A geyser erupted right beside them and Milly tackled the kids to the sand, shielding them with her body. The steam quickly began to burn through her coat. Right when she thought she could stand it no longer, the geyser subsided and she was able to stand back up.
Julius was losing more and more confidence. He was supposed to be able to take care of Moore and himself. So far, Milly had been saving the both of them. He watched her in shame as she played off the burns she was receiving to protect them. What kind of man was he? He was just making more and more people suffer. He sighed as the three sat down in a relatively safe spot. "Maybe the priest was right..."
Milly looked at him. "You can't just give up because of some hot water!"
"What about the caravan? He might not have been my real father, but I did love him! I just wish he wouldn't do these things! And I can't even protect Moore and now you're suffering too!"
She was taken back by his sudden lack of composure. "You're getting shaken up too easily! Snap out of it! I decided to come, I'm fine with whatever happens to me. You made a decision as well. Aren't you going to see it through?"
Moore took his hand. "Milly's right. I believe in you."
They fired a warning into the sky then screamed. "WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO STOP RUNNING JULIUS?"
Milly looked over her shoulder. Why did men always feel the need to announce their presence with a yell and a gunshot? She looked at the kids. "Go!"
They hesitated. "What about you?"
She smiled. "My decision. I'll live with it."
The kids nodded and ran off reluctantly. Milly turned with a sigh. Her skin was still stinging from those stupid geysers. This was gonna be extra painful.
The first man to reach her, greeted her with the ever so polite..."OUT OF MY WAY, BITCH!" He took a swing and she just moved to the side. He blinked and she kneed him full force in the face. The second man tried to use his rifle like some kind of club. She looked at him strangely and easily ducked. She kicked the rifle back, decked him to stun him, and kicked him again to send him rolling back down the dune. Number three got dropkicked to the sand, and she quickly dove over him as number four went crazy with a shotgun. Milly fled...half stumbling, half rolling down the other side of the dune as the sand exploded around her. Was he really gonna make her shoot him? She landed on her back and leveled both revolvers at the unlucky number four. She blinked as he was suddenly crushed by a flying cross.
Wolfwood walked to the edge to reclaim his weapon. She was an interesting sight, laying down there like that...with her hair all in her face and her Magnums aimed at him. "Big girl, don't tell me I came back all this way just to find you playing in the sand!"
She picked her hat up and shook it off as she trudged back up the dune. "So your conscience got the better of you?"
He lifted his cross. "I wouldn't go that far..." When she got to the top, he took her hand and pulled her up. They walked to where Moore and Julius were waiting.
Moore gasped and pointed. "Look!"
The horizon was suddenly covered in armed caravan men. Nick stepped in front, shoving the punisher into the sand once more.
Milly whispered to him. "I hope you've got more than pistols in that thing."
"You'd be surprised..."
She stopped. Someone else was coming. Milly cocked an eyebrow. Mr.Vash? No. Something was wrong. Why did he look that way? He raised his .45 at them.
The typhoon stared down at Nick and Milly through the sight of his Long Colt. They had the exact same look in their eyes. They couldn't even raise their guns to him. It made him happy in a kind of sad way. To be that dumbstruck...they must have so much trust in him. It wasn't misplaced. He raised the gun a little higher and fired.
Julius knocked Moore out the way, taking the bullet for her. Vash fired again, hitting her anyway. They fell out of sight as a geyser erupted.
It couldn't be real. How the hell could it be real? Tears were already forming in her eyes. The act was so incomprehensible that she had no choice but to believe what her eyes told her. Her mind was too busy reeling with betrayal to focus normally.
The caravan men were horrified. Vash kindly informed them that he'd only been hired to keep Julius from running away. There was never any mention of his safety...and if they knew what was good for them, they'd leave the money and high tail it out. They agreed.
Milly's legs moved on their own as tears ran down her cheeks. She glared in a way he didn't think her soul was capable of. Vash didn't have the heart to dodge, he knew the pain she felt was real. Milly knocked the ever-living crap out of him with one punch. "HOW COULD YOU?"
Her eyes were still a little red. "That was such a dirty trick..."
"Come on Milly, I've already apologized twice. Can't we be even?" He held his swollen face as they walked back to the caravan.
Nick lit a cigarette. "You want me to shoot him again big girl?"
"Nah..." She wasn't even mad at Vash really. His plan had saved everyone. Maybe she'd forgotten what it was like to cry like that. It kind of surprised her. Once she'd started she couldn't stop.
Meryl observed their odd little foursome. The legendary outlaw, whining and holding his busted face. The dangerously innocent cowgirl, with the cried out eyes and her hands in her pockets. The gunman priest, puffing his cares away and watching the cowgirl. And then there was herself, just a stressed out Bernardelli girl trying to keep them all in check.
Vash and Meryl sat in silence. Milly slept, bent over a table with her head buried in her arms. The trailer was cold and depressing. With the sun down, it seemed more like a prison transport than a caravan. The priest should have stayed with them. Maybe he could have kept Vash talking, or given them all something to laugh about. The atmosphere was dead in here.
She looked at Vash. "It's too quiet."
Vash yawned. "I thought I was doing you a favor."
"Well then stop. Let's talk about something. Anything."
"Um...is my cheek still swollen?"
"I can't really tell."
He looked around. "Yeh...they should put more lights in here or something."
She sighed. "Why are we going to this town anyway?"
"I have to visit a shoemaker."
She looked at his boots. "They look fine to me."
He shrugged. "So didn't you tell me we had a conversation that you wanted to finish?"
Meryl looked up at him. She had to promise herself that no matter what was said in the next few minutes, she would not give him the benefit of a freak out. To do so would only make his point valid. She spoke in completely un- Meryl calmness. "Yeh...you accused me of overreacting when people think we're a couple."
Vash stared. "And given the evidence...you think you don't?"
She crossed her arms. "Well maybe sometimes. But come on, like you don't. I'm sure you say the same things about me. I'm just that psycho insurance girl...right?"
"No..."
"No?"
"Milly!"
She stirred but didn't awaken.
Jess pulled at Milly's hair. "Please wake up!"
She opened one eye. "Ow...I'm telling Rachel..."
"Rachel's gone! Something bad is here."
"Hmm?" Milly sat up and looked around. Rachel wasn't in bed.
Jess held her doll tightly. "She heard stuff. But she never came back...where are you going?"
"To find her." She crawled to the edge and hopped onto the wood floor. "Comin?"
"Uh huh."
They went down the stairs one step at a time. Jess paused to wait for Milly. The house looked so much different in the dark. Nothing like the friendly world they played in all day.
They took turns whispering Rachel's name in the dark. Milly tugged on Jess's nightgown. "Maybe we should go get Caleb and Evan..." They both stopped. There was something sticky on the floor.
The shadow came over them. "Hello runts..."'
The rest was so fragmented, so fast. Flashes of gunshots and screams. Shadows chasing them. Slipping across the sticky floor in white nightgowns. The spur of his boot as he pressed it into her face.
The trailer had gone dead quiet. Meryl stared at Vash. "Then what am I?"
He smiled.
Milly flew up violently, gasping for breath and holding her face.
Meryl screamed. Milly screamed. Vash fell onto the floor. He sighed with his face resting on cold steel. He should have made Wolfwood stay. If there was a couple dynamic at all...it only worked when he was around.