The jeep's engine emitted a low hum as it sped across the barren terrain. The dark green and brown vehicle was large in size, and was capable of carrying up to four passengers at a time. From the small village, it looked nothing more than a peculiar rock rolling with the wind. Out here, there was little, or perhaps, no sign of life evident.
The driver stepped harder on a pedal, causing the tyres to kick more dust and dirt behind them. Beside him, still unconscious, lay his brother, Knives – and in the back seat, slept a small, black cat.
All alone, he watched as the surroundings changed from orange to grey... more cliffs and dunes passed by in a blurred haze.
They were on much rockier ground, passing from desert to low plateaus, but already, Vash could notice the sun loosing its flare.. Soon, night was going to be upon them...
He stared at the horizon, an endless distance away from him, the shadows growing from his destination with each second that passed by.
We're not like God. Not only are our powers limited... but we sometimes have to play the Devil.
Someone close to him had once told him that.
Flashes of his friend's face, clothing and shades appeared in his mind.
It was a time... not long ago, when he had taken things for granted. He had always gone in one direction, and his friend in the other. No matter what the situation was, he remained certain that he was doing the right thing – that there were plenty of ways to save everyone.
Only now did he realise how absurd it was.
No matter how hard he had tried... he had failed in the end.
I'm sorry, Nicholas.
Although he never had once believed his friend's words, he valued it now..
He thought about what had happened earlier... between him and the girls. Her eyes had somehow lost part its shine, and he had caused it. She did not have to be there for him, but she continued to persist solely on the reason that her job depended on it, and he could tell that it wasn't entirely true.
He knew for a long time that she was in love with him, but he never responded to it. There had always been a reserved feeling of affection for her, but he had forced himself to detach himself from it because of the threat of others.
Never had he thought about how hard she had tried.
From the way Meryl had helped him in his struggles...
He knew by the way she looked at him, sang with him, and sewed for him that she had never given up on trying to please him. It reminded him of the way he felt for Rem... And that was why he was going to return the favour tonight.
...Gunshots.
Vash blinked and wondered if it was his imagination. Ahead of him, the tip of the sun had finally descended beneath the horizon. The sky was becoming darker every second. He turned and glanced behind him to see nothing but the occasional rise and fall of the barren land, with dark green hills in the distance. Knives was still in the seat beside him, and the cat was still sleeping. He must have been driving unconsciously for hours. But he felt it... as if something was wrong.
'Dark green hills...' said Vash, deep in thought.
The colour formed slowly in his mind, and instantly he knew something was very wrong.
He only had time to duck to one side, when the speeding bullet came in from nowhere – shattering the rear-view mirror originally behind him. Glass flew everywhere.
The cat awoke in a fright.
Vash still ducking, gripped the steering wheel and pulled hard, left and right. He could hear the roar of the echoing engines – the dark green jeeps fast in pursuit.
Damnit, where were they coming from?
A spray of bullets hailed onto his car, slicing through the chairs like Swiss cheese before slamming into the windscreen ahead of him. One had missed his head by only too much. The bullet pierced by his cheek like a paper-cut – a hint of blood released from it.
That's the last straw.
In the blink of an eye, Vash whipped out his gun with one hand, and fired behind him – the bullet colliding with the driver's steering wheel, causing the driver to loose control over the jeep, spinning him and his passengers off-track. Vash began to notice how many more there were...
A total of nine jeeps was after him, excluding the one he knocked off earlier, each with a driver, and at least two gunners on the side. They were dressed in clothes with no obvious pattern – cowboy hats, bandanas, and steel caps atop angry faces. Ordinary civilians.
What on earth did they want??
Vash ducked behind his chair and focused on his driving. He must have been spotted by one of the towns he passed by. Some towns were still, chiefly, anti-Vash.
More bullets rained on him as he sped off to the left, aiming for the large boulder that appeared a distance away. He heard only faint voices behind him, their war cries swallowed up by the roaring noise of gunfire. They were gaining on him, and Vash realised he not only had to save himself – but Knives also.
His eyes narrowed slightly as the destination became larger in size, his jeep seconds away from impact. This is going to be close.
'Hang on, Knives!' yelled Vash.
He placed one hand over his brother's chest and pressed him against the chair.
As the boulder came into range, Vash pulled hard onto the steering wheel and slammed his foot onto the brakes, drawing a curving 'C' just around the boulder. It worked just as planned. A number of cars came in too fast. Unable to avoid the large stone, the first wave of vehicles turned somewhat miserably, crashing sideways into the solid rock.
There were still five cars left.
Vash drove erratically, sliding from side to side – just managing to dodge the speeding bullets. But that wasn't his intention – he kicked more dust and dirt from his tyres, causing his pursuers to be blinded by the miniature dust storms.
Two of the cars had no chance.
'Oh shit!' The driver steered to one side, narrowly missing a small cluster of jagged rocks. The car beside him did the same but in the opposite direction – the two cars smashing into each other in a loud, grinding collision.
Vash fired more shots behind him, hitting the front tyres of the cars behind him, spinning the cars to a halt. Several of the standing gunners lost balance and fell, tumbling over the jagged ground. He could hear the cars screeching over the rough terrain, the drivers swearing and gunners still firing even though it was pointless at that time to do so. Some distance passed between them, and Vash eventually slowed down believing that the attack was over.
He was wrong.