A Broken Outlaw (Belles & Bullets Book 7)

by Caylen McQueen

  “You know, Ed, I really appreciate this.” Nicky raised the bottle to his lips and took the tiniest sip of water. “In comparison to your brother, you're practically an angel.”

  “I know.” Ed showed him an open grin of black teeth as his vehicle sped forward. “That's what ever'body always tells me.”

  Eight

  Carol paused beside the apartment building and turned her eyes skyward, where a sliver of moon glistened through purple-tinged clouds. Every time she saw Josiah, she had to brace herself. He wasn't the same person anymore, and she was letting it get to her. She wanted the old Josiah back, but he was broken. Thoroughly broken. Carol could fix robots, airships, motocarriages and trains, but she couldn't fix people. The tear in his soul was too difficult to mend.

  “He's in there somewhere,” Carol whispered to herself as she turned the doorknob. She was determined to chip away at him until she uncovered the man she missed so much.

  Carol knocked on his bedroom door. When she didn't hear a response, she entered anyway. Josiah was sitting in bed, reading a book. As soon as he saw her enter, he threw a blanket over his missing arm. His eyes, once bright and blue, were dull and vacant.

  “Hiya Josiah!” She tried her most cheerful greeting on him, but he still greeted her with the slightest of nods. “What are you up to in here? Are you still sulking the day away?”

  “Something like that.”

  “Gosh, you're depressing. Anyway, we need to talk about Pat.” When Carol jumped into bed with him, Josiah scooted over. “Obviously, you need to get to Gravestone by tomorrow. Gwen and I already asked around. Apparently, there aren't any airships or trains traveling west. After Emperor Ju-long's conquest of Santo Feo, everyone got nervous. No one's going in or out of Santa Rosa anymore, but... don't you worry your little head, Jojo Cole! I haven't given up.”

  “I've given up,” Josiah countered. “I don't want Pat to die, of course, but there's nothing I can do.”

  Carol exaggerated a pout. “Gee, the old Josiah wouldn't have given up that quickly! What happened to you?”

  “Do you really need to ask that question?” Josiah looked down at his missing arm, hidden beneath the blanket. “Really?”

  “And I totally understand why you're upset, but... isn't Patrick your friend? What if he's expecting you to save him? You can't let him down!” Carol gave him an encouraging swat on the arm. “Hell, I've never even met him, and I don't want to let him down!”

  “You already said there aren't any trains heading to Gravestone. How are we supposed to get there? Sprout wings?”

  “Almost, but not quite!” Carol pulled a few sheets of paper from behind her back and waved them in front of Josiah's face. There were detailed drawings on all of them. Intricate diagrams and scrawled calculations covered the pages. “I'm building a thing. A flying contraption. I already got all the parts I need, and I started working on it a few hours ago. It just needs a few more tweaky weakies, and--”

  “Carol,” Josiah interrupted. “Why are you doing this? Why do you keep trying to help me? Why are you trying to help a friend of mine who you've never even met?”

  “Because, silly... because... I, um...” Carol clicked her tongue as she tried to come up with an answer. “Because I'm a loyal sidesidekick?”

  “You're doing this because you feel sorry for me,” Josiah answered for her. “That's it. That's the only reason. Before my arm got cut off, you were going to leave. Now you won't leave me alone, and I know why. You pity me.”

  “Okay. So what if I do? You shouldn't look a gift Carol in the mouth! Speaking of which...” Carol suddenly pulled back on her cheek and showed off her missing molar. “Look at that.”

  “Look at what?”

  “Missing tooth.” As soon as he saw it, she let go of her cheek and said, “I can make a hovertrain, I can build an airship, I can invent new weapons... but I can't make a good replacement for a tooth. Teeth are so silly. You only get one good pair, and they're supposed to last... how long? Sixty years? Seventy? That's crazy. If I was God, I'd give us another pair. A third pair. They should all fall out at age fifty and then grow in super sturdy and awesome because you deserve a good set of teeth after you've lived that long.”

  Josiah closed his eyes. He wasn't in the mood to listen to Carol's rambling.

  Then again, he rarely was.

  “So, anyway...” Carol grabbed the pencil that was stowed above her ear and scribbled something onto one of her diagrams. “I'm going to keep working on this thingamajig overnight, and then it's off to Gravestone tomorrow morning! We don't want to miss the execution, so you should probably wake up super early. I'm talking four o'clock, pal! So you better get your beauty rest now, Mr. Cole! Do you hear me?”

  “Yes, mom.” As his head crashed into his pillow, Josiah's eyes rolled. As much as he didn't want Carol's pity, he also didn't want to turn down her help. Without Pat, Nicky and Flynn, Carol was the only friend he had, and he didn't want to chase her away—even if she could be annoying at times.

  For a few miraculous minutes, Carol was silent.

  And then she wasn't.

  As she worked out an equation, she quietly sang, “Put a digit herrrre, carry the one, isn't this fun? Multiply by fiiiive and look alive! Boom boom dee-doop.”

  “Carol,” Josiah groaned. “It's kind of hard to get my beauty rest when you're singing, sweetheart.”

  “Awwww.” Carol leaned down to kiss his head. “I'm sorry, princess. I didn't mean to disturb you. Wow, your hair's surprisingly soft. Like... really soft. Crazy soft.” Her lips landed in his hair a second time. And again. And again. “My lips are loving this. Kissing your hair is like kissing the belly of a kitten. You've got angel hair, Josiah. Not the pasta, but a literal angel.”

  “Stop!” She landed a fifth kiss on Josiah's head before he gently swatted her away. “Stop kissing me, please.”

  “Did you wash your hair? It kinda smells nice, too.”

  “Carol.” He groaned her name again, as he often did. “Can you work on these calculations somewhere else? That's all I'm asking.”

  “I sure can!” Carol leapt from bed, but not before ambushing his head with yet another kiss. When he heard her lips smacking against his ear, he grunted. “Goodnight, Jojo!” As she danced through the door, he heard her muttering to herself, “That Josiah! Once a crabby crab, always a crabby crab, I swear...”

  Taking Carol's advice, Josiah went to sleep early.

  And before he knew it, she was nudging him awake.

  “Rise and shine o' friend of mine!” Carol trilled. “I've got something to show you, and you're going to love it!”

  “You know... somehow, I doubt that, Miss Cassady.” Josiah rubbed his eyes as he rose from bed.

  When she saw him fumbling with the buttons of his shirt, Carol skipped across the room to assist him. “Gwen's already seen it. When I told her we're going to ride it, she had a miniature panic attack. I don't know why she's so upset. Riding in Carol Cassady's brand new flying machine is a once in a lifetime experience. I tried to tell her that, but she didn't seem to care.”

  As soon as Carol finished with his buttons, Josiah asked with a smirk, “Now... how about helping me with my britches, Miss Cassady? You can help me take these off, and then put on the pair in that wardrobe over there.”

  “Uhhh...” Carol looked down at his legs and stammered through a reply, “Yeeeah... I-I dunno, Josiah... I mean... that's kind of awkward and stuff, but uh... m-maybe I could. Yeah. Uh-huh. Sure. Alright, let's do it!”

  An explosive guffaw suddenly erupted from Josiah's mouth. His laughter was so rare, Carol was glad to hear it, even if it came at her expense. “I'm only teasing, Carol. I'm not going to ask you to strip off my clothes.”

  “You're not?”

  “God, no.” As his laughter subsided, Josiah shook his head and chuckled. “I don't know what's more surprising... the fact that you thought I was serious, or the fact that you were willing to do it.”

  “Uhhh... ye
ah.” A hot blush rushed into Carol's cheeks as she sidled to the door. “I'll, uh... I'll just be waiting outside. I'm excited to show you what I've been working on.”

  “And I'm excited to see it,” Josiah added with a smile. “But not half as excited as you were to see me out of my breeches.”

  “Ha ha. Very funny.” Even though he teased her, Carol was glad to see him in better spirits. As she slipped through the doorway, she stuck out her tongue and wrinkled her nose. “Oh, and you might want to pack a few things before we go. We'll be leaving Santa Rosa for awhile.”

  “Will do, Captain Cassady.”

  A few minutes later, after donning his trousers and packing some essentials, Josiah wandered outside to find Gwen and Carol, who was standing beside her creation with a self-satisfied grin on her lips. It looked like a bicycle for three, with three sets of handlebars and pedals. There was an immense gas bag hanging above it, as well as a small propeller.

  “There is no way you're getting me on that thing. No way!” Gwen whined. “I want to get back to Gravestone as much as you do, but... not if it means risking my life!”

  Carol ignored Gwen and focused on Josiah. She expected him to choose the gun arm, but he was wearing the mechanical arm that responded to sensors. While his choice was somewhat disappointing, she decided not to fuss.

  Unlike Gwen, who continued to whine, “Have you even tested this machine, Carol? How can you know it won't crash?”

  “Oh, I tested it.” If Carol's bored shrug was any indication, soaring around on a flying bicycle was entirely commonplace for her. “I flew back to Carol Cassady's Amazing Mecca of Mechas overnight. It got me there and back without any issues, so it's safe enough.”

  “You went back to your shop... overnight?” Gwen sounded awed and confused.

  “Yep. I needed to pick up some stuff, like money to pay off those promissory notes. I don't like to be in anyone's debt. And I needed to grab some missiles for Josiah's gun arm, as well as a special little widget for Josiah's mechanical hand. Now I'll be able to affix a thumb to it, and it should only take a matter of hours. Of course, getting to Gravestone takes precedence, so...” Carol lowered a pair of obnoxious, oversized gold goggles over her eyes and hopped onto the front seat of the flying bicycle. “Let's go, people! We have no time to waste! Chop chop!”

  With an indolent shrug of his shoulders, Josiah climbed onto the seat behind her. After losing an arm, his life was worthless to him, so he didn't care to risk it. “Let's do it,” he said. “If we crash, we crash. I can think of worse ways to die.”

  “B-but... Carol... did you really not sleep last night?” whimpered Gwen. “I don't know if I trust you to fly this thing if you're tired!”

  “Naaah. I'm not tired! Geniuses need no sleep!” Carol laid her feet on the pedals in preparation for take-off. “Sit your skinny butt down, Gwen! We're not leaving without you!”

  “Ohhhh... fine!” Gwen finally capitulated. Pouting like a petulant child, she sat in the third seat and crossed her arms. “But I really don't like this!”

  “Did you say goodbye to Tucker?” Carol asked.

  Gwen's answer was accompanied with a sigh. “Yes.”

  “What about Aloysius McDardles-Ham?”

  Gwen nodded. “Uh huh.”

  “What about Staff Sergeant Norman Constavalos Junior?”

  “I said goodbye to him this morning.”

  “And what about What's-His-Face? The guy who kinda looked like an albino with a goatee and a limp?”

  “God,” Josiah interrupted before Gwen could reply. “How many men was Gwen dating, exactly?”

  “A few...” With a snort of laughter, Carol added, “dozen,”

  Gwen wanted to hide her face in shame. Before Carol could mention any more of her suitors, she whined, “Carol, can we just go?”

  “We'll get going in a minute, girl, don't get so antsy in your pantsy. Josiah, did you pack the gun arm?”

  “I've got it with me.”

  “Good boy,” Carol commended him. “In that case, I guess we're off! Everyone start pedaling like your life depends on it! Go go go! Pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal!”

  Josiah and Gwen obeyed, and the three of them raced down Santa Rosa's main street on Carol's unique contraption. Several passersby stopped to watch them, and they heard a collective gasp from the crowd as the flying bicycle lifted off.

  “Whoo hoo!” Carol cheered when they were in the air. “Aaaaand we're up! Is this amazing or what?”

  “Amazingly terrifying!” Gwen squeaked. “How long do we keep pedaling?”

  “Until we reach a certain height. I'll tell you when.” Carol released the handlebars and held out her arms. “It kinda feels like flying, you know. Like you're an actual bird.”

  “Please hold on, Miss Cassady,” Josiah begged her. “If you fell from this thing, that'd really ruin my day.”

  “Aww. Would it?”

  “It would.”

  For Josiah sake, Carol's hands returned to the handlebars and held on tight. “So you do like me after all?”

  “You know I do, Miss Cassady. And you should consider yourself lucky, because I don't like many people.” Turning his eyes to the heavens, Josiah watched the clouds drift closer. If Carol's bicycle went any higher, the nebulous masses would swallow them up.

  “Well, I do like a lot of people,” Carol confessed. “But you're one of my favorites, Jojo, so you should consider yourself lucky too.”

  “Yep. I'm lucky alright.” Josiah turned his gaze to Carol's long, blonde, windswept pigtails. They were dangerously close to hitting him. They were like two mad serpents, lashing wildly. Even if he was struck by one of them, Josiah wouldn't mind. Being in Carol's company was worth the risk. They had absolutely nothing in common, and yet—she was secretly one of his favorite people too.

  With a smile, he added, “I'll try not to let it go to my head.”

  Nine

  “So, do you guys want the good news or the bad news?” Carol Cassady chewed her bottom lip as her feet found the pedals. It was always a bad day when one of her inventions failed. She hated to admit she wasn't as infallible as people expected her to be. “The good news is, we're only a few miles away from Gravestone. The bad news is... we're probably gonna crash.”

  As soon as the words were out of Carol's mouth, Gwen shrieked, “What? Why?”

  “Well, there's a minor problem with the thermocouple and the stabilizer, the catenary's gone a bit wonky and now there's a buildup of pressure in the aerostat and--”

  “I don't need to know all that!” Gwen gripped the handlebars so tightly, her knuckles were bright white. “I just need to know what's going to happen next. Are we going to die?”

  “Nah. I don't think so. We'll just be descending a little faster than I'd like.” Carol glanced over her shoulder, checking Josiah's reaction. Gwen was in an obvious state of panic, but she wanted to know how her other passenger was handling the news. To her surprise, Josiah's expression was staggeringly stoic. “And the landing will probably be kind of rough, to say the least. I don't think this little dirigible will fly again. There's a good chance it'll be broken.”

  “But will we be broken?” Gwen asked.

  “Well, hopefully not, but you never know. I definitely wouldn't rule out a broken bone or two.” Carol shrugged. “We've got a few minutes before we need to brace for impact, so if there's anything anyone needs to say, you should probably get it off your chest now. It might be your last chance to say it.”

  “Seriously?” Gwen screeched.

  “Maybe. Maybe not. Like I said, you never know with these things.”

  “Josiah, I've loved you since I was a little girl!” Gwen suddenly blurted. “Ever since I was nine or ten years old and I saw you in Gravestone for the very first time, I knew you were the handsomest man I'd ever seen. Every time you'd stop me on the street and give me sweets, I was dying on the inside. Every time you left town, I cried. I always thought we'd be married one day, and that we'd raise an entire
army of little blue-eyed Josiahs and Josephinas. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've imagined it. Of course, my father would never approve, but it was always a dream of mine, you know?”

  When the bicycle suddenly plummeted several feet, Gwen's speech was interrupted by a scream from Carol. “Heh... um... we're alright,” the engineer weakly insisted. “We, uh... yeah... we're still drifting. Gwen, you can continue with your confession of love.”

  “I think I've said everything that needs to be said,” Gwen sighed. “Josiah, is there anything you want to add to that?”

  “I care about you too, Gwen,” Josiah dryly told her. “And Carol. And Jun. I would have done anything to protect all three of you... which is why I'm so devastated about losing that damn arm. I didn't think I'd be able to protect anyone anymore. I thought I'd be useless.”

  “You're not useless, Jo!” Gwen declared. When she leaned forward to pat his shoulder, she nearly slipped from her seat, so her fingers went back to squeezing the handlebars. “I'm sorry if it seems like I've been avoiding you. I really am.”

  “Well, we've got about sixty seconds,” Carol solemnly reported as her flying machine took another nosedive. After a moment of silence, she updated them again. “Thirty seconds...” When they were hovering above the ground, she dropped the landing gear and yelled, “Brace for impact!”

  Fortunately, the crash of Carol's invention didn't result in permanent injuries for its passengers. There were no broken bones, only bruises. Carol, who was riding in front, suffered the most. When it was over, her legs were sore, she had a giant discolored contusion on her cheek, and there was a slight trickle of blood scurrying down her forehead. Apart from that, everyone appeared to be relatively unscathed.

  “Are you guys alright?” Carol asked as she limped away from the broken bike. She kicked, punched, waddled, and hopped up and down, which earned her puzzled stares from her companions. She was trying to wiggle the pain from her legs, but it didn't work. The achiness lingered.