The Desolation Of The Red Rackham

Chapter 2: The Awful Day

You know now almost all about the Red Rackham. But what you probably didn't figure out why I told you about Valle De Luna and the bandit problem. A very big concern for the people was that it was near a plateau. So, the bandits had a better chance of seeing everything from the top, make a map and come down via the valley and attack. And probably why I told you about the village because it was the next destination for the attack of the Red Rackham and adding to our problems, we never knew that it was gonna happen tomorrow afternoon. Yes, the ferocious Red Rackham, fully ready and this village, which barely had some bullets, that too with the sixty year old grumpy sheriff who refused to give them away to anyone. We had a problem on our heads, yes a very big one. The nasty ol' sheriff couldn't even aim and had a very ol' gun, just like himself. You must be thinking what I would've been doing by now, but all I was doing was picking pockets. Ummmm yeah........not such a happy business to be into, but it did help me steal a living. (Uh, yes...not earn, steal or pickpocket a living) There I was, coming out of the broken bridge of the Blackwell's house (it was the name of the bridge which fell after an earthquake) wearing a shining black suit and a pulling up my gloves. And what was I doing, well, having the heck of a time. Eating out every time, staying in a rented house and having parties at the clubs. I was out one day, testing my skills on the subject of picking pockets, and as usual, I got a nice bulging purse, and a good amount of money and telling myself, 'Good work, Mr Adrian Thompson!' and slipped the purse in my pocket. Suddenly, my eyes fell upon a guy in a bright bluish black rayon suit and my right hand felt an itch. Oh, poor person!! It is because whenever I see a person and my right hand feels an itch, I ensure that I pick the pocket of that person. Oh boy! It's Showtime! I told that to myself and went on, following that person. I had a fine distance calculated for robbery; achieved by utter experience and intuition. I moved my hand inside the glove and pulled it up, planning to have a big treat today.The man as I told you, was wearing a suit like me, and had his face fully covered, upto his nose, with his hat. I followed him till the place where the great streets of Queensberg,Kingsberg, Karl's street and Wellen streets met, got my chance and pulled the entire heck out of his pocket. I got his purse, which was unusually huge. I went to a secluded spot and was about to celebrate with the money I was about to get. I opened it and to my utter surprise and disappointment, I found notes and a red flag instead of money. Yes, the flag . I examined the red flag and was utterly shocked. This was the flag of the Red Rackham!! 'Oh my god.....' I told myself. 'We are in big trouble now. God........what the heck is this? Why here? That person.....' I thought. 'He must have some other information as well. But, where is he?' I said and took off without even having a look at the chits. I started to run here and there, like a retarded walrus, which just lost its parents in the market. My eyes hunted for that person, but he was nowhere to be seen. 'Okay, let's join the clues together.' I told myself. All I know is that it is The Red Rackham, and his special agent would be exploring the market till evening, as it was no child's play to find a secluded spot here, in this crazy city. This was a thought that told me that I had at least some time to find that guy in the blackish blue suit with the shiny boots, cap covering his face, the green gloves he wore and the blue handkerchief in the pocket. You see, sometimes I am very observant about people, and especially about my preys, so that I never bump into them ever again. So I went on hunting expeditions and finally found the person I wanted to find near the stall of clothes, asking the shopkeeper questions.'Is there a secluded spot anywhere which leads straight into the desert??' He asked. I was right behind him. These shopkeepers knew every part of the city and that is what he would use. The shopkeeper looked at me, and I gave him a death stare and slightly nodded a no. Done. He got it. 'No sire, not any to my intellect.' He said. I sighed out of relief and went on. He did the same thing to a few more shopkeepers and I did the same thing to keep him off track. He softly spoke to himself, which pretty much seemed like he was saying that he would be killed by the Red Rackham if he didn't get the information. He had no other option but to explore the city further. He started with Queensberg. He was still exploring the city while I was following him, keeping a short distance. He kept searching for hours while I was shortly following him, keeping a safe distance. After sometime, he found an area which was totally empty. Not an area, but a passage between two buildings. Between those two pale yellow buildings, which somewhat matched the colour of the sand beneath had a passage between them. The passage was large enough to carry some horses and their horsemen. So, it was mission accomplished for him. Suddenly, I heard a sweep of wind above my head, but I didn't pay much attention. Suddenly, I felt that the sound of the sweep of wind became a little more loud, so I backed off from the place where I was, real quick, and looked up. I couldn't believe my eyes! There was a man falling from a height above me. He was wearing a black jacket, and looked like a flying squirrel, which was flying in the air, black pants and black shoes. I didn't know what was happening. Suddenly, fourteen other men came out and aimed at me. Wait, What?? ME???REALLY?? The falling man also took out his revolver and aimed. 'Why is everyone so eager to kill me!' I thought. He had his AMT Hardballer in his hand and he shot a gunshot out of his. Bam! That's all I could hear. But, the man hit the guy in front of me. It poked a hole, right in the centre of his head and it went down into the ground. The flying man was almost on his head now. Till he reached the man, his hands were ready. He twisted his head to the maximum extent, total 360 degrees, smacked him, making him fall and landed with his legs beside him. ' Oh, hey there!' He turned towards me, showing his palm to the rest of the men aiming and lowering his hand down, making it a fist, and they lead their guns down. 'Hello Mr. Adrian! My name is Austin and I am a ..........nevermind. How are you?' He said. I had a very stupid expression; like a sloth that had just finished slowly reacting to the incident that just took place. I slowly took out my shivering finger, with my mouth open, my right cheek quivering , my eye constantly blinking and pointed towards the fourth floor from where he had jumped and the floor, the person whom I had been tracing since noon. I gulped and said 'W......W......what just happened?' He set out laughing and put his on my shoulder and started walking. I joined him. 'See Adrian, we both share a little secret. A secret that even the sheriff doesn't know'

'Oh, that old lad never knows anything' I replied and he continued. 'So, I was talking about the fact that we share. We both know that the Red Rackham's next target is this city and we gotta save it.' He said and I gave out the same look, like a retarded seal.

'See Adrian, we are on the same side. So if you can kindly give me those papers and the flag it would be quite nice.' He said and my jaw dropped at such speed that it would fall off any nanosecond. I reached for my right pocket and gave him all the things, for I knew that messing with these kinds of people isn't a wise choice. 'Adrian, we are the Hell Boys and we fight crimes. You know about the Red blah blah............ frankly, I don't really care for him. We are here to kill him, or pop his head and serve it to mommy. Oh yea, that would be a phrase,fella', that I would use.' He said 'But, we are new around here, so we need a local, and not just a local, a local burglar who is able to steal from the outlaws. Yes, Adrian we need you in the team. Will you join?'He asked. My heart went pounding. My throat was in my mouth. My jaw dropped 'W....w.....w....w.....what??? Me?? Why?' I asked and he hit his head with his hand. 'Again?? I told ya right, we need a burglar!! Here, sign this contract.' He said and gave me a form. I read it and it said that I could die any second and if I do, they disown me and my death will be stated to be a death caused by 'natural reasons'. Okay, good stakes for joining this team. I signed the contract, as I had a long enough hate for Red Rackham in my mind, (you'll get to know about it afterwards) 'Welcome to the Hell'a lotta' boys!' He said and walked to a man which was in the gang (I'd prefer calling it a gang) and handed him the contract which he slid into his pocket. Then he walked towards me and told me, 'Do you have any Hotel nearby? We need to take a bath and some rest. We'd be golden.' He said and though I didn't trust a flying man's honesty very much I showed them their way towards a hotel. They checked in and asked me to come to the same spot tomorrow morning at nine 'o' clock sharp, as that would now become our rendezvous point. I thought about the body of that person. What if someone sees it?? Then I remembered. Ah! No one comes to those places! I thought and went home with a weird look. Where is it? No, won't tell ya'. You might just go and tell The Red Rackham and I am dead meat. This man and his group just blew my mind off. 'Crazy dude.' I said as I slid into my bed and dozed off.