Charlie gathered his large collection of disposable weapons, his multi-layered, high class tent that had been with him since his escape from his hometown and other necessities like food and water and arranged them into his new limited edition spatial ring that he had spent all his savings on and wore it on his right index finger.
With a sense of urgency, he called in a favor.
"Hey, man. Been a while.... yeah, yeah, another time... look, you remember that time when I saved your ass and you said you owed me some? Yeah, I'm calling in one of them.... Is your plane functional. I would like you to airdrop me somewhere while you pass by... The forest! Yes that! That one.... oh really... good, good. I really appreciate it, man.... thanks... greet your wife for me, alright?
You still owe me one though... Haha, sure... if I'm available, sure.... alright... I will be there in less than ten minutes...You really are a lifesaver... Yeah. Alright, see you soon."
*click*
Charlie sighed, his eyes shook with worry. A part of him knew that he did not have to do what he was about to do, but Wilson's case kind of reminded him about his family's case. Perhaps, if his dad had had people who could take the risk to help him, he would have survived long enough to exonerate himself. Alas, it did not happen. Not to mention that what Jim did was no different from what the people in his hometown had done. After all, his father had been a very important part of their lives. Many of the people who called him names and picked at him, were people his father and him thought were family friends. Wilson right now was in a way, him of all those years back. He had no one to help him but he did not want the same to happen to Wilson.
Charlie looked into his spatial ring to ensure he had stored all that he needed. Alright. He hurried out of his apartment and climbed on his borrowed hoverbike and zoomed off. He said ten minutes and he wanted to ensure he would be there in more than ten minutes. The earlier he got moving, the more likely he would find Wilson alive. That's what he thought.
He got there to the small airport at exactly eight in the morning. Plane was packed and fuelled and ready to go when he arrived. No time for dilly-dallying. Two minutes after his arrival, they were already in the air at full speed; making a beeline for the next kingdom, by passing directly over the forest Charlie was informed that Wilson was at.
The pilot was not the friend Charlie had called. Rather, he was an old colleague of Charlie's friend who was less busy at the moment and wanted to go for a test flight anyway. Convenient it was. As the plane flew at high speed, steady and gliding several kilometers above ground, but below the clouds, the pilot communicated with some raspy, seemingly grunting voice over the phone. After talking on the phone for a long time, he put the plane on auto-pilot and went to sir beside Charlie.
"Hello, Mr Charlie." He greeted.
"Spade." Charlie greeted back, nodding as he greeted the pilot - Spade.
"I just finished speaking with someone who visits the forest regularly..."
"Okay."
"He says that he has been hearing lots of gunshots and screams since last evening and that it is a mess of broken trees and dead bodies down there and there are still lots of armed people running about the forest, yelling curses and stuff."
Charlie nodded, "As expected."
"As expected?" Spade repeated, shocked at Charlie's calmness.
"Yes." Charlie nodded, but did not bother to explain.
"Look, I know you are used to such ruckus and danger; being an experienced mercenary and all, but from what I hear, I don't think it is advisable to go parachuting into such a place right now. Perhaps, you want to change locations because there is still time or maybe come back on a later date?" Spade tried to persuade him to change his mind. Only the living can enjoy things like skydiving and parachuting and stuff like that. Charlie thought otherwise though. If there was so much ruckus on the forest, chances are that he was not too late and Wilson was still alive. He should try to get there as soon as possible.
Something still bothered him though. He checked the bounty just half an hour ago and the bounty was not yet high enough to attract as many people as the pilot insinuated there were. Unless, it was a very large bounty hunting group or groups of mercenaries that were training their newbies; giving them some real life experience about what hunting a human feels like. If there were that many dead people, then perhaps, there was more than one group and they ended up competing and getting into those unnecessary skirmishes that was always happening among bounty hunter groups. It usually never ended until a good number of people were dead or badly wounded.
The life of a bounty hunter was no joke. It was the riskiest job; riskier than beast hunting, mercenary jobs and military service. All these three had rules and associations or governing bodies to keep their members in place and were required to abide by certain rules. Bounty hunting on the other hand had none of such. It was strictly a dog-eat-dog situation every single time with these people. They not only had to constantly protect themselves against the people they hunted but also against the people they hunted with. Unlike the aforementioned three, if a bounty hunter should turn against his fellow bounty hunters, no one would say a thing. It was normal and as for the victims, it was their fault for being too dumb, trusting and unskilled. Hence, bounty hunters, unless the bounty instructed otherwise, hunted with the sole mission of killing and sending live videos as evidence of the death.
But if that was the case, the more reason he should find Wilson as soon as possible before he runs into the veterans. Those were the really dangerous people. He believed that if Wilson did run into just one, with the latter's current skill set, he was f*cked.
"I will jump." He said to Spade who looked at him curiously for a few moments before nodding.
"Whatever you say, Mr Charlie."
Les than half an hour later, Spade yelled from the pilot's seat.
"Mr Charlie, get ready to jump out in five minutes."
Charlie immediately stood up and put on the parachute bag. Dive minutes later, Spade who was standing behind him opened the airplane door and yelled jump.
As Charlie moved to jump, Spade, suddenly shot at him from behind.
*bang*
The bullet went right through the chute and hit Charlie in the back.
Charlie, right that instant, fell off the plane, shocked; stupefied. What just happened? The pilot just shot him? And as he fell from the skies, he wondered to himself - 'Why?'