Katelyn 'Kit' "The Wildcat" Lancaster

Getting Aquainted

Katelyn woke slowly. Everything seemed to be in a haze. Something that was starting to happen a little too often for her liking. She was laying down on her back and blankly staring up at what looked like the top of a tent. She moved her head to the side and noticed cots and someone's personal belongings scattered about. Not that any of this mattered at the moment. Katelyn's mind felt comfortably numb, so she went back to staring up at the canvas above her.
Soon enough though her thoughts began to catch up with her and when she started putting two and two together she suddenly tried to sit up in alarm. Which was immediately followed with her letting out a yelp and groan of pain and hunching in on herself slowly.

Katelyn heard a voice. "Hey now, take it easy. You don't want to hurt yourself more than you already are, do ya?" The source of the voice turned out to be from an older woman wearing a red blouse and a messy bun. Quickly Katelyn tried to blink away the small, pain filled tears in the corners of her eyes before addressing the woman.
"Who are you, where am I? Why am I here?" She said rather aggressively for someone in the worse position. "Well," said the woman in red her hands on her hips. "I am Miss Grimshaw, and you are in the camp of the gang of Dutch Van Der Line. And the reason why you are here is because when our boys was chasin' ya, they saw your horse throw you pretty hard and decided to bring you back here instead'a leavin' you on the side of the road. Which is very fortunate for you, cause you're banged up pretty bad."

Katelyn let all that information sink in before letting out a small "oh.."
She paused for a moment, slowly trying to sit up. Miss Grimshaw noticed Katlyn's pained movements and and helped her to sit.
"There you are now dear." She said this softly, sitting down next to her. Katlyn let out a soft sigh, her brows furrowing.
"I don't understand Miss. why help me if I tried to rob y'all?"
She let out a small chuckle at the question. "You were only tryin to steal food, girl. When it's something like that, usually that person needs help. And we ain't like other gangs. We help people when theys need of helpin'. It's a point of pride for old Dutch." They sat there in silence for a while, Katlyn's arm wrapped around her midsection.
"God I don't know what that horse did to me," Katelyn eventually spoke up "but it feels like my insides were shaken around in a bag of rocks."

Ms. Grimshaw let out a friendly chuckle.
"That horse sure did bang you up pretty darn well. If you want to look at the bright side you won't be riding him again. But I guess you'd now best be on the lookout for a new horse." At these words Katelyn's eyes widened and she gasped, causing the older woman to look at her concerned. "Augustus!" Katelyn nearly shouted as she began to fumble around as best she could "I have to get back to Augustus! It's been too long, somethin mighta happened to him! I gotta go miss, I gotta go get him!"

"Whoa whoa whoa there girl, calm down for a minute. Now what in blazes are you talking about, child? You ain't making any sorta sense." Miss Grimshaw was gently holding Katelyn down so she wouldn't bolt up and injure herself as she was currently trying to do. She stared into the younger girl's wide, fear filled eyes until she had stopped panicking enough to give her a straight answer.

"Augustus" Katelyn began, "he's my horse. I got separated from him when I was attacked by a group of O'Driscols a few days ago. He would've went back to camp but since I haven't come back in a few days I don't know what could've happened to him. I have to go find him, he means everything to me. Not to mention has most of my important items on him," she finished in a rush.

"Slow down, child, you were attacked by O'Driscols?"
"Yes," Katelyn replied absentmindedly, "but that's not important at the moment. What's important is that I get back to my horse!"

It was at this time a new voice interrupted. "Well well, looks like our new friend has decided to wake up. You had us worried there miss."

Katelyn looked up to see two men had approached, one dressed rather fancy for living it rough and the other was a slightly older man. "Allow me to properly introduce myself. I am Dutch Van Der Line and I am the leader of this here gang. And who might you be?" He had a certain charm for this, Katelyn noticed.
"I am Katelyn, sir. Katelyn Lancaster." She offered simply.