ALTERNATE REVOLUTION

CHAPTER VII: Abigail

The festivities were now over, and Buzz, having had a slight overdose on the wine, was now staggering down the hallway, his eyes glazed over and a slightly artificial, joyous attire about him. Revel, who had been walking with him earlier, had now left to go off to the soldiers' quarters, which, Delete suspected, were farther off from the main building itself. He was still brimming with happiness on account of the fact that Machinos had given him the most prized possession he owned; the robot was still gently handling the sword, taking care not to walk too fast, let alone skip.

"'Ay, Dee-dee!" Buzz called from the hallway, waving at him awkwardly. "'At was some party back 'dere, huh?" He then fell over to one side and would've hit the ground if he hadn't had the support of a nearby door to break his fall. "We gotta do 'at again some time."

"Um…yeah," Delete replied, not exactly wanting to be around his brother—or anyone, for that matter, when they were drunk. Drunken people had been known to act violent, especially the ones with large overdoses, and he didn't want to get near Buzz for fear of this. "Uh, listen, Buzzie, I'm just going to go and try to find my room now, okay? I'm feeling a bit—tired, let me say."

"Tired? Ha!" Buzz laughed; Delete indeed thought that it sounded drunk as well. "Well, let me tell ya 'dis, Deeds…ya never get tired if ya drink 'a right stuff. Whoo!" He fell against the door, this time sliding downward and hitting the floor. However, he didn't seem to notice the pain, nor the fact that he was being stared at. "'A world is spinning now…"

Delete didn't answer, but instead slowly backed up, and was about to turn around again when he smashed head-on into one of the soldiers sent to inspect the area after night hours. The two made gasping noises and stumbled backward; the soldier was the first one to regain his balance and look down at the other (namely, Delete).

"Hey! Watch where you're—" He then caught himself before he could finish. "What I mean to say is, I'm sorry, sir. I apparently wasn't watching where I was going at the moment, and neither were you, I'm sorry to say."

"Nah, it was my fault," Delete replied, straightening out his uniform and getting to his feet. "Hey, that reminds me of something…do you know where I'm supposed to sleep? I know that you guys sleep in the soldiers' quarters, and Buzz gets the previous general's old room…"

"Oh, yeah, right," the soldier replied, nodding. "The head militia…well, I'm sorry to have to say this, but you're going to have to sleep out in the soldiers' quarters along with the rest of us. The rest of the militia is there too…currently, of course."

"Oh…well, thanks," Delete replied, sounding slightly disappointed. He looked down the hallway. "Do you know where the soldiers' quarters are, then? 'Cause I'd like to go there and try to get some rest, if you don't mind."

"'Course I know where the soldiers' quarters are; I sleep there, remember?" the soldier replied, with a slight laugh in his tone; he then pointed down the hallway behind him. "Just go out the main doors, and walk over toward the stable. The soldiers' quarters are lined up directly behind there, in rows. Can't miss 'em once you get there."

"Thanks," Delete replied, smiling and nodding; he then walked past the soldier and down the hallway, away from Buzz, thankfully. He shook his head. Here was Buzz's first taste of old style alcohol and he went completely overboard. It must be more addictive than he thought, because Buzz normally wasn't like that…

He shook his head, then once again went out the main doors and down the stairs. He knew the way to the stable by walking back and forth from it with Machinos; it was to the right, then between the small grove of trees, across the grass, and behind the main part of the building itself…

He looked up. Sure enough, there it was: the large, barn-like structure of the stable. For a moment he almost had the urge to go inside and look at his horse again; the first sight of her had been a rather enchanting experience for him, but he refrained himself from doing so. Silver Arrow was a beautiful horse, but she was also dangerous to ride; he knew that by fact. He knew that he shouldn't until the next morning, when he could actually get some help…

Sucking in a breath, he walked past the stable and along the long side, until he finally came to the end. Looking around to the back, he could now see, sure enough, the soldiers' quarters: long, wooden buildings lined up along the side of the grounds' gate. Although it was after hours, the lights were still on in most of the windows, and he could hear several whoops and hollers from within, along with the sound of shattering glass; apparently they hadn't exactly finished their drunken party yet. Not exactly wanting to go in there at that precise moment, he turned back around toward the stable—and the urge to go inside struck him again.

He knew that he shouldn't do it, but this time the urge was too strong to fight. He broke off into a run alongside the stable, then made a sharp left to the front and burst in through the doors, startling several of the horses within. Macbeth, who already knew him from their previous encounter, made a snorting noise and stood still, while some of the other horses pawed the air; yet some more backed off. He ignored them and began to walk toward the back; there was only one horse that he wanted to see now.

Silver Arrow was now standing at the gate; her silvery features glinted under the rays of moonlight that entered through the window, and her dark blue shadow washed onto the hay-covered floor. Delete slowly approached her, then extended his hand. She snorted, then backed up a few steps and stomped one of her hooves in the dirt.

"It's okay," Delete said softly, as so to reassure her. "Come on, horsey. I won't hurt you at all…"

The horse looked at him for a few more seconds, then took one step back, one step forward, then finally approached the iron bar again. She nudged him in the shoulder with her nose, jolting him slightly to one side, but he ignored this and extended his hand again as so to stroke her. She allowed him this time, thankfully.

"That's a good girl," Delete said softly. "Now, then, my name is Delete, and I'm your new master. But in order for you to actually work out okay with me you gotta let me ride you. Will you let me do that?"

The horse nickered in response; Delete hoped that this meant "yes", for he knew that although he shouldn't do it now—especially when Machinos didn't know about it—he was going to try and ride her, or at least mount her. He had never been in control of anything before, much less a horse, and he needed all the practice that he could get before the call for an unexpected fight came up somewhere. Still keeping one hand on her nose, he reached down and slowly unhitched the iron bar from its wooden post.

As the gate swung open, the horse took a few more steps forward, pushing Delete back, slightly. The bridle was still on; Machinos had told him that he always kept a simple bridle on every one of his horses in case for emergency, and he didn't exactly need a saddle at the moment, so this would be rather easy. Slowly walking over to one side, he placed both hands on her back, then swung himself up onto her.

As soon as he took up the reins, Silver Arrow, not used to having something on her back (she had only been a domesticated horse for two days), immediately sprung into action—the negative kind, in Delete's case. Emitting a loud and slightly frightened whinny, she reared up, pawed the air with her hooves, then charged full speed out of the stable, with Delete holding on for dear life (obviously). The robot at first thought that it would be impossible to control her, but he found that by tugging the reins he was able to slow her somewhat, although he couldn't exactly control her fully—by means, change her direction. The horse was still frantically racing along the grounds, not exactly sure where she was going, and her rider didn't notice that they were in an unfamiliar part of the grounds until it was too late.

"Come on, slow down!" Delete pleaded to the horse, but Silver Arrow apparently didn't understand proper English commands yet. She veered off sharply to the right, almost bucking her rider off in the process, then galloped up a rather shallow hill, before finally leaping over a rickety fence and dashing through what now appeared to be a series of very poorly constructed houses. Delete closed his eyes tightly and, now clutching the horse's mane for dear life, waited for the time when speed would finally get the better of her—and be the death of him.

It never happened, however, for just as she was halfway through the area, a charcoal gray cat creature, who had been out to fetch some water from the well in the center of the area, looked up in time to see the horse galloping at her full speed. However, instead of moving, as any other individual would've done in such a situation, she instead stepped off to the side, then, just as the horse passed her, she reached up and, with lightning quick reflexes, snatched the reins and tugged on them—hard. Silver Arrow let out a loud cry before finally slowing to a halt; the inertia of the halt sent Delete forward, up onto the top of the horse's neck; he eventually slipped off once Silver Arrow lowered her head and landed headfirst on the ground.

Once the stars cleared from his mind, he looked up at the cat creature, who was now trying to calm the horse. When her efforts didn't work, she eventually took the reins and tied them to the well to prevent the horse from running away again, then looked down at Delete, a vexed glare now set upon the catlike features of her face.

"What the hell did you think you were doing!" she yelled at him, before he could even get the words out of his mouth. "That horse could've torn apart the entire area as we know it for all I care. You imbecile! Don't you even know how to ride a horse?!"

Delete looked up at her, then finally admitted, lowering his gaze to the ground, "Well, actually…no, I don't. I-I was just trying to see if I could control her…she looked nice enough from a distance…"

The cat creature's gaze then softened, and she shook her head. "That's what everyone thinks at first," she sighed. "I had an experience like that myself. I suppose that I can't blame you for the time being…" She helped him to his feet. "But you have to know the basics before you learn to ride a horse, especially a stallion."

"Why? Do you know how to ride one?" he asked.

"Well…kind of," she admitted, shrugging a shoulder. "I used to ride them a while back. At some other place…in some other life…" She trailed off for a few moments, then quickly snapped back to attention. "Anyway, yes, I do know the basics of riding a horse. Everyone has to know that in these areas."

"Could you teach me?" he said, a slight trace of hope in his voice. The cat creature looked down at him, then sighed and looked off toward the empty horizon; she didn't have the time nor the permission, it seemed, to teach the head militia (she could clearly tell by the markings on the jacket), being the slave that she was. Then again, he did seem fairly nice, and he looked like he could be pretty helpful, too…if she helped him, maybe he would help her eventually…

She looked down at him, then nodded her head. "Yes, I could teach you," she replied. "But it'll take time, okay? I'm…well, to be honest, you've actually entered the slaves' quarters, and I'm apparently—" She sighed again. "One of their kind…"

"Oh," Delete replied, shuffling one of his feet along the dirt. "I'm sorry…"

"There's no one to blame here but Machinos," she replied, patting him on the shoulder. "And, speaking of Machinos, he shouldn't know that you're out here as is. I'll bet you anything that if he finds one of the horses in his stable missing—"

"Ooh, you're right!" Delete suddenly realized, sounding rather nervous. "I've gotta get back, but—I used Silver Arrow to get here, and I don't know how to ride her, and I can't walk her back with the way she's acting right now—"

"Never mind it, never mind it," the feline replied, holding up her hand. "I'll walk her back after you're in the soldiers' quarters where you belong. I've handled horses a lot before; she shouldn't be any different than the other captures Machinos has made in the past."

"Thanks," Delete replied, smiling weakly. He then shook her hand and began to turn around to head back toward the soldiers' quarters. The feline creature watched as he departed, then turned to look at Silver Arrow and, still holding the reins tightly in one hand, stroked the horse's nose with the other.

"He knows something," she muttered to herself.

Delete awakened at dawn and ran up toward the slaves' quarters as quickly as possible to meet the feline at the top of the hill. Deciding not to use Silver Arrow the very first time (she wasn't exactly his level), he found that she had brought out another one of the horses: a pitch-black horse by the name of Jackson. The reins were already adjusted, and the feline was now standing at its side, her hand placed on the shoulder-blade. Upon noticing Delete at the top of the hill, she smiled and waved.

"Over here!" she called. Delete looked over toward the direction of the noise, then smiled and walked up beside her.

"Thanks again for trying to teach me, I actually couldn't thank you enough," he told her, rubbing the back of his head shyly. "But I need to know somethin' first…I don't know your name. Could you possibly tell it to me?"

The cat creature bit her lip, then finally nodded and said, her voice sounded rather forced, "Abigail Felinus. And yours?"

"Um…Delete," the robot replied. A shock of electricity then passed through his antennae, and he suddenly recalled something that he had forgotten earlier. "Hey, your last name reminds me of a friend I made a few days ago…only his name was Ruben. He was the one who sent us here in the first—" He stopped when he saw Abigail's expression. "Um…are you okay?"

He had noticed that upon hearing Ruben's name Abigail's eyes had widened, and her mouth had dropped open slightly. She was now staring at him, refusing to blink, for a few moments, then she finally shook her head to clear the feeling and said, almost in disbelief, "You know Ruben Felinus?"

Delete nodded and placed his hands behind his back. "Uh-huh. Me and Buzz met him when we first arrived here…in this world, that is. He actually saved us from a group of those soldiers back there…" He jabbed his finger in the direction of the main grounds. "He's a really nice guy, 'cept I remembered him sayin' something about how he got shot in the back…"

"Oh, thank God," Abigail said, her hands clasped, she then noticed the look of puzzlement on Delete's face. "Delete, Ruben is my son. And the reason that he told you that he had gotten shot in the back was because of Machinos. He invaded our territory three years ago. He killed my husband and other son and daughter, and shot Ruben…I thought for sure that he was dead as well. He took me captive, and somehow I have forgotten why." She grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him forward to the point where their noses were three inches from each other. "You've got to tell me where he is. And you've got to get me out of here."

"Well…um…he's currently in the woods from all I know," Delete replied; he then removed the feline's hands from his shoulders and straightened his posture. "But I dunno how to get you out of here, sadly. Buzz and Ruben were the main planners, but Buzz isn't here right now, and I don't think he will be for a while…"

Abigail raised an eyebrow. "And why is that?"

"Drank too much," Delete sighed, shifting his eyes in the other direction. "Acted like a complete lunatic last night, and I'll bet that he's going to sleep 'till noon—he does that sometimes when we drink too much coffee an' stuff. And after that I heard Machinos say that they're going to have several drills in case of emergency…that may take up a bit of time."

Abigail sighed and shook her head. "Okay, then, I'll just teach you to ride the horse for the time being," she replied. "But as soon as you find Buzz, tell him that you met someone who is ready and willing to help you with your plan…whatever it is."

Delete considered for a moment. "Well…Ruben did say that we should find a few of the slaves and ask them to help us, so I suppose that'll work out just fine," he replied, shrugging a shoulder. "Now…how am I supposed to ride this thing?" He looked up at Jackson, who stomped his hoof impatiently and snorted.

"Well, Jackson is one of the older horses, so he can tolerate much," Abigail replied. "I need to see you mount him first. Did your stallion go berserk before or after you mounted her?"

"She reared up and started running as soon as I mounted," Delete replied. "If I hadn't she would've dragged me for the next 500 yards, and I'm thankful that she didn't in this case."

"Saddle or no?"

"She wasn't wearing one. None of the horses were wearing one."

"Well, then, I'm supposing that you don't need much help with your mounting. It's rather hard to mount a horse when it's bareback, especially one as big as her." She gently nudged him in the back, toward Jackson's direction. "Now, go ahead and mount him. I'll slip on after you."

Delete nodded, then walked up to Jackson and easily mounted him, with Abigail getting on after. She then reached forward and took the reins, thrusting them into the robot's hands. "Now, then, I want you to try and gently lead him. Just snap the reins to get him moving, but not too hard. Hard snapping more than often causes whiplash."

Delete obeyed, and Jackson broke off into a brisk trot alongside the fence. Abigail nodded at this performance, then added, "And to lead him to either side, you have to touch the reins to a certain side of his head. It's rather simple, actually…if you desire to move him left, touch them to the right; and for the opposite, touch them left. Now, we're coming up to the side, here…" She pointed ahead at the other end of the fence. "So just make him go to the right."

The robot found this indeed to be rather simple, and Jackson had a rather sensitive mouth, it seemed. The horse turned to the right at the slightest touch, without any shows of stubbornness that Silver Arrow surely would have done. Abigail, watching and mentally recording this inside her head, nodded again, then decided that Delete pretty much knew the basics; they just had to practice in order for him to look like he had truly been riding a horse all his life.

"You're doing good," was all she said, however. "All we need to do is get the hang of this, and you'll probably be able to ride Silver Arrow. I don't see why you had any problems with her in the first place; you technically know most of the basics by mind."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. I think that the main problem is that Silver Arrow is a wild horse and hasn't been broken in yet. You've got to give the professionals some time to do that before you even think about mounting her again, okay?"

Delete nodded in agreement. "Okay."

"Good. I'm glad we have an agreement on that." She smiled and patted his shoulder, a warm gesture that made him smile internally. "Now, then, you'd best get back down to the grounds before someone notices that you're here. Machinos doesn't exactly like the leaders conversing with the slaves."

Delete halted Jackson, and the two slipped off before Abigail took the horse's reins in one hand, then began to lead him back in the direction of the well. Delete watched them from a distance for a few moments, then quickly turned around and began to run back down the hill. Halfway down, however, he smashed headlong into another soldier, and the two lost their balance at once and, in a few seconds, had ended up at the bottom of the hill again, panting in shock and looking rather disturbed.

The soldier was the first one to get up. "You know, what I'm wondering is how in cyberspace you can manage to smash into me every time we meet."

Delete got to his feet next. "I'm sorry," he replied rather softly. "I didn't exactly expect to find you here. Why are you going up to the slaves' quarters, anyhow?"

"Machinos wants another one of our sheep butchered for tonight," the soldier sighed, crossing his arms. "Actually, he wants five killed in order to feed the army. Since we're usually not the ones to carry it out, he sends one of us up the hill to go retrieve some slaves to do the job for us. That's what they're meant for, after all." He shrugged a shoulder.

"Oh…" Delete didn't want to start another argument with the soldier, thus he merely asked, as it had been in his head most of the morning, "Um…do you know where Buzz went? I heard Machinos say that they were gonna run some drills today…"

"They are." The soldier nodded. "And they've already left for the forest to do them."

"What?" Delete didn't expect this answer. "But I thought Buzz was—"

"Yes, he was still half drunk when I got him up this morning. However, he'll come to his senses soon enough; Machinos took him and a few more of the soldiers out into the forest for a practice drill. They say that firing within the grounds could cause quite a few risks."

"Well, I can understand that…"

"Actually, he used to, but withdrew from it after three soldiers were killed thanks to bad aim. Ever since then, we've been more careful…" He snapped back into reality. "Anyway, would you mind letting me up there, now? Those sheep won't kill themselves, you know."

"Oh, okay," Delete replied, stepping aside as so to let the soldier pass.

I don't even know why I agreed to this, Buzz thought to himself as he guided Macbeth over a fallen log. Machinos had, indeed, called him and about ten other soldiers together for drills, and they had just entered the forest and were heading for the center, near the waterfall and possibly Crucible Grounds. They marched in a packed group; all of the soldiers behind them carried rifles over their shoulders, and every individual in the group was equipped with a sword. Machinos was in front, with Buzz following shortly after him.

Buzz was still feeling slightly cranky from last night, even though he was now sober, but he didn't want to disappoint Machinos and thus had readily agreed when one of the soldiers had arose him. Now he was beginning to have second thoughts, especially when they had been riding for hours and still hadn't arrived at the chosen drill scene yet. He wondered if this was even Machinos's true intention…

His further thoughts were abruptly halted by a rustling noise from a nearby patch of brush. Puzzled, he looked over toward that direction, only to see that the bush had stopped moving and was now completely still. Shaking his head, he decided that it was just a mind trick and turned back to follow Machinos again.

No sooner had he turned his head, however, than a gunshot rang out through the trees. The aim had intended to be at Buzz, but due to the fact that he was slightly shorter than the others it wasn't exactly true. The bullet narrowly missed hitting the feather stuck into the brim of his hat and instead struck one of the other Riders in the group behind him, causing him to emit a loud screech of pain, tense up, and fall off of his horse with a loud THUD. Machinos, having heard this noise before, whipped his head in that particular direction to find that the Rider had indeed fallen; several others were staring at him, wondering what there was that they could actually do.

Machinos then turned toward Buzz, who looked rather shocked from what had just happened and was now staring straight ahead, his eyes wide. Machinos snapped his fingers rather loudly, causing him to snap back to attention. "Who—uh—what is it, Sire?"

"Do you know who fired that shot?" the tyrant demanded, sounding rather vexed.

Buzz looked at him, then at the bush where he had first heard the noise, then finally sighed and pointed in the bush's direction. Machinos turned his gaze toward that, his eyes narrowed, his hands slowly reaching for the sword sheathed into his belt. Buzz was about to ask if there was a logical explanation for this, but before he could say anything the rustling came again.

"Damnation," was all Machinos muttered.