Queen-A Steel Ball Run Story

Stands

"My foot is returning to normal, the farther we get from those guys...it might not be fully healed, though." Gyro announced as he, Nat and Johnny continued on their way. The sun was setting and it would be dangerous to travel at night, but it would be even more dangerous to stay there and fight the Boom-Boom family.

"What kind of damn trick was that? Did they use poison? Some kind of disease?" Johnny asked, looking back, then forward again.

"That seemed more like..a curse. A curse that attracts iron." Nat replied. "Gyro was affected when he touched Andre, and when those guys circled him, the attack got stronger, made him attract iron. I don't know if it wears off, though. We may have to actually kill them. Or force them to undo it somehow."

"We just gotta keep moving. It's night time, but it's too dangerous to stay put. We gotta get ahead of them and to the watering hole." Gyro said.

Before any of them could reply, there was a gunshot. Nat turned around.

The father had shot Andre. But not randomly.

She felt something drop on her face, and turned forward again. She touched her cheek. There was blood on her face. But not hers.

"Nat, did they get you?! Johnny?" Gyro asked. Nat quickly shook her head.

"No, no, we're good. We just need to keep going. If we keep our distance, we'll be fine. Let's get the hell out of here." Nat answered, wiping the blood off her face. The three of them kept going.

--

"This guy's been following us forever, dammit..can you see the Boom-Boom family?" Gyro asked, and Johnny looked back. Behind them, a fair distance away but still there, was another racer, following them closely. He was the only one there, and had been following the trio for quite a distance.

"There's no one here but this guy..that I can see, anyway. It's dark!" Johnny said in reply. Nat looked at him, then forward again.

"Would it be too much to hope that they gave up on us? We've been traveling for like 3 hours! Our horses are definitely reaching their limit." Nat said, stroking Queen's mane.

"I'm not even sure that's a member of the Boom-Boom family..he looks..different." Johnny looked through a telescope at their pursuer. "Plus, I don't think they had riding skills like that...and his hat, I've seen it before.."

"Who else would want to follow us at this time of night? If we let him close, the magnetism will start up again.." Gyro replied. "We need to get to the watering hole before them."

"We still have 15 kilometers to go, Gyro!" Nat pointed out.

"Dammit!"

They kept going, when behind them was the sound of a horse galloping. Nat turned around.

"How.." She started. "Gyro, Johnny! He already climbed the fucking rocks! It's Mountain Tim! He's going really fast!"

"Why would he be chasing us?!" Gyro asked.

"I don't know, but we have to lose him! We can't let anyone get close to us in this fucking desert! They'd probably want to do some bad shit to us!" Nat said.

"What kind of speed is that?! He's already climbed the next set of rocks! We're going uphill, but he's accelerating!" Johnny shouted.

Nat gasped. She realized what was happening. She looked down at her hand, that still had a smudge of Andre's blood on it. And on her arm was something else. Well, in her arm.

"Guys..this isn't what we were thinking at all. I understand now!" She shouted, somewhat panicking. Johnny and Gyro looked at her in concern. "He is accelerating. But that isn't it. From behind! I'm being pulled from behind!"