Musical Credit: The Legendary Johnny Cash: I Won't Back Down

~--~

The mysterious mariachi wrapped the strap around his upper body and walked past the group playing a low melodic tune on his guitar as he got closer. Sam ran up to Nix's side, "You really think we should let that little guy go in there by himself?"

They got their answer from their boss. "Let him go," Shelly had placed the blue cap on backward. Her long purple hair still slightly noticeable but the brim protecting it from sticking out like a white spot in a sea of black paint. "Something tells me we are gonna see a once in a lifetime show."

The music man continued to strum his guitar as he walked through the crowd. The masses seemed to part as he walked, whispering under their breaths and gasping as they saw him pass. Nix overheard two girls saying, "I didn't know he would be coming back to town so soon." Others would say, "Things are gonna get loud now."

The man played louder as he finally got within the opening the crowd made with the four brutes. The leader on stage was pulling up the girl's skirt trying to peek underneath. The sounds of heavy strumming interrupted his attack as he lazily looked for its source. The three men below him now standing at the front of the stage looked down at the guitar player.

"Hey, pipsqueak, unless you're here to play our exit theme stay the hell outta the way," one man slurred at him with saliva spilling from his slack jaw. The musician, however, did not move or stop playing, he just smirked under his hat brim.

"Hey maybe ya didn't hear him the first time," another drunk began to walk towards the man, "get the hell outta here!" He raised his hand and brought it down maliciously on his sombrero. Though his fist did not connect with the man's skull but rather the floorboard below. The sounds of a guitar continued to play beside him. He looked up to see the face of this mystery man and froze with fear. He slid back as far away as he could with terror in his eyes after looking beneath his hat.

"The hell is wrong with you," the man on the stage called as he looked at the frightened goon beneath him. The drunk didn't say a word, he only pointed his finger towards the mystery man. And for the first time since beginning his musical assault on the drunks, he spoke. Or rather, he sang.

"Well, I won't... back... down...

No, I won't... back... down..."

His voice had grown several octaves deeper than how he talked to Shelly and his gang. The sounds that emanated from his throat was soothing for the people around him. The men in front of him started to feel sick to their stomach as his voice poisoned their ears.

"You can stand me up at the gates of hell

But I won't... back... down..."

"Shut that asshole up now!" the leader of their group exclaimed. The men rushed forwards yelling as they began to wildly swing at the musician. He dodged freely continuing his ballad.

"Gonna stand... my... ground...

Won't be turned... a~round..."

Their attacks began to speed up now as he played calmly. His smile still bright though the rest of his face was shadowed. He began to dance with their swings, spinning in circles as his actions mimicked his lyrics.

"And I'll keep this world from draggin' me down

Gonna stand my ground..."

He slid beneath another wild jab, causing it to connect with another drunk he was standing in front of. The momentum from the slide carried him to the stage base as he jumped on. Now eye to eye with the leader of their sick group. His voice got deeper as he sang.

"And I won't... back... down"

The leader of the group pushed the singer down beside him as he squared up against the musician. With his song still playing he slowly began to walk up to him. Ducking his initial jab and the hook that followed it. He left the drunk spinning behind him as he walked up slowly to the woman.

"Hey~ Baby, there ain't no easy way out"

He reached the arm that was at the body out to her. She took it with a blush. Her eyes were popping out of her skull at the sight beneath his hat. Nix noticed this and started to wonder what was so amazing about his face. Sam and Veronica were starting to make some connections but were still unsure as to why he was getting such reactions. Shelly was just amused as she said aloud behind them, "Little guy's got pipes, huh?"

On stage, the leader turned around and began to run wildly at the pair. The musician jumped in front of the singer continuing his song.

"Hey~ I... will stand... my... ground" he smiled back at her, "And I won't... back... down"

He ran up to the man facing him head-on now. His style of fighting was clear to Sam as he continued watching. Defensive, waiting for his opponent to make the move, using their momentum to his advantage. It worked rather well in group fights from Sam's knowledge but how would he use it in a one on one against such a large opponent.

The first right jab was easy to dodge with a side-step to his left. He took the time it would take him to throw the next punch to throw two swift jabs at his abdomen. The drunk stumbled backward as the musician pushed forward. The drunk switched his sloppy bar fighting for a crouched stance, rushing towards the approaching magician. He reached with both arms stretched out for the musician attempting to wrap him in a vicious bear hug.

The musician leaped into the air landing on the drunk's head causing him to crash to the ground in a sloppy mess. He landed behind him and dusted off his clothes, pulling his guitar up to his frame, and resuming his song to the crowd.

"Well I know... what's... right...
I got just... one... life..."

He stood at the center of the stage holding a mock concert in the bar. The three men below started to stir from their pile but were overrun by the screaming crowd as they rocked with his song. Behind him, the female singer joined him as they began a duet. Her voice was much softer than the deep voice that radiated from him.

"In a world that keeps on pushin' me around
But I'll stand... my... ground...
And I won't... back... down..."

They were rocking the crowd with their soothing duet. The crowd rocking back and forth to their lyrics. Behind them, the drunken leader was watching with rage. He roared like a mad beast with blood in his eyes, rushing towards the duo. The musician saw his bloodlust and acted quickly, throwing his sombrero at the man obscuring his vision. He pushed the woman off the stage, the crowd catching her while she rode the living wave.

Nix and Sam looked surprised, he looked bald from their position in the back of the bar. Though what caught their eyes was the color of his bare skin. Yellow.

The musician watched as the singer was placed safely on the ground in the crowd and sighed with relief. He looked back to his attacker only to be rammed at max speed by the attacker. He flew back off the stage landing with a sickening thud on the wooden floor. His back up in the air as he gasped for air from the blow.

The drunk pulled the hat off his head looking for his target. Pleased with the sight of him gasping on the ground he threw the hat at him and laughed proudly. "Little shrimps like you need to learn their place in this world. BOYS!" He called to the men as they began to push through the crowd and surround the musician.

The musician laid still on the ground. No sound escaped him. His guitar flew off him when the leader slammed him and was now laying behind one of his attackers. He was defenseless, at the mercy of his attackers.

One of the goons lifted his foot above his head. "Your head looks like a lemon. If I squash hard enough will lemon juice come out?"

"I don't know," a deep voice boomed behind them. They turned to see the giant that was Nix looming over them with a scowl on his face. "If I pop your skull will fruit punch pour out?"

All the bystanders and the attackers looked confused. Nix stood proud with his arms crossed. "The hell was that?" Sam appeared behind him facepalming from the line Nix gave.

Nix broke his stoic gaze, visible embarrassment now taking over his features. "One-liners are hard okay!"

"That's one huge bitch," one of the drunks exclaimed looking up at Nix. "Hey, Quadruple XL, this ain't got nothing to do with you or your stepson."

"Did he just call me a child?" Sam deadpanned.

"So how bout both of you just disappear into the crowd and enjoy the show."

"Oh, I see you must have misunderstood," Sam stood in front of Nix and lifted a short, thick rod over his head. Nix grabbed it, his massive hand engulfing the rod that looked so large in Sam's hand. He pressed a button on one end as it began to extend out in both directions. Stopping abruptly on one end before the other began to expand into a giant mallet. Sam dropped his back-pack and reached both hands deep inside. He pulled them out now equipped with two gauntlets that reached up to his forearms with metal studs on each knuckle. Nix threw the giant mallet over his left shoulder while Sam got into a modern boxer's stance, "We're here to steal the show."

The three drunks began to step back slowly as the two men before them gained ground. Every step Sam took, Nix dropped a giant boot right behind him. The drunks tried to assess their new situation. They thought they had a chance against the smaller male, but the big man behind them would crush them if they got too close. The front runner of their group was ready to run when he noticed his boss appear beside them. "Like hell, we're just gonna roll over for these clowns. It's four on two. We can take 'em!"

Their boss's confidence inspired the thugs as they stepped up beside him ready to fight to their last breath. Sam chuckled as he looked up to Nix behind him, "Ready?"

Nix didn't respond.

Sam took a good look at his face, it had lost its color like he'd seen a ghost. "Nix ya good?" He waved his hands in his face looking for a response. Nix just dropped his mallet causing it to splinter the wood beneath it.

"What... the fuck," he whispered.

"Nix?" Sam followed Nix's gaze trying to understand what he was so scared of. He saw the four men in front of them and inspected their forms. He saw no guns, though Nix wouldn't cower at just the sight of a firearm. None of them were bigger, and they had seen them fight so he couldn't be worried about losing the fight. Sam decided to look past the group and see if there was something behind them. He saw a figure shifting as it walked up behind them. A sadistic smile across its face.

"Didn't I tell yall, already," it called from behind the drunks. The musician had risen from his wooden grave and for the first time, they could see his face. The four men turned to meet his gaze noticing his voice much softer than when he was singing. They turned to meet his lifeless gaze and froze on contact.

Sam and Nix stared in awe and fear respectively, Shelly gawked in confusion not believing what she was witnessing, while Veronica just nodded her head as if to signify this was merely a confirmation. The man before them was no man at all. He was a small yellow skeleton with teeth whiter than snow inside his jaw. His eye sockets had a floral pink and green pattern around them with two giant white dots where his eyeballs would be.

He swayed towards his sombrero placing it atop his head. A shadow cast over his face from the hat's brim while he smiled all the same. Those lifeless white orbs with that unsettling smile. He opened his mouth once more, now after seeing his face, the deep voice that escaped it was all the more unsettling to the men before him.

"Don't dirty your hands with our problems."

He looked directly at the four attackers, "And to you crooks," his voice returned to normal before he went back to his deeper, darker tone.

"I won't... back... down"

He ran full tilt directly at the drunks. They stumbled in fear as the skeleton rushed with reckless abandon, three of the drunks jumped out of his way. The leader stood strong throwing a final shot right haymaker. The skeleton somersaulted into the air, grabbing the man's arm to suspend himself upside down. Time slowed down in his eyes as he curled in the air to land behind him. Rolling with the momentum of his supernatural agility he landed just in front of a starry-eyed Sam reaching his hand out towards his guitar. "Guitar!" he cried to the crowd. One man quickly bent down and slid his guitar to him. The skeleton grabbing it like a weapon before strapping up one final time. All four men were right in front of him, no bystanders behind them, the opportunity he had been fighting for.

He reached high into the air with his hand and strung his guitar viscously letting a sour note rock the group before him. The notes materialized in the air into red jagged half notes that cut at the men's skin. He continued to string together viscous note after viscous note attacking the men with hellish tunes. The notes looked like they were forming faces and singing sourly as they flew through the air. The drunks screamed in pain writhing on the floor, music to the skeleton's ears.

"Stop... Please... STOP! WE GIVE UP!" their leader pleaded. He ceased his musical mauling and walked up to the defeated group.

"What's wrong, not a fan of my music?" He loomed over them with that dead stare, soulless white eyes, and a smile that chilled them to the bone. They jumped up and stumbled out of the bar screaming as they ran as far from the skeleton as they could directly into the relentless desert sun.

The crowd burst into cheers as they swarmed the skeleton, lifting him in the air parading him around the parlor shouting, "Poco! Poco! Poco! Poco!" To his right, he saw two girls blowing kisses his way which he gladly caught and held close to his heart, working the crowd as they carried him back to the countertop. He landed on the bar stool that he originally sat in calming the crowd as he stood atop the bar.

"People please, I'm no hero, I'm just your town musician stopping some goons from ruining our peace. Please go back to your usual daily activities and act like I'm not even here." He grabbed a shot glass from the counter and poured a brown liquid inside before shouting, "Oasis!"

"CHEERS!"

Everyone began to disperse back to their regular activities talking amongst themselves, drinking, competing, and most importantly drinking. Poco sat down with the bandits and tried to finish his conversation only to be constantly attacked by fans and customers giving their thanks or asking for autographs.

Sam and Shelly stared in awe, he was a skeleton, a real-life walking dead man. This was a secret dream they had always wanted to cross off their bucket list, seeing the undead. Veronica didn't give him many reactions she didn't seem much surprised or interested in the living dead.

Nix though was standing far away from the group. The sight of a skeleton was so unsettling. Those bright white soulless eyes seemed to be sucking his soul from every hole in his body. Poco saw Nix's fear and tried to wave to him, signaling he was harmless. Nix could only think about how that monster was able to make literal music notes appear and torture his victims. The opposite of trustable.

"You're a pretty big deal around here, huh?" Shelly questioned as two girls ran off giggling after getting his autograph.

He looked out into the bar and sighed longingly, "Oasis is more than just some pretty town in the middle of the desert. It's a getaway for people trying to escape their past. A new beginning for some and the only place they can be excepted for others." He shook his head as if to get a thought out of his mind. "But enough about me, tell me what brings a notorious group of bad banditas like yourselves out to the middle of nowhere?"

Shelly spoke up, "Well actually we-" she was interrupted as Sam excitedly jumped in front of him blocking her vision and voice with his body.

"We're here for the big show tonight, you wouldn't happen to know where it's being held do you?"

"Show? Hmm, a show?" Poco murmured as he thought about what Sam could be referring to. "Ohh, you mean that show tonight. The one he is gonna be main eventing!"

"Yeah, Yeah! You know about it?"

"Know about it? The only reason I came back to town so soon was to see the guy. If you all are heading there anyway, mind if I tag along. I can play ya some music while we wait, nothing as harsh as what I gave those punks of course." Poco was hopping up and down like a bunny, his smile looking much less creepy and foreboding, now resembling that of an excited child.

Sam was jumping up and down seeing that he would have a super fan as well to watch the show with. "Of course you are coming with us. You gotta tell me how you did that awesome musical attack. Is there some super tech in that body or is it... magic?" The two began to trail off about their secret event and the magic technology that Poco might be hiding in his guitar.

"Great now we have two little kids that we have to take care of," Nix grunted as he slowly got closer to the group.

"Eh, I think it's cute, what about you Ronnie."

"..."

"Yeah, it's cute."