I’ve noticed some background stories, so here goes mine. I hope it’s not too long.
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Seven months ago on Eire, a backwater agricultural planet
The rain had begun an hour before, and his boots sucked at the muddy path with every step he took. The length and difficulty of the day exhibited signs on his sleeveless arms as his biceps twitched uncontrollably. His left boot sunk into a low spot on the path, and he heaved his leg upward, pulling his foot free from the boot, and sending him into an unbalanced pirouette. His spinning form thudded to the sloshing mud pit, coating one side of him with a thick layer of muck, and the other with tiny flecks of brown.
Patrick Hennessy sat up and did what any good Irishman would do in this situation. He blinked his eyes, stared at his mud encrusted body and began to laugh. Not a chuckle. Not a grin. No, this laugh came from the belly.
A dozen feet in front of the medium framed laughing mud-man, a door swung open. His eyes were blurred with rain and tears of laughter, but he could never mistake the image in the doorway. The tiny woman leaned against the doorjamb and crossed her arms. She grinned at Patrick with a slyness, that was both playful and mocking at the same time.
“Well,” he managed to get out as his laughing subsided, “are you going to help me up, or just stand there enjoying the show.”
Caitlin Hennessy uncrossed her arms and reached down to slip off her shoes. She leaned her head upward and smiled at her husband. Her smile was partially hidden by the long orangish/red hair cascading across her face. “ You know,” she informed him “I don’t wade through the muck for just anyone.”
She stepped off the concrete pad in front of the small hut and her bare feet sank into the mud. Her freckled face wrinkled in disgust as her feet gushed with each step. She stood over her husband and extended her hand.
With surprising agility, Patrick grabbed his wife around the waist and twisted her to the ground splashing into the pools of rainwater and mud. The two twisted in the mud, laughing hysterically in the rain. The tussle ended with Patrick straddling Caitlin, her arms pinned firmly beneath his hands.
She spit out a mouth full of wet and muddy red hair and wiggled slightly under him. She grinned up at him and said coyly, “You seem to have me at a disadvantage, sir”.
Patrick leaned his head closer to her slowly. She closed her eyes expectantly.
Neither husband nor wife noticed the form that had approached them during their playing. So enraptured with newlywed love, their ears were deaf to the sound of the hammer being cocked on the revolver. So lost in passion and happiness, she did not distinguish the difference between the crash of thunder and the gun shot that sent the bullet cleanly through Patrick’s skull. His body toppled sideways as a stream of crimson poured like a bizarre fountain.
Disoriented in the rain, confused by her husbands erratic fall, Caitlin Hennessy found herself lying in the middle of a muddy path, speckled with flecks of mud and blood, and with a revolved pressed against her temple, held by a man she knew all too well.
“Two years, Katie”, the man breathed. “It took me two $@&%ing years”.
Caitlin’s head fogged as she found it impossible to make sense of what had just happened.
“Did you really think you could hide from me forever?” Venom seeped into every word the man spoke. “I found your mother, Katie Darlin’,” he whispered into her ear, his gun still pressing tightly against her skull. “I found her and took her apart piece, by piece.” The man snaked his tongue out and licked her muddy cheek.
Caitlin’s eyes strained to the left, looking for help. But the only thing she saw was her husband’s dead body sprawled next to her.
“Oh, it’s going to be just like old times, Katie,” he grunted.
The man took the barrel away from her head and swung it viciously to crack her cheek open. He stood up and began to loosen his belt. “Ah, the runt of the litter.” He cackled madly. “If you had been a dog, you would have been put in a sack and taken down to the river.” The man paused to consider his words and must have come across something particularly sick and twisted because he began to laugh wildly.
As he laughed, Caitlin reached over to her husband. At his belt, he carried a large knife. She drew the blade slowly out from the belt. Noticing her movements, the man stomped on her wrist, which snapped like a dry twig. She howled with pain, put was resolved never to allow herself to be owned by this monster again. Her free hand grabbed his ankle and pulled with every ounce of strength in her body.
Aided by the slick mud, the man’s foot slid forward and his body fell backward. As he fell, he pointed and shot.
Searing pain blazed through her shoulder as the bullet passed through her. Ignoring the pain, she grabbed at the knife with her right hand and slashed randomly upward as the recovering monster made ready his next attack.
Blood sprayed her face as she cut a swath across his right eye. Both combatants scrambled to their feet. The pistol was raised for another shot but was visibly shaky. Not taking the time to consider the outcome of blade versus gun, Caitlin Hennessy dodged the next bullet and began to run. Two more shot were fired before she ran out of range, the first being wide to the left and the second grazing her left leg.
One week later…
A note from the planet Rubi-Ka
Dear Caitlin,
I just received your last message. Everything is arranged on my end. You’ll be traveling and living here under the name Hattie Callagher. In the five months I’ve been here, I’m convinced that this is the perfect place for you. There’s so much political turmoil here, you can blend in and no one will ever notice you. I’m begging you, stay away from the cities. Don’t draw attention to yourself, or get involved with anyone who gets media attention. He found and killed mom, he found you, and he can find you again. Safe journey, Sis.
Marge
Today on Omni-Prime……..
The mid-level administrator gleans reports from the planet Rubi-Ka. His good left eye almost misses the two-week old announcement of a party. The picture next to the bi-line has shorter hair, but the freckles and eyes spark undeniable recognition. He mumbles to himself…”Nice planet ya got there, Katie.”
- AO webcomics for the sake of being silly
WOW!
eheheh
