Young Guns: Fire and Steel

Chapter 19: Taking Care Of Business

((Author note: possibly more trigger warnings. Violence, blood, mentions of possible rape, gruesome mutilation.))

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It was nearly an hour later when Kristal pulled her horse to a stop, Billy and Doc right behind her. They were on a small rise miles away from their camp. Below them was a small fire, hidden from view by rocks surrounding it. An orange glow cast little dancing lights onto the ground from the holes between the rocks. Four horses lounged off to the side munching on dry grass and weeds. The distance along with the darkness of the night made it difficult to see where the horse's riders were.

"You gonna tell us what we're doing here, Kris? What's going on?" Doc queried in hushed annoyance. He was tired. Maybe he shouldn't have offered to go with the two wilder blonds of the group.

Billy ignored him, his gaze unreadable as he stared at the faint light below. "This got anything ta do with that man that bumped inta me back in that last town we was in?" He glanced at her, "that why you've been so distracted?"

Pressing her lips together Kristal nodded. She had to hand it to Billy, he was observant. "Yeah it is."

"Wait... What guy?" Doc was growing annoyed at being left out of the conversation.

When Kristal pressed her lips together, the observant blond noticed. "Explain," Billy demanded and then added a little softer, "I don't like not knowin' what I'm walkin' into."

Doc then frowned, "what the hell are you two talking about? I thought she was distracted 'cause of Kinney?"

Kristal scoffed, not answering Billy's inquiry. "That man don't bother me, Doc. There's a whole lotta other wolves out there an' they got sharper teeth n' claws than John Kinney."

A brow rose as Doc looked down at the dark camp. "And that man down there's one of them?"

"Hmm?" Kristal queried quietly, it took a second for Doc's question to register in her mind. So many thoughts were running through her head she almost hadn't heard him. "Oh hell no! Them down there are just scouts. Followin' me to see where I go, who I'm with an' the like. I'm not entirely sure what they're doin' or what they're plannin', but they can't go back to the wolf that's in charge o' 'em."

Doc was still terribly confused, "are we talking about wolves or people?"

A smirk flickered over Kristal's lips, "people."

"Okay..." The poet drawled out slow and deliberate trying to understand. "And what exactly are you planning on doing?" He was beginning to grow worried now.

"I'm gonna kill 'em."

The woman's words were so matter-of-fact, Doc found himself nodding in agreement before realizing what she said. "WHAT?!" Doc was now panicking. Was she serious? More killing. Hadn't there been enough?

Kristal just looked at Doc, a brow rising in the moonless night. It wasn't like she was speaking another language. Why was Doc having such a hard time grasping the situation? "They can't go back an' tell Ace where I am, Doc."

"Who's Ace?" Doc was so confused and continued to wish he had stayed behind.

Now Billy felt the need to chime in. He had understood everything so far. But when she started talking about this Ace fellow, he grew concerned. "I was wondering the same thing. That the man that bumped into me?" At her nod, he frowned watching her closely, "I see... who is this Ace to you then? Old lover perhaps?" Billy queried, his voice had dropped a little. The normal playfulness in his tone, gone. He was annoyed.

This time it was Kristal's turn to hiss, "what?!" She shook her head, her own annoyance rising. "Ace ain't nothin' more'n a snake in the grass. I already told ya I ain't ever had a lover." Did they think she was lying about that? Damn them! "Ace worked fer Belle. He got it in his head that he wanted me... kinda became obsessed. He wanted us ta be lovers... but I spurned him," she paused and turned away from the two blonds. "Not that the asshole still didn't try," Kristal added under her breath, an unwanted memory, one she had pushed deep down, threatening to surface.