Special Notes: I had to upload twice, my computer hates me and uploaded a previous unedited version. I blame it on the Darains. I think it's right now. [The Lone Gunslinger, Chapter 8, Escape and Evasion] [Part I] The ice is cracking and we are going into the water, it's only a matter of time. I've never seen Jaco look this scared before; Daraians don't swim, they hate water. I think that's a little odd because Jaco spends hours wading around in the hot-pool at the gym, but then again, the hot-pool is shallow and he can stand up. This lake isn't shallow, in fact, it's very deep, and there is a brutal current under the ice, so the instructors say; I believe them. I glance back at shore longingly, there are a dozen ambulances lined up on the beach and twenty instructors in the same dry suits we are wearing, and they all have long silver poles with hooks on them to fish us out if we get into too much trouble. Misfire has us holding while he watches the second and third years further out on the ice, and tries to decide what to do next. The first years, that's us, are on our hands and knees crawling out onto the ice; we were standing until the sound of the first cracking ice. The second years are still standing but walking gingerly, they've done this once before, and the third years are nearly in the center of the lake jumping up and down trying to get the ice to break; I wish they would stop that. "Look how the second years are holding their safety lines," shouts Misfire. "Check your lines, make sure they don't get tangled." Misfire is our class leader right now, Thunder is pretty banged up and they say he will be in physical therapy for a long time and will probably be put with next year’s class. Simon says most classes will lose one or two, and they will have to be recycled to the next class, he also says its likely Misfire won't be class leader for long. But, that's normal too, nobody in our class is a strong leader, but that happens, and will give us all a chance to be class leader at least once. I lost the leadership position from jealousy, and Thunder lost it from prejudice, and Misfire is sometimes too slow to make a decision. Our class is also having problems working together as a team. Simon says they are bringing a Gunslinger Team in to help us learn teamwork. We might be Lone Gunslingers and many of our missions will be alone, but we also have to be able to form temporary teams for some missions. Commander Conrad says right now we couldn’t form snowballs for a snowball fight. I hear a loud thunderous crack and look up in time to see the third years disappear into the water. The second years have Ace as class leader, and she is a very strong leader. I can hear Ace shouting commands to her class and they take off running. Nobody has ever made it to the opposite shore before, but if anyone had a chance, it would be Ace's class. The second years are trying to run around the break in the ice and making a mad dash for the opposite shore. They make it around the third years and I can hear the third year trainees cheering and shouting encouragement, then I hear that loud cracking thunder sound again and the second years go down like dominoes. "Second years are down," shouts Misfire. "No duh," shouts Sprint. There it is, the whole reason my class is having problems, we just can't work together, and it's not just Sprint, we all have little quirks that are causing problems. And me too, I've spent my whole life alone and keep trying to do everything on my own. So far we've had to redo the Surveillance Range three times, Tactical Movement four times, Jump Week twice, and well… I don’t know, I’ve lost count. "Let's go this way," shouts Misfire standing and running the opposite direction as the second years ran. "No, this way," shouts Sprint. Misfire and Sprint reach the end of their safety lines and the rope goes taunt and both fall back onto the ice with a thud. The ice cracks more and I watch in horror as the weakened ice under them give way and half my class goes through the ice. Tweak tries to crawl back towards shore but the ice under him tips up like an ice burg and he slides down into the icy water. A huge crack forms under me and the whole thing is too much for Jaco, he stands to run, and then disappears into the water. The ice under me gives way next and then I'm under the water kicking for the surface. I break the surface and look around for Jaco. My safety line goes taunt and I look the direction the rope is pulling and can see Jaco has been pulled under the ice by the current. I can see the blurry shape of Jaco fifteen feet away under the ice frantically clawing at the ice. I pull hard on the rope but all I manage to do is pull myself towards the edge of the ice; I'm going to be pulled under. I need to find something to give me leverage and have an idea. I kick hard to bring my feet up so that I'm on my back, and then I pull the rope to bring myself to the edge of the ice and press my feet against of the ice and start pulling again. Jaco emerges from the water kicking and flailing his arms. Jaco is panicking and grabs me and tries to crawl on top of me. I’m pushed under the water, Jaco’s going to drown me in his panic. I try to get out from under Jaco but he keeps pushing me under the water. My lungs are burning, and then Jaco is off me and someone has pulled me to the surface. I can see one of the silver hooks around Jaco being pulled by an instructor. Another instructor is behind me and has his arm around me, other instructors are in the water rescuing my classmates. We've failed the Ice Crossing Range horribly. The range wasn't really about crossing the ice, but about working together when something goes wrong, such as ice breaking when attempting to make a Winter Lake or River crossing. An hour later we are in the warm-up tent and changing back into our normal clothes. I'm doing my best to crawl inside the diesel heater to warm up, I think my hands froze solid through. "Sorry about what happened," Jaco says softly, I think he’s really embarrassed. "Nothing to be sorry about," I nudge Jaco slightly with my shoulder. "It's normal for that to happen." "Will you teach me to swim?" asks Jaco. "I don't want that to ever happen again." "Sure, no problem." "How did you learn to swim?" "There was a little creek running past the back of the farm I grew up on, I taught myself." "Really? Humans must like water." "We do, when it's not freezing cold." "I guess that's why humans get along so well with the Carinians." "I don't know anything about them except they are amphibians that live in a solar system on the other side of the Empire." "Pyra is right next door in the next solar system, that’s an ocean world too." "Never been anywhere except the farm and here." The tent flap opened and a cold wind blew into the tent. I was starting to get sleepy but the blast of wind woke me instantly, and then four Gunslingers entered the tent and took a position blocking the opening, their hands hovering above their revolvers. "Girls!" shouts Sprints. "Hey, we're getting dressed," shouts Misfire scrambling to pull his shirt on. The female Gunslingers' eyes are cold and lifeless as they stare at us. I don't think they look much older than we are, but the way they are looking at us, I think we are in trouble and a chill runs down my spine. I also don’t think they care much about our wounded modesty. I notice the rank and insignia on the Gunslingers’ uniforms, they're Team Gunslingers. The silence is awkward and I think we all realize at the same time what they are here for, we knew there was a good chance we were getting close to being terminated. Rock glances down at his gunbelt lying across a chair. "Don't do it," Jaco lays a hand on Rock’s arm. "You won't make it." Jaco steps forward and stares into the eyes of the lead Gunslinger. Her eyes look like Simon's eyes when he's angry, I can't look into those eyes and keep my head down. "Is the decision final?" asks Jaco. "I'm going to count to sixty and then we will shoot all of you," says the Gunslinger in an icy voice. "If you attempt to escape, we will shoot you early, you many say your final prayers to the ancestors." Jaco pauses for what seems like a very long time and just stares back at the Gunslinger until she tips her head slightly in curiosity at the strange little Raven daring to stare her down. "I've been to the Chair," says Jaco. "You can't bluff me, or scare me. The Priestesses don't talk or hesitate when they send you to the Chair, they just do it, and so do the Gunslingers. Stop playing games and tell us the requirements." I know what's going on, we all do. We aren't traitors, and we haven't caused the death of a Lord Gunslinger--we've done worse; we failed too many times. The Gunslinger Team isn't here to help us, they are here to terminate our class and rid the Gunslingers of an embarassment. "I'm going to count to sixty and then shoot you, if you move, I will shoot you early," repeats the Gunslinger. "However, I've been ordered to give you a chance to prove you are still worth training. Your Dining Cabin is only a little over a mile away, if you make it there the order to terminate this class will be lifted." "How are we supposed to get there if we can't move?" asks Rock. Jaco holds his hand up. "I'm not a naïve first year, you're still not telling the whole truth," accuses Jaco. "I'm a third year Temple student and I've been through these kind of exercises before." "Jaco, what's going on?" I ask. "They are trying to scare you by making you think this is a class termination so you take this seriously," says Jaco. "It's just a training exercise or we would already be dead. We have them in the Temple also, there is no pass or fail, just live or die, it weeds out the weakest members." "One…two…three…four…" the Gunslinger starts counting. "Don't panic," says Jaco. "Finish getting dressed, we'll be leaving in a moment." "Thirteen…fourteen…fifteen…" the Gunslinger continues to count while we hurriedly slip into our gear. "Stand against the back of the tent," orders Jaco. I think Jack is fearless, at least out of water. He never takes his eyes off the lead Gunslinger. We all slowly step backwards until we are pressed up against the back of the tent. I don't know what Jaco is planning, we can't possibly crawl under the tent before they could shoot us, and anyway the tent is staked down, I know, we are the ones that put the tent up. "Fifty-three…fifty-four…fifty-five," the Gunslinger continues, her hand twitching slightly at her gun. "Arrogant Gunslingers," spits Jaco angrily. "Always your undoing, did you think it would be this easy to capture a Raven and his Alliance." Alliance? I know what a Raven Alliance is, Jaco explained it to me, but I didn't know that is how he sees the class. I suppose it makes sense, he's a Raven, so he sees me as his partner and the class as his Alliance. "Fifty-eight…fifty-nine…" Jaco spins and deploys his wings. I can see the lead Gunslinger's eyes widen in shock, she hadn't expected this. The four Gunslingers turn away and double over to protect themselves from the razor-sharp tips of Jaco's feathers. The feathers, made from an ultra-thin and nearly impenetrable Demonian alloy, rake deep grooves in the Gunslingers flex-armor. Jaco keeps his wings spread at their full wing-span, they are now a shield between us and the Gunslingers. Jaco leaps forward, drawing his talon dagger, and cuts an opening in the back of the tent. "GO!" shouts Jaco. We scramble for the opening and dive outside into the snow. Gunshots explode as Feeder and Sprint jump through the opening last. Jaco holds his wings open and blocks the opening, and in effect, creates a bullet proof shield against the back of the tent. Jaco steps through the opening and slips out of the glider harness, and Jaco turns around and does something in a control panel at the back of the wings and the wings burst into bluish white flames; the tent catches fire immediately. "Follow me," orders Jaco. "The Dining Cabin is the other way," shouts Misfire hesitating. I follow Jaco, and the rest of the class follows me. Jaco seems to know what he is doing and we run east and then cross the road. I glance back and can see the four Gunslingers crawling out of the burning tent coughing and choking on the smoke from the fire. "Wait, Misfire didn't follow, he's going the other way," I shout. I hear two gunshots in the distance and then silence. Jaco jumps down into a small gully and the others jump into the snow next to us. "We have to go back," I tell Jaco. "It's too late, he's already dead," says Jaco. "What?" "Where was their fifth Gunslinger?" says Jaco. I look up at the smoking rising over the trees and realize what Jaco is saying. They left one Gunslinger outside to ambush us if we would have tried to run straight towards the Dining Cabin, like Misfire did. "I don't care, we don't leave anyone," I insist. Jaco's expression says he thinks it's foolish but he nods and gets up and runs diagonally through the woods, circling around the burning tent. We run after Jaco, and I can just see the four Gunslingers still on the ground coughing, they haven't recovered yet. Once we get around the tent Jaco runs parallel to road and then slides to a stop and dives prone behind a tree and points at the road. I can see Misfire laying in the road, and I think there's blood around him. I can't tell if he's alive or not from here. Jaco scans the area in front of us but its Rock that sees the fifth Gunslinger first and points. The Gunslinger is on our side of the road behind a log, but she's not watching this direction. Jaco motions for Sprint, Rock, and Sleepy to circle around and flank her. The rest of us wait while until they get into position, the Gunslinger still hasn't looked this direction yet. Sprint, Rock, and Sleepy make it into position and the moment they open fire the Gunslinger rolls to the side of the log and returns fire. Jaco, Twig, Feeder, and I jump up and run for the road where Misfire is. Jaco motions Twig and Feeder to watch for the other four Gunslingers while Jaco and I grab Misfire; he's alive and looks up at us. "She shot me," Misfire whispers. The color was drained from Misfire's face, and there is a wound on his arm. I think the bullet went all the way through and isn't too serious, Misfire is probably just in shock. We start dragging Misfire back to the trees when a bullet whizzes past my head. The other four Gunslingers are coming. Twig and Feeder return fire and then we all run into the woods. Jaco lets out a screech that to me sounds like a hawk, or maybe a falcon. Sprint, Rock, and Sleepy get up and run towards us and catch up. I can see the fifth Gunslinger running through the trees to block us from circling around her and making a dash for the Dining Cabin. "This way," says Jaco changing directions and heading deeper into the woods away from Dining Cabin. "Where are we going?" I ask. "We need to put some distance between us and them," says Jaco. "They can just track us through the snow." "I have a plan." Jaco changes directions again and we pass Gunslinger Michael's cabin. Michael is outside chopping wood and his son. The boy is maybe twelve years old. Kids that live on the base aren't seen very often, they are supposed to stay within the boundary of their cabins unless they are coming or going from school. Gunslinger Michael stops what he is doing and he and the boy walk over to us. "Sir, Misfire's been shot, we need help," says Jaco. Gunslinger Michael pulls a card from his pocket and unfolds it and shows us the card; it has a red dot on it. "Everyone on the base has one of these cards, they were passed out randomly," says Gunslinger Michael. "Green means we can help you, red means we report your position immediately if we see you." "Come on dad," says the boy. "He's bleeding, that could be me some day." Gunslinger Michael smiles at the boy. "Run inside and get the first-aid kit, hurry." The boy retrieves the first-aid kit and Gunslinger Michael looks at Misfire's wound and then puts a field bandage on it. When the boy thinks his father isn't looking he pushes an orange juice bottle and a package of antibiotics into my hand. "It'll make him feel better," whispers the boy. Gunslinger Michael finishes wrapping Misfire's arm and nods towards the road. "I'll give you five minutes and I'm calling in that you were here," says Gunslinger Michael. Jaco leads us to the road and turns south, even further away from the Dining Cabin, but fortunately we don't pass anyone else that might give us away. "Jaco, this road heads towards our cabins," says Rock. "That's the first place they'll check." "We're not going to our cabins, trust me," says Jaco. Misfire is woozy and I give him the orange juice and one of the antibiotics. I don't know where Jaco is going, but so far he's done great. He might not be any good around water, but he's a master at escaping. We reach an intersection that's actually the same road we started on but Jaco changes directions onto another road heading north-east. I think he is doing all the direction changes on purpose to throw off our pursuers, we haven't seen them since the gunfight. "Do you think we lost them?" I ask. "No, they know we are east of the Dining Cabin, and if Gunslinger Michael really does call it in, they know the area to search," says Jaco, "but they aren't going to try and chase us on foot. I think they went to the Corral to get horses." I think Jaco is exactly right, it makes the most sense. If Jaco is one of the dumb Ravens, I'd hate to go up against one of the smart Ravens. We follow the road for another twenty minutes or so before Jaco stops. "We're here," says Jaco. Jaco is facing a snow covered sign that says 'Camp Serione'. The cabin looks abandoned, and there are no tracks leading through the snow to the cabin, it just looks empty. "Jaco, I don't think anyone lives here." "I know, nobody does, this is where I hid before I met you," says Jaco. "Okay, I want everyone to walk in single file, make it look like one person has been walking to and from the cabin. Sprint and Feeder, you walk at the end, and I want you to walk backwards so the tracks look like someone has been coming and going." I would never have thought of doing that. Jaco leads the way and we push through the snow to the cabin. When we get to the cabin Jaco pushes the door open and then stops and turns around. "Rock, grab that shovel and clean off this porch, quickly, it needs to look lived in," orders Jaco. "Those Team Gunslingers won't know which cabins are abandoned and which are lived in, they are visitors. Twig, you and Sprint crawl up on the roof and push as much snow off as you can. Feeder, you walk over to that little barn and back a few times, leave some tracks. Hero, get inside and light a fire, all the lived-in cabins have smoke coming from the chimneys." Jaco is right, they won't check the lived in cabins, at least not at first. They will check all the buildings that look abandoned and a place escapees might try to hide. Jaco has chosen a perfect spot, there is a little cliff behind the cabin, they won't come from that direction, and it's open to the front, and we can see both the east and west road from here. The Team Gunslingers won't be sneaking up on us. Twenty minutes later our preparations are complete, Misfire is sound asleep in front of the fire, and we have lookouts positioned at the windows. "I want a two-hour sleep plan in effect immediately," orders Jaco. "We need to hold here until night and then we make a dash for the Dining Cabin." "How, they will still be out there?" asks Sprint. "No they won't, nobody will," says Jaco cryptically. Jaco heads over to the Vid-screen on the wall and starts taking it apart. The Vid-screen is an older one, I don't think there's been a Gunslinger Serione for a very long time. The hours slip by and we don't see anyone until almost mid-afternoon when Sprint calls out. "Hey, I think that's them." Jaco and I run over and carefully peek out between the curtains, there are two Gunslingers on horses passing on the road. "Yea, that's them," I whisper. The two Team Gunslingers stop, look at the cabin for a moment, and then ride on. I think we got away with it, they don't suspect anything. Jaco goes back to the Vid-screen and continues doing whatever it is he's doing. We see the Team Gunslingers pass the cabin two more times and then it's quiet for several more hours. I think they will start checking lived-in cabins soon. The sun is going down and it's getting colder outside, they know if we are outside we would be getting very cold by now and would be looking for shelter. I'm grateful we didn't have to stay outside in the snow all day, thanks to Jaco and his quick thinking. Rock relieves me and I lay down to sleep, and I do for maybe an hour when Jaco wakes me up. "It's time," says Jaco shaking me. Jaco motions everyone over and wakes up Misfire. "Listen up, this is the plan," says Jaco. "We won't go on the roads, there is a path from here all the way to the Dining Cabin, I've run it many times when I hid here and had to go steal food. Misfire, do you think you can run?" "Yea, I'm feeling better now, my arm burns like heck, but I can run--she actually shot me." "Oh stop your whining," says Rock. "You get shot and see how you like it," says Misfire sulkily. "There will be lots of traffic on the roads," explains Jaco, "but nobody will be in the woods on the paths, and by the time we get to Dining Cabin, there won't be anyone in the upper camp." I don't know how Jaco is going to make that happen, but we all just shrug, if he says he can do it, then he can. Jaco gets up and goes over to the Vid-screen and looks back at us grinning. [End Part I]