Author's Note: Only 4 more reviews to go before the contest for this story! Keep going, people! We believe in you!

We hope you enjoy this next chapter!

If you like this, let us know! If you don't, let us know anyway!

Disclaimer: Nope. We still don't own anything. Alas.

!%*&_#$%+#_%)($*&^%_(#$+&)(%*(_#*&&_#)!#$%}#|{:?"!#:$!#*%!)

Chapter 6: Desperate Times

Tvrtko ran at a steady pace, easily gaining on the female. As long as there were no distractions, he would catch up to her before long. A rustling noise from above and behind him had him whipping about, burner blasting a neat hole through the Kainde Amedha that had attempted to attack him.

With practiced ease he knelt down, pried the jaw open, and removed one of the teeth. Stringing it from his waist, he failed to notice the second beast lurking in the trees. It, too, lunged for him, screaming, and he started, firing his burner once more.

The blast hit and the Kainde Amedha stilled just in front of him. Making a triumphant noise, he readied himself to take another trophy. He heard an ominous creak above him and began to dive away. He managed to avoid the thickest portion of the tree, but his leg was caught underneath a thick branch.

He heard the bone crack and tried not howl. Only the weak let themselves give voice to their pain. He forced the branch off of him, sitting up, and came face to face with yet another Kainde Amedha. Cursing, he tried to pull himself away as the Kainde Amedha lunged.

Tvrtko yelped as the monster shot forward, biting at his cod piece. The metal held, keeping the Kainde Amedha from getting a bite of something sensitive, but he was jarred about, causing some rather unpleasant feelings below the belt.

Scuttling backwards, dragging his bad leg, Tvrtko roared as the monster lunged again, tearing into his thigh. Finally releasing his blades, Tvrtko kicked at the Kainde Amedha, knocking it away from him, before stabbing it through the smaller mouth, twisting and ripping out the offending appendage.

The beast fell, bleeding out. Tvrtko stood, wobbling a little on his wounded leg. He guessed a fracture. It would heal soon enough, if he could find a safe place to get out his med pac.

He prepared to head out, when more screams rang through the night. He cursed and readied himself. The Kainde Amedha were getting closer. There was no way he would have time to heal.

Scowling, he pulled his spear out, releasing it into its full length. The first of many Kainde Amedha tore from the trees and he drove the spear into its chest, tossing it up and over his head.

More came, a dozen at least. Gripping his spear tighter, he winced as pain tore up his leg. This would not be an enjoyable battle.

!%*(!^$+_!%#(%*Y^$_%+#_%(#_(%^!&$^_!$)+_#*^!$&^!$#(%!+#$_!&(^

She had heard the sounds of battle. She hadn't wanted to get closer, but what if it was some humans? She could help them. Maybe. Evie inched closer to the battle ground, gun up, terrified. She finally came around the last tree and was struck at the sight.

There was the black alien guy, passed out on the ground. But, he was surrounded by the bodies of no less than fifteen Xenomorphs. Evie paled. Until then, she hadn't fully realized how powerful these new aliens were.

She walked carefully through the bodies, leery of the acidic blood flowing freely. Standing above the wounded, but still alive, alien, she stared further. He was covered in bloody wounds, from his legs to his shoulders. He was in bad shape, especially one of his legs. It was swollen to a great degree and a strange color.

Evie was struck with a conundrum. This new alien was incapacitated, helpless. The blood from the Xeno was oozing ever closer. She could save him with relative ease. But, on the other hand, he'd killed Small Time and had almost killed her before. Why bother?

She looked at the masked face and could hear the labored breathing. Its leg didn't look so good. She could just put it out of its misery. Then she'd help it AND her. But, she couldn't bring herself to aim her rifle at it. It was just too human looking.

Sighing, she slung her rifle over her shoulder, reaching down to grab the alien's arm. She began dragging him away, wishing she was strong enough to lift him fully. The bumpy road couldn't be helping his leg and could be infecting the other injuries he had. But, she wasn't that strong, so he would just have to deal.

After what seemed like hours, she made it back to where she'd run off to. It was a small house, only one story with a few rooms. She'd made a good stand there and the Xenomorphs she hadn't killed had run off in search of easier prey. She was thankful for that.

Evie hauled the body of the alien over the threshold, towards the small bedroom on her left. Panting from her efforts and sweating profusely, she glared at her final obstacle. There was no way she was going to be able to lift him into the bed.

Giving up, she carefully laid him on the carpeted floor before grabbing some pillows to put under his head. She surveyed the injuries he'd taken and sighed again. It was going to take her awhile to fix him up.

Eyeing the damaged codpiece, she busied herself with the first aid kit she'd managed to find. "I am NOT going there. A girl has her limits. I've found mine."

Working quickly, she sanitized and bandaged what she could, before looking at the leg. It was swollen, but there didn't seem to be any bone sticking out of the black skin. Gently testing the area, she decided to splint it, just in case.

Finishing her work, she yawned. The sun had gone down some time ago and she needed to rest. Standing, she pulled the thick comforter off the bed and draped it over her patient. His feet stuck out, so she fetched a few more blankets from the closet, ensuring he was well covered.

Leaving one blanket and pillow for herself, she clambered into the bed. Checking that her gun was loaded and at her side, she blew out the candles that had been her only light and fell asleep almost instantly, still worrying about where Marie was.

!_%&+#$%!(#$^&#$%^!&$*)(%!)#%!(*$)^!&($%#+%)(%*^(!$&+_%$

Marie was, without a doubt, completely and hopelessly lost. "Damn the fact that I have no sense of direction!"

She simply kept pressing on, getting more and more stressed the longer she went without Evie's company. The sky kept darkening, heralding the oncoming night. Whimpering, Marie clutched her gun tighter, the only comfort she had as the shadows grew longer. Sniffling, she tried to keep from crying. "Evie… Come back… I'm scared of the dark! I don't want to be alone! Come back and tell me that I'm a big wuss and that everything is fine."

Continuing to talk to herself, Marie came into a clearing. There in front of her was the same large, red alien that had attacked her in the woods a week or so ago. Freezing, her mind went blank as it turned and began walking towards her.

It stood in front of her before reaching down and grabbing onto one of her pigtails. It leaned in close, clearly curious about it, before giving it a good tug. Marie's already unstable mind gave up and took the final step off the deep end.

Mind blanking of all her worries and fears, Marie smiled a simple, happy, child like smile. Leaning forward, she grabbed at one of the loose strands of the alien's hair and tugged it as well. The thing started, rearing up and she laughed. "What? I'm just returning the favor! I've never seen such spiffy dread locks! You know, you remind me a lot of this one kid I knew a long time ago. HE had epic dread locks, too! But you don't have beads in your hair. You have rings!"

The alien quirked its head at her, puzzled. Marie looked about. "So, where's the other one? Isn't he your friend? Did you lose him too? I lost MY friend. Do you want to help me find her? Maybe we can find your friend, too!"

Marie gazed up at the alien expectantly. He watched her, then nodded slowly, hitting a few buttons on his wrist and Marie's voice came crackling back to her. "My friend."

"Of course we're friends now! We are partners, out to find our lost buddies! But, I can't just call you alien dude…. There are too many aliens running around for that to work. I should name you. Or do you have a name?"

The red being nodded and a strange noise came from him. Marie frowned. "Doemagoatai?"

He shook his head, repeating the noise. Marie tried again. "Doumagotee?"

The being sighed, repeating it once more. Marie sighed as well. "We can work on this later. In the meantime, I'm just going to call you Martello, cus you have a hammer! I'll practice your name once we find our buddies. Oh, by the way, I'm Marie!"

Martello quirked his head. "Mah're?"

Marie shook her head. "That's close, but not quite. Listen. MAH-RI. Get it?"

Martello tried again. "Mah'rai?"

Marie rolled her eyes. "You know what? We can get down the details later. You can give me a nickname. So let's get a move on."

Marie strode off with Martello close behind. She heard him say something a few times. She just kept on, until a large hand grabbed the back of her shirt, hauling her back. She looked up into his mask, confused. "What is it, Martello? I'm trying to find our buddies! I'm sure if we wander around long enough we'll find them!"

Martello shook his head, pointing in the other direction, saying some different words than what he'd called out to her. Quirking her head, Marie looked deeply confused. "Teeverko? What's that?"

Martello's shoulders shook and Marie took it to mean he was laughing. She frowned. "Don't laugh at me! Learning a new language is hard! Especially when it doesn't even come from THIS planet! I had enough trouble with German."

Martello repeated the noise a few times, gesturing with his hand. Realization dawned on Marie's face. "Oh! Teeverko is your buddy! Is he that way? We'll go get him, then!"

Marie began striding off in the direction Martello had indicated, until he grabbed the back of her shirt once more. Marie frowned. "What is it NOW, Martello? I told you, we don't have time to practice semantics!"

He shook his head, then set her behind him, before walking off. Marie blinked, before skipping after him. "Okay! You can lead! I never know where I'm going anyway. At least now we can be lost together!"

#!$+$)(*^!&_$%*)(#$_^!+_#%*&(#$%*^)!(((($&+!_%&($^()#+_!(#&$)!%(#$^!_$

Sun came through the boards over the bedroom windows, waking Evie from her unusually peaceful slumber. She yawned, stretching, before sitting up to check on her patient. Looking down at the floor, she blinked.

Where a body had once been, there were only a few bandages left, tangled among the blankets. Cursing, she stood, looking around the small room. "Where did he go? I go through all that trouble and THIS is the thanks I get?"

Making sure she had all her things, she left the room, bringing a few blankets with her. They could be useful for trade or on a cold night. She hunted through the house, salvaging what she could, then left with another bag slung on her shoulder.

She strode along, annoyed. "I didn't HAVE to help him. No sirree. Could have let him get eaten! Or melted! Or whatever it is that would have happened! But nooo…."

She went through the woods at a pretty decent pace, heading towards where she thought Goners was. "If I can make it back there, I can wait pretty much anything out until Marie gets there. Then we can go and get to Marv's FINALLY."

Unfortunately, Life did not want to make Evie's day any easier. She came into a clearing, still muttering angrily to herself, and her head jerked up at a familiar voice.

"Well! I didn't think I'd catch sight of YOU again! Where's the other crazy bitch?"

Evie winced at the rough voice resounding through the clearing. She smiled, edging back towards the woods. "Well, Dingo. I didn't expect to see you again either. I was hoping to find your partially devoured corpse instead, but alas. We can't all get what we want."

Dingo was lounging against a fallen tree trunk, arm and shoulder bandaged thoroughly. He was grinning that same infuriatingly condescending grin he always did. This time, though, he was flanked by two rather burly men. Evie's eyebrow quirked. "Your new harem?"

The man's grin changed into a snarl and he stood, albeit slowly. "Don't say stupid shit like that, you bitch! They're the first of my new gang. I was getting one started just to hunt down you and that other crazy woman. She needs some taming and I'm certain some time with us good men could help that."

Evie snorted, trying not to laugh. "I don't think much of anything can calm her down, unless she wants to be calmed. A pansy bitch like you wouldn't be able to handle her for five minutes. Besides, didn't she have you on your knees, cowering in fear? I seem to recall that."

The big men looked at Dingo, clearly torn between laughter and silence. Dingo snarled, infuriated. "She's lying! Capture that bitch! I'll teach her to tell lies!"

The big men nodded, finally getting orders they could understand. Charging the slim woman, they held out their hands. Evie started, dodging away nimbly. She kept just out of reach, taunting them. Sadly, her luck ran out.

Evie came face to face with a gun, held by Dingo. Evie groaned in annoyance. "I was hoping you would be a little slower. Damn."

Dingo just grinned. "Ha! Well, you thought wrong, bitch. Now, just set all your things on the ground and come this way."

Evie sighed, complying. Both the packs she had, her guns, even the one or two knives that Marie insisted she carry with her. She took a step towards Dingo, wary.

He just kept grinning. "Come on, closer. I just want to check and make sure you don't have anything hidden on ya."

This stopped Evie in her tracks, a look of mixed disgust and skepticism on her face. "Seriously? That's the best line you could come up with? Like I haven't heard THAT one before. What do you think this is, a bad porn movie? Lines like that don't really work, you know."

Dingo's self assured grin faded into a frown. "Shut up! Just get over here!"

Evie didn't budge. "Like I want to get any closer to you, creeper. I know EXACTLY where you want to 'check' me and the answer is NO."

Dingo moved forward and before Evie could get away, he grabbed a good handful of her hair, pulling her towards him. "I don't really care what you say, you mouthy bitch! You just don't know when to shut up, do you? Why don't I give your mouth something more useful to do?"

Evie made a face. "If I were you, I'd be worrying about it getting lost in my 'big mouth'. You need to be careful with small things, you know."

The lunkheads serving Dingo couldn't stop themselves this time and began chuckling. This only infuriated Dingo even further. Twisting the hair in his grasp, he pulled hard, dragging her towards the campsite.

Evie yelped as she was tugged along, trying to free herself. She glared at the chuckling twosome behind her. "Yeah, keep it up! I bet you two aren't any better in that department!"

The two stopped, gaping, before spitting curses at her, trying to defend their slighted honor. Evie smiled, satisfied to have caused them personal turmoil, before she was thrown to the ground.

Dingo stood above her, gun still aimed at her head. He smiled nastily at her. "Now then, why don't we get to know each other better?"

Evie rolled her eyes. "Do you have ANY idea how cliché that is? Can't you even PRETEND to be original?"

Dingo slapped her and she winced, having accidentally bitten her tongue. Dingo looked ready to go through with his plan, when the scene was interrupted by a manly scream of pain.

Evie and Dingo glanced across the clearing, trying to locate the source of the ruckus. One of the two men had a recently born Xeno on his head, and was screaming and flailing as the infant merrily clawed away at his face and eyes, screeching. The man's companion looked at the beast askance, wanting to help, but unwilling to risk having the baby on HIS head.

Dingo snarled in irritation, stomping over to deal with the problem. Evie used their distraction to carefully edge forward, closer to her things, hoping to avoid detection. She reached her things, gently picking up her weapons and packs, before getting into a low crouch and moving away. "Finally, the Xenos are useful for once."

As she hit the tree line, Dingo turned to check on her. Finding Evie almost to the woods, he screamed in rage, bringing up his gun. Evie yelped, diving into the foliage, scrambling away as more Xeno screams filled the air. She heard Dingo cursing up a storm, but he didn't follow.

She kept running, pounding the dirt, hearing the screams getting closer. Checking her ammo, she winced at how low she was. "Being low on ammo and surrounded by Xenos is NEVER good…"

She slowed, watching the trees carefully. Suddenly, an arm wrapped around her neck and she was dragged into a decently sized cave, previously hidden by foliage. Evie tried to scream, but the arm around her neck tightened, clearly warning her to keep quiet.

She couldn't look up, but she noted the size and color of the arm holding her in place. It was the alien she had bandaged up the night before! He was holding her close to his side, blades released on his other hand. He was looking out of the opening, she guessed he was making sure that no Xenos found them.

As the screams rang about their hiding spot, his arm loosened, but kept her close. She desperately wanted to yell or hit him or run, something! But she stopped herself. He wasn't trying to hurt her. So, she stayed silent.

#_$*^!#$(^)&!$#_!#)%*!$*^!(#_$*(+!#%*!$(!#%$+#)%*^!$)(^!+#$_*)%^+!$_(

Marie sat crossed legged on the ground, deeply involved in a game of Tic-Tac-Toe with herself. As she set another rock down, she heard voices coming closer. Looking up, she quirked her head. It was two men, that she could tell. She perked up, smiling. "Maybe Jedi and Sketchers have caught up! I missed them! They can meet my new friend!"

She suddenly frowned. "But, wait… They may not LIKE Martello. It was him or his buddy that killed Small Time. That could make for awkward times. This must be handled delicately…"

As she thought to herself about the best way to make introductions, a few rocks fell on her head. Yelping, she rubbed her head, glaring up the rock outcropping she was sitting next to. "You COULD be a little more careful, Martello! I am a delicate and fragile flower!"

As she went back to her game of Tic-Tac-Toe, the voices got closer. Scowling at the Cat's Game she found herself faced with, she knocked the rocks away with a quick bat of her hand and started again. Before she could get any further into her sport, the men reached her.

"God DAMN! I didn't think we would EVER get away from those Xeno bastards!"

Marie looked up, quirking her head. Crawling, she peered about the side of the rock formation. There she spotted Dingo and another man, who had his face covered in scratches and was missing an eye. Marie frowned. Her mother would not have approved of such eye damage.

Hiding behind the structure again, Marie contemplated what to do. Martello was searching the area from the top of the rock for their lost comrades and the way back to Goners. She was low on ammo and didn't feel like wasting good armor piercing rounds on a waste of space like Hoboface.

She giggled to herself. "I rhymed! Yay!"

Unfortunately, her glee at her poetic accomplishment revealed her location to the two men. They charged around the corner while she still sat in front of her game.

Dingo scowled at her. "I can't tell if this is my lucky day or if the world just wants to fuck with me more."

Marie smiled. "Just assume the world hates you. It doesn't like ugly people! But don't worry, I'm sure that isn't your fault."

Dingo snarled. "I've had ENOUGH of you bitches insulting me! Rick! Get her!"

Rick stumbled forward, off balance from pain and the loss of his eye. The bandages around his eye socket and head made things even more difficult. Marie bounced up, skipping away, easily keeping out of reach. "Catch me if you can, Patches!"

Dingo watched the woman whip around the side of the structure and he turned around. "Is it just me, or has she turned into an even crazier crazy person? Where's the psycho bitch? She's more like a hyper third grader."

Before he could think any further on this, Marie came charging around the structure again, almost running into him. She stopped, gaped, then crossed her arms, pouting. "You CHEATED! You're supposed to chase, too!"

Dingo just looked at her, confused. Shrugging off his thoughts, he aimed his gun at her. "No more games, bitch. I've got a score to settle with you."

Marie gaped at him, shocked. "What a rude thing to call a lady! I am deeply offended. Away with you, uncouth villain!"

Dingo just got more confused. He squinted at her, trying to figure out if she had suffered a head wound. He shrugged again. "Deal with it, psycho."

Before anything else could be said or done, a large shape came hurtling down from above. Martello landed with a thud, shaking everything and everyone around just a little bit. He stood, towering right behind Marie.

Dingo's man, Rick, gaped up at the red being. Whimpering, he gave Martello a wide berth, running to hide behind Dingo. Staring, Rick whispered to Dingo. "Boss… What IS that thing?"

Marie turned, smiling up at the masked figure. "Martello! You have returned at a most opportune moment! That man has offended my honor. Be my champion and go forth to maim and terrorize him!"

Rick whimpered, cowering further. When he looked again, the beast was just staring down at the woman, unmoved. Marie smiled brightly. "Or, if you were feeling a tad bit tired, you could always give ME the hammer and I could go forth to maim and terrorize! I'm not picky."

Martello quirked his head, chirruping. Marie went forward, reaching up towards where the hammer was slung on his shoulder. Jumping up and down, she tried desperately to reach it. "Gimme! Gimme the hammer! I wanna break stuff!"

Martello leaned down and Marie squealed with glee. "Hammer! Yes! Good, Martello!"

Unfortunately, giving Marie his hammer was NOT what he had intended. He wrapped an arm around her waist, easily hauling her up under his arm, tucked against his side. Marie flailed. "No, Martello, no! Bad, Squire! No biscuit or knighthood for YOU! Let me down, you addle-pated fool! I am NOT a football!"

Martello turned to stride off into the woods and Dingo chuckled nervously. "Well, at least someone can put that crazy bitch in her place!"

Marie did her best to turn around and began spitting out insults as fast as she could think of them. "Thou impertinent common-kissing clotpole! Thou gleeking shard-borne boar-pig! Thou mammering whoreson barnacle!"

The strange beast and the woman disappeared into the trees, Marie still shrieking insults. Dingo yelled after her. "What the hell does that shit even mean, you crazy ass whore?"

Rick stood by, deeply disturbed by the events of the day. He looked at Dingo, worried. "We're not going after them, are we?"

Dingo panted, shouldering his gun. "No… Not yet."

!+#%(!&$+%_(!$)^!*&+(#_%!#$)($+#+_!*^+(_#%)!*^)#+$_!#$^)!#%+_(#%*!

Evie followed closely behind the alien that she had saved, and then been saved by. They had stayed in the cave for some time, waiting until the Xenos had moved on before leaving. Now they were on the move and she wasn't sure where to.

She had tried talking to him already, but it did little good. He simply ignored her or made angry noises at her. So, they walked on in silence.

When Evie was about ready to collapse from exhaustion, the tree line broke. There in front of them was Goners. Evie smiled, looking over at the black alien. He'd been leading her back to this place the whole time.

They stood next to it and Evie remembered that Marie had the keys. Sighing, she leaned against the van, looking out into the darkening woods. The black alien stood next to her, arms crossed. She wondered why he hadn't left yet. Surely he had better things to do.

She had been on the verge of trying communication once more when a comfortingly familiar voice was heard shrieking through the trees.

"Thou craven boil-brained malt-worm!"

Evie smiled, standing and peering into the shadows. There was Marie, slung under the other beast's arm, flailing and insulting away, seeming quite happy despite her foul language. Marie had been on the verge of saying something else, when she spotted Evie and Goners.

Smiling, Marie waved wildly. "HI EVIE! Did you miss me? I missed YOU!"

Evie quirked her head. Marie was… different. She couldn't put her finger on what, though. It wasn't a bad change, she didn't think. Just… different. Evie grinned wider. "Yeah, I missed you, you goof. What trouble have you gotten into now? And who is THAT?"

The red alien set Marie down and she charged forward, latching onto Evie, snuggling her friend. "THAT is my newest friend and ex-squire, Martello! I named him that cus every time I try and say his real name, he laughs at me or gets annoyed. I told him we could work on semantics later, after I found you again!"

Marie stepped back, holding one of Evie's hands. They watched the two aliens greet each other with a punch to the shoulder and Martello attempted to hug the smaller alien. The black one was clearly scandalized by this and jumped back, chittering angrily.

Marie smiled. "That must be Teeverko! Martello was looking for him, like I was looking for you!"

'Teeverko' stopped what he had been saying, turning to glare at Marie. The girl stopped, eyes widening, sniffling. "Did I say it wrong?"

Martello seemed to laugh, then repeated the proper pronunciation of the black one's name. Evie blinked. "Tuhvertko?"

Martello nodded, clapping Evie on the shoulder, then spoke again, pointing at himself. She blinked, trying to regain her balance from the shoulder clap. "Dohmagotay?"

Martello nodded enthusiastically, before turning back and speaking in excited tones to his friend. Marie pouted, snuffling. "I'm just gonna keep calling him Martello… And Teeverko can be Ninja, cus he looks like one. So THERE!"

Evie nodded, patting Marie on the head. "Martello and Ninja are much easier to say, anyway."

Evie gently nudged Marie towards the van. "Go get Goners started up, sweetheart. We have to hurry if we're going to get to Marv's soon."

Marie got in, mumbling to herself. Evie turned away, looking at Martello and Ninja. Frowning, she held up her hand as they moved towards her. "Hold it! We're very grateful, but you two should be on your way."

The two didn't move, just looked at her. She frowned, then made shooing motions with her hands. "Go! Shoo! Away with ye!"

Again, they stayed put. She sighed, shaking her head. Then, Martello hit a few buttons and Marie's voice rang out. "Friend!"

Evie glowered, then turned her glare onto Marie. Marie hunched down, staring through the window. "But, he HELPED me! We're FRIENDS now!"

Martello hit his wrist again, repeating Marie. "We're FRIENDS now!"

Evie turned, walking to her seat. "No, we are not! We were temporary allies. Now, go away!"

As the two drove off, Marie leaned out the window, waving at them. "Bye! I liked you! Bye bye!"

Martello's shoulders slumped and he looked at Ninja. Ninja shrugged, then set off at a light jog to follow the dwindling van. Martello perked up and jogged after.

!%&)(!+#_!($#^&!+_#!($^!+_(#$)_$#+!_(^!$&+_%)(!+#$_^(+#$^(!&+#$_%(!#$+%^)

The van moved along and Marie pouted, trying not to sniffle. Evie sighed. "Marie. I'm sorry, but it's not healthy to be friends with aliens. Especially ones that can't choose whether to kill us or help us."

Marie just sniffled more. "I MISS my friend… He had a hammer."

Evie sighed, rubbing her head. This new Marie seemed much crazier than the old one, but in a happy way. She wasn't sure if she liked it or not. On the one hand, it was much less likely that Marie would stab her at any given moment. On the other hand, their collective chance of survival just plummeted. "Oh, Marie. Why can't you go back to being fun AND sane?"

Marie didn't hear Evie's statement, too focused on a far off dust cloud. Marie smiled her old, very feral, smile. "Eeevie! You know what?"

Evie looked warily at that grin. "What?"

"We never got payment for our last job."

"No. We didn't. So?"

Marie pointed at the dust cloud. "So… We should go collect our payment!"

"How? The caravans are long gone and winter is getting way too close for comfort. We should have been to Marv's a few days ago already."

"We don't need to find ALL of them! Just a few. Besides, they OWE us."

Evie nodded. "Yeah… Marie, are you suggesting we go mug the caravans that ditched us?"

Marie smiled, much more sweetly. "Yep! But don't make it sound so bad. Think of it as us playing a game of Robin Hood for a few days! Okay?"

Evie looked at Marie, rolling her eyes. "Robin Hood. Right."

!)(#$%&!+_#$!&(%)!#_(%^!*$^!+#%$+!#)!*)^%!+_+_#)%^*$_^!*#+$%^_)!$%*^!

If any of you were wondering, we didn't make up Marie's rather flamboyant insults on our own. We got them from this website: .

Now, if you like the Shakespearan Insults used, you should go look at them, thou mewling motley-minded giglets!