Young Guns: Fire and Steel

Chapter 9: Paper Exaggerations and Fights

"Nine men lay dead or at death's door yesterday at noon following a gunfight between Lincoln resident Henry Hill, forty-five, and what patrons have called a 'kid'. A local miner has identified the kid as one Henry McCarthy...also known as William H. Bonney, nineteen or twenty. In a flaming shootout, the kid, Billy, killed Mr. Hill then took on an onslaught of Hill's partisans bringing the damage to six verified slayings. Bonney is believed to be the captain of a deputized gang and acquiesced the help of one outlaw, Kristal Starr. Starr is known to be the daughter of outlaw Queen, Belle Starr. This outlaw Princess, once thought to be dead, is a deadly rival for a young woman of eighteen. She is known to have four murders under her belt including a Marshall. This young lady has no qualms in killing men or women, having killed a lady friend of Mr. Hill's. In the gunfight with Mr. Hill, she was noted to have killed five of her own, with both knife and gun."

Doc lowered the paper he had just read and frowned, visibly shaken. His gaze shifted to Dick who took the paper from him and glared down at it. Doc was sure the whole damn town had probably read that by now, but his only thoughts were on a lovely China girl, hoping she didn't get the wrong impression of him.

They had made it back to town and were now hiding behind one of the large walls guarding the town. The group was tired, but tense and ready to snap, especially their true leader, Richard Brewer.

"Captain? Outlaw Princess? What the fuck is this!" Dick growled slamming the paper down.

Steve grumbled, appearing displeased, "how come it don't say nothing about the two I closed out. It mentions her and Billy, but not the rest of us."

Glancing at Steve while standing off to the side, Kristal glowered at the man.

"Shit, Dick, you sent a lamb into a slaughter and he walked out a king sheep." Charlie moaned and rested his head back on the wall behind him. "How the hell did they even know Kristal was with us?"

This time Kristal's gaze landed on Charlie, "because we didn't kill 'em all. If we would have, no one could have said a damn thing about any of us. Pretty damn sure our names wouldn't even be in the paper. They'd jus' be speculatin'." She was irritated by the paper's acknowledgement of her, especially of her so called wrongdoings.

Dick was about to respond to her, when Chavez spoke up, "El Chivato. Billy the Kid. And... Proscrito Princesa. Outlaw Princess, Kristal Starr." He was twirling his knife as he spoke and lifted his gaze to Kristal, a smirk on his face. He nearly laughed when the woman turned those sharp green eyes on him in a glare and lifted his hands in the air as if to surrender to her.

"Sounds like some badly written dime novel." Dirty Steve commented with a roll of his eyes.

"Murphy's gonna want blood, brains, and balls for this."

Kristal rolled her eyes at McCloskey's comment. They had more issues than just Murphy now. Green eyes watched the boy, a nagging feeling at the back of her mind. Something about him made her wary and she knew to trust her instincts.

Remembering when he had showed up at Tunstall's door step, a frown crept over her lips. McCloskey had worked for Murphy before. Could he still be working for him? The thought nearly made her eyes widen, but she caught it before she reacted. Was she the only one with suspicions? Hadn't Billy said something...? Maybe Doc? She couldn't recall, so that meant there was no one she could go to and it bothered her.

Noticing Kristal staring at him, McCloskey winked at her. Which she responded by glaring at him, hatred burning in her eyes and mouthed "asshole". He in turn chuckled at her reaction.

Billy came over then, after keeping a keen eye out and leaned against the wall. Doc eyed the fellow blond before noting that Kristal turned away from him. She had been avoiding Billy since the day before. He knew that she wasn't fond of Bonney, but this was even more extreme. The woman wouldn't look at him or go near him. It was as if she avoided his very presence in a wide berth. Peering through a small gap in the wall, he spotted the person he was waiting for. Yen Sun! Straightening his hair, he turned to meet her at the far end of the wall.