The Children: The Moonserpents

Chapter 9 Ash - Run Boy Run

Ash ran down the street, nearly tripping over the large stone bricks that lay along the road. He burst through crowds never stopping, yet when he did look over his shoulder. He took note of the many angry drunks that were waving pitch forks and throwing broken bottles at him. Some may wonder how he got so many zapnargers angry at him, or some just can't be bothered asking. But to answer the first question, he picked pocketed every single one of those scoundrels. What could he say? He needed the money, it was for a good cause, rum!

The pirate continued his way down the street until he reached a bend in the road and turned a sharp left as gravel scratched against his leather boots. He skidded around the corner and ducked under a ladder two people were carrying in order to delay the bucket heads. He continues running as fast as he could until something unexpected happened. Oh wait, it's Ash so unexpected stuff happens all the time.

A laser bullet zipped past him only two millimetres from his face. He zipped around to spot a figure wearing a long brown coat and straw hat with a sniper rifle in hand.

"Of course, OF BLOODY COURSE!" He complains to the hitman who whether he knew was going to kill him or just didn't give two zapnargs about it. Ash happened to have a large collection of black spot letters, so this wasn't a completely uncommon event.

Once again Ash's head snapped in the opposite directions to meet the super pissed drunks that were catching up to him. He waved the killer goodbye and continued running with rum in hand. More shots were fired at him as he kept running from the mob, yet this time it was from YET ANOTHER hitman. Ash ran up the stairs of a lookout and kicked a few down after himself. Then without any warning shots were fired from underneath his feet, on the floor below him, the wooden floorboards beneath him spluttered splinters everywhere while he danced around trying his best not to get shot. He peered down through a smallish hole in the wooden deck and saw the second hitman with ZAPNARGIN MACHINE GUN, but before he could move and inch a blast was fired into his arm. He jumped back in shock as blood oozed out of the wound, lucky for Ash he didn't feel a thing, he completely wasted. He peered upwards to meet the cloaked figure holding their sniper rifle to their eye, aiming at his head.

Ash ducked behind a half wall to avoid the sniper, only to meet more bullets from bellow. He had had enough of these bucket heads.

"IT'S TWO AGAINST ONE UNFAIR PEOPLE!" He called out. Alas, he only got bullets in return. "BUCKET 'EADS!"

He scanned his surroundings to see no way out but down, and with that his mind was focused on only one thing. He ran and pushed off the side of the lookout tower, jumping strait out while bullets flew everywhere, a few hitting his stomach in the process. Yet once again he didn't feel anything, thank you rum.

He fell about two hundred meters, as wind rushed through his hair, he formed a dive position and went head first into the depths. Water rushed through his clothes, soaking everything, his boots included. This was going to be interesting. His eyes opened to find two limp bodies crashing into the water, both hitmen, they sunk down to the depths as they trailed blood from bullet wounds. The sniper had bullet holes all over their chest from the machine gun and the second hitman had a neat wound on their head which was such a clean bullet wound because of the rifle. Those meat bags killed each other in order to kill him.

Ash's gaze from the two finally diverted as he realized, he was running out of oxygen, his lungs were about to burst, he needed to get to the surface. Flailing his arms and kicking his legs furiously he swam to the surface and his head burst from the deep blue waters gasping for air. Blood was now pouring out of the two wounds in his stomach as well as the one that teared through his arm.

"This is great, everything's great, it's all just BLOODY GREAT!" Ash complained as he clambered out of the water and onto the old wooden deck of the harbor.

He lay there gasping for breath with his eyes shut tight, it was a close one, too close. Then suddenly it hit him. A loud scream rang through the still air and could be heard for miles on end. Now in a small ball Ash wrapped his arms around his knees and muffled more shrieks by chopping on his arm. The full effect of the bullets in his stomach and large gash on his arm was sinking in as the water had now cleared his poisoned system and decided to allow the pain through.

With eyes still squeezed shut the memories of the last few days managed to wiggle their way through the pain, this couldn't be happening, he wouldn't allow it. What would his sister say if she saw him like this? What would his mother say? She was so disappointed in him when she fell into that blasted everlasting slumber, what would she say if she saw him even worse than he was before? Azura was always her favourite anyways, he was the family's greatest disappointment and it's a miracle that his sister kept him around after their mother passed.

"Ash, how could you do that to the poor man, he was offering us a home, your just like your father, absolutely awful!" A women's voice filled the air with a harsh yet sad tone, a sharp pain on his face followed and a loud bang of his door being slammed shut. The skinny boy sat on the dirty carpet staring at the aged wooden door in complete shock, he was only trying to help, that man was trying to steal his ma from him. He wouldn't allow it, but why was she scolding him like that? He thought his ma knew that pushing the bad man was an accident and he was only trying to protect her. He didn't mean to kill him.

"I'm sorry ma... I'm didn't mean t-," He shocked on tears while rubbing his nose in his father's jacket, which was far too big for him. His ma didn't understand, she didn't get it, she didn't know. Yet, she so was disappointed in him. "I'm sorry."

"Ma... I'm... I'm so-," He sobbed as his weak knees lifted him to a weak standing position and he once again lifted his arm to wipe the tears away. Yet there were none being shed, the alcohol was still ruling his system, it would torture him with the pain of emotions and only emotions until he found yet another bottle of rum to consume. He loved the drink for so many reasons, it helped with the pain of the curse he was tainted with and with the pain of emotions, he just loved not feeling much at all because it felt like a burden was lifted off his chest and replaced with a sweet loving numbness.

He slowly tramped forward, putting one foot in front of the other carelessly, trailing a wet path behind him. The smell of salt and blood mixed together to create a tangy taste that fell on the back of Ash's tongue. The water where the two killers fell ran red with blood and spread as quick as the venom of a water snake. His head was faced downwards focusing on what was going on inside the strange brain of his, but when he did glance upwards to check out where the hell he turned up, he faced something quite unexpected. Yes, unexpected indeed.