A/N: Part 2 of the previous chapter. Lol I'm kind of a bitch... Shit please don't hate me haha (I love you! *blows kiss*)

Thank you for all the reviews on the last chapter! And for putting up with me being a little shit! :)

Disclaimer: I do not own GMW otherwise Maya would be kicking asses for real.

In retrospect, jumping out the window probably wasn't the greatest plan, but he honestly had no option but to, especially when they were being pressed from both sides.

They landed roughly in the brambles, their fall broken somewhat by the man who had previously fallen down there. There was a slight inclined slope and they tumbled down, getting attacked by the bush all the way down. Thorns tugged and ripped at their clothes and skin and hair. He wasn't sure when he had let go of Maya, but by the time he had stopped rolling and getting thrashed about and cut by a million sharp tiny needles and twigs, she wasn't in his arms anymore.

He opened his eyes and looked around for her.

"Maya?"

Maya groaned in pain nearby.

"You fucker…"

He found her a few yards away from him, sprawled on her stomach and not moving, and he crawled over to her, trying to ignore the way his arm felt like it was on fire. His entire body was hurting and creaking in pain. He wasn't even sure if their landing had been clean. He felt like his whole body was broken.

"Maya. Are you okay…?"

She lifted her head up, her expression definitely displeased. She looked drained and through the small amount of light from the mansion, he could just make out her sleepy eyes, blinking slowly to clear her vision.

The piece of his shirt he had wrapped around her hand was almost completely darkened with her blood and was even now dripping from the excess. She had thorns in her hair and clinging to her body and clothes and a long scratch running across her cheek.

Shit. That fall must have really taken its toll on her body.

"What kind of dumbass... jumps out of a second story window…" Her breathing was laboured, but she inclined her head towards the upper window, where some of the men were staring down into the darkness, trying to search for the fugitives who had just leapt out. "Just get Clutterbucket. And hurry."

Lucas nodded and stumbled his way to the stable, pulling open the door. Clutterbucket was whinnying loudly and on his hind hooves, clearly spooked by the sound of gunshots ringing in the house nearby.

"Clutterbucket! It's okay! It's me." Lucas took his face and stared him straight in the eyes, trying to soothe the wild horse. "Maya's in trouble. You need to calm down."

Clutterbucket slowly relaxed and when he had calmed down, Lucas untied him and tugged him along out of the stable to where Maya still remained on the ground. For a split second, Lucas became worried when it looked like she wasn't breathing. He crouched next to her, turning her over carefully and pulling her so she was sitting up.

"Maya." he held her gingerly against his chest, being careful not to jostle her around too much. Her hair tumbled away from her face and fell in waves over his shoulder and arm.

"I'm alive…" She tried to smile, though it was more like a grimace. Her eyes were shut tight, and it looked like she was concentrating on taking deep breaths, in and out. "But everything hurts like a bitch…"

"We're getting out of here in a second." He scooped her up into his arms, carrying her over to Clutterbucket, who nudged him worriedly. "Can you hold yourself up on Clutterbucket?"

She gave him a raised brow, "Of course I can, you idiot. I'm injured. Not dead." And then she grimaced again.

Ignoring how relentlessly his arm was fighting its usage, he helped push her up on Clutterbucket. She did the best she could with her one useful hand, but they struggled to get her up. She was barely able to move her body. And when she was finally on the saddle, she slumped forward against Clutterbucket's mane, her hands hanging loosely by her side. Her leg was bleeding incredibly heavily and chills wracked her entire body. He stopped for a moment and stared at her in shock. She looked like a bloody mess and her face was pale. Her breathing was thick and uneven. How much pain was she in? Maya was definitely not okay. He needed to find help.

"What about Billy…?" she rasped, licking her lips thickly and closing her eyes in concentration, "Are you about to leave him behind?"

"Billy will be fine." Lucas said quietly, though he looked towards the mansion apprehensively. "I've seen him survive getting bitten by pit vipers. Twice. This won't kill him."

Lucas climbed onto Clutterbucket behind Maya, carefully making sure the horse could handle the weight. Clutterbucket snorted, bucking his legs, prepared to run.

"Get going!" Maya hissed when talking made her throat sting, "Before these people find us."

Grabbing the reins and nodding, he tugged hard, and Clutterbucket set off on an intense gallop. He guided him away from the road and led the Mustang in the opposite direction, away from town.

Maya turned her head, alarmed. "Where the hell are you going?! We have to go back to town!"

"The first place he'll search for us is town!" He shouted over the thundering of Clutterbucket's clomping, "We can't go back there, or we'll put our loved ones in danger."

"But what if he uses them as leverage! He knows Katy is my mother! He's trying to kill my father!" Maya cried.

"Your father is a smart man. He'll protect them."

Clutterbucket's galloping was bouncing and jolting her around on the saddle and making every sharp pang of pain she felt much more intense and violent. She felt the tears start to pool in her eyes when a particularly rough bounce made her smack her injured hand against her leg. Maya was suddenly wracked with a wave of dizziness. Her vision was spinning in and out of focus. A fog was slowly starting to creep in the edges of her gaze.

Maya took in deep, gasping, ragged breaths. She was just tired. So damn tired. Maya closed her eyes and slumped backwards against his chest. Lucas quickly wrapped an arm around her waist to keep her steady. This couldn't be good. She wasn't even holding herself up anymore.

Lucas pushed Clutterbucket to go faster, digging his heels in his side. He knew there was supposed to be a town somewhere along this way. If he could find it, he could find a town doctor and get Maya some help. Or at the very least, some herbs or bandages to stop the flow of blood. He could feel her blood continuously dripping on his hand. Judging from the fact that there had been so much on the floor when he found her, she must have already lost a lot.

It was as that thought crossed his mind that he started to feel heat. He frowned, wondering where it was coming from and then froze as it slowly dawned on him.

It was Maya who was burning up. And fast.

"Shit!"

He needed to find somewhere to stop immediately. He didn't have time to search for a town. If he didn't get her some help right now, she would die. Lucas knew they had gone far enough out of their town, but now the issue was finding somewhere to help her.

He shook her roughly, "Maya. Maya, wake up."

She groaned, straining to take breaths. "I'm tired… Let me take… a nap…"

"Fuck… you've lost too much blood..."

"…a nap…" she repeated, chuckling listlessly.

"You're delirious."

"…tired…"

It was by stroke of luck that as they passed through the frontier, he spotted a little house. It was most likely on the outskirts of a town nearby, but he didn't want to risk it or take too much more time looking for the town. He wasn't even sure Maya would last that long.

The lights in the house were completely off, and Lucas knew he had to be careful with this. The last thing he wanted to do was wake up the people who lived in there. If they thought he was a horse thief or intruder, they'd probably get out their shotguns. He slowed Clutterbucket to a trot and brought him around the back. Sure enough, there was a stable there.

Lucas brought Clutterbucket to a stop outside the doors and hopped off carefully, before pulling Maya into his arms. She was hanging somewhat limply in his arms and didn't bother to try to hold herself up. She groaned again, her eyes half lidded and looking up at Lucas in confusion.

"…where are we…?"

Lucas carefully pushed open the doors, trying to adjust his eyes to the darkness in the stable. There were a few little snorts and whinnies from confused and curious horses, but Lucas brought a finger to his lips and shushed them softly.

He laid Maya gently down onto a pile of hay, before removing his jacket and setting her carefully on top of it. She moaned in pain and gripped the hay with her hand. Her right hand wasn't moving at all, and Lucas picked it up, observing it through the limited light with a frown. Her right hand was swollen and puffy, and he could tell the area was infected.

"...it hurts…" she whined, her eyes opening briefly. "Lucas… it burns…"

"I know." He said, and then grunted when focused, intense pain shot up his arm and shoulder.

He tore off his sleeve and stared at his arm. The skin was puckered, and he was bleeding rather profusely. No doubt, the bullet was embedded in the muscles in his arm. Gritting his teeth, he pulled out his knife and bracing himself for severe pain, he forced the blade through the hole. He hissed, biting his tongue so hard, he could taste blood as he dug around, searching for the bullet. With a low groan, he squeezed it out and it fell to the stable floor with a low ping. Gasping for breath, he slumped forward, trying to fight off the urge to scream and threw aside the blade. At least it hadn't been lodged that deeply in, though his arm was still shaking and the muscles were jerking. Blood was spilling out of his wound with reckless abandon. But he didn't have time to worry about himself.

Leaning over Maya, he slapped her face lightly, urging her to open her eyes. She didn't budge. He reached down to her leg and pressed against the wound. She jolted and her eyes shot open, unfocused and hazy.

"Maya." He stroked her cheek gently, a frown on his face. "Wake the fuck up."

She leaned into his hand, her face scrunched up in pain.

"Lucas…" she rasped, her words slurred, "…I can't breathe…"

"Your nose is broken."

"…my leg…" she whimpered, grabbing his arm, "…my leg..."

"There's a bullet in your leg."

She gave him a distressed look, tugging on his arm urgently. Lucas watched her silently, guilt ingrained in the green orbs. He couldn't help but feel terrible. It had been his idea to use her as bait, and Jed had used her as a plaything to satisfy his own sadistic cravings. She experienced hell on earth because Lucas had been selfish and too caught up in his need to get revenge on the mayor. This was all his fault.

"…take it… out… out…" she squeezed his arm again.

"Maya, it's going to hurt a lot." He said, brows furrowed in concern.

She shook her head and strained to focus her eyes on his. For a moment, the haziness in her eyes disappeared, and he saw fire in her eyes as she glared at him.

"Take the fucking thing out!" she roared, her voice raw.

Lucas held her gaze for a moment before nodding. She let out a relieved sigh and her head fell back against the hay. He tore away the tangled mess of skirts around her legs to better view her bleeding leg. From the looks of the puncture hole, he suspected the bullet had just nicked her bone, or at the very least, ricocheted off of it in some way. He gave an experimental push against the hole, and Maya sucked in a ragged breath, biting her lip hard.

He took out the curved blade Maya had given him and plunged it deep into her leg. Maya let out a high pitched squeal through her closed lips and her leg bucked up out of reflex. Tears cascaded out of her tightly closed eyes, and her grip grew so tight on his arm that he could feel her nails breaking into his skin. He fought against her tightened muscles, trying to force the bullet out. He rotated the blade to get a better angle and scraped against her bone in the process.

Maya's face roared to life, and she screamed out loud, her entire body cringing and contorting in pain.

The horses all began to whinny and neigh, spooked by the noise she was making.

Lucas tried to work the bullet out through the wall of muscle, despite her continued screams and howls. Every time another agonizing cry left her lips, Lucas had to fight himself not to stop. He tried to continue, but she thrashed about, fighting him, jerking away and recoiling each time he moved the knife.

She gasped for breath and then screamed again, clawing at the air for something and kicking her legs.

"Maya! Calm down!"

Her face was incredibly red. Lucas' eyes widened, and he placed his hand on her forehead. She was warmer than she had been before. This couldn't be good.

She was in hysterics. Had her fever spread that fast?

He had to get the bullet out.

Wrenching his arm out of her grip, he held her leg down and then twisted the knife, ruthlessly digging the bullet out. Her hollering echoed off the walls and into the air and Lucas grimaced, knowing that there was no doubt that the people who lived in the house had heard the noise by now. The bullet finally popped out, and with a silent gasp, Maya's head lolled to the side, tears trailing down her cheeks. She was taking shallow, shuddering breaths, each one weaker than the last.

"Dammit Maya! You are not dying on me now." He shook her shoulders, but she didn't open her eyes.

There was blood everywhere, especially all over his hands. He couldn't even tell whose blood was whose anymore. Her gaping wounds aside, Maya had scratches all over her body from landing in the thorns and Lucas wondered how badly wounded she honestly was.

"Maya wake up." He shook her harder, and she croaked weakly, but didn't verbally respond. "Shit…"

He had gotten the bullet out, but now he had no idea what to do. And he was starting to lose his own strength. He felt sick and woozy, and his eyes were starting to blur. He pitched forward momentarily, losing his balance, and flattened his palms on the ground. His sight went in and out of focus and he shook his head to try to clear it.

And then the doors of the stable opened up and through his murky vision, Lucas saw the outline of a candle lit lantern and a man.

"Who's there?!" the voice asked.

I lost too much blood…

Lucas' mind wasn't responding to his commands to run or speak or do anything. His entire body felt heavy. He couldn't hold himself up any longer and tipped over sideways, his vision going black.