Yet another chapter of mine...

Li'l piece of my day: I was at a tae kwon do tournament ((martial arts, for those who don't know, and I was a competitor, I'm a blue belt)) and I was sparring with this one chick, and she kicked me in the face on accident, and hit my nose, and it hurt like hell! And then I was going against my friend Dalton, and he kicked, and I blocked, and his foot struck my elbow, and that hurts like hell too! But I did get two bronze medals, in pattern and sparring...

Chibi Knives: ((sarcastic)) Great...

Me: Grrr, I could just smack you...((pauses, then cries)) no, I could never hit you, my love!

Chibi Knives: eep!

Anyways, you got the drill, read an' review!
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Alex walked down the hallway from her room, heading up to the deck to meet Eamon. He had made her a little belt-loop that she could hang her pistol on and carry with her, so she walked with a newfound confidence to her step. Not paying attention to where she was going, she turned a corner and ran smack into someone. Falling back on her rear, she rubbed her forehead and looked up, then stood, glaring at the man before her. He was tall, and huge, barrel-chested and broad-shouldered and six-foot-six under a long silver coat open to reveal a grey shirt and brown pants, carrying a row of guns on his belt.

"Watch it, kid," he growled in a deep, booming voice, black eyes flashing in a tan-skinned face.

"You watch it," she snarled back, not in the least frightened by the man. Fear just wasn't in her vocabulary; she had never felt it, and expected never to feel it in her life. His size didn't even intimidate her; she always had her trusty pistol on her belt.

"Don't talk back to your elders, you'll end up gettin' killed," he said, turning and lumbering down the hall. No, not lumbering, she thought. Not really gliding along, but not waddling like big, fat people did. More of like he knew he was muscled and carried himself in a trained, agile way.

Suddenly his face flashed up in her mind, but differently: underneath a big "Wanted" sign, above the words "Left-Shot Lucius". He was the outlaw!

"Wait!" she called as he disappeared around a far corner, and drawing her gun she raced after him. Turning down the same hallway he had disappeared, she ran as fast as she could, trying to catch up to him. How did he move so fast?

And then she tripped over something, and falling face-first into the floor, she dropped her pistol and rolled over, crossing her arms protectively in front of her chest in a reflex. She found herself staring down the barrel of a pretty big gun, with the outlaw Lucius on the other end.

"Don't follow me, boy," he said roughly, kicking her pistol away from her searching hand. "If you come after me again, I will shoot you!"

She glared defiantly at him, licking her lips as an indignant anger rose up in her. He turned and ran down the hall, his gun aimed at her the whole way until he vanished past another corner. Alex immediately scrambled over and grabbed her gun, then stood and, instead of going after him, made a smarter move: she went to find Eamon.

Halfway to the deck she found him, and he grinned and said, "What took y'so long? I came t'find you!" At her look, though, he lost his grin and grew serious. "What?"

"I found Lucius," she said. "Well, more of ran into him. I tried to chase after him, but he...stopped me."

"He didn't hurt you at all, did he?" Eamon asked, a concern in his voice that surprised her.

"No," she answered quickly. "Maybe bruised knees and a forehead dent."

"Let's go get 'im," he said. She nodded, and he drew a revolver from under his coat, and the pair raced down to the level she had found the outlaw on, and showed Eamon where he had gone. Eamon took off in an instant, and Alex had to sprint after him, wondering at his eagerness. They must've ran for quite a while, going past passersby who gave them sharp or curious looks, steamer workers who merely stepped aside, and others. Eventually, running very short of breath, Alex grabbed Eamon's coatsleeve and yanked him to a halt.

"Where d'you know where he's goin'?" she asked in gasps.

"Trust me, I know," he said in a low growl, staring foreward, and then he started running again, and she resignedly followed after. Slowly she began to hear low grinding noises, then it got louder and louder, until she realized they were heading to the engine room of the sandsteamer. Eamon reached a door that said "Personnel Only" and flung it open, darting inside. She followed after him, a bit more cautious, into the grinding and turning of the machines that ran the steamer. The Plant energy wouldn't be behind an unlocked door; it was too precious for anyone to be able to just walk in--sort of what they were doing now!

"Eamon!" she called, losing sight of him behind one of the machines. She had to raise her voice to be heard over the chaotic noise. "Eee-aaaaa-moooon!"

She heard the richochet of a bullet bouncing off metal and ducked, cocking her pistol and looking around, her heart beating excitedly. She saw a flash of silver, and heard another shot. Then she heard a cry from a familiar voice, that of the man she had had as company for the past few days. She couldn't distinguish his words, but she shouted his name as loud as she could, feeling her voice go rough and painful.

Suddenly she heard another shot just as she felt a whoosh of metal through air pass over her left shoulder, and a second inches from her right ear. She ducked, as low as she could, and crept forward, searching for Eamon and the outlaw Lucius.

And then she came to a small area between a group of machines where she found Eamon and Lucius facing each other, a gun pointed to each other's temples. They were talking, Eamon with a cold grin, Lucius a haughty smirk. Then Eamon said something that made Lucius laugh, and the outlaw lowered his weapon, grinning. Eamon lowered his as well, and to Alex's astonishment, the two clasped hands and exchanged a brotherly hug.

"Eamon?!" she gasped, and Eamon looked her way.

After that they headed to the deck, where Eamon explained everything to Alex.

"I'm an outlaw, boy," he said, "and Lucius is, too. We're in the same gang, the Red Hill Coyotes, which is based in April City. I left April a few years ago, heading to my hometown of Crow's Feet to visit my sister. When I returned, Lucius had left the gang and gone off into the world to become his own outlaw. So I went searching for him, for three years, finally deciding to take a ship back to April to tell my Coyotes that he was gone for good.

"When I first saw you I actually saw a bit of that spitfire that makes an outlaw, and I couldn't tell your age from a distance, so I approached to see if you knew who Lucius was. When I saw you were but a lad, I figured you could help me anyways, thinking I was a sort of bounty hunter or something."

"Really?" she said, surprised. And happy, too. Because her dream for a gang might finally come true. "Hey, Eamon, can I become a Red Hill Coyote?"

"You?" Lucius exclaimed with a mocking laugh. "You're just a child, you wouldn't work in a gang!"

"'Course I would," she snapped defensively. "I wanna be an outlaw, and I got a damn good shot!"

"He does, Luce," Eamon said appreciatively. "I've seen it. We could work well with him."

"Well," Lucius said, leaning back and crossing his arms. "Vann told me you're the new gang leader now, ain't you? You can let 'im in if y'want."

"That settles it, then," Eamon replied, grinning. "Alex, I dub thee now a Red Hill Coyote. 'Course, you'll have to prove yourself to th'gang, but that'll come later. Y'think you're up to the challenge of murder, theft, drinkin', screwin', an' basically defyin' every law imaginable?"

"Yes SIR!" she said, laughing. "I'll be the best Coyote y'got!"
................................

April City was gigantic compared to her small town of Warren. Big buildings, people everywhere, saloons and restaurants as well, buses, and almost everything. When they arrived Eamon and Lucius took her immediately to a saloon called "Red Ice", which was dark and cool and a great relief from the heat outside. Adjusting to the dim lighting, Alex surveyed the manner of those in the room, and watched as nearly all of them hailed Eamon and laughed and cheered when Eamon announced Lucius's return to the Coyotes. This must be their base of operations, she thought, following the other two and glancing around uncertainly.

"Hey, Eamon, who's that fine young lad with you?" a man playing poker with a few others called, and they laughed.

"Oh, this is our newest Coyote, Alex," Eamon announced, smiling handsomely at the woman behind the bar. "Renn, whiskey, please."

"Great, look who's back," the woman said sarcastically in a husky, tough voice. "Certainly, whiskey. And you, lad?"

"Uh," Alex began, glancing around, then said quickly, "whiskey for me, too."

"Are y'even old 'nough t'hold your liquor yet, son?" a tall, slim blond man, more lanky than muscled, asked in a light, cheery voice, eyes twinkling with an inner humor.

She was about to snap back at him indignantly when Eamon cut in, "Sure can, mate. Alex, this is my bloodbrother Vann. He was one of the original founders of the Red Hill Coyotes. Vann, my new lad Alex."

"Greets," Vann said, clasping her hand. "I was just wonderin', 'cause you look like a lightweight t'me."

"Naw, man," she said, grinning daredevilishly. "See?" she grabbed the glass of whiskey Renn had gotten for her and finished it in a straight gulp, forcing herself not to wince at the burn.

The men around the bar hooted and cheered, and Vann grinned. "Seems y'can, mate. Hey, just remember one thing that we Coyotes have been taught since our first days: drinkin' your liquor straight will kill y'faster."

"Good," she said, putting her glass down and motioning for more. "Hey, I ain't gettin' any younger!" She finished that glass in one sitting again, the burn more bearable this time. Vann patted her on the back.

"You'll make a fine Coyote, no mistakin', m'boy," he said, laughing and clinking his cup against hers.

That night she did more things than she had ever done in her whole life: drank, played poker, was flirted with by Renn's daughter Leah as well as some of the saloon wenches, drank some more, smoked her first cigarettes, drank more, got into a small fistfight with one of the men named Trent, ate a steak, drank some more, and eventually passed out next to Eamon. She woke up slightly when she found Eamon and Vann setting her down in bed, and mumbled, "Whiskey, please!"

"No, lad, no more drinkin' for you tonight," Eamon said sternly.

"He'll be throwin' up 'til noon, th' way he was drinkin'," Vann said, laughing hard, and the two vanished from her blackening vision.

She drifted in that blissful darkness for a while, when suddenly her stomach wrenched painfully and all of its contents came pouring from her mouth, onto the floor next to the bed. Again and again she threw up, till she was crying from the pain in her stomach and the pounding in her head. From somewhere she heard someone laughing, and she swore fiercely at them between vomit, and then someone was pressing something cold to her forehead and whispering for her to go to sleep. Then she went to sleep and dreamed, dreamed she was wandering through a desert, and people passed by her dressed in rich, fancy gowns and tuxedos, chatting and ignoring her. Then darkness came and she stood on a rock, playing her fiddle, and two men appeared before her, one blond with cold eyes and pale skin, the other blue-haired and amber-eyed, and the first one laughed as she played, and the second one smiled.

And then she woke up to light beating down on her eyes painfully, and her head throbbing like she had been hit with a rock, and she cried out at her pain, wanting to curl up and die.

"Shhh, it's alright, Alex," Eamon said, sitting down on the bed next to her. "You drank too much last night, and you'll have a hangover for a while now. It hurts, but the best thing y'can do is sleep."

"Christ, boy, I must applaud you," another voice said, and she turned her head a bit to see Lucius sitting up on a bed next to her, grinning. "A lightweight like you drinkin' so much whiskey, and then lasting through a night like that, you're tough."

She sat up, and immediately regretted it, but before Eamon pushed her back down she got a look of the room she was in. It was large, as big as the saloon-room, and beds were scattered all around, some with people still sleeping in them, others empty.

"Renn the saloon owner was a friend of Vann's when our gang was first made," Eamon explained. "She gave us free boardin', and soon this really became our home. This is the basement floor of th'Red Ice. But just go back t'sleep, and you'll feel better later."

"Okay," she said, not quite sure if he was telling the truth, but went back to sleep anyways. She was awakened by raucuous laughter and someone shaking her, and she sat up, rubbing her eyes and looking around in surprise. The laughter was coming from upstairs; the shaking, from one of the Coyote men she didn't know yet.

"Uh, Eamon said t'wake y'up, it's a'ready sunset," the man said, and she nodded, yawning. She really didn't feel sick anymore, just had the sickly aftertaste of vomit in her mouth. She stood up on the floor, avoiding a stain of her puke, and headed upstairs, to the main bar-room, where she sought out Eamon. He sat at a table with Vann, Lucius, and a few others, and she crossed over to meet them.

"Hey, cheers," she greeted, taking an offered seat between Eamon and Vann. "Whatcha talkin' about?"

"Glad you're so spiffy this evenin'," Eamon said, then grinned. "We're just debatin' what we should do about a certain bounty hunter comin' to our li'l city."

"Does the name Mitch Deathseeker ring a bell, boy?" Lucius asked. Alex shook her head, so he continued, "Well, the Deathseeker is a notorius bounty hunter. He's dodged death from quite a few of 'is more dangerous bounties, an' after catchin' the outlaw Silvereye Shaune--by pure luck, mind you--he earned the name Deathseeker."

"We've got word he's comin' to April," Vann said. "After Lucius. A $$2,000 double-dollar bounty is too much for Deathseeker t'pass up."

"Well, what're we gonna do about it?" she demanded.

"Ain't you a li'l thinker, aye," Eamon exclaimed. "Our plans're to get a bait an' get 'im to come after us, an' then we'll ambush 'im and shoot his brains out."

"Who's the bait, then?" she asked. When nobody replied, she looked around at them, frowning. "Well?"

"Uh, well, lad, 'member when I told you that you'd have to prove y'self sometime to us?" Eamon asked, with a bit of a sympathetic smile.

"You mean, I'm the bait?" Alex nearly yelled, then bit her lip to shut herself up. Finally she said, "I'm bait? What if I get my ass shot off?"

"Don't worry, we'll be watchin' out for you," Vann said. "You'll be fine. Y'just gotta stick clear of us when we shoot at 'im, a'right?" When she nodded, he said, "Okay, here's the plan."

'Tis done...now read a li'l rant from me...

I don't wanna do my homework...I just got pounded this week with work in every class, math, science, social studies, reading, language arts, I mean, what the hell?! We were on a break this entire weekend, and they gave us all this?

When I take over the world, schools will be the first thing to go...

Here's my infamous quote-of-the-chapter:
"We are not perfect, but in our imperfection we reach a level of such that is to rival God." --I won't tell you who the quoter is...

Chibi Knives: Retard...YOU made that quote...it's wrong, might I add...

GAAH! Death to you...((squishes Knives to self in tight hug))

-Wolf