Don't Go Empty Handed

Day One - Evening

Gill had spent a good few hours banging against the shack door to no avail. He had cried out and cursed in every language he knew until his voice had grown horse. It had been the heat of the afternoon that had finally beaten him and he sat slumped against the near wall his cheeks stained with tears and his breath coming in ragged sobs.

Throughout all of this Haddie had not stirred. She sat with her back against the far wall and her eye fixed upon the sliver of light that crept in from under the door. Gill tried to speak to her to reassure her but she did not respond. She had been like this after the Reaver ship. Weeks of not moving, not making a sound.

The afternoon wore on and the light outside began to grow dim. Gill closed his eyes as the heat and exaution took its tole. He awoke in the pitch dark to the sound of scratching and scraping inside the shack.

"Haddie?" He whispered in the dark and the scratching stopped. He saw his sisters small shadow move towards him in the darkness and she reached to tug at his sleave.

Following her he came to a small depression in the ground where she had been using the dogs feeding bowl to dig into the ground. He reached down and gasped as his hand passed through to the outside. She had been digging under the wall! Why hadn't he thought of that?

Gill joined in now and as the evening wore on they managed to make a sizable hole beneath the wall. Big enough for Haddie to squeeze under. Gill continued to dig but Haddie placed a hand on his arm and signalled her intent. Gill started to protest but after the first few faltering words grew silent. It would probably take a few more hours to dig the hole big enough for him and that increased the chances of them getting caught. He gave a sigh of resignation and motioned for Haddie to go.

She did not waste any time as she scrambled down and wormed her way beneath the wall and out into the night. Gill held his breath as he listened to her scrape free on the other side before padding round to the door. There was a long moment of silence then and Gill fought the urge to call out. Then with a sudden scraping lurch the door hinged open to reveal Haddie standing in the moonlight holding a machete. The old man must have used the thing to jam the door shut on them.

"I'll take that." Gill said with a grin as he emerged from the shack.

He took a moment to consider their options. Old Joe was a threat that was for sure and come morning the Fed's would be here to collect them and showing their mug shots all over town. That meant they needed to get out into the verse again, but they had burned their only ticket by running away from the Veil. If they went back now they would be turned away for sure, so they had to run, to getmout of town, but with no money, no supplies they would not last five minutes. Gill looked down at the machete in his fist and then up at Old Joes store. They would not leave here empty handed the old bastard owed them that much.

The store was in darkness and the front door locked. Gill motioned to Haddie and they moved around to the rear of the building. He pushed against the door and it gave way. Heart pounding in his chest he pushed further and both he and Haddie crept inside.

They found themselves back in Old Joes sitting room with Old Joe himself sat sleeping in his arm chair. He gave a loud snort as the children entered and Gill spied the empty whiskey bottle near the man's open hand. There was also a photograph lying next to it stained by the spilt liquor. Gill reached down and grabbed it.

In the dim light coming from the Cortex screen Gill could make out the faces of his parents standing next to him and his sister. Haddie was there smiling up at him, both eyes healthy and whole. He stuffed it in his shirt pocket and moved over to the Cortex console.

There was a carton of ID cards sitting there and he grabbed a hand full. Spliced cards were a runnaways best friend in the verse. He used one to acces the screen and stepped back as he saw his own face staring back at him next to Haddies on a Fed wanted ad. There was a reward of course... so there it was Old Joe had sold them out.

"Not a bad little pay out for a couple of space brats." Came the old man's voice from behind.

Gill whirled around to see Old Joe holding Haddie by the shoulder with one hand and a pistol in the other. Haddie was trying and failing to squirm free.

"Good work getting out of the shack, dug out I suppose.. lucky for you my Maddie is off rutting with some mongrel on spoon street or you might have had a nasty shock afore now." He laughed harshly.

"Just let us go free." Gill said watching his sister carefully.

"Seems to me you were free," sneered the old man, "then you came back in here bold as brass to rob me I suppose. A stupid Gorram move if there ever was one."

Gill couldn't argue with that as he stood there considering his options.

"Now drop the machete boy and.. argh!" Joe howled in pain as Haddie bit into his hand hard enough to draw blood and stamped on his foot. The old man lashed out and hit the girl with the butt of his pistol knocking her to the ground.

"Bastard!" Roared Gill as he lashed out with the blade taking Joe's hand clean off just above the wrist. Old Joe dropped to his knees holding his arm and the hand and pistol fell to the ground.

Gill stood in stunned horror for a moment as the keening groan of Joe filled his ears as the old mans blood sprayed the room. Then the anger took over and he reached down and snatched up the pistol to point it at Joe. To his relief Haddie pulled herself up to her feet, her nose was bleeding but she seemed fine otherwise, unlike Old Joe.

"You killed me." Old Joe moaned.

"Take off your belt and wrap it around your arm, it will slow the blood. Haddie help him then go grab an empty sack and do what you do." He voice was cold, void of emotion. A small voice in the back of his Mind was screaming out that this was all wrong but he pushed it away and allowed the frost to form over his feelings.

Haddie helped the old man and then scurried off to plunder the store.

"Your Pa would be so proud." Joe growled as he nursed his stump. With the belt in place the blood had slowed to a slow trickle, but Joe was looking pale.His face bathed in a sheen of cold sweat.

"The Reavers took his hands you know." Gill replied, "Haddie and I saw it all from where we were hiding. I tried to protect her from it but she saw enough. That's when she stopped speaking."

"I'm sorry kid... I..."

"They kept our mother alive for days. They do that. They enjoy the screaming. When it stopped we snuck down and saw what was left."

Haddie came back into the room with a full sack slung over her shoulder. She looked up at Gill expectantly.

"Get up." He ordered Joe and then ordered him out of the store and out towards the shack.

They were half way there when a low growl came off from the right. Old Joe began to laugh as he turned to greet his pet hound. The animal was huge and rippling with muscle. It's lips were drawn back into a snarl as it edged in ready to attack.

"Looks like my girl is back from her date," Old Joe chuckled, "Now hand over the gun boy before she eats your face."

There was a soft thud as something landed on the ground between them and the dog. The growling stopped and the creature sniffed before trotting forward and began licking the severed hand that Haddie had thrown to it. Both Gill and Joe looked down to Haddie who shrugged and pointed towards the Shack. There was a sharp snap and a crunch as the dog started its meal in ernest. Joe threw up.

"In you go." Gill ordered and now it was Joe's turn to beat against the barred door as the children disappeared into the night.

The walk back into town was a blur. Gill carried the sack now and Haddie held his hand. He couldn't believe they had gotten away, but as to what they would do next he had no clue.

"Ere boy where you two going?" Gill turned to see a gang of older boys approaching.

"Whats in the bag there kid." Another one of them called over.

"Is the chit for sale?" Called over another. Feeling Haddies hand tighten on his Gill rolled his eyes as he turned and pulled out Old Joes pistol.