Chapter 2: And The Bloody Nose

"EUUUGH!" Caroline groans awake. She lifts her head and she opens her eyes but sees nothing. She must have a bag on her head. She was sitting up, in a chair. She finds her wrists constrained by rope. Her face really hurt. She can smell hay, and something else, but it is hard to tell what exactly. She could mostly only smell blood.

"Well, looks who's awake. Must've hit you harder than I thought," a voice says.

"Who's there? Where am I?" Caroline asks the voice. She was still pretty dazed. Someone pulls the bag off her head. It's nighttime. Her eyes take a moment to adjust. She sees a woman, who is it?

"Nightshot!" she says when her eyes come into focus. She lunges at her pointlessly. Nightshot rolls her eyes and grabs a chair. She drags it to a stop a few feet from Caroline and sits. Only a lantern between them lights whatever room they're in.

"Yep. It's me." She has a flask in her hand and takes a sip from it. Caroline could only stare daggers at her.

"What did you do? Where am I?" Caroline demands. Nightshot twists her face as the whiskey burns down her throat.

"Don't worry. I didn't feel you up while you out. I know how to treat a lady," Nightshot says. That gives Caroline an advantage. She has a small knife in her back pocket for situations like this. She sits up to get at it.

"I did havta take your pieces though." Nightshot nods her head to her left. Caroline can barely make out a table in that direction.

"Listen. I know about how new you are the bounty hunter business. I'll admit it's pretty badass how good you've gotten. You put away and put down a lot of guys." She takes another swig of her flask. She offers it to Caroline, who just looks at it.

"Oh, right. My bad." She puts the flask down. Caroline manages to get the knife from her pocket. Now she just has to cut her way out without Nightshot noticing.

"You think that cuz you're eager for tougher game that means that you're ready. I know the feeling," Nightshot says. Caroline keeps sawing at the rope but she was actually listening to the bandit. "But let me be the first to tell you that you're out of your depth here."

"Oh yeah? How do you figure?" Caroline asks. She needs more time to cut herself free, but she is also interested in what her captor has to say.

"The petty thieves and thugs you're used to are small fish in this pond. You're about to face a new caliber of criminals. You don't got what it takes. They're outta your league and so am I."

Caroline chuckles.

"Something funny?"

"You think you're the first bandit to tell me that you're outta my league?" she replies.

"No, but this time it's true. This is real world crime. And you're not ready." Nightshot stands up. Caroline is almost free from the rope.

"But… I'm not gonna kill you. There aren't too many of us ladyfolk out here makin' moves so I'll let you live." Nightshot picks up her flask and takes a third swig. She groans as it goes down.

Caroline finally cuts herself free. Now she needs the right opportunity.

"This ain't my barn, so come morning, whoever owns it will come in and free ya. I think farmers get up early," she puts her hat on and picks up her coat, "Maybe, one day you'll be ready for me. Until then, see ya Stretch." She starts to walk away. This is Caroline's chance!

"You know what, Nighshot? Maybe you're right," she says. That gets the bandit's attention. Nightshot turns around. "Maybe I'm not ready for you yet. But I do know one thing for sure." Caroline readies the knife in her hand.

"What's that?" Nightshot asks.

"You criminals always underestimate me!" She stands up fast and throws her knife at the bandit. Caroline can hardly see, but she hears it hit wood, so she knows she missed. She gets a swift punch to the stomach, followed by a right hook. She has to do something quick. She kicks the lantern over. The light is quickly snuffed out. It's pitch black.

"I guess you forgot they call me 'Nightshot'," The bandit says somewhere in the darkness, delivering a swift series of blows to Caroline's torso. She groans, and looks around but can't see anything. She turns again and sees a line of light.

'The door!' she thinks. She has to get outside if she wants win this fight. She runs as fast as she can. She pushes the door open, and the moonlight is near blinding compared to the dark inside the barn. She turns around, facing the barn, and raises her fists as Nightshot walks out of the darkness like a demon.

"I gotta pound that pretty face of yours again?" Nightshot jokes.

"Shut up and fight!" Caroline snaps back. Nightshot cracks her neck and rolls her shoulders.

"Gladly." She runs over to give a roundhouse kick. Caroline ducks under it, and when Nightshot spins back around, she gives her a swift uppercut. Nightshot returns the favor by giving Caroline a right hook - left hook combo. Caroline uses the momentum of the left hook to spin around and jabs Nightshot in the stomach. When Nightshot bends over to recoil, Caroline grabs handfuls of her dark hair and knees her in the face.

Nightshot takes a couple steps back; she's holding her broken nose which is bleeding profusely.

"Now, we're even!" Caroline says. Nightshot wipes away the blood on her mouth, and has a huge smile on her face.

"I love a girl who can fight!" Nightshot runs towards her again. Just like that, they went back to brawling. They were fighting by moonlight for a while, exchanging blows and exhausting themselves. Eventually, they break apart and just stare at each other, trying to catch their breath before the other would attack again. Caroline starts going over the advantages and disadvantages she and Nightshot have.

Caroline has been knocked out, and might have a concussion from it. Along with her broken nose, Nightshot had elbowed her earlier and possibly fractured a rib. She's hurting all over.

Nightshot has been drinking, which may have slowed her down a bit, but it also made her more tolerant of pain. She likewise has a broken nose and Caroline had kicked her hard in the knee during one of their struggles.

Caroline might be faster, but Nightshot certainly has more experience fighting, and is tougher. She also has her gun in her holster. Caroline wants to think that it isn't loaded, otherwise she'd have used it already. But maybe she just wants to fight. The odds aren't looking like they're in her favor.

"Where'd a fancy girl like you, learn ta fight like this?" Nightshot says between breaths. Caroline wipes some blood from her lip.

"Ya either learn to in this business, or ya die," she simply answers.

"Well, you're pretty good. Been 'while since I've been in a fight. Most of the time a gun ends it all." Nightshot spits out some blood.

"Ya don't say?" Caroline quips back. They just look at each other, panting. Waiting for the other to make a move.

It's Caroline who moves to strike first. She goes to punch her in the face, but Nightshot sidesteps. As her punch goes nowhere, Nightshot clotheslines her torso, slamming her to the ground. She gets on top of Caroline and starts to punch her relentlessly. Caroline tries her best to block the punches, but more and more get through. Caroline has just one trick up her sleeve. Between Nightshot's punches she sticks two fingers in her mouth and whistles as loud as possible.

Nightshot covers her ears at the sharp sound. "What the hell?!" she exclaims. Caroline throws dirt in her face and pushes her off. She has to keep Nightshot busy for a few minutes. She doesn't have much other choice.

Now, she's on top of Nightshot, returning the beating she just received. Nightshot can't really see with the dirt in her eyes, allowing Caroline to dish out some hard blows to her face. She gets into a groove with her punches.

She hesitates for a moment, wondering if she's going overboard. Her fists are very bloody, and they ache.

'There's no way she can still fight, right?' she contemplates. Nightshot's face is a bloody mess, and she's barely moving as it is. She halts her assault. She whistles loudly again. A second later, Nightshot springs into action. She grabs the ends of Caroline's hair, pulls it hard, and crashes her forehead into Caroline's nose. The bounty hunter jumps up and yells out in pain.

She grabs her nose to stop the blood running. The bandit, still on the ground, kicks Caroline in the stomach. While she's doubling over, Caroline doesn't see Nightshot stand up. She reacts too late as the bandit grabs the back of her head and knees her in the face, paying her back for earlier.

Before she can do anything, Nightshot grabs ahold of her collar. She punches Caroline in the face repeatedly.

"YOU! CAN'T! HESISTATE! IN! A! FIGHT!" she grunts between her punches. She lets go of her collar and Caroline falls down again. Nightshot rubs her knuckles. Caroline can now barely see, her eye is puffing up and the other has blood from her nose covering it.

"You let your goody-goody heart get in the way. You can't stop until you know the other guy ain't getting' up." Nightshot explains. Caroline props herself on her elbows. Nightshot smiles at her tenacity.

"Like I said, you ain't got the grit to go toe-to-toe with me. Now stay down, and I won't kill ya." Nightshot says, starting to saunter off. Caroline makes herself stand.

"I ain't through with you yet." She can't even steady her fists as she raises them. Nightshot just looks at her. She's inspecting the bounty hunter's resolve: it's holding fast as the bandit scans her up and down. She lets out a sigh out and slowly walks back to her foe.

"Do I really havta knock ya ass out aga-." Caroline interrupts her again with another loud whistle.

"That shit is really annoying, so I am definitely gonna knock you out."

Caroline isn't sure just how long she can stop that from happening. But she was sure she wouldn't have to wait too long. Nightshot starts swinging at Caroline. It's all the bounty hunter can do to dodge the blows. Nightshot is sluggish, her injuries are taking their toll. But Caroline can still see the power in her swings, if any of them hit her, she'll be out like a light.

"What's the matter? Lost your nerve?" Nightshot taunts as she still swings at Caroline, successful in hitting only air. Caroline can hear a CLIP CLOP in the distance. It's familiar and exactly what she's been waiting for. She only has to distract Nightshot a bit longer. She claps her hands on the bandit's ears. The rogue retaliates by slapping Caroline down.

"Now you've gone and pissed me off. I was gonna let you walk off free, but now I'm gonna put a bullet in ya." She takes out her gun, cocks it, and aims at Caroline's knee. Caroline flinches as the bandit pulls the trigger. CLICK!

"Oh shit, forgot to load it." The CLIP CLOP gets closer, Nightshot even notices it over her ringing ears.

"What the hell is that?" She turns to face the noise to see a dark brown horse racing towards them both. Caroline gets up quick, and snatches the gun from Nightshot. Before the bandit can react, Caroline bashes the pistol into the side of her head, and she falls unconscious. Chestnut trots over to his owner as she takes a second to just sit and rest.

She ties up Nightshot, and lifts her up on her horse. She walks to the barn to retrieve her guns when she sees something she shouldn't be seeing: there's bright light coming from inside. She flings the door open to see a raging fire inside.

The lantern she had knocked over earlier had started a fire. The small ember from it was dying out when Caroline knocked it over, but when they swung the door open, it helped it ignite a bale of hay. The horses that were asleep were freaking out, bucking and neighing wildly. She doesn't have much time. She runs to retrieve her guns from the table, then she goes to work releasing the horses from the stables. A wooden beam falls down and almost crushes her. Her adrenaline is working overtime as she stands back up and frees more horses.

As each was free, it runs out, some almost knocking Caroline over. The heat in the barn was rising and Caroline isn't sure how much longer she can last in there. She frees the last horse and rushes to get out. But the horse practically runs her down; she falls and sprains her wrist. She struggles to get up, and another beam falls down, pinning her.

With her exhaustion and injuries, there's no way she can get out without anything short of a miracle. More beams fall, crashing around her.

"HELP! SOMEONE HELP ME!" she yells out before coughing after breathing in smoke. She's about to black out, when she sees someone braving the inferno. She can't make out who it was before she passes out.

The stranger kicks the beam off her and starts dragging her. They leave the blazing barn just as it collapses. Caroline is left on the ground, the sounds of the fire not enough to snap her awake. She lays there while the owners of the barn come rushing to her.

The End