A Konjiki No Gash Bell (Zatch Bell) fan fic
No copyright infringement intended, these characters don't belong to me. This story does however belong to me.
Author's note: Again thanks to all reviewers! Since the weather is holding for the moment I'm going to finish this fic and maybe post another, time permitting. Cruelfeline, I hope Arlene won't turn out to be like Ivan last year!
About the storyline: I should have mentioned at the start that this story is set fairly early in Sherry's relationship with Brago. It is true that her fighting method includes lethal force later on in the series, but it took a while to get there. S/B do not appear again until ep. 47, so there's a lot of experience she gains until then.
Escape and Evasion - the conclusion
"He's dead? Are you sure?" Sherry asked. "Well, his skull is smashed and he's not breathing" the dark mamodo replied. For a moment Sherry thought all the blood had drained from her body. She closed her eyes. When she opened them again, Brago was standing right before her. "We should leave" he said. He was right, of course. There was nothing else she could do.
Silently they crossed the river where she cleaned herself off again. She retrieved her suit and boots and together they climbed the steep embankment to where she'd parked the bike. There were some visible signs of a struggle, but no bodies. Sherry wondered how Brago had disposed of them, but didn't ask. It didn't really matter.
The bike was now strapped down in the bed of an old pickup truck. Sherry walked around the dirty truck and was startled to find a large fresh fish carefully placed on the hood of the vehicle. A fly was buzzing around the fish and Brago slapped it away. He glanced at her, seemingly waiting for her to speak.
Sherry was angry, tired and wet. The idyllic place had become hateful to her, and she had to place some of the blame on herself. She'd been careless and let her guard down. Brago was scanning the horizon, impatient to leave.
Suddenly an idea occured to her. Instead of taking the bike off the truck, why not take the truck? She tried the driver's side door, it was unlocked but there was no key in the ignition. Beer cans and fast food wrappers littered the floor of the cab and she wrinkled her nose. "Here" Brago said and tossed something her way. It was the key. She caught it and shot the demon a quick look. "Let's take a ride. We can dump the truck when it runs out of gas. Saves us some gas, too." Brago shrugged. It didn't really matter to him what they traveled with as long as they got going. He grabbed the fish and slid into the cab.
Sherry slipped the suit over her damp clothes and pulled on her boots. She hopped into the drivers seat and turned on the engine. Half a tank of gas left ...they'd probably make it to the next town. "Remind me to dump this thing before we hit town", Sherry said. "We don't want to draw any more attention than necessary to ourselves." She carefully guided the vehicle on the road and accelerated.
Brago was ravenously devouring the fish, scales and tiny bits of meat scattered in the air. His sharp claws and teeth were perfectly suited to stripping the meat of the bones. Sherry did her best not to look at him while he was eating, his table manners were atrocious. When she'd first met him, those small, triangular teeth had reminded her of a piranha. Zophise had teeth like that, too.
"You should eat something" Brago said with a full mouth. "No thanks, she mumbled. "I've lost my appetite." He tossed the cleaned fish skeleton out of the window and glanced at her. She'd aquitted herself pretty well today, he had to give her that much. The way she'd put that one guy out - not bad. She had realpotential.
Sherry concentrated on the driving. The sun was low on the horizon and her eyes were tearing in the glare. Her thoughts drifted back to the encounter with the men. It almost seemed like it wasn't real, as if she and the men were actors in a movie.
Once they dumped the vehicle, the police would probably find it some time later. Maybe they'd search and find the bodies. By then she and Brago would be long gone and the killings would most likely never be connected to them. She had a right to defend herself, no doubt about it. They'd come after her. They'd tried to steal her bike. They meant to rape her, maybe kill her. They deserved what they got. "Bastards", she hissed under her breath.
Brago shot her a quick glance. Now what? Was she actually upset about what had happened, he wondered. From his perspective he couldn't see a single thing she'd done wrong. So what was her problem now?
Sherry was deeplyin thought. She accepted the fact that there would be casulties in battle.She'd been responsible for causing some herself. But these men weren't part of the mamodo battles, they were bystanders. Should she be more upset because they were dead? Had she lost her ability to feel pity? Maybe Brago's attitude was rubbing off on her. Or maybe he was just freeing something she'd had inside all along - like Zophise had done to Coco.
They passed a sign by the road. The next town was still several hours away. Brago had noticed the sign, too. "Can you hold out until then?" he asked, scanning her face for signs of impending collapse. "I'm fine!" she turned around to snap at him and caught a flicker of emotion in his strange, inhuman eyes. Was is concern? "I'm fine", she repeated in a softer tone. "Once we get to town we'll check into a hotel and I'll get some food. It will be all right." He didn't reply.
Sherry concentrated on the driving again. It was getting late and they had a long way to go.