Denver Dogs

Chapter 1: Flagstaff

 Fern walked towards Flagstaff. She was a tall Mexican woman with a long, thin face. She had high, prominent cheekbones and hazel eyes. A long scar rode along her right cheek. Her brown hair was long on the top, tied into a ponytail. The sides were shaven. She wore a brown leather coat, worn and covered in many old stains. Underneath the coat was a white tank top, stained with a bit of blood from a gunshot she took. She wore worn out jeans as her bottoms, and black combat boots. At her side was a holstered .44 and a bowie knife. At the other side of her belt was a holotape player, connected to a pair of headphones around her neck. In her hand was a cloth sack, with the bottom slightly stained a reddish-brown.

The Legionnaire guarding the city gates looked her up and down.

"Name?" The man asked.

"Feronia Guerra." She responded. The legionnaire jotted something down on a notepad,

"Business?"

"Bounty hunter."

The legionnaire looked amused.

"A woman bounty hunter? You amuse me."

" I ain't joking. I can prove it. Here." She tossed him the sack. He opened it up. He looked impressed.

"Very well." He jotted another few words down on his notepad. "Didn't think a woman would be the one to kill Lance." The way he said "woman" pissed Fern off to no end.

"Well, this woman did more to him than you did, or the whole of the Legion for that matter. That head's more than enough proof. I bet I get more women than any of y'all ever will either."

The man looked amused. "Heh. You certainly have some guts. You know homosexuality is punishable by crucifixion here, yes?"

"Yeah, and? I've gotten out of worse situations before."

"Ha! Normally I'd kill a degenerate like you right here and now, but you amuse me. Go on through. Stay out of trouble, though. Few will be as amused by your antics as I am."

With that, he waved her through the gates.

 Collin walked through the gates of Flagstaff. His contubernia was walking through the gates of the city, returning from their patrol. He was tall and lanky. He had less muscle than most of his peers. His dirty blonde hair was shaved to buzz cut, as was the hair of most Legionnaires. He had big brown eyes, a small nose, and his face was covered in freckles.

The gates were opened to the group without any checks, except for the basic forms they needed to fill out at the end of patrol. He listened in on a conversation between a gate guard and a traveler. A bounty hunter, from what he overheard. She was quite a feisty woman, even in front of a Legionnaire. It was entertaining, to say the least.

But then he heard another thing coming from her. Something that amazed and confused him in equal measure. She openly said she was a homosexual. She was homosexual and open about it, despite it being a crime punishable by death. Collin knew a legionnaire who killed a favored slave merely due to rumors of a romantic relationship between the two. Collin wasn't even aware that there were people who were openly gay. He took a long look at her after she was done checking in with the gate guard. He memorized her face. Every single detail, no matter how small. He would find her that night. He needed to know more.

A few hours later, he and his comrades were in their bunks, getting ready for sleep. While the rest of his comrades were either laying down and slowly drifting to sleep or talking amongst themselves, Collin was leaving the barracks.

"Recruit! Where are you going?" Collin looked behind him. It was Jackal, his Decanus.

"Oh, I'm, uh, j-just going on a n-nighttime w-walk to get some air. It's p-peaceful, don't you think?"