(Luke’s Group)

  Near the stables.

  Peeking his head from out the corner, Luke took in the vast amount of guards that patrolled the gravel pavements. Wielding their Thompsons and carbines, many of them had their heads tilted downward, with most of their eyelids already forming bck crested spots.

  The guards clearly being sleep deprived, Luke pced his head away from the corner, seeing Miles, Hope, and Sean all looking at him.

  (Luke) Despite there being more guards, most of them look like they’re overworked.

  (Sean) Well, it's Haxouburg, you could get away with a lot of stuff, especially when you’re rich.

  (Miles) Hey Luke, could we go through the gravel road?

  (Luke) No. The closer we get to the house, the more guards we’ll encounter. For now, I say we wait until Luna and the others do their part.

  Having their backs against one of the stables, a loud breathless shriek came forth from out of the shed.

  Perking their ears upward, Luke poked his head outward to notice the open gateway of the shed, with the smell of manure and livestock soon assaulting his nose. Pinching his nose with his fingers, Luke motioned his body to walk into the shed, despite it being shrouded in pitch bck.

  As for the three of them, they soon followed suit, with the inaudible sounds of talking slowly escaping from their ears. Being inside the shed, every holding cell for the livestock was none other than…

  (Luke) No way…

  Another breathless shriek croaked.

  Pitched in dark green fur and being the same height as Luke, the creature had a long snout and tall pointed ears. Having a long stripe of fur on the center of his head to its upper back, the creature turned its head to look at the dumbfounded Luke.

  But not just one, but about a dozen of them were also looking at him.

  (Sean) Green Haxouburg Donkeys!

  (Miles) Quiet Sean, we’re supposed to get you to the house.

  (Sean) Maybe we could free them after this.

  (Luke) We’ll see…

  The green donkey in front of him lowered its head, with its bck-colored eyes gazing at the young man with red eyes.

  Pcing his right hand onto its snout, the tips of his fingers collected the many green furs as it was stored in his nails. Locking eyes on the majestic creature, the donkey closed its eyes as it felt the smooth yet rough patch of skin that the man gave way to its silk-like fur.

  As a way to give thanks, the green donkey licked the young man’s face.

  (Luke) …

  Instead of a shriek, the donkey let out a breathless ugh, the ugh causing the four of them to take a step back. Along with the other donkeys following suit, their breathless ughs croaked the air around them which turned everyone’s faces into a deathly pale.

  (Miles) Shit, he’s making noise!

  (Sean) Guess it’s our time to bail.

  Without looking back, the group of four ran out of the shed, their boots transitioning from the muddied dirt to the gravel road. Catching a first gnce at the rge garlic field that was in front of them, Luke looked both ways to notice that no guards were present when guarding the stable.

  Their feet still on the gravel, Luke finally looked back at the shed, noticing a rge number of guards that came from the other side.

  At st, their boots made contact with the stems of the crop, making rustling sounds that sounded as if an animal was ravaging the crops. Not caring, the four of them didn’t dare to look back as they tried to parallel run with the gravel road to the right of them.

  (Luke) Hey, we should take cover beneath these crops.

  (Sean) But the ranch is almost there. We just need to pass that watchtower that is straight ahead.

  (Luke) But…

  (Guard #3) Hey! Is that an armadillo!?

  (Guard #4) Let’s get it Billy-Bob, before it tries to destroy more of the garlic!

  All of them stopped.

  Not allowing the guards to get a good look at them, it was fortunate that night was clouded in new moon clouds for them to be unrecognizable. Hearing the sound of bullets and ammunition being clocked in, all of them slowly lowered themselves down onto the garlic crops that had them covered by the stems.

  Being submerged, Luke had his right ear pced alongside the Terra, feeling the thumping of boots getting closer and closer to their position.

  (Luke’s thoughts) Oh no…

  Both guards, not having a light source, wielded their weapons and aimed at the st trace of movement. Barely seeing their figures from out the bnket of stems, Luke took a whiff of the guards aiming their sights just slightly above him, with the butt of their guns holstering onto their armpits.

  Stopping, the two of them remained still.

  Like a bat using echolocation, one of the guards who wielded a Thompson slowly began to pin his eyes onto him, but the visibility of the night and the crops made the guard look like he was blind. As for the other guard…

  He had his aim down onto one of the areas that was to the left of him, his finger moving toward the trigger.

  (Guard #4) Wait a minute … hold on …

  Squinting his eyes, the guard knelt on his right knee, having the butt of his gun mixed in with the soil that sunk the weapon an inch. Extending his left hand forward, the man’s bck gloves were slowly yet surely reaching forth onto a certain figure that y in the patch of garlic crops.

  (Guard #4) It’s the—

  As the man widened his eyes in front of him, the other guard from behind wasn’t so shocked.

  Jolting upward, a man wearing a leather jacket had a white cloth in his hand, with the rag being drenched in a clear liquid. Making his presence silent, the man wrapped the cloth around one of the guard’s mouths.

  Tackling the guard down with him, the young man with red eyes grits the ends of his teeth.

  (Luke’s thoughts) Please go to sleep! Please go to sleep! Please go to sleep! Please go to sleep!

  Noticing the disturbance, the other guard stood up instantly to turn his weapon onto the tackled one, his finger already on the trigger as he was about to—

  From behind, a young man with pointed ears and ginger hair extended his hand outward, thrusting it onto the side of the guard’s neck. Hitting a pressure nerve, the guard soon colpsed onto the ground, his face being plowed onto the fertilized dirt and soil.

  (Sean’s thoughts) All that Pacithiest training paid off.

  As Sean dealt with the guard who tried to call him out, Luke managed to swiftly make the other guard begin his long sleep. Pulling out the cloth, he pced it inside his jacket, swiping away bits of soil and dirt that were tched onto his clothing.

  Getting up from the fertile soil, Luke swiped away many bits of muddied dirt from his pants, as some of the dirt got into his shoes.

  (Luke) That was way too close.

  (Sean) At least we got them.

  (Miles) What’s going on?

  Two other figures sprout out from the garlic fields that they were bnketed in, with the two of them seeing Luke and Sean standing out in the open. Hope, who was mostly silent throughout all this, scratched her left lip while looking at Luke.

  (Hope) Aren’t we there yet?

  (Luke) This is a good spot, but all I need is the signal.

  (Sean) Wait a minute…

  Kneeling down, Sean had his hands into one of the guard’s pockets that he knocked out specifically. Pulling out a bck metal object, Luke and the other two took in the nostalgia and somewhat horrid memories that came long from just looking at it.

  The device had metal buttons and numbers tched on the keypad, Sean found a special button that was doused in the color red.

  (Sean) Let’s wait and see if anything might come up. I mean, who knows what may happen—

  The sounds of a sniper round were felt.

  ______________________________________________________________________________

  (Guard #2) Who are you?

  Two of the guards pinned their weapons onto the defenseless Luna, who had her hands up high while holding onto two of her metal batons.

  Letting out a bead of sweat from her nose, Luna straightened her back as she had her heels digging into the sunken dirt, despite the soul being vastly dry. Luna being Luna, she made sure that Benn was nowhere in the guard’s line of fire, as his body was hunched to make himself small and vulnerable.

  The guards, a couple of feet away from her position, slowly walked forward into the wild tiger’s den as they kept their aim on the back of her head. Slowly, the tanned woman turned around, both corners of her lips forming a sadistic smile.

  (Luna) Just your typical ballerina.

  Two twin double-edged bdes were hatched out of the holes of the metal batons.

  Like the speed of an incoming bullet, the tip of the bdes stabbed both the guard's chests, but not that deep for it to be fatal. The CO2 wind that poured forth from their mouths ceasing, both widened their eyes as the loss of feeling in their hands and arms began.

  Leading them to drop their weapons.

  (Benn) You shielded me…

  (Luna) If they saw you, hell they’ll do something worse than shoot you on the spot.

  (Benn) True.

  The light from the rectangur ntern continued to light up from out of the rge garlic stems.

  All of them now standing mindlessly in the garlic crop field, they didn’t pay any mind to the southern watch tower that was right in front of them. Trying to recover from the little ultimatum, one of the guards squinted her eyes as she wielded a wooden Springfield rifle attached with a little scope.

  Having her finger resting on the side of the minated wood, she sucked in a multitude of air into her tiny lungs. With the light showcasing the group from below, she began to nod at the sight of both Luna and Chris.

  (Guard #5) Now what do we have here …

  Having her ft cap worn sideways, a bit of chewing tobacco streamed off the side of her lips. Continuing to chew, she used her left eye to analyze the two fallen guards who slept in the fields.

  Moving her finger on the trigger, she saw one of them having a burly figure from the rest. Adjusting the barrel, the harsh metal that pinched and tore her blistered fingertip was only the beginning.

  She soon spit out the tobacco like she just ate garbage.

  (Guard #5) How about I send you to sleep with the fishes; where you belong.

  (Jack’s thoughts) Nuh-uh.

  On the southern hill far beyond the Zirardge Ranch, sheltered a well-kept man who stood behind a tree.

  Having his aim steady, his lungs empty, he caressed the metal trigger of his sniper rifle, all the while keeping his eyes and ears open.

  Like the crack of swamp thunder, the gunshot traversed across the region, causing every guard across the ranch to perk their heads up. Not only the guards but also the intruders that y right below the waist of the garlic crops also looked right toward the hill where they came from.

  (Luna) What the hell?

  (Benn) Jack shot that sniper round.

  (Chris) Wait, but where did he shoot at?

  (Guard #5) God … damnit…

  Dropping her Springfield rifle on the wooden floor, the guard immediately pced her right hand over her left shoulder, her overall outfit soaked with blood from the left side of her body. Her knees unwilling to hold the weight of her tiny body, dropped to the splintered floor, her brown pants being stained from her same blood.

  Clenching her teeth, she looked up to the night sky, her mouth trying to sprout out anything to reach the heavens.

  (Guard #5) I’m … not going … to—

  (Sean on radio) Hello! Hello! This is your favorite elf speaking!

  Turning her head toward the bck metal device, she swallowed whatever saliva and leftover remnants of the tobacco inside her mouth.

  Her eyes widened, her left shoulder being numbed from the ck of blood, and her legs and feet were locked in pce as she could only watch and listen. With her right hand, her palm pressed forth onto the streaming wound that dripped out from the crevices of the wooden cracks below.

  (Guard #5) Did he … is he behind this …

  (Sean on radio) That was one hell of a shot right!? I don't know about you guys, but that was clean! That poor guard on the western watchtower looks like he’s crying to his mama!

  (Guard #5’s thoughts) Wait what … but I’m assigned to the Southern tower…

  From the west to the south, to the east and finally to the north, every single guard that walked and patrolled the gravel roads stomped along those same roads. All of them traveling West, Luke and the others that were still loitering on the crop field all watched as the inaudible sounds of talking were well heard.

  With just the switch of a button, a low monotone arm bred throughout the ranch, causing all the lights in the ranch house to switch back on.

  The ranch being fully alert, Luke, Miles, and Hope all made a deadpan face toward the ginger elf, with Luke swaying his head back and forth while releasing a breathful huff.

  (Luke) I don’t know if it made your job easier or harder.

  (Sean) Couldn’t say the same thing for you. Now you have it in peaceful mode from here on out.

  (Luke) Just promise me that you won’t be shot or killed.

  (Sean) Sure thing cinnamon roll.

  (Luke) … please don’t call me that.

  As the sounds of the guards were nowhere to be heard, Luke looked back at the stables that they ran away from. Extending his hand, he pointed straight at it, his eyes peeled into the red wooden shack that contained the ughing green donkeys.

  Miles and Hope both looked at the stables, while also gncing at Luke.

  (Luke) I want you two to take cover in those stables.

  (Miles) Make sure you run like hell.

  (Luke) Don’t worry, I’ll make it.

  (Hope) Don’t get hurt…

  (Luke) No worries.

  Giving Luke a nod, Miles and Hope ran through the garlic field, heading back toward the stable shed. Turning his head to Sean, Luke began to put both of his hands inside his jacket, his fingers caressing against a cold gss substance.

  Pinching the neck of the gss, Luke pulled out a small wine bottle that was shaded in a dark green, with the water substance being clear as air. As a misty gas circuted inside the bottle, Luke began to stare into the mystical gas that took his attention tenfold.

  Which was soon interrupted by Sean, who gave Luke a small push.

  (Sean) What’s wrong, chickening out?

  (Luke) If we pull this off, what will become of us?

  The low monotone arm continued to bre throughout the ranch, with the two men not caring as they talked in the open. Putting his hand over his cheek, Sean scratched his unshaven face that couldn’t even grow a simple minuscule of hair.

  While keeping his eyes locked on Luke.

  (Sean) I guess we could help others in the shadows. Angels drenched in all bck, that’s our name, isn’t it?

  Sean turned toward the three-story ranch house that was centered in the middle, his eyes looking toward one of the rooms that were located on the third-story floor.

  Swaying some strands of hair from his forehead, Sean looked at one one st time before he went off, giving Luke a peace hand sign. Running through the field of garlic toward the house, left Luke to be the only one that’s left standing in a field covered in the richest family’s popur crop.

  A crop that had a weakness simir to many other crops, but multiplied by a dozen.

  (Luke’s thoughts) I hope I don’t get injured by doing this. I hope Hope is better at dealing with regur burns than she is dealing with chemical burns.

  With just one small wine bottle of the watery liquid in his right hand, Luke began to tighten the pinch around the plug of the bottle. Squeezing it down, he then twisted it counterclockwise to allow the highly pressurized gas to let out.

  The vapor streaming down the bottle, the cold-like air soon began to burden his knuckles with frostbite.

  But instead of acknowledging the pain, Luke tilted the bottle 90 degrees, pushing it away from his body as well as having it low to the ground. By the time the liquid touched the soil, he pushed his feet to run back to the stables, leaving a trail of the watery substance that soon released a multitude of vapors.

  (Mary in Luke’s thoughts) I got another call from your school! Why do you always get in trouble with your chemistry teacher!?

  (Luke’s thoughts) But chemistry was the only thing that I was good at…

  The liquid finally ceasing from the bottle, Luke stopped his running as he was halfway from his original position and from the stables.

  Digging into his pockets yet again, Luke pulled out a small box of matches, carrying the box with his right hand while wielding the match with his left. Striking the match, a small wooden splint gave birth to fire, creating a little spectacle for anyone to see.

  Kneeling, he hovered the match over the rapidly moving air that was bnketed by the garlic crops.

  (Mary in Luke’s thoughts) What did my son do this time?!

  (Principal in Luke’s thoughts) He created the infamous hot va experiment that’s been banned by many school districts. Despite the experiment destroying a couple of chairs, no one was hurt.

  And in one single instant, the air and water that caressed the garlic crops soon went up in fmes.

  Leading a trail of fire, the escaping gas that plowed through the fields also was engulfed in the hellish inferno. Combined with the dryness of the air, and the soil having no humidity, it only fueled the fmes of the little fire to grow geometrically.

  Or rather too quickly.

  Making his run, Luke looked back to see the fmes soon swallowing up as many garlic crops as they could, the speed of the man-made fire barreling its way toward him. Pushing his feet, he closed his eyes as the fmes and embers from behind started to creek up like a freight train.

  (Luke’s thoughts) Shoot! The liquid methane is really mixing well with the oil of the garlic!

  The embers and fme inches away from his back, Luke opened his eyes as he was just a couple of dozen feet away from the gravel road in front of him.

  Come hell or high water, or rather hell or soaring embers, Luke pushed both of his heels off the ground just as the fmes narrowly missed his feet. Lunging in the air, the fmes reached the end of the field, as he flew in the air with one of his hands reaching toward Miles and Hope.

  Instead of nding on the road, he nded a foot away from it, having his boots grazing the burning fmes.

  (Luke) Ah!

  Taking another step forward, Luke tumbled out of the crop field, with a small fire growing from the end of his pants. Hope, who watched as Luke tried to pat the fme out with his right hand, ran out toward him with her hands swaying back and forth.

  Patting the fme away, a small 2nd-degree burn sizzled near his ankle.

  But with the glow of a soft light, Luke tilted his head back while gazing into Hope’s eyes with a panting face. Ignoring the hollow embers that were narrowly a foot away from his body, his entire body that y on the gravel succumbed to its pebbles and rock.

  (Luke) That feels great, thanks.

  (Hope) I told you not to get yourself hurt!

  (Luke) Come on, at least I didn’t die.

  (Hope) Hmph.

  Her cheeks puffed like a pufferfish, Hope turned her head away from the rexed Luke who y on the ground. Moving her hands away from his ankle, she brushed off bits of pebble and rock that clung to her pants, with some of the pebbles sprinkling on Luke’s right leg.

  Miles had both of his hands on his sides, letting out a long sigh from his rge burly chest. Luke, having his attention be directed into the dark-complected man, raised his hand to stick up his right thumb.

  (Luke) That should give Sean an easy way to enter inside of the house now.

  (Miles) Let’s just hope that Luna and the others won’t be caught up in the fmes—

  (???) Don’t you dare move.

  The sounds of a trench gun locked and loaded can be heard.

  To the south of them, Luke and the other two raised both of their hands high, while facing South. Their mouths sealed, Luke started to hear the hellish sound of a reverb service bell ringing in his soul, causing his hair to stick up.

  Miles pushed his eyeballs to the left side of his eyes, gncing from behind to notice a middle-aged man having a turquoise bush mustache and ft cap. The man wearing a brown thin jacket, his stomach was extended and enrged with his cheeks being widened to that of a chipmunk.

  But what took them by surprise was that the man didn’t let the fmes be of no bother, with ashes and sparks hitting against his chipmunk face like rubber.

  (???) Seems like I finally caught you. This is payback for what you did to my tower a month prior.