RATING:
PG for language and terribly terribly graphic and disgusting violence.
Each of the guys ends up with several holes in him. Oh, the horror is too great
to describe. Plus, they say a few naughty words. Those boys should really
watch their mouths!
CATEGORY: Challenge - OW
MAJOR CHARACTERS: Everyone
DISCLAIMERS: This is fanfiction. No profit involved. This story is based on the
television series "The Magnificent Seven". No infringement upon the
copyrights held by CBS, MGM, Trilogy Entertainment Group, The Mirisch Corp. or
any others involved with that production is intended.
NOTE: February
2002 Magnificent 7
Challenge
Some of the seven
guys are stuck on one side of a water way and some of the others are on the other side. For whatever reason, the one group
refuses to cross the water and join the others, despite the fact bad guys can be
heard bearing down on them..
FEEDBACK: Yes please! comments
and suggestions
are greatly appreciated.
SPOILERS: None
APPEARS IN: Fanzine The
Magnificent Seven #1
DATE: February 04, 2002
Bedeviled!
By
NotTasha...who's been known to bedevil in her time.
“Look out!”
“Run! Run! Run!”
“AHHHHH!!!”
“He got me! BASTARD! Damn!”
“OW! Ahh!”
“Keep runnin, JD! Hell, where’s Ez?
“Right behind you… Ow!…Mr. Wilmington.”
“Damn it, Vin! Get your ass out of my way!
“Screw you, Buck.”
“Ow!”
Chris Larabee leaped to his feet at the cries of his men. Nathan and Josiah stood beside him, guns drawn,
looking anxiously in the
direction of the pained calls, distant but coming closer by the second. “Buck?”
Chris shouted, hearing them tearing through the trees that lined the opposite side of the
creek. “Vin?”
Larabee’s heart thudded in his chest. Damn
it! The four had left about an hour ago, off to look for game. There shouldn’t have been any trouble here.
Of course, with those four… trouble was always a possibility.
The screaming continued, growing closer. What
the hell had happened? What was
going on? He winced at their cries. They were being murdered! He
ran to the side of the wide-but-shallow creek, ready to descend the bank. Lord help them!
He could see them now, streaking toward him through the brush. He raised his rifle, ready to protect.
Nathan and Josiah stood beside him.
“What is it?” Josiah whispered.
“Don’t know…” Chris groaned. He hunched down, prepared for a hail of bullets to catch him.
The four men ran as if the devil himself was at their tails.
“Look out!” Buck shouted.
Chris saw them flying through they air as they leaped from the far bank of the stream
and into the water. But instead of
quickly wading across, they flopped into the inches-deep water. They splashed wetly.
“Muddy yerselfs up!” Vin shouted and the
four men rolled and tossed in the shallow creek, looking more like hogs in a
wallow than lawmen, looking more like migrating salmon then dangerous and
multi-faceted gunslingers, looking a bit like slugs. The colors of their clothing
disappeared under a layer of ooze, taking away any distinguishing characteristics.
“Damn!” the brown blob that was JD jerked and shouted, “He got me again!”
“Get down, JD! Get yerself down!” the dirt-colored, Buck-shaped being yelled as he slung
handfuls of the slime onto Dunne.
“Lay still!” the muddy bit of stuff that might have been Vin declared.
“Lord help us,” the unfashionably filthy thing that couldn’t have been Ezra
muttered.
His senses sharpened, Chris crept halfway down the bank with the other two close
behind him, searching franticly for who had attacked his men.
The four had ended up on the far side and he couldn’t make out exactly what had
happened to them. He saw no blood…but with all the mud… who could tell?
“Chris?” Nathan said softly. “What’s
wrong? What's happening to them?”
Larabee furrowed his brow. “I aim to find
out.” They’d stop
thrashing about and now lay perfectly still, nothing but their muddy backs, the
heels of their boots and the tops of their hats visible in the shallow water.
“Buck!” Larabee shouted to Wilmington. “Buck!”
Wilmington raised his head an inch and seemed shocked to see him there. Water and muck ran from his mustache.
“Get in the water!” he yelled, ducking his head back again.
“What?” Nathan called back, looking at the four wet and muddy humps in the water. “Why?” He
certainly didn’t want to join in the wallow.
“Gonna get hit elsewise. Get in with us!”” Vin called before submerging his head
again.
“What the hell are you all doing?” Chris
lowered his yellowboy and shook his head. “I
don’t see anyone or anything.”
“Can’t you hear ‘em?” JD managed to say, his voice trembling.
The three men listened. The little forest was silent except for the happy trickling
of the creek. As Chris strained his
ears he became aware of a droning noise, soft, monotonous and ominous.
“Bees,” Josiah muttered, his deep voice filled with awe.
Chris’ eyes searched the air above his men and suddenly he saw them. Black little bits swarmed
around the muddy hillocks that dotted the stream. “Son of a bitch…”
The angry swarm was fanning out, and having lost the scent of their original
quarry... they found another.
“Sweet Mother of God!” Josiah cried, seeing the
insects close on them. His eyes went
wide as he turned and scrambled up the bank like a bison gone mad.
Chris and Nathan were right behind him, running out of the small stand of trees and
into the surrounding open country. They
jumped and started, slapping and running as the angry insects followed them.
Vin raised his head from the stream, mud and water cascading from his hat as their
tormenters left them. “Shouldn’t
‘ave run,” he declared. “They
would ‘ave been fine in the water.”
Ezra sat up and looked about suspiciously. “They’ve fled?”
“I wouldn’t let Chris hear ya say that,” Buck said, giving the gambler a sloppy
slap on the back that made Ezra wince.
“Buck! Might I remind you that I’ve recently been horribly attacked?”
Ezra moved stiffly.
“Sorry.” Buck grinned as he shook his head.
He stopped abruptly to rub his own stung neck. “I was just sayin’ that you shouldn’t let Chris hear ya sayin’
anythin’ about him fleein’.”
Ezra flicked his hands in a hopeless attempt to get clean. “I wasn’t speakin' of our illustrious leader.”
He paused when he heard Chris yelp in the distance. “I was speakin' of the insidious creatures that put us in this
situation.”
“Oh,” Vin said wistfully. “Once they get tired, those bees’ll head on home. It
was good of Chris and Josiah and Nate to weary ‘em for us.”
In the distance, Sanchez yipped painfully followed by an uncharacteristic
curse from Jackson.
Ezra listened, and sighed. “Tell me again, why in God's green earth did we do this?”
Vin smiled wisely. “Honey.”
Ezra gently touched a nasty welt on his wrist and glanced up at Vin. “Don’t you dare call me ‘honey’.”
The filled bucket had landed neatly beside Vin and when he pulled it free from the
muck, it made a sucking sound. He set it on his lap and drove three fingers into the rich amber substance.
He watched as the long strings of golden honey ran from his hand.
“Ah, nothin’ like it.” He sucked his fingers loudly.
‘Mmmmm,” JD sighed, reaching into the mess and breaking off a piece of comb. “I haven’t had honey in ages.”
He bit into the waxy form, feeling the sweetness of it down to his toes. “I thought you said this’d be easy.”
He changed his position in the muddy creek to shift the weight off the
bumps on his buns.
“Should ‘ave been.” Vin shrugged philosophically. “Wasn’t.”
Buck, JD and Ezra seemed to accept the explanation.
In the distance, they could hear the other three swearing and shouting. The worst of their
exclamations seemed to be over. Mostly they just heard declarations of an impending doom for the four of
them.
The bees were giving up.
“They should ‘ave gotten in the water,” Vin repeated his earlier sentiment.
“Their loss,” Buck commented, digging into the bucket for his share. He broke off a large section
of the comb and held it up. The honey ran down his arm and he licked his hand.
After moment of consideration, Ezra pulled open his jacket and found a clean section
of his shirt to wipe off his hand. Once he realized that there was little he
could do, he joined in as well. Their fingers were filthy, but there were worse
things in life than dirt in your honey. “They’ll
kill us, you know,” he commented and stuffed his laden fingers into his mouth.
He smiled as he tasted the wild treat.
“Yeah,” Vin agreed.
“That’d be a shame,” Buck commented.
“Uh-hmmm,” JD murmured.
"Damn shame," Vin uttered before he filled his mouth again.
The four of them leaned over bucket, making quiet satisfied sounds.
They shared their ill-gotten gains until Chris, Josiah and Nathan
returned. At that point, the sky
fell, the stream exploded, honey was confiscated, people shouted and yelled and
said things that they probably shouldn’t have. Things went rather badly after that.
THE END - By NotTasha
Author's note: None of the guys were allergic to bee stings and they all recovered quite
quickly from the insect attack. It
took longer for them to recover from the attack that followed.
Hope you enjoyed the story...comments and suggestions
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