April 22, 2032
Billy's Town Freelands, Old Texas
Billy was in a foul mood as he respawned into his favorite bar. Most of the people there did not flinch except the newcomers who looked like they had just had a heart attack. The others laughed at them and raised their glasses at the respawner in welcome. Usually, when Billy arrived at the bar, he would compete in a drinking game against those who got scared by his arrival.
But Billy quietly made his way to his favorite stool at the bar where there was a drunk man passed out with his head on the table. The voices in the bad suddenly hushed out when the respawner stood in front of the stool expecting him to get up. Uh oh.
Billy tapped him on the shoulder twice but the man didn't flinch. He then slapped him hard on the side of his head and the man jerked awake. He let out a couple of hard insults before realizing who he was talking to.
"Ah, sorry there uh, boss," he said wavering with the alcohol influence. He got up and began to sweep at the seat. "There boss, got it all set and warm for ye…"
Billy fished out his revolver and bam, the man's brains lay upon the table. The bar was full of silence now except for the karaoke machine that was still playing a jolly tune.
"Already given ya two warnings before, Charles," he said spitting on the corpse.
The bartender quickly cleaned the table up while two of his men hauled the body outside. When the place was clean, Billy sat on his stool.
Some of the people slowly inched out of the bar and left. Within a few minutes however, the previous atmosphere of the place returned and everyone else had returned to their business as if nothing had happened. All they needed to do was keep their distance from him and everything would work out fine.
"So… what'll you be having, boss?" said the bartender nervously cleaning a glass making sure it was spotless.
"The usual. Oh, and make it a double." "Right away, boss."
Billy took a huge chug of the rum and slammed it against the table. He had lost the standoff and that too to the worst of them. Apache Kid, how he hated that fucker. He was the softest of them all, always doing what was best for his Red Indian community that had thrived in his city.
But that wasn't even the worse thing.
A respawner that could kill respawners had arrived at the Freelands. So, the rumors had been true. Of all the fucking places in this world, he had to come here. For the first time in his life, Billy actually felt something close to fear. Now he understood what the people felt when he suddenly respawned. The fear that the respawner could appear any moment now affected him more than the others.
There was a large uproar from the other end of the place where a lot of people stood gathered. They were huddled around the kiosks of the Lodge of Assassins, a betting company where their assassins faced of respawners and had to complete certain tasks. You could bet on either the assassins or the respawners and then the event would be played on the screens via hidden cameras.
This time it was between a feared samurai respawner in Japan against one of the best brawlers the world had ever seen, Vujan Vucinic. He had flown halfway across the world for this main event and everyone around the world was stoked for the event. Vujan was given the challenge of beheading the respawner three times and all he had to do was not die.
"Vujan is gonna win for sure. He's been doing this for years," said someone.
"That Japanese fucker gutted Large Samuels in half and that guy was the best of the best…" said another.
"Vu… Vuja… how the fuck do I pronounce this fucker's name?!"
The event had begun and Vujan Vucinic has revealed himself to the samurai respawner who respawned in front of him and unsheathed the shiny samurai sword that gleamed in the sunlight. Everyone cheered when he did so. It was one of his signature moves. Vucinic unsheathed a battle-hammer and slammed the ground thrice in his own signature move. More cheering followed. He then ran ahead with a battle cry and their weapons collided.
The battle was a glorious. There was a lot of oohs, ahs, and yeahs as the two opponents battled each other furiously. There were loud cheers and groans when Vucinic managed to behead the respawner with his hammer as he knocked it off with a sickening crunch.
Vucinic managed to behead him a second time as well although taking a few cuts and a serious stab to his thigh. The assassin slammed his battle-hammer against the ground again twice in his signature move but before he could strike it the third time, lightning struck right above him in the air. The crowd held their breath.
The samurai was in midair, his sword aimed at him as he fell down with momentum - the sword gleaming menacingly in the sun. Vucinic had been expecting it. It was a typical move that respawners used when they were losing.
Vucinic bent down to his knees and spread his legs. He turned around and lifted the hammer from the ground in a white arc, like a swinging a baseball bat, and whacked it against the respawner's head. The head flew off like a ball into the distance and a mixture of groans and cheered filled the whole bar.
The respawner respawned again to attack the assassin but electroshock weapons were fired at him and he was succumbed. Vujan Vucinic bowed down towards the cameras and slammed the battle axe against the ground.
Billy had also been looking forward to the event but did not much care about it at the moment. He had already downed five glasses of the rum and the cheers of the crowd were already distant to him.
He had been making efforts in recent years to better the zone that he belonged to. In the beginning after his resurrection, he had only continued what he had been doing two centuries ago – which was having fun through chaos and anarchy. He had hated rules and had hated the law. From raiding trains, he was now at the point where he was building a metro train system in his zone – the irony. He was now gradually evolving as a ruler of an area gradually evolving because of him changing his ways. He had let in those people who he had hated and used to call them 'suited and pompous' but now their investments were one of the reasons for the success of his zone of the Freelands. He had now made deals with various companies from various countires including the Czech Republican based augmentation selling company that had brought in the horseshoes that gave their steeds blistering speeds. He had even let the Lodge of Assassins into his zone which had given his zone a healthy injection of wealth. He had made the capital, Billy's Town, into a huge city and was no longer the town that it had once been.
He had even done something that was even more unlikely than ruling which was what he had referred to as 'book learning'. He remembered his Ma two centuries ago, when he was still a kid, would beat him and implore him to focus on learning in the shithole of a school that used to be near their home. But he had never listened, never been interested by it. But now he had given in, and although he still did not like it – the knowledge that he gained had both helped him as a ruler and opened his mind to how the world was so big and complex. It had added fuel to the fire that was his want for being a ruler. Someday he would rule the whole world.
But now all those efforts would be in vain.
The respawner would kill him. Maybe take over everything he had worked so hard to rebuild. But then the thought hit him.
Why had he been with those people in the car?
Billy downed another glass of rum and fished out his revolver. He held it against his temple.
Only one way to find out.
He fired and disappeared from the bar.