I woke up the next day sore and tired. I slowly sat up from where I slept, which was on the floor. I had a couple of blankets and a pillow. There was only three couches and a bed. Bill slept on the bed, while the others slept on the couches.
I thought that it was very unfair but Kinski, Chorizo, and Stump didn't seem to mind. The certain couches they slept on were their own. Their own personal belongings leaned up against the couches.
I blinked a couple of times and then rubbed the sleep from my eyes. Bill and the gang were still fast asleep. Stump's face was buried in his pillow. Drool seeped out from it. Chorizo snored softly and had one arm draped over his face. Kinski was sleeping on his stomach. He twitched and shifted. I slowly got up and tiptoed around the disarray and scattered assortments. I picked out two apples from a crate and disappeared through the tunnel that led to outside.
To the left of the entrance of the gang's hangout spot, about twenty to twenty-five feet away, was an old stable with a thatched roof that once held the miner's roadrunners when they came out from town to mine.
The stable was a perfect place to hold Balthazar's bat. It could hold up to fifteen road runners, so it was big enough for her. We tied Balthazar's bat to the stable so she wouldn't escape…and so we wouldn't have to hear her screeching and yelling the rest of the night.
She was sleeping from the rafters. The glow- in- the- dark skeleton pattern was invisible. You could barely tell where it was. Her fur was a mixture of grey, almost black. The areas that didn't have fur was like a dirty peach color. I walked to the stable. As I did I took a couple of bites from one of the apples. I rested my arms on the wooden fence.
Balthazar's bat heard me eating the apple and opened one dark brown eye.
"What do you want?" Balthazar's bat asked angrily.
I held out the untouched apple to her. Balthazar's bat sniffed the air. Cautiously, she slowly crawled along the rafters and to the supports that held the roof up. She blindly sniffed the apple and then reached out with one of her wings and grasped the apple. She climbed back up to her spot and ate the apple greedily. "I came to talk to you," I told her. Balthazar's bat finished the apple and spat out the parts she didn't like.
"Yes, and you better have a very good explanation, tell me the whole story. Start from the very beginning," she said.
So I did, just as I promised. I knew I could trust her with my story. I kept my voice low, just in case if the gang heard me. I told her how I found myself in the middle of the desert and didn't know where I came from or who I was. I told her how I got chased by the coyote which chased me to the town of Dirt. I told her about the posse, us visiting her place, and coming back and almost getting killed by the gang.
Balthazar's bat listened and didn't interrupt. I continued on and told her how Priscilla heard about Bill and his plan, also how I was the one who had to join his gang and find out. "And they said the only way I could join was to steal a bat… and you're the lucky one," I finished. Balthazar's bat thought for a minute. Her wings rubbed against her face and cleaned the bits of apple on her.
"Well, I guess that is a very good explanation, but I'm still worried about my master and the prairie dogs. I hope you didn't kill them all," she said bitterly.
My stomach turned and I felt like throwing up. I hated the feeling. I didn't want to know that I killed a whole group of people. "I hope I didn't kill them either," I said, finishing my apple and then tossed it to the ground.
"Do you know why they wanted you to do this task? I mean, try and steal a bat?" asked Balthazar's bat.
I thought for a minute, and shrugged. "I'm not sure, I think it was just a random task to see if I could do it and succeed," I said and then looked down, thinking. Then I looked back up. "Do you have a name?" I asked her.
"My master, Balthazar, named me Kaliah. It means beloved; The perfect one," Kaliah said. "He loved me very much, I was his best friend. He could never part with me," she added.
She was making me feel more and more guilty. I was trying to be nice, but all she was doing was rubbing it into my face. The task wasn't my idea. "I'm sorry, but when this is all over with, I promise I'll give you back to Balthazar," I said. Kaliah stared at me blindly. Gradually, her mouth came up into a somewhat happy smile. I smiled back, even though she couldn't see it, but I didn't care, I was glad she believed me. Kaliah's small smile disappeared. She started sniffing the air.
"You got any more apples?" she asked.
"No, sorry, but I'll give you more fruit-"
"Who are you talkin' to?" asked a voice behind me. I jumped and turned around. Kaliah started screeching and flapping her wings angrily.
It was Kinski.
He made his way up the hill and approached me. My throat tightened. Kaliah kept screeching. Kinski looked at me suspiciously. He looked around for the person I was talking to, but gave up when he didnt see anyone. Kinski came up and rested his arms on the fence next to me and looked up at Kaliah. "You were talkin' to ze bat, yes?" he asked in his German accent. I nodded, trying to not smile. "I can understand her. Her name's Kaliah," I said.
Kinski nodded and glared up at the bat who kept screeching. His nose twitched a bit. We stood there watching Kaliah flap around as far as the rope around her leg would let her.
Kinski's eyes flickered to me and he turned his head and noticed me looking at him. He took a step away from me and pulled out his gun. His eyes narrowed behind his bangs. He growled. I looked at the gun and my heart skipped a beat, but then, anger boiled inside me. "Oh just stop it! Hasn't anyone ever just looked at you without getting shot?" I asked angrily.
Kinski growled. "I shoot them because they look at me as a freak!" he yelled. Kaliah went silent. I glared at him. I was fed up with him. He was about to say something else but I interrupted him, "You are not a freak!" I shouted. Kinski opened his mouth to start yelling at me but then closed his mouth. His eyes widened to what I just said. I continued. "I don't see you as a freak, I think you are very…" my voice faltered. I felt the tips of my ears grow hot. "Interesting… and I'm just like you. Different," I said in a more calm, but stern voice.
Kinski looked at me for a minute. His face was somewhat surprised. No one in his entire life has ever thought of him as interesting. He felt his face turning a bit warm in the cool morning. He snapped out of his surprised state and narrowed his eyes at me, trying to read my face, to see if I was lying to him or not. After a couple minutes, his eyes relaxed. He slowly placed his gun back into the holster, and walked off down the hill back to the mines. I sighed with relief, but felt the sides of my face heating up. I turned and noticed Kaliah tilting her head in my direction. Blindly staring at me, her ears twitched. I looked away from her and walked down the dune, back to the mines.
The sun burned high in the sky as Kinski, Chorizo, Stump and I rode in the back of the wagon into town. Bill whipped the reins, making the boar quicken its' pace. I placed my wings over my head to shade myself from the sun. The gang was still tired from last night. They kept yawning and sometimes dozing off.
We finally made it to the town. We all jumped off when the wagon stopped and headed straight for the saloon. There was only three people in the saloon, but they quickly left when we entered through the saloon doors. Ricochet's eyes widened at me as I sat at one of the stools in front of him with Bill, Stump, Chorizo, and Kinski. "B-Banshee?" he gasped. I looked up at him and sneered. He jolted. The gang snickered as he averted his eyes from me and prepared our drinks. I lowered my head. I wasn't supposed to tell anyone in the town that I was only faking it, I had to convince them that I was an outlaw.
Ricochet placed five glasses of amber colored alcohol in front of us. The male gunslingers grabbed their glasses, emptying them in one gulp. All the blood drained from my face as I stared at them, then down at my drink. The liquid stared back at me. At the corner of my eye, I noticed Bill eyeing me suspiciously.
"Somethin' wrong with yer drink, girl?" he asked. I gave Bill a look, "No," then turned back to my drink. The male gunslingers watched as I slowly lifted the drink to my lips. The amber liquid burned down my throat. Tears came streaming down my tightly closed eyes as I drained the small glass. I quickly set the glass down and coughed. My tongue came out in disgust. The gang laughed at my disgusted face. Bill cracked a smile and laughed as well. I felt my face burn up in embarrassment as I coughed some more.
"Don't like ze taste, eh?" asked Kinski, placing his furry hand on my shoulder and snickered. My body tensed up. Ricochet cocked his head to me. I stared up at him. He tried reading my face. I had to do something fast. I needed to stay in character. I narrowed my eyes and slammed my curled up wing down on the table. The men stopped laughing. Kinski lifted his hand from my shoulder. The saloon went dead quiet. I snarled angrily at them.
"If any of you guys laugh one more time, you'll be finding yourself flying out the saloon doors!" I shouted. With that, I screeched, causing half the glass bottles and glasses in the room to shatter into a million pieces, proving my point. The gang gulped, scooting their stools from me.
"S-sorry B-Banshee, w-we wont do it again," stuttered Stump, shaking on his stool. Bill's eyes were wide. I sneered, then turned my focus to Ricochet. "Gimme a glass of water," I said firmly through clenched teeth. The gang didn't laugh. Ricochet nodded his head nervously and prepared me a glass. I grunted and straightened up in my stool. The gang averted their eyes from me, sipping their drinks silently. After that, we left the saloon and headed back.
The next day…
When the sun came up in the middle of the sky, we all headed into the wagon and rode to the town to the saloon. As I walked into the saloon, I noticed a couple citizens staring at me and whispering to each other. I looked away and headed in. I sat down at one of the empty stools at the bar and ordered a glass of water. Ricochet's hand shook as he tried pouring the glass of water. The liquid spilled out of the glass as he handed it to me. The gang snickered a bit. I didn't say anything as I drank. The gang didn't say anything either.
When we were done drinking, we walked out of the saloon and onto the dirt road. Bill and the gang harassed some people as they walked by. I could see the townspeople's faces full of fear and hatred. The gang called me over, wanting me to join the fun. I didn't want to, but I had no choice. I screamed at some of the townsfolk and watched them fly back ten feet. Every time I screamed, I felt my throat tighten as if I was hanging from a noose. The gang really enjoyed me screaming at the citizens and kept asking me to do it again.
Just then, Rango came out of his office. "What in the world are you guys doin'?" asked Rango angrily as he shifted his belt on his waist. Bill glared at him angrily. "What the hell does it look like?" asked Bill in annoyance. Rango scanned his eyes over to the gang and me. He shrugged, "I see that yer harassing the townsfolk. Pointless and pathetic if ya ask me…I see ya got a new recruit," he said eyeing me.
Bill turned his head to me, then back to Rango. "Yeah, so?" he asked. Rango just shrugged, then he changed the subject when he noticed me glaring at him. He was getting really close into blowing my cover. Rango cleared his throat and jutted his chin out. Rango opened his mouth, but Bill interrupted him. "Git yer ass out of our business!" Bill barked as he got right up into Rango's face. The gang snickered. I forced a laugh out.
Rango crossed his arms over his chest. "Bill? I am going to ask you nicely, I want you and your gang to stop harassing the townsfolk," demanded Rango in a steady voice. Bill growled, "I aint listenin' to you! Me and my gang can do whatever the hell we want! I own this town!" yelled Bill.
Rango snorted, "Yeah right, when pigs fly," he said. Bill grinned evilly, "We can have that arranged," he said. The gang laughed and shoved me forward. Bill stepped out of the way and gestured to let me go ahead and scream at Rango.
Rango looked at me. We both knew it had to be done. It was the only way to keep Bill, his gang, and the town believing that I was evil. Suddenly, I saw Priscilla running toward us. "Don't do it Banshee!" Priscilla yelled and ran in front of Rango. I gasped. Rango's eyes widened at Priscilla. He didn't know what to do. I hesitated.
"Go ahead Banshee, show them what you can do," said Bill behind me. "Yeah, show them, they're just a couple of wimperin' cowards," said Stump, coming up to the right of me. "Nothin' but a couple of scared, dim-wits," Kinski said, coming up to the left of me.
I hesitated. Rango picked up Priscilla and looked at me. He slightly nodded. I slowly took a deep breath, and screamed at them. The two creatures flew through the air and fell fifteen feet away from us. The gang laughed as Rango and Priscilla rolled down the road.
Rango still held Priscilla and helped her up. Priscilla's eyes were filled with tears. When she got up, she looked at me with a hurt expression. I felt my stomach churn uneasily. Priscilla hung her head sadly and slowly walked off. Rango gave us all one last look before walking off after Priscilla.
The gang didn't care and laughed at them. I just stood there, watching Rango and Priscilla walk down the road till they were out of sight. After a while of laughing hysterically, Bill calmed his laughing, "Come on, lets go," He said and started walking back to the wagon. We all followed right behind him.
The gang laughed as they slapped my back and played roughly with me. I just ignored them, feeling horrible. The image of Ricochet and Priscilla's shocked face was inked onto my brain. I sighed as we filed into the wagon, and headed back to the Abandoned Mines.