Chapter 2
By Siona Ward (Blue Daemon)
*So Far = Vash has been walking aimlessly for days remembering nothing. Milly and Meryl are happy living in Karsted City with Milly's son, Nicholas Wolfwood, and an unknown girl, Tama has just been on a visit to the new Bio-Sphere in July City where trees have been grown in the desert.*
Special mentions –
Blu = thanks for the tip! I've changed the mistake in chapter 1 now.
Magnet-Rose = I'll be mentioning Knives later on. I intend this story to be a long one.
Thank you! I just love reviews! They make me so happy! ^_^ Anyway…back to the fic!
Tama was out walking. She often went out alone for walks despite her young age. She liked to think it was because she was so trustworthy, but her brother and mother knew it was a lot safer outside now than it had been for a long time.
She liked to climb the large rocks that lay just outside her hometown, giving the town its name. They had always been there, embedded as if hurled with great force from somewhere far away. Tama had thought that it would be fun to climb around here with some friends, but the only other children in the city (since the population was so small) were boys and she had no desire to play with boys; not just yet anyway.
So she played alone. With some difficulty, she squeezed inside a small crevice that she had found in the rocks years ago. It was wonderfully cool in there and she sometimes found lizards, which she would either play with or take home to eat.
"Aaah..." she breathed as she settled down. Sometimes, she would stay in here for hours or simply go to sleep for a while, but for today, she decided she would do some drawings. She dug around for the stick of blackened wood she used for this and found it in the corner under some sand. She started to happily scribble on the walls.
There was a sound. An unusual sound. Not very loud at first, but it was so rare to hear anything out here that she listened close. It got louder. It was a rumbling, dirty noise. Tama was scared.
"Ok, Ok. Just keep quiet and they won't see you." She whispered to herself. She had no idea who 'they' were but she had heard enough stories about the gangers who had previously ruined their town to be afraid.
As they came closer, she could make out their hazy figures through the crack. There were several men on bikes and as they approached, she could see they were chasing something. It was a man! Tama could make out a tall man in red running like a maniac from five bikers, and she knew he wouldn't be able to out-run them for long. Suddenly, he threw himself behind a rock nearby and grabbed something too small to see. Then there were gunshots. Five gunshots came from the man in red. A second later Tama heard all five of the bikers groan or scream and she could just see them all grab their left arms. This man had managed to shoot all five in the same place! It was quite comical from where Tama was sitting but she didn't forget the dangerous position she was in. She was sure that this was the man that Daisuke had seen chasing them away the first time.
The bikers drove away, but Tama was pretty sure that they would be back. The man fell back against the rock, obviously exhausted. Tama, with a sudden rush of courage, crept out from her hiding place and said,
"E-excuse me, are you alright?" The man's head snapped around to look at her. She couldn't help but notice that he was still holding the revolver. There would be one bullet left…
The man grinned.
"Hello! Yeah, I'm alright. Do you think you could help me back to somewhere with food? I think one of those guys shot me." Tama was confused by his careless attitude, but he put the gun away so she hurried over to help.
"I saw what you did back there…" she mumbled, "That was amazing! You were here before weren't you? My brother saw you when you chased…" She trailed off. The man had stood up and wasn't listening. He was staring at the town behind Tama.
"I've never been here before." He stated. His expression suddenly looked very serious and she didn't contradict him.
"Who are you?" she asked quietly. He didn't answer for a while.
"I think my name is Vash the Stampede. At least…" he pulled out a poster from a concealed pocket, "That's what this says." It was the wanted posters that Tama had seen all her life. It was the same man. She wondered why she hadn't recognised him. Perhaps it was because he was grinning madly in the picture with a doughnut stuffed in his mouth…
Without contemplating what the rest of the town people would think of this stranger, she helped him limp back to her house.
Nicholas was crying. He apparently hated sand-steamers. Milly was exhausted from this 4-hour journey and her son had barely been quiet the entire way.
"Please…" she begged, "Just be quiet…Or go to sleep. Just for a little while…Look, I brought you some biscuits." He smacked the offered biscuits away and carried on bawling.
"Don't worry, Milly." Meryl comforted her, "We're nearly there."
They had got some last minute tickets for Jeneora Rock the previous day and they planned to stay at an inn for a few days whilst visiting the geo-plant.
"Look Milly! There they are!" Meryl pointed out the window at the horizon.
From where they were they could make out the town buildings in the distance and in front of them, they could see a handful of bright green trees under a large, transparent dome.
"Wow!" Milly's eyes went wide. Nicholas stopped crying to see what was so interesting.
As the sand-steamer finally slowed, Meryl saw a small crowd in the town. They were surrounding two people and didn't look happy. 'It's none of my business' she thought, and thought nothing of it. The trio of travellers collected their luggage with the help of a friendly passenger and stepped on solid ground once more.
Did'ya like? I know not a lot happened this chapter but there's more excitement to come, don't worry! Please review!