18680711 13:20:18

18680711 13:20:18

TA x 16 S

Everything came to a sudden standstill when the gunshot ripped through the air and left a reverberating echo cascade over the road and houses nearby. Massac snapped the horses reins to his chest to immediately bring the carriage to a halt, then quickly stepped down away from the driver's seat to stand by the carriage door. He kept his back against the door and stood at attention with his hand at the side of his hips. Cook looked through the windows to see two horses rush past them, one from each side. They were being surrounded. Rodney looked up at him in total shock with white eyes widened and protruding. Cook took a sharp breath in and out through his nose, then leaned forward to place his hand on the doorway so that he could exit the carriage.
"We're being surrounded. C'mon out boy, no safe for you in here with guns out there."
"Guns? But Daddy, I-"
"Shut up and c'mon. Do exactly as I say. This ain't no game." Cook grabbed his son by the arm and applied enough strength to lift him out of his seat as they both got out of the carriage.
"Leave the kid inside!" The command came from one of the riders who stood to their right and was flanked by two other men on horses. They all had pistols in their hand, but the man in the middle had one trained in their direction. "He shouldn't have to watch you two die. Send him back in!" The man's voice was deliberately strained to sound unnatural, with the vowel and ending syllables being stretched out and grated over his vocal chords. This led Cook to believe that the man was concealing his identity, but he didn't recognize who the person was based on his other physical characteristics.
"No, I don't trust you. He sits inside, you'll miss and hit him first before one of us. He stays with us."
"Oh, you question my aim, do you? Very well!" The leader instantly flicked his wrist to turn it to the side and pulled the trigger. The bullet went through the horse's skull, cleanly between its eyes. The horse fell to the ground as if gravity had suddenly crushed it from above. Rodney gasped at the attack and suddenly felt the air escape his chest and his eyes well up with tears. He was about to yell out when he suddenly felt his father's hand cover his mouth. Rodney forced himself to swallow the air he was about to scream out in order to keep himself quiet. Cook stepped away from his son and activated the chain around his waist, and Massac did the same when he heard the metal transforming at his side. Within one second, both men stood with their swords pointed straight up from their hands and the edge steadied between their eyes. Cook silently walked towards the leader in a deliberate pace. The man lost the grin that was on his face from shooting the horse and scowled at their advance as he brandished the pistol towards them.
"One more step and we shoot! One more fucking-"
Cook continued to walk forward without making any kind of reaction or response to the ultimatum.