Hoofbeats thundered from the outskirts of town onto the main street, and Kitty clenched her eyes closed. She pursed her lips and began nodding as gunshots and whooping calls of exultation began.

  Hands raised defensively in front of himself, Kurt took a step backwards. “This is not my fault.”

  “I know that Kurtis, I really do. But I’m still gonna blame you for it,” Kitty said.

  She pulled her shotgun down and tucked it into her shoulder, moving forward on the boardwalk at a cautious pace. As they approached the corner that would lead them into the main street, they tucked into the shadows of the building front in time for Jacob’s posse to ride by them. Jacob himself was at the lead, his truncated arm a dead giveaway.

  He didn’t look the same, his full head of hair was black and close cropped, and his clothing much finer. His reins were held in his bad arms’ new hook, and he had a shining silver revolver clenched in his other hand. As he rode by, he fired his revolver at anyone foolish or unlucky enough to be on the streets, but neither he nor any of his men looked down their alleyway.

  The men fired their guns into the air and hollered, and Kitty could hear the gunfire starting all over town already. Most of it was coming from the saloon. She gave her team a grim nod and started running down the boardwalk.

  Kurt drew an ebony-handled double action revolver and followed. Gadot pulled her bow around, nocked an arrow, and brought up the rear. They stopped outside the batwing doors, Kitty peering inside as Kurt and Gadot covered her.

  Several of Jacob’s posse were huddled behind the bar, with more of them hiding behind overturned tables, and yet more scattered dead around the floor. Jimmy and Nels had the saloon’s tack piano pulled out from the opposite wall and were exchanging fire with the other force from behind it.

  As she watched, Nels popped around from the side of the piano and fired as Jimmy did the same from the other side. One of the men nearest the door fell over dead, a gaping hole in his head. His partner panicked and ran for the batwing doors, so Kitty took a step back and pointed her shotgun at them.

  His eyes went wide as he pushed open the doors, and then they vanished in a cloud of red mist as Kitty squeezed the trigger. Gore splattered across his friends near the door, and Kitty stepped over his body as it landed inside, missing its head. She produced an advanced fire bottle from her satchel and yanked the pin out with her teeth, before tossing it against the wall behind the bar.

  Gadot joined her in the doorway and pinned a man to the wall by his throat with an arrow, turning and drawing her revolver as his partner started firing at her. She screamed as a bullet struck her in the shoulder, glared at the man and fired as she fell. They both hit the floor at the same time, him with a hole in his forehead.

  Kitty dragged Gadot behind a nearby overturned table by the collar as Jimmy roared into the room from behind the piano, both guns blazing. He stepped past the women into a hail of gunfire, raising one gun at a time and firing on Jacob’s posse. Jimmy’s aggressive approach put down most of the remaining enemies in the saloon, but he took three bullets in the process and slumped down next to Kitty, bleeding.

  “This ain't The Life Jim-Jam,” Kitty chided. She shook her head at the big man as he coughed, producing a small splatter of blood on his chin.

  “Yeah, I’m startin’ to get that,” Jimmy said. He popped his Schofield revolver open, allowing the spent shell casings to spring free. “Nels is hit. Looked bad.”

  Kitty glanced at the piano, noticing a bloodstain creeping out from behind it. “Well damn, so much for my team.” She handed Jimmy a bottle of hard alcohol to swig from, and he froze as it touched his lips.

  “Don’t move!” It was shouted from behind their table, where Jacob’s remaining posse members stood. There were three of them left, each holding guns on Kitty and her wounded team-mates. One of them was bleeding, and his free hand was clutched to his side. He aggressively moved towards Jimmy, pointing his revolver at him. Jimmy shrugged and took a swig anyway.

  “Stop!” The middle of the three shouted. He pointed at Kitty. “Boss wants this one alive, we better turn these into him too.”

  “He shot me!” The other man’s eyes were wild, his lips curled back to show his teeth.

  “Pretty sure you got me too, if that’s any consolation.” Jimmy said with a chuckle, swigging from the bottle.

  Kitty glanced behind the group, seeing Kurt’s charcoal gambler’s hat sitting on the table behind the men. “Okay, you win. You got me, alright? I’ve got the medic perk, let me patch everyone up, that way we can all live to see Jacob.” She pointed at the angry injured man. “Even him.” The man in the middle produced a broad bladed knife and turned on his friends.

  Kurt started with the target Kitty had pointed out, stepping close behind him and sinking his knife into the man’s chest. His gun fell to the floor as his eyes shot wide open and he gaped like a fish. Kurt used the knife’s handle to turn his body and hide behind it, facing down his remaining ally as the man reacted, shooting his own friend. Kurt’s double action came up over the dead man’s shoulder and he shot the leader of the group in the face.

  “Thanks Kurtis. Go check on Nels for me, tell me how bad he’s hit.” Kitty dug in her satchel for medical supplies. She fished out her sewing kit, bandages, and the strange forceps she had gotten during her manhunt. Those laid out beside her, Kitty inspected Jimmy’s wounds. He was shot through and through in the left arm, but he had taken two rounds to the torso that were still there. One in the gut, one in the right side of his chest.

  Kurt spoke up then. “I can’t tell. Looks bad, lots of blood. He’s conscious. Won’t do anything but shake his head at me though.”

  Kitty turned to face Gadot. “How’s your wound?”

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  The other woman had her face screwed up in concentration, fingers dug into her shoulder. She grunted and ripped the round out, dropping it to the floor with a bloody clatter. “Fine.”

  Kitty’s eyes went a little wide, and she nodded with a short laugh. “Here.” She tossed Gadot the sewing kit and a bandage, turning back to work on Jimmy.

  She had an idea what the forceps were for, and pressed Jimmy down onto his back with a glance at the raging bonfire the bar had become. “I’d warn you against the pain, but somethin’ tells me you don’t really care that much.”

  He nodded. “Barely even feel it. This is good hooch.” Jimmy rattled the mostly empty alcohol bottle at his side, eyelids heavy.

  Kitty nodded, gave him a quick grin, and plunged the forceps into his chest wound. He clenched his teeth and squirmed a little but didn’t make a sound. She pressed down on the forceps, driving them further into the wound with a squelching noise. Finally, she felt a click against the device and smiled. She pressed them open, pressing down again until the hushed grind of metal on metal in her hand stopped. Then she closed the forceps and dragged them back out of his chest, dropping the slug into his open hand.

  Kitty turned back to see Gadot biting off the end of her own stitch work. “Hey, can you run upstairs and find the civvies please? Think they’re about to burn to death.”

  Gadot nodded once and dropped the sewing kit into Kitty’s outstretched hand. Kitty turned back to sew up the wound in Jimmy’s chest. It closed as she stitched, and the bleed stopped once Kitty had a bandage wrapped around it. She repeated the process to pull another slug from his stomach, sewed up that wound as well, and then focused on his arm. Once all of Jimmy’s wounds were sewn and bandaged, Kitty ran over to Nels’ side.

  “Miss Kitty . . . I’m gone.” Nels was laid out flat behind the piano, hand clutching his throat as blood seeped from beneath the wound. She shushed him as she knelt to get a better look. Prying apart his fingers, she could see a furrow carved in the muscle of his neck between throat and shoulder. She sat back on her heels, flames cascading across the ceiling behind her and sighed.

  “Nels, we’re gonna have to talk about bandages, and when you’re supposed to use them.” Kitty gave him a severe look over the stitch work she started on his wound. She wrapped a length of bandage around his chest to keep it in place and wiped her hands off on his jacket. “Done. It was a flesh wound, you big baby. Barely even needed three stitches. Drink some booze, you’ll be fine.”

  Gadot led the saloon owner and his four prostitutes down the stairs then, coughing at the smoke filling up the area. The flames had consumed most of the room, and Kitty’s team was backed up against the wall furthest from the door.

  Kitty glanced around at her team and shook her head. Gadot was helping Jimmy to his feet, and Kurt was dragging Nels over. The saloon owner looked downright miserable, ash and blood mixing with the bruises on his face. One of the prostitutes was tearing strips off the bottom of her frilly dress and handing them out to the other women with her. As Kitty watched, she gave them some quick instructions and then showed them how to wrap the strips around their faces to breathe through.

  “You! What’s your name?” Kitty pointed at the woman.

  “Sally.” The woman replied through her breathing mask.

  “Well Sally, you’re with me. We need to get these people out of here.” Kitty started coughing then, motioning for Sally to follow her. The two women approached the nearest window, and Kitty pointed to the far end of an overturned table nearby. Together, they righted it, lifted it, and smashed it through the window. Kitty kicked at the bottom of the table until it was wedged in place, forming a ramp to the waist high window and covering the broken glass. She waved her team over, before climbing out herself.

  The street was empty, but she could hear gunfire just beyond the curve in the road. “Hurry!” Kitty hissed.

  Gadot helped Jimmy over to the window, and he grunted as he climbed out before drawing one of his revolvers and leaning heavily against the wall. Kitty helped from the outside as each of the people was brought out through the window. Most of them simply walked out in a crouch, coughing and gasping in the fresh night air. Nels still couldn’t stand, so Kurt dragged him out by the back of his collar. Gadot and Kurt each took an arm to carry him to the train, and Kitty stayed to help Jimmy.

  The gunfire moved closer as her group of mostly wounded people struggled across the street. Hearing rapid footfalls from a nearby alley, Kitty realized they were about to be caught out in the open and clutched an improved fire bottle, one finger hooked through the pin.

  Six men ran from the alleyway, all looking over their shoulders. They turned as a unit, all firing their guns as Abraham emerged from the alley in pursuit. His dark hair was undone, wild around his shoulders, and his long tangled beard was patchy with blood. He roared and threw something as he charged, bullets striking all over his body.

  A stone axe hurtled by Kitty and blasted through a wooden pillar, spraying splinters as it sank into the burning wall behind the ruined pillar. It was smeared red. One of the men dropped to his knees, fingers automatically going to the gaping hole in his chest. Then Abraham was among them, swinging wildly with his machete. Body parts flew and blood sprayed as guns discharged into the man point blank. He didn’t flinch as the bullets spattered into him, causing small gouts of blood as they struck. Kitty watched every move he made with rapt attention.

  “Oh shit . . .” Gadot whispered it next to Kitty, also staring at the whirlwind of death in the street ahead of them.

  “Hey no fair! How come he can get shot but it puts me down so hard?” Jimmy piped up behind the women.

  “Oh yeah, totally forgot. This world is all kinds of supernatural. I think my 'individual story arc' is pushing it that way.” Kitty started moving again as Abraham’s fight wound down, the last of Jacob’s posse trying to drag what was left of his own body away from the big man. “I’ll have to tell you about the naked cat woman thingy I got into a fight with earlier.”

  Abraham stepped out of a hanging fog of black powder, moving towards Kitty’s group menacingly. He produced another stone axe from his satchel before Kitty stepped in front of him, hands on her hips.

  She cocked her head to the side and smiled at him. “Hello Abraham.”

  He stopped, blinking hard a couple of times. “Sorry Kit.”

  “Nothing to apologize for, you saved us.” She gestured behind her, to the group of wounded players and civilian NPCs. “These are my people. Will you help us?”

  Abraham looked over Kitty’s head at her gathered troupe before giving her a single nod.

  “Okay great! Thanks a bunch, big guy.” Kitty turned and took stock. “Right. Kurtis, I need you to gather up all the weapons you can find. Any guns or ammo, we’re gonna need em. Everyone else, we need to get to the train station, that’s our safe hub right now.” She clapped her hands. “Let’s go!”

  Abraham gently lifted Nels into his arms, carrying the smaller man as he walked at the back of their group. As soon as she started walking towards the end of the street, she heard gunfire from the train station.

  “Keep em safe!” Kitty barked, breaking into a run.

  The two shots she had been expecting sounded, but they were followed by more, until the cacophony of gunfire went suddenly still. She rounded the corner, shotgun cradled in her arms. The train station doors were wide open, the interior darkened. She could see blood on the door frame.

  Kitty burst into the dark station, being careful to avoid the two bodies in the doorway. She missed the next two though and stumbled over one. The men were from Jacob’s gang, and had each been shot in the face twice. Andrés was seated in the corner, his head resting against his upraised knees. He still held the revolver she had given him, and a thin trail of gun smoke wisped up from the barrel.