So the Story Goes on and on and on and Skewed Right, Then Cleft Down the Middle

1. Part One by JBaz
2. Part Two
3. Part Three
4. Part Four
5. Part Five
6. Part Six ⬇️⬇️⬇️

The group continued on foot for over an hour. Carl and Jaylene carried Denny and Jenny, while Adam received a piggyback ride from Thomas. Agent “Don’t call me Rance” Cochran led the way, carrying Felix inside his carrier. Carl soon saw why they had to go in on foot; the nearer they walked to the Big Blue River, the muckier the ground became.

Carl was starting to think they would walk into the river when Agent Cochran turned left into a copse of cottonwood and hackberry trees. The temperature immediately dropped five degrees with the change in lighting. The agent paused long enough for everyone’s eyes to adjust to the darkness under the trees, even though Carl could have sworn that Special Agent Cochran’s eyes were already adjusted to the gloom.

Continuing up a barely perceptible trail, Barker bounding ahead of them and running back to them. With a wiggling Denny in his arms, Carl finally asked Agent Cochran how much further they had to go before they got to their destination.

“Not much further now. We’re almost there,” The agent answered. Directly, they came upon a small cabin, and he said, “Matter of fact, we’re here.”

Passing Denny to Jaylene when they stopped walking, Carl looked around and wondered where here was. Besides the cabin, there wasn’t much else except for woods and the river. Carl looked at Thomas to see what he had to say, but Thomas only shrugged his shoulders at him. Carl turned back to Agent Cochran and questioned, “Where?”

Agent Cochran motioned towards the shed, then said, “Your ship is inside there, Mr. Duine. Go ahead, we’ll follow behind.”

Carl opened the shed’s doors, and inside the darkened room stood the ship. As his eyes adjusted to the room’s interior and he saw the ship inside, he was confused. Starting to turn, he said, “Hey, what’s going on? That’s not my ship!”

Suddenly, Jaylene screamed for Carl to watch out. Barker went crazy and started barking. Carl heard a loud thud and turned to see Thomas going down. Agent Cochran stood over him with the tire iron from the back of the Expedition, smiling malevolently. Carl fearfully looked at Jaylene and the children before focusing all his attention back on the agent.

“What do you want?” Carl asked Agent Cochran. He needed to stall the agent until he could think of a plan or try to get the gun from the fallen agent’s holster.

Agent Cochran’s eyes did that weird blinking again. He smiled wider than he had been and now showed even more teeth than was possible for a human. Carl gulped as he realized the agent hadn’t been upfront with them from the beginning, and now Carl’s family would pay the price for his trust.

Before answering Carl, the traitorous agent shot Barker, “All these years, you’ve been on the lookout for only the bounty hunter, never suspecting there could be something worse coming for you. You seemed to have forgotten all about Mr. Graku Sankik. Do you think he forgot about the cargo you lost? No, he didn’t.

“You lead me on a mighty little chase. But none of that matters now. For I have you, and this will be finished. You and your line will end here.”

Edging away from the shed, trying to lead Interstellar Hitman away from his beloved family, Carl never once took his eyes off the traitorous agent. Fuming that he had allowed himself to trust the agents and put his family in this position, Carl tried to think of a way to get them out of this predicament. Picking up whatever he could, sticks and stones, Carl threw them at the hired space gun.

In his anger, he kept seeing flashes of himself digging through the leaves beside the shed and pulling out a knife just in time to stab his enemy. The fuzzy visions were leaving him confused and dizzy, though. Staggering, he clutched at a tree to keep from falling.

Cochran took advantage of the situation and charged Carl. Twisting, the two grappled for advantage in the fight. Carl punched Cochran in the face, and the hitman kicked him back in the scrotum. The two spacemen ended up on the ground, rolling around, fighting for supremacy and survival.

Carl could hear Jaylene and the children screaming in fear throughout the fight. The cries of his children, whimpering, “Daddy,” fueled his rage, and a side of him he didn’t know existed surfaced. He fought to maim and kill his opponent in any way opened to him. Throwing dirt into his enemy’s eyes, he charged him, throwing him off balance. Driving the hitman into a hackberry tree, Carl heard a fleshy rending sound. Backing up, he looked at Cochran’s surprised face, then down at the piece of branch poking out of the traitor’s left shoulder.

Seeing the paid gun wounded, Carl wickedly smiled. Picking up the fake agent’s gun from where it had dropped, Carl aimed at him. “I don’t think I’ll be going to Graku Sankik, dead or alive, today or tomorrow,” he said as he pulled the trigger.

Walking over to his family, Carl stopped to check and see if Thomas was okay. The agent was still breathing, and the bleeding on his head had slowed down, but he was still knocked out. Beginning to get up so he could fetch water from the river, hoping to wake his friend and check on Barker, Carl heard a voice behind him.

“Don’t make any sudden moves, Phialan Tial.”

----------- 𝔗𝔬 𝔟𝔢 𝔠𝔬𝔫𝔱𝔦𝔫𝔲𝔢𝔡 -----------