Ch. 01 - Feather and a Knife

"What's my name, girl?" He purred.

"S-Seth! Seth, fuck-you-you-fucking—mmmn!"

He licked his thumb before dropping his hand, burying it amongst the fine, downy feel of red hair covering her mons, seeking out her clitoris. He rubbed her slowly, smirking as he felt her arch against the ground. He watched her eyes open to him as she moaned and writhed beneath his ministrations in shameless abandon, her half-lidded gaze clouded in lust.

"Who do you belong to?" The low, teasing growl of his voice excited her. She stifled a prurient laugh as he rolled his finger gently against her clit, the other teasing the tenderness of her dainty nipples, one after the other.

"You—youfuckingasshole—mmmn, don't-stop-don't-stop-please," her voice lilted as her slender fingers curled hard, bunching the layers of blankets beneath in her palms as she barreled toward the edge.

"That's right. Now tell me what you want."

"Y-Your—aah--your m-mouth, please! Please Seth, make me cum, please... I—mm—I need, mmmn... I need it—I need you!" She felt the hotness of his tongue replace the hand between her legs as she forced out the lewd, yearning plea for release. Her fingers shot up, coiling among his long hair, a touch more gentle than when he began. His tongue lashed her clitoris over and over, the silken crescendos of her moans flowing freely as she pulled him closer and felt his sinful manipulations finally reach the peak of pure ecstasy.

Her muscles coiled as she shook beneath him, panting heavily, her teeth pulling her bottom lip between them as climax forced wave after intense wave through her body. Her toes curled, and his hands shifted, grasping her thighs roughly knowing her tendencies well by now. She'd locked her legs around his head a few times already with enough force to crush a weaker man's skull. He lapped the muted, musky sweetness of her with greedy satisfaction, feeling her body shudder in response to her hypersensitivity beneath the slow stimulation of his lips and tongue. When she finally fell still, she all but collapsed where she lay, her chest heaving as she struggled to regain control over her breath.

He drew back from her, pressing tender kisses to her soft inner thighs. The peak of arousal he felt himself at was damn near painful, but it was nothing he couldn't handle himself. There was something far more enjoyable about pleasuring the delicate young thing splayed out beneath him; a vision beside the dying fire that danced over her bare pallid flesh and her red hair pooled around her head. Her eyes lulled shut as she basked in the afterglow of orgasm, sighing as he slowly wiped the remnants of her juices from his lips and beard with the dark bandanna pulled from the pocket of his jeans.

Sidewinder tucked the bandanna away before moving to stand. Bending at the waist, he carefully wrapped the top layer of thick wool blankets around her slender form before lifting her effortlessly into his arms. "Bedtime, missy."

"I can walk—let me get dressed," Fox protested in a lazy murmur, but did not struggle or squirm as she did any other time he might have picked her up. A low chuckle passed his lips. He pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"Hush. I'll come back out for your clothes." Sidewinder smirked.

"But, Moxie—" Fox began.

"I'll take her saddle off too, after I run a bath for you. You're right, you do smell like horses." He grinned as she giggled, driving a small fist weakly into his shoulder.

"Asshole." Fox smothered a languid grin and curled her face against his neck, a slender arm looping around as he carried her across the lot to the room they shared. Her eyes wandered above to what looked to be a million stars speckling the late summer night sky. Another contented sigh passed her lips as she leaned her head to his shoulder. She felt very much like a princess being delicately transported in the arms of her protector.

"I mean, I like horses... so it ain't all bad." He supported her with one arm as he opened the door and brought her inside, the room moderately warmer than the fifty degree temperatures outside. Sidewinder closed the door quietly and set her down gently on the bed. He moved to the back of the quaint room, striking a match and illuminating the candles surrounding the wide marble tub.

The darkness wasn't unsettling, not to Fox. She felt the world always looked disturbingly bright to her, especially in the darkness. There hadn't been power running these parts in nearly a decade. It was fortunate that the Caliente Hot Springs Motel was true to its name. The mineral water was wonderfully warm, pumped through the pipes directly from the source of springs out back with no need to rely on electricity or gas. Sidewinder turned the tap as Fox pushed the blanket from around her and moved to strike matches to light the candles in the room. Sidewinder swatted her tempting, round bubble butt as he passed her.

"Don't fall asleep and drown in the tub. I'll be back."

There was no doubt resting hours were her least favorite time of the day. Even in such an isolated place, Fox couldn't remember a time when she wasn't roused by the slightest sound, or a night terror. Pleasant dreams seemed like a myth. Waking well rested seemed like a luxury that only those who lived in fabled 'cities' experienced. It took months for Fox to grow accustomed to not sleeping with her fingers tight around a dagger. Longer to sleep through for over three hours before waking in panic.

It wasn't often she was awake before Sidewinder. She doubted the man slept at all. She had woken more than a few times fighting with the demons behind closed eyes to find him already up and bringing her around from her night terrors. When her eyes opened, she found him motionless, resting beside her still.

Her cheek was pressed to his solid chest. He pulled her close in sleep, nestled near him in a way that made her feel as if she was made for the spot curled at his side. With a sleepy smile she slipped from his grasp and slid the duvet up over him, gathering her boots and towel with ease in the pitch black room. She rummaged through the thick leather backpack she kept her meager belongings in for a long, worn chiffon slip. Guiding it over her head and shifting the thickness of her hair trapped beneath, the long tresses cascaded down her back.

Fox reached for her hip holster containing her throwing daggers, stuffed her small feet into her boots, and quietly exited the room. Bathing before the night ended whenever possible was always nice. Fox felt she woke in cold sweat far too often, and before Caliente was rendered a long gone smudge on her memory, she wanted to enjoy what little it had left to offer.

The Hot Springs Motel and Spa and all of its luxuries were off limits when the town was occupied. The community elect had never been fond of Fox, though she could hardly blame him. She was just one of many orphans, stranded fifteen years ago when the virus outbreak decimated the planet, with no families to claim them and no one to care for them. The good Christian people who gathered in this quiet community took pity on them.

Still, Fox was easily their most troublesome orphan; bucking the expected societal norms for both youth and women. She wandered the wilderness whenever possible, brought back all sorts of critters, 'borrowed' horses to joy ride and caused all sorts of mischief amongst the rancher and farmer families when she was a girl. That only seemed to amplify tenfold as she grew into a teenager, and Sidewinder's gang followed her back to the town and called her out as a thief. The elect was too eager to place her into his debt, hoping he'd take her and be done with it.

Of course, he hadn't expected that being claimed by the prior outlaw would stick them with Sidewinder's company for the next year when Fox refused to leave with him. If the elected official had known then that it would cost him his position as the ruling authority, he might have simply returned the stolen goods and sent the gang on their way. When the next cycle of votes fell in favor of the armed stranger for his heroism in defending their small town from passing raiders and violent threats of reanimated monsters, his wild ward only laughed. They named the once outlaw 'Peacekeeper' and the power dynamics shifted dramatically. It was poetic justice.

The sun was already peeking over the horizon. The absence of bird calls this year made the somber aura fallen over Caliente more definitive. The gathering place in the center of the lot was empty. She smirked at the fact that she had risen first and was eager to make good of her moment of solitude.

Fox padded her way around to the back of the motel with pep in her step. The walk was short, and she enjoyed not only the chance at stretching her legs, but the sight of the beautiful steaming spring hidden behind a grove of juniper and pine trees. She cast a glance over her shoulder and heard the horses nearby already gathered to graze on what they could find in the field.

She gingerly set her clothing and daggers at the edge of the natural pool, admiring the reflective colors that rippled along the graveled bottom. Pulling the slip over her head, Fox tested the water with a delicate foot. The springs at the source could be boiling sometimes. Once satisfied that it was not too hot, she waded through the steam and made her way to the deep center. With the water at her navel she sank down into the warmth of the natural mineral pool, leaned back, and allowed herself to become weightless. Her eyes closed out the world, letting her worries and troubles melt away with the warmth soaking into her toned muscles and bones. For the first time in a very, very long time, Fox found a moment of peace.

She paid no mind to the sound of the cantering horses or the feel of their hooves reverberating nearer in the water, raising her arms gently above her head, and slowly opened her eyes after ten minutes of drifting aimlessly with her ears beneath the healing waters. She watched the clouds for a moment speckling the pale morning sky. Is this what Rose feels like all the time? Not a care in the world?

As she moved to stand, water weighed down her long hair that swept the bottom of her shapely backside. The sound of the horses' whinnying inspired her to turn her head curiously. She pulled her long, wet ginger hair over her shoulder, squeezing droplets from it as she turned, wondering if Pup was causing trouble by startling the horses. But against the stark white stone of the building her eyes fell upon a figure that did not belong.

A tall, darkly dressed figure with a wide-brimmed hat on stood facing the spring, his back to the trees. Fox's peace shattered just that quickly, and she sank into the steaming pool, curling her arms instinctively over her young bare breasts. "Excuse the fuck out of you!"

"G'mornin' to you too, pretty." The deep chuckle of the stranger's voice echoed in the space surrounding the springs as he tipped his black hat.

"It's beyond rude to spy on a woman bathing. I'm not alone, so you know," Fox spat aggressively. The stranger stepped near; his boots did not echo with the tell of spurs, but he was leading a familiar chestnut quarter horse by the reins. Tipper.

Her nostrils flared as she narrowed her eyes at him, untrusting of everything about this man from his tall, wiry build to his pale, scarred face. He did look rather young, with wisps of his dark hair curling down around his gaunt cheeks and neck, but there was something aged and predatory in the way his dark eyes fixed on her. "Go back the way you came, merc. You're meeting Sidewinder, aren't you? Does it look like he's fucking back here?"

"You part of Sidewinder's gang? Pretty thing like you? No wonder he was looking for hired help." The mocking laughter that parted his lips inspired her eyes to shift slowly to the pile of clothing she had brought along, eyeing her dagger holster. "Come on now, that's not a way to treat your guests, is it? Damn pretty as you are, thinking of sticking me when we just met is bad form. How about you come on out, do a little spin for me? Shit, just looking at you from here, I can tell you'd be a high earner back in Vegas. Fetch a fine price for a gal like you."

"You talk an awful lot for the fucking help, and I'm not afraid of you. I put down coyotes who frightened me more. Fuck off." Fox turned her back to him boldly, feeling her pulse rise and the flush of frustration painting across her freckled cheeks. The sound of his dark laughter was like nails over glass.

"What's your byword, pretty? How old are you, eighteen or so? Paired off already?" The stranger licked his lips slowly, and Fox shot a venomous glare over her shoulder. "Still a virgin?"

"I'm Sidewinder's girl. That's all you need to know. Fuck off. I'm not gonna ask again." She watched him halt abruptly not far from the edge of the pool, and arch his brows. Tipper at his back swiveled his ears inquisitively to her voice, tossing his head gently before the man slowly raised his hands into the air with the reins looped at his thumb, shaking his head and averting his gaze.

"My mistake, lil' Missus. No hard feelings, yeah?" With a deep chuckle of amusement, he tipped his hat as he turned away, clicking his teeth. Tipper stalled with his deep brown eyes set on Fox. She nodded her head gently, and the horse reluctantly turned to follow suit. Fox watched for a long while to be certain the mercenary was gone before rushing to the edge of the hot spring and snatching the towel.

Wrapping it hurriedly around her slender body, she didn't waste time dressing. Fox gathered her effects in haste, ripping one dagger from her holster as she cautiously made her way back around the hotel. He wasn't there anymore, nor in the lot. She couldn't hear the gang's horses either. She darted quickly to the room she shared with Sidewinder, slamming the door hard behind her and locking it, finding him dressing already with his brow furrowed at her haste.

"Why didn't you wake me?"

"Your new fucking friends are rude, crass, slaver thugs. Did you know that?! I just met one of them out by the spring. Didn't even get his damn name before he started up—Don't, I'm fine, just pissed!" She spat the words, scowling at the lopsided grin pulling over Sidewinder's lips.

"Come here." He simpered.

"Just fucking dress and get the boys and Mara up. I don't trust those fuckers far as I can throw 'em and I don't even—What?!"

He moved to rest his hands firmly on her shoulders, stopping Fox from fumbling to stuff a slender foot into her boot after discarding her towel.

"You're putting your boots on before your pants, girl. Relax." He chuckled as she froze, then dropped the boot with an irritated huff. He smoothed her damp red hair from her face, tilting her chin up gently. "I'll handle it. Weren't due 'til after noon."

The frown had yet to let up, but he felt her shoulders drop as she heaved a sigh and nodded her head. His eyes swept down her nude body before darting back up to her eyes. She already cocked back a hand as if prepared to slap him for it. Sidewinder chuckled and turned to his own leather backpack beside the unused dresser, rummaging through it as Fox fished her bra from the pile of clothing.

"If we're pulling this off, we'll need all the help we can get, Fox. I didn't ask any questions aside from can they ride and shoot. Their leader's a tall young fella with a long scar on the side of his face, goes by Bandit. He's got two big bald brothers with him, Torque and Gravedigger. Scrawny lil' shit with a scoped rifle, sharpshooter named Rooster." Finding what he was looking for, he righted his posture and turned to Fox, whose scowl seemed permanent. It would be a long day with her in a sour mood so early.

"Met the Leader, then. Tipper didn't want to go with him. I can't trust any man whose horse doesn't like him." She frowned.

"We don't have to be friends. If we pull this off, they're nomads. They'll be on their way, headed east. Bandit got into it deep with the Baron over Vegas. He'll have a bounty. If I figure things right, we'll be due west. Here." He reached for her hand, and she resisted the urge to instinctively tug to for freedom as he deposited a smooth glass vial into her palm. "Got it for you on the trip. Traded my favorite pocket watch for it. Expensive shit. Vanilla and something. Sandalwood, I think..."

Fox felt the corners of her full mouth tug, biting back her smile as she examined the little vial of amber liquid with fascination. She pulled the cork free and brought it to her nose, unable to help the giddy grin. The scent was earthy and sweet. Absolutely divine.

She had smelled something this nice only once when she was a little girl, when a Sioux woman traveling in a group visited the orphanage and baked a sweet treat with blueberries and cracked corn. Her teeth tugged her bottom lip. She carefully placed the cork over the lip of the vial, tilted it, and dabbed the oil against her wrist and neck.

"Thank you, Es. I love it." Fox smothered down her grin with a blush playing across her cheeks. She carefully placed the cork back into the vial and tucked it down into her dagger holster for safe keeping.

He grinned and moved to fetch his hat before turning toward the door with a low laugh. "Must be a cold day in Hell—She says 'thank you', good God, I didn't even know you knew the phrase!"

It was an hour before both gangs gathered in the lot. Fox and Maravilla set to gathering what items they cared for, piling them onto a small wagon pulled by their largest horse—Ranger, a massive shaggy Clydesdale of roan coat. Smiles stood near, the wide straight brim of his dark brown hat with the raven's feather tucked into the twine shadowing his face as the sun shone brightly. The day warmed. Fox busied herself folding the Pendleton blankets, trying her best to ignore the feeling of eyes following her.

"Seems like these boys don't see females too often, hm? Cuidado, chica... tall one's been eyeing you all morning." Maravilla frowned, and spoke quietly.

"They came up from Vegas. They've seen plenty of women, and sure as hell don't know how to act around them. I'm not scared." Fox scoffed.

"Just be careful either way, alright? Let Smiles do the hunting, at least until this whole mess is behind us." Maravilla sighed, and pushed a smile onto her lips. "While they're talking it all through, I'll braid your hair."

"This was my idea, Mara. I'm going to sit in on the meeting." Fox moved onto the wagon and started securing the straps over their camp cargo, her eyes straying to the gathering of men talking quietly amongst themselves. Bandit's eyes weren't the only ones drawn to her. His entire entourage seemed to be watching her and her dark-haired companion. She adjusted the straight brim of the buckskin hat she wore, shot them a glare, and moved down from the wagon as Sidewinder whistled to draw them in. Fox was quick to his side around the dead hearth.

"Right then, you all know why we're here, so there's no need to get too acquainted. We handle our business and move along. Simple as that." Sidewinder's deep voice held an air of authority. The men of either gang nodded their heads in agreement.

"This train is making its way south as we speak and will cross over from Utah into Nevada no longer than five days out. We're setting camp out by an old farm in Ash Canyon. We will have five miles to bring it into the station at the old Railroad Depot. Fortune has it rounding the bend out of Ash Canyon is gonna slow 'em down and give us a little opportunity to board before we have to move to plan B. We need to be on that train before they can pick up speed again." He drew in a deep breath and paused, glancing over the faces of the nomad group, and then his own boys.