Mamiee, The Two Thieves

Two days have passed since the left Renato Sloane and De-Ron are both fast asleep on the bus from the long ride. A few bumps in the sandy road wakes up Sloane rubbing her eyes, she looks out the window and sees nothing but sand and a few broken down buildings scattered across the desert. The driver softly announces for those who are awake that they will be arriving in Mamiee very soon. Sloane tries to wake De-Ron.

Sloane: Hey, De-Ron we’re almost there. Wake up.

He doesn’t even flinch even when she tries to shake him. Sloane keeps trying to wake up him just as the bus pulls right next to a sign that says the bus station. Coming to a stop De-Ron finally wakes up.

De-Ron: Are we there?

Sloane: Yep, let’s grab our stuff.

All the passengers gather their belongings and get off the bus Sloane and De-Ron are the last ones off. With the bus driving away Sloane and De-Ron head for the entrance to Mamiee walking through the small markets of Mamiee; they’re almost like the ones in Renato, but here the town is mostly made of run down houses where thugs, bandits, and other fugitives live.

Sloane: This kinda reminds me of Renato, but it feels a little less secure.

De-Ron: They may sell the same things as they do in Renato, but there are fewer hunters here to keep the thugs and bandits in check.

De-Ron: So it feels less safe here then you would anywhere else.

Sloane: Well least worry about that later. We need to buy some new supplies, we’re getting rather low on food and water.

De-Ron: We might want to look for some more ammo too. I only have enough for maybe two rounds, same as you right?

Sloane: Yeah, I don’t think I have enough in my hunter account to pay for all of it.

De-Ron: I haven’t checked my account in a long time since I barely take on any jobs.

Sloane: Then how did you move from town to town until now?

De-Ron: I usually just walk through the desert, but when I need new supplies I will take on a job or two to get by.

Sloane: I see. 

De-Ron: I think there’s a bounty hunter center here. Let’s see if there’s a high reward job here.

Sloane: Is there really a center here?

De-Ron: There’s one in every town, the one in Renato is the main branch, so any other one you find are small branches that connect to the one in Renato.

Sloane: That makes sense since bounty hunters do travel a lot they need a way to make money and get into their account when needed.

De-Ron: That’s right, well heads over there we need to get going before the next bus gets here.

They find the bounty hunter center, it’s not as big as Renato, they walk inside there’s one desk, a dew tables, and a small job boards above the desk. They walk up to the man working at the desk.

BHCC worker: Hello, my name is Cleo welcome hunters to Mamiee.

De-Ron: Excuse me, where’s the job board at?

Cleo: It’s right above us, sir.

He points above him where all the jobs in Mamiee are available. There’s less than 20 jobs to pick from looking at all the jobs they don’t see one with a high enough reward to get the supplies they need. Thinking that they are out of luck, De-Ron spots a job in the far corner of the board.

De-Ron: What about that one, Sloane?

Sloane: That reward would be more than enough for supplies, tickets for the next bus ride, and we may have some left over.

Cleo looks over the desk to see the one they are thinking about of taking. His face turns pale knowing the one they are talking about.

Cleo: Are you sure you want to take on that one?

De-Ron: Is there something wrong with that job?

Cleo: Many hunters have tried to complete this task, but none have succeeded.

Sloane and De-Ron look at the poster more closely.

Wanted Two Thieves

Darius

Other Unknown

Reward: 30,000,000 million Sia

Dead or Alive

Cleo: The job is to capture two thieves that have been stealing from multiple shops in Mamiee. The shop owners are fend up and going out of business because of these thieves. They don’t know what to do.

Sloane: How come the poster only shows only one? What about the other one? The other thief that Darius is working with?

Cleo: The hunters that went after them only ever saw Darius, whenever they attack Darius attacks head on while the other one attacks from behind in the shadows with no warning.

Cleo: They say it’s impossible to go after the other thief. Every time they try they’re no signs of them. It’s like there’s no one even there.

De-Ron: Not a single trace?

Cleo: Not one.

Sloane: That seems rather strange. Why do they only see one? There’s no point in saying there’s two when no one has seen the other one.

De-Ron: Guess we won’t know if we don’t go ourselves.

Cleo: Huh? Your still going to take the job?

De-Ron: Why not? Nothing is going to stop them, so someone has to do it.

Cleo: Well, if you really want to then I will assign this job to you.

De-Ron: Thank you.

Sloane: Do you think we can find them before the next bus arrives?

De-Ron: If we don’t then we’re going to be stuck here until the next bus and who knows how long that will take. Since the bus schedules are unpredictable now a days.

De-Ron: It just means that we can’t screw this up.

Sloane: You’re right about that.

Cleo: You’ve been assigned to this job. Good hunting and good luck.

De-Ron and Sloane: Thank you, we’re off.

According to the man the two thieves should be in the outskirts of Mamiee, that’s where most of the bandits and thugs hide out from hunters who com to Mamiee. They start by searching the area.

Sloane: The last report from the hunter who took on this job last found Darius in a small old house a few miles away from here.

Sloane: I think we should head over there and strike at them since they won’t see it coming.

De-Ron: Well, I think we should gather more information on them before we go looking for them. Knowing your enemy is the best strategy.

They both stop and look at each other.

Sloane and De-Ron: Huh?

Walking through the alleyway by herself Sloane seems quite angry about something. De-Ron and Sloane had an argument on which plan they should go with, but both were too stubborn to back down. They went their separate ways seeing which one catches the thieves first . Heading to the small broken down house Sloane readies her gun and heads right in through the damaged front door that’s falling over. De-Ron is wandering the skirts asking people about the two thieves; he’s getting barely any information about them since everyone is so scared of them.

De-Ron: Seems like this is a dead end.

Old man: Excuse me, young man are you looking for Darius?

De-Ron: I am, do you know him or about the thief that he is working with?

Old man: Other thief?

Back at the old house Sloane is walking through a dark narrow hallway, the floorboards are ripped apart, wallpapered is rotting off, and there’s mold and sand everywhere. She looks everywhere for the thieves, but no sign of Darius or the other one.

Sloane: Could I have gotten the wrong address?

She suddenly hears a small creak coming from behind and she brings her gun in closer carefully checking her surroundings. Four bullets are fired at Sloane quickly moves to the side she then fires back, but Sloane doesn’t know if her bullets are even hitting her target. She hears another creak behind her again Sloane fires again. In a tough position having no place to take cover or knowing where they are Sloane runs to where the first bullets were shot. Sloane finds empty shell casings she hears someone heading up the stairs, running up the stairs she sees the last door close. Heading towards the last room Sloane is standing by the window Sloane points her gun at him.

Sloane: Darius!

Darius turns around he’s wearing a brown poncho, a black ripped up shirt, torn up brown shorts, and heavy gray boots. He has dark blonde hair and blue eyes Darius stares coldly at Sloane.

Sloane: My name is Sloane  bounty hunter. I’m here by placing you under arrest. Tell me where your partner is?

He just stands there saying nothing Sloane slowly moves towards him then Darius smirks. Confused yet concerned why is he so confident? Suddenly a bullet grazes Sloane’ arm she turns to see no one there Darius quickly jumps out the window. Sloane tries to fire at him the pain from her arm delays her reaction, Darius gets away from her. After escaping from Sloane he heads for up town only to be stopped by De-Ron.

De-Ron: I was on my way to our house to meet up with Sloane, but it seems that her plan failed.

De-Ron: Guess I’ll give it a go.

Darius pulls out his gun, but De-Ron pulls out his faster; he hits Darius’s hand blasting the hun out of his hand.

De-Ron: I was expecting a better fight from you considering you famous reputation.

Darius draws out a smaller gun and fires three shots at De-Ron, he dodges them with ease.

Darius: How did..?

De-Ron kicks the gun out of Darius’s hand then puts his pistol to Darius’s head.

Darius: You knew I was coming this way. How?

De-Ron: After asking around I looked down this alley many times and saw al the shops that you robbed from in the past. A straight and easy escape path right to your house.

De-Ron: Your little game is over. Now tell me where is your so called partner?

Darius glares at De-Ron feeling defeated, but he smirks again like he did with Sloane. Gunshots are fired from behind De-Ron draws his katana cutting down the bullets. Distracted by the mysterious shooter Darius pulls out a knife out of his boot he dashes at De-Ron. De-Ron blocks in with his pistol then looks down the alley. 

De-Ron: They stopped firing? Is it because Darius is in the way? Even so, why aren’t they coming out to help him?

De-Ron pushes Darius back, fires a few shots at him Darius jumps back then runs off. De-Ron doesn’t follow him; he takes a few bullet from the strap on the side of his pants, reloads his gun, then puts it away. Curious De-Ron walks over to find empty bullet shells and it’s still warm. He looks in the direction that Darius ran off in.

De-Ron: I wonder if?

De-Ron: Guess this means that both of our plans failed. Wonder if she’ll be happy about that?

Sloane is running in the same direction that Darius ran off in, which leads right to De-Ron.

Sloane: De-Ron.

De-Ron sees Sloane coming his way holding her arm.

De-Ron: Sloane, your arm, what happened?

Sloane: Oh! It’s nothing, it’s just a scratch.

Sloane: Did Darius come this way?

De-Ron: He did, but he got away. He went that way towards up town.

Sloane: Damn it, I was careless. I let him get away.

De-Ron: Don’t blame yourself I also allowed him to escape. It’s not your fault.

Sloane: What should we do? We can’t let him get away or he’ll just keep on robbing every shop in Mamiee.

De-Ron: Calm down first let’s take care of your arm then let’s come with a plan.

De-Ron puts his hand on Sloane’s shoulder

De-Ron: This time we’ll do it together.

Sloane smiles.

Sloane: Right.

In the middle of town a sop owner yells for help as Darius runs out with a bag full of money he runs onto the alleyway, laughing his head off.

Darius: This is too easy. Though not as easy as it was to escape from those two bounty hunters.

Darius: No one in Mamiee can stop or catch me!

Sloane: I wouldn’t be singing your praises just yet.

Darius quickly comes to a stop and turns to see Sloane standing right behind him. Darius makes a run of it farther into the alley Sloane follows him, he heads a fork in the road Sloane fires a few bullets to the left of him making him go right. Sloane fires again this time on his right making his turn left, they reach an opening Darius stops in the open field. Sloane catches up to him, facing off Darius laughs up to the sky.

Darius: Failing the first time wasn’t enough, you came back to get your ass beat again!

Sloane doesn’t day anything to him.

Darius: As if you have a chance to defeat me! The greatest thief in Mamiee!

Still not saying a word to him Darius stops laughing then smirks. A rain of bullets come from behind Sloane. She dodges them in time, firing towards the shooter Darius pulls on his gun and fires at her. Sloane quickly turns her gun to him, surprised Darius moves out of the way. She takes out her blade and runs towards Darius, he smirks again but nothing happens.

Darius: What?!

Sloane cuts his shoulder, shock he fires his gun Sloane backs off.

Darius: What happened? Why didn’t it fire?

Sloane: Don’t bother. 

Darius looks up at Sloane.

Sloane: Your game of hide and seek is over Darius.

Freaking out Darius fires frantically at Sloane not a single bullet comes closes to her, out of ammo he tries to reload Sloane runs up to him swings her blade at him knocking his gun away. Darius falls to the ground trembling as she points her blade at him.

Darius: How…how….did you….beat me…? Why…didn’t it…..?

Sloane: It wasn’t just me this time.

Darius is confused De-Ron comes out walking towards them. He looks over at him Darius sees De-Ron holding a small drone in his hands with a small machine gun attached to it. Darius turns white as a sheet.

Sloane: You were right, it was a drone that was firing those bullets at us. Not another person hiding in the shadows.

Darius: How did you know? I made sure to get rid of any trace of it!

De-Ron: During our little fight I found empty bullet shells on the ground, but no signs of anyone that of a person being there. No footprints or anything being mess with if someone was in a hurry to get out of there. 

De-Ron: Since the alley you use so often for your robberies someone from the skirts would have seen someone other than you come out. I ask all around about you and any possible partners, they all said the same thing that you work alone and never got along with everyone.

Sloane: Looking inside your old house I didn’t see anyone but him. Once De-Ron started to explain everything to me the pieces started to line up.

Sloane: One of the shops that you robbed sold old drones like this one. You customize this drone to open fire every time you smirked since it’s original programming is to respond to a simple command or an expression you make.

Darius lightly chuckles knowing they have beaten him. They brought Darius to BHCC, the other hunters and Cleo were in shock, but cheered for them for catching him. The townspeople came to give their thanks to De-Ron and Sloane for saving their business and their home. Collecting their reward they go buy the supplies they need.

Sloane: I believe that’s everything we need and we even have more leftover funds that I thought.

Sloane: We best go buy our tickets or we’l miss the bus.

De-Ron: Alright.

They go to buy their tickets at the ticket stand.

Stand worker: I’m terribly sorry, but the bus left yesterday.

Sloane: What?! But the schedule said it would leave at noon today.

Stand worker: Because of the recent robberies the bus leaves early in the morning to avoid any trouble.

De-Ron: When will the next bus come?

Stand worker: In two or three weeks depending on the desert storms.

In despair they can’t wait for the next bus or have a vehicle to get them there.

Sloane: What do we do now…?

Townspeople 1: Excuse me, are you looking for a ride to the next town?

De-Ron and Sloane: Huh?

Townspeople 1: I’m making a delivery two towns out I can drop you off to the closes one, if you like?

De-Ron and Sloane: Yes! Thank you!

They help him get his supplies onto the truck, Sloane rides in passenger while De-Ron rides in the tuck. They head out for the next town.

In the next town a man screams with a woman cowering in the corner. A tall man pulls out his bloody sword out of the man’s neck. He slowly looks at her she starts to cry, grinning with blood on his face his cold eyes smile with joy. The woman screams the police arrive to the scene were bystanders heard the screams to find a bloody mess. Mo police cars pass by as the man wipes of the blood off his face.

Man: It’s too bad that it ended so soon their screams were so nice, but I wonder if I’ll hear a more beautiful scream. I hope I meet them soon my next victim.