The flame of a candle slightly waned as the wind slipped through the window of the small, quiet room. It was night time, the moon was up high, and the stars that she loved to watch were twinkling beautifully in the skies.. but she did not notice them at all.

Lying peacefully asleep in the room, her body leaned against the edge of her firm, mahogany desk, and her head rested over her arm. Before her on the desk, glowed the small candle. Positioned just outside her fingertips stood a photo.. of her, her parents, and her cousin.

In the photo, she was a young girl, smiling happily and innocently, her parents behind her with their hands on her shoulders, and beside her, her cousin. She was an only child, with an adorable and delicate face and beautiful lockets of blond hair.

Now she was older. No longer the innocent child nor the girl her parents wanted her to become. A Marshal of Sanford…

The town was renowned for the massive evacuation that took place many weeks ago, when a man named Cliff Schezar had secretly monopolized all the water beneath the town's surface. It resulted in suffering. The people were dehydrated of water. The crops and vegetation had spoiled and died. And nothing on the land could grow. It was only when a tall, blond haired man in red came by to act as Cliff's bodyguard did the truth unfold, and the land became prosperous again…

She woke up somewhat startled.

Slowly, she pulled herself upright on her chair and rubbed her eyes. How long have I been sleeping for?

Her question was answered when she noticed how much shorter the wick on her candle had become. Already, the candle was less than a third as tall as it was before she had dozed off. She leaned forward onto the table and rubbed her arms. It was getting cold.

Her usual on-duty uniform had long sleeves, a neck-warming collar and pants, both coloured dark red. It was nearby on a clothes hanger.

She must have forgotten to put them on. At the moment, she was wearing a thin, white blouse, and teal coloured shorts. It had been hot in the afternoon.

She was about to back away from her table and change but her eyes caught hold of the photo frame that appeared out of place on her table. How did this get there?

As she held it and put it back in its original position, she stopped to notice the faces in the photo. Her mum and dad were smiling, not as much as she was, but enough to make it happy. It was illogical of course, so many things had happened since they had taken that photo. For one thing, dad has a lot more wrinkles now. She wondered what he was doing now. She had left home so long ago.

Still, there was one thing she had almost forgotten. The boy in the photo stared back at her, not smiling. It was her cousin. Her only cousin, and the only company she had in her youth. He was like an older brother to her…

Tears began to form in her eyes, and she was blinking hard, trying to hold them at bay…

But then she heard gunshots being fired away in the distance, followed by faint screams. Quickly, on reflex, she pulled out her drawer and picked up her gun, a Browning Automatic. .38 Calibre. Hurriedly tip-toeing towards the window, she held both hands on her gun, readying herself for any surprises. She peered out the window, just as more shots were fired.

There were rows of trucks and cars. Endless, countless rows of them.

Criminals of all sorts were packing their vehicles with ammunition, small arm pistols, grenades and explosives. They screamed warlike cries and zoomed off into the distance, guns blaring.

'What on earth..?' she whispered.

It did not make any sense - why would at least twenty armed men just leave a town and head off in one direction. A war?

She decided to get a closer look. At least try to get some answers from any local witnesses.

She opened the door, and closed it behind her, turning to look for anyone she could speak to. Under the dim lighting of the moonlight and the stars, she tried spotting movement along the dark streets and alleyways. It was very cold, and she was beginning to regret not changing before she walked out.

Icy gusts of wind hit her from behind. The further she walked down the streets, the more goosebumps were appearing on her bare arms and legs.

Her own footsteps were all that she heard other than the wind. She noticed that the houses along the streets all had their lights on inside, but as soon as she passed… they slowly dimmed out.

Was it because of her? It almost felt as if she was being watched. As if the whole town was damned…

She shook the idea out of her head.

And then she spotted someone.

The blurred outline of a man wearing some sort of hat focused into view once she came closer, her hands now holding the gun in front of her. She heard a hammer in motion. The man was wearing a cowboy hat was holding a hammer and driving it into a wall.. or perhaps…

Breaking into a someone's house..!

She hurried towards him, cocking her gun as she went. She was still a distance away, when it sounded as if the burglar had finally broken down the door for good - then she launched herself into the clearance.

'Freeze.' Her gun levelled at the man's head.

Slowly, the man dropped the hammer, and numerous nails onto the ground.. Then turned around, with a frown.

'Marianne! What are you doing here.. Dressed like that…?'

The man suddenly paused and wide-eyed her from top to bottom, without any haste.

She had made a big mistake. A very big mistake. Who she had thought was a malevolent offender of the law, turned out to be her own law enforcement partner. Another Marshal in town.

He was older than her, and had closely cropped brown hair. Usually there was only one Marshal in town, but because of the crime rate in Sanford, there were two. Only for some reason, he had not helped her in her attempt to restore the water back to the land. He was on his side of town, and she was on her side… but he had never seen her dressed like this.

The young woman whose name was Marianne blushed red, even though it was impossible for the man to notice in the dark.

'Just.. having a night stroll..' She lowered her gun subtly but rather sheepishly. 'So.. um, what were you doing back here anyway.. John?'

Gradually, her partner removed his eyes away from her, and glanced at the wall.

'Oh, it's just a new poster I'm adding to the collection.' He gave a soft chuckle and tapped his fingers against the wall. 'Frankly, I don't even know who in the world would want to set up another wanted poster, especially since the first one had failed beyond belief.'

Her mind was still a little behind, her thoughts even now set on the very embarrassing moment earlier. 'Oh..' was all she said.

'Anyway, I'm off to hit the sack now,' continued her partner, John. 'In case you're wondering, there won't be much action around here any more so its best to get prepared. It might even be a good time to take a short vacation actually. Night.'

'Night,' replied Marianne.

She waited until John had disappeared into the night before she walked over to inspect what he had hammered up. The words on top, even in black, stood out clearly from any good distance. Her eyes lowered to the middle of the poster, where she found that she could no longer grasp the meaning of the words. She let out a faint but startled cry.

All she could do was stare at the words.