IT had been a good hour since Sheriff Al left to deal with whatever the problem at the Triple Creek Rodeo was. In that time, Scotty, Johnny and Gordo stayed in the cell and managed to sober up enough to orchestrate an escape plan. But their chance came sooner than expected. Tanusha had been working long hours and was pretty tired. She had spent most of the time reading the newspaper, but tiredness got the better of her and to the surprise and delight of the felons, she dozed off and began snoozing in the chair.
The keys to the cell had been left out on the desk near to where Tanusha was, and on the corner closest to the cell. Using a piece of thin string that had been found inside one of Gordo's pockets, they attached it to a small metal hook that Scotty had been keeping in one of his own and Johnny had flung it over the bars. It landed on the desk on top of the ring that the keys were on.
"You got it?" whispered Scotty.
"I think so," Johnny replied. "Just a little more. Easy." But the hook slipped off the top having not gotten a hold after all. "Blast!" said Johnny out loud.
"Shhhhh!" hissed Gordo and Scotty. They all looked at Tanusha but she didn't wake.
"Try it again," Scotty said after making sure it was still safe to do so.
Johnny reeled the hook in and then swung it out again. This time he scored lucky and the hook caught on. "Yes! That's it," he said, not too loudly though and gently began to pull the keys along the table.
Tanusha shifted slightly and the three brothers froze thinking she was about to wake up. But she did not, which was lucky for them.
"That's it," said Johnny as sweat began to trickle down from his forehead. Scotty and Gordo were feeling the tension as well. "Easy now. Easy."
The keys then left the table, swung round and clanged against the metal bars despite Johnny's best efforts to catch it.
"Shhhh!" hissed the other two again. But still Tanusha didn't wake.
Johnny checked the keys and tried each one before he eventually found the one that unlocked the cell. Pulling the door open, the three brothers snuck out and prepared to make their next move. They knew that they couldn't just sneak out and leave. They would have to do something to try and ensure that Tanusha couldn't warn Al if she then woke and discovered they were gone. They wanted to be a long way out of Alanstown before it was discovered they were gone.
"Johnny, you and Gordo take care of her," Scotty whispered. "I'll get the guns."
"Got it," said Johnny. "Let's go."
The three brothers snuck around the desk. Scotty went to the far side where he had seen Al put their guns into one of the drawers. Gordo approached the sleeping and unsuspecting Tanusha with a coil of rope that they'd found whilst Johnny prepared a piece of cloth.
The first that Tanusha knew of anything wrong was when she suddenly felt the cloth being tied around her head and forced into her mouth. "What's happening?!" she cried out in alarm. That was all she was able to say for the gag was pulled tight and her cries became frantic muffles whilst Gordo hastily bound her wrists, legs and torso to the chair.
Scotty pulled open the drawer and retrieved their guns. He quickly grew irritated of Tanusha's muffled screams. "Keep quiet!" he ordered. "Or I'll have to-" He was cut off when the telephone started ringing which startled all three of them. "Don't answer it!" Scotty said. "Let's get out of here. We'll make for the border!"
They hurried for the door leaving a furious and terrified Tanusha bound on the chair glaring at them. She tugged to try and free herself as the telephone continued to ring.
Scotty waited until Gordo and Johnny were out of the door before turning back to face Tanusha. "Hope it stays warm for you, love," he said slyly before raising his gun and shooting the gaslight down from the ceiling which once again was set alight after being shot at again. "See you around, love," Scotty finished before making his exit.
Tanusha was horrified by the situation she was in. not only was she bound and gagged but now she'd been left to get burned alive by the fire that was slowly spreading as the gas spread out across the floor. The telephone was still ringing and she knew it had to be Al who was ringing. She began to rock the chair and tried to lean forwards in order to try and knock it onto the floor so she could try and alert him if she could.
The brothers ran back across the street to where their stolen getaway car was still parked outside the Saloon. They jumped in, Gordo started the engine and they drove off out of Alanstown as fast as they could, but not with the excitable joy that they'd had when they'd escaped from Spoke City that morning. This time it was out of desperation and fear for their lives.
They'd barely driven out of sight when another vehicle entered the town. This one was slightly larger and painted in a grey and purple livery. It was being driven by the bounty hunter duo of H. A. Voc and Fusebox. They were surprised when they saw the brothers fleeing from the now burning Sheriff's Office.
"What?!" exclaimed H. A. Voc. "You mean to say someone caught them before we did?! That's not fair!"
Fusebox looked at the burning building nearby. "Do you reckon anybody's inside?" he asked. "Should we help them?"
"Don't be stupid!" snapped H. A. Voc. "We'd be locked up if we weren't trying to collect a bounty! I have an idea where they're going. Come on!" She put their car into gear and headed off out of the town.
Al couldn't understand why nobody was answering the phone. He tried again. "Operator! Operator! What's going on?" he demanded.
It was at that moment that Tanusha was finally able to shift her body over enough so she could knock the telephone off the desk and onto the floor. The receiver came off and she began trying to call out despite the gag in her mouth.
"Tanusha?" Al asked, surprised. "Is that you? What's wrong?"
"MMMMMPH!" came the reply over the phone. "MMM MMMPH MMM MMMMMMMPH!"
Al quickly realised what this meant. "Hang on, Tanusha. I'm coming!" He hung up on the phone he was using and turned to Virg. "Get me back there, pronto!" he instructed. "I think they've escaped!"
The escaped brothers had driven a few miles to escape from Alanstown. They reached a crossroads and Gordo stopped. A brown sign stood by the side of the road. The right turning would take them to Attuma whilst the left would take them to the border.
"What's the idea?" demanded Johnny. "Why have you stopped?"
"Look, we've made a plan," Scotty replied. "I'm therefore saying that we stick to it."
Gordo was quick to disagree. "Well I think the plan needs to be changed," he said. "One, this car won't make it over the mountain road. And two, I'm not risking my neck in Attuma!"
"What risk?" asked Scotty.
"With the amount of gold that train's going to be carrying there's bound to be armed guards," Gordo said.
"Look, I'm just glad to be out of that cell," Johnny said. "Stop arguing and let's get going!"
"Who's arguing?" asked Scotty. "I'm saying Attuma."
"You said the border when we were leaving the jailhouse!" Gordo pointed out.
"Slip of the tongue," Scotty insisted. "Now come on!"
"No, Scotty, not this time," Gordo said. "I'm driving this thing and I'm saying the border." He put the car into gear and started to move off to the left.
"What are you doing?!" Scotty demanded, trying to grab the wheel. "STOP IT SAY! STOP!"
Tanusha had never felt her heart beating so fast before as the fire crept closer to where she lay, still bound and unable to move. She tried calling 'Help' but it remained muffled. She then heard a crash as the door flew open.
Al and Virg sprinted in. "WOAH!" they both cried because they were met by the wall of flames.
"Find Tanusha!" Virg called over the roar of the fire. "I'll deal with this!"
Al ran round the back of the desk and found Tanusha lying on the floor. Virg grabbed a bucket of sand from outside which he threw over the flames. The sand killed the oxygen that the fire was using to burn and it was soon out. By the time it was, Al had removed the gag from Tanusha's mouth and freed her from her bonds. He then hurried her outside so she could breath in some fresh air. She wasn't hurt luckily, but was very shaken.
The brothers hadn't gotten very far. A verbal fight had broken out. Scotty was still wanting to go after the gold. But Johnny and Gordo just wanted to get as far away from any more potential crimes as possible.
"THAT TRAIN WILL BE ON ITS WAY ANYTIME NOW!" Scotty thundered. "WE CAN STILL MAKE IT!"
"I WON'T DO IT!" Gordo shouted back. "I TOLD YOU, THIS CAR WON'T MAKE THAT ROAD!"
"THEN GET OUT OF THAT DRIVING SEAT!" demanded Scotty. "IF YOU WON'T DRIVE, I WILL!"
"OH, FOR PETE'S SAKE, JUST CUT IT OUT, BOTH OF YOU!" roared Johnny. "THIS IS GETTING US NOWHERE!"
"TELL PIG'S BRAIN HERE THAT HE NEEDS TO FOLLOW MY ORDERS!" bellowed Scotty.
"WE'VE GOT PLENTY OF GOLD FROM ALL THOSE OTHER BANK JOBS!" Gordo yelled. "WHY SHOULD JOHNNY AND I HAVE TO SUFFER TO FILL YOUR GREED?!"
"GREED?!" exclaimed Scotty. "I'M TRYING TO GET US BACK WHAT WE'RE OWED. WHAT DAD REFUSE TO GIVE US!"
"You mean give you!" Johnny lowered his voice. "I heard what you and Virg were saying. "Maybe he and Al were right to abandon you!"
Scotty nearly exploded like a volcano.
Despite being shaken, Tanusha was none the worse for her ordeal. "That sure was a near thing, Sheriff," she said to Al. "I figure they must have-"
Al wasn't actually concerned about how or why his brothers had escaped. He was more concerned for where they were going next. "It's okay, Tanusha. There's no time for that now," he said. "I don't suppose you were able to hear where they were going?"
"Actually I did," Tanusha replied. "After tying me up Scotty said about heading for the border."
Al scratched his chin thoughtfully. "The border? Strange. They really had their hearts set on the gold in Attuma. Unless…"
"What are you thinking, Al?" asked Virg.
Al made up his mind. "Tanusha, Virg, they're desperate men, and extremely greedy. Especially Scotty. I'll stake my reputation on them going for the gold. And I'm going to be there to catch them when they do."
"And how do you plan to do that?" asked Tanusha.
"I know the engineer of the train," said Al. "I'll hitch a ride. Then when they make a move. I'll be ready for them."
"You be damn careful, bro," warned Virg. "Brothers or not, they're real mean. After what they did in the bar I doubt they'll think twice about shooting you."
"They can try," said Al with confidence. "Don't worry, Virg. I'll bring an end to their reign of terror."
The argument was still blazing inside the car. Even though he was outnumbered by choices, Scotty was still demanding that they turn right at the crossroads and head for Attuma. Gordo and Johnny had had enough of his ordering and were preparing to overrule him and make for the border.
But their arguing was soon brought to an abrupt end when a grey and purple car pulled up on the left side of them. The three brothers stared in alarm at the sinister smirk on the woman's face looking back at them.
"Hello, boys," H. A. Voc said warmly.
In an instance, the brothers forgot their anger towards each other and became desperate.
"The Beastly Bounty-Hunters?!" exclaimed Scotty. "What are you doing here?"
"Come to collect our prize," said Fusebox with a grin. "Mr Hood's put quite a price on your heads and we're here to collect it."
"In your dreams!" growled Gordo, and before anyone could say anything, he spun the steering wheel round to the right and pushed his foot hard down on the accelerator. The car sped off in the direction of Attuma with its back wheels kicking up a cloud of dust that sprayed the Bounty-Hunters' car and making the occupants cough and splutter.
"I see," said H. A. Voc. "What to play chase, do we? Well, two can play that game!" She then turned their own car round to the right and set off in pursuit.
The mountain road was steep and like Gordo predicted, the car struggled up the hills. The Bounty-Hunters' car was more powerful and as such closed the gap numerous times with the brothers managing to open it when they raced down the other side. The brothers were afraid for their lives even more now. They'd heard about Fusebox and H. A. Vok before and knew that they'd never failed to complete a mission that they had been hired to do. The same could almost be said about the two Bounty-Hunters, for their continual success made them somewhat overconfident that they could get the job done easily. That's why they'd said to Mr Hood how they would have the brothers delivered to him by the end of the day.
The road was narrow and there were no passing points. H. A. Voc tried numerous times to get around the side to ram the brothers' car into the rocks and stop them, but Gordo used his driving skills to block her each time. This soon began to irritate H. A. Vok to the point where she began ramming the back of their car and making the brothers yelp.
"LOSE THEM, GORDO!" yelled Johnny.
"HOW CAN I?!" Gordo yelled back. "THERE'S NOWHERE TO GO!"
H. A. Voc's patience soon ran out. "This is getting us nowhere," she said. "Fusebox. You're up!"
Fusebox giggled as he opened a metal box in front of him. It was full of his special home-made explosive grenades which could be used to cause rockslides and disable vehicles. "With pleasure," he said. He took one of the grenades out, flicked the catch and then threw it at the rocks beside the brothers car. It exploded and caused a mini-rockslide but Gordo just managed to dodge it. Fusebox threw another, this time on the other side. Some larger rocks hit the bonnet of the brothers' car and bounced off whilst the engine made almost hurt-sounding noises.
"SHE CAN'T TAKE MUCH MORE OF THIS!" Gordo yelled to his brothers.
Luck was what saved the brothers in the end. As they made a sharp left bend, Fusebox through another grenade. This one completely missed the car and landed on the road. Neither he nor H. A. Vok noticed until it exploded just as their own car passed over it. They cried out in alarm as they were engulfed in a plume of black smoke before their engine conked out and the car ground to a halt whilst the brothers were able to chug away to safety.
H. A. Voc and Fusebox was completely blackened by the smoke. Fusebox was the first to find his voice. "Errr, that wasn't supposed to happen."
H. A. Vok was furious and began punching him viciously in the face. "YOU IDIOT!" she shrieked. "YOU USELESS…STUPID…BLITHERING IDIOT!"
Unaware of the trouble his brothers had been in, Al had gotten himself aboard the Mail Express train. The gold had been loaded into a special car located at the rear and was now making its way north. The Texas Belle was the name of the steam locomotive and was driven by Mec - the very tall engineer with a mohawk so pointy that his engineer's cap had a hole cut in the top so it would fit through.
"We'll need at the speed we can get, Mec," Al said as he rode in the cab.
"No problem, Sheriff," replied Mec. He then spoke to the locomotive. "Come on, old girl, let's show the Sheriff what you can do!"
Al grinned. He'd ridden on the cab of the locomotive before but even on duty it gave him quite a thrill. "Great, Mec," he said. "My brothers must be stopped."
Realising they were now in the clear, the Tracy brothers raced to a safe location before stopping to ease the strain on the car's engine as well as get their breath back.
"Gee, that sure was a close one!" remarked Johnny.
"Now what?" asked Gordo.
"We carry on," Scotty said. "In case you hadn't noticed, we've pretty much entered Attuma."
"But, Scotty-" his brothers began to protest.
"But nothing!" Scotty barked. "If we go back we'll encounter those two again. Plus I suspect Al's now realised we've escaped. He'll be arranging an army to come looking for us. I say we hit that train and then retire from this life to a better one."
Gordo and Johnny exchanged looks. They didn't like it, but realised they didn't have much choice in the matter.
"Fine!" Gordo relented. "But I'm warning you, Scotty. If this car blows up, don't blame me!"
"Then what are we waiting for?" asked Scotty.
"Who's waiting?" Gordo replied sarcastically.
They set off again and continued the journey along the twisty, rough and bumpy road through the mountains. The engine backfired periodically as it struggled up the steepest hill they'd encountered so far. If the Bounty-Hunters had still been after them, this would have been where they would have caught the brothers.
"Come on, baby," Gordo encouraged the car as its engine seemed to scream in pain. "You can make it!"
"What's wrong with this thing?" asked Scotty. "Are you sure the brake's off?"
With a cough, a splutter, a hiccup and yet another backfire, the car reached the top of the hill and began to race down the other side.
"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOO!" the three brothers jeered as they powerslid down the road and rounded a sharp bend.
It was then that they suddenly heard the sound of a steam engine's whistle echoing through the mountains. They then rounded another bend and saw the railroad track a few hundred yards in front of them. The road crossed the tracks right in front of a tunnel portal. Having no idea where the train was they continued towards the crossing.
Suddenly the whistle was heard again and the train came racing out of the tunnel.
"LOOK OUT!" yelled Johnny. Gordo slammed on the brakes and stopped the car a few inches from the track as the train's rake of five carriages plus armored van rattled past at a much greater speed than they were managing.
"WHAT THE BLAZES?!" Scotty shouted at Gordo. "ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL US?!"
"You see what's happened?" Johnny snapped. "With all your arguing and trying to escape from those dang Bounty-Hunters, the train's gotten ahead of us!"
"That's not all," added Gordo. "I could have sworn I saw Al in the cab of that locomotive!"
"Are you sure?!" Scotty almost shrieked.
"Of course I'm sure!" said Gordo hotly.
"Then get after them!" ordered Scotty.
The car wasn't in good shape as they set off in pursuit of the train. Its engine continued to cough and its axles were getting rather hot but Gordo forced it to keep going.
From the footplate of the locomotive, Al and Mec watched as the car tried to close the gap but wasn't succeeding at the moment. Mec noticed the steam pressure was getting a little high so he pulled the whistle chain to let some of the excess out. "Hot diggity damn!" he said cheerfully. "That's my girl! Looks like we've left 'em, Sheriff!"
"I'm not so sure about that," Al replied. Despite the gap between them, he felt certain that his brothers would find a way to catch up.
The brothers tried hard to catch the train, but with every passing second it gradually got further and further away from them.
"Can't you go any faster?" asked Scotty.
"I've got my foot all the way down!" Gordo replied.
It was then that Johnny noticed something on the dashboard. It was a small lever with a label that read 'Supercharger' underneath. "What does that do?" he asked and moved it out of curiosity.
"WOW!" the three brothers exclaimed together, for the booster gave the engine a huge surge in power. The car shot off like a bullet from a gun and was now doing a much greater speed than the train was.
Al grimaced when he saw the sudden increase in speed of the car and took out his gun in readiness for another fight.
"Keep her going!" Scotty urged. "We're gaining on them!"
Slowly but surely, the car closed the gap and began to run alongside the train. They knew that even though the gold was in the rear most piece of rolling stock, they wouldn't be able to access it until the train had been stopped. And to do that, they were first going to have to take care of Al. they knew full well that so long as he was aboard, they had no chance of getting their hands on the gold. As much as they felt reluctant deep down to take out their own brother, they knew that they were going to have to if they were to succeed.
Al too had the same feelings. Despite their severe difference, they were still his brothers and he wasn't overly keen on having to shoot at them. All the same, he knew the gunfight was inevitable and was just waiting for them to take the first shot. "Come on, Scotty, I'm ready for you!" he said.
Soon the car passed the armoured van, the five carriages and the tender to almost draw level with the cab of the locomotive. Here the brothers fixed their eyes on Al who did the same from his position.
"He's got a gun!" exclaimed Gordo.
"Well of course he has!" retorted Scotty. "He's a Sheriff, ain't he?" He had pulled himself partially out of the side of the car, even though he was on the opposite side to where the train was and had his own gun ready. He raised it and began firing at Al who returned fire. Bullets flew back and forth and ricochet sounds could be heard off the locomotive's cab and tender as well as the car's body. Gordo got a bit further forward than he intended so Scotty had to fire over the roof of the car to try and get at Al, but the bumpiness of the road made it impossible to get a hit.
Al was having the same issue. Even though he wasn't trying to hit his brothers, he was more trying to disable the car.
As the gunfight between brothers raged, nobody could have known that H. A. Voc and Fusebox had stopped their own fighting and had positioned themselves on a cliff overlooking the rail and dirt roads.
"Here they come!" said H. A. Voc. "Pass me two grenades. I'm gonna enjoy this."
Fusebox, with two black eyes and a swollen face after the beating he'd gotten from H. A. Voc, did so without a word. He passed two of his special grenades to her before taking two out for himself.
As the train and car approached, they pulled the pins and threw the grenades together off the top. Two landed by the railroad and the other two on the dirty road. They exploded, rocking the train and the car and in doing so, Scotty was thrown from the car onto a nearby chunk of rock.
"SCOTTY!" cried Johnny.
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWW!" wailed Scotty, tears streaking from his eyes in excruciating pain. "My back is broken!"
Al too was alarmed to see what had happened. He, Gordo and Johnny looked up at the cliff and saw the figures of the Bounty Hunters standing above them as they threw more grenades down. One landed in the tender of the locomotive. Al pulled Mec down as the explosion sent huge chunks of wood used to fuel the fire were thrown out in all directions. Some were broken in smaller pieces. One piece cutting Gordo on the cheek and making him bleed whilst other bits broke the carriage windows and frightening the already confused passengers.
"Al looked at Johnny. Johnny looked at Al. Both could tell what the other was thinking. Criminal or not, they were both livid by what had happened to Scotty. They nodded at each other before pointing their guns up and began firing at the Bounty-Hunters.
It would never be known who scored the shot, but as H. A. Voc prepared to throw a third pair of grenades, a bullet hit her in the right leg. She cried out and fell forwards. She dropped the grenades which fell over the edge of the cliff. She then realised too late how close she was to the edge and with an final terrified scream she plunged over the cliff down onto the rocks far below. The grenades also exploded halfway down causing a small landslide which buried her after she'd reached the bottom.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Fusebox's roar of rage echoed out across the valley. "YOU'LL ALL DIE FOR THAT!" He threw his two grenades down at the train and car that were passing underneath. Al somehow managed to see one of them coming. Thinking quickly, he grabbed a piece of wood not destroyed by the previous grenade and used it like a baseball bat to knock the grenade back up towards the Bounty-Hunter. By the time Fusebox saw the grenade return and land directly in the box that the grenades were kept in, it was too late for him to do anything about it. "Oh…FU-"
There was a monstrous explosion as the grenade detonated and set off the remaining ten that were in the box. It engulfed Fusebox and destroyed the ledge which came crashing down onto the track and road below with whatever remained of Fusebox's body being buried along with his partner forever.
"YEAH!" Gordo yelled back with satisfaction. "THAT'LL TEACH YOU TO MESS WITH US!"
"Just watch where you're going!" Johnny called. "LOOK OUUUUUUUUUUUUT!"
Too late, the car collided with a cactus and the bounce created by the impact threw Johnny out of the car as well.
"JOHNNY?!" Gordo yelled.
Like Scotty, all Johnny could do was go "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH!" with the amount of pain he was now in from having landed heavily on the road.
Al grimaced at seeing what had happened to Johnny. He looked at Gordo who was now all alone in the car and now it looked as though the car had decided it had had enough of being mistreated for he was now struggling to maintain control of it.
"GORDO!" Al yelled. "THE GAME'S UP! STOP BEFORE YOU KILL YOURSELF!"
"AL, I'M SORRY!" Gordo yelled back. "I DIDN'T WANT ANY OF THIS! SCOTTY FORCED ME TO DO THIS!"
"I KNOW!" Al yelled again. "I DON'T WANT TO HAVE TO LOCK ANY OF YOU UP! STOP THE CAR AND I CAN HELP YOU!"
Gordo decided that he needed to agree to Al's wishes. But as he tried to apply the brakes on the car, nothing happened. "COME ON!" he shouted. "STOP, WILL YOU?!"
"Slow us down!" Al called to Mec. "I need to help him if I can!"
Mec shut off steam and eased the speed of the locomotive down. But the car showed no sign of slowing down and suddenly raced off ahead of the train. Then, to Gordo's horror, the steering wheel came off in his hands. He had no control over the car at all now. It spiralled from left to right before veering off the road entirely and mounting the railroad track where its wheels got jammed and it stopped. Gordo was initially relieved until he realised he was now right in the path of the locomotive which hadn't slowed enough to be able to stop in time. "Oh, no!" he cried. He jumped out of the car and let out a Wilhelm scream as he ran for safety.
There was a horrendous shriek from the locomotive's whistle before it ploughed into the car. The car was smashed to pieces and the remains were shoved along the track for a short distance before jamming under the cowcatcher. This lifted the front of the locomotive off the track and it rolled over the edge into a ravine below.
Gordo watched in utter horror as the train with all its passengers and Al still aboard tumbled down into the ravine with the sounds of terrified screams before the locomotive's boiler ruptured and exploded.
"ALAN?!" Gordo wailed in despair. "ALAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!"
***Dream Sequence Ends***
"Alan? Come on, buddy, wake up!"
Alan stirred and opened his eyes. He tried to look around only to discover he couldn't see anything. He appeared to have been wrapped up in something cosy yet he suddenly found himself beginning to panic. "W-W-What the?!" he exclaimed and began to squirm. "Where am I?! Help!"
"Woah there, Alan, easy!" a voice was heard from somewhere outside of the object he was wrapped in. "Hold still whilst we get you out of there."
The object was unwound and Alan found himself being freed. It turned out to be his duvet that he was wrapped up in. He blinked as his eyes adjusted to the light coming in through the window and looked around to find Virgil and Gordon were the ones unwrapping him. He also realised he was also on the floor, not in the bed when he'd gone to sleep. "Huh? Where am I?" he asked. "How did I get down here?"
"Looks like you fell out of bed, bro," said John.
Alan blinked. "John?!" Then his eye fell upon the other person in the room. It was Scott, who was looking a little uneasy yet someone sad that he was there. "Scott?"
"Hey, Alan," Scott answered, his voice sounding nervous. Alan leapt to his feet and ran at Scott. Scott braced himself for what he felt certain was about to come. Virgil, John and Gordon also made moves to separate the brothers as they'd feared. But to everyone's surprise, instead of attacking Scott, Alan threw his arms around his big brother and started crying. "Scotty!" he sobbed. "You're alive!"
Scott was confused. "Of course I am," he said. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"I thought you were dead when you fell out the car!" sobbed Alan. "Then Johnny got thrown out and then Gordo lost control of the car and it ended up getting crushed by the train before we fell off the tracks!"
The four remaining brothers exchanged looks of bewilderment.
"What the heck are you talking about, Alan?" asked Gordon. "We haven't been anywhere the past two days."
"And neither have you," added John. "You've been asleep for twenty hours."
Alan blinked. "Then, what did I experience?" he asked.
"Sounds like you've been dreaming," Virgil remarked.
"I guess I must have been," said Alan. he turned back to Scott and looked him straight in the eyes. "Scott. I'm so sorry for what I did in Texas," he said. "Please forgive me."
Scott pulled his youngest brother into a hug. "No, Alan. I'm the one who's sorry," he said, beginning to shed a few tears of his own. "I've been a total idiot blaming you for what happened. The more I thought about it, the more I've come to realise I probably would've done worse to that felon that you did."
"Dad's sorting it all out as best he can," Virgil said.
"Although Schultz's lawyer is still determined to have you prosecuted for severely injuring him," said Gordon.
Alan looked at the floor in dismay.
"Guys, let's not discuss that now," John said. "You do know what tomorrow is, right, Alan?"
Alan looked at him for a moment. Then he realised that his room wasn't exactly how it had been when he'd gone to sleep. Not only was it clean and tidy but there were decorations all around the room. There were a string of fairy lights and a small tree on top of his chest of drawers. His face lit up as realisation dawned on him. "No way!" he exclaimed. "Is it?"
"Happy Christmas!" said his brothers and they all embraced in one massive hug. In an instance, Alan forgot all about the events in Spoke City and felt happier than he'd done in days.