"How are two rest stops and three gas stations completely outta plain-ass state maps?" Scout asked out loud, heading back over to the car and stretched out his limbs while he had the chance.
"Cause no one's using the damn things." Sniper answered the obvious.
"If no one's usin' em then why aren't there some left over for the ones who would need em?!" He retorted, Heavy shaking his head and sighing at Scout's logic.
Ms. Pauling opened her car door so the inside would air out some. Even if they were only a few minutes out, the heat did numbers on her poor car...especially given it was packed with nine other men.
"Well, we have one now...." She laid the new map out on the roof of the car. Leaning on the vehicle, she exhaled and scanned it over, looking for the 'you are here' dot. Took them about another hour and a half to find one in Carrizozo, but at least they got one...and judging by where they originally were in the east-badlands, they were more than halfway through with their journey.
'Good...the sooner we get this over with, the sooner I get my space back.' Ms. Pauling thought to herself.
"Good grief, Ms. Pauling; how many detours did you put us on?" Spy spoke from over her shoulder, interrupting her thoughts. A couple of the mercenaries peaked over with interest...but others, such as Pyro, found the rocks more interesting to kick around than pay attention.
She gave another huff, not appreciating the slight startle. "Well, considering I was forced out here, I took a little longer." She opted to leave the bit about how she contacted the Administrator of course, however Heavy was sharp as ever.
"But you were forced to come; why not get it over quicker? Why delay?" He puzzled aloud.
"Does it really matter?" Engineer counter-argued. "We're gettin' places now... 'sides, this ain't a competition."
"Nah, just a race to save our Mailman before some wild animal finds 'em and eats their flesh and makes a teepee outta their bones..!" Scout was still dreading.
"That's not how teepees work, mate." Sniper scoffed, and began getting back in the car.
"Do we got ta get back in so soon?" Demoman asked complainingly, now holding an empty beer bottle that he found on the side of the road, desperate for a drop of alcohol. "It's so borin'! An' no offense, lassie, but your music sucks!"
"That's because all that's playing is static since we're passing through 'middle-of-nowhere's" Spy rolled his eyes and pushed him over to the car, leading him back to his seat, and swatted the dirty bottle out of his hands - who knows what sort of unholy diseases you could contract from that.
"Do you happen to have hand sanitizer in your car Ms. Pauling?" He asked; he would need it after touching Demoman. But before an answer could be given, his - as well as the others' - attention was taken away by the sound of another vehicle passing by, blasting music (which sounded like a sole, rambunctious trumpet) and was fast approaching-
They turned their heads toward the new stimuli as the white and signature-blue van pulled up to the rest stop, before suddenly halting at the sight of them. The trumpets' cry slipped to a freeze as a head stuck out - BLU Soldier. "RED?!"
"BLU!" Demoman shouted, and almost instantly, livened up as he went to light a bomb- Spy however grabbed his hand to stop him; he really hoped there was hand sanitizer somewhere.
Medic finally sat up, conscious again."What is happening?"
"Why are you out here?!" Ms. Pauling shouted with almost a squeaky tone, like someone who had been caught on the wrong side.
"We're here to rescue you, Ms. Pauling, don't you worry!" BLU Scout shouted, popping his upper body out of the sunroof of the utility van.
The RED Bostonian scrunched his nose at the BLU's 'valiant words.' "She ain't in no danger here, pal! She's better off with me, ya hear?"
"Get yer jobby faces back ta yer wasteland hellhole in the...up there!" Demoman shouted, pointing in the direction of the road, failing to remember which direction they had been driving in for the past few hours.
The BLU Pyro went to 'return fire' in comment form to Demoman, leaning out the window and...no one was too sure what they said, but it did sound threatening, especially as they took out their axe. Spy turned to their Pyro as if to ask for a translation, but they just shrugged.
Someone had to take charge, and since Spy was holding back Demo, Heavy supposed it was going to be him. "Alright, everybody in!" He began pushing people to get a move on.
"We're gettin' to 'em before BLU-" Engineer helped Heavy hurry the others in, though not much help was needed on that end; everyone was more than eager to comply.
Referring to you as 'em' given the Engineer's accent and context, RED understood...BLU on the other hand, at least the Spy who had caught wind of the comment, registered that as the 'Australium.'
"We cannot let them get ahead..!" He hissed and pushed Medic to get back in drive.
"We gotta help Ms. Pauling..!" The BLU Scout spoke with urgency, but Medic was already in drive.
"Get your heads back in this vehicle!" BLU Medic snapped at Soldier and Pyro like a hurried soccer mom.
Ms. Pauling was back at the wheel and everyone wedged themselves in.
"Go, Paulin' go..!" Engineer rushed, leaning forward toward the driver seat.
"Yeah, they can't have you! You gotta get us to y/n..!" Scout followed up. She turned her head over to him as if slightly offended; not because she was so much as that's not what he would have usually said. "A-and...cause you're mine, and they can't have you cause that's...why would they assume you need savin' from us anyway? They don't know you, do they-"
Before he could finish his thought, Miss Pauling slammed on the excelerator. Sniper and Spy hurriedly shut the door before they lost it. "Buckle up." She said to all of them.
"Why bother?" Medic asked and pointed out the window over to the BLU's van which they were fast approaching. "They look like they are ready to fight."
And so the questionably-good doctor appeared to be right, seeing how - while they were in the vehicle, per their Medic's demand - they were armed.
"Shit." Miss Pauling huffed as she caught a glimpse. She knew exactly where things would go from here, knowing the group with her. "Nobody better get a scratch on my car."
"Yessir!" Soldier gave a salute...and proceeded to try to get his rocket launcher out from under the seat.
"No promises." Spy said. "Gentlemen, prepare your weaponry."
__________
Hello, hello, hello- I am indeed alive! Thank you so much for waiting on me; I'm so sorry I took so long to get back into this, but times are stressful (not bad, just a lot). I feel confident enough to keep a consistent update schedule and I have the motivation to keep going, so let's get back into this!
I've made myself a new schedule: I will be updating once a week on Tuesdays, and will communicate any pauses or delays beforehand. (I am really excited so I couldn't help myself and decided to post this a bit early - it's shorter because I have it broken down into two parts.) The storyline has been fleshed out and all my chapter outlines are complete, so writing should be a breeze from here.
Hope people are still as excited as before! Thank you again for your patience and kindness; I will strive to make the wait worth it all. <3
YOU ARE READING
The Gold of the Firepines
FanfictionYou didn't think that a simple job as a postal carrier would someday land you stranded in the middle of a mysterious forest, but this is just one of many consequences of getting too familiar with the odd nine mercenaries (who were most definitely en...
