figure whom she needed to wait to push aside the body before she could fire. However, combined, the bodies started blocking up the corner they fell into and made the third one stay behind that round before they opened fire.

The body caught the bullets as it should have, but the shots still left their marks. Lozen could feel the indents of skin poke against her gut as the billets traveled from one end of the corpse to the other and smelled red mist exploding in front of her. Iron filled her nostrils and a liquid started to pool out from the mouth, forced out by the impact each round made. Skin bloated and burst, bones shattered like dry clay, and blood boiled as the fresh heat of the shells was injected into the veins. It held though. By god it held, but whoever was shooting it was just as well hidden and protected.

She couldn't find a clear shot through the walls in her way and she had no doubt there were more of them headed her way at this moment. This was a bad plan. She needed to find some way back to retreat and her away from this, but the corner she had come around was too far back. There was no way she could run, unless.....her eyes rushed up towards the walls around her and in the faint light, she managed to spot just one. A tiny latch in the wall Alberta leaned up again.

Before the first bullets could fly, Lozen kept towards the wall and slammed her hand down against the latch, forcing the door open. The sound of gunfire exploded next to her ears as the lead flew through the air around her, but the first sensation she registered was of falling onto the floor. Her lunge towards the hidden door had been awkward and she just barely managed to get out the corridor at all. At the very least she was outside with the hallway she had once stood filling with lead and iron. Alberta followed close behind her and managed to push herself against the door as it swung wide and caught itself on the carpeting below. Still, outside wasn't much better. Bullets cascaded through the otherwise empty air and started smashing into the door, giving Lozen mere seconds to discern what was happening. The door swung out to the left, blocking everything in that direction from getting a clean shot, but the right side was another story.

It seemed like a dozen of the guards or so had moved the furniture out of some of the room and repositioned it at one end of the hallway, giving them a modicum of cover to protect themselves behind. They seemed to be firing at something on the other end of the hallway and Lozen could waver a guess as to what, but none of them stayed focused on their opponents for long. One of them yelled out "They're coming through the walls!!" and sent Lozen's mind through another quick spiral.

"Tell them-" She snapped out of it the instance she heard Iroquois come from her lips. "Tell them I'm here to help!!!" Lozen shouted up to Alberta as she remained flat on her back and the patron remained in her feet. Her mind started flinging itself elsewhere before Finch said a word, wondering ten thousands things at once ranging from the billers she had left to where exactly she was in the house. Alberta would tell the guards to stop firing and she could get along with thinking ahead, it should have been as simple as that. It always had been up until now. Yet, her mind barker had a chance to start it's mad race before she saw something right in front of her face and heard a single sound that cut through the orchestra engulfing her.

The end of a barrel and then clicking of a hammer. "It's alright, men!" Alberta cried over to the guards as she leveled her weapon with Lozen's eyes, a grin taking root on her face the likes of which she didn't think could belong on the patrons face. That gun. It was a simple revolver, nor bigger than her own and looked exactly like the ones Sirius kept in his table. Oh no. Finch must have swiped it while Lozen was distracted by that dead bastard's latest tirad. "Keep up the fight! I'll deal with this one." Her voice was poisoned with pleasure, breaking through her calm demeanor like creeping roots through stone. The wrinkles on her cheeks disappeared into the ones created by her contorting lips and her eyes seemed much fuller than before. Opulence oozed from each of them and delight drizzled from the arc did her mouth, both far too great to just have been a spur of the moment.

She saw them before, but only ever once and they were more than enough to inject more recollection. That pure excitement that had spent so long germinating behind eyes sculpted to be civilized, the disbelief at the joyous actions they were partaking, and the jubilant love at their coming deed. Her vision flickered as she stared up at the patron and she swore she could see the beginnings of smoke rising up behind Finch as well as the fires that bellowed them out. For a moment, just a single second in time, she could see all of them. The fire kept from the trees and tents and clung to the walls, happy to devour the present after growing tired of the past. Smoke constricted around the air, her lungs seizing up as they braved themselves for yet another assault.

And the laughter....it was an echo, but that was all it needed to be. Chuckle by chuckle it seemed to seep out and back into her ears, it's many legs crawling across her arms and whispering without using a single word. None were necessary. It knew she heard of them before and they had spoken all they needed last time. They walked across cooking bodies before, a herd of horses with oblivious riders who couldn't remember if they met any resistance. Now they were permitted a single moment and a single face.

"Is this the first time you've been afraid?" Alberta asked as the corridor behind her remained full of gunfire and that in the hallway, the door kept her safe from the other savages. "You never were in the train. Why was that? What's different this time?" Finch said, drunk on catharsis. Lozen hopes that would be enough, but knew better. There had to be something she could do. A way to knock the gun away or maybe trick the guards, but she couldn't make out another through the smoke and fire creeping across her eyes. "Oh well. I'll figure it all out. I always do. Good night, sweet savage. You gave me quite a-" She kept talking, chewing on the words she must have been waiting to say for a long time. However, she made one tiny miscalculation that even Lozen found herself overlooking.

The door provided a good barrier from conflict, but her body had fallen just past it and in order to get a good aim at her, Alberta had to lean over just until her hand poked around such a constraint. That was all that was needed however. Before she could finish her delightment, a single shot skidded right across her wrist. It wasn't enough to kill her or even make her drop the weapon in her hand, but the mark it left hammered the final nail into a coffin that had reached up and eaten her whole. A mark that glowed like a sliver of moonlight.

Everything froze as they saw it. Even the gleeful expression laid over her face didn't flatter as Finch's eyes locked onto her wound. In a way, she almost seemed overjoyed at feeling the wound cut into her skin and in another, Lozen almost understood why. It was something to finally tell her to stop struggling and that there was nothing she could do. In the face of death, obligation and survival were hopeless. The perfect excuse to, even for a single second, give it all up and feel that weight flicker away from your shoulders. That false choice taken away from you as you, finally, were allowed to rest, secure in the knowledge you did all that you could. A greater peace then any moment of striving or survival could bring.

It was just that, however. A fleeting moment and it passed as nothing more. "Run?" Finch finished, not wanting her finale sentence to be one cut off by death. She sounded confused as if for the first time, she doubted what was right in front of her, but she sounded more intrigued than anything else. Never would she know which one fired that bullet. A mystery that seemed so much more than what lay beyond. One she seemed delighted in not knowing. The weapon fell from her hand as the last bits of life she had sent her stumbling back and then coallpzrd back into the corridor behind her, dead at last after so many years.

Lozen didn't waste a thought on her. Her concern for the corpse's smell would have to wait. She doubted Judas could get up to this floor. He was probably trying to find a way to get Beatrice up the steps for all she knew. Which only left one person in the world who could have taken that shot. In shock, she let her head fall to her right until she looked down at the other end of the hallway. There was another line of furniture pulled from the rooms at the far end of the hallway with slaves lining the barricades and only one not cowering behind the defenses. He stood there with his remaining hand outstretched, his aim unflinching and his rifle pointed right at her.

She expected him to take another shot. What else would he have done? Kill the armed one first before the other threats. She couldn't say she wouldn't do the same and she didn't think he'd do anything else. Both of those burning eyes were looking right at her even as bullets continued to fly around and into him. All this chaos and he was still focused on her like a good predator. But there was no hatred in his gaze, no drive to fight or kill like everything else in the state. Just confusion. Not like Alberta, but a confusion Lozen knew of nonetheless. One that didn't break you down, but just made you waver for a single second. You would wonder if something was wrong. Maybe what you did was as awful as it could have been. But why didn't you feel regret? Why was it so easy to let go? Why did you expect there to be barbs digging into your skin, keeping you trapped in that one moment forever? Why did you want that? Perhaps just guilt. Perhaps just hindsight. Or perhaps there was something you knew you were missing. Something staring right in your eyes demanding remembrance that you knew you had already forgotten. Something you did not mourn for an instance, but knew you should have.

His was the fact that he had saved her life and now, sparing it. The spector raised his weapon higher and started firing at the guards further behind Lozen, his eyes lingering for a mere second before the confusion lifted. Why he did it, why he no longer seemed confused, and how on earth he could have made such a mistake, Lozen didn't know or care. This was her chance. Kill the creature, this little uprising would crumble without their figurehead, and she'd finally get that rewarded. Hell, it was even providing her with covering fire. She scurried back onto her feet in seconds, pressed herself against the door, and pulled out the only weapon that could harm the creature. It wasn't even hiding like the other savages, instead leaving itself just standing there as if it forgot it was missing a hand. The distance was short and the target was obvious. All that was left to do was pull the trigger.

It didn't feel special in any way. Just another shot in a firefight and it found its mark like all the others. Right in the center of the creature's head. It's skull jolted back as the bullet struck and once it did, everything felt as if it had frozen in place. The creature stood motionless for what had to be an eternity and Lozen thought that the gun might have worked for a second, but death found its way into the beast before long. All at once, the light that constructed it's body flickered like a dying candle and left the rotting, blackened bones within it bare for a brief few seconds. Then, bit by bit, the light started to flake off it's skeletons and flutter up into the air before vanishing into nothingness. A swarm of azure scraps exploded upwards and settled on the ceiling like stars being caught in a once blank sky.

Then, they vanished, leaving behind a measly skeleton with a hole drilled into its forehead. It's hollow eyes, it's faceless features, it's brittle bones, none it resembled the hardy figure that had once stood there. They never did. When the sunset and there was nowhere left to run, there would be nothing but bones and dust. They'd see that now, the slaves and the guards, that there was no such thing as-"FATHER!!!!!"

Even over the explosion of gunfire surrounding her, that one word cut right into her ears greater than any gunshot. The bones collapsed to the ground with all of the savages stopping their barrage for a minute and turning to see what had become of their hero. Some screamed, others froze, and one rushed towards where the pile once stood, disappearing behind a couch to cradle what had fallen. That didn't stop their exclamations from piercing through the hellish symphony surrounding her. "NO!!! NO, NO, NO!! YOU CAME BACK!!! YOU JUST CAME BACK!!!! DON'T GO!! DON'T LEAVE US AGAIN!!!"

What he stole....she never asked what he stole. There was always something missing. The Chunxu from the legends was missing his head and Judas had his gold stolen from him, but she never thought about what the creature lost. She thought it was a trifle, maybe a hatchet or some token it's father had given it, but only now did she realize she missed something. It and all its people were slaves. What did they have to lose when even their lives were forfeit? She could only think of one thing. And she never thought she would be on the other side of the gun.

The fire came back, clutching everything incite and the screams of that one voice fueled it better than oil. In the red that washed over, everything in her view suddenly burst to life and all the outlines that hid behind the barrier grew faces. Each of them were wide and shocked, stained with blood and sometimes she swore they were even covered in ash. The fire burned brighter in the dead of night, gripping the trees that sprouted all around her and made her watch it all happen again. This time, she got to see the body. This time, he didn't leave. He came back. Until she put a bullet right in his head. And now she could hear herself crying back there, the pain of it all coming back down on her again.

It ended as it always did. She saw the light in their eyes die as they realized how hopeless it all was. The faces of the people waiting for her from their refuge were a perfect fit to each of the ones behind that barrier. Empty, desolate, and lifeless, but there weren't any riders coming over the hills this time. It was just her.

Where were they going? Why was that fire going out? Come back. She helped them. She kept them alive. She gave them more than enough to live, but why was it vanishing in front of her? What had she done wrong? Why was she the one that made it all go away? Why did they seem so lifeless? She was here. She helped. It was all she ever did, so why wasn't it getting better? Why were they slinking away form her? Why wasn't she working? Why wasn't it enough? Why? Why!? WHY!!? STOP IT!! STOP LOOKING AT HER WITH THOSE EYES!!! SHE WAS BETTER!!! SHE STAYED!! SHE KEPT YOU ALL ALIVE!!! SHE HELPED YOU!!! SHE HELPED YOU ALL!! ONLY SHE COULD!!! AND SHE DID!!! SHE HELPED!!! SO WHY ARE YOU SO LIFELESS!!! WHY WEREN'T YOU SMILING LIKE HE MADE YOU!!! WHY ELSE WOULD HE SAVE HER!?

......Why else would he save her?

He spared her. Why? Why did he spare her? It was stupid. She said she was going to kill him. What on earth made him believe she would stop that? He was just an idiot. Nothing more, but it was working. "Don't stop!!" Someone from the barrier shouted out and most of them seemed to do just that. They looked destroyed seconds all, the horror of what she had done settling in, but now that fire came back. Never once did they stop firing, never once did they retreat, and not even for a single instant did they give up. Their hero was dead, but they kept fighting and pushing, never relenting for an instant. They were so furious, so passionate, so alive.

How? How was he working? How were they still fighting because one simple fool when they never did for her after thirty years? Why was it so easy for him? Was.....was it her? Because there they all were. Even in his final death, he was pushing them forward.

Something like dynamite was lit in one. Whoever had rushed towards the bones didn't stay down there for long. It was a woman. No. Younger than that. A girl. Barely out of her teenage years, but she was still standing up. Checks stained with tears, eyes ablaze, and a rifle in hand. She still stood up. And she was anything but hollow.

Why weren't you? Why did you run? Because you had to survive and make sure they also did, but this was the first time you ever saw them live.

"Never stop!! Never give up!! Fight for your brothers, your sisters, your mother and fathers, your sons and daughters!!! Make them remember us even beyond the grave!!" She cried out with a few of the slaves around her responding with impassioned roars that did not flatter for a moment. It worked somehow. Against every odd it worked. Two of the slaves smashed their shoulder into one of the thick tables that made up their barrier and started pushing it forward, inch by inch. A handful followed them and kept firing from behind the moving barrier as more and more of them started rounding the corners to join the fray. They were coming in through the walls now and judging from the position, Lozen guesses they must have been the ones that forced her out of the corridor. The more the barrier moved up, the more doors opened up and the more guns filled the corridor until there were too many.

"Fucking hell!! Move back, you idiots!! They're too fucking many!!!" One of the guards shouted and Lozen was happy to oblige, but that wasn't why she leapt back inside the tunnels. She couldn't look at those eyes anymore, so full of life despite what she did. Why did she aim her weapon at them? When did she even start doing that? She wasn't like that. She gave people hope. She was one that kept everyone safe and alive. But why had they rushed away from her? Was was she one of the riders? What was she doing wrong and what had he done right?

She didn't know. That was the worse part. She just didn't know. A part of her thought she might be able to piece together what she was missing. No. It hoped. She did. She had to know. She needed to know. It was the first time she had ever seen so many of them so alive. She had to be able to make them feel that! She just had to! It was all she could do anymore. If it wasn't....then what had she been doing all this time?

So she ran without an answer in sight, fleeing those burning eyes that fought back against what she did and showed her what she never wanted to see in her place. The one who pulled the trigger and just forgot to laugh.