Dust and Desolation

[Shay Cormac]

Slowing his pace down to a simple jog, Shay continued to breathe in a simple rhythm. Shay continued to jog at this speed, before he walked over a strange wooden plank. Looking back as he continued to jog, he noticed it seemed to be broken in half. Getting awfully suspicious, Shay squinted his eyes under the sun, looking ahead, not minding the tracks anymore. Trying to see through the hazy air, Shay could faintly see some small buildings rising over the horizon.

Shay's eyes widened only slightly, the sun above him still preventing Shay from seeing, much to his dismay. Shay's jog slowed down to a walk as the buildings in the distance finally took their full shape. They looked to be... dull, brown, and surrounded by nothing, as Shay expected. It was very unlikely anybody would be inhabiting the place, but considering the distance, Shay figured it would be a nice place to stop by to take a break anyhow.

"Hopefully there's... some friendly faces there." Shay talked to himself some more, before rolling his eyes realizing he was still running his mouth to nobody but him. Walking more and more, Shay took another sip of his ice-cold flask, refreshing himself. As he got closer and closer to the very small town, he noticed it was nothing more than a wasteland. Nothing was moving save for a few small shrubs around some of the very small buildings. The buildings were barely more than shacks. Shay raised his eyebrow at the sight, feeling as if something wasn't right here.

Finally reaching walking distance of one of the buildings, Shay walked across one of the very wide alleys of the buildings themselves, right into the middle of the now dead town. Shay could hear nothing but the whistles of the wind blowing in his ear. The entire feeling of the situation creeped Shay out more than it should have. Slowly, Shay walked to the tallest building in the now deserted ghost town. Shay stepped up the three or so stairs leading to the front door of the almost entirely wooden building. Shay looked up to see a sign waving in the hot winds, although the text on it completely scratched out.

Before anything else, Shay decided that this might have been a good time to change clothes, noticing he wasn't being watched by anyone. The building's front side had a nice, small roof that acted as a sun-block. Under the shade of the building itself, Shay leaned on the back of the wooden wall to the right of the front door. Seeing as how his Omnilium helped Shay once more in these kinds of situations, Shay decided it would be interesting to test it's limits. Shay thought for a second, deciding what would be fitting in a place like this, before remembering Christopher Gist's choice of clothing.

Smiling, Shay closed his eyes once again. His instincts still told him that this would somehow work, but perhaps it would cause more of a strain, which Shay hoped he could handle. It took no time at all before Shay's breathing became heavy, and the Omnilium's bubble of light surrounded Shay's entire body. Knowing that this was his first time doing something of this level with Omnilium itself, Shay put all of his focus onto keeping the energy flowing throughout his body.

Shay hadn't noticed before, but as the larger amount of Omnilium energy cocooned his body, it made a mysterious sound that Shay couldn't quite describe other than "majestic." The sound soothed him into remaining in focus as he continued the process. Shay stood, leaning on the wall of the building for what seemed to be minutes at a time of nothing but pure focus on Shay's part. As Shay could finally feel the lights dimming around him, Shay opened his eyes, reaching for his head to feel a wide-brimmed, black leather hat. Looking down, Shay saw he was clothed in a double layered dark and light brown cloak complete with a washed out gray-blue undershirt, a leathery gray overshirt, and a dark red waist sash. A single, large chest pouch now covers Shay's torso.

"This should be a bit more fitting. Gist's hat will definitely help blocking out this damned sun, too..." Shay adjusted the hat on his head as he spoke, looking left, then right slowly. The sign above the front door creaked as the wind continued to blow. Taking a couple steps forward, Shay opened the two-way door to enter the building, it swinging open with ease. The building's interior seemed to be some sort of bar, even though there wasn't a single light to illuminate the room itself, other than a couple of open cracks in the wall. Dust particles were everywhere, not to mention how old the tables looked, as well. Just as Shay was about to place his hands on one of the round tables, he heard a small knock.

Shay's eyes went wide as he turned to the side of him. At the side of the building was a single closet placed next to a door, which led to what he assumed to be a bathroom. Once again, Shay heard another knock. The room came back to dead silence. Shay got on his toes, slowly moving towards the closet itself. One step, a slight creak. Second step, another little creak. Third step, silence. Shay got to the closet, observing it silently. Carefully, he reached out to open the closet, grabbing it's handle. The door shook slightly, and for some reason now, Shay could hear slight muffled voices. Shay's eyes widened a bit, reaching for his flintlock pistol with his other hand just in case.

Opening the door slowly, the muffled voices grew louder, until they were simply silenced screams. Shay looked down at him, dumbfounded at what he saw. Somebody tied up and gagged with a piece of duct tape. Shay saw it was clearly a woman, with long brown hair, in a simple sandy brown dress. She seemed tall and matured, although her face looked dirty and borderline battered as she looked up at Shay with watered eyes, whimpering under the strange thing that covered her mouth, to which of course Shay hadn't seen the likes of before.

Shay put his finger to his mouth, making plenty of shushing noises. "Don't panic, don't panic... I'm not here to hurt you, just be quiet..." Shay whispered as he crouched down, pinching at the ends of the tape, before gently pulling on it. He noticed how much it stuck to the woman's mouth, and how this would probably hurt a bit. Taking the slight corner he had already peeled off, Shay slowly tore off the duct tape from her mouth. Shay could tell it hurt her from how much she was twitching, and her eyes closing to distract herself from the pain. Thinking about this for a second, Shay wondered how long she had been here, or who did this to her.

"Now, tell me what happened here." Shay looked at the woman, telling her to speak as quietly as he could. The woman looked up at Shay, sniffling a bit. Her mouth quivered a bit, before she finally began talking in a deep, womanly voice, a slight Southern accent coming out of some of her words.

"They... The bandits! Damn bandits got to me and my little ones, tied 'em up... and..." As the woman struggled to speak on the subject, Shay interrupted her, raising his eyebrow.

"Wait, little ones? Are there more here?"

"Yes, my babies, the bandits took 'em somewhere else, made sure I couldn't see them, I don't know what... happened to them..." The woman responded to Shay, shaking in the ropes she was still tied. Shay quickly unsheathed his Dagger, cutting away at the ropes tying her legs, torso, and hands most importantly. Shay looked back up as the woman felt at her clearly sprained wrists.

"Bandits... Why did they attack you all?" The woman looked back up at Shay when he asked this, before she put her hand back on her head. It was obvious she wasn't in best spirits, being what Shay assumed was a mother who got her children taken away from her. Shay reflected on that for a second, getting a very slight urge to eviscerate these so-called bandits. Putting his dagger back in it's place, Shay guessed these bandits might have been part of this New Babylon that Shay was still after.

"My eldest son came back to home to tell me about this 'New Babylon', and how it was what it's king told him to be a safe haven for anybody that was welcomed there... Back in the Town with No Name, it was nothin' but crime... Never stopped, the only one standing up against it was soon-to-be dead locals and Ronald Deschain... I took my young daughter with me, following my son out of the mess of a town. He kept lookin' at me... He was so excited about it, how we'd finally be safe, but then those damned outlaws came only a mile from here, and..." The woman held her knees close to her chest, resting her head on her arms, trying to hold back tears. Shay listened in to the entire explanation, it immediately trumping any assumptions he made about New Babylon itself. A king? Save haven? How trustworthy were the two? He decided to leave those questions for later as the more important focus was these seemingly rogue thugs roaming this Verse and making trouble. Much more trouble than Shay liked to see.

Shay looked into the woman's eyes, holding her hand, clenching to it. "I'll get your children back, I promise. I'm not letting some damned thugs get what they want out of torturing good-willed people like you." The woman looked back up at Shay, wiping away her watery eyes. Shay used his hand to lift the woman up out of the closet, nodding at her quickly. The girl looked downwards again, but then back up to the front door, and instead of horribly distressed, now very angry. She stomped back to look at Shay, shaking his hand.

"If you'll do that for me... Then I owe you my damned life. If you'll do that for me... Then lets go get us some bastard outlaws!" The woman raised her voice slightly as she said this. Shay was impressed at her sudden motivation, smiling. Suddenly gasping, the woman looked back at Shay, smiling to him this time.

"Oh! I forgot to tell my name, excuse my mannerisms... I'm not usually around people other than my family... Name's Martha!" She bowed to Shay, awaiting his response. Shay remembered he didn't tell Martha of his name either. As Shay adjusted his hat, he spoke, looking very Western as he did so.

"My name is Shay Patrick Cormac. I'm glad I came across you, Martha. Perhaps after we get rid of these foul criminals, you could tell me about this 'New Babylon' your son was going after?" Shay began to walk back to the front door, still looking at Martha, who began to speak again.

"Oh, yes dear, it's the least I can do for somebody willing to do all of this for me..."

Martha walked with pride only comparable to Shay's. It was clear she was a proud and matured woman, and from the tone of her voice, somebody who got things done, which Shay could most definitely respect. As Shay opened his mouth to speak upon pushing open the front door to exit the building, the handle of a revolver suddenly snapped to Shay's jaw, knocking him over almost completely.

Martha gasped again, with a greater force than last time. A man's voice began to laugh, before a figure of a generic Western bandito took shape. A bandana covering his mouth, a slouched hat, and black clothes from top-to-bottom. The thug with the revolver in his hands pointed it at Shay, not expecting Martha to do anything, paying no attention to her. A big mistake.

Martha shouted a very Southern-sounding battle cry as she tackled the bandit into the wooden railings, hitting him right on the side. He grunted in pain as the revolver flew from his hands. Shay shook his head as he saw this, getting right back up to grab the thug's collar, throwing him over the rail and onto the sandy floors below. Shay jumped on the railing, and before the bandit even got a chance to get up, Shay leapt at him, his fist colliding with the outlaws face about five or so times before Shay saw enough blood on the sand below from the thug's nose to suffice.

"You! Tell me! Where are your colleagues?" Shay yelled into the bandit's face, his body limp from the pain, although Shay continue to shake him while he was down. The thug simply chuckled, coughing up more blood into his own mask. Shay got increasingly more annoyed at this display. Shay pulled his fist back again, before he could see Martha looking off in the distance putting her hand over her mouth.

"Oh god..." Martha uttered under her breath as the outlaw went into unconsciousness. Shaking his head again, Shay looked up to where Martha was looking. Behind one of the other buildings, Shay could see a various amount of more banditos came out of their cover, weapons beginning to be drawn. All of them were armed with revolvers at least, a couple wielding strange rifles with peculiar disk-like canisters attached to the middle, and two handles to hold onto instead of one. Shay let go of the thug he had just beat to a pulp, raising slowly.

The group of thugs began to emerge from the buildings all across town, raising their weapons and pointing them at Shay. He gulped at the sight of the thugs circling him, laughing and talking to each other, smiling with their odds. The ones with revolvers began pulling out multiple large knives and machetes, the jagged teeth making the knives themselves look very painfully menacing to deal with. The bandit in front of Shay tilted his head, speaking as he pointed his revolver slightly above Shay's chest.

"Y'all made the wrong choice when ya didn't just give in... Maybe we wouldn't a' had to kill ya then! Perhaps stole yer coin... Let us play with your little sheila over there!" The group laughed at the last comment, legitimately disturbing Shay. There was even a couple of women bandits in the group who didn't care about this. Of course, to Shay, this wouldn't matter anyways. They were all going to have to die. It was at that moment Shay remembered he was surrounded by nothing but six-shooters and machine guns...

Shay raised his hands, looking in every which direction. He saw Martha already being held hostage by one of the thugs, although she didn't utter a word. This was going to be tricky... He counted the mass of thugs. About... seven. Shay squinted a bit. He needed to take out the one holding Martha first. He had his flintlocks now, so that could easily kill two of them if he aimed correctly. Looking at the others, Shay just figured he had needed to be quick about this. Very quick. Even then, Shay doubted he wouldn't get shot at least once during this. Closing his eyes, Shay took a deep breath.

Opening his eyes, in a single swift motion, Shay turned back, pulling out his two flintlock pistols, one in each hand. He fired it off into the thug's head holding Martha, only a few inches from her head instead. She yelped as Shay turned his other arm to shoot at one of the bandits holding the machine gun. Thankfully, they were all in surprised shock, as their assumptions that this man wouldn't try to take on seven armed men at once was proven wrong. With his flintlock pistol still in his hand, Shay picked up some sand from the ground, throwing it at the second machine-gunner's eyes. The sand flew into his eyes, and he began screaming in panic, shooting off the machine-gun's bullets into the air frantically. Shay almost went out of focus as he realized what the strange rifle did, almost intimidated by it.

As quickly as he could, Shay ran over to the next closest thug as the group began shooting their revolvers. Sprinting at full speed, Shay avoided them all, tackling the bandit he was running for. Shay quickly wrapped his arm around the thug's neck, pulling him to Shay's front, shielding him from the bullets as the gang unloaded their revolvers onto their comrade instead of hitting Shay. As soon as Shay saw the entire group reloading, Shay threw the body in front of him to slump on the floor, running to the next closest bandit, raising his palms into the air.

Shay leapt at one of the women in the group of thugs, popping out both of his hidden blades. Using his gained momentum, Shay thrusted both of his arms forward into the woman's neck. She gagged on her own blood as both of his wrist knives sunk into the woman's esophagus, blood oozing out of both of her wounds. She made a terrifyingly short choking sound, then a wheeze, before Shay threw her backwards, using both blades as a grip, letting her body slide off.

Shay's eyes widened as he averted his attention to the four revolver-wielding thugs aimed at Shay again, not expecting them to reload that fast. Shay ran as fast as he could, hoping he still wouldn't get hit by any oncoming bullets that'll soon be coming his way. Before Shay closed his eyes to prepare himself for the impacts of some bullets, Shay saw somebody else coming out of one of the buildings, running to the scene Shay's involving himself with. Shay's mouth gaped open as what he saw was a man, teenager rather, came behind the bandit most distanced from the group, taking his tied back hands, and choking him out almost immediately. The force of the teenager's sudden move allowed his hands to get free, and rip out the duct tape from his mouth to which Shay didn't even notice at first. As the kid pulled it off, he started screaming at the bandits, distracting them for Shay.

Smiling, Shay nodded at the boy now present in the battle scene, before popping back in his hidden blades and taking out his Sword and Dagger. As the thugs yelled in panic, they aimed at the teenager, only to be interrupted by Shay putting both of his weapons into another bandit's back, reducing their numbers down to about three now. The boy picked up one of the revolvers from a now deceased bandit from the floor, shooting at the head of one of the thugs. In a panic, the final two thugs switched back and forth from Shay to the teenage boy. Martha, suddenly came running onto both of them at once, putting them both in a clothesline, before she took out a sheathed machete from one of the bandit's sides, and stabbed into both of their necks in a couple quick movements, fueled by anger and adrenaline. The blood fountained onto her dress, to which she didn't care.

Breathing heavily, Shay bent over to rest a while, looking back up at Martha and the teenager who jumped in so suddenly. At that moment, the teenager ran to Martha, immediately hugging her. It was obvious now that that must have been her son she was talking so proudly of, and Shay couldn't blame her. He was damned committed. Shay walked over to the two, before the teenager leaned back, and Martha spoke, tearing up again.

"Oh, Billy! I had thought I lost you, oh my god..." Martha embraced her son again, Shay catching onto his name. As Shay smiled at the sudden display of affection, he outstretched his hand to the boy, getting a better look on him. He had curly, dirty blonde hair, a faint beard growing on his chin, and freckles all over his face, while mostly red clothing, save for his brown cloth pants. Wearing a plaid undershirt and a leather vest over it, the boy looked fitting in this kind of setting.

"Mama, I would never leave you like that!" Billy suddenly spoke out to Martha, before turning to Shay, he nodded his head, putting his hands to his side, making himself look as professional as possible. Billy opened his mouth to speak and started to outstretch his hand, before tilting his head slightly to the side. Billy yelled at Shay, looking at the raising figure of a rising bandit about to stab into Shay's back with a rusty knife.

"Lord, look out-!" Billy began to scream to Shay, about to push him backwards, before the loud shot of a revolver could be heard directly behind the bandit. Blood splattered on Shay's face as he turned around to see the now dead thug with a bullet hole in his chest drop his knife, before his entire body hit the ground. Everyone could hear the thug's face smack onto the floor, his head bouncing up slightly. Shay then looked up only a little bit to see a little girl with a revolver in her hands, a dead serious look on her face. The sight almost scared Shay, looking at the little child who had just then killed a man.

Shay wiped the blood from his face, flicking his hand to get it off of his gloves, splattering the liquid onto the floor. In front of the squad of dead bandits was a little girl now lowering the revolver she picked up, with long hair pulled back by a ponytail, although the hair that wasn't a part of her ponytail being cut below her ears in a straight line throughout. She was horribly small, and to what Shay assumed, still very young. Even then, that didn't stop her from showing little to nothing but anger on her face as she reflected on the fact that she murdered somebody in Shay's defense. Her choice of clothing was much simpler than Billy's, a simple dark blue pajama set, although roughly self-made and buttoned up instead of professionally tailored. Just then, Martha came over to crouch down and pull the little girl in a hug.

"Oh, little Abby! I'm so proud of you, so proud!" Martha nuzzled against this Abby's cheek as she returned the hug. Shay would be ever so slightly concerned that a mother would be proud of her seemingly very young daughter shooting somebody dead, but the heartwarming scene in front of him distracted Shay. Without looking, Shay took his previously outstretched palm and shook Billy's hand, to which the teenager did the same.

Before any of them had to talk, Martha decided to introduce the family to Shay before he had a chance to do it himself. "You two, this is Shay Cormac... Be nice to him, now!" The two children nodded their head as Shay bowed to compliment the introduction, adjusting his hat again. Martha looked back at Shay, before she introduced her offsprings to Shay.

"Shay, as you might have caught on, this is Billy, and this is Abby, my two little babies!" As soon as Martha finished her sentences, she picked up Abby, rocking her from side to side in her arms. Shay breathed in, thinking of how it was a very calming sight to see a mother caring for her children instead of looking at the pile of dead thugs now in the background, still bleeding profusely. Shay decided this would be a nice time to drop in and say something of his own.

"I had found your mother, Martha here all tied up, before those criminals ganged up on us... If it wasn't for you, kid, I probably would have had a lot more bullet-holes in me than I do now..." Shay nodded at Billy, who was smiling, seeming to like this Shay character. Looking to Martha and Abby, Billy stopped smiling for a second to speak.

"Shay, lil' sis... How'd you even get up outta that building you were in? You were more tied up than I was!" Billy motioned to Abby, awaiting her response. She looked down slightly, clutching onto her mother tighter. Her little voice then squeaked out, answering to her bigger brother, Shay listening in as well.

"There was... A small splinter in the wall behind me... I cut the ropes open, and I heard screaming, and gunshots, I was scared, and then I went out, and..." Abby left out the last sentence, the final words she was going to say being obvious. It was then hearing the little girl's distressed voice when Shay walked over to the two, giving Abby a big pat on the back, making her look up at Shay again.

"You saved my life as well, kiddo. I owe you all one for helping me deal with those guys, because you all did impressively well from what I saw, especially you." Shay looked down to Abby as he said this, reassuring her. There was a faint smile on her face, making Shay feel better about what had just happened as well. Martha then raised her voice for the group to hear.

"Say, how about the four of us get going? Ol' Shay here has some questions that you could answer for him, Billy." Martha turned around and began to walk as she kept Abby in her arms, to which Shay and Billy followed. Shay continued to what Martha was saying, looking at Billy.

"Yes, about this... 'New Babylon' you all were headed to. Funnily enough, I'm heading there too, but I hear you might know a bit more than I do, kid." Shay raised his head to Billy, the latter of which nodding his head.

Billy looked ahead of him, putting his hands in his pocket as the group made their venture out of the town and into the direction of the railroad tracks Shay was following beforehand. "Well... From what I hear you're sayin', I'll give you a simple rundown of what king Gilgamesh set up for it..." Billy continued to talk as Shay listened in, walking forward still.

"New Babylon, from king Gilgamesh's words, is a save haven for all who wish to live there, as long as they aren't criminals to the king. He's mighty strict, but he's fair, lemme tell you that. I mean, for a countryside youngster like me, that's sayin' a lot, y'know? His place is more safe than Coruscant could ever wish to be." As Billy gave his explanation, Shay scratched at his chin. This New Babylon seemed a lot more promising than he originally thought it would.

"If that's the case, then I'll speak to this Gilgamesh myself." Shay raised his head, saying this with pride in his voice. Billy raised an eyebrow at Shay, talking back to him.

"A Prime like him? Oh, that'll be interestin' to hear about." Upon Billy saying this, Shay's interest peaked. Strange for him to plan on meeting his first Prime other than himself being so powerful and influential to a Verse like this. Even then, that wouldn't stop Shay, as he was certain he'd have the will to do it.

The four walked onwards into the hazy, blistering hot lands of the Endless Dunes, not making a single sound, letting the hot wind blowing against the group make all the noise for them instead.