Four hours. That's how long it has been since the two gangs left Clarton. The ride was silent most of the time. Butch looked back and saw Blake and Scuzz having their heads hung low. Butch turned back and muttered, "Ya cain't help but ta feel bad fer 'em..." Freighter must have heard him when he said, "Cain't reverse time an' death. Least they got themselves a proper burial." Butch nodded and said, "Ya know. I thought we'd be so damn used ta death cuzz o' wha' we do fer a livin'... But looks like it ain't th' same fer a loved one." Freighter couldn't have agreed more.
In the back of the group, Blake looked over to her 'brother' and saw a tear roll down his face. It wasm't the fact that he had to bury his late fiance and daughter, but just seeing him cry like that sort of broke her inside. Blake looked up and saw Japhet leading them to the closest town he could see. She looked back down and tried to cheer him up a bit. "I bet I coul' take down one o' th' ol' geezers in a shootin' contest." Scuzz didn't look up. The silence made Blake feel a little awkward. She tried again, saying, "I can bet yer better than me!" After more awkward silence (and realizing she's horrible at cheering someone up), Blake looked ahead and gave a look of awkwardness.
The silence became deafening... Until Ray spoke up. "I think... We're lost." Blake shook her head and replied, "We caint be. This trail should take us to some city er town er whatever." Ray looked back at her with a look of disapproval. "Yer meanin' ta tell me tha' th' only thing yer relying on is yer wits?!" A look of 'You're pushing it' came from Blake and Lamia, who came out of nowhere again. "Come again~?" she asked. Ray hesitated before answering, "Y-You heard me!... You did, didn't you?" His voice sounded shaky when Blake brought her horse over to him.
Blake raised an eyebrow as Lamia whispered to her, "He clearly does not know what he is thinking about. He needs to learn not to interfere with you~." Blake smirked. "Oh he'll think twice abou' this," she murmured back. "Now. Tell me again, Ray~. What. Were you tryin' ta tell me~?" Ray felt the extreme rage around her and he flustered his speech. "W-Well, uh... Why don'cha wait 'til dusk er somethin'- AAAAUGH!" Before he knew it, Blake grabbed the noose around his neck and groped his groin. All the eyes of the men were upon Blake filled with fear. "You wanna try me?" she said intimidatingly. With panic filling Ray's face, all that could come out of his mouth was: "...W-What?"
Blake let go of the noose, pulled her gun out abd pointed it to his head and threatened, "Say it! Say 'what' again! Say it one more time! I dare ya- I double dare ya, ya barrel boarder! Jes-" "Okay! Okay! Okay! I get it! Lemme go!" Ray begged not wanting to be killed by her. Blake looked at him for a few seconds before shoving him off his horse. All Ray wanted to do now was to lay there and curl up from the pain. No one, not even Butch Cavendish himself, was more afraid of a woman (especially a teenager) than Ray... except for one, of course.
"You on th' rag again, aintcha?" Jake retorted.
Soon, Jake joined Ray on the ground with a bleeding head. Blake had thrown a rock at his face. "Ask me tha' again, I'm gonna chuck a bigger rock at yer purtty face," she threatened.
Not much longer, Japhet came around the corner. He swooped down and landed smoothly onto Blake's arm, dropping whatever it was from his talons to her hand. She examined the item and smirked. Blake lifted her head but didn't turn to them, saying: "We're good ta go. I know 'em!"
...
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...
"Now how exac'ly do ya know these two?" Butch asked after some time. Blake shrugged a bit and said, "I used ta do some work fer 'em fer a while. They're train mechanics like I said." Butch raised an eyebrow. "A while?" he asked. Blake shrugged again. "I was eight when I started workin' wit' 'em." This gave Butch a chance to be an ass to Blake. He smirked his signature smirk and said, "Now are these guys actual guys ya know, or are these a couple o' boys an' yer really jus' sayin' tha'~?" Blake quickly turned to Butch and gave a 'are you fucking serious?!' look. She was flustered. "Oh fer th' love o'- Ew! Butch, you asshole! No!" She pulled the brim of her hat over her blushing red face. The guys just laughed while Butch kept his smirk. Blake muttered under her breath, "I hate you so much..." Butch shook his head and said, "I know you don't." "Fuck you..." and rolled her eyes. He did the same.
The sun beating down on the gang made them even more eager to at least get something from the town's saloon. Suddeny, Japhet started to act up by flapping his wings. Blake got a little startled and tried to let him fly. "God. What th' hell, Japh? Easy there." Not much longer, Scuzz's horse started to act up as well. "B-Boss?" he called out. Blake got Japhet to fly off but he suddenly started screaching his head off. "Wha' the Hell's wit- GAAAAAAH!" Butch fell off his horse after an arrow hit him in the shoulder. Jake looked up to the cliff and could see someone on the ledge.
A Comanche.
"Boss! A Comanche!" Jake reported. Blake looked up a saw few more tribesmen loading their bows. "Ev'rybody shoot an' run!" she ordered. The gangs scattered and quickly took out their guns and started shooting. Butch got back up as soon as he pulled the arrow out and mounted onto his horse and followed Blake's orders. Gunshots echoed as arrows came down like rain, hitting every single person taking them and their horses down in seconds. Blake and Butch got a little farther than some. An arrow came down, hitting Blake's horse on the hind leg and collapsing ontop of Blake. She struggled to get the horse off but was far too weak to do so.
Butch looked back and saw Blake down. He turned his horse around and came back to her. "Blake!" he called. She looked up and saw him reaching his hand out to her. "Blake! Gimme yer hand-" An arrow hit Butch on the side and fell off his horse. "Butch!" With all her strength, Blake pryed the horse off of her and began to make her way towards Butch. She turned him over and quickly took out the arrow. He grabbed his side where the arrow hit him and yelped in pain. Blake helped Butch up to his feet and assisted him to her horse. "You... You gonna make it?" she asked in a worried tone. Butch shook his head and cursed under his breath, saying: "Y' damn may as well be th' only one ta git th' hell out alive..." Blake sported an almost determined look and assured, "No way... in hell... Ain't no one gonna di-"
An arrow hit Blake right on her side. She stood there for a moment in shock before another hit her on pelvis, forcing her to collapse and drop Butch. When she went down, she was just inches from his shoulder. The next thing she knew, everything went black. She had passed out from blood loss. Moments later, Butch opened his eyes and could see Blake's eyes closed. Without thinking, he brought her close to him before going unconscious. The battle ground became silent.
Long minutes later, a horse drawn cart driven by two African American men, one robust wearing overalls and a white button-down shirt, another thin and lanky in a white button-down shirt, dark jeans and an apron, had arrived to the scene by accident. The duo stopped the cart and the slightly heavy set man jumped out of the cart and checked on the fallen outlaws. Of the 20 gang men (and girl), 18 were still alive. The man looked up to his companion and commented: "We're gonna need a bigger cart."
...
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...
Blake was the first to wake up; all she could see was nothing but darkness. Where ever she was, she was going to get out. Unless she hit her head on something then that was unlikely. Blake rubbed her head and felt where she hit her head. She managed to find out what it was: a shelf. Now Blake became confused. What was she doing on a shelf? More improtantly: Where was she? "I'm gettin' th' hell outta here," Blake muttered as she rolled over, only to hit the floor two feet above from where she was resting. She landed with a thud. Before Blake could even stand up, she felt a heavy force come down on her and hear someone curse to themself.
"Fer God- Who th' hell is this?" she demanded. "It's me!" the voice replied. Blake rolled her eyes from the stupid answer. "An' tha' woul' be?" she asked in an annoyed tone. "...Uh, Freighter...?" the voice replied. Now that Blake got her answer: "Okay great. Now could you git off me. It's gettin' a lil' awkward." Freighter got his heavy muscular body off his young boss. "Where th' hell are we?" he asked. As Blake felt around for his face, she answered, "I'm not sure. But where ever we are, I cain't see shit." Once she found his face, Freighter grabbed her hand and noted her finding it. "Also: Do you even remember wha' happened after th' attack?" he asked again. Blake couldn't even figure that answer out. She shrugged. "Nope. Nothin'-"
Suddenly, the lights came on and the same heavy set African man blared the trumpet at their faces. The sudden sound had eventually woken up the others; and possibly given them heart attacks. Blake jumped and held onto Freighter as the whole place screamed their heads off. The man stopped playing the trumpet and began laughing. Blake took a good second to recognize the man. "Marty?" she exclaimed. The man, Marty, tried to breathe as he spoke. "Oh hooo man, you guys! Y'all shoulda seen y'alls faces! Priceless!"
Blake let go of Freighter and went up to Marty. "Wha' th' hell was tha' for?" she demanded. Marty's face went straight (but with a grin) and said simply: "Wake up call!" "While th' rest of us nearly died?" Freighter added. Marty gave a thumbs up and said, "Yup!"
Blake looked at Marty with a pissed off look and said, "Y'know I never did like it when ya did tha'..." Marty saw her look and gave her puppy eyes and apologized. "Er... Sorry, Blakey..." The men looked upon the stare down feeling the tension arise between the girl and this wacko guy... Until the two tried not to laugh, that is. The two then began laughing their heads off. Not a single person understood what had just happened.
"Oh God, Marty! How coul' I still be mad at you?" Blake said after regaining her breath. Marty replied, "Blakey! It's so good ta see ya again! Lemme hug ya!" and gave her a bear hug and lifted her off the ground. "Whoaa! Okay, big guy." Freighter and the others couldn't help but laugh a bit from Marty's goofy personality. Blake soon had to tell him to put her down. Then Blake introduced Marty to the gangs, in which they seemed to accept him. Blake then said, "He an' Sid 're th' main mechanics in this town." Marty interupted, commenting, "Mainly train engines. Theyse a beauty." "I suppose so," Butch muttered.
Frank looked around the shop and noted that Sid was missing. "Oh him? Yeah, I thin' he's workin' on a prototype engine using only fire an' brimstone! He thinks it's gonna work fine!" he said. Every single person, including Blake, looked at Marty like he was speaking another language. "...Uh, Marty... Did you just say 'brimstone'?" Marty nodded with his grin. "Yeah," he said. Blake's look became unreadable as she questioned Sid's intelligence. "...Marty. Brimstone wit' fire is highly explosive! We fig'red that out last time, remember?" she said. Marty just kept smiling dumbfoundedly and said, "Yeah, wha' about it?" Blake raised her eyebrow in a way that says, 'You do realize what I'm talking about, right?'. That finally hit Marty. "Ooh..."
KABOOM!
"What th' Hell?" Butch exclaimed. Another voice cried out, "I can't breathe!" The strong smell of brimstone soon filled the small workshop faster than the time it took for every person to evacuate the shop. Nobody felt more relieved to breathe in fresh air than the tall and lanky Sid bursting out the door last. Sid took off his goggles and blinked rapidly and said, "...I didn't mean for that to happen... But it happened!" The gangs looked at Sid like he was a total nut (not that they thought he was one already). Ray couldn't take it and said outloud, "Alright! What the Hell is going on?!" Numerous people were giving the group judgmental looks as Sid assured them that everything was under control. He turned to Ray and explained (well pointed a finger at Marty), "It was his idea!"
"My idea!? Yer th' one who thought it was genius to use brimstone an' fire, ya ding bat!"
"Why didn' you stop me, then?!"
"Well I musta been on somethin' to agree wit' you-"
"Okay guys!"
Marty and Sid turned their heads to Blake who was stepping out of the crowd with a smirk. "Let's jes... Settle down here... An' jes' let this incident slide by," she said assuringly. "Oh. So yer a damn lawyer now?" Ray blurted. Blake didn't turn to him but threatened, "You wan' me to do that again?" Ray immediately went quiet.
"Now, uh, firs' thin's first: How th' hell did you two idiots find us? An' what th' hell were you doin' in there?" Butch asked. The two looked at each other and back at them as Marty explained, "Well, we was comin' back from an errand trip ta Liberty when we started hearing gunshots an yelling. That's when we thought about comin' to yer rescue." Sid continued, "Y'all are lucky ta be alive... Well most o' ya..." Walliwitz raised an eyebrow. "Wh-whaddya mean 'most o' us'?" he asked. Sid shrugged and gave him the best answer: "Two o' youse got killed by arrow. We tried ta see if they were even breathin' but they were dead by th' time we got there." Blake just gave a small "hmph." and lifted both eyebrows.
"But on th' other hand, I thin' Pappy woulda been happy ta see a again, Blakey!" Marty noted. Few of the guys looked at Blake. "Ya think so?" she asked. Sid chuckled. "I figured he would. How long's it been since he's... Gone?" She grinned in a sad way. Marty shrugged and said, "At least a few years... Like three er so..." Edgar raised an eyebrow and thought aloud, "Who's 'Pappy'?" Marty looked over to Edgar and explained, "That's his nickname we all gave him. His actual name is Taylor Poe. He was a slave down in 'Bama before being set free due to that 3/5 Compromise set up years back." Sid contnued, "He taught himself how to do all things engineerin', came here, an' was very well known in this town." "Well then wha' does Blake got ta do wit' you two dofuses?" Butch asked. "Pappy found her on th' way here eight years ago. She looked pretty traumatized at first. But Pappy knew what to do!" Sid replied.
"I was at leas' eight when he took me in. I gotta say, y'all did a great job raisin' me before I left after tha'... lil' incident," Blake commented. "Incident?" Butch said aside. Neither of the three wanted to answer that question; so Marty decided to change the subject and say, "Speakin' of age: When's yer birthday, Blake?" She got caught off guard as she thought of the question. "Uh... May 21. Why?" Sid and Marty looked at each other and grinned like they know something Blake doesn't. They turned back to her with the grins still on their faces, making Blake and the gangs a little frightened. "What's wit' that look on yer all's faces?" Blake asked with a hint of confusion in the tone. "It's May 21!" Marty exclaimed.
The gangs looked at Blake with the same grins on their faces.
"It's yer birthday, boss?"
"Well, Buon compleanno, madame!"
"Y-You fift-t-teen? Er s-s-sixteen?"
"Heh. Guess I've been out in th' desert fer so long, I guess I kinda lost track o' time...!"
Of course that was a lie. She really didn't lose track of time. The wanted posters with her information and the newspapers kept her up-to-date.
Sid whispered something to Marty in his ear and he just giggled. Butch looked down at Blake and all she could give him was a shrug and a look of being unsure. Marty looked back at them and told them they would be right back and went right back into the shop. Before the two came back Butch quickly asked Blake how old she was now. "I'm sixteen now, thanks ta them," she told him. "Sixteen, eh...?" Butch smirked.
Just then, they all heard something in the shop. The two mechanics were singing some tune they all have not heard of. As they walked out, Marty and Sid started dancing some stupid jig. Blake covered her mouth and tried not to laugh, but the men had on a good confused look on their faces. They began to look at one another, wondering how Blake could have tolerated them. They stopped in front of her and held out something in their hands, both going: "Ta-daaa!" while keeping their usual smiles. Blake looked at the cloth-wrapped item and back at them. She grinned and took the 'gift', commenting, "Wha' did y'all do~?" "Open it!" they said in unison.
Blake glanced at Butch and shrugged. She unwrapped it and was surprised at what it was: a knife. Blake looked up to them after a while looking at it and said, "This is Pappy's." Sid told her, "I'm sure he would want chu ta have it." "We polished it an' ev'rythin' since his death," Marty finished. She examined the beautifully welded gaucho knife with a grin. She took out her old hunting knife and took a good look at it before throwing it at a support beam, nearly hitting Skinny and Ray. She smirked at them and said 'innocently', "Sorry, boys~." She put her new knife in the sheath. It fit perfectly. "Seems like ol' Pappy knew his business, alon' wit' knife care," she commented. The guys chuckled.
Out of the blue, Marty said, "Well. Now that that's done: Y'all wanna head o'er to the saloon tonigh'? 'S on us!" Jake shrugged in agreement and said, "Don't see no pro'lem with it. I'm in."
"Hell yeah!"
"'S it anythin' like a B&S?"
Everyone turned to Walliwitz in slight confusion. Walliwitz became flustered as they laid their eyes on him. "Ya know-uh... Ne'er mind. I like grogs. Grogs 're good...!"
Freighter reminded Walliwitz, "...Walli. We're not from Australia."
He blushed deeply in embaressment. "Oh... Righ..."
They all laughed.