The moon was full. The light shined down on the gang. But it was no competition for the well-lit lanterns burning bright at the silver mine. They could hear the sound of metal hitting rock, soldiers barking orders, and occasionally dynamite explosions.
The six climbed up the hill overseeing the mine, Japhet flew over the mine undetected. Japhet flew back to Blake and perched on her shoulder. "Looks like that ol' Butch guy wasn't bs-ing afterall~," the black clad teenager said.
"All that silver...," Edgar muttered in Italian. "H-h-how do you sup-p. Suppose we git some, b-b-boss?" Scuzz stuttered, fixing his scuzzy dirty blond hair. Blake thought about her plan for a while and then shrugged. "Well, we're gonna have ta steal at least one of those cars. But yeah I know there's a shitload o' workers an' soldiers around, so it ain't gonna be easy."
"We could kill some o' the workers an' git their clothes," Freighter suggested. "Oi! We can go disguised an' unnoticed, boss-mate!" Walli whispered. Blake thought of this for a few seconds and agreed. "Okay. We'll go with yer'all's plan. Kill those miners, git anywhere near one of those cars, try ta unhook 'em, an' git the hell outta here!" "An' don't make a sound!" the African man added. "I'm sure y'all can handle that," Blake commented.
Cue the loudest belch from Freighter ever.
The sound was so loud, it had echoed throughout the mine and caused everyone to stop and find the source of the sound.
And cue the best 'what the actual fuck, Freighter?!' looks on the gangs faces (minus Freighter, of course). Freighter recoiled from the belch and sported a confused look then a look of realization. "Sorry...," he muttered.
Lights suddenly blinded the gang momentarily. They have been spotted. Once the gang regained their vision, Blake ordered, "Everyone run!" Shouts of Chinese and English orders had echoed throughout the mine as the gang ran down the hill. Scuzz tripped and rolled down the hill, twisting his ankle and cussing under his breath. He limped as fast as he could to catch up with the others.
It had not taken the soldiers long to find them and point their rifles at them. Blake commanded the gang to split up and scatter. Blake and Scuzz went towards the mine, Jake and Walliwitz went towards the forest line, and Freighter and Edgar headed back towards the hill.
Blake and Scuzz grabbed shovels and thwacked soldiers and miners with them. Occasionally, they had to shoot them dead. One commander had his rifle pointed right at their faces. They dropped their shovels and had their hands up slightly. "Make one move," the commander exclaimed, "an' you two are gonna regret it!" Scuzz noticed a looped rope right where the commander's foot was, which led to a pulley tied down by a tree and then weighed down by a rock. "Al-alright," Scuzz said. Blake shot him a look. "N-n-no rush~."
Next thing they knew, Scuzz shot the rope, which chain reacted by closing the hole and dragging the commander by the ankle, sending him high up towards the tree, and knocking him out. Blake looked at him with amazement. "Nice one!" "Th-thanks, boss," he replied.
Jake and Walliwitz strutted towards the forest line and to their horses, the soldiers right behind them. The red head glanced back and dodged a bullet (literally). The duo climbed up a tree and waited for the soldiers to leave. "Jake! Ya know dis ain't gon work, mate!" the Aussie muttered. "I know, ya jack wagon! It's jus' called 'improvisation'," Jake claimed. They saw the troops split and searched the forest. "W'll now what, genius?" Walli asked. Jake and Walli thought of a plan when they remembered the horses a few yards out. Jake grinned and looked at the green-eyed Australian. "Ever stood on a horse before~?" Walli gulped.
As if it looked like the duo couldn't be found, the sound of neighing horses were heard from a few yards out. The commander ordered his troops to be ready to fire. A brown-white horse came sprinting right towards them, and with Jake standing right on its back. Jake pulled out his revolvers and shot the troop. Only five were left. Jake grabbed a branch and swung and perched right on it. Another one came from the left as Walli clung on to his horse's side, a bloodied branch in his hand like a lance. The remaining soldiers started to run but all were impaled by him. Walliwitz let the branch go and fell off his horse.
Jake showed off by doing a flip off the branch and helped the hunchbacked Aussie up his feet and catch up with Freighter and Edgar.
Running up the hill was just as bad as just climbing it up. Edgar was already out of breath and Freighter had to carry him up the rest of the way. They reached the top of the hill before the troop had arrived. There was only 15 soldiers and Freighter could have just taken all of them down... If he hadn't wasted his ammo on the way up the hill, that is. He put Edgar down and turned to find the troop caught up with them, their rifles loaded. Edgar put his hands up but Freighter just kept calm but concerned. The commander said, "I wouldn't do anythin' stupid right about now if I were you." The African man glanced over to Edgar's side and saw Blake and Scuzz with another commander. But then he spotted an opening for them to slide down the hill to.
Freighter raised an eyebrow and said, "What would we do that's so stupid?" and kicked Edgar down. Edgar must have yelled something in Italian while sliding down the hill because he really sounded mad. Scuzz shot his gun at a tree as Freighter went down the hill following Ed. Jake and Walli made it to the top right when the troop turned their attention back towards them. They had no choice and Jake grabbed Walliwitz and went down as well.
The gang was all caught up and they ran towards the mine. Scuzz's ankle was still twisted and he collapsed to the ground on the way. Freighter and Walli picked him up but were stopped by a miner. Jake, Edgar, and Blake turned and saw them stopped by the Chinese man, who was of course, saying something in Chinese. Blake could probably make out what he was saying. "What's goin' on? What's he sayin'?" Jake asked. Blake translated, "He said don't move. The Union soldier's will kill you. And that we can't go in the mine." She rolled her eyes and got her gun out. "Frickin' snitch," she muttered and shot and killed the miner.
Blake motioned to keep up and move along. Suddenly the troop showed up and the two holding Scuzz dropped him and ran towards the mine. Scuzz yelped in pain while Blake ran and helped him up. "Y'all go! We'll catch up!" Blake told her gang and they ran in. They could hear the troop come closer as they ran to the mine.
That was when Japhet flew in and dropped a stick of dynamite right between them. The troop stopped and turned around before the stick blew up. Blake and Scuzz turned to where the explosion was and saw that it had sent the troop flying. They caught a glimpse of Japhet flying towards the mine. "That is one smart ass bird," she commented.
The two were finally within three yards from the others when Edgar found a way out. "Down here! We have to get out!" he exclaimed. Blake told them to just go and that they will catch up. They all went down the tunnel while Scuzz told Blake to let him go and try to walk again. He could but he was limping very painfully; Blake had to stop every other foot to let him keep up. The two made it and they had to slide down the tunnel, apparently, in order to get out of the mine. Blake went first then Scuzz, who came down in a painful way.
Just as he recoiled, two, no three, barrels of some sort of fluid came tumbling down the secret shaft. Scuzz and Blake lifted one of the barrels and examined it. "Uh, b-b-boss... This... This is ke-ke-r-kerosene," he stuttered. That was when they look at each other in realization.
An old sergeant, followed by one of the few remaining miners, followed the two outlaws into the mine and threw the barrels of kerosene down the little shaft. He ordered the miner to give him a stick of dynamite and lit it. With a shocked look, the miner asked in his best English, "You can't be serious! Are you blowing up this mine?!" the sergeant replied, "These fellas need ta learn how ta stay off of fed'ral property!" and threw the dynamite down the shaft.
By that time, Blake and Scuzz were getting closer to the opening of the shaft. Blake saw something light up where they had just left, and then an explosion; and it was big. Japhet was screeching really loud and Scuzz limped painfully but fast.
They found the opening.
"Scuzz! Jump!"
They made it out before the explosion had reached them. The blow had sent them flying out and down towards the water. A large piece of wood, probably a support beam from the shaft, hit Blake on the back of her leg before the jump. They hit the water in a very painful way, forcing them to swim up fairly conscious. With the last amount of consciousness in them, Scuzz, Blake and the others finally made their way towards the shore line.
Of course, somebody just had to throw in a sulfuric gas bomb* at them to knock them all out. "Gas! Don't open yer mouth!" Blake commanded with a covered mouth and coughing.
Japhet perched on a branch and managed to avoid the gas; Jake had collapsed from the gas and hit his head on a rock; Edgar coughed up water and was out from the awful smell; Freighter had to pull Ed from the current and had taken a blow on the head from a huge log that was flowing down stream and the gas that had pounded his windpipe; Walli did get shot once but it wasn't too bad, he had coughed up some water as well before collapsing from oxygen deprivation; Scuzz and Blake kept up before falling to the ground.
Freighter saw the wood sticking out of her leg. "Hey *huff* Blake... *huff**cough* You. You *huff* got some*cough*thin' *cough*..." and passed out. Blake tried to stand but fell, not only from the explosion impact, but from the wood still in her leg. Scuzz eventually goes out before Blake. Blake tried to stay conscious, but her vision, and muscles, felt blurred and weak. She went face down on the ground, her eyelids fighting to stay open.
Her eyes eventually were shut but she fought to keep them open to see a pair of what seemed to be black boots. Even in the night, she could fairly see who or what was surrounding them.
Eyes closing and opening, mostly closing, her vision blurred. The boots stopped right in front of her and she looked up; but she couldn't see whose face she was looking at. The teen couldn't make out what the person was saying; because by then she had already passed out.
Author's note: Okay. I did do some research on that sulfuric thing. It was invented back then but I wasn't really sure what to call it. Probably should've said 'grenade' but I can't remember if that was also invented yet either :/