Billy is an outlaw, the most wanted gangster in all of America, when he brings havoc into her life, intertwining their fates. His problems become hers, as she becomes hooked onto his charismatic but mysterious character. This man will be the death o...
I experience the next couple of minutes in between pulses of black. My brain fogs up. Men are shouting, but I can't decipher what anyone's saying.
For a second I thought he had shot me, but then suddenly I'm behind Billy again, just like the other night. He launched out of his chair after he fired to grab a hold of my wrist, pulling me with him. His bullet killed a man from rivalling Murphy's gang. A group of them turned up to have Billy killed, once and for all. The rest of them are circling the buildings. He heaves me after him, out between more dead people lying in lumps on the floor, toward a back door. He exits first, while his bullets rip through the air, clearing the space of danger for just long enough. I am thrown up into the saddle of a dapple grey mare. Before I have time to react, he swats the horse's behind and sets it and I off into a gallop, headed away from the slaughter.
It's been a decade since I last rode on horseback. Back when mother still breathed Earth's sweet air Milo and I learnt on the neighbours horse, before we had to move. I figured I would have forgotten by now, but most of it came back to me like running water the moment my thighs touched the saddle. I ride until I've laid the chaos behind me. Heart pounding violently behind my ribs, I dismount.
As the mares big, kind eyes meet mine, I can't help but wonder how many deaths she has witnessed. Her presence slows my racing heartbeat slightly, as we wait for the turmoil from the distant settlement to silence down.
Eventually silence does engulf the land,
but it's not a pleasant kind.
My settled heartbeat proves short-lived. I think of Billy, and the air around me feels heavier, more difficult to force down into my tired lungs. Shortly after the sound dies out, I get into the saddle and begin my ride back.
Upon returning to face the same tall gate, I encounter three dead bodies laying under the blinding sun. While scanning the ground erratically for Billy's, a painful knot begins to form in my throat.
"We are even now" that familiar, orotund voice calls out from behind me. He has arrived to untie my knot. I dismount and face him, when my eyes are caught in his. "Even, but not out of disaccord" I reply, as Milo returns to mind. All I see is a noose around his neck. Without further thought I put my palm against my revolver. He doesn't flinch. He doesn't react at all. Even gunpoint, all he does is sigh slightly "I have told you all I can already. There is nothing I can do for you". "Bullshit" I yell, as my eyes start to gloss over. "They are children " I then cry out.
Abruptly his body stiffens at my words. His usually watercolour eyes, pale. He hadn't known of their youth until the moment I shrieked it out at him. He swallows, and his face falls slowly. My eyes widen at him as he contemplates, until he finally mumbles "I expect Murphy's men already know our new recruits' names, miss. If I let them go now they stand on their own against them". My arms begin to lower, and my palm falls from the revolver by my waist, "I can only ensure their safety myself, by having them stay here". My jaw drops at his remark, and I look around at the bodies around us, hinting at my thoughts. "There are three more inside" he says, "They are all Murphy's except for one".
His response sends a shiver of ice running along my spine. Subsequently, somewhere within myself, I realise that he is right. The only way to protect Milo has morphed into handing him over to Billy. In reality, he has been his since yesterday, and fiddling in the matter will only ensure a greater entanglement. I step closer, and look up at him. My tears can't be held back as I land at the conclusion. Milo is irreversibly a gangster. Billy slides the back of his fingers across my forehead, swiping a strand of hair behind my ear. My lips tremble when he continues gently, "I want to keep my men safe, too. Allow me to house your brother here, away from any trouble with the law". I don't respond, but he understands that I have no choice but to agree to his offer. I raise my right hand, which holds the reins to the grey mare, to return her. "Keep her. You can use her to bring your brother over before the sheriff finds anything out".
Billy was orphaned during his childhood just like Milo and I were. Stripped of anyone he has ever cared for, he has no one. I know with every cell of my body, too, that this man will be the death of me. He's a Venus flytrap and I'm the fly.
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