"This wasn't supposed to happen"

The prewar shirt in Koura's dark hands shredded with a loud rip, as the Hanged Man smiled up at her. Burham Springs- an inferno- over the horizon dulled the stars, and combined with their flickering campfire, choked the air with smoke.

His stained bandages unraveled at the shoulder, revealing ragged skin and a bullet graze -the latest of many- slowly weeping red into the packed sand beneath him. She dropped the shirt on his thin chest, and pinned his boney arms at his side, straddling Joshua's hips. "Then what was calling Phil a little bitch meant to do?"

His smile widened, obscured by the bandages on his face, as he shrugged. "No one means a warning shot- and besides? The only thing dumber than guarding a fire is searching it."

Koura released him, and slapped him at half strength across the cheek. Joshua's burned hand flew up to protect his face, as he rolled to her side, bucking her off. He jumped to his feet, less than a step from the flickering campfire.

Joshua watched in a fighting stance as Koura sat up, fluffing her sand-filled, dark hair. She adjusted her hearing aid, and faced him. She stood slowly, hand outstretched, watching as his loose and bloodied bandages waved in the wind. "Whoa there cowboy. No further back."

Joshua glanced over his shoulder, and stepped forward, stuffing the loose ones in his pocket.. He sat back down, cross-legged, beside the fresh drips of blood, and joked, "I don't think you want me any crispier."

. Koura worked her way back around him, and gathered the prewar shirt. "You're well-done as it is."

She knelt behind him, and wrapped the shirt strip over and under his bare shoulder, continuing "That was worse than when you called Horatio a zombie."

He glanced back at her, "No way you really wanted to bang him. I mean, what if it broke off?"

Koura cinched the bandage, tighter than necessary, as Joshua winced. "I was getting inside, fucker."

"Inside?"

She stifled a laugh. "The reservation, you ass. I can stop, if you'd rather bleed."

"Don't," he said, abruptly serious, "I'll behave."

Koura tied off the bandage, and smoothed it down. She kissed the tie, and said into his neck, "You'd better. Or I'm leaving you in Jericho."