As Dwayne began the process of booking his prisoner, the train had pulled into a refueling station for its scheduled refill of coal. The conductor parked himself right next to the clerk's kiosk.
"Fill'er up!" The conductor said as he looked for his voucher to hand over. "I gotta make the trip to Fort Tuskegee and back." The conductor routinely stuck his arm out to hand the voucher over, but instead of a clerk waiting for him, it was the double barrels of a sawed off shotgun.
"Don't move. Unless you want your head blown clean off." the masked wielder of the shotgun ordered.
The conductor froze in place. Unsure what to do next. Before he could muster up the courage to yelp a warning, a thin blade slashed across his throat. He could only choke on his own blood and collapse to the ground as his life faded. His eyes catching a small glimpse of his killer. Another masked man stood over him and flicked the blood off his straight razor.
"Well done, Knick." The shotgun wielding thug praised. "These assholes won't even know what hit'em."
"Ready Smokey?" one of the men refueling the train called out."
Smokey smirked under his mask and gave a thumbs up. Signaling to his men to move in.
First, the men who were refueling the train pulled out their revolvers and opened fire on the front guard, taking them out before they had a chance to pull their own guns out. The middle and rear guards were all alerted from the gunfire, but Smokey had men positioned to overtake them quickly. One by one, the remaining Ranger guards were gunned down and a dozen armed masked men stormed the train. Taking the passengers, including the Ranger recruits, hostage. Smokey and Knick took control of the engine and began steering it off course. Leaving the bodies of the slain rangers along with the already dead fuel workers, at the station.
"Did you hear that?" Dwayne asked in a panic as he frantically aimed his gun at the door.
"Sounded like gunfire." Deacon answered calmly while scarfing down another ration of chocolate. "Don't you gotta do something about that?"
"Are you kidding? Didn't you hear all those shots?" Dwayne hurriedly looked out the small cargo window as he could see the train veering away from its intended route. "Where are they taking us?"
"you sure whine a lot for a Ranger." Deacon yawned as he picked at his own ear shamelessly.
Before long, the train came to a complete halt. The hissing of the brakes feeling like a monster's threat to Dwayne, as dread and anxiety began to overtake him. He once again peered out the window to see where they were now parked.
He let out a loud gulp as he could see the train was parked in the middle of a large bridge, overlooking a steep dry ravine.
"This isn't good." Dwayne cried. He looked around frantically for a means of escape. All the while Deacon was just lounging about lazily.
"He's too stupid to realize we are in deep shit right now." Dwayne thought to himself. His thoughts interrupted by the terrifying sounds of the cargo car's doorknob being fumbled with.
"They're here!" Dwayne panicked as he dragged Deacon into cover and aimed his revolver at the door. He pulled back the hammer and was ready to open fire at a moment's notice.
The door swung open, so Dwayne closed his eyes and opened fire. Emptying all six shots in the general direction of the door, all while screaming at the top of his lungs.
All six shots met their mark, as the thug that was bursting in the room was a heavy set fellow and therefore, a big target. The bullets all slammed into his body and caused him to keel over and fall to the floor.
"Holy shit. I got him." Dwayne said in disbelief. Pointing his now empty gun at a second thug who casually walked into the car.
"Nah, you just made Bubba mad." the second, skinnier, thug said in a mocking tone.
Dwayne watched in horror (and Deacon in amazement) as the heavyset thug got back up to his feet and shook his coat, the six bullets Dwayne fired bounced off of his coat and clattered on the ground.
"Whoa." Deacon exclaimed.
"That's impossible, how did you survive that?" Dwayne cried
"Heh, good thing I had on this thick layer of bandana, ey Gus?." Bubba said with an evil smile as he opened his coat and revealed there was indeed a layer of bandanas under his clothes.
"Bulletproof Bandanas?" Deacon asked. Now he was the confused one.
"That's right." Gus said as he aimed his own revolver at the pair. "We call ourselves the Bandana Gang. Our leader, Marlo Bandanwicz, has the power of a Tye-serpent."
"Tye- serpent? What's that?" Deacon asked as he looked over at Dwayne, who was paler than usual.
"Tye-serpents are magical snakes that are incredibly rare, most people believe they are a myth. But they are very real. They are best known for the antler-like horns on their head." Dwayne said with a shaky voice. "It's said that if you are bitten by one of these snakes, their venom gives you incredible power, while also flowing through your body trying to kill you. The only way to counteract the deadly effects is to maintain a high blood alcohol content."
"You lost me when you started using all them big words." Deacon said with a blank face.
"You have to drink alot of booze to live." Dwayne snapped. "Did I dumb it down enough for you?"
"Oh, yuck." Deacon said as he stuck his tongue out and made a grossed out face.
"So you're familiar?" Bubba asked menacingly.
"The Rangers taught us about them during basic. They told us if we ever encountered one, to wait for backup from a higher ranking Ranger. Like a Captain or Major."
"And I can tell you ain't neither." Bubba said as he walked up to Dwayne and punched him hard in the face, knocking him down to the ground.
"Pfft. Man, these Rangers are weak." Gus said with an evil chuckle.
"Yeah, I agree." Deacon said with a bored look.
"Those shots still hurt, you little shit!" Bubba yelled angrily as he kicked Dwayne while he was down.
"Hey, he's already down, no need to keep hitting him." Deacon rebuked. Opening another ration of chocolate and taking a bite. "Why don't you pick on someone your own size." he said in between chews.
"Oh yeah? Is that supposed to be you?" Gus asked menacingly as he and Bubba creeped towards Deacon.
Before slipping out of consciousness, the last thing Dwayne saw was the thugs snatching the chocolate away from Deacon.