Description
A whooshing sound came from behind Sid. His eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets as he leaped in the air, leaving Junior to drop on the limb.
“YEEEOUCH!”
Axl dashed forward grabbing Junior’s arm, to insure he did not roll off.
“Gotcha!” he shouted. “I gotcha, Junior!”
Axl felt the claws of Crusher and Jaws while both children steadied him by grabbing onto his legs.
He was clueless as to the source of pain driving Sid to release Junior. The rodent continued dancing in place, like a child who had just stubbed his foot. Despite the confusion, Axl’s only concern was to wrap his arms around his son and pull him to safety.
The tongues of Axl and Junior met as they took in the familiar scent of one another.
“My boy. . .” spoke Axl, feeling his fatherly emotions spilling over.
“Don’t you ever lay your hands on my son or husband again!” snapped a stern female voice.
Axl’s eyes lit up in immediate recognition, driving him to his feet, keeping his hands defensively over Junior’s shoulders.
“Selena?”
Now having a complete view of the situation, he could see Sid struggling to remove an arrow that had become lodged firmly into his behind.
“Yeoch, yeouch, yeouch!”
Behind Sid stood his wife, armed with her bow and arrow. A breeze blew threw her brown hair, reminding Axl of the first time he was struck by her beauty.
Selena blew Axl a kiss as she continued to stand there, still aiming her bow at Sid. “Oh, hello hon.”
“Babe,” Axl replied, with a nod.
“Mom!” Junior exclaimed in surprise. “What are you doing here?”
“You should know you can’t keep secrets from your mother, Junior. I’ve known about your clubhouse from the beginning. If it wasn’t for the darn floodwaters, I could have been here sooner. . .”
Axl picked up Junior, placing him safely behind, next to the other children.
Sid moaned in relief as he was finally able to remove the arrow from his underside.
“Gah. . . Whatcha doin to me,’ woman? What are you, some kind of maniac?”
Selena snapped. “You want to talk about maniac, let’s talk about what you and your rat goons have been doing to our swamp! Or better yet, how you’ve been going after our children!”
Axl could feel his blood once again beginning to boil. All he wanted to do was shove Sid off the tree, but he knew Selena expected better of him. Axl rested his arms at his hips, as he angrily locked glares with Sid.
Sid sighed. “Look! I know this all looks bad, but you have no idea what your husband has done to me!”
Axl snorted, rolling his eyes. “What I’ve done to you? Oh, please. . .”
“I had to spend a good portion of my life behind bars, because of you!” snapped Sid, pointing scornfully at him.
“That’s the price you paid for being involved with those Sewer Rats!” retorted Axl. “And I just love how you left out the part where you tried to have me killed!”
“Yeah, that’s the price you pay!” jeered Junior, shaking a balled fist as he imitated his father.
“It was for your own good!” argued Sid, ignoring Junior. “Do you have any idea what the Sewer Rats would’ve done to yah if they got to you first? You oughtta be thankin’ me!”
“What were they going to do?” asked Junior his eyes briefly glowing with curiosity.
Sid turned his gaze to Junior. “Well, kiddo, first they would have cut off every one of your father’s. . .”
Selena loudly hushed Sid, before he could finish his sentence. “Shh! There’s children, here!”
Sid gulped, appearing ashamed. “Erm, sorry. . .”
“We’ve all had to pay the consequences for what happened back then,” Axl consoled. “After you tricked me into joining your band, without telling me it meant being part of a dangerous gang, I’ve always had to live with fear in the back of my mind that either you or some other vengeful creep would seek me out.” Axl shook his head and sighed. “And apparently, I was right. But can’t we just let the dead bury the dead and move on?”
Sid drooped his head toward the ground. Axl could tell his longtime rat nemesis was deep in thought, but was uncertain as to just what those thoughts were. For but a brief moment it appeared Sid’s heart had begun to soften as he contemplated his words, wearing almost a sad expression. Axl felt his body tense up ready to fight at any indication of aggression as Sid solemnly gazed down at Junior. Sid began to wearily smile as he sent his son a wink. Axl felt his son tightly grip his leg due to the anxiety brought on by the rat’s stare. Appearing satisfied, Sid returned his gaze to Axl.
“You’re right, former partner. We need to let the dead bury the dead.”
Axl had begun tilting his head in suspicion when suddenly Sid dove into him, painfully knocking him off his feet on impact.
“Ermf!”
Axl felt himself beginning to free fall, back first, his body scraping branches and bumping logs along the way. Eventually he managed to hook his arm around a large limb. Axl could hear Junior as well as the other boys who now accompanied him all shouting his name.
“Daad!”
“Mister Reigns!”
Axl grunted and moaned as his clawed fingers dug into the wood.
There, he and Sid dangle by their arms, directly next to one another. Axl strained as he used the muscle of his upper body, to begin pulling himself back onto the limb. His progress was interrupted by a stinging hard kick to his shin.
“Gruh! What’re you crazy?”
Axl returned a kick to Sid, driving him to lose his grip with one arm.
“Ow!”
Axl whipped his tail and foot wildly as he struggled to hit Sid, before he could retaliate. Sid swung over kicking Axl’s side once again.
“Ohh!”
The stinging impact of this kick to his lower body drove Axl to lose his right-hand grip, leaving him dangling by a single hand.
His gaze fell to the raging brown marsh waters below, providing all the more incentive for why he needed to not lose his grip.
Moaning from the strain placed on his bruised body, Axl began thrusting himself back onto the limb. Now in a sideways position, with both feet digging into the large branch, he felt a punch smash into his face.
“Oof!”
Axl growled and hissed as he saw Sid also beginning to climb back onto the limb in a likewise manner.
Knowing he would never be able to secure his position on the branch, without first taking out Sid he returned a punch to his enemy’s face.
“Ermf!”
Sid grunted, but quickly retaliated with yet another punch to Axl’s face.
“Augh!”
Axl’s head dizzily swayed as he felt disoriented from the attack, but still managed to return another punch.
“Ooof!”
Axl could hear the cheers of his son who had joined his wife in climbing down the tree as she struggled to gain range to fire her bow at Sid.
“Dad! C’mon, Dad! You can beat him!”
Axl felt another punch this time on the side of his neck driving him to wheeze.
Axl growled, cuffing his fist for what he knew would be his last attempt at defeating his foe. Through his blurry vision he fired his fist into the silhouette of Sid’s face, knocking him off the limb, with the roar of a beast.
“Nooo!”
Axl watched the blurred image of Sid as he disappeared with a splash into the brown flood waters.
Having no opportunity to relish his victory, Axl felt his strength beginning to leave him. Despite having removed the threat to his family, it was only a matter of time before Axl’s grip gave way to weariness.
Multiple hands began to clasp onto his body accompanied by the shouting and grunting of boys.
“Pull him up!”
“Heave ho!”
“Hang on, mister Reigns!”
With the help of the children Axl felt gradually felt himself roll back onto the log.
“You beat him, dad!” cheered Junior, as he felt his son’s smaller arms embracing his head with a hug.
“Careful, Junior,” cautioned Selena. “Dad’s very sore and fragile right now.”
“Well done, sir!” congratulated Jaws, steadying him by his back. “You showed him who’s king of this swamp!”
“Yeah, I guess I did, croaked Axl. “I’m just ready to go home, and hit my couch. . .”
“After you fix the window, hun, said Selena, giving him a kiss on his forehead.
“Are you serious. . .” Axl muttered weakly, rolling his eyes.
Selena chuckled. “Of course not, hun.”
Taken off guard by his wife’s sarcastic humor, Axl felt himself begin to laugh.
*****
Once the floodwaters had subsided, Axl boarded his son’s boat with Selena and the children. He slumped wearily against the side of the hull as Junior and Jaws began to paddle them home. He was held by his wife who joined him while Lizzie sat with Crusher who was still cradling his right arm.
“Heard you were awesome in the fight, sir!” enthusiastically exclaimed Crusher.
Axl chuckled as he and Selena exchanged smiles. “Well. . . I heard you were pretty awesome yourself.”
“Crusher went all Crush Rush on him and got Sid with an elbow drop!” explained Junior, motioning toward his elbow.
“That’s cool,” Axl replied, giving Crusher an acknowledging nod as the young lizard boy beamed with pride. “But, don’t you ever try anything like that again. Next time you might not be so lucky to just end up with an injured arm.”
“Only when crazy people are after me, sir,” Crusher assured. “I promise.”
Axl extended his hand for a fist bump. “Clawsome!”
Crusher grinned, as he passionately returned it. “ClawTACular!”
Illustration by Randomthewolfskie
Thanks for reading!
Nightriders: Revenge of the Sewer Rats Part 23
Nightriders: Revenge of the Sewer Rats Part 1