Through the cracks of the train car, the sun of the rising dawn speckled on the sleeping father-daughter duo. Butch rested his head on top of Blake's as hers rested on his chest. Butch was quietly snoring; and that somehow never disturbed Blake one bit throughout the trip. She was the first to wake up, though she felt groggy. She hasn't slept like that in ages. Her eyes shot up to Butch as she saw that he was still asleep. Blake smiled; she couldn't help but think how dorky he looked asleep from her angle. She then thought about Scuzz and how he was like that. She quietly chuckled and said quietly, "Dorks..."
The train's whistle blew, startling... Well, everyone, awake (evident from the jump scare screaming from the train cars). Butch shot his head up and hit it on the wall. He cursed to himself. Blake smirked. "Mornin'," she said. He looked down to find Blake still leaning on him. He rubbed his head and muttered, "Ugh, righ'. Mornin'..." Blake jumped up and let Butch up. Butch looked out the door and saw that it was right at dawn. The two left the car and, in the other car, they found her gang (mainly Scuzz and Walliwitz) still recovering from their heart attacks. Blake gently kicked Scuzz in the thigh and said jokingly, "Come on, it ain't all that bad, ya offish." Butch smirked and ruffled Blake's hair before he had to go back to his gang and try to wake them up. Blake turned to him and smirked back before he left.
Scuzz lifted himself halfway up and saw Butch and Blake exchange smirks. He looked at his boss and said, "Wh-what was th-that all b-b-bout?" She looked at him in the eye and said, "Mind yer own damn business..." As the rest of the gang slowly started to fully wake up, Freighter looked out the car door and announced, "Heads up, y'all. I think we're 'bout to stop!" Walliwitz came up to the door, then Jake, then eventually Blake and saw what he was talking about. A railroad construction site. "What in the hell...?" Blake muttered to herself.
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...
Sid put the train to a full halt behind another train. He then told Marty to let the gangs know they can come out. Marty obeyed without hesitation. Both gangs looked out to the construction. None of them (except Butch possibly) knew where they were or what direction they were building the railroad. "What's all this mess?" Edgar asked out loud. "Whaddya think it looks like?" All heads turned to Butch. "'s a railroad these sorry bastards 're workin' on. Got that from Cole himself," he further explained. "What does-a Cole think he's-a doing?" asked Edgar. Butch didn't respond for sometime before eventually shrugging and responding with, "I ain't the one in control of the damn system. Better ask him himself if I were you." Freighter leaned down to Blake's ear and whispered, "I dunno 'bout you, but somethin' ain't right about this whole situation." She replied quietly, "Ya might wanna keep that to yerself if I were you."
Either Freighter was hearing things, or Blake had just now sounded alot like Butch when she said that simple phrase.
A voice called out. "My good fellows!" Everyone turned and saw a middle-aged man dressed in a very dark grey, almost black, suit and bowler hat. His beard was short and dark. He gave them a smile and asked them to come in. Butch told his gang that Blake's should go in instead. He followed her gang in. Once the gang were inside, they heard the voice again, "I'm amazed that every one of you never said a word about our westward expansion." Freighter noticed that the man was making tea; or at least that's what he was assuming. "Though that wouldn't surprise me much either," he said lastly. Blake crossed her arms and asked, "Who exactly are you?"
"Blake that would be Latham Cole."
Blake turned to Butch, who had an annoyed look. She then turned back to Cole and gave a sheepish smirk. "Oh, uh… My apologies, Mr. Cole," she said.
Cole smiled and replied, "Oh please, Ms. Blake. Just call me 'Cole'." Blake tipped her hat to him. "Very well then, Cole," she said. Cole looked upon her men. "I'm assuming you want to tell me the name of your gentlemen?" he asked. It took Blake a while to process what he just said before letting her gang greet Cole. "A pleasure to meet you all!" Cole chirped. To Butch, something about the way he said it made him fell a little uneasy. Then Cole asked, "Now who's your friend all the way in the back?" They immediately became confused. Blake and the guys looked behind them but didn't see anyone. She turned back to Cole and said, "Uhm... Who were you talkin' to?"
"I believe he was talking to me~."
Blake and the gang nearly jumped out of their skin from that voice and yelped a bit. Blake quickly turned around and saw Lamia standing right behind her with a smirk. "What the he- Lamia!? What the hell?!" she exclaimed. He kept the smirk and said, "Just letting all the crazy people know that I am for real~." Cole said aloud, "Your name's Lamia, I heard?" Lamia nodded and replied, "Correct." Jake leaned down to his boss and said, "Never even noticed th' guy. Where th' bloody hell did 'e come from?" Blake shook he head. "Long story, Jake..." she replied.
"Mr. Lamia, how did you and Blake know each other; or her... gang for that matter?" Cole asked. Lamia grinned and said, "Interesting story if you ask. You see, Blakely here brought me up from the spirit world and- D'OH! GODDAMMIT!" Blake kicked Lamia hard in the shin before he said anything else. As he cursed through his teeth, Cole gazed upon Blake, who grinned like she was covering something up like a child would. "Aaah, ignore 'im. He's kinda... Kinda not right in th' head ya know. Eh hehehe..." she explained. Cole seemed like he bought it and said, "I see."
Blake let Butch and her gang chat with Cole while she gave Lamia a good talk. "What the hell?! Do you really wanna blow it to..." she glanced back to the group. "...To a bunch o' mundanes?!" she finished. The spirit man glanced up to her and smirked again, saying, "I like the little surprises in life~." Blake grabbed his collar and hissed though her teeth, "Well yer gonna get a damn lil' surprise in yer life if you mention anything about that one more goddamn time! Got it?!"
"As you wish..." he murmurred.
She sighed heavily. "Good..." she let him go and returned to the group. Cole told her gang to go back outside and wait with Butch's gang for a while. He then turned to Blake
"Ms. Blakely, I heard from Butch that you seem to know easily how to keep your men in line. That true?" he asked. Blake thought about her answer and shrugged. "Sometimes with a good enough force I can le 'em know they'll be beat to a bloody pulp if they don't cooperate," she answered. "Why d'ya ask?"
"I got some unfinished business I gotta take care of-"
"And someone needs to keep these good men working while we're out."
It hit her what they meant.
"Wait a minute- Are you askin' me to- t-to run a whole construction site?!" she asked. Cole confirmed, "That was exactly what we meant!" She really didn't know what to think about this sudden load of responsibility. "Think you can handle it?" Cole asked. She didn't answer for a moment. "Y-yeah... Yeah I guess so," was all she could reply with. Blake felt Cole's hand on her shoulder as he assured her, "I know. At the ripe ol' age of sixteen, it's difficult. But I think you can do it just fine." Blake nodded slowly and said, "Yeah, sure..." Blake walked up to a window and stared out to the open. She was so focused on this offer, she never heard Cole ask Lamia to join him and the two gangs outside. She never heard the door close.
Now she and Butch were left inside.
"Somethin' buggin' ya, kiddo?" Butch asked. Blake remained silent for a moment. "I... I dunno... There's jes' somethin' not righ' with this," she said. "Jes' somethin' about Cole don't feel right."
"...You paranoid 'bout somethin'?" Butch asked. Blake nodded. "Somethin' like that," she replied. Butch sighed and told her, "...To be honest with ya, kid, I don't like this situation either." Blake turned to him. "An' I was hopin' I could tell him ta let chu come wit' us," he said. Blake raised an eyebrow. "Really?" she wondered. Butch gave a small grin and muttered, "Yeah..."
"Somethin' botherin' you?" Blake asked mocking his tone when he asked her that first. Butch's face became fierce. "...Lemme tell ya straight forward: I never did like Cole. The damn bastard's always up ta no good. He thinks he can run this damn town."
"Heh. Kinda rash."
"Well he don't know jack..."
The car was quickly filled with silence. Then a question came up to Blake to break the silence. "Whadidya mean by 'unfinished business'?" He tilted his head a bit. "You said a lil' while ago that you needed to take care o' some unfinished business. What did you mean by that?" Butch understood what she meant and replied, "...Jes' somethin' that happened before your time. Really don' feel like explainin' it."
Another awkward silence.
"Why are we even workin' with Cole?" Blake wondered out loud. Butch slowly smirked and said, "Maybe the same reason-" Blake noticed his arm was raised. "-Yer such a lil' squirt!" and he took a hold of her around the neck and round her neck and brought her close to him. Blake squealed a little as he took her by the neck gently, even playfully. He then proceeded to give her a noogie and chuckled. In return, Blake giggled. As the two wrestled, Lamia stood outside watching through the window. He couldn't help but smile at the two.
"You always said someone out there is willing to take you in as their own...," he said to himself, "You just didn't look hard enough." Just as he was admiring the scene, he heard a large commotion coming from the construction workers. He turned around and saw a group of Chinese men and Union Cavalry heading right towards the train. Lamia raised an eyebrow and sighed. "Great…" he muttered.
He came up to the door and interrupted their little mock boxing match. "I-I hate to interrupt your little bonding time but, um…. We've got a problem," and with that he returned outside. Blake and Butch stared at the door and then to each other. Butch smirked. "Day one, boss-lady~," he said. Blake slowly answered with a grin as she took her trench coat off and placed it on a chair. She cocked her hat just right and adjusted her gun holster and headed for the door, gun in hand. Butch followed suit.
The two stepped outside and saw Lamia negotiating with the mob of workers and trying to keep them in line. One of them tried to punch Lamia but he was far too quick for the union worker. As Blake watched the scene, she took a deep breath. In no time at all, she stepped down from the train and shot her gun to the sky. She exclaimed, "What th' hell is goin' on?!" as she walked to the mob. Putting her gun back in its holster, one of the workers demanded, "We wanna talk to th' head o' this operation!" Blake gave him a serious look and said, "I am- The head of this operation!" The man looked at her like she was crazy, but went with her word. He explained, "W-Well. We ain't wantin' go no further than tha'-" he pointed to an empty field; she assumed he thought it was an Indian burial ground "-than that! Tis cursed from wha' I heard."
At first she believed what he said and bought it; but this is something she wasn't going to let slip by. And so, with her dark smirk, she flipped her hair and approached to the man. She motioned with her finger saying, "C'mere. I wanna tell ya somethin'~." The man hesitated but came to her. The two were only a half arm's length apart from each other. Blake told the man, "Ya know somethin'? I like the fact that yer so courageous- Intelligent even." Something about Blake's tone made the man feel both uncomfortable and scared. "It intrigues me tha' someone like you could exist. An' I don' mind that at all~. But for this-"
The man felt a huge shot of pain flow through his chest. Blake had stabbed him with her own hand and had gone though the other side. Of course, Lamia was able to channel his energy to her and allow her to do so. The man went limp and Blake supported him. She hissed through her teeth, "I ain't gonna take no bullshit from you. I ain't gon take it from no one!" She brought her hand back in to where she could feel his pulsing heart. She smiled darkly. "I suppose ye don' want this anymore, now do ya~?" The man didn't respond. Blake squinted her eyes as Lamia took the man's head in his hands, his pupils fully black. The man tried to cry for mercy, but was too scared to do it. "Ya didn't answer my question- DO YOU WANT IT?!" she yelled. He still didn't respond. Of course he didn't have to; Blake already knew what he would say. "Don' try that sorta bullshit with me!"
"H-H-H-How d-d-did-"
"I know what yer thinkin'. And I know what yer gonna say~. So don' try me, ya filthy bastard…!"
Lamia's eyes went completely black as he hissed out loud. Blake quickly pulled the man's heart out, and with her pulling force, Lamia pushed the man's head back and, with superhuman strength, was able to decapitate his head. The two stepped back and let the rest of the body collapse. The mob stared in horror as blood gushed and pooled to their feet. Still gripping the heart, Blake held it up and gazed upon the frightened men. Her words were innocent:
"Anyone else?"
They could only respond with screams of terror and running away back to work.
In their victory, Balke grinned like nothing happened and said, "And that- my dear Lamia- is how you properly assert authority!" Lamia smiled back as well juggling the head. "You flatter me, madame~." Blake chuckled. "Oh stop it!" The two turned around while laughing to themselves and saw the looks of fear on the gangs' faces (yes. Even Butch had one). Blake looked at them confusingly and blinked rapidly a couple of times. "What?" she asked. Butch was so fazed by what just happened that all he could say was: "..Y-Ya got a lil' somethin'... Righ' here." and pointed to where his scar was. Blake put the heart in her other hand and wiped her mouth with her bloodied hand right where Butch was pointing at. But that only made the blood smear on her lips. "Did I get it?" she asked. None of them answered. "Y-Yeah. You got it, Blakey," Frank replied.
Blake smirked again and turned back around discussing with Lamia. "So, what 'r' we gonna…."
As the two discussed what to do with the rest of the body, Frank leaned in and whispered in Butch's ear, "An' I thought you were gross an' scary."
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Dr. Ambrose Davison was minding his own business as he hummed a tune and made tea. The tune, though, was something he would not normally sing. It was an old pirate shantey.
"Running down to Cuba with a load of sugar,
Weigh, me boys, to Cuba!
Make her run you, lime juice squeezes,
Running down to Cuba!
Weigh, me boys, to Cuba!
Running down to Cuba!"
As he was singing the shantey, Blake opened the door and Lamia dragged the body in the train.
"O, I got a sister, she's nine feet tall,
Weigh, me boys, to Cuba!
Sleeps in the kitchen with her-"
"Oh I apologize, I never heard you come in!" He turned around and got a surprise of his life. "I was making- Oh for God's sake! What on earth happened to you two?!" Blake shrugged and said, "We kinda had ta take care of some business wit' th' union guys." Davison shook his head and said, "Alright, well, whatever. Just don't get the heart and-" He stopped mid-sentence. He saw the heart and head in Blake and Lamia's hands. "Is that a head and a heart?!" Blake glanced down at the heart in her hand as Lamia did the same to the head. Seconds later, the two slowly hid the said things behind their backs and like children fibbed, "No."
Davison judgmentally stared at them before saying, "Whatever. Just don't get the carpet dirty." Blake rolled her eyes.
Outside, Latham explained to Butch and the gangs about the set-up for the arrest and the murder of the Rangers. "Those Rangers aren't needed in an era like this. They need to be eliminated." Butch tipped his hat. "Tha' shouln' be no pro'lem," he assured. He turned to the gangs and exclaimed, "Looks like we got ourselves a good killin' spree on our hands, boys!" The gangs cheered as they mounted on their horses. As Butch mounted on his horse, he looked back to the train, thinking on how Blake would be if they were gone for such a long time. He was so lost in thought until: "Butch! Ya comin'?" He snapped out of it and gazed upon the gangs and Cole. He nodded and said, "Yeah. Let's move!"
And so, they all headed out to Colby.
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The next day came.
Blake and Lamia stared into each others eyes in boredom. Due to this, Blake drew her gun and began shooting the wall. Lamia turned and saw how accurate her sharp shooting skills were as she was shooting. Not much later, Davison ran in the train car and covered his ears from how loud the noise was. Blake stopped shooting. "What the-HELL are you doing?!"
"Bored…," said the two in unison. Davison's face was contorted with confusion. "What?!" he asked. "Bored!" The duo said again. Blake stood up from her chair and started shooting again. "Bored!" she yelled once more. Blake's gun ran out of ammunition and Davison took the gun away from her.
"Felt like doin' some target practice so I thought 'Hell. Why not?'" Blake stated. "And so you take it out on the wall?" Davison asked. Blake picked on the wallpaper that had been taken off from the impact. "Eh. The wall had it coming...," Davison just shook his head and went to the table which had the body from yesterday still fresh. He just stared at it and muttered, "Well, I'm hungry. I'll just find myself something to ea- Oh for-!" he closed the cabinet door immediately once he saw the severed head. He hesitated to open it again and stare at the head. He closed it once more and muttered, "A head... A severed head!"
"I'll take tea, thank you very much," Blake announced.
"No there's a severed head in the cabinet!" Davison argued.
"At least you didn't find the heart in th' jar in the next cabinet over," she replied.
"A bloody head!" Davison stated.
"Well where else were we supposed to put them? You don't mind, do you?" Lamia spoke. "You know I honestly believe there is something going on in your messed up brains of yours, you two!" Davison stated. Lamia and Blake glanced at each other and smirked. Blake looked back at Davison with her smirk. "I can't keep up with your- Wh-what the-?!" he stopped mid-sentence as his glasses levitatied from his face. "I'm amazed how quiet it is without m' rowdy gang. Cuzz now I can do things like this~!" Blake chirped. Davison didn't hear what she said as he was trying to get his glasses back. "Telepathy, doctor! It's no use to do that," Lamia added. "WILL YOU JUST PUT THEM DOWN?!" Davison ordered. Lamia glanced at her. "Doctor's orders," he joked. Blake rolled her eyes and dropped them in his hands.
Davison put his glasses back on and cautioned, "Do it again, I'll kick you out of this train..." The two chuckled.
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"...Law and order has come to the Wild West!" announced Cole for his plans to 'bring justice and peace'. He tipped his hat to Rebecca and Danny who were right behind Red Herrington. Red looked over her shoulder and saw who he was tipping his hat to.
After assuring the Comanche that their treaty wouldn't be violated, he then announced: "And rest assured- that notorious outlaw and Indian killer Butch Cavendish-" an assistant pulled out his wanted poster and showed it to the crowd, "-will hang for his crimes!" The crowd gave applause again, but soon a bystander shouted, "What about tha' Night Demon girl?!" Another shouted, "She needs to hang too!" Cole put up his hand up to quiet the crowd and he proclaimed, "Her too!" Another assistant pulled out her wanted poster next to Butch's. "The girl is just as dangerous and notorious as Cavendish. After the last incident of her escape, she will know it's useless to run again. Once she is found guilty of her crimes, she will hang with him as well!" This got the crowd cheering.
A photographer took a photo of the moment.
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John Reid, a man who just arrived to Texas not too long ago from the city, sat with a large group of Presbyterians. He didn't originally plan on that happening but he was able to deal with it. He's seen people like them before in Chicago. He was fresh out of law school and wanted to come home to Colby, Texas. He looked out the window and saw the herd of buffalo that was parting away from the train. His train of thought was broken when he heard the preacher began proclaiming a Bible verse.
He went back to his book and flipped through the pages, stopping at a photo of his sister-in-law Rebecca. He took the photo in his hand and smiled. He never paid attention to the both the preacher and it's congregation and the girl dropping her doll by his feet. He looked down and saw the doll. He picked it up and noticed that the girl was pointing to it, wanting it back. He grinned and said, "Catch!" He tossed it to her; but he completely forgot that the woman had opened the window next to her earlier and the doll went right out the window. His face went straight to shock and the girl began to cry. He tried to calm her down but that didn't do anything. The girl's mother got her to be quiet before glancing at John. The look made him feel uncomfortable and he returned to his book.
The other woman asked, "Care to join us? We're Presbyterian." John shook his head from the offer. "Much appreciated. But this here's my Bible," he said holding up a book on law.
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Once the train was in full view, Barrett took out his pocket watch and announced, "Well. Just about on time." Freighter was able to time their approach to the train and get Butch out of there. The gangs split up; half of Butch's and Blake's gang went on one side while the other half went to the other. Barrett, Jake, and Freighter climbed on the roof of a car and snuck up on an inspector. Inside, John thought he heard footsteps coming from above. He looked out the window and saw the three silhouettes on the roof.
In the prison car, an Indian prisoner by the name of Tonto was fiddling with a broken pocket watch. As he was flipping it, Butch started to pick on a nail on the floorboard. Tonto noticed this from the corner of his eye. While Butch was removing the nail, Tonto began to softly chant to himself, but he then tried to get the wardens' attention by motioning his head to Butch. His chant/warning gradually became louder before Butch turned to him and shushed him. He stared at him before slowly hiding his gun in his trench coat and calling out for a bathroom break.
The warden rolled his eyes and let him out; he however took a hold of Butch making sure he didn't do anything bad. Tonto tried to get his attention and warn him about Butch's concealed gun. The warden thought that something was falling from the ceiling and looked up. He then noticed Tonto throwing pieces of wood at him and the hand sign for 'gun'. Before he could act, Butch quickly drew the gun and shot and killed the warden, then he turned to the warden's partner and shot him multiple times. Butch turned to Tonto and slowly approached him. Tonto still had his hand looking like a gun before he 'fed' the dead crow on his head.
Meanwhile, a concerned John got up from his seat and followed the sound of the footsteps despite the Presbyterian group singing. Back on the roof, Barrett and Freighter strangled the inspector to death as Jake went ahead to the engine and shot the conductors. John followed the trio to the car which held Butch and another person. He tried to open the door, but it was jammed. The peep-door, however, was ajar and he could see the dead bodies of the wardens.
Butch had his gun pointed to the Indian prisoner as the Native 'fed' the bird seeds. "Twelve hours you been feedin' that damn bird!" he hissed. "Gets a man on his last nerves...!" The Indian simply said, "I do not fear what comes next." Butch replied, "Nothing... Comes next."
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Later that night, Blake asked if any of the workers knew where there was a watering hole or creek she could bathe in. An oriental man told her of a creek not too far from the construction. She thanked him for the advice and went in the direction of the creek.
Once she found it, she tossed her towel on a nearby rock along with her hat, trench coat, vest and shirt. She slipped her boots off and dipped her toes in the cool water. She looked at herself in the water's reflection. She noted the old burn marks on her shoulder from the cattle rod. She rubbed her neck where the chain and collar had cut her. She thought that the tattoos would be able to hide most of the scars that covered quite a bit of her back and the side of her torso. There wasn't anything she could have done about the ones on her wrist except just let them heal on their own.
Blake stared into the water and looked at her reflection again. She asked aloud, "Wha' did I do to deserve this?" A droplet of water emerged from the water hole; she stared into the droplet and questioned her past. It wasn't right that those people she was supposed to call family treated her as their own slave. But it also wasn't right that she would kill them off… so why would she do that?
She cursed at Joe under her breath for this with hot tears of anger in her eyes. She slipped into the cold water and went into a trance. She didn't give a damn about the world around her, she let her telekinetic abilities overpower her, and next thing she knew, her world went black.
She heard nothing.
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"Blakely?"
She snapped out of her trance and emerged from the water. "WHAT?!" she yelled back. Davison came all the way from the train to see if she was okay; he hasn't see her for the past few hours and he thought she was taken away by Natives. "Oh! I'm sorry. I was just wondering where you went. Good to see your alright...!" he said. She glared at him as he walked away. She got out of the water, feeling refreshed and clean, wrapped her towel and snuck back to the train.
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Collins found leftover wood from a fire. He noted that it was fresh and told the Rangers they were getting close to the Cavendish gang. Dan ordered them to move out. Behind him was his little brother John who noticed horse tracks going in the direction Collins pointed out. The brothers knew that Butch had to be stopped before he commits any more crime.
But for some reason, after what his brother told him about his 'spirit horse', John knew something was not going to go well once they find and arrest Butch Cavendish.
Little did they know, Butch and the gang had planned out an ambush… with a little revenge.
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The next morning felt like hell for Blake. She never felt so drowsy in her life. She turned to the other side and opened her eyes; her morning was greeted with a pair of blue-green eyes three inches from her face. Outside the train, the men thought that someone saw both a ghost and a brutal murder.
Lamia scared her so much, she stuttered her response. "Lami-Wha-The fu- Jesus- WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!" Lamia grinned and chuckled, saying, "I just love a good scare for you sleeping humans~!" She kept hyperventilating before asking him an important question: "How long have you been standing there?!" He got up and smirked and replied, "Long enough to hear you talk in your sleep~." She gave out a sigh of relief and muttered, "'Kay good. I-"
She stopped mid-sentence.
"Wait. What did you just say?" He turned to her. "I said 'long enough to hear you talk in your sleep'." She gave him a scared look. "What the hell are ya talkin' 'bout?! I've never talked in my sleep. You better be bluffin' me, ya limey," she demanded. He shook his head and said, "Oh, Blakely~. How much fun it was for me to hear you utter your lover Frank's name~."
Not too soon, Lamia bolted out the door with an obviously pissed off and embarrassed Blake hot on his trail with a rifle. She just threw threats and cursed a blue streak; Lamia laughed out loud.
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…
The Rangers came to a stop by a canyon. They all stared into it, thinking about where and how to find Butch. Dan chatted with his fellow Rangers and finally got to Collins and asked him to go and check it out. Once he left, Dan called his brother forward and silently gave him a gun. John turned the offer down muttering, "I don't believe in them." Dan judgmentally looked at his lawyer of a brother saying, "Butch Cavendish and Blake don't care one way or another…." Few seconds later Collins whistled an okay to go in.
The Rangers followed Collins in the canyon.
The Rangers examined the terrain and saw that no one was there... Not even Collins, with the exception of a couple crows- and an albino golden eagle. A Ranger asked aloud, "Where's Collins?" There was silence among the posse. A gun went off and a Ranger fell off his horse. "Ambush!" Dan exclaimed. They looked around but they couldn't see the outlaws. "I don't see 'em!" a Ranger yelled. Dan ordered them all to run. Another Ranger was shot off his horse and died on the spot.
A Ranger fell off his horse and got himself armed; he hid behind a rock and shot at where he thought the outlaws were. Not too long, he himself was shot and killed.
Another Ranger died by gunshot, leaving only Dan and John alive. John's horse was shot and it collapsed on top of him. He struggled to get it off him, and when he did, he struggled again to even get up. Dan turned around and saw his little brother on the ground. He turned his horse around and was about to help him off his feet but he too was shot. "No!" screamed John. He crawled to Dan and helped him up- but Dan told him something that he didn't expect his older brother to say: "...She always did love you... Take care of 'em..." John refused to believe this-or the fact that his big brother was on the verge of death- and got up and carried him. One more shot rang out and John felt his shoulder burst out in pain. He was fazed and he stumbled, dropped Dan and collapsed.
Dan opened his eyes and saw Japhet on a dead tree branch. He could hear the eagle let out a screech; the next thing he saw was a gang heading in his direction. It was Butch's gang. Butch and the gang stopped their horses and Butch got off and approached Dan. Japhet perched on Butch's shoulder when he stopped at Dan's feet. "You look good~," Butch said.
Dan glared at him and muttered, "Heard them boys in prison took a real shine to you..." and coughed up blood. Butch smirked at him. "Been better~!" he replied. He knelt down in front of Dan, Japhet adjusting his position. Butch looked around and back to Dan and said, "I heard what ya took from me in tha' sweat box..." he pulled out his knife and used the tip of it to lift the brim of his hat out of his eyes. "You take somethin' from me... You be damn sure as hell-" he pulled apart Dan's coat and placed his knife right where his heart was, "-I take somethin' from you!" and he stabbed Dan, cut his heart out and ate it; Japhet screeched.
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…
Blake decided to spend the rest of her day outside the train; after she had to tie up Lamia and put him in a corner in the train car. Besides being out on such a nice day, she felt like she needed a haircut; her hair was getting past the nape of her neck and that was beginning to annoy her. An Oriental woman Cole had hired to be a maid cut her hair. She kept commenting on how beautiful her hair was. Blake smiled a bit and muttered, "Thank ya..."
After her haircut, one of the construction workers, an Oriental as well, was on break and after gathering his fears of her, offered to teach her Chinese. Bored out of her mind, she agreed to take the lesson.
As the two were exchanging Chinese and English, Joe spied on her from his office. His office, however, was not really an office, but a sort of Satanic shrine along with some black magic ritual objects. He glared at her and was irked at how she was too careless about her surroundings. The little sunlight that he allowed in was enough to reveal a white tabernacle covered in blood and Satanic books. A voice was heard in the shadows: "You have better be right about this child." Joe nodded and replied, "She'll be a fine specimen for your needs, Seth..." A pair of glowing emerald green eyes appeared from the darkness. "You have said that for the past fourteen years, Jose. And yet- nothing has happened." Joe turned around and faced him and assured, "I am positive she is the final descendant of those Thuuman people. I do not remember anyone else after her."
Seth's eyes glared at him and he said, "Do not... Make me feel like a fool." And his eyes vanished into the darkness. Joe shook his head.
Later that night, Blake was reading one of the books Cole had in his office. For her, she thought it was odd for him to keep some books on black magic and voodoory, but she didn't think about it again. As she was reading— and keeping an eye on Lamia; he was still tied up in the corner and was not moving — she heard the door open and Davison came in with some food. "Never thought chu get outta this crazy train, didn't ya?" Davison shook his head with a grin and replied, "On occasion I do." He placed the food on the table after seeing Lamia tied up in that one corner. "What did he do this time?" he asked. Blake replied sarcastically, "Just tried to say he wold take over the world startin' here-"
"I did not! I just simply told you-"
Blake threw a pillow at his face by the use of her telepathy. "I forgot you can do that..." he muttered. She smirked.
While Davison cooked dinner, he asked Blake what her relationship was with Butch and his gang and she said, "Me an my guys merged with his gang. He's also been kinda like a father-figure to me, ya know." He nodded. Davison spoke again saying, "Now I didn't get to meet any of your men. What were their names?" She began listing them (and threw a little insult at them): "Well you got the greedy ol' Edgar; lazy ass Scuzz-" her face turned a small tint of pink "-our black man Freighter; the Hunchback o' Notre Dame of Walliwitz; and the bed faggot Jake-" Davison snapped his head to her with raised eyebrows and a surprised look on his face. He said, "By Jake, do you mean Jacob Herrington?!" Blake raised an eyebrow in confusion and replied, "Yeah, wha' about 'im?" Davison continued, "...It's been a very long time since I last saw him. He was one of my patients back in the New England."
Blake sat up straight on the sofa, book in hand. "He had quite the personality, I must say," he said with a chuckle. "So-wait-" Blake interuppted, "How did you first know 'bout Jake? He never mentioned anythin' to me 'bout bein' sick or soemthing like that...!" Davison stopped cooking for a moment and hesitated on answering. He finally said, "Well... It's a long story, Miss Thuuman." Blake nodded and took a sip of her tea. Davison continued, "His health got to the point where his sister Red thought that he would forget about her-"
Blake spat out her tea.
She then looked at him, shocked. "Whoa! Red?! As in Red Herrington?!" The doctor nodded. "He never told any of us he had a sister- or any family for that matter o' fact." Davison returned to his cooking and replied, "Jacob is a very personal man. Always to himself..." Blake didn't know how to respond to this.
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John Reid snapped his eyes open and gasped. He slowly sat up straight and felt the soreness all through his bacok. He rubbed the back of his head and felt smething that probably shouldn't be there: horse poop. He disgustedly wiped it off and stood up and tried to figure out where he was. He only took a few steps forward before he saw that he was on a platform right above a canyon. He stood there and looked around to see how on earth he even got there and found a ladder down the platform.
He made it down the platform and stumbled upon a camp — but all that was there was some bullet torn clothing, a pan with some of the Rangers' badges, a canteen, and a fire. John went straight to the canteen and drank whatever water was left in there. He felt relieved by the refreshing cold water. John thought he heard someone talking not too far away from him and turned to see an Indian — a Comanche he assumed — talking to a white horse. The Indian seemed distracted so John found a gun and slowly and quietly approached the Indian. He pulled back the safety and was prepared to shoot; but the Indian heard the gun. "If you are going to sneak up on an Indian, best do it down wind," said the Indian.
John lowered the gun and asked, "Why are you talking to that horse?" The Comanche replied, "There was a time when Man could speak to animals as my grandfather once said. They still do." John asked again, "Why am I covered in dirt?"
"Because I buried you..."
"...Then why am I alive?"
"Horse says you are a 'Spirit Walker'. One who has traveled to the other side and back. But I cannot tell if horse is stupid- or pretending to be stupid... Nature... seems very out of balance."
The Comanche approached John and John responded by raising his gun to the Indian. "Horse definitely stupid..." he walked past John; he saw that the Indian was wearing his own boots. "Are those my boots?!" he asked.
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...
Blake walked past the other train cars and noticed that one of them was pure black. She found it weird that she never even noticed this particular car; however, Davison did mention that she shouldn't check out the black car— that must have went in one ear and out the other. She decided to check out what was so different about this car. 'I mean it's just a car. What's the big deal about it?' she thought. Blake got to the door but it was tightly locked. The sliding door, however, wasn't. Using her knife, she slid it between the thin space and pryed it open. She looked in and couldn't see anything until she heard a voice mumble a Latin prayer that sounded Satanic.
She slid the little door open some more and dropped her knife in shock— her uncle Joe was sitting right there, performing his own necromancy ritual. Now she understood why the doctor didn't want her to go near this car. Blake kept listening to what her uncle was doing in this ritual of his. She could feel a presence behind her. "What are you doing?"
"Found my uncle doin' some sorta ritual thing in here."
"I see."
Blake stood up straight, turned around and saw Lamia standing right behind her. She gave him a confused look. "How the hell did you get out?!" she asked. Lamia replied in a sarcastic tone, "Hello? Does 'spirit' ring a bell to you?"
"Ooh right..." she muttered slumping her shoulders.
She heard another voice—NOT Joe— speak up and say, "Your invocation amuses me-" Blake returned to the door and looked in again to see who that was. Lamia eavesdropped as well, feeling that he knew the sound of the voice. "-But it's not enough to consider your level of ignorance is at an all time low." The voice sounded British as far as they could tell. They couldn't see where the voice was coming from, though. A figure then suddenly emerged from behind Joe. From what they could make out, the figure had cheekbones, black hair going down to his shoulders and emerald green eyes. His clothing was all black with the exception of some silver lining. His trench coat was black with silver.
Lamia kept thinking he knew the demon spirit from somewhere. The two kept eavesdropping on the conversation, watching the demon circle Joe. "Ignorance is nothing that should be a part of this matter, Seth. That quality is to be forgotten and out of sight." Lamia caught his breath when Joe said the name of the demon. "What?" Blake asked quietly noting his surprise. "I know the demon..." he quickly replied. They returned to their eavesdropping.
"Don't be so hasty, Seth. Patience is all-"
"You call me hasty?!" Seth interrupted— his eyes and aura quickly becoming a blood red. "And is this- What you call PATIENT?!" he threw a Satanic cross at the door and pieces of it nearly hit Blake and Lamia. The two recoiled. "I want the girl's blood BY TOMORROW NIGHT!" Lamia and Blake exchanged glances to each other. "I assure you Blake's death will be quick and painless." Joe said. Seth hissed through his teeth, "You better not fool me and not give me the blood of a gandraíocht." "...As you wish, my lord…" and Joe stood up and left.
Lamia stepped back and took a good look at Blake. She stood there; blank was her expression. She finally figured out her fate finally: death by sacrifice.
Blake turned to Lamia slowly and didn't say a word for a few moments. She finally asked, "What're we gonna do…?" Lamia shook his head and replied softly, "I honestly don't know, Blakely…" She turned back to the peep-door; she saw those emerald green eyes staring at her through the door. Blake gasped, went straight through Lamia, and retreated back into the next car.
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…
John and Tonto arrived to the ruins of Rebecca and Dan's ranch. John looked around in horror and he thought about the Comanche raiding settlements as Red had mentioned to them last night. He examined all the destruction before finding a photo of him, his brother, and Rebecca. He hissed aloud, "Those savages…" Tonto, however, protested saying, "This was not Comanche." John turned to him and said, "How would you know?!"
Tonto was putting a feather on the dead black man's heart as a trade. "Leave him alone… I said leave him!" John approached him to take Tonto away from the man; however, Tonto swept him off his feet and pinned him to the ground, pulled out his knife, and said, "Like coyote, a Comanche leaves nothing behind. Tell me, Kemosabe. What does the white man kill for?!" John hesitated until they heard a woman scream from within the barn; they got up and investigated it.
Inside, Frank held the maid hostage while putting various dresses over her. He tried to get her to be quiet even though she had a rag in her mouth. He smirked and commented, "I love me some aquamarine…!" He heard the barn door burst open. He turned around and saw John and Tonto right at the entrance; he accidentally let the maid escape. Tonto muttered to John, "Definitely not an Indian!" noting the mock Comanche outfit, the inaccurate war paint all over his face, and the bonnet. Frank was immediately startled as he closed the umbrella he had in his hands. He stuttered, "It-It's not what it looks like! I-I jes' like 'em pretty things!" John had his gun up and said, "Danny and' Becca. Where are they?!" Frank didn't answer. "You don't tell us where they are, I'll let the Indian do what he wants to do!" That got Frank's attention. "Wha-what's he wanna do?" Tonto slowly pulled out a duck foot.
The maid screamed and later a gunshot went off. John and Tonto turned to the sounds while Frank ran out through a window. He got up as soon as Barrett came around the corner. "What's goin' on?" Barrett asked. Frank told him, "There's a lone Ranger!"
"The hell ya talkin' about?" Jesus asked. Frank continued, "He-He got some lunatic Indian wit' him! An' he gon' violate me wit' a duckfoot!" Concerned, Barrett pulled out his gun and shot a lantern hanging outside. The oil and sparks ignited the hay and started a fire. John and Tonto stomped on a few little flames to put them out.
John soon noticed an open window and the two approached it and hid from the outlaws. Tonto told John, "You go! I'll cover you." John replied confused, "Why don't I cover you?!" Tonto pulled out a knife and said, "You are a Spiritwalker! One- who cannot be killed in battle." John bought it and said, "Alright. But we're taking them alive." He approached the window, held up his badge and exclaimed, "Texas Ranger!" Jesus, Frank, and Barrett looked at each other in bewilderment. "Put your hands up right where I can see-" and the outlaws started shooting at him.
John recoiled and turned to Tonto. "It's dark!" he said through his teeth. Outside, Barrett ordered Frank to go around the back of the barn and shoot them if they came out. Once Frank left, Jesus remembered something and asked, "Wait. What's with the mask?"
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...
"-Blakely you seemed a bit troubled. Something happened?" Davison asked when he saw her on the couch thinking. She shrugged and said, "Eh... I dunno. 've been kinda thinkin' 'bout some stuff fer awhile, ya know." Davison nodded and replied, "I can fully understand that. What were you thinking about?" She glanced at him and replied back, "I guess jes'- Why I'm like this."
"Like what?"
"Like... Like a pawn of some sort. A piece in a game. Like I'm jes' used."
He shook his head and said, "Now now, Blakely. You know better." He took a spot next to her on the couch and continued, "There are things in life that are completely out of your control and there's just simply nothing you can do about them." She glanced at him. "I'm sure that whatever happened in your history, it's nothing to stress over about. It will only hold you back. Just don't over-think it." Blake nodded a little and smiled a little too. She said to herself, "I guess yer right."
Davison smiled and patted her on the back and stood up. "Now we need to get ourselves some supper. Why don't you go into the closest town you can get to and run to the butcher's?" Blake looked up and said, "Wait- But that was-"
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"-supposed to be a warning shot!?" John said in a confused tone. Tonto took it back and said, "In that case not so good..." The two approached the dead outlaws and Tonto examined them. Frank was standing behind the barrels in shock. Suddenly, he saw John and Tonto stare into the fire from the barn as if they were in a trance. He then saw some figure—it wasn't a human for all he knew—appear among the fire. The figure looked like a mix of a spider and a scorpion—and it was as big as a horse. It was in a grey sports coat with the sleeves torn out, a tie, and a grey hat. It's eyes were like the sky. That was all he could see besides the large pincers. He thought he heard the thing say, "The girl... She will die..."
And with that, Frank took off scared.
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...
The next day, Blake went outside and kept up her usual job of supervising the workers, going from Chinese and back to English seemed a bit too much for her. Once the day hit ten o'clock, she went back inside to cool off. She saw that Davison and Lamia were playing a chess game and went over to watch them. Davison thought he had Lamia caught when suddenly- "Check mate!" Lamia placed his rook right behind Davison's king. The doctor hung his head and pursed his lips. "Good game though," Lamia commented. Davison looked up and grinned and shook Lamia's hand. "Yes. Very well," he said. They then saw Blake standing by the table. "Oh! Didn't see you there, Blakely!" said Davison. Blake shrugged and said, "Kinda needed to get away from those guys-" she pointed outside with her thumb, "-fer once." Davison agreed.
He then offered Blake to play a game with him. She shrugged and said, "Pro'ly wouldn't hurt ta play a game er two." She pulled up a chair and they sorted out their pieces.
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Butch approached Rebecca and Danny. Rebecca looked up to him and said, "My husband will kill you for this." Butch smirked and said, "That'll be a trick." He knelt down and pulled the scarf that was around her neck and continued, "Last time I saw yer husband... He was drownin' in his own blood." Enraged, Rebecca slapped Butch across the face. In return, he pulled out his knife but he was interrupted. "We got company, Butch!" announced Ray. Freighter, Walliwitz, Markz and Collins were ready to shoot but they eased as they saw that it was Frank. Butch glared at Rebecca and smirked grimly at her. Frank jumped off his horse and ran straight towards Collins for a swig of whiskey. Collins saw how straight up scared he looked.
As he was drinking, Butch noticed that Jesus and Barrett didn't show up at all. "Where's Barrett an' Jesus?" he asked. Frank put the bottle down and said, "They didn' stand a chance 'gainst 'im! Killed 'em both- One bullet!" Butch irritably said, "Better start talkin' straight, Frank. Now who killed 'em?!" Frank shook his head and said, "It was a lone Ranger...!" Rebecca and Danny stood up right when Frank said that. 'Dan...?' she thought. Butch looked at Frank like he was joking and said with a smirk, "Rangers 're dead!" Frank argued, "The ghost o' Dan Reid." Butch rolled his eyes. "You-you shouldn'ta done what cha did-"
"Who did it?!"
"...Was a lone Ranger. He had some Indian wit' him. They're comin' fer ya, Butch."
It didn't take Butch too long to attack Frank and throw him down but- "WA-WAI- AN' A SPIDER WAS THERE!" Butch stopped immediately and was inches from him. He put his arms down and said, "A spider?" Frank nodded.
Butch asked, "You bein' serious or are you tryin' ta joke wit' us? I ain't takin' jokes right now...!" Frank shook his head and said, "Was as big as a horse." Butch turned his back from Frank and recollected his thoughts. Then he turned back to Frank and asked, "What did it look like?" "Wh-What?" Frank asked in bewilderment. "The spider monster, fer God's sake! What th' hell did it look like?!" he repeated. Frank tried to remember the details. "He-he was in all grey! Grey hat. Grey coat. But I-I think the thing's whole body was black and purple er somethin'." Butch turned around and walked away from Frank. He knew that description from somewhere.
"What color were its eyes?" he asked. "B-Blue. Like the sky. Why?" said Frank. Butch turned away from him and thought about what Frank said. Surely to God he knew the person. Then it clicked—Joe. He gasped to himself. "Joe..." he muttered and dropped his knife without realizing it. His mind was racing at the thought that—actually no—he KNEW something was not right. He didn't hear Ray call out his name the first time. The second time he heard another voice- Frank's- call him out. He turned to Frank and the rest of the gang with a blank stare. Butch kept thinking about what to do next; then—"We're headin' back to th' train!"
Shocked, the gang began protesting about the change of plans. "Wha-wha-what 'b-'bout th'-"
"FERGET IT, SCUZZ!" Butch continued, "That bug thing ain't up to no good." Edgar asked as Butch walked to his horse: "What about the-a woman and the boy?" Butch answered immediately, "Take 'em wit us! We'll deal wit' 'em later." Lastly, Frank asked, "Wh-what makes ya think that monster's no good?" Butch mounted on his horse, gave Frank a cold stare and said, "Jes' somethin' a man like me can know in a heartbeat…"
((PHEW! Got this chapter done! ^^ I know I didn't update this monthly like I said I would ;n;. February was kind of a busy month for me with my research paper, service project and all that crap for Senior year and whatnot XP Oh well. Got Chap. 23 AND 24 in the draft process! So stayed tune! ^^))