The Outlaw- Anya Cesar.

Four A.M. Wednesday

Jed Litey and his five toughest Son’s of Fire crew members met in the rear of the Broken Spoke bar. The men engaged in a heated discussion over the murders of the jewel thieves Macky, Eddie, and Wolf.

“For fuck’s sake Jed, how do you not know where that bitch Anya is? She sliced up our brothers like pigs in that jewelry store and it’ll be all over the news in a few hours!” shouted Jed’s second in command, Danny.

“Speakin’ a pigs, the cops gonna be on us like flies on shit, Jed. What do we do?” asked another member.

All five men, wearing their biker colors, stared at their leader. Jed scowled back at them as they waited for orders.

“First of all, ya’ll need to shut the hell up cause I already got the word out to the boys in El Paso so the cavalry…” Jed stopped talking.

Above him and the five men, a translucent dome formed before their eyes. It stretched from the back of the building and covered the ceiling and entrance. Jed and his men stood up gaping at the strange clear bubble surrounding them and the building.

“What’s happenin’ to my bar?” shouted Jed.

His men scattered to inspect the dome wall. Jed stuck by the table and watched Danny reach out and touch the surface.

“Danny, what the hell is it-”

But before Jed could blink a dagger flashed before his eyes and an arm strangled him in a chokehold from behind.

“Gaah!” growled Jed as the assailant pressed the dagger to his throat.

Jed’s men spun around and Danny and another man pulled handguns. All of the men gaped at the beautiful black haired woman holding their leader hostage. The woman, Anya Cesar, stared back at them with malice.

“Hold up lady! You’re Anya, right?” asked Danny, trying to distract her.

Anya ignored Danny and pressed the dagger into Jed’s neck, pricking a trickle of blood. Jed’s cautious men stood still while Anya offered a sinister smile.

“Hm hm hm hm,” she snickered. “You fools. I’ve placed a force field around this building so that no one can hear us..and none of you can escape, hee hee...”

She clutched Jed’s neck with her forearm.

“Gasp...Are you here to kill me bitch?” growled Jed.

Anya’s eyes opened with wonder.

“Kill you? Why no Jed, I’m actually here to pay for your life!” she said, waving her dagger in his face.

Jed’s men stared at Anya with blank expressions.

“What do you mean, ‘pay for his life,’ lady?” asked Danny, aiming his gun at her head.

“Simple,” she said facing Danny. “I’m going to kill all of you, and take this man alive. Thus paying for his life, with yours!”

She loosened Jed’s chokehold, and he took advantage.

“Kill this bitch!” he barked.

On his order all five men advanced on Anya.

“Yes! Come and kill me!” she snarled.

Two men charged at Anya from each side. She whirled back with Jed as a shield and pointed her dagger at the man advancing on her right, and extended the dagger blade to sword length..

“Grraah!” gurgled the man, as Anya’s blade shot from six inches to four feet, impaling his skull.

She yanked her sword out of his head and swung left, slicing the second advancing man’s jaw off.

He grabbed at his face and collapsed.

Jed pulled free of her choke in the commotion and turned to punch her. “You dead bitch!” he yelled, throwing his fist at her chin.

But Anya sidestepped Jed’s punch and bashed his temple in with her sword hilt, knocking him to the floor.

“Damn you Lady!” howled Danny.

Danny charged forward firing his revolver at Anya, who dodged all of his shots, spun, and sliced his gun hand in half. He reeled back screaming in agony as the other gunman fired three rounds at the still spinning Anya. She evaded each of his shots, but his bullets flew behind her and struck Danny’s chest and neck.

“Aaah, you shot me!” Danny said in shock, his last words as he hit the floor.

The man with the gun fired two more rounds at Anya, who sliced both bullets in the air and swung her blade across his large gut, disemboweling him.

“Whut?” The gunman looked down at his intestines spilling out, then up at Anya, “What the hell are you lady?” he asked her, and fell over dead.

Anya lost sight of the fifth man, who positioned behind her and struck her in the back with a metal chair.

“Fuuuck!” she cried as her body smacked the floor.

Anya dropped her sword, and in moments the man raised the chair high above his head and swung it down at her. But she rolled out of the way and countered with a back knee kick, tripping the man.

“Oof!” he cried as he hit the floor. And Anya followed by cracking his nose with a boot kick. “Ahh my nose!”

In the confusion Jed ran to Danny’s body and retrieved his revolver. He aimed the gun at Anya, now up and charging at him.

“Not so fast Jed!!” she yelled.

Jed fired at her, but Anya ducked low and flipped a table up crashing it into him and knocking him back.

“Fuck me!” he shouted as he stumbled backwards, pushing the table away.

But he still held the gun, and when he cleared the table he raised the weapon again. But Anya leapt at him and crushed his jaw with a flying knee. Jed’s head bashed into the wall behind him and he crashed to the floor unconscious.

“..Jed?” said Anya’s voice.

Jed’s eyes flickered, and when he came to his senses Anya punched him in his nose and eye. He almost stopped breathing as she stood above him with balled fists.

“..Crazy bitch,” he whimpered, and blacked out.

“Hm hm hm hm, what a fool you are Jed...I mean how could you believe I wouldn’t kill you after your thieves tried to double cross me...and kidnap my dear Rylan?”

Anya recovered her sword in the front of the bar, then turned to the fifth man. He clutched his broken nose and stared at her.

“Oh, I see one of you is still alive,” she said to the man.

The man raised up and ran out the front exit of the bar, and smack into the force field wall surrounding the building. The man fell on his knees, his broken nose and face a bloody mess. He turned to Anya, now three feet away from him.

“L-Lady..I ain’t got no problem with you...you could take Jed, I ain’t gonna say nothin-”

Anya slashed the table in front of him, shutting him up.

“Do you know what you are?” she twirled her sword and pointed in his face.

“I..Me?..No...what am I?” he asked, bleeding and trembling.

“You....are nothing but a caveman groveling before a god! Hahahahaha!”

The bleeding man stared into her maniacal eyes as she laughed and raised her sword above her head. He threw his hands up.

“Wait! No-”

She sliced him in two, without mercy.

Test in the Desert

A few hours later, Anya kidnapped Jed and held him captive in a trailer in the middle of the New Mexico desert.

“Wake up Jed!” she threw a glass of water in his face and slapped him awake.

Jed’s blackened eyes opened to an unfamiliar room. He lay flat on his back with his hands and legs handcuffed to a bed frame.

“Where am I?” he asked with a graveled voice.

“You’re at my place genius. I need to run tests on a human subject, so you’ll do.”

“...What the hell are you talking about?”

Jed struggled against the restraints and mouthed obscenities until Anya stabbed him with a morphine injection and gagged him. In moments the drug settled him down. Anya rigged him to a heart monitor and sat a strange instrument next to his chest. The instrument appeared to be a tabletop laser gun.

“You see Jed, my terrible children destroyed my mites, and took my ability to control my grounder, Rylan. So now I need to find out if this crazy new device I’ve created can force Rylan to open a rift gate,” said Anya.

Jed didn’t understand a word she said, but she kept talking.

“But here’s the thing Jed, I don’t want this thing to kill my Rylan. So I need to test it on you first.” She pointed the device at his chest, “Oh, and this will hurt.”

She flipped a switch and the device fired a yellow beam of energy into Jed’s captive body. He screamed in agony for a minute. When she stopped he tried to speak.

“Mmmph!”

“Eh? You want to say something?” asked Anya, removing his gag.

“Cough, you fucking cunt...my guys are gonna take that boy toy of yours hostage…so you better be nice to me or- Aaaaaaaaah!” she zapped him with the device again.

“You’re body is handling this well, good!” she said, ignoring his statement.

“..But..I just told you my guys are going after your boy Rylan!..We know where he lives!” he gasped.

“Um hm, I heard you Jed, and I’ll head out there in about an hour and clean up the mess she’s gonna make of your men,” said Anya trailing off.

Jed tried to keep up.

“What? Who is she? Cause ain’t no fuckin broad gonna make a mess out of my men-”

“Like how I made a mess of your men, Jed? Hmm? No, I guess that was your your imagination,” she growled and Jed shut up.

“Now, as I was saying...Your cavalry , meaning the cavemen you must have sent to kidnap my sweet Rylan?” she zapped him again.

“Aaaaaaah!” he screamed in agony.

“Ha ha ha! Trust me Jed. Those men are as good as dead.”

Cavalry

Eight a.m. Rylan awoke groggy. Next to him lay Maya, naked and still asleep.

Oh crap we’re super late. I don’t want to wake Maya, but I gotta get Chloe dressed for school.

Rylan threw on his Jeans and walked down to the kitchen. On the table sat a note in Chloe’s handwriting:

Rilly, I made peanut butter sandwiches for you and Maya. Leif is taking me to school. See you guys later :)

-Love Chloe

Rylan opened a container on the table. Inside lay two sandwiches with toasted bread.

“Chloe! You’re the best little sis-”

At that moment the kitchen door burst open from outside, and a large man ran inside the house and charged at Rylan. Rylan spun and backed up as the man, wearing a Son’s of Fire jacket barreled toward him. Reaching forward he grabbed Rylan by the collar as Rylan kicked and punched back.

“Get the fuck off of me!” shouted Rylan, fighting off the attacker.

While Rylan struggled, four more men entered the house.

“Get the girl too, she’s a fuckin beauty!” shouted one of the intruders.

The man fighting with Rylan bear hugged him and a second intruder assisted, attempting to pull Rylan to the ground.

“Come on, I got the tape, we’ll hog tie him once he’s down!” yelled the first attacker.

Dammit, they’re trying to kidnap me!...and they’ll assault Maya!

As Rylan struggled his body temperature rose, and in his hands.

The surge...I feel it.

A gunshot from upstairs and a scream. The two kidnappers holding Rylan stopped struggling and listened. Two more shots and a blood curdling howl.

“Arrrrgh, you fucking bitch, gaaa!” screamed one of the intruders upstairs.

Above Rylan on the second floor a stampede took place as two of the three intruders ran back downstairs, toward the kitchen. Rylan and his captors eyed the action as both fleeing intruders turned to fire their guns helplessly at their half naked pursuer.

Maya?

Running into the kitchen with her sword in hand Maya hacked one gunman’s shoulder off, spun one eighty and gutted the third man. Her speed and fluid movement no longer surprised Rylan.

...Maya, Anya...Leif...this is how they fight…

Rylan’s two captors released him to turn their attention to the sword swinging Maya, who wore nothing but a grey t-shirt that barely covered her panties.

The two kidnappers backed out of the kitchen entrance door and fired nine millimeter pistols at both Rylan and Maya as they exited. But Maya bolted in front of Rylan.

“Shield up!” she yelled and her force field ricocheted the shooter’s bullets back at them, striking one in the eye. He screamed for dear life as both men ran off the back porch toward a dark blue van with two more men inside.

“Rylan, stay here!” yelled Maya as she raced behind the two fleeing kidnappers, raised her blade, and cut them down with one stroke.

The last two men in the van gunned the engine and ripped the vehicle out of the yard and back on the road, fleeing from the half naked girl with the sword. But Maya wanted them dead. She ran forward and pointed her left wrist device at the speeding van and barked an order.

“Shield on point!”

A blue beam fired from the device and formed a large force field dome directly in the path of the van. The van smashed into the force field and flipped on its side.

Maya, barefoot, ran down the road toward the crashed van. The van rear door opened and one man stumbled out injured, but Maya showed no mercy and severed the man from shoulder to hip.

With her t-shirt now a bloody rag, Maya entered the van and yanked the last man out. He hollered in pain as the vehicle’s crash pulverized his legs.

“Maya!” shouted Rylan, sprinting to the scene.

The sword girl ignored Rylan and jammed her blade against the crash survivor’s neck.

“Why are you here?” she asked him.

“Aaah...my legs..they’re broken,” he squealed, and Maya stomped his thigh. “Gaaaah,” he screamed.

“Answer me or I’ll cut your legs off, then they won’t hurt you anymore,” she growled.

Rylan arrived on the scene as the tortured man pointed at him.

“That kid, him and a lady killed our guys in a jewelry heist...We was comin’ to take him hostage.”

“Who sent you? Jed?” asked Rylan.

“Yeah, we came from El Paso-”

Maya narrowed her eyes and raised her sword above the man.

“Hey, wait little girl! hold on ya-”

“Fuck you and El Paso!” she yelled, and cleaved him in half.

Raising her sword again she shot a glance at Rylan, who stared back at her. And for the first time he saw proof in her face of Anya’s words.

That scowl, the same as the first day I met you..the same face as Anya’s.

All this time he couldn’t see it, but now he couldn’t deny it. Maya’s features were fair. Light hair, light eyes. Where Anya bore a tan complexion, dark eyes and ink black hair...but Maya’s face shape, nose structure, eye shape…. and her killer instinct.

“So, you’re a butcher like your mother,” he muttered, expressionless.

Maya spun and glared at him for a long time.

“You don’t know anything about me Rylan,” she said.

“No, I really don’t,” he glanced at the dead bodies, “But I’ve seen enough to know that you really are Anya’s daughter.”

Maya smirked with her eyes low.

“Hmm, did she tell you that? I bet she said that to control you. Make you do whatever you two were doing behind my back,” she muttered in a low voice.

Rylan put his head down.

“That may be. But is it true? Is Anya your mother?”

Maya evaded the question.

“I knew she was using you, Rylan.”

Rylan stepped back..

“..Yeah? So, if you knew Anya was using me then why didn’t you say something? Is it maybe because you have your own agenda, Maya?” he asked, staring at her.

Maya said nothing as her eyes shifted to the road. A mile down a black suv sped toward the house. Rylan recognized the truck.

“Speak of the devil, that’s Anya,” he said.

Maya’s eyes widened.

“Rylan! Stay close to me!” she shouted, grabbing Rylan’s hand and pulling him back toward the house.

“Eh? Why? Do you think Anya’s gonna attack us?”

Maya scowled and glanced at the truck on the horizon.

“I know she will!”

...