Chapter 32 - Menoraz Army

The moon was high in the sky when the criminals attacked. The silver rays shined on them, illuminating the canyon as if it was day.

"Here they come, Anna!"

There was no need to warn her. She was already aiming at the moving shadows. The Null wasn't to be trifled with, and hit one of them in the shoulder on her first shot.

Drake also wasn't going to take it easy. A single mistake could cost them their lives. He missed his first couple of shots, but his third bullet found the target, and an outlaw screamed before falling completely silent.

Of course, their opponents weren't staying quiet either. Several dozen bullets hit the rock Drake was hiding behind, forcing him to keep his head down.

"Holy sh*t, they are angry."

"What did you expect?"

Ignoring Anna's snarky retort, Drake laid down, and slowly crawled away from his current position. When he got to a new boulder, he showed himself partially, and searched for a target.

There was a woman trying to climb the pile of rocks caused by the explosion, and who was getting a little too close for comfort. Drake pressed the trigger of his rifle twice, the first bullet missing by a few centimeters, but the second hitting her leg.

"Agh!"

With a short yell of pain, the outlaw lost balance, and fell. She rolled down the rocks, and Drake was pretty sure she ended up with a broken neck. He shrugged. He hadn't aimed to kill, but accidents happened.

...

After another unsuccessful attempt, the criminals retreated, leaving two more of their counterparts on the ground. For a moment, Drake wondered why he hadn't seen Scarred Jack leading the attack, but he figured it was because the man was a coward, who let others do the dirty work for him.

Seeing one of the bandits run a few meters forward, in search of a better spot to hide, he quickly aimed and fired, then ducked behind the boulder without watching if he had hit the target. He was rewarded by a scream, even as bullets pelted his cover.

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Their little game continued throughout the night, and Drake and Anna had a few close calls. One time, two criminals had managed to sneak up on Anna without she seeing them, and almost killed her. If Drake hadn't spotted them at the last moment, she would have been long gone from this world.

Still, Drake only was able to kill one of them before they fired. The second managed to wound Anna's shoulder, but before he could finish her, Zaplin took action. Seeing her wounded had deeply angered it, and Zaplin used Lightning Rod again, this time without holding back. The criminal quite literally became charcoal.

After that, both of them became more careful, and told the Iferes to guard their backs in case something similar happened. When the first rays of sunlight illuminated the canyon, they revealed six dead criminals, and two very exhausted Drake and Anna.

However, the sun also brought a nice surprise. The sound of many Yscalents running reached their ears, and, when he turned to look back, Drake saw forty or so Menoraz soldiers - many of which had Ifere companions - riding towards the canyon. Leading them was none other than Tom. The old cop yelled a greeting to them, and Drake answered by waving his hand.

The pile of rocks caused by the explosion was as much as a hassle to the soldiers as it was for the bandits, but their numbers were much higher. As soon as they appeared, Scarred Jack's gang surrendered without even the need to threaten them.

"Could have done that earlier, couldn't they? It would have saved us a lot of trouble."

"Haha..."

It was understandable Anna was grumpy. Although the bullet had passed straight through her shoulder without hitting any bones, it was still painful. Plus, she had to go through the night without treating the wound. The improvised bandage she had made was red with dry blood.

"Ask one of the soldiers to take a look at it. I will go with Tom and the officer to make sure Scarred Jack is arrested."

"I wished the bastard had shown himself during the night. I don't know what I would give to have him in my sights."

He patted her good shoulder, and half walked, half slid, down the rocks to meet Tom and a Menoraz Army captain. His dark blue uniform carried four golden stripes on the right shoulder, and he used a hat of the same color. A white flower was embroidered on his right chest. On his hips was a pistol and a sword. To Drake's surprise, the captain was younger than him.

"Thanks for the help, captain."

"You don't look like you needed help. Captain Richard Barley, by the way."

The officer gestured with his head at the rounded-up criminals, who were being held at gunpoint by the soldiers, and at the six dead ones. He stretched his hand, and Drake shook it gladly. Although Captain Barley was young, he seemed experienced.

"Drake Stronter. Maybe we could have picked them off one by one if we had more time, but one sleepless night is enough for me."

Without him realizing it, Drake had lost some of his fear when talking to military. If before he saw them as scary people, who killed and died on a daily basis, now they were pretty similar to him, only more disciplined.

"Sh*t!"

As Drake was talking to the captain, Tom noticed something, and cursed. Pushing him aside, he ran towards the prisoners. As soon as he did that, Drake understood what was wrong, and couldn't help but curse too, confusing the soldiers and the officer.

"What is wrong?"

"Scarred Jack is not here. F*ck! You, sergeant! Are you sure you searched everywhere?"

"Err... Yes, mister. Each and every one of them is here."

Ignoring the stunned sergeant, Drake went around the canyon, checking all the bodies, but just like he feared, Scarred Jack wasn't amongst them.

"He must have escaped. There has to be another exit to this place."

Going back to the still confused captain, Drake saw Tom freaking out. The poor cop had used every ounce of his courage to fight back against Scarred Jack and his gang, oy because he believed they would all go to jail for the rest of their lives. But if he escaped...

"He is going to come back. He is going to come back, and take his revenge on Park. We are screwed..."

"Shut up, Tom. We are going to catch him, don't you worry. Even if he escaped during the night, he couldn't have gone far without a Yscalent."

"I will tell my men to carefully search the canyon. Meanwhile..."

"I know a faster way."

The captain was interrupted by Drake again, and started to get somewhat unhappy. Before he could complain, however, Drake had already grabbed one of the prisoners, and dragged him out of the circle that the Menoraz soldiers had made around them.

"Your boss left you to die here. If you tell me where he could have gone, I will find him and give him what he deserves."

"He will kill me if I say something. Your prisons can't keep us safe."

The short man seemed tempted for a moment, but then he shuddered. He hated Scarred Jack for abandoning them, but he still feared him too much to do anything. Seeing that, Drake decided to use a convincing argument that Higler had taught him.

A powerful punch sent the gang member flying under the shocked glares of the soldiers. Before they could stop him, Drake took two large steps forward, and lifted the man up before punching him in the stomach.

The criminal folded upon himself, clutching his stomach in pain. He also braced himself for another blow, but it never came. Drake knew the soldiers would try to stop him, so he did so by himself. Captain Barley was livid, his face red with anger.

"Stronter! What do you think you are doing?!"

"Asking for directions."

That left everyone speechless. Even Anna, who had seen rangers interrogate prisoners more than once, was surprised by his shamelessness. The officer looked like he wanted to pull out his gun and shoot Drake there and then, but he controlled himself.

"Saint Rouge. That's where he is going."

Suddenly, one of the criminals stepped forward, under the watchful gazes of the soldiers. She spat on the ground, her voice full of hatred.

"We are going to be executed anyways, aren't we, soldier boy? Might as well have that f*cker die with us."

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Five days later, in Saint Rouge, a man entered a pub in the outskirts of the city. The bar was almost empty, aside from two or three shady-looking characters. The wooden tables, dirty floors, cracked walls, and water dripping from the ceiling made one wonder how the place hadn't closed already.

The person walked up to the counter, and knocked on it. However, to his confusion, no one appeared. His instincts warned him that something was wrong, and he turned to leave, but saw the three clients barring his way. His hand reached for the pistol hidden under his clothes, but a powerful punch knocked him down before he could grab it.

"Scarred Jack, you are under arrest."

"Mother..."

He didn't finish cursing, because the person kicked his stomach, while another took away his weapons.

"Give me a reason to kill you, scum. That's all I want."

Unfortunately for Drake, while Scarred Jack was a murderous psychopath, he wasn't stupid. He knew when he had lost.

"Are you the ones who trapped my gang in the canyon?"

"Yes, we are."

"How did you find me?"

Drake scoffed, and signaled for Anna and Alex to lift him up. The Nulls had mostly recovered from their wounds with the help of Artons. Alex would wince in pain from time to time, but he insisted on being present when they captured the man that had caused so much trouble.

"Apparently, you weren't the best boss, Jack. In fact, some of your people seemed to hate you quite a lot. You didn't have a Yscalent, so we got here much earlier than you. After that, all we had to do was ask around to discover where you normally come when you are in Saint Rouge."

Scarred Jack growled, distorting even more his horrible face. There was pure hatred in his eyes, but Drake couldn't care less. The criminal had hurt a lot of people, and he deserved every single year he would spend in prison. That is, if he didn't get executed for his crimes, which was more than likely to happen.