Tired. That's the only word that comes to mind. This desert is making my head spin like a top on steroids. The sun beats down on my sweat drenched back, evaporating what little moisture I have left. It's strange to think how I got to this hot arid place, when just a few days prior I was practically drowning in humidity. I'd been Searching for the notorious thief Hanin. You see I'm a bounty hunter. A very skilled bounty hunter, by the name of Caci Willow. I am skilled in close range weapons and martial arts. This fugitive would be extra tricky. I'd been tracking him across the Galaxy, nearly catching him several times. But he always managed to escape. This time however, I had an advantage. We were on my home planet of Umidia and I knew virtually all the people who lived there. It had been almost too easy to set up the trap. Suddenly, I caught sight of a public shuttle, and my tracker began to beep loudly. Pocketing the small device I leaped from my ship and made a few quick calls. This hunt was about to end. Even inside the walls of the small, glass spaceport, the humidity rivaled that of a sauna. I ignored the soaked air and hid behind a large box. The shuttle landed in the spaceport and a familiar face walked out. His dark hair and handsome face were shrouded by a black hood as he scanned the area; scanning for me. Hanin. His icy blue eyes caught sight of me and he bolted. Determined to catch up, I sprinted down to the street like a cheetah on a sugar high. I stepped through the spaceport exit, and nearly fell over, weighed down by the sudden surplus of water spilling into my lungs. The dirt street was blanketed in mist, and you could see the rainforest not too far in the distance; and the trees where... I couldn't think about that now. I raced after Hanin, wind whipping my hair and steam dampening my clothes. The street vendors nodded to me, I smiled. He had no Idea what was about to happen. Down the street, a net had suddenly been cast, blocking the way. Hanin yelped and scrambled to turn into an alley. Grinning, I followed. there was a fork at the end of the alley, but a dumpster had been placed across one of the paths. I smiled at Sharah, the woman who had moved it. Sharah returned the gesture. Up ahead, Hanin was beginning to panic. The alley was a dead end. He looked back at me, then with determination in his eyes, burst through a door in the left wall. unshaken, I followed. Inside was the town's most popular pub. Hanin stopped dead in his tracks. Sitting at the pub's various tables were thirty men and women, all of them pointing guns at him. I strolled up beside him and put my hand on his shoulder. Jumping in surprise, he turned. "Hanin." I said, "meet my friends, from the sharpshooter's club." "Hello everyone. Nice to meet you." he said. "looks like this planet believes in the second amendment." Hanin is the only criminal I've ever met, who jokes about these kinds of things. He could be dangling over a pit of lava, with someone raising their foot above his hand, to knock him to his Firey grave, and he'd probably say some cheesy one-liner, like, "Welp, after this I'll be even more hot." I handcuffed him and led him away to my ship. After a little while of walking we came to the vehicle. It wasn't much. it was about 20 feet long, and 15 feet wide, in the shape of a large v. the paint that said its name was chipped and fading, the cockpit glass was tinted yellow with age, and parts of the ship were stained red from rust. But it was my home none the less. This was the ship I had apprehended hundreds of criminals in; the ship that had survived dozens of space battles, the ship I'd used to run away from my past. From that fateful day. "Choose" whispered a voice from my past, echoing around in my head, calling the memory back... I shook it off. no time for daydreaming, I had a job to do. A ramp descended from the bottom of the ship, and I hauled Hanin inside. I secured him to the shotgun seat, wrapping a chain around his waist, legs, and arms. "Wow. You must think I'm a real keeper." he said with a wink. I groaned and rolled my eyes. Sitting in the drivers seat, I began to tap the various buttons and pull the various switches. The ship sputtered, belching smoke from the exhaust, then began to hover, and we shot into the stars. I locked the location into the autopilot and headed downstairs to find my other pair of handcuffs, for when I brought Hanin to the bounty center. "Um," Hanin said as I was leaving. He was bound so stiff that he couldn't fully turn to look at me. "Could you grab me a barf bag while you're down there?" "What?" I replied, feeling very confused. "I, um, get space sick." he said, face looking rather green. I burst out laughing, "The great criminal mastermind, thief of a thousand names, robber of risk and danger, gets woozy when he travels in space?" | rest of chapter here V
Hanin blushed furiously, and replied, "just get me the bag." I was walking back to the cockpit, when suddenly, I felt the whole ship jolt. I sprinted up the steps to see what was happening. I discovered, to my horror, that we'd been harpooned by a much larger ship, and were being reeled in like a fish on a hook. I whirled on Hanin. "What did you do?" "I just stole from the most vicious pirates in all of history. So, now they've captured your ship to imprison me and exact revenge and will probably think you're my accomplice and do the same to you, nothing much," he replied, his face the color of grass. "Can I have that barf bag now?" A voice roared through the radio. "Hanin you scumbag! I'm coming for you!" to be continued. ....................................................................................... I wrote this chapter specifically for a writing contest, but now I like the story so I'll continue it. all the Ideas were from my head. (even if it does give off some starwars vibes) I hope you enjoyed it! also, if you click the cover, you can see some character art. I made a studio for all things bounty, you'll find the chapters, updates, release dates, and other things there. Go check it out: https://scratch.mit.edu/studios/33676802/ chapter two is out: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/879432733 I made a contest about bounty: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/911692829/
