Fourth Meeting
S.CA.N. - The Bucks
By KT
Unbetaed!
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The man who ambled into the room was tall and rangy,
with thick dark hair and a moustache to match; he made a quick survey of the room
and then lowered himself careful down on to one of the chairs. He let out a
long sigh and gently rubbed his shoulder.
"Looks like we're the first."
The speaker was an equally tall man, with twinkling dark blue eyes, dressed in
jeans and a black leather jacket.
"Looks like, I hate to be late."
"Me too, what happened to ya shoulder,
shot?"
"Yup, in the back, it came out here."
"Ouch, bet that smarts some."
"You could say that. I noticed you were
limping."
"What? Oh yeah, splinter."
"It get infected?"
"Naturally, and you know what, it only took three
hours! Now I ask you, who the hell gets a wound infection, with fever, in three
hours?!"
"I know, I know, they're so impatient, it's just
ain't fair, we don't even get a chance to recover on our own."
"Now that is the plumb truth." A third man
entered, like the first man, he had a moustache and like the second he was
limping, he was also carrying a small dark haired boy.
"Who's the kid?" ATF Buck asked.
"His dad thought he should be here, so he'd know
what to expect when he grows up. Personally I think that's cruel, got me a boy
of my own, looks a lot like him, only a lot smaller, I'd never let him come to
one of these meetings."
"Yeah, it's not right t' scare the poor little
kid."
"Well not to worry, he's fast asleep, doubt he'll
wake up anytime soon."
The two other Buck's shucked off their coats and
jackets and placed them on the floor, once the boy was on this improvised bed,
the third Buck covered him with his own coat.
"Mind if I sit down, this busted ankle's killin' me?"
"Hell no, pull up a
chair, or even two."
Just then, there was a strange shimmering in the room
and a tall man in a red jumpsuit appeared as if from nowhere. While the two old
west Buck's stared in horror, ATF Buck grinned.
"Well darn it, I thought they only did that on
TV!" Once he'd got over his shock however, he
noticed his 'brother' was covered in snow and shivering like a leaf. "Darn
it, what the hell happened to you?"
"Doooon't aaaaskk!"
The new arrival managed to get out passed his chattering teeth.
"We understand, I've
been trapped in a blizzard before now." Buck retrieved one of the jackets
from the seeping boy. "Here."
"Thanks."
"Come over here and sit down man, been caught in
the snow a time or two myself, usually trying to save the kid."
"Fuunnny yoooou shshshould sssay that."
"He does seem to need saving a lot."
"Yup, cost me sabre slash to the chest…"
"Now come on, you can't blame them for that, that
wasn't their fault, like wise the sword wounds."
"Oh yeah, well I can blame them for the
unforeseen complications, blood loss and fever that came after!"
"True."
"Right, so as I was saying, the kid has cost me
all that, plus a dirty great splinter the size of your arm in my side, I've
ended up carrying him, I don't know how many times, and he's no light weight
you know."
All but one of the others nodded. "I have to
admit he as lighter when he was smaller."
"Still a trouble magnet though wasn't he?"
"All I'm saying is he was a cute kid, but I never
expected fatherhood to be so dangerous."
"You see, this is what I'm saying, I got shot in
the head because of him!"
"That's nothing, he cost me a flail chest, at
sea, in a storm! Do you have any idea what that's like?"
The others turned to face new arrival with the strange
accent. He was clean-shaven and wearing a bright yellow waterproof with a black
sheepskin collar.
"Trust me I've had worse!" ATF Buck
countered.
"Oh yeah, worse than a fail chest -
what ever that is - or being shot? Like what?" Old West
Buck challenged.
"Well I ain't gonna say, and to be fair it wasn't
all the kid’s fault, but trust me it was worse."
"Do you ththththink there is any heating in this
place?"
"Probably not." Old
west Buck turned back to the others. "You should try a torn liver and
almost no morphine."
"How about a severed artery and no morphine at
all, not because there is no morphine you understand, oh no, Ezra gets
morphine, Vin gets morphine, I just happen to be
conveniently allergic to it. That is just unreasonable cruelty, in my
opinion." This new arrival was dressed in tweed and carrying a small
medical bag. "And I'm a doctor, so I should know."
"A doctor?
I didn't think we were smart enough to be doctors."
"Oh we are plenty smart enough, we just get held
back because we're socially unacceptable, or too poor, or lack the proper
schooling or motivation."
"See it's not just our bodies, they screw with
our lives and our minds as well and you know what else?"
"What?"
"She blew up my truck."
"What's a truck?" All the others asked.
"It'd take to long to explain, but trust me it's
a man thing, a special thing, like a personal shuttle or your horse."
"Damn, that is cruel, she better not kill my
Beau."
"Well don’t bet on it, she killed Peso."
"No!"
"Swear to God, killed him stone dead!"
"She killed a horse?" A new arrival asked.
"Yup, slowly too.
Who are you?"
"Major Wilmington, at your
service."
"What happened to you?"
"Knifed in the chest, four times."
"Protecting the kid?"
"Naturally."
"Typical, that all, just the knife?"
"Yes."
"Chicken feed, wait 'till you've been around
some, wait 'till you get shot in the back by an AK 47 at near point blank
range, tortured, trapped, blown up, drugged and hit by a truck!"
"Then there's the food poisoning, fever, and
disfiguring blinding. Not forgetting being haunted by a malevolent - good word that, Ezra taught me that one -
malevolent spirit that scars yer horses so bad you get thrown!"
"Hello guys! Look what I found outside.
He seems very friendly." A gangling, somewhat emaciated teenager wandered
in with a truly huge grey wolf beside him.
The wolf circled the room, sniffed all of them and
then settled down, on the floor, curling his huge body around the sleeping
child.
"I'm not that fond of large, wild canines, so
forgive me if I ask, but why is there a wolf in here?" asked the doctor,
keeping his distance.
"Trust me, I get the feeling we don't want to
know, and believe me I speak as one who has seen some seriously weird shit in
my time out there in the galaxy."
"You sound a bit better Commander."
"Yeah, well I think I'm getting a cold, and you
know what that means."
"Pneumonia!" they all chorused.
"And another thing that bugs me," ATF Buck started
pacing, despite the limp. "Now women love a wounded hero, right?" The
others nodded. "So at the very least we should be getting some tender,
loving, female type care, right?"
"Right!"
"But do we? No, all we get is one of the others
or some boring doctor! Even when we do get a woman,
nurse or doctor, she's old or a nun or married with kids, it's just not
fair."
"I never thought of it that way. Mind you, you
can count your self lucky you get a variety, all I get is Nathan, I know he
means well, but darn that tea is just the moat disgusting, foul tasting, darn
right evil concoction ever devised by man!"
"You know what? It's
strange and usual punishment! That's what it is! We
suffer and bleed and writhe in agony and not so much at a pretty little nubile
nurse to mop our fevered brow."
"Is this the S.C.A.N. meeting?"
"Yup."
The new man was slightly younger than the others, wearing an old, brown leather bomber jacket and
jeans; he cocked his head to one side and whispered into his pocket.
"
"Trust me Captain, you've been feeling very put
upon recently, I'm sure it will help to share."
Major Wilmington looked at the Commander beside him,
ready to comment on this odd behaviour, only to find him speaking to the gold
badge pinned to his chest. Before he could worry about this however, another
man limped in resting heavily on a cane. He was wearing tidy if slightly shabby
working clothes; clean shaven with slightly long, sun-bleached hair.
"Are we all here?" He looked around.
"Well a good number anyway. Why is there a wolf in here?"
"We don't like to ask."
"Very well, let's begin."
The End
In case you were interested, the meeting was attended by:-
ATF Buck
OW Buck
LB Buck
Runaways little Buck
Two Blood Buck
RNLI Buck
Conan-Doyle Buck
Union Delegate Buck
ST Buck
Street Gang Buck
The Facilitator was Clark Davis from Love's Enduring Promise.