Never Surrender

By MTopaz

Vin Tanner sat in his dinky apartment staring at the phone.  This was a big decision.  He couldn’t just up and make it on the spur

of the moment.  A job with the ATF as a sharpshooter.  It was like a dream come true.  But…

Just a little more time is all we’re asking for

‘Cause just a little more time could open closing doors

Just a little uncertainty can bring you down

And nobody wants to know you now

And nobody wants to show you how

He’d met Chris Larabee on a bounty.  They were going after the same guy.  Who did that Larabee think he was?  No way was

Vin gonna let some high-and-mighty agent cheat him out of the bounty he’d been chasing for months.

He’d ended up working with the man and his team.  Turned out they weren’t so bad after all.  Working with somebody else…  

Well, that was something he hadn’t done in a long time.  Felt pretty good being part of that—at least for a little while.  

Then Vin came back home to his empty apartment.

So if you’re lost and on your own

You can never surrender

And if your path won’t lead you home

You can never surrender

He looked out the window, watching the dark streetlights light up the sidewalks in little patches.  It was a lonely stretch.

And when the night is cold and dark

You can see, you can see light

‘Cause no one can take away your right

To fight and to never surrender

Vin had been depending on himself for so long, he wasn’t sure he knew how to do it any other way.  That Larabee fella…  

There was something about him that made Vin want to trust.  He seemed like the kind of man that would stand by his friends.  

Not stab ‘em in the back like some.

Who was he kidding?  Larabee and his team were good—a bunch of smart guys with college degrees.  They were probably all

former cops who had lots of special training and did well at the academy.  Vin only knew how to shoot.  But that had gotten him

by.

With a little perseverance you can get things done

Without a blind adherence that has conquered some

And nobody wants to know you now

And nobody wants to show you how

But Larabee had said he was looking for someone like him for his team.  They’d all gone out for beers afterwards.  Chris and

the others made him feel real welcome.  What would it be like to feel that way all the time?

So if you’re lost and on your own

You can never surrender

And if your path won’t lead you home

You can never surrender

Maybe he’d been lost in his own kind of dark for so long he forgot what it felt like to have friends.  Maybe…maybe the guys on

Team 7 wouldn’t mind having a guy like him on their team.

And when the night is cold and dark

You can see, you can see light

‘Cause no one can take away your right

To fight and to never surrender

He was just a dumb Texan.  He couldn’t compare to the others.  But Larabee had said he was just what they needed.  It was a

special elite group that Chris got to handpick himself.  Vin’s schooling didn’t matter to him.  The man was impressed by his

military experience and shooting skills.

Was this the chance Vin had been thinking had passed him by? 

And when the night is cold and dark

You can see, you can see light

No one can take away your right

To fight and to never surrender

To never surrender

He was gonna have to trust Larabee.  Vin wasn’t good with trust.  But if he didn’t move forward, he was just gonna be stuck

hunting bounty the rest of his life.  Could he do that and still be the kind of man his ma would be proud of?

Vin sat up straight.  What was he scared of?  He was a Tanner.  Life had been throwing him all sorts of crap since he was a little

kid and he’d handled it.  If this ATF thing didn’t work out, he could still go back to catching bounties.  If it did…  If it did,

maybe he’d end up with something better than he’d had in a long time.

Oh, time is all we’re asking for

To never surrender

Oh, you can never surrender

Time is all we’re asking for

Vin walked over to the phone.  He dialed the number from the paper Chris had given him.

“Chris Larabee?  Yeah.  It’s Vin Tanner.  I want to talk to you about that job.”

Stand your ground

Never surrender

The End

Never Surrender

Just a little more time is all we’re asking for

‘Cause just a little more time could open closing doors

Just a little uncertainty can bring you down

And nobody wants to know you now

And nobody wants to show you how 

So if you’re lost and on your own

You can never surrender

And if your path won’t lead you home

You can never surrender

And when the night is cold and dark

You can see, you can see light

‘Cause no one can take away your right

To fight and to never surrender

With a little perseverance you can get things done

Without a blind adherence that has conquered some

And nobody wants to know you now

And nobody wants to show you how

So if you’re lost and on your own

You can never surrender

And if your path won’t lead you home

You can never surrender

And when the night is cold and dark

You can see, you can see light

‘Cause no one can take away your right

To fight and to never surrender

And when the night is cold and dark

You can see, you can see light

No one can take away your right

To fight and to never surrender

To never surrender

Oh, time is all we’re asking for

To never surrender

Oh, you can never surrender

Time is all we’re asking for

Stand your ground

Never surrender

--Corey Hart