CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Gw7en and Marv stood, considering their options. Red Dog was standing before them with a gun to sea's head. sea was insisting that they shoot her while Red Dog demanded to know who had hired them. Unnoticed by all, Yowuzupman turned the knob of the back door and silently crept inside, his gun drawn.

'Quit stalling,'
Red Dog growled.

'Tell me!'

It was Marv who spoke.

'We don't know. sea hired us, we're paid in cash. We're never told who pays the bills, probably because of situations like this,'
he added dryly.

sea grinned. Red Dog scowled and pondered this revelation.

'But sea knows, doesn't she. Don't you?!'

sea growled as Red Dog pulled her hair again, yanking her head back so he could see her face.

'I highly doubt that making me go bald is likely to inspire me to tell you anything, Red Dog. In fact, it's more likely to cause me to tell you to go zark yourself. Ooh, no witty comeback? Too bad, now I don't know how I can keep you distracted while Yo creeps up behind you and shoots you dead.'

Red Dog gasped and whirled around to see Yo standing ten feet away with his gun levelled directly at him. Yo fired as Red Dog simultaneously ducked and jerked his human shield - sea - between him and the bullet. The bullet caught sea in the chest and she fell to the floor, unconscious or dead.

Yo stared, shocked. Red Dog tried to take advantage of this by taking off down the hall toward the front door. Yo ran after him.

Gw7en went to sea to feel for a pulse.

Red Dog could hear Yo right behind him as he ran into the kitchen. His feet slid on the tiles and he swung around unsteadily to aim his gun at Yo, who dove behind the counter. Red Dog wasted no time in putting several large, nasty holes into the counter. Yo crawled over to the end and fired at Red Dog from between the shelves on the end. Red Dog yelped and leaped into one of the spare bedrooms. Yo took advantage of the pause to reload, then called to Red Dog.

'You just made me shoot my girlfriend. If sea's dead, you're a dead man because I'm going to hunt you down. If she's not dead, we're BOTH dead men, and SHE'S going to hunt you down. But either way, you are royally zarked. Now, I suggest you make a tactical retreat out the bedroom window before Marv and Gw7en and I go to work on you. Are we clear?'

Silence.

'Red Dog?'

Nothing.

Yo stood up slowly, his gun ready. He moved quickly across the hall and stood against the wall beside the door to the bedroom. He pulled a mirror out of his pocket and used it to look into the room.

There was no one inside. The window stood wide open, and the curtains flapped in the wind.

Yo lowered his gun and sighed.

Yo came back into the rear entryway cautiously. If sea was alive, she was probably pretty pissed off and was always heavily armed. If she wasn't... well, better safe than sorry. sea still lay on the floor on her back with Gw7en sitting over her. Marv stood beside Gw7en. Yo could only see their backs, and from those, he couldn't tell one way or the other. He holstered his gun and cautiously moved toward them. His eyes noticed that there was no blood, but his brain ignored their observation.

'Is she...'
he couldn't say it.

'Is she dead? No. Is she pissed? Of course,'
replied sea, opening her eyes. Yo jumped and moved around the table so that he would have some protection if sea was feeling particularly vengeful. sea smiled.

'Oh, don't worry, Yo. You're not the one I'm pissed at.'

Yo was confused.

'I'm not? But... I shot you!'

'Yes, you did,'
sea said, unbuttoning her shirt.

'Fortunately you tend to go for the chest shots. Why do you think I told you guys to shoot me?'
sea opened her shirt to reveal a bulletproof vest. She pulled the bullet out of it and tossed it to Yo, who caught it and reached unsteadily for a chair to sit on.

Marv was incredulous.

'What if I had decided to shoot you in the head, or in the arm?'

sea grinned.

'Well, I didn't expect any of you to actually do it.'
sea winked at Yo, who blinked, stunned.

'You are either very brave or completely insane,'
said Gw7en, shaking her head.

'Probably a little of both,'
replied sea, laughing.

'Come on, guys, we've got work to do!'

Gw7en followed her outside. Marv paused at the fridge to grab a bottle of beer, then went out.

sea stuck her head back inside the door.

'Oh, Yo. One more thing: did I or did I not hear you call me your girlfriend?'

*THUD*

went Yo's head on the table.

Saturn Girl slowly opened the front door and peered inside.

'Coast's clear!'
She whispered to her new boy toy, Apollo. She grabbed him by the collar and pulled him into the house, down the hall, and into the spare bedroom. She pulled out a whip and took off her trenchcoat to reveal a very skimpy outfit with lots of buckles and straps. Apollo's eyes bulged as she pulled out a set of handcuffs and shoved him back onto the bed, which banged into the wall.

Yo heard a crash and looked up. He heard it again. It sounded like it was coming from the spare room; the very room from which Red Dog had just escaped. Yo stood up and checked how much ammunition he had in his gun.

'Not again,'
he muttered as he crept down the hall, gun drawn. He reached the door, counted to three, then kicked it open.

The Quest Collection

sea

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