Red X: Revolver
Red X: Revolver.
This has got to be the strangest idea I've ever had. I can only blame the fact that I recently played through "Red Dead Revolver", and this is what came of it. To anyone who's played "Red Dead Revolver": fear not, I'm not going to simply write out the plot, inserting different names. However, some elements WILL be the same. Mainly this first chapter. To anyone who hasn't played the game, I've got four words for you: Teen Titans Spaghetti Western.
Yippie-ki-yay, motherfuckers!
N.B: This story is rated "M", due to language, liquor and violence. Lots and lots of violence.
Chapter 1: Scorpion Brand.
Nate Epps made his way up the hill to his home, weighed down by the stupendous amount of items he had recently bought. Things were looking up for him. He and his partner had hit a rich seam in Bear Mountain, more than enough to ensure his entire family lived like kings for generations to come. As he opened his gates he cried out.
"Red! Marlene! Come out here, I got something to tell you!"
As his family ran towards him, they noticed his wide grin. "What? Have some luck at last?"
"Darlin', we hit a vein of gold as wide as a locomotive, clean through Bear Mountain! Scat's just goin' to secure the claim in town." Nate was cut off by his wife's exited squeal, and she dived towards him, wrapping her arms around his neck. "And lookie here, son." At this Red, his fifteen year-old boy, craned his neck and brought out something from behind his back. The boy's eyes widened when his father produced a revolver of astounding beauty. Its barrel was considerably longer than normal, and was inlaid with gold filigree around the chamber. What really drew the boy's attention was the figure of a scorpion, raised out of the handle and picked out in gold.
"What is it?"
"It's a Scorpion Revolver. There's only two in the whole world, and Scat's got the other. We had 'em made special, to celebrate our partnership."
"Can I try it?"
Nate chuckled at his son's forwardness. "Son, someday this fine weapon'll be yours, but for now, you can have my old pistol."
"Thanks, Dad!" Red's excitement at getting a gun of his own eclipsing his disappointment.
"Now, why don't you go practice with that thing? Get on down to the creek, and try your hand at the targets."
Nate chuckled as his boy ran off down the hill, eager to try out his new weapon.
"You men and your toys." Marlene's voice cut through his thoughts.
His grin widened. "That reminds me. How are we gonna celebrate, darlin'?" He asked as he pulled her towards him.
Red grinned as he fired shot after shot into the straw man, effectively tearing it to shreds from the sheer amount of bullets being pumped into it. He then turned his attention to a row of glass bottles that his Dad had set up as precision targets. Here, he did less well. He had been there for ten minutes and had only broken three of them. Just as he was aiming for one last shot, his father's voice rang out, and the desperation was clear in his tone.
"Get up here, Red. We're being raided!"
With only a moment's hesitation, Red ran up the path that led to his home. As he ran, he saw a small ball of flame fly erratically towards his house, and moments later the building was burning. Stifling a cry, he forced his legs to work harder than ever before, and accelerated. A man noticed him, and took aim at the boy. The boy was faster, and had shot the man three times in the torso before he could blink. Not pausing, the boy ran on.
Running on adrenaline, fear and rage, Red raced to his father's side, leaping over several cadavers. As he reached the man's side, Nate turned towards him, and missed the man taking aim at him from behind. Marlene noticed, though, and tried to warn him. Red saw, and aimed over his father's shoulder. Neither of them were fast enough, and Nate took a bullet to the back, piercing his lung.
"You bastard!" Marlene screamed, launching herself at the tall figure in the uniform of the Confederate Army. He shot her down before she had taken two steps.
The man, whose uniform identified him as a Colonel, stepped towards the boy who kneeled before the corpse of his father, a shocked expression on his face. As he took aim, the boy turned, and looked straight into the man's eyes. Red's face took on a look of visceral rage, and he snatched up his father's gun from where it had fallen.
In a pile of glowing embers.
Screaming in shock and agony, Red swung the revolver towards the murderer, and blindly loosed a shot. There was an explosion, a baptism of gore, as the man's right arm was parted from his shoulder, and his blood splattered onto Red. Unable to hold on to the red hot weapon any longer, Red dropped the revolver, and ran blindly into the night.
Hours later, Red stumbled back to the pile of ashes and twisted wreckage that had been his home. Sobbing all the while, he found a shovel that had escaped the inferno, and dug two shallow graves.
When he left, he took only two things with him: his father's pistol, and a red cloth that had belonged to his mother, which he wound around his injured hand, on which was embossed a burn scar in the shape of a scorpion.
I realise that this chapter is little more than a rewrite of the first scene of the game, but I didn't really have much room to manoeuvre here, not if I wanted the future plot points to make sense. The next chapter will change things drastically, I promise. Anyhoo review and tell me what you thought, please!