Relentless Boundaries

The carriage landed near the edge of the forest I had escaped from earlier and Luna excused the Pegasus flying the wagon and explicitly ordered them to not tell anyone where we had gone. As we entered the forest I checked the checked my gun to make sure it was loaded, of course it was I hadn’t unloaded it. 10 rounds, 2 spent on kicking up dirt that left 8. I checked my pockets and realized that most of my equipment was in the camouflage jacket, all I had was 8 rounds and my 2 knives, didn’t matter I only needed to talk with Ricardo and convince him to leave with me and things would be fine.

I stopped and looked at a footprint, it was a boot, the same treading pattern that Ricardo had but he was accompanied by another set of prints. The other set was that of a small horse, ‘figures, he gets another partner’ I thought to myself. I got up and Luna looked to me with curiosity “what’s wrong?” she asked, “shhh” I hushed and she put a hoof to her mouth, “these tracks are fresh, less than a day and it’s my friends footprints” I whispered and she nodded. I continued to follow the trail quietly and kept low as I stalked along the trail. I heard branched being crushed behind me and I stopped and looked to Luna, “what is it” she gasped quietly and I tapped my ear. “We don’t understand” she whispered.

“You have to be real quiet or my friend will shoot you dead and uhm… try not to make any sudden movements when we meet him” I whispered and she nodded. I turned back around and continued quietly along the trail and Luna followed close behind, I respect her for trying but Ricardo was going to hear us a mile away if I continued on with Luna. “Whoa hold up” I whispered and Luna froze and peered around the forest “what do you see?” she asked quietly, “don’t know but I think I can get closer… stay here and keep watch” I ordered and she nodded ‘sorry Luna but you’re going to give me away’ I thought to myself.

I continued along the trail of footprints and I thought I heard something. I stopped and listened closely, it sounded like… voices. I crept along through the shadows of the trees and approached the origin of the voices. I saw a small little makeshift camp and quietly crept up on it, my SKS leading my way. I crouched down beside a tent and looked around. The voices sounded like they were coming from the tent and I looked around at the rest of the camp: small fire pit, rotisserie, the double barrel .577 and a little butchering station which was currently covered in blood and guts, ‘defiantly Ricardo’ I thought. I crept over and picked up the double barrel and slung it across my back and grabbed the box of ammo and looked inside of the box ’10 shot’ I thought to myself and went around to the front of the tent and pointed it at the tent “Ricardo come out” I ordered but he didn’t answer instead he continued his conversation with whoever he was talking to “yeah so anyway we were just driving along and BAM” he went on. I snarled “RICARDO GET OUT HERE NOW” I ordered but he continued his conversation “anyway so I wake up with this throbbing headache and the next thing I know” he continued but I had no time for this.

I unzipped the tent and barged in with my SKS pointing towards the voice. The voices continued their conversation but it wasn’t really Ricardo, just a recorded tape being played on a cassette player. “Fuck” I whispered and ran out of the tent just as a shot rang out through the forest and a hole was torn in the tent. I lept behind a tree as another shot flew past me. I laid down on the ground and the grass somewhat covered my body, another 2 shots were fired and 2 well placed holes were torn through it, if I had of been crouched down I would’ve probably been shot.

“Hey Ron nice of you to join us… come to bring me in?” he asked, crazed by god only knows what. “Ricardo just listen to me man” I yelled out and another shot went off, ripping a large hole through the tree. “Ricardo man, listen we could both be sent home… you know back to earth” I yelled out. “Nah I think I like it here and besides you really think that after all I’ve done that they’ll just let me walk away” he laughed insanely. He had a point, I doubt that the princess would really let him go after all this, “listen uhh… Ron tell you what, let’s just join forces and take down the government here, then we could run things our way?” he offered. “No deal Ricardo now put down your gun and let’s talk” I yelled out and he laughed. “Alright let’s talk” he said in a calm voice and I believed him foolishly and stood up and approached the camp, a thunderous boom rang out and a .308 round tore through my left arm “gah fuck” I yelled and fell to the ground in pain.

I began to roll sideways as more rounds tore up the dirt beside me as he tried to shoot me. I rolled behind a tree and tried to ready my SKS but found it to be extremely painful. I looked at the wound, the round had torn through my bicep but hadn’t hit the born and had passed right through. I painfully grasped my rifle and peeked out the side of the tree, I saw a glint of Ricardo’s rifle scope just as a shot went off and a chunk of the tree exploded beside my face and sent splinters into my face. I winced in pain and pulled the larger splinters out and slide down the tree. 3 more shots thundered and .308 put a trio of holes in the tree in a perfect triangle.

I rolled to one side and lined up a shot but memories of our childhood raced through my mind, I couldn’t kill my only friend, we had been through so much together. Apparently he didn’t mind killing me however as more rounds erupted beside me, thank god he was a terrible shot. I rolled to one side and crouched behind a tree, leaning out to one side I took an aimed shot at the general area that the scope glare had come from. I heard Ricardo let out a scream of pain, ‘shit I didn’t mean to hit him’ I thought to myself and stood up, another .308 round boomed and tore through my upper right chest and kicked me to the ground.

I landed with a THUMP and rolled to one side as more rounds erupted and kicked up dirt from my previous location. I took cover behind a tree and looked at my chest, it was bleeding profusely but hopefully I hadn’t been hit anywhere vital. I grasped the rifle tightly and spun around the tree and fired off a trio of rounds, the SKS boomed and sent 7.62x39mm rounds propelling through the air. They fluffed up some dirt but didn’t hit Ricardo, which for some weird reason gave me a sigh of relief. Another BOOM echoed and a .308 round hit me in the lower gut and knocked me back, but I kept my footing, another round exploded in the air and tore through my right leg, I fell to my knees and rolled.

Blood began to soak my overcoat that Rarity had crafter for me, no doubt she’d want to wash it or something. I swung out from the tree and yelled out “Ricardo last chance give up or” I yelled but he interrupted me by shooting me with another .308 round which grazed the left side of my chest and cut the muscle surrounding my ribs. I let out a yelp of pain and fell to the ground. Blood leaked out and began to soak into the dirt. I rolled to the side but was caught in a magical blue aurora and lifted into the air.

Ricardo stood up, “nothing like a bit of magic to help me out eh” he laughed. “You aren’t a fuckin spell caster…” I gasped in pain as blood trickled down my body and dropped onto the ground. “No but she is” he laughed and pointed to a blue unicorn that stood beside him “TRIXIE” I snarled and gritted my teeth, “this is what happens when you mess with a mare’s heart” she snarled back. “It’s insane, she actually approached me while I was gutting the frigging horse and asked to join me… can you believe that shit” he laughed. “Horse fucker” I snarled, “hey what we do together is private and besides I know you’re fuckin that redneck chick, you know the one at the farm” he laughed. My eyes went wide “yes that’s right I know where you’ve been this whole time” he laughed insanely.

I gritted my teeth “stay the… fuck away from them” I snarled but began to stutter in pain. “Oh please don’t give me that, I mean what are you going to do? Call that blue unicorn thing over to fight?” he asked and my eyes once again went wide. “What you didn’t think I heard her tramping around with you a mile away” he laughed and I gritted my teeth as he lined up his rifle “well see you around Ron” he laughed as he pulled the trigger on his rifle, a .308 round burst from the muzzle of his gun and slammed into my shoulder, it felt as if my shoulder literally exploded. I gripped the SKS tight to make sure I didn’t drop it and with an extreme amount of pain searing through my body lifted my SKS rifle with grunts of pain and pointed it at Trixie and Ricardo, Trixie gasped and with her magical enchantment threw me through the forest away from their location.

Her magical aurora disappeared and my body hurtled through the air, breaking tree branches and crashing through small trees. My body finally slammed into a tree and I fell to the ground. I grunted in pain and tried to stand up, it was painfully hard but I managed, if I hadn’t had such a hard life I probably would’ve just rolled over and died. I began staggering through the forest and Luna quickly flew down to me “let us help you” she offered but I continued on through the forest. “Please let us help” Luna pleaded but I somehow just kept staggering. Blood soaked through the coat and trickled onto the ground, leaving a trail of blood.

“I can make it” I grumbled in pain, “yes we believe you can make it, just please be kind to yourself and allow us to help you” she pleaded. I gritted my teeth as I saw the exit to the forest and staggered violently towards the exit. I let out grunts of pain as my body tried to stop me from continuing but I had a strong will.

We left the forest and I fell to my knees and collapsed but caught myself by putting my hands out. Blood oozed out and dripped onto the ground, I had been shot before but not this many times at once. “There, you are out now please let us assist you” she begged, “why do you care so much if I die” I gasped in pain and she walked over to me and lowered her head beside me “because you may be the only one who can stop him, and if you die and I could’ve stopped it I would have to live with yet another guilt” she whispered soothingly. I winced in pain and stood up “but if I couldn’t make it to a house by myself, I should’ve been dead… at least let me make it to a house” I told her and began staggering, I saw a small beautiful little cottage “see that cottage if I can make it there on my own then I could’ve made it there had I been alone. That way it’ll sooth my inner tension about how close to death I was” I muttered. “You have some strange morals” Luna mentioned as I staggered towards the cottage.

My vision began to blur as I neared the cottage and I staggered more often, she leaned her body into mine to support me “I don’t need help” I gasped, she looked to me “we are not helping we are simply guiding you, it’s more like making a path for you” she told me and I chuckled “you have… a strange sense of kindness” I laughed painfully and she shook her head “and you, you have a strange sense of humor”. I managed to get up the steps and opened the door to the cottage and staggered in, blood still dripping. A puddle began to start on the floor, no one was home, even if I had managed to make it this far I still would’ve just died in this cottage.

I fell to my knees, Ricardo had bested me every step of the way, he was better and I deserved to die. “For all my sins… may God have mercy on my soul” I gasped and collapsed finally, images of me and Ricardo playing together in the streets of Detroit started going through my head. I heard a gasp and looked towards where it had come from. It was the yellow Pegasus from the throne room, “oh my goodness” she peeped and quickly raced over to my side and looked at my wounds. She quickly turned away and raced off muttering “I can fix this, I can fix this”. I chuckled as more images of Ricardo and myself played through my mind, this one was when we were working for the Mafia, then more images played of how we had went to Africa. The yellow Pegasus returned with a medical kit and opened up my coat to start treating my wounds, I grabbed her and brought her face close to mine “Thank… thank you” I gasped quietly and my head flopped back onto the floor and my world went black, images of Ricardo shooting me one final time and Trixie standing beside him played through my mind, he had bested me and that’s all there was to it.

Author’s note to readers:

So just so you all know this isn’t the end of the book but it’s been kind of fun writing it so far, any of which I just thought I’d say it’s pretty cool that people are actually reading this book, I thought like 1 person might read this book but it’s all right and I just wanted to say thanks for reading my story it means alot that people will actually read a story (even if it's probably not that good)