Retreat...for now

Texas was at a disadvantage here. She couldn't stay hidden without getting her brain boggled by that damn rattle, and she couldn't jump out at Zirona without a plan! She hated to admit it but that damn snake was almost as fast a shot as she was! Texas needed to retreat for now and rethink...well, everything. Rivercrest was sketchy as hell before, but now she had proof that the vixen was actively hiring criminals to turn people into products! The main way out was past the snake bounty hunter she was currently trying to avoid. Luckily, Texas remembered the sign she saw earlier. There was another way out of this room. A way that led to the loading docks or somesuch. Loading docks meant that cargo was being loaded there to either come in or go out. That meant there had to be an exit that way! Texas wasn't usually one to run from a fight, but right now it was really her only option. She had proof that Rivercrest was up to no good. Now she just needed time to gear up and make a plan! She took a second to sneer at Zirona...then immediately skedaddled when she saw the snake's tail twitch!

The exit to the loading area wasn't too hard to find. All Texas had to do was follow the conveyors. Well, until those conveyor belts reached the far wall that is. There was a door there with a sign hanging just above it labeled "Loading Bay" as well as "Resource Refinement" and "Employee Lounge." Meanwhile, those conveyors angled up towards the roof, and went into huge, rectangular holes in the wall that seemed to lead into some room on the second story. Texas wouldn't be able to hitch a ride on those without alerting Zirona, and they weren't headed where she wanted to go anyways. Still, she made note of those conveyors in case she needed them later and then slipped on through the door leading to the Loading Bay.

She was greeted with a short hallway that was thankfully devoid of other people at the moment. Across the way from her was another door, this one just labeled “Loading Bay.” Off to her immediate left was a staircase that had the words “Resource Refinement” painted on the wall along with an arrow pointing up the stairs. About halfway down the hall was that Employee Lounge place, which Texas was not very keen on visiting at the moment. That is, until she started sneaking down the hall and heard voices coming from said lounge.

She heard a gruff male voice speak up first. “Ugghh...Miss Gildegarden is really workin’ us to **** to make sure the Sheriff has to stay and play her game. Come on, she’s just one stupid country bumpkin with a pistol and a badge! Why do we need so many freaking guards?”

“Because...” another softer, sweeter, and much more feminine voice replied, “this supposed “bumpkin” has managed to hold her own against a town that appears to be more densely populated with massive, revolting criminals than anywhere else in the world. Single handedly. You know Miss Gildegarden despises when her toys escape. And when she is unhappy, we are all unhappy.” Texas had to strain a bit to hear this second person. Their voice was quiet, but also very pleasant to listen to.

“All of us? Come on, I know she’ll probably be pissed at us guards, but you? But why would she ever take her anger out on “Miss Nightshade?” You’ve been her right hand for years!”

Silence. You could hear a pin drop. Texas was worried for a moment that the two had somehow discovered that she was listening to them! Just before the weasel bolted though, the softer voice spoke. “...and...where, pray tell, did you hear that name, darling?” That sugary sweet voice now had just a tinge of cyanide to it. Enough to make Texas’s skin crawl.

No doubt the guard felt it to, because he suddenly sounded a LOT less brash and confident. “U-uhh, is...is that not what people call you? I’ve heard the others call you that on shift so I tho-”

“Oh you THOUGHT, hm? Well, I must say it is rather fortunate that the lovely Miss Gildegarden does not pay you to think. Though...I don’t believe she’ll be paying you at all anymore after this.”

Texas could hear the guard start shuffling backwards. “W-wait, what do you mean by-OH SWEET LORD PLEASE NO D-”

There was a slight trumpeting sound, barely even audible through the door. The guard’s shouting was reduced to a cacophony of pained **** and heaving as Texas heard them hit the ground hard! It only lasted a handful of seconds though before the room went dead silent. She had no idea what had just happened in there! The guard was acting like they couldn’t breathe and then just seemed to conk right out! Texas looked down just in time to see a faint purple fog waft out from under the door and right up to her nose.

O-oh fuck...

Texas’s eyes almost popped out of her head! Her poor sense of smell screamed at her to run away as it was exposed to a ridiculously putrid smell! Like decaying meat, spoiled veggies, rancid cheese, rotten eggs, cabbage, and skunk ass all rolled up in a sweatsock burrito! It took every ounce of her strength to not throw up and alert this “Miss Nightshade” to her presence! She needed to get out of here NOW! Wasting no more time eavesdropping, Texas scurried on over to the door to the Loading Bay. What she saw on the other side of this door was...not much better.

Cows. Lots and lots of cows. And guards. And sniper towers. And a twenty foot high fence with barbed wire.

And Smiling Jacks.

The Loading Bay itself was a large, flat concrete area that was covered by a roof and had a large opening in the front so cows could easily go to and fro towing cargo. The conveyor belts were back now and descended from the second floor at a very slow incline so the products, which were now all in crates of varying sizes depending on what the specific product was, did not shift.

And Smiling Jacks was right in the middle of it, talking to a couple of her cows! There were guards all over the place too! There was no way Texas was getting out this way! Unless...unless maybe she hid in one of the crates! Texas glanced over to where the cows were being fastened to sleds carrying the processed people. If she could just-oh...oh EW!

The cows weren't just getting hooked up to sleds! There were workers who were shoving tubes up their asses, and those tubes were connected to the crates! Texas watched as one of those massive cows got her tube in place and just immediately let rip! Yellowish gas seeped out of the crate, and Texas could hear the coughs and wails of disgust from the people within. If she tried to sneak into one of those, she’d get her brains gassed out!

Texas sat there in cover, watching this sight unfold for a good five minutes. She was racking her brain, trying to figure out what possible purpose this could serve. The cows were cheap labor, Jacks's herd was smart enough to know where to go, and only a complete moron would try to rob one of her bovines. That part made some kind of sense. But...why the gas!? It's not like there was any risk of the people in those crates and boxes escaping. They were all flattened, crushed, restrained, and brainwashed! If anything, gassing them constantly would make them less likely to stay put! So why was Rivercrest making them suffer unnecessari-

"...oh." A look of fear dawned on Texas's face when she finally pieced it together. There WAS no point or purpose to making every moment of these people's lives a methane filled hell! Roxie had told her that Rivervrest was as uncivilized as the rest of them, but she hadn't come close to the real problem. While disgusting and dastardly, usually Texas's foes had a reason for the things they did. Hatred, greed, powerlust, regular lust, a need for validation...their disgusting habits were usually a means to an end. Intimidation, humiliation, that sort of thing. Torturing already processed "cargo" out in the desert where nobody but the cows themselves can even see it didn't fit any of that.

Rivercrest was just insane.

Texas also briefly recalled what that “Miss Nightshade” person had said about a game Rivercrest was playing with her. That fox was batshit crazy! And clearly, she was a total sadist who just loved to make others suffer, even when she wasn’t actually there to watch them! Great. As if rich and powerful wasn’t bad enough. Now Texas REALLY needed to get the hell out of this factory. The only question was...how? The shipping crates were maybe an option if she could find a way to sneak inside...and hold her breath. There was also Jacks...if she was coordinating all her cows to move Rivercrest’s stuff, she was probably as important as Roxie. Texas might have a way out if she took her hostage...as much as she was loathe to stoop to the level of these crooks. She could also try just waiting a bit and sneaking back the way she came. Zirona wouldn’t wait around there forever if she had a job to do, right?