...The darkness that surrounded me started to form and shape...back into my dream...

The gang pulled out their guns, aimed them at Rango, and pulled the hammers back. Rango pulled his gun out. The bullet holder flipped out, it was empty. Rango's eyes widened and he gulped loudly. Priscilla and I gasped. The gang grinned evilly.

All of a sudden, before we could react, Rango's posse: Beans, Waffles, Spoons, Elgin, Mr. Furgus, Buford, Ambrose, Sergeant Turley, Wounded Bird, and Doc, came out of nowhere and fired their rifles and guns at the four drunk outlaws. The air was filled with the sound of guns going off.

"No!" I screamed as I watched in horror as the four gunslingers were shot in the stomach by billions of bullets. Their bodies fell backwards. Their guts exploding with chunks of flesh and blood.

I ran up to the lifeless Kinski. A pool of blood formed around him. I felt tears come to my eyes. A crowd started to gather around me. Concerned and excited murmurs floated around through the crowd. I ignored them.

Priscilla came up next to me. Her poking stick in her hands. She turned to me.

"Why are you crying? Are you ok?" she asked me. I wiped my nose with the back of my wing. I turned my head away from her and the lifeless Kinski. My whole body shook as I cried. The crowd parted as Mr. Black stepped in to take the lifeless gunmen away. I still sat there with my head down as Mr. Black hauled Kinski, Chorizo, Stump and Bill away...

...The scene shifted and changed...

The sky blazed a bright yellow and with a mix of orange as the sun started to set. Tears trickled down my face as I sadly gazed down at the four graves of Kinski, Chorizo, Bill and Stump that were a couple feet away from the town's cemetery.

The cool winds picked up a bit, rustling my black dress. Mr. Black was with me since no one else wanted to attend the "funeral." Mr. Black's goggles twitched and focused as he turned his head to me.

He took out a handkerchief from his right pocket and handed it to me. I accepted it and wiped the tears from my face. I looked back down at Kinski's grave. I couldn't stand it. I sighed sadly as more tears came down. Then I turned and walked away from the graves and back to the lit up town. Mr. Black followed right behind me.

...

I groaned and slowly opened my eyes. My throat was sore from "crying" in my dream. It was still the same dream. It drove me insane. What does it mean? I winced. My head was throbbing in pain. I tried to rub my head but I found my bare wings pinned down to my sides. I opened my eyes and realized I was back to my normal size…but wait, it felt like it was all a dream. Me growing ten times bigger and becoming The Nightmare. It couldn't be. I couldn't be The Nightmare…could I?

I decided to not worry about it at the moment. I opened my eyes and looked around at the setting I was in. I was in a huge room. I looked down and noticed why my wings were pinned down. I was tied down to a chair, decorated in silver and gold designs.

I also noticed I was wearing a shimmering sleeveless grey dress. It was adorned with colorful rainbow jewels that gleamed in the sunlight that poured in through a huge window behind me. To the right of me was a wall with portraits of animals in suits or gowns sitting in beautifully carved chairs or standing next to something decorated in jewels or gold. There was also a set of double doors of deep red wood with shiny brass doorknobs. They were closed.

I turned to my left and noticed a huge fireplace. There was no fire, but the fireplace could hold twenty roadrunners in it. The outside of it was made of white marble with veins of gold, webbing the pale surface.

In front of me was a twelve foot long banquet table. Plates piled high with delicious, mouth watering food. Mountains of rolls filled with raisins and sesame seeds, warm lamb chops, bowls of colorful fruit, luscious fresh washed cut vegetables drowning in hot steamy different colored soups. Mashed potatoes, drizzled in thick gravy. Strawberries peeking out of thick creamy white frosting, chocolate cakes, fresh baked hot cookies, cupcakes with cherries on top. I could go on and on, but just thinking about it made my stomach growl.

So that's where all the food has gone to, and that's why Market Street is cut short on food and everyone is starving, I thought bitterly. I was very tempted in the warm, freshly baked, chocolate chip cookies. The aroma made my senses dazed and my stomach growled, but two things kept stabbing me in my head:

1. I would regret eating them

2. I was tied to the chair

Suddenly I heard footsteps and low murmurs outside the double wooden doors. I stopped struggling and watched as the double doors slowly swing open. Bill, Stump, and Chorizo entered the room. I gasped. Then I realized where I was: In Bill's Hotel. The three men grinned at me. They each wore a nice clean suit.

Chorizo and Stump wore grey pinstriped suits. They didn't wear their usual get up, or hats. Their hair on their heads were combed back or combed to the sides. Their teeth still looked horrible, but they didn't seem that grotesque. I guessed they started brushing their teeth or something.

Bill wore a nice white suit with a black tie. It looked custom made and he wore a nice white hat to match. Bill flashed me an evil grin.

"That dress yer wearin' cost me a fortune…also ruined it by havin' to take off the sleeves, so yer wings could fit through," said Bill pointing at my dress. He had an amused tone to his voice that I didn't like. Bill sat down. "but it was something that had to be done," he finished his sentence.

Bill sat at the other end of the banquet table, while Stump and Chorizo sat in the middle on opposite ends. Chorizo was to the left of me and Stump was to the right. I narrowed my eyes at them. Bill lifted up his glass of wine in front of him. He was about to take a sip out of it, but then stopped. "Is she still tied up over there?" he asked his henchmen, gesturing with the wine glass in his hand.

Stump and Chorizo exchanged glances and looked at me. Then at Bill. "Er…si, boss," said Chorizo. Bill waved his other hand, "go untie her, she's our guest, not our prisoner," he said. Stump and Chorizo exchanged confused glances, but then got up and did what they were told.

I got ready to attack. Bill noticed me tense up and placed his drink down, "I wouldn't do that if I were you, for one thing, my men are armed," Stump and Chorizo showed their new clean revolvers to me as they untied me, to prove Bill's point. "And two," continued Bill, "If you even think of using yer…scream tactic, you'll end up as bat confetti, look up and you will see what I mean," he said. I looked up.

A huge chandelier hung above me. It had one hundred dripping white candles, set in gold candle socket holders. Crystal and glass pieces hung down from it. "If you scream, it will cause that chandelier above you to explode and impale you with its shards of sharp glass," he said in an amused tone again. The ropes loosened around my wings, I rubbed them and watched as Stump and Chorizo went back to their original seats.

"How do I know if you are lying?" I asked firmly. Bill smiled, but didn't say anything, but it was like as if he really was saying, Go ahead, I dare you. I didn't want to try and find out, I guess I had to believe the bastard was telling the truth.

"I see you were busy in preparing this…occasion," I said bitterly, gesturing to the table and chandelier. Bill grinned, revealing a row of sharp teeth. "Gotta be ready for anythin," he said. Stump and Chorizo snickered in agreement. I narrowed my eyes again.

Bill pointed to the mounds of mouth watering food in front of me. "Eat," he said. I looked down at the food. "It's poisoned," I said flatly. Stump and Chorizo snickered again. "It ain't poisoned," said Stump. "Why would he want to poison ya?" asked Chorizo. I raised an eyebrow at them. Did they just lose their memory or something? I would think that they would know at least after a full five years that Bill has been trying to capture me and kill me because of all the reasons he had.

Bill grinned at me, and pointed at the food, "My men are right, it ain't poisoned." I still didn't trust him, no matter how many times he said the food wasn't poisoned. I'll trust him with the chandelier…but not the food. I looked at the food, my stomach growled very loudly. I pulled at a piece of loose string in my dress. It seemed to comfort me and kind of keep me from thinking about the food.

Something was up. Was this just a way to tease me, and then kill me? Why was he doing this? I thought I was going to be dead the moment I saw Bill walk in. Was he savouring the moment? If he was, it was taking a bit too long, even for his liking. He was the most impatient person I have ever met.

Bill noticed me trying to figure out something. "You are confused, aren't you? Why I haven't decided to kill you, and you find yerself in a nice pleasant place, well, just to make things clear, you ain't in heaven," he joked. Stump and Chorizo chortled.

I snorted. "If it were heaven, you guys wouldn't be here," I said angrily. The three boys threw their heads back and howled with laughter. "That's a good one!" said Stump to me and laughed some more. I rolled my eyes and waited till they were done laughing.

"Why am I here?" I asked finally. Bill sighed happily and then picked up his glass and slowly raised up out of his seat. "I'm glad you finally asked that, Miss Banshee," Bill said. He took his time around the table, to the left, toward me as he told me his side of the story. "Of course you know that I hated yer guts the first moment me and my gang walked into the bar the night you came to town, right?" he asked. I nodded. Obviously.

"Well," he continued. "You were also the one who joined my gang, that really ticked me off, but I couldn't show my anger just yet, I had to wait for the right moment to kill you," Bill explains. I sighed and rested my wing on the table to hold up my head. He was going tell the whole story…great.

Stump and Chorizo were eating off of the banquet table as Bill continued on with his story. Sometimes listening, but mostly drinking expensive wine and eating luscious luxury food. Mostly the best kind of food they have ever eaten in all their lives they have lived. I still didn't touch the food.

Finally, Bill got to his point. "Today, you became a problem and a solution at the same time," he said. I lifted my head and looked at the ugly Gila Monster confusingly. "What? How is that?" I asked, my ears perked up. Now he had my undivided attention. Bill smirked as he stopped at my chair. "You are the bat I want to kill, but then, my secret weapon as well," he said. His breath reeked of spirits.

"You are The Nightmare, the thing I have been trying to capture for the past three years when it showed its stupid face in my City!" yelled Bill, raising his voice angrily. I sunk low in my seat, averting my eyes away from him. So it wasn't a dream. I really was, The Nightmare. How was that possible?

"So you hate me twice as much?" I asked him, my wings fumbling with the jewels in my grey dress. Stump and Chorizo lifted their heads from the food they were eating and snickered, but then stopped when Bill shot them a look. Bill turned his angry glare back to me.

"Yes, but I look past the stupid demon eyed freak girl and see the solution to all my problems," Bill said, his mouth turning up to a grin. His free hand gripped my jaw. His claws dug into my chin, forced to look at his ugly mug of a face. I tried breaking free from his grasp but it was no use. "You are my secret weapon to stop the stupid, never ending battles against the freakish mutant prairie dog bats…and, put order to all the remaining hiding citizens to the town of Dirt." I gasped and my eyes widened in horror. Bill grinned and released my face.

My face screamed in pain, I felt thin trails of blood trickling down my face. "What if I refuse?" I asked angrily as I wiped the blood from my face with the back of my wing. Bill turned back to me and took a sip out of his glass of red wine. "I have ways into making you agree to my desires," he said.

He turned his head to his henchmen and nodded. Stump and Chorizo quickly got up out of their seats and briskly walked out of the room and through the double doors. I watched as the double doors closed and then turned back to Bill with a puzzled expression on my face.

"There is a rumor for every person in my City, correct?" Bill asked me, setting his glass down on the table. I looked at him in bewilderment. How did he know about the rumors? I bet he had spies or something, but it still baffled me. My feet shifted underneath my shimmering grey dress. "…Maybe," I finally said, not sure where he was going with this.

Bill grunted and nodded. He turned and walked over to the empty fireplace. He fished out a box of matches from his ironed black pants and struck a match. He examined the flare, twisting the lit match in his hands as if it were a beautiful piece of jewellery. "Tell me…what is Kinski's rumor?" he asked me. He threw the lit match into the fireplace. The fireplace quickly blazed to life and in seconds, there was a roaring fire.

I felt my insides twist into thick knots. My wings started to feel sweaty and it all the sudden felt hard to swallow. Kinski. I haven't heard that name since the beginning of the Dark Ages, but that jackrabbit was an unforgettable character. An insane unforgettable character...

He all the sudden disappeared after Bill got his palace and casinos built. No one has seen or even heard of Kinski in the City. It was as if he fell off the face of the Earth, along with Mr. Black and Rango…but he still got his rumors.

"K-Kinski has a lot of r-rumors," I started in a shaky voice, "but the most popular rumor was that he ran away with a couple of freaks from a freak show… to be with people just like him… and understand him," I finished and looked down sadly into my lap.

I know it was a silly rumor but it seemed like he would do just that. He could be with people who had the same problem as him: being different. Kinski would have someone to relate to…not me. At least he had better stories from the freak show people then my pathetic bits of worthless fuzzy memories. I don't even think he would remember me if we saw each other again. I felt tears come to my eyes.

Suddenly I heard Bill burst out in laughter. I looked up at him confusingly. "Oh! you crack me up, lass!" said Bill, holding his fatty sides to keep from splitting. To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if his sides did split. Bill pretended to wipe the tears of laughter from his eyes and then calmed his laughing. "That is one brilliant rumor to laugh about, thanks fer the good laugh," he said. I wanted to kill him.

Then Bill straightened up and grinned at me, "Well, I'm sorry to tell you, Banshee, he ain't with no freak show," continued Bill, his grin turning into a villainous grin. Just when he said that, Stump and Chorizo came through the double doors. They dragged in a figure by the arms. I gasped in horror. It was Kinski.


Dun Dun Dun! :) this was a fun chapter to write.