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Ruby sighs as she pulls the wagon carefully to a halt outside Rhodes saloon, bottles clinking together in the back softly. The revenue agents had dropped off as she hit the outskirts of town, falling back after she had single-handedly shot down their comrades with her Lancaster repeater - which was now slung across her back, accompanied by her bolt action rifle. The saloon owner thanks her and hands her the money, signalling for two other men to help him unload the crates of moonshine from the wagon and take them inside. Ruby thanks the owner for the cash and heads inside the rowdy saloon for a drink.
The saloon is crowded tonight, the piano played surprisingly well in the corner by a man drunkenly slouched over the keys. Ruby recognises most of the faces in the room, being a regular patron and supplier for the past year. A group of four men sit at a booth by the front window, drinking and laughing loudly. Ruby recognises the man with light brown hair from around town with the drunken idiot the town calls a sheriff, but the other three are unfamiliar. Paying them no mind, she turns to the barman and orders a whiskey, throwing her head back and slamming the glass back down on the bar as she wipes her mouth and orders another shot.
As the barman passes her drink, she notices from her peripherals one of the men get up from the booth and head down the hallway to the back of the saloon. He’s a large brawny man, with dark skin, long hair sweeping down his back and scars swimming across his right cheek. Ruby tenses as he passes her, uncomfortable with having a stranger behind her.
Ruby turns back to her drink, about to down it when a slimy voice grabs her attention from the other side of the bar. Two men dressed in ragged clothes had walked in, their hands on their grubby guns in their holsters.
“This here is Lemoyne Raider territory. You ain’t got no business here, moonshiner!” one of the men stalks over to her, his lips pulled back in a menacing grimace, revealing what blackened teeth remained in his mouth.
The piano stops playing from the corner as almost every eye in the bar is on Ruby and the Raiders.
“I sell to whoever’s buyin’,” Ruby answers non-chalantly into her glass. She throws her head back once more as she finishes her drink and turns back to the Lemoyne Raiders. “And it seems as though the owner of this saloon considers my ‘shine to be of better quality than yours… so I do in fact have business here... Raider.” Ruby smiles smugly into his grimy face.
“I think you should leave,” the man says menacingly, pulling his dirty cattleman from its holster.
A shot rings out, and the Raider falls backwards to the floor, a hole in his forehead and blood splattered on the wall behind him. The other man has his back against the wall, her navy revolver under his chin, her other revolver aimed at the place his associate had just stood a moment before.
“No, I think it is you who needs to leave before you end up like your friend here,” Ruby threatens. She removes the gun from under his chin and steps back, allowing the man to straighten up enough for him to run from the saloon, the door swinging shut in the silence behind him.
“My apologies for the disruption” Ruby says to the room. She flicks a coin at the pianist. “Next round’s on me!” The room is filled with raucous cheers and the sound of the piano picks back up as two men carry the body of the Lemoyne Raider outside. Ruby turns back to the drink in front of her.
“That was impressive,” says a deep voice behind her. “You’re fast. I hope I never have to cross you in a bad mood.”
The man who passed her earlier on his way down the hall stands at the other end of the bar, surveying her humorously. He orders two drinks and slides one down the bar to her. Ruby catches it and nods, saluting the stranger with her glass as they both down their drinks at the same time.
“Let’s just hope both our guns stay in their holsters, then.” Ruby replies, eyeing the sawed off at his hip, still unsure of his intentions. Since the first stranger she’d trusted had caused the slash across her left eyebrow leaving her with a permanent scar, she was cautious to new people.
The man chuckles. “I don’t plan on using it against you, that’s for sure,” he says, noticing her eyes trail down to his hip. “Would you like to join my friends and I for a drink? The barman told us the moonshine here is the best around.”
Ruby lets out a sarcastic laugh. “Well, I’d hope it’s the best around. It’s my moonshine. And I’m fine right here, thanks.” She eyes the other three men suspiciously.
The stranger’s eyebrows shoot up his forehead in surprise. “You made this?”
“Well… I didn’t cook it, but I own the moonshine shack it’s cooked in. I co-own the business and pay for the ingredients and equipment.”
“Like I said before, impressive.”
Ruby smiles. “Thank you, Mr..?”
The stranger holds out his hand in greeting. “Smith. Ch-“
But the man’s words are cut off as a bullet breaks through a nearby window and whizzes by their heads, lodging into the wall behind Ruby. She jumps behind the bar, ducking as gunshots ring throughout the saloon and bullets fly. A dozen men run into the saloon as the patrons run for the exits.
“Looks like your friend brought back-up!” Mr Smith shouts from the cover of a nearby booth, firing his sawed off into the chest of a passing enemy.
“Ha! Nothing I can’t handle” Ruby calls back as two men burst through the saloon doors and crumple immediately from two of her bullets. She spots one of Mr Smith’s friends pistol whip a Raider while another sends a Raider flying back through a window. Ruby runs for the stairs, shooting another enemy along the railings above her, the man crumpling over the bars of the railing and hitting the floor below with a sickening thud. Mr Smith follows behind, shouting to his friends below.
“Arthur! John! Javier! Meet back at camp! Go! Go!”
The three men continue to shoot their way out of the saloon, more bodies hitting the floor as they make their exit. Ruby and Mr Smith fire more bullets at the unfortunate Raiders as they head for the double doors, exiting onto the outdoor balcony. Ruby whistles for her horse, grinning at the handsome stranger as Bones comes running from the darkness, waiting patiently below. Ruby climbs over the railing, holding onto the balcony behind her and balancing on the thin ledge.
“So, Mr Smith.. I don’t believe I ever caught your first name?” Ruby smiles over her shoulder.
“It’s Charles. Charles Smith.” he says.
“Well… see you ‘round, Charles Smith,” Ruby winks before jumping from the ledge, landing on Bones’ saddle below with a soft thud.
“Wait!” Calls Charles over the railing. “You didn’t tell me your name!”
Ruby laughs as she rides off into the night.