Angel Is Dust- The Shootout Pt 1

Not a single man was talking, not me, not anybody. All you could hear were the horses breathing and feet hitting the ground as we rode. Thoughts entered my mind, am I ready for this? Can I kill another human being, can I really take the chance of being shot. I tried clearing my head of thoughts. I couldn't think of that, not here, not know. Now I need to clear my head and keep riding.

I had long turned off the radio, It was getting to me, once very entertaining songs seem very bleak. It was giving me hard anxiety. It feels like death is staring me down, I can feel it on my neck, my back, and my gut. Something felt bad.

The sun had gone down by a long way, It was starting to get cool, the horses were getting tired, how much further?

Garcia whistled and waved his hand in the air. "Leave the horses up here, we walk from here," Garcia said confidently. Like somehow he knew he'd win.

Up a hill we went, gravel was falling and the horses jumped and rode up to a large plateau covered half by a rock face, a withered tree rested by the rock face.

Garcia jumped off his horse and turned towards us, "Tie your horses, it's time we fight," Garcia said.

I tied my horse near the other men, they immediately started drinking out of dirty puddles in the cool shade of the rock face.

I closed my eyes, I had all I needed, a gun, a shotgun, and plenty of ammo. Shit, what about stimpacks. Looking around I saw a thin young Mexican man with a small mustache that had a painted red cross bag. I guess he has them, huh?

I steeled myself before taking the shotgun out of its sheath. It was an old style looking reaping shotgun, made of wood and steel. Not much to look at but I'm sure it'll be very affected. It was fully loaded and ready to go, I slung it over my shoulder.

I saw from a distance Blind Owl had what had looked like a hunting rifle complete with a scope, climbing up the rock face. Walking over I looked up at him.

"What are you doing all the way up there?" I asked.

Blind Owl glanced down at before sitting down on a flat rock and looking through his scope. "I'm scouting, and i'll be shooting from a distance," He said matter of factly.

"How's it looking up there then," I said, squinting my eyes towards Blind Owl.

"Packed, and armed," He said.

I let Blind Owl scout the place and turned my attention towards Garcia. He was kneeling, along with a few other men, and praying in the light of the evening. For a second I wondered If I should do the same. He shortly got up and motioned everyone to come together. Blind Owl joined in too.

"What's the plan, Garcia?" I said a little more serious than I should've.

"Let's hear out Blind Owl first," Garcia said, turning towards Blind Owl. Blind Owl looked lost in thought.

"It's packed, I count at least 50 people, and that's just the ones I can see. They have people outside the gate guarding it, at least 20, the rest are on top of the guard towers," He said calmly.

Garcia stroked his beard for a bit. A few seconds passed before he finally started speaking. "We'll go in thru the front, and then blow the gate, we'll split into two teams, one will protect at least two people who can plant dynamite at the gate entrance so we can storm in. Any volunteers?" Garcia said confidently before looking around. His gaze soon landed on me.

Should I? Should I not? I thought about it before my mouth spoke before I could truly debate it. "I'll go, '' I said confidently.

[OPTIONAL OBJECTIVE: VOLUNTEER FOR THE DYNAMITE CREW"

"I'll go too," a young voice said. It was the guy with the medic bag?

"Jose and Mario…Any last words?" Garcia said.

I looked around, some people were nervous, some people looked excited, but most people didn't care. Like it was just a job or something. Maybe it's because they grew up in the harsh wasteland? Possibly.

A young voice caught my attention. It was… Mario I think?

"Hey..uh..Hey. Im.. Uh.. Mario," He said quietly, scratching the back of his head.

Mario was maybe 5'8 and 120 pounds, maybe. He had super short hair and had a tiny little pencil mustache. I guess he wants to prove himself.

"Name's Jose, nice to meet your Mario," I said smoothly.

"So…Uh…Have..You Like…Done this before?" He asked dumbly.

"Yeah," I lied, "I do work like this all the time." I said confidently.

"Do you…Uh…. Have any.. Uh.. advice?" He asked.

I was just about to answer when both Garcia and Blind Owl came up to us with small satchels. I could guess what was inside them.

"This is some serious dynamite, don't go crazy with this stuff and try not to get it shot," Blind Owl said bluntly.

Mario took it very carefully while I casually put the satchel on my side.

"Follow me," Garcia said. Me, Mario, and Blind Owl looked at each other before walking behind Garcia.

After a few feet he jumped up on a rock closeby and cleared his throat.

"Everybody, listen up. This will be a tough mission, Angel is never a pushover and he is for sure to put his all just to see us fail. He will taunt, torture, and kill without mercy. Just know that if we stick together as a team we can absolutely win. And I promise you a funeral if you happen to die… But let's go out fighting!"

Everyone gave a half hearted "Yeah".

"Will we fight till the last man and we will not leave a single man behind!"

Everyone said "Yeah" a little louder.

"We will not let a single enemy live,"

We all said "Yeah" louder

"And we will win this battle!" Garcia yelled

Everyone went buck-wild and started yelling, whistling, and crying.

"Now let's go!" Garcia yelled before running downhill.

Blind Owl haphazardly waved before running towards the cliff face.

Giving my best battle cry I ran down the hill along with Garcia and his men.