《Wanted: Dead or Alive》Chapter 18 - 'Neck Deep'
Advertisement
[Fall – Blue City]
The bulking bounty hunter named Grovo had been hired by Isiah to track down Jennings and was tailing his target back into the bar. Learning, after eavesdropping, that Jennings had reinforcements arriving in the near future meant that a reduced timer had been applied to the situation. Grovo wandered off by himself.
“This kid is worth a lotta' money, but if his bloodline tainted, the old-bagger probably gonna' be stingy with his givings. I reckon' it's better if I take him into the sheriff's office my damn self. Will give the credit where it's due though, I’ve perked up and feel great, just like he said I would.”
Grovo's hands glowed alternating shades, his left flared a blinding white while his right emitted a haunting purple.
After hours of observing Jennings down drinks while stationed at his stool alone. After the discussion with his pal Ollie closed, an expected opportunity presented itself. As Jennings arose from his seated position and made haste for the back exit, Grovo talked to the two men positioned next to the closest door frame. They shadow Jennings' movement and move toward the back as well a few seconds later.
Jennings fisted the back door open, creating a visible crack on the wooden fixture while skipping side-to-side, dancing to hold in the urine.
“Shoot.” responded Jennings to his own careless action.
He staggered outside and groaned to himself while simultaneously itching his crotch.
“The outhouses never too, too close. Why?!” He stumbled forward with no grace, flailing, he enclosed himself within the one-man booth. He could’ve passed as drunk to an average patron.
The two men accompanying Grovo surround the outhouse with Jennings inside, their boss located just at the door, taking up its entire width with his own stature. He shouted to the preoccupied man within, having the upper hand.
“John Jennings, we have you surrounded. Come on out witcha' hands...and pants up. This is me askin' nicely.”
Advertisement
His voice was deep, one to match his frame. It sounded smooth, but harsh, like someone who had spent enough time yelling to the public. He followed his statement by removing his pistol from his side, aiming it forward.
Lacking a proper response time, Jennings fired from within the wooden stall and shot a single one of the hired men in the shoulder, sending him to the ground in pain.
Grovo retreated for cover in a restricted fashion because of his huge frame, almost fumbling his gun between his wide fingers. His next shot failed to hit Jennings who had already ravaged his way out the back with a forceful kick. Jennings assessed his surroundings quickly and rushed to the side of the man he had injured with his previous bullet, stabbing him in the midsection while crouching behind him for minimal cover as he noticed Grovo reload.
“Stand still!”
Grovo and his remaining pal were safe for now, breathing heavy while lying behind any substantial item they could crouch behind. Some storage containers worked for the time being. He illuminated the area and temporarily froze both Jennings and the remaining henchman due to the unexpected brightness. When Jennings' vision returned, it was met with a massive fist hurtling toward his face, striking its mark.
The outlaw fell back to the dirt, fully experiencing the force behind that last hit.
“Woo!” yells Grovo wiping off the Jennings' blood from his fist, “You like takin' a beating? -I like dishing it. It's good eatin'!”
Barely able, Jennings wrestles to block an oncoming shadow projectile with an ice shield, which bought him a moment for clear thought.
Grovo smirks in a condescending manner before leaping to Jennings' location in an oversized frog-like manner. Once again he had displayed an action that Jennings was ill-prepared for, which had become too common as of late. Using his massive grip, Grovo latched onto Jennings arm and swung him over-top of himself, sending him thundering into the ground. A devastating burst of air leaves Jennings' core. The other henchman hurried behind Jennings like the hungry predator he was. They hoped to lock down his movement with a hold, but neither couldn't effectively apply it.
Advertisement
Jennings recognized the sliver of a second he had to capitalize and took advantage, letting out an ice-charged rush, his ice-tipped fingers sliced through the jugular, exposing a torrent of red fluid prepared to gush.
Grovo’s tight hands slipped with the blood of his ally, allowing Jennings to break free and scuttle away into a dust cloud created by the tussle. The victim slouched, concluding rough movements to the floor before rendering motionless, other than a flowing faucet of crimson.
Grovo on the other hand, thought quickly to take a more defensive approach and hunkered down. During the fingertip slice from Jennings, he had evaded a deep laceration.
A new wave of dirt clouds wafted in his direction. Jennings was using the environment as a makeshift smokescreen. Grovo’s mind once again returned to a defensive stance, attempting to shine a light with his Agi for any vision. Even with precautions, the large Agist still was ill-prepared for the next flurry of ice shards launched from within the dust.
Grovo received multiple lacerations from the ice lodged into his skin. The volley created cuts, blood dripped from the massive limb. A mixture of color and chaos, the assailant was so encumbered he took a subconscious knee.
The part time bounty hunter gathered his posture and raised both hands above him before releasing a paralyzing scream accompanied with a shower of dark and light orbs emitting from his combined fists. Before the orbs touched ground or the target and inflicted their assumed damage, Jennings briefly saw a glimpse to end it all.
While Grovo cast his next spell. He reminded himself that he wanted his pursuer to live through the altercation and instead of his first couple choices, he sought to seek shelter behind the former toilet stall nearby. The wooden shards blasted into pieces from a small Agi tornado.
The lights from within the force of Agi pulsated bright and dark. After a short while, the surroundings settled. The Agi source had stopped. Having avoided any harm, Jennings taunted Grovo from the sidelines before making his next move.
“Big man! Little skill.”
He echoed his words into the battlefield they shared, with only one direction of trailed laughter.
Correctly predicting a large chunk of ice being hurled toward him, Grovo turned into the direction of the spell in time to watch it wiz by, off the mark. Not responsive enough to realize it was a decoy and an attempt from Jennings to find himself behind the assailant, knocking him unconscious with a single radiant, ice-covered blow. He had shrouded his pistol in ice and swung it like a blunt weapon.
Jennings collected himself as Grovo lay beneath him. Jennings proceeded to freeze the large man up to his neckline in a solid block of ice, assuring his capture. A crowd had gathered and by now fixed their attention on Jennings as he tied Grovo and his encasing ice block to the back of Poni with a lengthy rope. It took a long, awkward while with no one offering any assistance outta probable fear.
“Just a bounty hunter doing his job, while mine is to keep the peace, so please move on to your day and nights. Thank ya’ folks- yes, thank ya’.”
Poni played up the audience, before hearing the veiled signal to move out.
By the time bystanders from the bar realize it was the lucrative fugitive, horse and ally were already on their way to meet up with Penny and determine their next step on the route to redemption.
Advertisement
- In Serial27 Chapters
Palus Somni
It is the final days after the end of the world and you only have one month left before the last sanctuary erupts into chaos. There's a dead body hanging from a tree and cadaverous giants watch you sleep at night. The end is already here, you just don't know it yet. Now rated in the top 3% of all novels on Royal Road! Palus Somni (‘Marsh of Sleep’) is a worldbuilding webnovel about what happens when your God forsakes you. Inspired by gothic horror and mingled with British myth and folklore, join the Alucinari nuns as they struggle with day-to-day life after the world has ended. Every night when the sun sets the monstrous Gol, colossal beings with too many teeth, awaken and roam the marshlands. Only those with a faithful heart will be spared. Young acolyte Wille has never seen the walls fail, but when a fellow nun is murdered within their sanctum the very safety of the monastery is thrown into question. Did the Gol find a way to breach their defences, or is there a human traitor amongst them? The answer lies both far in the past and deep beneath the earth, through the maze of ancient catacombs. With a cast of over thirty different characters, watch as your friends and enemies spiral into inevitable madness at the hands of a callous and unforgiving world. Discover the secrets of Palus Somni through letters, diary entries and notes found scattered across the monastery. Uncover the mystery of the grotesque giants that stalk the night and bring your challenge to the Gods themselves. Each character has their own handmade pixel art, and every update includes a music recommendation for a dark atmospheric dungeon synth album that you can listen to while you read. Slice of life meets cosmic abomination: Palus Somni is a collection of intertwining stories, some chapters are stand-alone tales while others feed into the overarching narrative. It is an exploration into a community, and rather than focusing on any one character the story meanders through the convent, exposing the hopes and fears of its inhabitants. Story updates every full moon.
8 54 - In Serial19 Chapters
Ritz Aven : Can I live normally?[Hiatus]
A girl that was never given the chance to live a normal life. A girl that was used by the humans, only to see her as a monster after the war. Enraged, she started hating the humans and became the earth's antagonist. In the end, she was killed by her own childhood friend.After her death, she met the earth's god. She was given a chance to start over at a new world. A world without the human race that she hated, and a world that was completely different from earth.WARNING: This is supposed to be a shoujo fiction, you know, female mc, romance and stuff. So don't expect action.HIATUS ANNOUNCEMENT: I need more love reference or other things like that before I can continue writing. Time to read more shoujo mangas.
8 90 - In Serial67 Chapters
Reincarnated as the God of Shitty Life Counseling for Defective Washed Up Waifus
Don't expect too much from this abomination. As the name of this fiction suggests, the title I go by in heaven is the God of Shitty Life Counseling for Defective Washed Up Waifus. I work as a life counselor for trash waifus in case you were slow and didn't catch on. Please be advised, author takes no responsibility if someone decides to follow the shit-tier advice of the God of Shitty Life Counseling for Defective Washed Up Waifus. 101 Consultations (UNCENSORED) available on Amazon.
8 227 - In Serial19 Chapters
GIG: God In Gold
So let's cut the pretense: this is some garbage-tier weaboo fiction. I have no idea what I'm doing, but I feel it's important to say that this is some nonsense I write for fun. I don't think it's very good. I'd even go as far as to say that I'm not a good writer at all. I picked up a ball that started rolling when I was a kid and have been intermittently punting it towards the next chapter whenever I feel like it. And you can come on this garbage ride too if you really feel like it. Who knows, maybe there's some gold to be salvaged from this dumpster fire? Synposis: Satou Shibuya is a first year student at Niflheim's Kawagusa General Academy. He's also the self-proclaimed strongest power user, sporting a big enough number on his birth certificate to make a nuclear bomb glow green with envy. There's something to be said about a person whose head is so far up their own ass that you find yourself watching their every move with bated breath, ever curious to see which hole they'll dig themselves into next. This is not that kind of story. This is a story about pride, coming of age, but actually, this is a story about big, stupid superpowered fights. Update Schedule: Whenever.
8 183 - In Serial22 Chapters
(SBUCS) Sea Breeze Under a Crimson Sky
Story Complete, new chapter added every Friday! The Pasongunan, a pirate vessel, sails the seas in search of treasure, fame, and most importantly fortune. When rumor reaches one of the captains ears of a treasure ripe for the taking... Well, it's too good to resist, and who doesn't want to be known for finding the treasure belonging to one of the worlds most famous pirates? Also available on Worldanvil & Wattpad!
8 143 - In Serial19 Chapters
Wiedźmiński chat,czyli Rakowe rozmowy [ZAKOŃCZONE]
To jest chat. Wiedźmiński chat. Chyba nie muszę wam dalej o nim opowiadać.
8 60

