A/N: I hope everyone had good final exams! I know some of you mentioned it! So here is a congratulatory chapter :) (I wish I could celebrate with you all haha, but alas. I finish mid July)

Heads up to an official change in the rating next chapter guys.

I wanted to apologize. I know some of you have been excited for specific characters to show up, but I had to choose to omit a lot of characters from the story because there just wasn't space in the plot for them :( I'm sorry if that is disappointing!

And finally, this chapter gave me some trouble in terms of imagery and description, so use your imagination lol. If it's truly terrible, just let me know and I can work on making it more visual. Lol this chapter doesn't even make any sense... I'm so sorry... I just feel like I'm disappointing people ^_^;

Thanks for all the caring reviews and inquiries for the update! I'm glad you guys are getting on my back about getting my butt in gear! I'll try harder not to be so scatterbrained! Ah! You guys' reviews are so cute and sweet and funny! They make me laugh and smile so widely! I love you all XD

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

"Katy, you alright?" Billy asked, violently coughing when the rancid stench of rotting flesh trailed up his nose and smacked him in the face.

There was a groan to his left, and Katy sat up amidst the corpses, holding her arm with a wince of pain.

"I think I dislocated my shoulder."

He crawled over to her, trying to keep from landing on his face on some of the dead bodies in the way.

"Let me see it?"

She turned so her shoulder was facing him so he could see it, and Billy tore her sleeve, tugging the rest down so he could see the injured shoulder better. There was a slight indentation where her shoulder should have connected with the joint. The skin was bruised and a little purple from the skin being stretched uncomfortably. He pressed lightly against the indent, but she had no reaction.

Billy nodded. "Oh yeah. You definitely have a dislocated shoulder."

"Is there any way you could put it back in?" she winced again, "I can hear the bones grinding against each other. I know this doesn't sound right."

"It'll be sore. But yeah, I can set it back in place." Billy took hold of her arm. "Lucas used to get these all the time when he was learning to fight."

He bent her arm at the elbow and then rotated it out so the forearm was facing him. Katy closed her eyes tightly in discomfort as he slowly straightened her arm up over her head. With a pop and slight crunch of bone scraping and connecting, her shoulder snapped into place, and she took in a sharp breath, grunting at the pain. Billy tore off a shirt off of one of the less decaying bodies and fashioned it into a sling, carefully wrapping Katy's arm so it was supported by her neck and shoulders.

"Thank you Billy." she said in relief, "It doesn't feel as bad anymore."

He helped her stand up carefully on the slope and looked around. There were bodies everywhere, littering the ground and covering the entire slope. Billy suspected their landing had been less brutal because of that fact, though he'd definitely ended up with some part of a limb in his mouth when they had hit the ground, and it had been very unpleasant.

"Where's the horse?" Billy asked, looking around in confusion.

"Long gone. Scampered off as soon as we fell off his back." Katy responded, patting her night dress, trying remove some of the dirt and dust that had collected on it. "I think he was injured."

Billy figured. They had touched down very roughly, before being jolted out of the saddle and quite literally thrown into the piles of carcasses, tumbling down quite a long ways before they had come to an ungraceful stop. He'd thankfully landed on his back, which had diminished some of the impact, but adrenaline had been coursing through his veins when they fell. Who knew what he'd rattled or could have broken?

"So… I have to ask." Billy said curiously, "How did you know we weren't going to die if we fell into Death Valley?"

"When I first moved here years ago, my husband fell into Death Valley. I thought he had died, but a while later, he called out my name and told me to come down. So I did." She chuckled softly. "The first drop was just straight cliff, but it petered out into a slope."

She turned around and pointed to the drop they had just made. "See that? But the way the cliff is makes it difficult for anyone to really see that it's not just a straight cliffside."

Billy nodded, finding it intriguing that he had never noticed that before. They weren't anywhere near the top though, and he didn't think they would be able to climb back up. Not with Katy's busted arm, anyway.

"Damn. But how do we get out?"

"It's a long way down." Katy sighed, "Might take us a while, but there's a town somewhere down at the bottom. We can borrow a few horses from there to get out of the canyon."

Billy looked left and right in alarm. "This canyon seems really deep. How long will it take to get out and then ride back to town?"

"Maybe a couple days…" Katy said, a bit disheartened, "It's a long way out. But we can't shout for help. No doubt the mayor has his men stationed at the Summit to watch out for us."

Billy sighed. "Guess there's no way out but down then."

"Looks like it."

They began to make their way down, stepping carefully over crumbling remains of bones and maggot infested bodies. It was dark and difficult to see, but they could just make out the way they were going from the moonlight. It was exhausting and Billy knew they were in dire need of a good rest—and a bath—but they kept trudging on down, knowing that stopping in this impromptu graveyard of bodies would make them easy targets for the critters of the night. Billy kept his ears decidedly open and eyes trained on their surroundings to keep lookout for any coyotes in the dead of the night.

"So… Maya." Billy started, "You're her mother."

"Yes, that I am." She smiled fondly. "She's really grown up even more wonderfully than I could have ever dreamed."

"She is something. I've never seen a woman undeterred by the fact that there was a gun at her head in my life."

Katy gasped softly. "Maya was held at gunpoint?"

"Oh, don't worry." Billy said with a laugh, "It was just Lucas who was threatening to shoot her."

"Threatened to shoot her?!" Katy frowned. "This is the second time you've mentioned that name. Who is Lucas? One of the mayor's men?"

"Oh! No. He's the one who went to save her from the mayor."

Katy's face looked appalled. "As in the man you said is with her now?"

"Yeah." Billy scratched his head, a little confused why she looked so alarmed. "But don't get the wrong idea. He wouldn't do anything to hurt her. I mean, she did get caught by the mayor because of his plan, but he probably saved her."

"His plan?! Probably?!" Katy stopped and turned completely to Billy with a growl, "You said she was with someone who would keep her safe! It sounds like she's with the person she should be running away from!"

And then Billy realized how his words were misconstrued.

"Wait, no! He's perfectly harmless! He likes her." Billy frantically tried to explain. "I mean, sure they had a rocky start, but he cares about her. He wouldn't let anything happen to her."

Her expression was still skeptical, but she continued down the slope.

"You sure seem to have a lot of faith in this Lucas person…"

"Because he's my brother." Billy admitted. "Sure, he may be a stickler and scary on occasion, but it's not without reason… The mayor ruined his life."

"That seems to be everybody's story these days."

Billy nodded. "But trust me. Lucas isn't as dangerous as he seems. Well, provided that the mayor isn't involved. But he's a good guy."

"If Maya is hurt when we find her, I'm going to shoot this Lucas fellow a new asshole. And then I'll find you and shoot you one too." Katy threatened. "But if say you vouch for him, then I'll trust that he'll keep her safe."

Billy swallowed thickly, chills running down his back at her cold words. She was honestly frightening. Maya and Katy were unbelievably alike. He could not figure out why he hadn't noticed their resemblance before because they were incredibly similar.

"Uh… noted." Billy said, mentally hoping that Maya was in good shape.

They walked in silence for a little bit longer, labouring on down the slope. There weren't as many bodies any longer, but the stench was revolting and lingering in the air and in their clothes and breathing was difficult. Billy glanced at the ground and saw some entrails that had been scattered from a female body and gagged, quickly averting his gaze and covering his mouth.

"Fuck… I don't think I can take much more of this smell."

"This is atrocious." Katy nodded, her face pinched up in disgust as well. "The fact that there are so many bodies here is a testament to how messed up this town truly is."

Billy looked at ground in dismay when he saw the bones of a small body.

"Apparently hanging children is a thing too…"

"Courtesy of Mayor Jed and his intolerance for children and babies." Katy said in disgust. "I had my suspicions. Which is why I gave Maya away to the Matthews. He was either going to kill her or subject her to being a whore. And neither of those lives appealed to me for her."

Billy frowned as he recalled something. "Missy said something like that to me once. That the women at the saloon could not have children no matter what. She was terrified when she had a scare."

Katy glanced at him seriously and nodded slowly.

"My first year at Bull's Sleaze, I watched Jed shoot one of my impregnated companions in the abdomen to kill her baby. She hadn't shown until that point but when it became obvious, Jed told her to get rid of the baby. She refused, because the unborn child was the last reminder of her deceased husband."

Billy sucked in a sharp breath. "Did she survive?"

"She might have, if Jed had left it at that." Katy said quietly, rearranging her arm to a more comfortable position. "But he tied her to the tree in the middle of town square, cut her abdomen open, and let her bleed out and die there for all of us whores to always know what would happen if we didn't take our abortifacients."

"Christ…" Billy said breathlessly, looking at her with wide, appalled eyes, "That man is a disgusting fuck."

"Truly and honestly one of the most disgusting pieces of human garbage I have ever had the misfortune of being acquainted with."

"Did he regularly have sessions with you?"

"Every week." she said, eyes narrowed furiously, "Every single week, beating me and slapping me and whipping me and forcing me to…"

She closed her eyes momentarily and let out a low, shuddering breath.

"I'm just glad I got Maya to safety beforehand so that she never had to endure what I did."

"How long?"

"Almost nineteen years. I've been there the longest of anyone." Her lip curled. "Many of the others couldn't take it and ended their lives. Or the mayor did, for various reasons."

Billy stared at her in silent shock. Despite the horrors she had clearly had to go through, the fact that she still had her vivacity and energy was incredible. This was truly a woman who had to suffer real hardships. The fact that she was still standing and still fighting for her freedom and to protect her daughter despite all her suffering was unbelievably courageous.

"Katy. You are the bravest woman I have ever met in my life." He shook his head. "I am so sorry you've had to have that life."

She smiled sadly. "Thank you Billy."

They fell into silence once again, continuing their trek down the dusty side of the cliff. A long while later, through the haziness of the night, Billy realized he could see lights. They had quite a ways to go, but knowing that there was a clear destination in sight put a renewed bounce in their dragged steps.

"Is that the town?"

Katy nodded, having noticed it too. She let out a sigh of relief.

"So what's the plan?" Billy asked. "We waltz in there, ask for a warm bed and food and then leave?"

She shook her head. "The mayor's influence extends very far. We can never be too careful. We're horse-napping and then leaving tonight."

"Wait what?" Billy whined, "We don't get to sleep?!"

"Billy. Come on now, hun." She shot him an exasperated look. "We left behind so many people in town and we still have to find Maya and your brother. We don't have time to rest."

"You are way too energetic!"

"This is my first time out of that dreadful place in a while. And for the first time, it's not because I'm going to go pleasure a man. It's because I'm fighting to keep my independence. I'm taking this opportunity by the horns and charging forward."

Billy sighed in exhaustion. He hadn't had any real rest since Sheriff Holstein had tried to hang him. Every second of his time was spent looking over his shoulder and sleeping half-awake with one eye open. He couldn't remember the last time he'd honest to goodness gotten a full night of rest. But she was right. He couldn't take time to find rest for himself when Missy was still in that whorehouse waiting for him. He had a job to finish.

And when he was done, he had a woman to marry. Only then would he get rest.

"You're right."

"Damn right I'm right! So buck up mister and let's mosey on down and get those horses!"

"Yeah!"

They hurried down, renewed determination on their faces and coursing through their veins.

Wait for me Missy. I'm coming to get you...