Chapter 14: Say ‘ahhhh’

Doc gave a signal but he did not know if the mayor caught it or not. Making it more obvious was out of the question, the only way now was forward. The Doctor took a deep breath and held his rifle tight. How long had he last held a weapon for the purpose of killing another human being? The answer was decades, not as long as he had wanted.

His mind flashed an image of the Kid being karted back. She was burning up with a vicious fever, hotter than coal, on the verge of a fiery hell. Warden Jaren had somehow kept her alive, but it was not the hard part. It was the Doctor who had to cut her stomach opened. It was him who had to shuffle through her innards, to pull out all the little fragments embedded in the girl’s guts. Oh how her scream of pain haunted him. The Kid’s slender hands grabbed his arms, they were so small, a cruel reminder of her youth. Even if she remembered it not, Doc would never forget.

But as he was carefully picking out the shrapnel, Doc noticed something magical. His hands were as still as that frozen night.

The time for idling and self-pity was over.

To the cloaked figure surprise, Doc rushed forward in a frenzy. It was as if the man had forgotten how a rifle was supposed to work. Right next to him was the mayor with her hook ready to strike.

The Doctor swung his rifle like a club, clashing with the figure’s blade. The mayor continued to run behind. The figure fully expected a pincer attack, its mind calculating all possible angel that hook could come from, but that did not happen. Doc spun his weapon, deflecting the blade, and took aim straight ahead all the while backing off. He fired a shot that missed completely, but that was the intention. The blast was deafening, nearly taking out the figure’s left eardrum.

The bullet whizzed past, breaking a hole in the dome that immediately closed. The mayor was just fast enough to jump through just before it was shut. So her swinging the hook around was a simple red herring.

The figure chuckled and spoke in a raspy voice. “You sure have changed, Doc!”

“I do not remember meeting a kid like you.” The Doctor stepped back and held the rifle with both hands. “I assume you are, since no one over thirteen could possibly wear something like that unironically.”

The cloaked person chuckled, “I like to think that I am young at heart”, twirling its sword.

“If I were to give you an advice, try to retract your tongue, that’s a professional opinion, free of charge.” The Doctor said calmly.

It suddenly took a swing way out of range, but it was not a random slash. The blade suddenly extend right before connecting with the target. Doc, unfazed, immediately duck down with a split. He dropped the rifle and pulled out the revolver. The figure would swear that it took Doc less time to pull out the gun and fire than it took for the bullet to arrive at the target. As a bonus, the Doctor slammed the hammer and five other shots followed suit.

While he tried to spread them out in a circle, the shaking hand prevent all the bullets to be fired in the desired formation. Thanks to that, the figure could deflect all of them with a twirl of the blade, its wrist nearly as fast as the draw.

During that time, the rifle still had not finished falling onto the ground. Doc grabbed the weapon mid-air and hopped up, dashing straight at the figure while firing one single shot. The bullet was deflected but it was enough for him to get right up against the enemy in kissing distance even. This surely was not the range a marksman would want to operate in. But Doc was not any other gunslinger, the Doctor went to ‘practice medicine’. He held onto the level and spun the rifle like a tonfa with a force powerful enough to split skull.

The figure was a daredevil, always plunging at the most perilous option. But it was never without careful calculation, not being suicidal without purpose. Thus, even though the Doctor side was opened, it decided to use the sword for defensive purpose. True, the figure could slit the blade into his heart, but that would result in its own head broken like a watermelon.

Sword clashed with gun, sending sparks flying, the figure slid the blade down to transition the block into a deadly cut. Doc’s counter was faster, however, he pulled back the level to load the next cartridge. The gun slid down along with the blade to deflect. Suddenly, the figure found a barrel of a rifle right at its face point-blank, it immediately dragged its head backward. The heat of the shot grazed its face, hidden but unprotected.

That dodge was pure reaction.

Because of that, the figure did not notice a right elbow coming up, connecting with its chin. The gun was also swung up along with the level first, loading yet another cartridge. The figure, even in crippling pain from a broken chin, did not lose a moment of concentration. Its mind racing against the clock, it could tell that the blow was too light, that was something else incoming.

It proved to be the truth. The Doctor’s, left hand was already reaching down for another revolver. The figure’s sword was of eldritch construct, being able to retract the blade in an instant. Perhaps it could spin the wrist fast enough to point the weapon down then extracting it in time to block the shot.

That would mean the figure had to be faster than the Doctor. Its mind once again raced on and all conclusion pointed to that not being the case. Doc, put a hole in the figure’s sword arm, right in the wrist.

None of the sparks from the clash had yet to even touch the ground.

The Doctor once again let go of the rifle to reach down and fanned the hammer. Three more shots, two for both kneecaps. The final one pointed up at a slight angle, the bullet went through the figure chin and through the right cheek. Doc grabbed his rifle again and jammed it straight into the bullet hole. The barrel went through touching the upper part of the figure’s mouth, it could taste gunpowder and burnt flesh.

The fight was over before the sword could be swung twice.

However, the figure noticed something Doc had yet to realise, his hands were no longer shaking, and he had not broken a single drop of sweat. The Doctor opened the mouth to check within. Inside, he could see the tongue rolled back, hidden behind the smoking barrel.

“Gum’s good, no cavity, you really take a good care of your teeth.” He said calmly. “And you have taken my advice seriously, good, now you could answer my question.”

This was not the same man the figure had met a moment ago with the mayor. His eyes were devoid of any lack of confidence nor any hint of empathy. His gaze was like how one could look at an insignificant insect. Actually no, it was not even that, Doc was simply observing a speck of dust.

It certainly brought the figure back to that day. A young girl bound in countless chains was put in front of a Doctor for diagnosing, to see what kind of devil had infected the adolescent mind. She could tell then, whatever kind of eldritch it was that told the young kid to murder indiscriminately, it was nothing to be feared compared to the man in front of her.

She thought he had changed, but that turned out to be lie, like everything that came out of that man’s mouth.

The figure reached to the back with its left hand. Doc ignored that action, however, knowing there was nothing that could be done. His conclusion was correct, the figure was simply disabling the cloak. It revealed a face the Doctor recognised.

“If it isn’t Loretta, the curse of Millhaven. Oh I forgot, you like to be called Lottie right.” He said without a hint of emotion. “You sure have grown up to be a healthy adult. You even remember my advice to floss your teeth.” The Doctor continued with most disingenuous words ever spoken. “I am glad.”

“Actually…” The woman struggled to speak. “I go by Daisy now… ugh… Or at least I would love to.” X replied, with a pained smirk. A part of her mouth was already burnt to crisp by the heated barrel.