Future Stranger
Ch. 2: Fire-Shootin' Fred
The Stranger walked into the oil field. The tall, black rigs reached high into the sky. Perfect place for snipers. Thought the Stranger. He pulled out his binoculars and looked at the rigs. Nothing. He put them back into his back and took a deep breath through his nose. Instantly, the Stranger started gagging on the smell of oil. The smell made him sick to his stomach.
"Smells a lot like gun powder." Murmured Stranger. He pulled out a white cloth from his pocket and tied it over his mouth and nose. He breathed again. The smell of oil was gone.
"That'll do the trick." Said the Stranger. As he walked into the field, he loaded a rock into his semi-automatic, custom-made, retractable, double-barreled crossbow. There were different types of ammo the Stranger could use in his crossbow: arrows, bullets, and other things. But his ammo of choice was little animals with some certain abilities.
Not far from where he was standing was something like an ammo store. There was at least a nest for every ammo the Stranger used: Fuzzles, Boombats, Chippunks, Stingbees, Stunks, Bolamites, and Thudslugs. The Stranger fired his rock at some of the critters, catching about ten of each breed. After he caught his ammo, he loaded two critters into his crossbow: The Stingbees (Bees that can follow a person until he dies) and Boombats (Little bats that can explode in seconds). He walked into the field until he reached a gate.
The gate was made of wood, and the Stranger easily knocked it down. As he walked deeper into the field, he saw 3 Outlaw Shooters up ahead. The ugly outlaws sat around a fire, talking and shining their guns. The Stranger felt ready to blast them with a boombat, but realized there were three explosive barrels next to each outlaw. Carefully, the Stranger replaced the Boombat with a Zappfly (A small bug that can be charged up into a small ball of electricity.) And aimed at one of the barrels. No sooner had he shot the fly that an explosion liable to blow up an entire city erupted.
The explosion wasn't just because of the three barrels, but because of the oil nearby. Oil, as I'm sure you know, is flammable, a word which here means "able to create an explosion that knocked the Stranger on his ass."
When the smoke cleared up, the Stranger checked and saw that the Outlaws were blown to smithereens. He said nothing, but kept in mind that oil could make an explosion like that. He kept walking.
Along the way to Fire-Shootin' Fred, Stranger met up with a lot of his minions. He met two or three Cutters, small people with large knifes at the ends of their fists, but killed them in three seconds. He meet 4 or 5 Outlaw Flamers, but got rid of them with a well-placed boombat. He also met an Outlaw Nailer, a huge guy with giant spiked knuckles, but killed him when he covered him in a barrage of fuzzles.
The Stranger soon walked into an open square-shaped area. There were 4 oil rigs in each corner. In the center was a metal platform.
"Fire-Shootin' Fred, where the hell are ya!" Shouted Stranger. He looked around the space, and then heard something open. He turned around and saw that the metal platform had opened up, and Fire-Shootin' Fred rose up on another platform, along with 3 shooters, 2 flamers, and 1 cutter.
Fred was a bit smaller than Stranger thought. He was about as big as Leaky Lugnutz, an outlaw the Stranger caught a few weeks ago. He had a tank on his back, no doubt holding oil, and a flame-thrower in his hands.
Fred pulled out the cigar that he had in his hand and spoke up.
"Well Stranger, you're finally here. Heard you comin' when you made that huge explosion. For a second, I thought Elboze broke out' a jail." Said Fred, twirling the cigar in his hand.
The Stranger looked at Fred and said, " Fred, I'm bringin' you in. You got 2 choices: Dead or Alive. What'll it be, punk?"
"Ha ha ha ha ha!" Laughed Fred. " You talk big for a smart-ass punk like yourself. When you see what I've got in stored for you, you'll eat your words!"
Fred pushed a button on a remote he pulled out of his pocket. The ground started shaking. The platform that Fred was on rose, and the Outlaws jumped off. Fred, however , stayed on the platform. When it rose completely, a hatch opened on top and a chair and a computer console came up. Fred sat in the chair and a side of a glass orb rose up at each side. When Fred pushed a button on the console, a hatch on the platform opened up and a flame-thrower similar to Fred's, but about twenty times bigger. Then, four more hatches opened up, and four black tubes flowed out, and connected to the four rigs around them. The Stranger heard the oil from the rigs rushing into the tank inside the giant flame-thrower.
"What you think of my new toy, Stranger?" Said Fred.
"I think," Said Stranger, "you should put it away and give yourself before I make you and your toy explode. Bring it, chump."
"I will, Stranger. When I'm done with you, you're gonna be nothing but a pile of ashes."
Instantly, a huge flame come from both in front of the Stranger and from his side. The one in front of him was from Fred's giant flame-thrower. The other was from the two flamers that Fred sent after him. The Stranger immediately did a back-flip and pulled out his crossbow. He loaded Thudslugs into his left barrel and shot at the smaller Outlaws. When the shooters and cutter were dead, he turned his attention to the Flamers. He was about to blast them with a Zappfly, but saw that they were standing in front of a gallon-sized bucket full of oil. If I shoot that barrel, we're all dead. Thought Stranger. He replaced the Zappflys with some Stunks, tiny little critters that make anyone vomit. He shot a Stunk at the two Flamers and ran at them when he saw them vomiting. Immediately, he grabbed their necks and twisted them, killing both of them at the same time. Then he turned his eyes on Fred.
The Stranger ran as fast as he could to avoid Fred's fire. Soon, he managed to trick Fred into torching one of the rigs. The flame hit the tube connected to rig and exploded. The force not only hit Stranger, but broke a piece of Fred's glass shield. The Stranger realized he could use that opening to get to Fred. The Stranger loaded Thudslugs and Boombats into his crossbow and shot a Thudslug at Fred. The small bug smacked Fred right in the chest and knocked him out. But, when Fred was falling out, he pulled the lever that moves the flame-thrower and aimed it at a giant tanker that was, for some reason, right next to the flame-thrower. The flame-thrower blasted the tanker and the Stranger ran behind a rock.
When the dark smoke cleared, the Stranger looked at the clearing and looked for Fire-Shootin' Fred. He saw Fred under a piece of metal, using it like a shield. Stranger walked closer to Fred and moved the metal. Fred was pressing some buttons on his remote.
"What're you doin', Fred?" Asked Stranger.
" He he he he. You thought that giant flame tank was my big project? You're way wrong, Stranger." Said Fred.
Instantly, a giant circle-shaped machine rose from the ground.
"What the hell is that?" Asked Stranger.
"That is my time-teleporter. I can use it to go to any time I want. You want to catch me? You gonna have to wait fifty years!" Laughed Fred. "And to make sure you don't chase me, my men are gonna keep you busy!" Said Fred, but while Fred was talking, Stranger took the time to blast him with a thudslug. The bug knocked him into the console of the teleporter. Suddenly, the teleporter started beeping and lights started flashing. Before anyone could say anything, a huge blinding light surrounded them and, a second later, they vanished.