A Night In The Western Wastes - Part 2 (Short Story)

This is the second part of a kind of weird story about three friends - who probably shouldn't be friends - having a night out in a delipidated part of Talirda.

Here's The First Part of The Story -



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       Mari continued to fire wildly into the night sky. The Western Wastes were far below them. Darkened streets and old run-down buildings were flanked by the bright and busy city centre to the East.
       Andron felt safer now and tried to settle himself down. Before the attack, his heart was racing from nerves. But now, it raced for the depleting adrenaline that coursed through his veins. Each random flurry of shots from her weapon would make him jump as if they had been pursued by the figures from the waste ground. Yet another sting of bullets were let go into the night, and Mari muttered some nonsense that also blew away.
       "I think you can stop now, you got them! They're gone." He snapped.
       "They're never gone, they're always out there," Mari replied.
       Andron turned in his seat to look at her. Hair blowing in the wind, and the loose-fitted shirt flapped violently. Her pupils were huge, and she was gritting her teeth slightly. "How about you? Are you with us, or against us?" She asked as she waved the barrel of her weapon toward Andron.
       "Stop messing with that thing," he replied and turned away from her.

       He knew there was no point trying to make her see reason when she was in the midst of another binge. She could be aggressive at the best of times, but while under the influence, that aggression paled insignificance to her foolishness.
       Andron turned to look at the passing transport ships traveling to and fro. Blinking sparks and streaks of colourful light was all they were. Cold. A freezing patch on the back of his head brought his mind back abruptly. It pressed harder, and he heard a whisper.
       "Well, Andron. What do you say?" Mari asked. Her words were slurred and reserved.
       "I say, get that away from me and stop messing around. Someone's going to get hurt." Andron responded calmly.
       "Nippy just wants to play," she replied, as she started giggling.
       "Yeah, he's right. Put it down Mari, I don't want to clean skull chunks out of the ship." M'Trada cut in, as he finally saw what was going on.
       "What? You too? Why are you two being such cowards? I know what I'm doing," she replied as she took the gun away and leaned between the two of them she held it in the air as if to show it off. "See, I can hold-" A flurry of shots launched. The gun jittered and danced in her hand, and fell through he fingers to land on the ground between Andron and the driver.
       "See! What did I say!" M'Trada shouted. As he complained he banked to the left, and Androns stomach climbed to his throat.
       "That could have been me, you idiot!" Andron shouted, and over the complaining from each of them, Mari scrambled forward to try and pick up Nippy.
       "Yeah, yeah," she mumbled as she struggled to reach it.

       Andron leaned over with ease and grabbed the gun. It was heavier than it looked, and the grip was warm. It had been painted odd colours, showing off its key features. The magazine was pink, the barrel, purple. The grip was a bright red, and trigger black.
       "Give her back!" Mari shouted as she grabbed Andron by the scruff of his shirt.
       "You can have it back when we land! I'm not having it pointed at the back of my head," he argued as he jerked and broke out of her grip.
       A moment later she was climbing over the small barrier separating the front from the back of the transporter. She dived on him and reached for Nippy.
       "Hey! Watch it!" M'Trada shouted in the background of the commotion.
       Andron leaned forward, holding it out of Mari's reach. But, that only seemed to make her angrier. With his free hand, he tried to push her into the backseat. Clocking eyes with her, he saw that she had almost completely changed; it wasn't Mari, it wasn't Human. She had become a wild animal frothing at the mouth. Kicks, punches, bites. There was no way to carry this on, but through the pain of being struck, Andron held out.
       "Watch it! You're hitting me!" Overall the madness, M'Trada jerked his steering, and every few seconds the transport would continue to dip to either the left or right. "I can't steer like this, just calm-" His words blew away before he could finish.

       Andron looked beyond Mari, to see M'Trada slump forward in his seat. He leaned past Mari, who was now sideways on the barrier, and he nudged the driver, but he didn't budge.
       "M'Trada, you okay?" The ship slowly dipped forward and started diving through the sky. "No! You knocked him out you crazy bitch!"
       "Give me back Nippy!" That was all she replied, and then she started to repeat herself.
       Andron threw it on the backseat of the ship, and with that, she jumped from the barrier to it. Leaning over unobstructed he sat the driver back, and took ahold of the controls. He pulled it back as hard as he could. Nothing. It was no use from his position, and it was too stiff to budge.
       "You think you can take my gun off me, and hold it at ransom," Mari started saying, but Andron could barely pay her any attention as he desperately tried to level out their ship.

       Gunshots took his mind off falling out of the sky.

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