Anachronistic: Endless Masquerade

7 | Payment Due

- 7 -

Adrenaline still high from the kill, Pandora's attention was drawn by the sounds of a fight. She turned in time to see James land a solid punch across Gamal's jaw. The gorilla turned his face and spit blood. The sight of red splashing across the ground brought a smile to her face.

        "Give him another!" Pandora cheered before turning to Fennel. "So why are they fighting anyway?"

        "When James held the beast in place, the moment you were about to strike it down, Gamal pulled it away."

        Pandora stood slack jawed, unable to process the idea. She was still, waiting for confirmation that took the form of a somber nod from the woman. It wasn't a joke, that jackass had actually pulled the youkai away from a killing blow. Her whole body went stiff. Rigor mortis, except it was Gamal who was the dead man.

        Pandora stomped over to the traitor. Her hand moved to where her shotgun normally rested. It was missing, knocked away when the barghest charged her. No problem, she always carried a backup.

        Pandora reached below her cloak for the holster that sat against her back, just below the shoulder blades. She wrapped her fingers around the grip of her revolver. She ripped it free and whipped it forward. Dim moonlight glinted off an engraving. The gun's name, Tomorrow, was carved in capital letters across the barrel that now rested against the bastard's forehead.

        Gamal's arm shot up to take hold of the gun and he ripped it to the side. Pandora didn't hesitate; the gun went off in an explosion of smoke and fire. A deep red line cut across the side of Gamal's head, but he had managed to avoid death.

        Slobber launched through Gamal's gritted teeth striking Pandora. "You could have killed me!"

        Despite the large caliber, Pandora was surprised by the lack of recoil. He had counteracted all the weapons kick with just the grip strength in his fingers. Then she noticed he held the gun in his left hand; presumably not even his dominant side.

        This man is a monster.

        "You could have killed all of us!" she shouted back.

        Pandora pulled at her gun but there wasn't an ounce of play in his grip. As she struggled, Gamal wound up his free hand and delivered a punch right into Pandora's gut. The jab carried enough force that her feet left the ground. Her vision flickered to black for a moment and when she landed, her knees were close to giving out. Desperation gripped her. She gritted her teeth, reared back, and drove her head down into his with all the force she could manage.

        There was a loud crack and Gamal stumbled back bringing his hands up to clutch at his nose. "You fucking bitch!"

        Pandora finally had control of the gun back but her legs failed her and she dropped to one knee. Her vision grew blurry at the edges but the in the center was the clear sight of blood pouring from Gamal's nose. She raised her shaky gun hand to meet it.

        Before she could fire, Gamal drove his hand into the ground, buried to the wrist. Every muscle in his arm tensed as he ripped a tree root up. The earth in front of him fractured in a line as more of the root pulled free. In danger of having the ground disappear from below, Pandora was forced to scramble back. When she tried to lift her gun again a hand pushed it down from behind.

        Pandora turned to find Fennel. "That's enough," she said.

        "But he could have killed us all."