Young Guns: Fire and Steel

Chapter 1: Introductions

So, yeah, I love Young Guns. And I have done role plays before with my girl Kristal Starr and Billy the Kid, and it got me thinking, I should try and do a fanfiction. So, I did this one. It honestly helps when I have a friend who loves and knows so much about Billy that it's inspiring. She and I have tossed around so many ideas and she is, hands down, the best writer of Billy I've ever known. Anywho, disclaimer - the only thing I own is my own character I created, Kristal Starr and maybe a few other random people I'll probably bring in. So, yeah... please enjoy and let me know what y'all think because I truly love feedback.
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It had been days since she had last seen a town or anything other than a few ranches scattered about the barren wasteland of New Mexico Territory. In a way, she was glad there was no one out and about. No one to recognize or interrogate her on why the hell she was bleeding from a hole in her side. As well as no one to question why she was alone and dressed like she was, when most women were respectable, genteel creatures who didn't venture far from civilization if they had a choice. That was not who she was. Still it was a small blessing, to not be bothered by folk who would pester her with incessant questions.

However, she was beginning to worry about the injury. It burned fiercely despite her crude attempt to clean and gut the bullet out. She had wrapped it best she could too, but it kept bleeding, and that was what she mostly worried about --- blood loss. She needed to find a safe place to stop, continue to gut her wound, and rest but where?

Riding forward, she swayed on her black mustang, feeling faint. Beads of sweat had been forming on her brow for some time now, and she worried she may have a fever... which meant she probably had some sort of infection or maybe it was just too much blood loss. She didn't know, nor did she care. At the moment all that mattered was getting somewhere safe to assess the full extent of her injury.

Cursing beneath her breath, she rode on coming to a road. Halting her horse's steps, she looked down the road in one direction. Nothing. A dry desert terrain, littered with cacti, joshua trees, and sage bushes amidst barren dirt. Turning her aching head the other way, she saw a wagon approaching from over a hill. Her brows furrowed at the sight and she turned to take off when someone called out.

"Halt!" Came a very British sounding voice.

The blonde woman debated on whether to bolt. Though, she doubted she would get far. It was all she could do to stay on her horse at that moment. Not to mention the man riding shotgun had a rifle in hand. She was tired of being shot at.

"You are awfully close to my land..." An older British man spoke, holding the reins. It was clear by how he held himself, the straight and confident posture, that he was the one in charge. "What are you doing out here... alone?"

Lifting her head up, the brim of her hat shadowing her piercing gaze, she eyed them all. It was then she noticed someone in the back of the wagon causing her lips to tilt into a wary frown. "Wanderin'." Was all she answered, her voice low and husky. She wasn't thrilled with being stopped. These men made her eyes narrow, ever vigilant.

"You're a girl?" The younger man with the rifle blurted, a surprised smile flicking across his face.

"She looks like hell," came the voice of the man in the back of the wagon, holding a pistol on her. "She ain't dressed like a girl normally would neither." His expression held confusion at the mere sight of her.

"William, that is no way to talk to a lady." The older man shook his head and lifted his hand before slowly lowering it, a gesture for the blond boy with the cap that sat behind him. "And you can put your gun away. There's no need for it."

"Ain't no lady here, Mister. Jus' me," she practically snarled, disliking the fact he had called her a lady. The blonde woman also wasn't too fond at the attention they were giving her. Their scrutiny was making her nervous.