A/N: I am proud to present my newest chapter and ecstatic that it didn't take me forever to write it. As always, thank you to those you reviewed my story. I just love reading what you have to say.
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Chapter 10: Guns and Dancing
The couple soon reached the holster store. Just as the man promised, the finished item was sitting in front of him, with the black gun snugly fit inside.
Knives looked over the merchandise, strapping the thigh holster to himself to make sure the merchandise had been made correctly. With a satisfied nod, he paid the owner the appropriate amount of money before the two of them strode back into the crowds.
It was around lunch so the two of them found a restaurant to eat at. The establishment was busy, but they were lucky enough to acquire a table.
Typically, on a day like this there would be the regular patrons filling the tables. Now, the festival had brought in many different types of people and the restaurant was full of all sorts of characters. A particularly loud group next to their table brought a sour look to Knives' face.
He opted to ignore them, however, and he and Meryl enjoyed a delicious meal. They were nearly finished eating when the group of obviously intoxicated men left their table and walked up to Meryl. The men surrounded her, making her feel very uncomfortable. They didn't either notice or care that Knives was just across the table from them, giving the humans a narrow-eyed glare.
"Well, hello there cutie," one of the men, probably the leader, addressed Meryl.
On her travels around Gunsmoke, Meryl had come across such characters as these, but always before she'd had her trusty derringers to help her. She'd also not been almost raped by a man in an alleyway.
Her fear came back full-force as the men crowded around her chair. She slunk lower in her seat as the leader leaned toward her.
"What's wrong, sweaty? Don't be afraid. Me and the boys will show you a good time." He gave a feral grin, then reached out and grabbed her arm. A growl came from the other side of the table and the drunks looked up at Knives, as if noticing him for the first time.
"Hey, buddy," he said consolingly to Knives, "don't worry about your woman here. We'll take good care of her for ya'."
Knives bristled at the name the human addressed him with. His rage flared up further when he saw the man drag Meryl out of her seat. He could tell she was frightened by the look in her eyes.
He quickly stood, upsetting his chair and causing the men to go on the offensive, drawing their guns and pointing them his way.
The plant maintained a passive composure, even though he was seething inside. These were the type of people that made him want to destroy humanity.
The men and Knives stood for a moment, simply looking at each other, wondering what the other would do.
"I believe," Knives started slowly, "that it would be in your best interest if you let the young woman go."
Instead of following his orders, the group of men laughed at him. They laughed at the most dangerous person on the planet, and Knives was sorely tempted to make them aware of that fact. Meryl appeared to sense his thoughts. She shook her head slowly as if to warn him against such an action.
The laughter soon died down and the leader spoke again, bringing Meryl against him. "You thinkin' you can take us all on? You're outnumbered, friend."
As much as Knives hated to admit it, he had to agree with the man's assessment. Sure, he could disarm all of them, but Meryl would be put at great risk.
"How about this, buddy? Why don't we have a contest to see which one of us gets this woman?" He sneered and looked down at the cringing Meryl.
"I'm listening," Knives grated out, clearly unhappy with having to bargain with such trash.
"The gun tournament is in an hour. We can both enter and the person who does the best, wins the pretty lady." He gave a triumphant grin, positive that he had won. Never had the gang's leader, Jim Douglas, ever lost a tournament in his life. He and his gang were known for their exceptional aim and where often hired out as mercenaries.
Knives thought over his options. He could either attempt to rescue the young woman now, thereby putting her in danger, or he could go with the brute's idea and beat him at the contest. It took him little time to decide on the safer of the two routes. He'd sworn to protect her after all, and risking her life just wasn't an option.
"Agreed, but I will hold the woman." There was no way he wanted her to stay in that man's grasp for another second.
Douglas would have loved to have kept the woman with him, but he didn't want to draw attention to himself any further. He and his gang were wanted men and dragging Meryl down the street, for surely she wouldn't come with him willingly, would alert people that something wasn't right.
He pushed her away from him and into Knives' waiting arms. "Fine, but don't try anything funny or we'll blow you full of holes." The guns being put back in their holsters were proof enough that they would follow through with the threat.
Knives simply nodded and walked out of the diner, placing Meryl in front of him, still carrying that stupid bear. She'd be safer that way, in case any shooting was to occur. With his plant body, he could take bullets much more readily than the tiny woman.
The atmosphere was tense as they walked the streets. Both Meryl and Knives knew what the stakes were in this game. If she were to be handed over to the gang, it was a sure bet that she wouldn't survive the encounter. People like the men behind them had no regard for life.
They soon reached the small arena that had been set up for the tournament. Both men walked up to the sign-up booth and filled out the required forms. The contest was to start in a few minutes and both contestants went to their respective areas.
There were roughly around one-hundred people participating this year, all of them professionally known, excluding Knives, of course. He was the only unknown and he could feel the curious stares of the onlookers on him as he stood at his area.
Only five men went at one time for the first few rounds, Knives being in the first circuit. In front of each person was a table, set about one-hundred yarz away and as the tournament continued, the distance would be lengthened. On each of the furniture were five bottles. The goals were to shoot all of the bottles and in the shortest amount of time.
Knives was uneasily standing in his place, glancing out of the corner of his eye to where Meryl was standing. He'd had to leave her with some of the outlaws so they could keep watch over her, making sure she didn't try to escape.
The plant had to admit that she was putting on a really brave face, considering the circumstances. Most people would have panicked, but Meryl had remained calm in the face of both the outlaws and her own fear. Right now, as she was surrounded by the filth, the insurance lady was using her temper to curb her fear, but Knives wasn't going to scold her for her attitude. Whatever worked for her was fine. Besides, he liked to see the men quiver whenever she sent them one of her famous glares.
He turned his attention back to the contest and watched as the man running the tournament stepped forward.
"Welcome, ladies and gentleman, to the one-hundredth annual gun tournament!" A torrent of clapping followed his words and he waited for the crowd to calm down. "This year we have a big show in store for you. Many skillful men have come this year to battle for the title of Gunsmoke's best gunman and to win this year's prizes."
He indicated a small tent near the shooting range. Under the covering was a small table that held three trophies for the third, second, and first place winners. Also, beside those were the prizes that went with each place.
"For third place," the director called out, waving his hand for the prize to be shown, "we have ten-thousand double dollars!" The director grinned as the crowd went wild again. "For second, we have thirty-thousand double dollars!" The noise grew in volume with the next cheer. "And lastly, first place receives a prize by the amount of fifty-thousand double dollars!"
Knives was tempted to put his hands over his ears on the last cheer. He could care less about the human money. The plant already had enough for himself and at the moment Meryl's life rested on him winning, something infinitely more valuable than money. The man almost cringed on that last thought, knowing it for the truth that it was. To him, her life was important, though he had no idea why and didn't wish to dwell on the implications.
The director spoke for a few minutes more about the history of the event, but Knives paid him no heed, focusing all of his attention on the bottles in front of him. Finally, the man finished speaking and another event organizer came forth, carrying with him a small handgun. He gave directions to the gunman. They would start at the sound of the gun and the fastest two people with the best aim would go on to the next round.
"All right," he called out, "Ready . . . GO!"
Faster than anyone could see, Knives had whipped out his gun and obliterated the bottles. When he had finished, the next best person was still shooting his third object. The crowd noticed this and cheered for Knives as he left the shooting grounds to wait for the next round.
Douglas' turn was next and even Knives had to admit that the human had skill. Maybe not as fast as himself, but the man still flattened the competition.
The two progressed through the contest until they were the only ones left. By this time the bottles were placed over four-hundred yarz away, looking like tiny specks. Douglas' cocky attitude had all but diminished as he had watched Knives win round after round. He was sweating like a pig now, and looked extremely nervous. Knives was still as calm as ever, confident in his abilities.
Both were standing side-by-side and Knives was eyeing the human suspiciously. Desperate men would often pull off anything to win.
He was proven correct when, right as the man was shooting off the start gun, Douglas slipped out a tiny gun of his own, holding it within the folds of his coat so no one would see it. The outlaw was attempting to win the contest by using two guns to shoot the bottles faster.
In a move faster than any he'd shown so far, Knives pulled his gun from its holster and shot all of his glasses before the other man. Even with two guns Douglas still couldn't beat him.
Said man was staring at Knives with an open mouth and wide eyes. They soon narrowed in anger and he made a small gesture with a hand.
Out of the corner of his eye, Knives saw one of his gang draw out a small firearm and take aim at a defenseless Meryl. They were going to use the crowd's noise to drown out the sound of the gun.
Using the last bullet in his gun, Knives quickly shot the weapon out of the man's hand. He then reloaded and did the same for the others who had drawn theirs as well.
All the gunfire had caught the attention of the spectators and the police. They had swiftly apprehended the men and Knives, who was vehemently protesting being arrested as well. In the festival, no shooting was allowed outside of the gun tournament.
Meryl solved the problem when she strode up to the officer in charge. She explained the situation to them in great detail, from the beginning in the restaurant to now. Someone had called the police earlier, reporting the incident in the restaurant. As Knives, Meryl and the gang fit the descriptions given to the police, they were inclined to believe her.
What also helped, was that one of the officers recognized the gang from their wanted posters. The men were known for kidnaping people in the same manner as they had tried to take Meryl.
The police took Meryl and Knives' names and told them that they would have to come into the station to make a statement. Then the cops left with their prisoners, leaving the two alone.
The young woman hung her tired head and sighed. She had really hoped that their trip today was going to be nice and peaceful. Unfortunately for her, she had never had much luck avoiding trouble. 'Probably got it from Vash,' she thought with a smirk.
"Do such things always occur when you are around?" came that cold voice.
Meryl turned to look at her companion with an annoyed expression. "It's not like I wanted any of this to happen," she groused back at him.
Knives was about to retort back when a man came up to him. In his arms he held the first place trophy and the check for fifty-thousand double dollars. "Excuse me, sir, but I believe these are yours." He handed Knives the items and quickly stood back. A roar of applause erupted from the crowd still in the stands and the couple stood in shock.
The both of them had completely forgotten the contest in all of the excitement. It appeared that news of the apprehension of the outlaws had spread and the people were also applauding Knives for his good deed.
Knives was almost cringing. There was absolutely no way he wanted to be known as a hero. He was the apocalypse of the human race, after all, not a role model!
When people began to crowd around him, spouting praises for his great deed, he grabbed a hold of Meryl's arm and led her quickly away. They trudged through the crowd of cheering people and newspaper reporters. Knives practically dragged poor Meryl behind him. She was having trouble keeping up with her shorter legs.
After much jostling and dodging, he was finally able to disengage Meryl and himself from the crowds of people. He swiftly took off in the direction of what appeared to be a large party, hoping to lose the group of people still following them in the large crowds.
Knives had led them into the dance that was just beginning. The suns were almost below the horizon and people were milling around the dance floor that had been laid out near the town square. It was a simple structure, made up of large wooden planks that had been set on the dirt ground.
The plant found a small unoccupied bench in a remote corner for them to rest. Meryl sat down hard, grateful for the reprieve for her aching feet.
She sat back with a sigh of relief. Knives set himself beside her, cautiously glancing around to make sure they still weren't being followed. There was a table set up where people could place their valuables while they dance. Knives had taken advantage of the convenience and left his trophy with the humans who were guarding the valuables. He kept the check on himself.
For a few minutes they simply sat there, watching all the people around them. Soon the band struck up a tune and couples began milling onto the dance floor.
As Meryl watched the couples dance together, she felt a twinge of an ache in her heart. On Gunsmoke, women of her age were already married and having families of their own. Not for the first time in her life, she felt acutely aware of her lacking social life. She couldn't say that she had any close friends, excluding Milly, and she couldn't even remember the last time she'd gone on a date.
She shook her head at herself. Now wasn't the time to wallow in self pity. Her job was to keep care of Knives, and that included changing his pessimistic views on humanity.
She had to look at the bright side, anyway. Sitting here, amidst such a large group of people, Meryl found that her nervous fear of crowds had all but disappeared.
Meryl, so lost in her thoughts, didn't notice the looks Knives was giving her. He was quite surprised at how the woman had stood up under the strain of the day. The plant had to grudgingly admit that she was made of tougher stuff than he had ever believed. All of his careful scrutiny this past week had availed him nothing. Sure, she'd been as insufferable as ever, but the small woman had not done anything to merit her own destruction, or that of her race.
He was mulling over his observations of her character when he noticed a familiar face in the crowd. It was one of the newspaper reporters that had been hounding the two of them earlier, at the shooting range. The person was coming toward their bench, but had not seen them yet.
Not wanting to answer any annoying questions, he quickly grabbed a surprised Meryl's arm and led her toward the only available escape route. Unfortunately, the only way they could slip by the journalist unnoticed, was to go onto the dance floor.
There were a great many couples dancing and the two soon found themselves completely surrounded. Just as Meryl and Knives were debating on what to do next, the rhythm of the music changed.
Before the plant knew it, Meryl was being swept up by a young man who had suddenly appeared in front of her. He had quickly asked her to dance and without waiting for an answer, had whisked her off.
With a growl, Knives followed after them, jostling people out of his way and earning a few angry cries.
He finally caught up to the pair. The human male seemed to be enjoying dragging Meryl around, while the young woman was trying her best to pull herself from his grasp. She looked very uncomfortable, crushed up against the man's chest.
In a fast move, the irate plant had taken hold of the human's arms that were around Meryl and brought them behind the man's back. Meryl stepped back in shock as the man gave a cry of pain and thrashed in Knives' hold.
"Let me go!" he cried out as Knives held him firmly. Knives couldn't pinpoint exactly what he was feeling, but seeing Meryl in the arms of this man had angered him almost beyond reason. It was the insurance lady's frightened and pale face that brought him back to his calm self.
He released the human with a snarl and watched as the man hightailed it into the surrounding crowd. Almost no one had noticed the little scuffle and those who did returned to their dancing after Knives gave them glares.
He turned his attention back to Meryl, walking up to her and inspecting her for any physical damage.
Meryl was fine, except that she was very bewildered over Knives' behavior. She'd never known him to lose his composure so badly while in public. The insurance girl was even more surprised when he gripped her chin, forcing her to look into his still furious face.
"Did he hurt you?!" His tone was both worried and angry. Meryl wasn't prepared for his sudden concern over her well-being and felt tongue-tied. She was only able to shake her head in response and her answer appeared to soothe him.
At that moment a wildly dancing couple, heedless of everyone else around them, came flying toward Meryl and Knives. With quick thinking and reflexes, Knives grasped one of her hands and slid the other around her waist. He gave a gentle push and moved the two of them out of the couple's way.
They stopped a few feet away, watching the oblivious two dance through the crowd. The two soon disappeared amongst the crowd and Meryl was the first to notice their position, blushing hotly in embarrassment.
The body next to his went rigid and he heard Meryl give a small, alarmed squeak. He turned his attention to her, taking note of her red cheeks and wide eyes.
It took him but a moment to realize what was causing her such distress. In their haste to move out of the way of the wildly dancing couple, the two of them had inadvertently brought their bodies closer together, each of them practically clinging to the other.
For Meryl, there was simply way too much contact. Her face felt like it was on fire, she was so embarrassed. She peered up at Knives and at that moment wanted to throttle him. The plant didn't look at all uncomfortable with their current arrangement. His features were calm and held the usual downturn of his lips.
He may have appeared collected on the outside, but inwardly he too was feeling more than a little nervous over their position.
Before either of them could do anything, they were abruptly jostled by the surrounding couples. A few insults were hurled to the surprised pair and they realized that they were in the way of the people who had actually come to dance.
The dance floor was filled with tons of people laughing and dancing, making it hard for the two to make an escape. Knives, seeing that there was no other choice then to blend with the crowd, began a slow dance with Meryl reluctantly following him.
The plant had learned how to dance when he had been with Rem and Vash on the ship. With his good memory it only took a little bit of time for him to remember the dance steps.
Meryl was having a little more trouble. She had absolutely no idea how to dance. As a girl she'd never gone to social activities like dances. Using her quick wit she observed everyone else around them and tried to copy the movement of their feet.
After the first few times of his feet being stepped on by his partner Knives asked the obvious, "You have absolutely no idea how to dance, do you?"
His smug tone graded on her already short temper and she snapped back at him, "No, I just like to walk on your feet!"
'If she was going to be that way . . . ' he smugly thought to himself. He immediately sped up their dance pace, skillfully maneuvering them through the throngs of people.
Meryl figured out his trick the second he increased their speed. The man was trying to get back at her for her smart remark. He hoped to take a chunk out of her pride by forcing her to ask him to slow the pace back down. Knives thoroughly believed she could not keep up with him. 'Well," she thought determinedly, "I'll show him!"
The insurance lady had always been known for her capacity to cope with situations and this instance was no exception. With a great deal of concentration and skill she didn't know she had, Meryl was able to hold her own, even with Knives moving at such a rapid pace.
Knives raised an eyebrow in surprise and she smiled cheekily up at him.
Eventually, the music faded and the two came to a stop.
A round of clapping exploded around them and the couple looked around, bewildered. Neither had realized that while they had been occupied in trying to show up the other, a dancing contest had gotten underway.
Now the people were applauding them for their display and both sighed in exasperation at the unwanted attention. The crowd at the gun tournament was annoying enough, but now they had waltzed themselves into another mess!
The judges came forward, one of them holding a trophy with the little figures of a dancing couple on the top. They were presented the trophy for most energetic couple, causing Meryl to blush at the thought of her and Knives being a couple.
Soon after they were swarmed by people wanting their autographs and throwing questions at them left and right.
It was painfully obvious that both of them wanted none of the attention and like before, the couple were able to remove themselves from the throng of people and make a getaway. They only made a short stop for Knives to pick up his trophy and Meryl carried the bear and one they had just won. There was no way Knives was going to carry around a stuffed animal.
The extra baggage made running difficult for Meryl since she also had to keep up with Knives' long strides. She was very grateful when they finally left the crowds behind them and were on the street that led to her house. At that point the plant finally stopped, allowing Meryl to get a much needed breather.
Knives, his voice soundly slightly winded, said, "I am never taking you out again."
He made it sound like they had gone on a date or something, causing the insurance girl to blush. The agitated and sour look on his face, however, made Meryl laugh as hard as her already empty lungs would allow her.