A Life Of 'Shine - Lem Fike

18

After selling a few batches of moonshine with the help of her lover, Nora decided that she should take a quick trip of Rhodes on business, saying her goodbye's with Lem until she were to return from her adventure.

When she got to the town she noticed it to be unusually quiet, save for the few faces she saw but it's usual residents were nowhere to be found. Walking around, Nora noticed the familiar face of Sean MacGuire talking with two associates she recognised from the Van Der Linde gang. One she knew as Micah Bell, Arthur having told her about him that night of the party.

She hoped to not be recognised by any of the men, or at least called over but with Sean MacGuire in company she was bound to be dragged into small chit chat while they waited. And she was, the irishman being more than happy to drag her over to the small group she learned to be waiting on Arthur.

They conversed for a little while before Morgan showed up, already tired of Micah and his bitter tone as was she.

Soon the small group had began to walk down the street, something about a job but there was something off about the situation. Something Nora couldn't quite shake no matter how hard she tried and judging by Arthur's facial expression, he felt it too.

"This don't feel right. Step off of the road, something's off." Nora whispered, walking into an alleyway after the boys. She turned to face Sean who had barely taken a step forward before a bullet grazed the side of his face.

Both Sean and Nora stared on in shock, the idea of Sean being close to death wasn't something either expected their day to go out. She wondered what would have happened if she hadn't of said anything, if Sean would still be standing with them or if he'd be dead in a puddle of his own blood. Still, he was standing out in the open with disbelief and fear across his face and being out there wasn't drifting him any further from safety. Quickly, Nora reached out to grab onto his hand before pulling him into the cover of the alley.

"You alright, Sean?" Arthur's voice was clear amongst the bullets and the screams of agony, by now a firefight had broke out and all the group could do was pray that they would be able to walk away victorious.

"I'm alright. Wasn't hit, was I?"

"Unfortunately." Nora joked, holding her rifle in her hands as if it had the capability of growing legs and walking away. She took a breath before peeking around the corner, aiming blindly before firing a couple shots. A tortured scream being enough to make her believe she had hit a target. Where didn't matter.

Sean had come back down from the shock and had joined in on the battle, shooting whatever moved only if it fired at them first. Soon the group split up, that way they could cover more ground and be rid of the Gray's who undoubtedly started this mess. Nora making sure to keep a close eye on Sean, even if acted if he was alright she could see the close call with death had a negative effect on his mind; his eyes like glass as his attention wasn't solely on those shooting at him.

"Where's Bill?" Nora could hear Arthur shooting over the gunfire, followed by an unintelligible response from Micah she either didn't pick up or chose to ignore. However, while she did hear Arthur's question she was unable to provide an answer, having not seen Bill since she split up to shoot at the Gray's from a different location.

Still shooting with her rifle, Nora was able to thin out the enemies despite the never ending supply of the Gray family produced. When she was confident to run, she fled to the sheriff's office with Sean in tow- joining Arthur and Micah before one Leigh Gray decided to leave the safety of his office with Williamson under his arm, a revolver pressed to his skull.

Few words were exchanged before Arthur was able to kill Sheriff Gray and some of the other men Nora failed to recognise, Micah helping by finishing off one or two others. After what felt like hours and hundreds of bullets later, there was finally a sense of safety as the town grew quiet. No more bad guys to shoot at them, no more people killed at the foot of Nora's gun.

"What the hell was that?" Nora spat, a sharp turn of her heel to face the men who turned to acting as if a firefight was a regular occurrence for them. From what Sean had told her, it was.

"Sean nearly had a brand new window through his skull! You nearly lost a member of your gang and I nearly lost one of my damn closest friends. So what the hell happened and why did it?"

Micah laughed, staring down at her with hatred in his eyes. He made point of walking closer until they were inches apart to intimidate the girl, but having been in Sisika for a few months, battling revenue agents while avoiding angered flames of fire and killing Reid Hixon, Nora was a lot tougher than she even believed herself; all Micah was doing was something she considered stupid and childish.

"Listen here, girly." He began, holding venom in his tongue as he spoke. "We might not have got shot at if the Gray's didn't see us with an outlaw. So maybe, this is your fault."

"Or maybe Sean would have been dead. I seen the numbers, I seen how many Gray's was here. That don't look like no normal social call, Micah."

Arthur had grabbed Micah by his shoulder to pull him away from Nora who was just about ready to put a bullet through his skull, making up for the one that missed Sean's by centimetre's. She wanted to protest to Arthur saving him but she knew that killing him wouldn't have gone over so well with the rest of the Van Der Linde gang still at large, she doubted her own survival if she did kill one of their own.

"She has a point. She did tell us to move and if we hadn't Sean might not have lived to now." Arthur was defending her, a good move if she ever did see one and although Bill and Sean were quiet during this exchange, she hoped that the person they would be sticking with would be her.

"You better tell Dutch that staying where you are now ain't so much a good idea. You should go and go before anyone else finds you, I'll be in Valentine if you need me. Or go to the shack, you know where it is; I know you do and if Maggie asks, I sent you." Nora called for Beanz, mounting him as she spoke and with one tip of her hat she rode off; leaving the boys alone to their own devices.

"Stupid whore." Micah said through gritted teeth. The other's heard but paid it no attention as they mounted their own horses.

"You're alright, Sean." Arthur calmed, looking over at the irishman who only stared blankly in disbelief. In a comfortable and needed silence, the squad all moved back to their camp. Arthur planning to inform Dutch right away of their plan going wrong and pleading with him to move to a safer location.