As we began to walk over a sandy hill in the hot desert in search of them, I looked over to my right at my dear old daddy. He had an irritated look on his face, but me being his daughter, I already knew why: He didn't want me on this food scavenging hunt with him.
"Ya know, Daddy..." I began to say as I noticed him not reacting to me speaking, slightly annoying me.
"Ya gotta stop treatin' me like I'm some sorta frilly princess or somethin'. This is the first ever hunt I've ever been on, and all you've done so far was mope. Well, too bad! Yer stuck with me. After all, Imma better shot than last time ya trained me..."
"This isn't a competition, Abygale..." My daddy replied with a calmness, seeming almost eerie to me.
"It's about your safety. Even since your mother was murdered by the clans attempting to recover Cris, I've been very cautious of everything that occurs around me. Her loss still hurts me, but a lot of who she was is something that you're embodying, sweetheart. You've inherited her strong drive to get things done, but also her stubbornness..."
"Yer only lecturin' me like this cause I told you 'No' bout' wearin' mama's hat, huh daddy?" I questioned him, taking his silence as the answer I expected to hear.
"I already took Mama's shooter. That's all I'm doin'. Not wearing her overcoat or the hat, Daddy. That's how I'm gonna honor Mama..."
"You taking up her Bel-Anne Ranger gear IS honoring her, Aby!" My father yelled out, causing the two of us to stop in place atop the large sand hill.
"It's the ranger way! Not like the way of the Yazhar or the Hasatan Clans see people. They tossed all of us out here and left everyone to die just because there were too many mouths to feed. We honor the fallen around here. And what is left behind by them is what helps us survive..."
To be honest, I tuned my daddy's lecture out as my sky blue eyes outwardly scanned the desert in search of our missing horses cause I already knew of the 'Bel-Anne Ranger Way'. Those who fall are remembered in the hearts of their loved ones, and whatever belongings that were left behind (usually clothing and/or weapons) are taken and/or worn by them in their honor. I knew of this tradition cause I blurted it out loud during an emergency meeting one night when I was little and didn't experience loss at the time. But upon the day that mama died, that mindset changed inside of me...
By the time all of the Bel-Anne Rangers took on my concept as our traditional way, I was the only one to not engage in the practice that I had created. The black overcoat and western style hat was my mama's iconic wear. All the male ranger's heads would turn when she walked by, making all the female's faces turn red with envy. But that's was the point. That was my mama's thing, and not mine to emulate at all. I wanted to be me, and wearing my dead parent's gear never sat well with me, making it seem like I was being hypocritical. Technically, I was.
"I hear ya loud and clear, Daddy..." I said to him as I saw two brown figures over in the distance straight ahead of us.
"I FOUND OUR HORSES!" I continued on, causing my father to turn and look where I did.
Suddenly, we felt the sandy ground begin to tremble beneath our boot covered feet after I shouted. I was so dumb that I forgot the loud sounds could draw them to us, and now daddy and I had a big problem on our hands...
"GO!" My father yelled while looking at me, prompting me to sprint ahead forward and down the sand hill toward the horses.
As I ran, I turned my head back and saw him pull his custom-made six shooter out from the holster of his right side and aim it down at the ground just as scorpion-like monsters emerged from underneath the sand below and hissed extremely loud. My daddy then fired one shot at the critter directly in front of him, shifting his body over to a different direction and shot another. It was the Nye-El Sand Spiders...
"GET TO THOSE HORSES AND GET OUT OF HERE!" My daddy screamed at the top of his lungs as I saw him begin to reload his pistol after successfully killing six of the venomous creatures.
I stopped running for the horses and turned as I saw that half a dozen the vemonous Nye-El Sand Spiders that were the size of a fully grown Saluki dog had remained and agressively hissed at my daddy while surrounding him in every direction! He was in such a panic during his attempt to reload that all of his bullets fell out of his left hand, down onto ground, and sank into the sand below his feet. Even from where I was standing, I could see the look of doom on his face when he stared up at me...
"WHAT THE HELL YOU DOIN'!?" My daddy screamed over at me while I saw the six scorpion-like critters begin to close in on him.
"YOU FIND THOSE DAMNED HORSES AND GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE TO SAFETY OF CAMP, ABY!!!"
"NOOOOO!" I shouted so loud that my voice cracked from the immense fear I felt.
Acting extremely quick, I proceeded to draw my six shooter pistol that was perfectly identical to my daddy's out from my light brown holster and into my right hand before immediately aiming and firing six shots in my daddy's direction. And just as quickly as the trouble started, It had ended. I managed to kill the six remaining Nye-El Sand Spiders with one bullet a piece, from a decent distance away and not miss my mark. Daddy looked over at me with surprise at what I had done, demonstrating that I was indeed the great shot I claimed to be...
"I'm done losing people..." I thought to myself as I immediately rushed over to my fear stricken father with tears in my eyes.
Stepping over the insect carcasses leaking dark green and acidic venom, my daddy and I tearfully embraced while pressing our forheads together.
"I-I love you, Daddy..." I told him shakily as I looked down at the small pile of dead Nye-El Sand Spiders, prompting me to remember my deceased mama.
"And don't ever wanna lose you..."
"Save it for when we get back to camp, Aby." My daddy responded, wiping a tear from the bottom of my right eye with his left thumb.
"Come on. Let's get before more of them critter show up..."
"Right." I replied while wiping off the remaining tears off my face with both of my hands before seeing my dad begin to run.
I soon followed behind him in full sprint, reloading my six shooter pistol with the bullets I kept in the left pocket of my light blue denims jean pants. Going in the direction our horses were, we hoped to find them alive so the food we secured could be given to our fellow rangers...
Sometime later, at dark...
"WHERE. ARE. RANDALL AND ABYGALE HOU!?" A young man asks a male ranger as he and several men and women sit around a campfire, pacing around in front of him with worry on his face.
"I don't understand how you disrespectful people could eat the food that the ranger leader and his daughter's horses bought back and not even go out to look for them! Some group of rangers we are..."
"Settle down, Cris!" He says aloud while breaking the stinger off of the non-venomous Nye-El Sand Spider and eats it.
"It's survival. Whether you like it or not. I'm a dad with kids, too. Therefore, we gotta eat, even if that means some of us get left in the sandy dust. It's life we live out here, boy. Better get used to it..."
"NEVER." Cris responds in clear defiance as he snatches to scorpion-like carcass out of his right hand and throws it onto the sand down below.
"You degenerates can gouge yourselves like fat pigs all you wish. I'm going out to find OUR family!"
Just as he begins to turn around and walk away from the campfire, the man that argued with Cris rolled his eyes while the woman sitting on his left side stood up and chased after the young man. After catching up with him from behind, he immediately stopped in place, turned around, and held his right hand up with all of his palm facing the young woman, and fingers pointed up a the clear evening sky.
"You are not to follow me, Aida..." Cris spoke with a stern tone in his voice as well as slight concern toward her.
"I may be visually blind, but my sensory abilities go unrivaled amongst the Gyption race. I don't need to see physically 'see' Randall and Abygale Hou to find them. Just their spiritual pressure..."
"But what about the Nye-El Sand Spiders?" She asked the young man with genuine concern in their voice, causing the man she was sitting beside to get up and march toward her.
"I wouldn't mind coming along to make sure you're safe and..."
"WHAT THE FUCK YOU DOIN!?" The man said angrily from behind the young female ranger, causing her to turn around with fear all over her face.
"I-I was j-just... J-Just..."
"Ju-Ju-Ju, JUST WERE GOING TO SIT BACK DOWN NEAR THE FIRE!" He responded with condescension, mocking her stutter in the process.
Upon hearing the young female ranger's soft whimpers of sadness, Cris clenched his right hand into a fist while emitting small clouds of light energy. The middle-aged male ranger saw this and smiled as he internally relished in the fact that his treatment of Aida had gotten under the younger man's skin...
"Surnovich." Cris said with frustration in his voice.
"What did I tell you about being mean to Aida? Making her feel bad is unacceptable!"
"Are you dating her, blindo!?" The disrespectful ranger scoffed as he then pointed back at the sad looking young woman.
As she took her seat back on the sandy ground at the campfire, Aida looked over at Cris and Surnovich as she blushed while her gaze was set on the former. The young female ranger had a genuine crush on the young blonde man...
"OOPS! SORRY!" The rude middle-aged man said just as Cris turned himself back around to face him.
"I keep forgetting that you can't see MY sexy girlfriend! You blind motherfucker! Anyway, go find your adopted family and hopefully die in the process..."
Suddenly, Surnovich immediately turned to his right and saw Randall and Abygale Hou standing a few feet away. They both arms on their hips, with the young daughter of the lead ranger aggressively marching up to him and staring up at the middle-aged man's face in pure anger.
"WANNA REPEAT THAT SHIT SO I CAN HEAR YA BETTER, SURNO-BITCH!?" Abygale shouted at him, causing Surnovich to tilt his face down in shame.
"N-No ma'am..." he mumbled out quietly.
"HUH!?" The young blonde woman yelled out loudly, causing everyone near to campfire to look over at the commotion over in the distance.
"CAN'T HEAR YA! WHY DON'T GET ON YER KNEES AND SHOUT YER DAG ON RESPONSE TO MY FACE!"
Just as he looked at Abygale with a confused expression on his face, the middle-aged man fell to his knees while feeling an immense amount of pain in his groin. The young blonde had kicked Surnovich in his testicles with her right boot covered foot at lightning speed! It was after just a few moments that blue blood began to leak out onto and down the lower lip of the injured man's mouth while he looked up at Randall Hou's daughter. She had a look of pure hatred on her face...
"Next time you tell my brother to go off and die somewhere, you best go with him. Otherwise, I'll hunt you down and kill you like the sad little sand spider ya are. Got it?"
Abygale then smiled as she witnessed Surnovich nod in compliance with what was said to him. Immediately after that, the young woman ran over and took Cris by the right hand using her left and walked with him over to the campfire. Randall Hou joined them soon after, leaving the injured middle-aged man alone as everyone enjoyed what remained of the Nye-El Sand Spiders that the father and daughter's horses bought back.
Unbeknownst to all the rangers, Surnovich turned his head right as both of his hands grasped at his groin. His gaze was set squarely on Abygale Hou, with malicious thoughts brewing in his head.
"Imma make that bitch pay someday..." He thought to himself as he got up from off of his knees...
This is the SARTAM universe, a completely original creation from my vivid imagination. Here, you will find all the main and side stories, character information, and main narrative plot lines. I'm also looking to turn this into an animated series someday. My glossary updates sporadically. Узнайте больше о The SARTAM Universe .
Спасибо за чтение!
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