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"Flattery'll get you nowhere Caleb." Sadie let out a grin. Seeing that, Caleb could only shake his head at her antics. At such a serious and dangerous moment, she could joke about such a thing and keep her cool which is actually a testament to her skill and also confidence I should say.
As he was thinking so, he signaled to Sadie that they would take out the two oncoming Lemoyne Raiders just like how they took out the previous two.
Receiving that signal, Sadie nodded her head and mouthed, "I got you, Tacitus dear," to which she then took out her knife. Caleb, seeing that, mouthed back to her to stop it and focus.
He still held his knife, ensured his grip on it, and then began to count backward using his fingers, three, two, one, according to the sound of the footsteps approaching their location.
When they heard the sound of the footsteps right near them and the gasps as the Lemoyne Raiders discovered the two bodies of their compatriots, Caleb put down the one finger.
Together with Sadie, they sprang up. Caleb took the one on the right and Sadie the one on the left. In tandem, they clamped a hand over the mouths of the two Lemoyne Raiders and then plunged their knives.
The difference was that Caleb plunged his right into the neck, while Sadie stabbed the front of the chest a couple of times. The two Lemoyne Raiders, surprised and wanting to react, were too late. They died in no time.
Caleb let out a breath and said to Sadie, "Good work," before then telling her, "We should hide the bodies. Can't leave them in the open like this. We need to thin out more of them before they notice."
Sadie nodded in agreement, and together they moved the four bodies behind the barrels. Caleb took this opportunity to pat them down, extracting around 11 dollars and 72 cents, alongside a couple of silver pocket watches and one gold ring.
Seeing this, Sadie let out a chuckle. "Looks like someone's instincts as an outlaw can't stop himself."
Caleb chuckled as he put the items into his satchel. "Money's money. These four don't need it anymore anyway."
He hovered his hand over the revolvers still holstered on the Lemoyne Raiders and a repeater. Inwardly, he willed for the bullets to be transferred into his inventory, done instantly while the revolvers and the repeater remained untouched. Sadie didn't notice a thing.
With the bodies hidden and looted, Caleb and Sadie walked silently, sneaking through the shadows until they reached a new vantage point.
They hid as they saw two Lemoyne Raiders on the tower, scanning the courtyard before turning their attention to the outside of the fort. Meanwhile, four others stood by the main gate, laughing and smoking.
Sadie glanced at them and then whispered to Caleb, her tone a bit frustrated. "How the hell do we take out all four of them? We can't just pick 'em off in pairs like before. They're too close together."
Caleb crouched behind the wall to the right while Sadie hid on the left. He was silent for a while, thinking.
Then, he got an idea. He leaned toward Sadie and whispered, "What if I put on one of those dead Lemoyne Raiders' coats and hat, blend in, lure them over, and then we hit 'em from both sides, you from the back with your knife, and me from the front."
Sadie looked skeptical, even though her voice stayed low. "Will that even work? You don't exactly scream southern."
Caleb gave her a grin. "Don't worry. I can do a real gruff southern accent if I want to."
Sadie rolled her eyes. "Sure you can. If you mess it up, I'm shooting."
Caleb nodded. "Fair deal."
He crept back to the pile of bodies they'd hidden and began stripping one of the corpses, taking the dusty dark blue coat, a worn out blue Civil War hat with a bullet hole in it, and wrapping a tattered bandana around his neck.
He checked the mirror of a broken lantern near to adjust the hat and muttered a few lines to himself in the voice he planned to use.
Then he returned to the wall, gave Sadie a reassuring glance, and took a deep breath.
He stepped into the open with a slow, casual gait.
The four Lemoyne Raiders at the gate turned their heads.
Caleb waved and called out in a deep, gravelly southern drawl. "Y'all ain't gonna believe what I found back near them barrels! Thought I heard somethin' movin', might be a possum or one of them damn rats again."
The nearest Raider, turned with a scowl. "Who the hell're you? Ain't seen you 'round before."
Caleb kept his face angled away as he walked closer, exaggerating his limp. "New guy from Saint Denis. Name's... uh, Cole." He coughed violently into his sleeve. "Boss Wofford put me on wall duty after that mess with the Rhodes boys."
The second one, younger with a lazy eye, squinted at him. "You sound funny."
"Caught a bullet in the lung last month," Caleb rasped, tapping his chest. "Doc says I'll always talk like I'm garglin' gravel now."
The third Raider snorted. "Hell, Cole here sounds like my Aunt Betsy after her tenth whiskey."
The four of them Lemoyne Raiders snickered hearing that.
"Here, you poor bastard. You got shot on the chest and could still be spooked by a rat now, Cole?" one of them asked, tossing his cigarette. But they followed him.
"Come on, man. Ain't no possum worth that much noise."
Caleb scratched his head, feigning irritation. "Well, if it ain't, I'll just shoot it dead and be done with it. But I ain't goin' alone."
That did it. The four men walked toward him, passing through the open yard and approaching the walls where Sadie waited.
Caleb backed away slowly, drawing them further.
Then it was time.
As the lead man rounded the corner, Caleb dropped the act and moved fast, utilizing his hand to hand combat skills. His left hand slammed into the first man's nose with a loud crunch, and his right slammed the butt of a revolver into the jaw of the second. He swept the legs of a third, sending him to the ground.
Before the fourth could react, Sadie emerged from behind the barrels and drove her knife into his side. She spun, slitting the throat of the third as he tried to get up. Caleb ducked a wild punch from the first, then kicked him in the stomach, grabbed his collar, and slammed him face first into the stone wall.
The second tried to go for a gun, but Caleb was faster. He drove his knife into the man's chest and twisted.
It was over in seconds.
Caleb exhaled hard. He crouched over the bodies and started dragging them to the shadows with Sadie.
"Okay," Sadie said, wiping her blade clean. "I'll admit it. That was slick."
Caleb flashed a grin. "Told you I could do the voice."
"You still sounded like a drunk preacher," she muttered.
He chuckled, looting the bodies quickly. They netted another 10 dollars and 21 cents alongside a gold pocket compass, which Caleb added to his growing haul inside his satchel. He took the bullets again by using his inventory system silently.
Now, with eight Raiders dead, the fort was beginning to feel emptier. Still, there were more.
They paused beneath the tower. Two guards remained, scanning slowly. They couldn't afford to let them raise the alarm.
Caleb whispered, "We take the tower next. If one of them spots the blood trail or has already heard about our scuffle, we're screwed."
Sadie nodded. "You want top or bottom?"
"I'll go up. You circle around and take the shot if anything goes wrong."
Sadie moved off as Caleb crept up the creaking wooden stairs. Each step was a risk. He slowed his breathing, fingers curling around the hilt of his knife.
At the top, one of the guards leaned lazily over the rail.
Caleb rose up and drove his knife straight into the man's back, pulling him down without a sound. The second turned, but Sadie, true to form, had crept into range and hurled her knife like a bullet.
It struck the man in the throat.
He gurgled and dropped, out of sight.
Caleb exhaled. "Clean."
Sadie retrieved her knife and met him at the top of the tower. From here, they could see most of the fort.
Only a few more patrols remained. But now the door to the barracks door was suddenly opened.
And from it stepped a man in a dark blue coat. Tall. Thin. A rifle slung on his back.
Their bounty.
Sadie squinted. "That's him. That's the bastard who tortured that woman."
Caleb nodded grimly.
They had found their target.
Meanwhile, below, Lindsey Wofford, having stepped out of the barracks with the swagger of a man too sure of himself, squinted around the courtyard. His brows knitted together at the eerie quiet. There were fewer men than usual milling about, and something about the stillness didn't sit right.
He turned and shouted, voice echoing across the cracked stone. "All you bastards better not be slackin' off! Get yer lazy asses back to position before I start hangin' you by your own damn belts!"
From the top of the tower, Caleb crouched low beside Sadie, watching Wofford pace in confusion.
Caleb muttered, "You want him alive or dead? We get the same reward either way."
Sadie, still watching through narrowed eyes, slowly took out her revolver and smirked. "Alive, of course. Where's the fun if there's no challenge?"
Caleb groaned, though it had more humor than frustration in it. "You're really a crazy lady, you know that, Mrs. Adler? This is the first and last damn time I go bounty hunting with you."
Sadie bumped her shoulder into his. "Oh, quit whining. You love it. Anyway, since we've agreed, you go down, I'll stay up here. Covering fire for you up here while you go and handle that a shard down there and capture him alive for us."
Caleb gave her a long suffering look, one brow raised. "Why do I feel like I'm doing all the heavy lifting here?"
Sadie grinned widely, her southern accent thick as molasses. "Because you are, sugar. Now take it like the man I know you are and show me that real Caleb Thorne in action. You remember, the one who helped me and Arthur wipe the floor with a dozen Lemoyne Raiders coming at us like it was nothing."
He shook his head, but there was a smile tugging at his lips as he descended from the tower. He crept through the broken beams, keeping low and out of sight, slipping behind crates stacked with rifles and liquor.
Sadie shifted to get a better angle from above, her eyes never leaving Wofford, who was now barking orders to a few guards who'd emerged from the lower barracks.
Caleb crouched behind one particularly large crate and pulled both his Navy and Schofield Revolvers from their holsters, one in each hand. He glanced back toward the tower, saw Sadie give him a thumbs up.
Then he rose and shouted across the courtyard in a voice loud and firm.
"Lindsey Wofford! You're under arrest for crimes against the state! Surrender now and come with us to Rhodes, or this ends ugly!"
Wofford froze. He turned slowly, his eyes narrowing. His mouth twisted into a cruel grin before he burst into laughter. "You think you're gonna take me in? Dead maybe, but alive? Never!"
He raised his voice and hollered, "GET 'EM!" From the shadows, half a dozen Lemoyne Raiders appeared, rifles raised. Caleb dove back behind the crates as bullets peppered the wooden barriers, splinters flying.
Sadie opened fire from above, her revolver cracking like thunder. One Raider dropped with a bullet in his shoulder, spinning before crashing into a barrel. Another took a shot to the leg and tumbled into the mud, crying out.
...
Name: Caleb Thorne
Age: 23
Body Attributes:
- Strength: 7/10
- Agility: 6/10
- Perception: 8/10
- Stamina: 7/10
- Charm: 5/10
- Luck: 6/10
Skills:
- Handgun (Lvl 2)
- Rifle (Lvl 2)
- Firearms Knowledge (Lvl 2)
- Past Life Memory (Lvl MAX)
- Knife (Lvl 2)
- Blunt Weapon (Lvl 1)
- Sneaking (Lvl 2)
- Horse Mastery (Lvl 3)
- Poker (Lvl 4)
- Hand to Hand Combat (Lvl 2)
- Eagle Eye (Lvl 1)
- Dead Eye (Lvl 2)
- Bow (Lvl 2)
- Pain Nullifier (Lvl 1)
- Physical Regeneration (Lvl 0)
- Crafting (Lv 2)
- Persuasion (Lvl 2)
- Mental Fortitude (Lvl MAX)
- Cooking (Lvl 2)
- Teaching (Lvl 1)
- Germanic Language Proficiency (Lvl MAX)
- Inventory System (Permanent - 5x5x5)
- Acting (Lvl 1)
Money: 522 dollars and 0 cents
Inventory: 3,245 dollars, 2 gold nuggets, 5 gold bars, 4 silver rings, 1 Double Action, 1 Schofield, a large bag of jewelry, and 3 gold nuggets
Bank: -