A/N: Officially finished with my project. Time to get crack-a-lackin' with this story. This story will be finished by next week at the latest.
Thank you for being so patient with me! I really appreciate you guys waiting for me despite how long it's taken me to get back into the groove of updating and putting out chapters. I'll take this more seriously now that I've got some time to myself since I've finished my project piece. I appreciate all the support and the kinds words you guys have given me. :)
Disclaimer: I do not own GMW otherwise Maya would be kicking asses for real.
UPDATE 20.08.16: Thank you Guest for pointing out the inconsistency with the horse! I fixed it :3
Maya didn't think getting into the back entrance of Bull's Sleaze would be difficult. In the very late hours of the night, the kitchen was usually empty. By that point, usually, either a brawl was happening and most if not all the men would end up passed out or the men were already passed out from the copious amounts of alcohol they had consumed. The point was, Maya didn't expect there to be much trouble getting the log book and figuring out this contract shit, provided that her calculations were correct. She'd spent several late evenings at Bull's Sleaze, and she anticipated it would be the same as what she was used to.
And thankfully, as she pushed the back entrance open to the kitchen, there were no cooks inside. She could hear the raucous merrymaking in the main bar room and knew that Jed's men were probably running rampant throughout the area with few inhibitions. She could only wonder how the hell the poor women and girls stuck in here were doing. Maya was glad Abby was around though. She was probably keeping the girls protected from the more rambunctious and violent men.
"Maya, I'm worried about my girls," Katy muttered beside her.
"Why?" Maya asked, crawling carefully towards the lighted entrance to the bar.
Her leg was killing her and even putting a little pressure on her hand was making her vision swim a bit from the pain. She absolutely needed to put it to the side though. She was on a mission and couldn't let something as silly as a small injury impede her from her task.
"Well… right before Billy got me out of here, there was a gunshot from the main room." Katy whispered. "I don't know… I have a bad feeling about this."
They crawled to the entrance to the bar, peeking out carefully to watch what was going on in there. It was rambunctious, loud and out of control. As Maya expected, there were men all in there, but no one was running the bar counter and none of the girls were there either.
"I don't see any of the girls…" Maya muttered, her eyes shifting from spot to spot.
"Something's not right," Katy replied, nodding in agreement. "Bull's Sleaze is in full service, but I don't see Abby, and none of the girls are here. This can only mean they're in hiding in the tunnel. It was a safety and protection procedure Abby made for us to use if things began to get dangerous in Bull's Sleaze. And I have no doubt things have gotten dangerous."
"You know where the tunnels are?"
Katy nodded.
"Then I'll check for the log book," Maya said. "You can go to the back and find the girls. Once I'm done, I'll meet you somewhere near the rooms, okay?"
"Are you sure?" Katy asked uneasily. "There are a lot of men here. Be careful."
Maya nodded, giving Katy a small smile. "I'll be fine, Mama. Worst case scenario, at least I still have my pistol to defend myself."
"Alright baby girl," Katy whispered, giving her an encouraging pat on the back. "Go do what you need to. And stay safe, okay?"
Katy peered out once again to make sure the coast was clear and then crawled slowly through the small open space before she would reach the corridor leading to the back rooms. She moved slowly, so as not to catch the peripheral attention of the drunken males in the room. The more innocuous and inconspicuous she was, the less likely the possibility of her being noticed, recognized and caught.
As soon as Maya made sure Katy had managed to get to the hallway safely to find the girls, Maya crawled her way towards the bar counter, stealthily making sure she stuck to the darker areas of the room. She grit her teeth, forcing herself to endure the pain from the pressure she was putting on her leg muscles. It wasn't ideal to be using her leg at all, but there was nothing she could do about it when the situation was dire. Rest would come once she was on a train with her mother heading east. Until then, she would just move as slowly as she could because she couldn't exactly put weight on her right hand without excruciating pain passing through.
Maya crawled behind the bar counter at last, leaning back against it with a heavy sigh and trying to catch her breath. Her leg was burning, pulsing with heat and Maya took deep breaths to calm herself down. She honestly hoped when all this was over, her leg wouldn't have to be amputated.
There was loud laughter and a beer bottle suddenly cascaded through the air, crashing into the glasses in the back of the bar counter and shattering many of them. Maya gasped softly, shielding her eyes as glass flew in her general vicinity, scattering around her. She had to get a move on before any bar brawls started up.
Maya shuffled through the shelves under the register, shoving over papers and trying to find the blue log book she'd always seen Abby use. But she couldn't seem to find it. In fact, the only things left underneath the counter were some IOU papers and a couple of bills for the saloon.
But the book itself had disappeared.
"C'mon…" she muttered crossly, not realizing that the bar had gone eerily quiet compared to when she'd first entered. "Where the fuck is it?"
"Well looky who we have here. One little ugly rat snooping around the bar."
Maya stiffened and stopped rummaging in the shelf, looking up slowly to find one of Jed's man—a bulbous, disgusting man named Randall that she knew was particularly fond of leaving bruises on some of the women—grinning down at her roguishly. He was flanked by a couple other men, all watching her with that same predatory gleam in their eyes. Alarms rang in her head, and she cursed under her breath, knowing she was fucked unless she thought of something to do to get out of this situation and fast.
"Looking for this?" He lifted up the blue log book, a malicious grin on his face. "Jed said some rat might come along sniffing for the cheese. He also said that if the rat made an appearance, I could dispose of said rat however I pleased."
Maya glanced quickly towards her escape route through the kitchen. It had been blocked off by a couple of the other men. And it dawned on her that they'd been waiting for her. They'd all set a trap and had been waiting for someone to start looking for the log book and she'd fallen right into it. Why hadn't she thought this through? It all made sense now. Of course everything in the town had been quiet. She should have known that most the attention would be focused on protecting Jed's establishment for his plans. If Maya were Jed and honestly believed she would be getting out of this mess alive than her priorities would be to kill the obstructions to her plan and of course, protect anything involved in the plan.
He removed his pistol from his holster, cocking it and aiming it at Maya, a sneer on his lips.
"Get up," he ordered.
Maya took a deep breath, steeling her nerves and trying to tamp down her sudden apprehension from having gotten caught in the spider's web. She rose to her feet slowly, her hands up in the air so as to show she wasn't trying to get her own weapon. Her leg shook from the effort of the motion, sharp pangs of pain shooting up her leg and nearly making tears spring to her eyes. She breathed out slowly through her nose, biting her tongue to keep from crying out. Her leg was fighting her with everything it had.
"Gentlemen. I mean no harm," Maya said loftily as she walked out of the bar and made her way around, fighting her urge to cry out with each agonizing step she took on her damaged leg. She couldn't show her pain. These men were vultures; they would prey on her pain without a second thought. "Just came for free booze since my pa won't let me into his liquor cabinet. I'll just be on my way now."
They stared at her in silence as she headed towards the door, and Maya wondered if she'd managed to trick them and was about to be home free. But before she could take another step, Randall walked around her, standing in her way with a dark look in his eyes.
"But you won't be leaving here," Randall said. "Because if I remember correctly—and I do—you're that little criminal blonde shit that shot Davis."
The jig was definitely up now. Maya eyed the different paths she could take to exit, but she couldn't see anyway that would help her. She had two options. Make a run for it, which would be difficult considering her leg was close to failing on her and she'd probably get shot on the spot. Or fight. And Maya wasn't in any way able to defeat this many of the men, especially if she couldn't see what was behind her. The odds were all against her.
She was trapped.
But Maya wouldn't act scared. At the very least, she had to postpone the inevitable and buy herself some time. Maybe it might alert Katy to the fact that they were in danger so at least her mother could escape.
"Guilty as charged," Maya said smugly, dropping her hands from her side. "The old cocksucker had it coming."
"Why you…" Randy growled, eyes narrowed dangerously.
Two arms snaked behind Maya, anchoring themselves underneath her armpits and preventing her from moving before she could try to get herself out of the way.
"Do your worst," she growled, bracing herself for pain. "I'm not scared of you."
"You should be… I'm going to enjoy this."
He socked Maya harshly across the face without prelude. Her head snapped sharply to the side, and Maya grunted from the impact, her ears ringing and spots briefly appearing in her gaze. He decked her across the face again, this time snagging her nose in his strike, and Maya cried out as an explosion of lights danced in her eyes, the excruciating pain from her nose making her head pound furiously. She slumped a bit forward, trembling as liquid trailed out of her nose. Randy drove his fist into her stomach and the wind was knocked out of her. She wheezed for air, her breath temporarily stolen.
"That the… best you… got?" Maya said slowly, trying to focus her mind on something to avoid the pain. She could feel blood trickling out of her mouth and down her chin.
"Not even close you little shit!" he barked, sneering close to her face.
She glared up at him and spat right in his face, the mix of blood and saliva hitting his forehead and dripping down his nose. He was furious, his face turning an unhealthy, blotchy shade of purple and a treacherous gleam in his eyes.
Without a word, Randy yanked her from her captivity in the arms of the other lackey and shoved her backwards hard. She stumbled back with a yelp and lost her footing, crashing into a table and toppling over it unceremoniously. Maya tumbled to the ground, rolling across the floor for a bit before she finally stopped. Her hand was pulsing wildly, and she shouted in pain when she knocked it against the floor, brutally sharp pain rendering her temporarily immobile. She unsteadily rose to her hands and knees, shaking from the effort and coughing, trying to catch her breath. Maya spat out some more blood on the ground, her vision blurring momentarily.
There was some blood in the curtain of hair surrounding her head and she wondered why she could see her strands of hair nearly touching the ground.
Shit.
Maya looked frantically around her, and noticed her hat a distance away. Her disguise had come off her head. She looked up at the men to find them staring at her in slight surprise. A couple of them had leers on their faces, and Maya knew she really was fucked.
They knew she was a woman now. She'd wedged herself in a corner. She tried to make her body move, but it wasn't listening to her, every attempt to move or run or anything thwarted by her violent trembling and the pain attacking every inch of her from every direction.
"Well, well. Isn't this here girlie Maya Matthews?" One of the men said. "The very same criminal Maya Matthews who Jed had been looking for."
"She's not dead after all." Another grinned wolfishly. "But what on earth is a wench doing here this late in the evening?"
Her eyes narrowed, put off by the way some of them were looking at her. She could tell exactly what they were thinking.
"I don't know, but I'm not complaining. Who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth? I've been looking for a woman to fuck since they all disappeared, but she'll do. I call dibs."
"You can't call dibs on the bitch. I want a turn too."
"Gentlemen. How about we all take a turn?" Randall said darkly, steadily approaching Maya. "I think that will work…"
They all began to walk towards her and Maya stiffened, trying to force her quivering body to push aside the trauma to her injuries and work to move, but it was no use. Her body wouldn't listen to her and suddenly, she was wracked with a bout of fear that nearly paralyzed her as she watched the men unbuckle the belt of their britches while they approached. Her mind flashed with the memory of Jed holding her legs down, preventing her from moving and her trepidation grew.
C'mon! Move already!
"Not one more step towards my daughter!" Katy suddenly roared, appearing from around the corner into the main bar room with a rifle in her hands. "Hands in the air boys or we're blowing your brains onto these walls!"
Katy was followed by the other women of the saloon, all holding pistols or rifles in their hands, pointing them each at one of the men in the room. Jed's men stopped their approach, staring at the women in surprise, their arms slowly rising placatingly as the women and girls threatened them. Maya smiled gratefully up at her mother, so glad that she had the perfect timing.
"Toss all your weapons on the ground here, line up against the wall, and don't move." Katy barked.
Weapons were discarded onto the floor and then Jed's men backed up against the wall, staring at the barrels of the rifles and pistols warily. Maya shuffled to her feet, her body nearly collapsing, and Katy rushed over to her to give her a hand, slipping her hand around her back to support her.
"Maya, your face is a bloody mess. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Just a little bruised." She lied, knowing her body was trembling pretty substantially. Maya tilted her head forward, pinching her nostrils to stop the blood, despite the fact that her face screamed in protest. "Mama, the blue log book is right there."
Katy set Maya near a table before pulling out a handkerchief from her pocket and handing it to her. Maya leaned against the table heavily, wiping her face and trying not to wince when she accidentally brushed one of the tender spots on her face. Katy walked over to the discarded blue book and picked it up, flipping through the pages as she read the logs.
"Where is Jed?" Maya asked one of the girls.
"We don't really know where Jed is." She shrugged, steadying the rifle resting on her shoulder. "He hasn't stopped by since a couple days ago."
"Do any of you know where Jed is?" Katy asked the men. "Answer us or we'll make you talk."
As if to demonstrate, one of the older women shot her pistol into the ceiling, the noise jarring as the wood splintered to accommodate the bullet. Several of the men jumped in surprise, immediately stiffening. Maya couldn't help but chuckle in amusement. They were all bravado, but when threatened, they turned into little boys.
"He's been gone for a while." One of them—a younger looking one—muttered. "The last time he was here, he mentioned something about Lucas. And then he left, saying he was going to kill him. We haven't seen him since."
Maya's eyes narrowed. "What?"
"He challenged that outlaw to a fight somewhere where he died or something crazy we didn't understand. All I know is Jed's lost it," the same man said, shaking his head in disbelief and looking utterly frightened. "None of us wanted to argue with him or fight his order because that guy was just about ready to shoot us all in the heads. He went on a rampage and shot a bunch of us when he found out we couldn't find you after you escaped with Lucas. He's a maniac! I thought I wanted to be part of his little prostitute land, but I don't want anything to do with him anymore."
"Prostitute land?" Winny asked nervously, looking from Maya to Katy in fright, her hands shaking slightly. "What did he mean by prostitute land?"
"Shut the fuck up!" Randall shouted. "If Jed finds out you even told anyone, he'll kill us all!"
"It's Jed's plan. He's been finding and snatching the women of this town to turn our town into a place of pleasure. That's what his ultimate goal is, but we discovered it when we managed to infiltrate his office and steal his documents," Maya explained. "He's not going to succeed though. We'll make sure of it."
"And from the looks of things…" Katy muttered, pulling out a couple contracts and matching them up to the records in the logbook, "It seems like many of your debts have long been paid. Missy's in particular has been paid off for two years now."
"So then Jed swindled us?!" a woman named Cherry exclaimed furiously. "We've been stuck in this shit hole of a place selling our bodies to these vile men for years when we've been free?!"
"It looks like it," Katy said apologetically. "Although, some of us don't even have contracts, so I don't know."
"Jed will pay for his crimes." Maya looked around at the girls standing in the parlor room, realizing there seemed to be a few missing. "Where is Missy?"
"She's in her room sleeping. She's suffering from a fever. The night you left Katy," Winny said, looking worried, "Jed shot her and then snapped her back and ripped out her hair. We called medics when we found her and they tried to help her as much as they could, but they could only do so much. She's alive—I think Jed got distracted by something and missed his intended shot—but she's still unstable. Please don't tell Billy what happened to her. Missy really doesn't want him to know because she knows he'll put himself in harm's way to see her."
"How did he get to Missy? Where was Abby?"
A hushed lull fell over the girls, and a few of them averted their gazes, their eyes downcast. A sense of dread Maya befell. She knew what was about to be said before any of the girls even opened their mouths.
"She's gone."
"No…" Maya's heart lurched in her chest. Abby had always been one of the only people in the town Maya had trusted. She'd been so supportive of Maya through all of her adventures and endeavours. "Abby… is dead?"
"This is all my fault." Katy looked appalled, her eyes tearing up. "I ran away with Billy instead of turning myself in and facing whatever Jed had in store for me. If I had just stayed—"
"Abby would have never forgiven herself if you'd gotten killed." Winny gently stated, sniffling. "Please don't feel guilty, Katy. I know she protected you so you could live. Abby would have done anything to protect us, even if it meant her death."
It was kind of familiar. The statement made Maya briefly think of Lucas, willing to do anything to kill Jed, even if it meant his death too.
"You guys must have been so scared," Maya said, forcing herself to think of something else. "What did you do?"
"We didn't know what to do without Abby around because she'd always protected us. We couldn't think of anything to do but go into hiding and try to stay safe in some way after Jed stopped by again, hoping that someone would rescue us from him."
Katy nodded, wiping her eyes. She walked over to Winny and handed her the contracts and the blue log book.
"Don't worry. Jed's reign is over. Tomorrow, everything he's done to this town, everything he's done to you. It will all be revealed. You'll never have to prostitute yourselves again."
"Thank you," Winny said hopefully, taking the documents. "I really hope so."
"Things are still not safe though. Until then, just lie a little low and protect yourselves. When things settle, I'll come back so everything can be figured out."
There was a snort from the wall and everyone turned to face the men, brows cocked in annoyance and pistols trained more readily on each one of them.
"And what the fuck is so funny?" Maya asked lowly.
"You guys will never get out of this alive." Randall snarled. "Once Jed returns from killing that little shithead outlaw, you're all gonna die too. No matter what you think you may have accomplished, it won't mean anything."
Maya pulled her pistol out of the holster and pointed it at him menacingly.
"I've had enough of you. Shut up," she said evenly. "Or I'm shooting you in the stomach too."
"Your holster is on your right side." Randall snorted, though she saw the brief flash of apprehension in his eyes. "You can't shoot with your left. You're bluffing."
Maya didn't bother with any warnings. She shot three times, two between his raised arms and neck and the last between his legs right under his crotch. His eyes were immeasurably wide, his breathing a little ragged as he stared down at his legs in shock and then at her.
"Actually, I'm quite adept at shooting with both hands. I missed on purpose. If you piss me off again or dare open your mouth, the next shot will ruin any chances of you having children. Now all of you listen here," Maya said, putting her gun back in the holster. "These women are in charge, you got that? If any of you so much as touch any of them or try to escape, you can kiss your tiny little cocks goodbye. Am I clear?"
They nodded in unison, not daring to open their mouths.
"And one more thing."
Using the tables as a crutch to support her, she dragged herself to where the men were standing, fighting off her pain. As soon as she was in front of Randall, she reared her fist back and punched him square in the nose as hard as she could, satisfied by the sickening crunch when her knuckles made contact with the cartilage. He howled in pain, stumbling back into the wall and holding his nose as blood trickled out.
"Payback's a bitch, isn't it?" Maya growled, shaking out her hand.
She knew using what was left of her strength after the exhausting days she'd had to punch someone wasn't ideal, but she really needed to exert some frustrations, and he was the perfect outlet. Plus she owed him. Satisfied, Maya made her way over to her mother, leaning against her as it became harder to direct her body where it needed to go.
"Winny, I have to go. We still have one more task left in the morning, but after that, I'll come back for you guys," Katy said, taking Maya's arm and putting it around her shoulders to support her more easily. "Can you handle things here until everything settles down?"
"Of course. Leave it to us, Katy. You go take care of what you need to."
"If any of them try something funny, protect yourselves, okay? I'll be back."
Katy helped keep Maya upright as she guided her back through the kitchen of the saloon to head back to the Matthews home. Maya forced herself not to think about the fact that her body felt like it was about to break apart into pieces, though every movement made her wince. She'd overdone it and getting nearly beaten up hadn't made things any better. At least her nose hadn't gotten broken again, though it stung like a bitch and she was pretty sure it was swollen.
Once they reached the back, it took Katy a while to help Maya back onto the back of the horse, but they succeeded with minimal extra damage to her body. Yet. Maya bemoaned the thought of having to ride a jolting horse back to the ranch. This was going to be brutal.
"Maya, you okay?" Katy asked worriedly when Maya sucked in a sharp breath after she accidentally put pressure on her injured hand to straighten herself.
"Why wouldn't I be?" she responded slightly sarcastically. "You know, aside from my probably busted nose, probably bruised rib, probably black eye added to my already bruised face and unusable arm and fucked up leg."
"I'm talking about Jed's plan to kill Lucas. We have to hurry and tell him that Jed is after only him," Katy said as she climbed on in front of Maya.
"What difference does it make?" Maya grunted out as she painfully rearranged herself on the horse's back.
"Maya… You don't want him to die do you?"
"No, but he does. And that's none of my business." Maya leaned her head against her mother's back, closing her eyes and taking deep, slow breaths to calm down her ailing limbs. "Let's get a move on. I've got things to pack."
Katy sighed but slapped the reins, taking off into the night. They were so close to ending this charade. So close to getting rid of Jed. And so close to finally getting the chance to start all their lives over again.
And Maya was really looking forward to that new life in New York.