Trigun Fan Fiction ❯ Under the Five Moons ❯ Plants and Abominations ( Chapter 7 )

I hate having to write these. I don't own Trigun or any of the characters. I just own my characters, whom you can use if you ask me nicely or buy me a pizza or something.

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The captain sipped his coffee and thought about the message he had been forced to deliver. He hated to give bad news. He had run into the poor woman the next day, and her eyes were puffy with tears. And the day after that, and the day after that.

The coffee was starting to become bitter in his mouth. He set it down on a nearby console. "How close are we to Tonim, Helmsman?"

Kaite did some calculations in his head. "We'll probably be there in a couple of hours."

The captain nodded. "We'd best radio ahead and let them know we're coming then."

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"They just aren't responding sir!" the radio operator explained to the captain.

The captain frowned. "Are you sure the radio is still working?"

The operator nodded. "I can get other places sir, I just can't get Tonim."

"Hmmm."

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"The captain says we'll be getting to Tonim soon," Nikki said as she walked down the stairs.

Jeremiah levered himself off the ground. "I better grab my stuff. Anyone want to come with me?"

"No."

"Not really."

"Is my coat there?"

Jeremiah nodded. "It's there."

"Then I'm coming," Calamity stood up to go with him but Evans hand shot out and grabbed her shirt. He pulled back down to the cold floor.

"No coat, it has too many nasty things in it. You get the coat back after they find Vash the Stampede and I set you loose for real."

Calamity stuck her tongue out at Evans and crossed her arms.

"Well aren't we mature?" Evans asked.

Jeremiah shook his head and went for his luggage before they could start throwing things at each other. He should probably check on his mom. He was amazed at how hard she had taken the news of the grave robbing. Sure it was sad, but it wasn't like he had died again, was it? He scratched his ear and realized that he had taken out his earring and forgotten to put it back in.

He reached into his pocket and pulled a small stud. He rolled it up onto his thumb and flipped it like a coin, catching it in the middle of its fall. He held it in his palm and looked at it.

He stopped and stared at the earring for a while. A small sliver cross-shaped stud. His mother had given it to him when he had gotten his ear pierced. That was five, no six years ago. It was one of few things he had taken with him when had left. It was one of the few links he had had to his mother. She had almost no links to his father. She had the grave, and him. Now she just had him.

Who was this guy? This man named Nicholas D. Wolfwood? All he had was stories, told to him by his mother, Nikki's mother, and Nikki's father. Stories of a basically good man led astray. He clenched his fist over the small cross. He didn't even know what his father looked like, beyond the face he saw in the mirror every morning. "Why do I carry a cross? I'm no priest. I'm just the son of one. Am I trying to live up to someone I don't even know? Who the hell was he?"

He shook his head. No, he was his own man, and the cross he carried was his own cross. He put the earring in and started walking towards the hold again.

"Aggghhhh, what the hell are you doing? Let go of my hair!"

Jeremiah frowned and looked behind him. That sounded like Evans.

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"Let go of my ponytail Nikki! Do you have any idea how much this hurts?"

"You're not smoking that down here Evans."

"Why not? OW!"

Nikki started dragging Evans up the stairs. "Because it's a closed-in space and they stink the place up. It'd be one thing if you smoked cigarettes, but since you're intent on smoking cigars, you're going to the observation deck."

"I can walk there on my OW!"

Nikki entered the second-class lounge. She knew that there was an entrance to the observation deck somewhere around here, but where? She saw her mother and Ms. Thompson sitting at a couch. The table in front of them was covered in forms, sheets, and reports. She dragged Evans over to the table.

"Hey Aunt Millie, can you get from the observation deck from here?"

Millie looked up. Her eyes weren't puffy anymore, but she wasn't her usually cheerful self. "Sure sweetie. Right over there." She turned and pointed to another flight of stairs.

"Thanks Aunt Millie," Nikki said.

"Hey, Miss Meryl, help me out here! She's your daughter, you can get her to let go of my hair!"

Meryl didn't even look up from her paperwork. "If my daughter's got you by the hair, that's your problem Lieutenant."

"Yeah but… please! Help! Miss Thompson? Anybody? OW!"

Nikki dragged him up the stairs, pushed the door open, and threw Evans outside. "Now, you can smoke."

"Thanks, you're so kind," Evans said. He took out a lighter and lit his cigar. "It's times like this that I contemplate quitting," he grumbled, walking over to the portside rail. Oh well, at least he had the deck to himself. Well, mostly to himself. A small cat perched on one of the chairs that littered the deck. He reached down and scratched it behind the ears. "Yeah, you won't complain about my smoking habits, will you?"

"Nya," the cat said.

Evans leaned over the guardrail and watched the desert roll by. He reached back to double check if his ponytail was still there. The city drew closer as the steamer chugged along its way. Evans could start to notice details about the town, the quiet graveyard to the northeast, the quiet bank in the center, the quiet sheriff's office, the quiet….

"Where the hell is everybody?" Evans said.

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Millie stretched her arms over her head and yawned. "I can't do much more of this Sempai. Is it really this hard to request some time off?"

"Well, since we've got to make up a family illness to get it, yes it is."

"I have to take a break. I'm going to get some food." She stood up and saw Nikki coming down from the observation deck. "Hey Nikki! Keep my seat warm for me will ya?" She turned and strode off to the food counter.

"Wait! But…" Nikki trailed off. She walked over to the couch and sat down by her mother, who continued to do paperwork. Nikki started humming quietly to herself.

"Why Nikki? Why did you go?" Meryl had stopped writing and was staring down at the table.

Nikki clasped her hands in her lap. "I wanted to find dad."

"You went looking for Vash?"

"Uh-huh"

"Why?"

"Because I wanted to know what he was."

Meryl looked at her daughter. "What he was?"

Nikki nodded. "Did Jeremiah and I ever tell you that we saw him again after he left? Well, we did. He showed up five years ago. He, he told us about his brother, the Gung-Ho Guns, Jeremiah's father. Everything. Well, almost everything." Her eyes started to water.

"What? You saw him?"

"Yeah. And mom, he looked the same. His hair was darker, but he looked exactly the same as the day he left." She sniffed. "Why didn't he age mom? Why does he stay the same when everyone else changes? He's not human is he? He can't be." She put her face in her hands. "Jeremiah was right. I'm not completely human. I hate to admit it but he's right. I'm not human. What the hell am I mom?"

Meryl leaned over and put her arms around Nikki. "Why didn't you ask me? I can tell you what you are."

"Yeah? What am I then?"

"You're my daughter. And you're Vash's daughter. I think that's all that matters for now."

Nikki smiled into her hands. "I think I can work with that for now."

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The sand steamer slowed to halt in front of Tonim. No one came out to meet it, to help with the unloading. To see what mail had come. Or because they had nothing better to do. The place was completely empty.

"What the hell is going on?" the captain said. "Get that Cavalryman up here."

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A door opened on the sand steamer. Evans came out and swung himself down on a ladder, followed by Nikki, Kaite, Jeremiah, the captain, two more guards, and Calamity.

When they were about halfway down, Millie and Meryl swung out of the door and started climbing down.

"Shouldn't we make them go back in?" the captain asked.

"Do you want a stun-gun bolt to the face?" Jeremiah responded, shifting his cross to a more comfortable position on his back.

Evans reached the bottom of the ladder and jumped to the ground. There wasn't a single person in sight. Just a disturbingly large amount of blood.

"Meryl, could this mean what I think it means?"

"I don't know Millie. It doesn't look like the last time this happened."

"Yeah, there wasn't any blood the last time." They reached the bottom and jumped to the ground.

The captain brushed his fingers along a bloodstained wall. It had been dry for a while now. "Alright everyone, spread out and look for townspeople. We've got to find out what happened here."

Evans raised an eyebrow. "Shouldn't I be in charge?"

"I was in the Cavalry for twenty years son. I can easily pull rank on you."

"Ahhh, right. You're the boss."

Calamity was annoyed that Evans had still forbidden her to have her coat. She wandered around the corner and into a main street. She stopped cold and leaned against the wall. She fought to keep her lunch down for a while, and then called out, "I found the townspeople!"

"Great! Where are they?" Evans said as he ran around the corner. "Oh my God."

The rest of the group followed them and stopped, unable to say anything.

The street intersected with another street in the town to form a small plaza, with a monument in the middle. The mangled bodies of the townspeople lay strewn around the plaza in small piles; blood caked around their wounds. The stench of baking flesh hung around the place like a bad party guest, never leaving and seemingly everywhere. On the monument, scrawled in blood, was the word "Knives".

Meryl and Mille stared at the monument and felt lumps forming in their throats. Not again?

They stood still, their minds unable to take in the picture of death before them, then ran up to the bodies. Kaite got there first. He kneeled on the ground in front of a body and turned the head towards him. A pair of empty eyes stared back. "Hey captain! This guy's had his throat torn out."

"Him too!"

"And her!"

"Poor kid."

"This looks like an animal attack," a guard said.

"Animal? What kind of animals could do this?" Jeremiah asked.

"Wolves."

"Wolves? How do you know that mom?"

Millie pointed to a small row of wolf corpses. Unlike the humans, the wolf corpses had been laid out carefully in a neat row.

Evans stood up. "Well, some human survived. Most wolves can't lay out corpses. Or write." He jerked his head towards the monument. "Knives, what the hell does that mean?"

"Yeah, there was a human here." Nikki said. She was kneeling down next to the corpse of a man with a gun. She gently lifted up his head to reveal his neck. Unlike the rest of the people's, it was mostly intact, except for a straight cut across it.

"What caused that?" Kaite asked.

"Hey! Same with this guy!" Calamity called out. She pointed at the corpse of a woman with a small revolver.

"Hmmm, the sheriff too," the captain said, stroking his chin. "Everyone with a gun."

They kept looking around the body piles, except for Millie, Meryl, Nikki, and Jeremiah. They stood silent, staring at the word on the monument. Knives.

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Two suns went down, five moons went up. The captain had ordered a gigantic search party. He was convinced that somebody must have survived. "Never go anywhere alone. You're partner is now you're lifelong friend, I don't care if you've never met each other before, or even if you hated each other, your partner is your best buddy. If they go in a building, you follow. If they go to the bathroom, you help. Got it? If you find anything dangerous, do not approach it; come to Helmsman Kaite, Security Chief Sumner, Lieutenant Braxler, or me. Well? Why are you just standing there? Get going!"

A well-dressed man approached him. "Excuse me captain, but we want to know when we'll be leaving this horrid place?"

The captain glared at him. "Why aren't you out searching?"

"Oh surely you didn't mean that we search too?"

"I don't believe I said anything about just the crew and the people in the lower classes searching, did I?"

"But, we don't know what's out there! I'm unarmed!"

The captain pulled a PF Marlon out of his belt and snapped the barrel out. He slotted six bullets into it, closed the barrel and slapped into the well-dressed man's hand. "Well, now you are. Get looking."

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"Why are you still wearing your sunglasses? Are you just trying to look cool?"

"Cavalry secret. If I told you I'd have to kill you."

"Whatever," Jeremiah muttered. He stopped in front of a building and swung the cross off his back, planting it in the dirt. "Let's look in here."

"Seems as likely as anywhere else," Evans said. He shoved the door open. The building was obviously a hotel of some sort. The room the door opened into was plain, having no decoration other than a carpet that had once been on the floor. To the right, a long counter stood, papers thrown all over it. A wallboard behind the counter had once held keys, but these had been knocked to the ground during the attack.

"Anyone in here?" Jeremiah yelled as he stepped into the building.

"Not too likely my friend," Evans said, pointing at the blood and chaos that permeated the room.

"It's worth a shot," Jeremiah said.

Evans nodded. "It's always worth a shot." He walked into the room, stepping over the papers and dried blood. He bent down and picked up a book from the floor. "What do we have here?"

"What is it?" Jeremiah asked, looking over Evans' shoulder.

Evans reached back and pushed Jeremiah back into the wall. "Quit reading over my shoulder, and I'll tell you." He placed the book on the counter, reached into his coat pocket, and pulled out a lighter. Click. Click. Fwump. A small flame spurted from the lighter and Evans held it over the open book.

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While Evans and Jeremiah were inspecting the hotel, Millie, Meryl, Calamity, and Nikki trudged towards the town's sole Plant.

"Can't you convince Evans to give me back my coat?" Calamity whined.

"From what I've heard about you Miss Shriver, that coat should be taken out into the wastelands and blown up with a rocket launcher," Meryl responded.

Calamity drew her arms around herself. "I feel so defenseless without it."

"While the rest of us feel much safer. You could probably level the city with that thing."

Millie came up to Calamity and threw an arm around her. "Don't worry Miss Shriver, we'll protect you!"

Calamity looked at Millie's smiling face. "That's sooo comforting. And quit calling me Miss Shriver."

"Oh I'm sorry. Would you rather I call you call you Clarissa?"

"Call me… oh never mind."

They reached the outskirts of town where the giant Plant loomed. "Ever been in one of these Calamity?" Nikki asked.

"You'd be surprised." Calamity answered.

"I haven't been to one for years. Remember mom? We'd go down to them with dad? He wanted me to learn about 'em?"

Meryl nodded. "I remember honey. Once a month if I remember."

"There's a weird field trip if I've ever heard one."

"Yeah, well… Sweet Jesus."

Ten years ago, a Plant almost overloaded. Had it not been stopped, the entire city would've gone up, making Lost July look like a kid's party. Ever since then, the Federal Government mandated that at least one Plant technician be stationed at every Plant, if only to watch over things. Usually the technicians hired a staff from the surrounding town. This resulted in a job increase in the towns, a boost in the PR of the plant technicians, and the Federal Government got to look good in the eyes of the people.

The staff and the technician lay all around the Plant, their bodies twisted and mangled. The sand around the plant ran red, as if the Plant itself was bleeding.

"Are those guys organs…?" Calamity asked.

"Ummm, maybe we should go tell the captain?" Millie said.

"Oh Lord, look at this guy! He's been folded in half!" Calamity said, kneeling near a broken body.

Meryl approached the bulb. Someone had again scrawled words in blood. "Soon?" Meryl said.

A pair of yellow eyes opened in the shadows. Humans, they shouldn't be here, She had told him so. They walked around the battleground, inspecting the losers. A growl started in his throat, She had told them that none could approach the bulb. He leapt out of the shadows, knocking the short one to the ground.

"MOM!" Nikki shouted. She pulled her revolver and pointed at the two fighting bodies. Meryl was keeping the wolf from her throat, but just barely.

"Don't shoot!" Calamity shouted, "You could hit the Plant!" She threw herself into a roll, coming up and tackling the wolf against the bulb. Something flashed in her hand and she plunged it deep into the wolf's chest. The wolf spasmed, then fell still.

Calamity stood up and wiped the sweat off her brow. "You okay?"

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"It's the hotel register," Jeremiah said.

"Yep," Evans said. "Looks like the clerk didn't like their job."

"What makes you say that?"

Evans pointed at some writing by the names. "He kept a running commentary of who entered and left. Let's see, one Alex Saverem."

"Alex Saverem? That's the pseudonym Nikki's dad used when he was with us."

"Yeah, sure, Vash the Stampede, I know."

"You still won't believe us?"

"Put yourself in my place Jeremiah, would you believe me? Let's see, described as a tall guy with spiky blonde hair. Maybe he is The Stampede. 'Leaves the next day with friend. Says he's heading south looking for someone.'"

"South? Hmmm."

"Next entry, no name. 'Beautiful blonde comes in. Real artistic type. What a looker. Says her name's Bla-."

"Bla-? Bla what?"

"Just Bla-, the writing trails off." He dropped the book on the ground. "Well that was instructive."

Jeremiah shrugged, "Not for you maybe."

People started rushing past the window.

"Did you hear?"

"Someone was attacked!"

"Who?"

"One of the insurance ladies!"

Jeremiah's head snapped up. "WHAT?" He dashed out the door and grabbed his cross. A flick of a snap and the straps came flying off. He pulled the Cross Punisher from its cover and ran off with the crowd.

"Jeremiah! Wait up! Jeremiah!" Evans cried out, rushing after him. "Freakin' crowd. Out of my way! Cavalry, comin' through!"

Jeremiah forced his way through the crowd, a pretty easy feat when you're over 6'6'' and carrying a giant metal cross. He suddenly burst through the end of the crowd and stumbled into a clearing. Nikki and Millie stood there, supporting Meryl, Calamity following close behind.

"What happened?" Jeremiah gasped.

"Sempai got attacked by a wolf!"

"Yeah, apparently there's one or two left around," Nikki added.

"You all right Aunt Meryl?"

"I'm fine. You two can stop helping me. I can walk for myself."

The crowd had stopped to watch this exchange, which was making it very hard for anyone to get through. "LET US THROUGH OR I'M LEAVING YOU HERE!" Kaite shouted. The captain, Evans, Kaite, the security chief, and Mariah burst through the crowd.

"Y'all okay?" Mariah asked.

Meryl shook off Mille and Nikki. "I'm fine, just a little battered."

"You sure Miss Stryfe?" Kaite asked.

"Meryl, and I'm fine, Calamity saved me before anything bad could happen."

Calamity?" Evans said. He noticed the bloody knife in Calamity's hand. "Where did you get that?" he asked.

Calamity looked down at the knife in her hand. "Oh this? I had it in my boot."

"Figures," Evans said.

The captain consulted with security chief and turned to Evans. "We think we should go back into the steamer for the night."

Evans nodded. "I'm all for that. Find any survivors?"

The captain shook his head sadly. "Not a one. The entire town has been wiped out. And they just put back together in too."

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Rumors spread throughout the steamer, as rumors always will.

"Did you hear? Nobody survived!"

"The Plant crew was torn apart!"

"It couldn't have just been wolves!"

"Could it have been… him?"

"You mean, Vash the Stampede?"

"Why not? It's not like he's above killing an entire town!"

"Yeah, he's done it before!"

"But I thought no bullets were fired?"

"Who says he needs bullets?"

"Yeah, you're right. Must have been him."

"Just when we thought he was gone."

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Jeremiah stood out in the hallway in front of Millie and Meryl's room, drink in hand. Nikki came out and closed the door. "Well, now that she's done yelling at us for worrying too much, I think she'll be fine."

Jeremiah nodded. "I thought so." They turned and walked down the hallway towards the stairs. "I got a lead on your dad."

"I know, Evans told me."

"We can't go with our moms. You know that right?"

"I know, it's too dangerous. If Calamity hadn't been there, mom would've died."

"I heard. We can't let them come along any more."

Nikki nodded. "I suppose we knew that all along. Otherwise, would we have left? And now that Knives…"

"Hey guys! You doin' okay?" Mariah said.

"Huh? Oh, hi Mariah," Nikki said.

"We're okay," Jeremiah added.

"Good. Your ma' okay?"

"She's fine. Listen… Mariah, we're leaving tomorrow. Early tomorrow. Without them."

"Wha?"

"We can't tell you why, but if our moms ask where we went. Just tell them that we said 'We'll find him'."

"Are you sure? I think you should just tell 'em yourselves. If ya can't trust your family who can ya trust?" she put her hands on her hips.

"Just tell her, okay?" Jeremiah said.

"If your sure." Mariah said, heading to the crew's quarters.

"Yeah, we're sure."

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Five moons went down, two suns began their assent. They inched over the horizon, the first ray hitting the mass grave that was Tonim, bringing the carnage into sharp relief. A door opened on the sand steamer and two figures crawled out, one carrying a cross. They scrambled down the ladder and jumped to the sand.

"Let's see if we can find a car. I don't know if I want to walk all that way."

Jeremiah nodded. "Agreed."

Their search for a car was successful, but their search for keys didn't go so well.

"Are you sure they're not in the glove compartment?" Jeremiah asked.

"I'm sure, I checked like five times!" Nikki said.

"Going somewhere?"

Nikki and Jeremiah wheeled around. Evans and Calamity stood there, staring at them. Calamity had finally gotten her coat back from Evans and was fingering something in the pocket. Evans took a puff on his cigar.

"Well, we were…" Nikki began.

Calamity walked over to the car and pulled a knife out of her pocket. She opened the door and fooled around with the ignition for a minute. She stepped back and let them see her work. She pointed at a pair of exposed wires. "Cross them to start it."

Nikki and Jeremiah stared at them for a minute.

"Good luck," Evans said.

Nikki hopped in the driver's seat and crossed the wires. The engine sprang to life. Jeremiah shoved the cross into the back and took his place beside Nikki.

"Thanks guys," he said.

The nodded. "Sure sure. Get out of here," Evans said.

"See you later," Calamity added.

Nikki hit the gas and the car speed out into the desert. Evans and Calamity stood there for a while, watching them leave.

"You gonna let me go now?"

Evans smirked. "We'll see."

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Wolfwood: I have killed before. I'm not ashamed to admit it. I am who I am and I cannot change that. I'm ashamed that I did it though. I always had the best intentions in mind, but does that really justify what I did? Who knows, but what about those who kill with less then honorable intentions? They're pretty damn common on Gunsmoke, believe me. Or even more frightening, what about those who kill with no intentions at all? To them, death is just some form of cheap amusement. I met a man like that, and it scared the hell out of me. Next chapter: Bladestorm.