-Outside the Miller's House-
At the front porch of the Miller's residence stood a man with a scar on his right face. With him, a dozen bandits surrounded the vicinity preventing any sort of escape.
"Don't let those two get away" instructed the man.
-Inside the Miller's House-
"All those years finally caught up to us" sighed Old Miller.
"We knew this would happen sooner or later. I guess both of us just hoped it would be later" replied Mrs. Miller patting Old Miller in the back.
"Well I ain't going down without a fight. I still got one last hoorah in me"
"I wouldn't have married you if you didn't" chuckled Mrs. Miller.
-The Chase-
Kaiden kept riding as fast as he could through town with Maddox behind him. Halfway through, three more bandits appeared riding right behind them.
Echoes of shots ran through the town as Kaiden and Maddox raced towards the Sherrif's Office. In an effort to take down one of the bandits, Maddox made a bold move and flipped backwards so that he's riding back to back to with Kaiden. Maddox fired three shots emptying his six shooter revolver.
In a stroke of bad luck, only one shot hit one of the bandits horses causing the horse to fall and drop its rider.
"Crap, no more bullets. Kaiden go faster they're catching up to us" shouted Maddox.
As soon as Kaiden tried to collect the reigns and signal for the horse to go faster, a bullet from one of the bandits wheezed through and hit one of the horses legs.
Thud!
Maddox and Kaiden got thrown off and fell to the side of the road.
Without thinking, both ran for cover into one of the establishments.
"Darn it, we were so close" said Kaiden.
"We'll need to go on foot, hopefully we got close enough for the Sheriff to notice the gunshots" whispered Maddox.
The Millers house like most of the houses of locals were on the outskirts of Redhold Town. Redhold Town stretched from miles on end and the Sheriff's Office just so happened to be on the east while the Miller's house was on the west.
"I think it should only be another mile till we get to the Sheriff's office" said Kaiden.
"I can see Mrs. Callie's General Store we shouldn't be too far off" replied Maddox.
Maddox and Kaiden continued heading east traveling behind some of the stores while trying to hide from the pursuit of the two bandits.
Tiptoing through the buildings one by one, Maddox saw a silhouette of one of the bandits.
"Hold on, one of the bandits is posted in front of that building. We can't go through that way" said Maddox.
Surprisingly, it was Kaiden that took the initiative to come up with a plan.
"That bandit doesn't see us yet. If we can sneak up on him we can get the drop on him. I'm guessing the other bandit is also close by. We need to pinpoint the other one's location and both strike at the same time" explained Kaiden.
"Alright, I'll go sneak up on the bandit we can see while you go to the other side of the road and see if you can pinpoint the other one's location."
Proceeding with their impromptu plan, Maddox began to slowly move towards the bandit. Just as he was about 15 feet away, Maddox heard a ding.
General skill unlocked: Silent Step
'This system really has a knack for notifying at the worst possible time' side eyed Maddox. Ignoring the system notification, Maddox got closer to the bandit until he was about 10 feet away.
On the other side, Kaiden gave him a thumbs up signifying that the other bandit was nowhere to be found.
Getting the go ahead, Maddox took the log that he picked up on the side of one of the buildings and brought it down in one fell swoop to the head of the bandit.
Unfortunately for Maddox, the strike was not enough to incapacitate the bandit.
"Help" yelled the bandit as he fell to the floor.
Maddox, in a hurry to shut the bandit up, used the log once more and struck the fallen bandit. This time incapaciting him for good.
As soon as he did however, another bandit came from one of the side buildings shooting at Maddox. Maddox dodged to the side and took cover but the bandit was one step ahead and immediately went around trying to get a line of sight for another shot.
Time slowed down as Maddox and the bandit locked eyes before a hissing sound of what sounded like a miniature steam engine could be heard from across the road.
Tsssss!
Maddox watched as Kaiden, in a bolt of sprint, came rushing towards the bandit. The bandit, completely unprepared for Kaiden's speed, could do nothing but watch as Kaiden's fist collided with his face sending him tumbling down the road.
Maddox wasted no time and grabbed the revolver the bandit dropped firing two bullets at the bandit.
Killed one bandit +5 Hydrex to bounty. +5 Hydrex to inventory.
"Phew that was clo…" before Maddox could finish his sentence another bandit came running towards them.
"Crap, it's that bandit that fell earlier" said Kaiden.
Bang!
Before anyone could react, a loud bang echoed throughout the whole town. The bandit dropped before he could do anything, his chest caved in from multiple bullets.
Both Maddox and Kaiden immediately turned to the cause of the sound.Standing in front of the porch of The Ironcleaver, the sillhouete of a big brute carrying a two pump shotgun aiming at both Maddox and Kaiden could be seen.
"I almost shot you lads" exclaimed Mr. Cask.
"Am I glad to see you Mr. Cask" sighed Maddox from relief finally getting a moment of breather. Maddox and Kaiden couldn't hold themselves up any longer and fell to the ground.
It's important to note that from the moment they left the Miller's residence to now, not even 15 min has gone by. But for Maddox and Kaiden, it felt like an eternity.
"If the Sheriff hasn't noticed yet, that shot surely bolt him awake" said Kaiden. As soon as he did, gallop of horses could be heard in the distance.
Sheriff Stockton in full gear along with about a dozen deputies could be seen running towards their location.
"Don't you dare move a finger" shouted Sheriff Stockton aiming the gun at the three of them.
Mr. Cask was the first to say something "Relax Stockton, it's me".
Sheriff Stockton squinted his eye and said "Well I'll be damned, everyone lower your weapon" motioning for the others to relax.
"Can anybody tell me what's going on" asked Sheriff Stockton.
"Don't look at me, ask these boys. They the ones running around town getting chased by bandits" said Mr. Cask.
Kaiden said something first while Maddox still laid in the ground clutching his shoulder.
"Sheriff we need to hurry, the Big Bang Bandits got my Ma and Pa surrounded" exclaimed Kaiden.
'I knew they would come but I didn't know this soon' thought Sheriff Stockton with a grim expression.
Sheriff Stockton not wasting anymore time signaled for the other deputies towards the Miller's residence.
Maddox finally catching his breath said "I'll come with" in which Sheriff Stockton outright denied.
"Y'all have done enough sons. Let the adults handle the rest. Mr. Cask, can I entrust you to take care of these boys. That one looks like he needs patching up" pointing with his rifle to Maddox.
Kaiden was the first to protest shouting "No, I need to know if my parents are safe". Kaiden tried to mount the horse once more but was stopped by Mr. Cask.
"I'm angry just as much as you are son. I'll make sure whoever did this will face the full extent of justice" said Sheriff Stockton galloping away with the deputies, intending to not waste anymore time.
-Inside The Ironcleaver-
"First time getting shot?" asked Mr. Cask.
"Ye.. yeah" winced Maddox as Mr. Cask sewed his shoulder back up.
"Hurts don't it? You handling it mighty well, I remember my first time getting shot… let's just say my reaction wasn't as calm as yours" chuckled Mr. Cask.
"We should have gone with them" said Kaiden still angry from all the adrenaline.
"I know but let's just wait it out. Right now we're just gonna be deadweight if we try to go back with them" explained Maddox.
"He's right son. The best thing you two can do right now is to remain calm. I'm sure Sheriff Stockton has got it handled" chimed Mr. Cask trying to reassure Kaiden.
Maddox's adrenaline finally wore down and pain from all over his body began to set in immediately. Trying to ignore the pain, Maddox finally smiled.
'Alright time to see these notifications' thought Maddox.
System notification:
Killed three bandits +15 Hydrex to bounty + 15 Hydrex to inventory.
Class section unlocked:
Choose a class
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