The atmosphere was the roughest to force their ships through. Unlike other planets they had visited this one lacked a space traffic system, which made passing through atmospheres much more stable. This planet was much more rural than the rest, and as the Swordfish II and the Redtail passed through the heated atmosphere for the uncharted planet and soared through the skies. As the two ships soared by the clouds, the pilots couldn't help but look down at the world they traveled and realize how sans-technology it truly was. Nothing but wide open sandy plains infested this world, and not a town in sight.

"What the hell?" annoyingly question Spike Spiegel, pilot of the Swordfish II. Spike quickly took to his transistor radio and switched it to channel one in order to reach his fellow partner on the Bebop, "Jet, are you sure this is the right place? I don't see a town anywhere"

Faye quickly tuned into channel 1, as her Redtail sailed beside the Swordfish II, "Jet, you better have got this right"

"Calm down, it's the right place," responded Jet behind a cracked system (the radio was obviously faulty and barely working), "I told you this place was nearly empty, population was below two thousand. You're going to have a travel a bit before you reach any towns"

"So, we're basically on a wild goose chase in the middle of nowhere?" Faye rhetorically asked behind a frustrated tone.

"Listen, for a bounty like this you have to expect some sort of work. A bounty this big isn't just handed to you. So stop complaining and just look," Jet responded in the same frustrated tone as Faye, obviously annoyed by her constant complaining. Faye only responded to Jet's answer with disgusted 'humph'.

"So I guess we don't have many choices," Spike said as he contemplated on the next step. He looked over to the Redtail, who was driven by Faye, and called out to her via the radio once more, "Faye, the only thing we can do now is search this planet for towns and information. You go west and I'll go east, and if we find information, we'll contact one another. Just make sure to keep your radio with you at all times"

"Fine," Faye grunted out, "I thought this was going to be adventurous, but instead were flying around like a pair of lost souls"

"Well, we've been doing that for years, shouldn't hurt us to continue," Spike chimed in before going by to his calming whistle. Faye cocked an eyebrow up at Spike's comment, but debated against retorting towards it. She simply nodded towards Spike and headed west while Spike shifted the Swordfish II over to the East. As the two pilots parted ways in search for towns on this uncharted land, Jet remained silent in his ship.

He had to remain where he was and stay grounded so that the radio dish on the Bebop could reach out across the planet. As Jet reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette, he could hear Ed's voice in the background playing with Ein. He brought the cigarette to his mouth, trapped it and lit a match against the Bebop's wall. And as he began to puff in the nicotine smoke, Ed lifted Ein off the ground and looked into his black eyes and chimed.

"With all that money, Ed and Ein will have LOTS of food," she giggled as Ein agreed with an over enthusiastic and joyous bark.

***

The $$60,000,000,000 bounty head raced through the sandy fields in the brown sand vehicle in a hurry. Vash never meant to actually harm his adversary so terribly. He still dreaded what he did and cussed himself beneath his breathe for doing it. No matter what circumstances, there is always a way to avoid death: that was a motto Vash lived by and would forever live by. No one has the right to take a life of another: said by the only woman he actually cared for. As the sand buggy continued racing through the sand, Vash couldn't help but look into the back seat and check on the injured bounty hunter. The burly and muscular man remained sprawled out in the back seat, as blood drained from his large bullet wound which remained scarred into his chest, possibly his heart. Vash gritted his teeth in despair and cried out over his shoulder.

"I'm going as fast as I can, I know there's a town about five miles from here with a hospital," Vash cried out in concern, "I promise I'll get you there, just don't die on me. Please, just don't die."

Death was something that only god himself should take care of. A human being, or a humanoid plant in Vash's case, has no right to take the life of another living organism. The memory still plagued his thoughts over and over again. He knew there was another way to avoid shooting the man, but it wasn't noticeable to him just yet. When he saw the man lift his gun directly into Vash's chest, he knew his mind was so full of fear that it blinded him of his morals. He knew that if he had just remained calm that he could've avoid lifting his own Silver Raging Bull Pistol and pulling trigger. He knew there had to have been some other way to avoid harm to himself without harming this man so badly. Vash's blood curdled and his spine shivered once he heard the man let out an agonizing cry of bloody murder.

Vash took another look over his shoulder at the man and could see that blood was pouring out of his open wound, staining the entire backseat and his body. While one hand remained grasped on the wheel, Vash used his left hand to rip off a sleeve of his velvet red coat and place it upon the open wound of his fallen victim. As a cold sweat rushed over his body, Vash placed both man's hands upon the piece of cloth and cried out, "Hold this firmly on there, it'll keep the wound from getting infected and hold the blood in you.HEY! Are you still with me?"

The man only cried out in pain once more, the feeling of any sort of material touching the raw wound sent a chill of agonizing pain throughout his body, a pain he could not tolerate. Even he, a very muscular and powerful man, couldn't withstand this amount of pain of a large bullet hole in the upper part of his chest. It was a miracle he hadn't died yet, a miracle Vash would take advantage of. With nothing but nervousness circling his emotions, Vash quickly adverted his attention to the sandy plains and pressed his foot as hard as he could onto the ignition pedal.

"Can't this thing go any faster?" Vash shouted in frustration as he pushed all his weight onto the pedal and forced the vehicle to as fast as it could through the sand. Waves of sand blew past the vehicle's path, it looked as if a sand hurricane was built around them as they blew past the hilly plains, "Just stay alive, I'm begging you, we're almost there!"

"Please, just stay alive!"

***

Faye was beginning to get very annoyed by this whole adventure. Even with 3,000,000,000 Woo Longs on the line, Faye couldn't help but become frustrated at the whole ordeal. Her eyes lazily traveled up and down the sandy dunes of land as she tapped her finger against one of her motion handles. She soon rested her elbow upon her knee, and rested her chin upon her own palm and she boringly scanned the land below.

"Ugh, this is so stupid," she complained to herself, "A beautiful woman like me shouldn't be doing this hard labor. I should be basking in front of a mansion, getting a beautiful tan and getting waited on hand and foot. But instead I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere, looking for a guy who might not even be here"

She than figured the only form of entertainment she had was the radio. She eyed the radio out of the corner of her eye, and deep down she knew that she shouldn't play with the channels. Jet had warned her, prior to agreeing to this mission, that they couldn't use the radios or else the signals from her ship to the Bebop (or even to the Swordfish II) could malfunction. But at this point, after two hours of simply soaring through an empty sky, she was willing to take the risk and listen to some music. But as she lifted her silky white hand towards the radio's knob, she realized something very significant.

She was in the middle of no-where; there probably wasn't a radio station anywhere on this inane planet.

"Ugh," she grunted out frustratingly, "I can't even listen to my music. I knew I should've brought my walkman to this trip, what the hell stopped me?"

Again she rested her chin on her hand as she lazily scanned the area below her. She was so used to planets like Venus, Mars, or even Earth; at least they had villages, towns and cities at every turn. On those planets, you actually felt like you weren't the only one alive. On this rural and pathetic planet, she felt like she was the only human being on it. It was somewhat eerie, but also very dull. She needed the bright lights of the cities, the excitement of the races, and the exoticness of the male life- forms around those said cities. Hell, even a bar would've sufficed in these conditions. Granted, she was never really into the 'lounging' scene, but she would go for anything at this point. At this point she'd place a bet on a snail race, rather than just dangling in the sky like a wind chime. Suddenly, the radio began to form static, someone was reaching her.

"Faye, any luck?"

Jet Black, still on the Bebop, called into Faye.

"Nothing, I swear this place is more barren than anything I've ever seen," Faye grunted out, "Can I go now? It's obvious we're on the wrong planet"

"Don't accuse me of giving false information just because you're bored out of your skull," Jet hissed back angrily, "This is the right planet, I checked the damn thing ten times. This is the right coordinates given to us by the Mars and Earth's police force. Vash the Stampede is around there somewhere, so just find a town and ask questions.and stop complaining."

"I have nothing to do here but complain. You don't know how it is being on a ship with absolutely nothing to do. It's torture, Jet, you hear me? TORTURE," shouted out Faye, "You have no idea what I'm going through"

"I do so"

"No you don't," hissed out Faye, before Jet could finish his sentence, "You have Ed and Ein there to keep you company. You have the ships electrical unit to keep you busy. You can listen to music. You can eat some food. What the hell do I have?"

"You have peace and quiet," Jet said matter-of-factly, "I'd switch places with you in a heartbeat, Faye. I can't get up and make food, because that takes time; time I need to spend here in case you two have any problems. I also can't listen to music, but I had to disconnect some of the electrical units to install that radio dish. And I can't listen to music because, just like you, I'm using our radio unit to keep in contact with you."

Jet, while in the Bebop, crossed his arms over his chest and closed his eyes, "And as far as having Ed and Ein as company."

Suddenly, and abruptly, loud noises of 'clang' rung in the background of Jet's voice transmission. Faye cocked an eyebrow up in confusion, what the ruckus was coming from. Jet's left eye twitched as he heard the voice of Ed let out a girly little response to Faye's thoughtful question.

"Whoops, I guess I shouldn't touch that, huh Ein?" Ed rhetorically asked jokingly, as he spun herself out of Jet's kitchen and raced down the hallways, as Ein happily jogged behind her.

"When Ed has nothing to do she becomes a damn nuisance, and Ein is no better," Jet grunted out angrily as he rubbed the temples of his head, attempting to massage the headache out of his head, "So if you think you're in a worse spot than me: you're dead wrong"

Faye only response: a chuckle.

"Maybe I don't have it so bad after all," Faye joking stated, knowing full well that it'd boil Jet's blood. And as Jet slumped in his chair, Faye could only listen to Ed's incessant, and overly enthusiastic, chimes of joy. And Ed's chimes of joy dealt with three things: breaking something on the Bebop out of curiosity, running rampant across the Bebop's rooms, or shouting out her thoughts (which made little sense to any other living being, except Ein). So Faye only slumped into her own chair and figured her own entertainment was to listen to Jet's despair.

"I really hate this job sometimes," was Jet's only frustrated words for the next few hours.

"You two whine way too much, you know that?" Spike jokingly broke in with a chuckle.

"Find anything Spike?" butted in Jet, attempting to change the conversation.

"Just did", replied Spike.

***

"Move out of the way!"

Vash's voice boomed into the hospital set in the village of March. The hospital was small, and only had enough medical attendants for a handful of people. With the bloody bounty hunter in his arms, Vash rushed himself past the crowds and right to the head of the line. The hospital desk nurse went wide eyed in shock and terror at the site of the blood man, and the red cloaked fellow that carried him.

"This man needs medical attention right away," Vash shouted nervously at the nurse.

All waiting patients, who sat impatiently at the hospital waiting room, watched the scene unfold and could only watch in horror. The man that remained limp in Vash's arms was now sans-movement, and only the motion of his chest going up and down indicated he still had life in him. Vash looked down at his fallen adversary in horror and quickly snapped at the nurse.

"He needs a doctor now!" he shouted fearfully, "If he doesn't get one, he could die! You can't let this man die, please!"

The nurse, who still remained in shock at the scene set before her, quickly fumbled away from her desk and shouted out to a nearby medical assistant to get a doctor quickly. The nurse, who seemed to be quickly bewildered by the event taking place, quickly ran back to her desk and shouted for attendants to help the fallen victim into surgery. As two assistants quickly rushed in with a bed stretcher, Vash quickly placed his fallen adversary on the stretcher and allowed the medical caregivers to strap the unknown bounty hunter down and rush him into emergency. Vash watched uneasily as the man was rushed into emergency. His eyes began to swell up in tears, and his heart dropped to his feet.

He wanted to wish the man well, but the words weren't able to be formed into actual audible words. He was choked up with a combination of worry, sadness, and regret. He still cussed himself beneath his breathe as to why he ever pulled the trigger, and why he ever shot back. He never thought it would end up like this, he never wanted to hurt the hunter that attacked him. The words of Rem continued to circle in his mind: No living being ever has the right to take the life another human being. In his slight trance, Vash looked down at his velvet red coat, which was now missing a sleeve that covered his right arm (the real one). The hospital's waiting room went silent as they all stared in fear at the man before them. Vash looked around nervously at the people, and realized the reason why they feared for their lives.

Set on the wall adjacent to him was a sign that read WANTED: VASH THE STAMPEDE; REWARD - $$60,000,000,000. Vash scanned the room before him and than back at himself. He was standing still, with a sleeve ripped completely from his shirt, and blood stains across his already crimson coat. His velvet coat showed the markings of a nearly dead man, marks of his latest victim. He stared blankly at the people who feared for their lives, and only responded the best he could.

"I'm sorry for the disturbance," his apology was soft spoken, and full of depression. He allowed his arms to drape at his sides, and simply turned his back to the crowd and walked out of the hospital. But before he did, he stopped dead in his tracks and looked up to the clouds above. As tears strolled down his cheeks, and his heart wrenched with regret, he whispered a soft prayer to the heavens above.

"Please.let him live."

*** As the voices of Jet Black and Faye Valentine infested the radio's audio transmission, Spike Spiegel scanned his area left and right. He was never one to quickly get bored while looking for some adventure. Of course he was never a good chess player with Jet, constantly falling asleep during play, but when it came to hunting bounty heads Spike was at full attention. As the argument between Jet and Faye began to die down, Spike finally located a city just below his ship. The city looked like something out of the old western movies he enjoyed as a child, but it was a city nonetheless. He didn't see many occupants traveling the streets, but he figured it was possibly lunch time around those parts.

"Spike, find anything yet?" Jet asked from the cockpit of the Bebop.

"I just did," Spike happily answered, "It looks like some sort of town, not sure if it's even inhabited though"

"Only one way to find out," responded Jet, "Faye, you continue searching for areas around your sector. Spike, go land in the town and see what information you can find. Ask the police department of the town if they know any information that can help us. According to my sources, the guy is nearly impossible to find; especially since this planet has no communication services"

"I got it, I'm going in and check things out. If I find anything, I'll get back on the ship and let you both know," Spike said as he began procedures to land the Swordfish II. As the race ship slowly descended from the sky, Spike continued to curiously stare at the city. The closer he got, the more barren it looked. He looked left and right, up and down, to find one form of human life. But after his watchful attempts, he could not find one person traveling the streets. The Swordfish II had finally landed safely to the ground in front of a large sign that depicted a welcome to the new town.

"City of July," read Spiegel as he eyed the sign carefully. But as he opened the hatch to the Swordfish II, two things had bothered him. He leapt out of his ship and scanned the area attentively. He looked for any movement, any sound, any type of life, but the only thing he found in his scanning was the smell of something horrid. It was a smell Spike had sensed in his life more than once. He had even smelt this thing first hand. It was the smell of death.

He took a few steps forward, the eerie silence ringing in his ears, as he noticed a sort of inscription on one of the monuments placed at the far end of the city. With his hands in his pockets, Spike slowly walked down the barren streets, peeking into the salons and houses as he did, only to find them to be empty. As he got closer to this tall white monument, his eyes thinned to slits in concern as the inscription on the white monument was as clear as day. The words were of red color, and painted sloppily. Spike took another wiff of the air around him and realized the inscription was written in blood.

He stared hard at the name on the monument, and realized that the name written could only explain what happened to this barren city. He looked to his right and left once more, making sure he didn't sense any presence around him. But when he was sure of safety, he looked back at the words written in blood and read them aloud.

"Knives"