Saving Brian Harrelson

Job Details:

Job Sign-Up: Page 3, Post Number 55

-Outside Silent Cemetery, midnight-

Having teleported from home, Diana reappeared about twenty-five meters outside the gates of Silent Cemetery and switched to her night vision mode. She immediately looked around for hidden gunmen, switching to infrared vision mode to check for heat signatures. This was the place where she had almost died once before and she would do her best to make sure that she did not get riddled with bullets a second time. Diana had arrived armed for bear with Saint Sinner Valentine slung on her right shoulder plus her backpack of supplies and her Glowstick in case she needed a light source. Once she was satisfied that neither The Shadow Collective nor "Raven Squad" were lying in wait for her Diana switched back to normal vision mode and began approaching the gate to Silent Cemetery.

After two jobs that were outside the norm for her Diana was in Silent Cemetery on a job that was more her speed. She was sent here to rescue a mage from Magnolia Town, but they were not just any mage. She was here to rescue a mage named Brian Harrelson, the same fellow who had hired her to retrieve his iLac from the Abandoned Cabin less than a week ago. According to his family, less than a day after his dare to go to the Abandoned Cabin Brian had unwisely taken another dare from his friends at the tavern. This dare involved going to Silent Cemetery and taking "selfies" around the place to prove that he had actually been there and was not just bragging.

Diana thought that Brian's "friends" were deliberately trying to get him killed by sending him to dangerous places for his dares, but she was not getting paid to evaluate the motives of Brian's friends. She was getting paid to save Brian from himself and that was exactly what she would do. However, the huntress thought that Brian needed to get some new friends after this dare. The next thing she knew she would probably get a job notice requiring her to save him from Desierto after being dared to walk around bandit country or something equally dangerous.

The blonde walked up to the gates of Silent Cemetery and opened the left one with both hands, then walked through it and closed it behind her.

-Inside Silent Cemetery-

Diana had closed the gates and turned around when she saw several zombies, but in a change of pace they were already dead for real. They were lying on the ground with large chunks blown out of their heads, suggesting that a powerful weapon had been used to kill them. Diana looked at the ground but did not see anything suggesting a weapon had been fired... either he was using a Requip weapon like she did or he was picking up the shotgun shell hulls to reload them at a later date. At least he had thought to bring a weapon this time, which was a good thing considering what inhabited this cemetery.

Diana walked past the dead zombies and walked down the path flanked by tombstones until she came across a fork in the road. She could go left or she could go right. Diana looked down both paths and saw that the one on the left was longer and had a few zombies shambling in the distance while the right path was about two hundred meters long and littered with zombies lying on the ground plus a few undead dogs that looked like rotting Dobermans. Opting to follow the trail of dead zombies, Diana chose to go right and see where the path took her.

-On the path, twenty meters away-

Stepping over the corpses of the dead zombies and rotting Dobermans, Diana carefully walked down the path and noted that all of the tombstones were in perfect alignment and were in very good shape for an old cemetery. There were also lanterns placed on top of them at twenty-five meter intervals to provide lighting in the form of yellowish circles glowing brightly. Diana found the presence of the lanterns more than a bit unusual, but she did not think about it too much because a lot of strange things happened in a world full of magic, not the least of which was her being healed and given a new magic after almost being shot to death at the hands of "Raven Squad" several months ago. Some time before her near-death and revival by Selene she had also worked with a vampire in an ancient temple to stop an even greater threat, so lanterns in a cemetery were far from the most unusual things the huntress had seen over her career.

Diana was about sixty meters down the path and had just stepped over another dead zombie when she heard the loud roar of a shotgun going off. She took Saint Sinner Valentine off of her right shoulder and put it into her hands, then broke into a full run and quickly covered the rest of the two-hundred meter distance in about five minutes. At the end of the path was a gate to the left that was already open for her. Diana rushed through it and heard the roar of a shotgun a second time. Diana hoped that she was not too late to save Brian... if he was who was firing the shotgun to begin with.

-In the next section-

Diana entered the next part of the cemetery to find a man standing over the corpse of a headless zombie in a three-piece burial suit. Diana raised Saint Sinner Valentine and aimed it at the man's head while the man turned and faced the huntress a few seconds after she had already aimed at him. Not wanting to get lead poisoning from someone who already had his face in their crosshairs, he realized his mistake and lowered his weapon before someone got hurt, that "someone" most likely being him.

"Oh hey, you're that lady who recovered my iLac from the Abandoned Cabin! It's me, Brian Harrelson! The dude from Magnolia Town!" He said to her, providing proof of identity that the huntress saw was genuine thanks to her ability to analyze body language. Diana lowered her weapon and looked at Brian. The mage was holding a pump action shotgun and wearing a white t-shirt and blue jeans with brown hiking boots.

"I was told by your family that you had come out here on a dare from your friends." Diana said to him. Brian nodded.

"Yeah. I shoulda quit after that Abandoned Cabin mess, but here I am out in a cemetery loaded with zombies and zombie dogs taking selfies just to complete a dare with no reward. I really need some new friends, don't I?" Brian asked Diana a question with an answer so obvious that the blonde hoped that it was a rhetorical question.

"Yes." Diana said bluntly, answering the question anyway. While Brian had gotten smarter by bringing a weapon for self-defense this time, he had also proven that his decision-making abilities left something to be desired if he had taken another dare from his so-called "friends." He really needed to quit taking dares before Diana had to rescue him a second time... or bring his corpse back to his family.

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Diana thought that the last time Brian had gotten into a bad situation he would just find a new and less dangerous set of friends to hang out with, but apparently he was still hanging out with them and still taking dares from them. He had even admitted that there was no reward for completing this dare. What was bringing him out here despite the inconvenience and the danger?

"Do you still have your iLac?" Diana asked Brian in a cheeky reference to the last job she had undertaken on his behalf. Brian laughed and smiled.

"I still have it. In fact I'll show you the selfies I've taken so far. Lemme just get it out of my pocket and I'll show you." Brian said to her and shifted his shotgun over to his left hand, fishing the orange iLac out of his left pocket, and navigating the camera menu with one hand to show her the selfies he had taken so far. Diana kept an eye on the path that led deeper into the cemetery as he found his gallery and showed her the first of the selfies.

"Here's the first one, which was taken just inside the cemetery gate." He said to Diana. The blonde took her eyes off of the path and glanced at the screen of the iLac to see that the first picture was indeed taken just inside the cemetery gate. He flipped to another picture and showed her that one too.

"Here's another view of the cemetery after I had to kill some zombies to make the area safe. Well, as safe as you can get in Silent Cemetery." Brian added. Diana peered at the screen again and she saw that his words were true. Her eyes went to the path beside them and he flipped to a third picture.

"Here's me standing on that path with the lanterns after I killed those zombies and zombie dogs. That fight was kinda scary, mostly because I didn't expect the zombie dogs to be able to run so fast. I mean, they're zombies, but they run almost as fast as a human, if not faster." Brian gave commentary as Diana looked at the image and saw a glowing lantern over Brian's right shoulder. Diana hoped that his encounter with the zombie dogs would teach the young man to not take any more dares to go into zombie-infested territory, but she doubted that it would. If he had taken bets it would make a little more sense because he stood to gain money or something else from it, but taking dares for bragging rights was not very smart. He then brought the iLac down, turned himself right, and took another selfie in this part of the cemetery.

Diana looked towards the path straight ahead and saw a pack of five zombie dogs walking towards them.

"Zombie dogs on the path, fifteen meters away." Diana said to Brian and pointed at them with her left hand. The youth hurriedly put his iLac away and shifted his shotgun to his right hand as the pack charged at him. Diana quickly aimed and fired a burst of rounds that knocked down one of the dogs but did not kill it. She had fired less-than-lethal rounds at it, rounds that were less than useless against the undead. Having no time to load the assault rifle with lethal rounds, Diana silently slung Saint Sinner Valentine onto her right shoulder and brought out her Suppressed Submachine Gun.

Brian killed one with a shotgun blast that turned a zombie dog's head to mush but had to retreat as the other four continued running at him. Diana raised her new weapon, aimed at a dog in mid-run, and fired a Three-Round Burst at its head. Two of them struck the side of its head and a third hit it in the throat, bringing it down for good. Two of the dogs saw her and split off from Brian to go after her, but Diana was ready for them. She aimed and fired a Three-Round Burst at the head of one of them, killing it when it got to within three meters of her. The second closed to within a meter before Diana took a step forward with her left foot and kicked it in the face with her right boot.

The dog yelped and landed on its back. Diana quickly aimed downward and fired a Three-Round Burst at its head while it rolled over onto its feet and tried to stand up. It was dead, but while she was busy the last dog had gotten to within biting range of Brian and lunged at his right shin. Diana heard Brian scream as the dog grabbed the leg of his blue jeans and began pulling violently, keeping the youth from running away. Diana heard the howling of more dogs in the distance.

"KILL IT! KILL IT! KILL IT BEFORE THE REST OF THOSE DOGS GET HERE!" Brian pleaded in fear. Diana hustled over to within a meter of the pair, took aimed at its head, and fired a Three-Round Burst that hit it and killed it, freeing Brian from its grip. The youth sighed in relief and bent down to check his pants leg. The fingers of his left hand ran over the material and poked through a tear in the front of the leg.

"Oh man. I'm glad that it only bit my jeans and not my flesh!" Brian sighed in relief a second time after telling his rescuer the extent of the damage his pants had taken. Diana put away her Suppressed Submachine Gun, brought out Saint Sinner Valentine a second time, and made certain to switch to lethal munitions before the rest of the dogs got here.

"Are you finished taking selfies for those friends of yours or would you like to stick around and take some more?" Diana asked Brian in a cutting tone. She had not intended to be so blunt, but the words came out before she could think them through. Brian shook his head.

"No, lady. I'm done here. Let's go back to Magnolia Town!" He answered and made for the gate that led back to the path lit by lanterns. Diana followed him through the gate and hurried before she got left behind to face the dogs alone.

-On the path, twenty meters away-

"Man, coming here on a dare was a really bad idea!" Brian said to Diana as they walked briskly down the path lit by lanterns. This time he huntress remained silent and kept any cutting remarks to herself.

"I shoulda just taken a bet instead, but no. I was so stupid. I wanted to prove to them that I was a brave mage even though I'm just a C-Rank who really has no business being out here!" Brian berated himself. Again Diana remained silent as the pair covered another three meters. Brian looked at Diana and reacted with shock, presumably to her magic signature.

"Man, you're really powerful. Like Wizard Saint powerful. What are you doing taking jobs like this? Why aren't you out slaying dragons or wiping out bandit gangs?" Brian asked her as they continued down the path. Diana glanced behind her for any zombie dogs before answering the question.

"I take search and rescue missions because they are rewarding in ways that go beyond just money." Diana replied in a half-truth. While she took search and rescue missions in order to save lives instead of take them, she also took those missions because she wanted to try and redeem herself for all the people who did not deserve to die by her hand. At this rate she would have to save at least fifty-plus people, but she was willing to try.

"Oh, I see. Anyway, let's get outta here. This is gonna be the last dare that I take from those guys!" Brian promised. Diana hoped that he was being sincere, but she was not going to hold her breath. Together the pair continued down the path to the cemetery exit while glancing behind them for signs of pursuing zombie dogs.

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-Magnolia Town, the Harrelson residence, eight hours later-

The pair of mages arrived in Magnolia Town just as the sun was beginning to rise on the town Fairy Tail called home. The moment they stepped into the city limits Diana switched her rifle over to less-than-lethal rounds, engaged the safety, and slung it onto her right shoulder while Brian dispelled his shotgun, proving to her that it was a Requip-style weapon after all. Diana was slightly concerned that people would be alarmed by the sight of Saint Sinner Valentine slung on her right shoulder, but no one gave her a second glance. They had walked through the town and weaved through the streets until they reached Brian's house.

Brian knocked on the door and the pair were greeted by a middle-aged brown-haired woman with brown eyes wearing a white apron over a blue t-shirt and blue jeans with sandals. She put her hands on her hips and glared at the brown-haired youth.

"Hi Mom. I'm back." Brian sheepishly greeted his mother, who frowned at him.

"Brian Henry Harrelson! I thought I told you not to take any more dares from those friends of yours at the tavern!" His mother greeted him with his full name. Brian wilted.

"You need to find some new friends because one day these current "friends" of yours are going to get you killed! If it hadn't been for this young lady you'd probably be dead by now! You're so stubborn that I could just scream!" She lectured Brian. Brian continued to wilt under the stern lecture.

"I'm done with taking dares, Mom. This last dare was it for me. If this lady hadn't saved me from a zombie dog I'd probably be dead right now. I'm lucky that the only real harm happened to my blue jeans." Brian told her. His mother glared at him even harder.

"Well, I certainly hope that you're done taking dares, Brian. Now go inside. Your father and sisters are worried sick!" She commanded him. Brian immediately waved goodbye to Diana and walked past his mother. The brown-haired woman then turned her gaze to Diana.

"Thank you for going to such trouble to rescue Brian, Young Lady. I swear that boy's just like his father when Hank was younger. At least Hank grew out of it after he married me. I don't know what I'm gonna do with Brian. He wants to be a traveling mage like his father, but he's so reckless about it!" The woman thanked Diana for rescuing her son and told Diana a bit about the young man. She then produced a bag of Jewels out of her side pocket.

"Here's what I owe you for rescuing Brian. What you did for us is worth every Jewel!" The woman said to Diana. Diana took the bag of Jewels with both hands and thanked Mrs. Harrelson.

"Well, I'd better get back to work. A mother's work is never done. Thanks again for bringing Brian back to us safely!" Mrs. Harrelson said to Diana before walking back inside the house and shutting the door. Diana's work here was finished, so it was time to go home and rest awhile before finding another job. She turned around and left the Harrelson residence behind, setting out at a walk and making a beeline for Magnolia Town's outskirts. Just like with a mother's work, a huntress' work was never done.

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[Total Word Count: 3,147/2,500]