A Lawless Land

The Bonds We Build And Break

She had already used her last ounce of strength and had to lean against a tree to catch her breath. There was a break from the rain, where she was finally able to observe her surroundings. Queen had long since outrun the group of assholes that had been trying to hunt her down since she led them away from the farm. She hoped everyone was okay.
Once she took in where exactly she was, she was surprise attacked from the side. Someone had sucker punched her in the head, causing her to hit the ground, and it blurred her vision. Before she could reorient herself, she was grabbed by her shirt and lifted off the ground, only to be slammed into a thick tree trunk. Pain shot through her head and body as she felt something warm trickle down the side of her temple.

She groaned with pain as her head lolled to one side, still trying to focus her vision on her attacker. The sound of fabric stretching and ripping was heard, then she was thrown onto the ground.

More footsteps sounded from the trees and had surrounded her, "how is it that this pathetic woman has managed to kill dozens of my men and outrun us?"

The voice was cold, and menacing, but his words only pissed her off, "pathetic? Someone needs to take a look in the mirror, it has taken you hours and you have lost dozens of men because of this 'pathetic' woman. You still think you're high and mighty? Your numbers don't mean anything, mine do."

He laughed cruelly, "numbers? You are alone out here, surrounded by several of my men, what numbers do you have?"

She smirked as her vision finally cleared and was able to look into the face of the man who insulted her, "numbers? I only need 3," they all gave puzzled expressions when she started to count, "1," she quickly drew a gun and had already shot four men before they realized what was happening, dropping the magazine once it had emptied, "2," they started charging at her, but she dodged their attacks and pulled out her knife, going after necks and chests, all falling to the muddy ground one after the other, "3." The leader had backed up until his back was pressed against a tree, she had a second gun pointed at his head.

"What? How?" He felt around himself, realizing he had no weapon on him.

She smiled and shrugged as she held up an ivory-handled pistol in her other hand. His pistol.

"Well, if you must know, I have trained long and hard, preparing for any situation, possible or impossible. Even when  dumbasses like you think you've got me, I'm always at least one step ahead."

Another one of his men tried sneaking up on her, while her attention was on him, so he smirked triumphantly, but without looking away from him, she shot the guy right between the eyes, keeping his gun firmly trained on him, "see, one step ahead." She turned the pistol around in her hands, "nice antique, by the way. Did you steal it from a gun collector?"

He remained silent as she turned the pistol on him, then he snarled,  "how would you even know that?"

"I happen to recognize this pistol. What happened to the person you took it from?"

He smirked one last time, "probably dead in a ditch somewhere. Were they someone important to you?"

"No," without hesitation, she shot him in the head.

              >>>><<<<

When she had shown up at the gates drenched from the downpour and without Duke, ragged and bloodied, Leo thought the worst had happened. He ran to her and grabbed her by the arms, "Queen? Are you alright? What happened?"

She seemed to be in shock as she looked up at him. He noticed the blood caking her clothes and felt his heart drop, "are you hurt? Where's Duke?"

She swallowed hard and finally found her voice, "I left him with Darren, at the farmhouse."