* COLD KATE !

❝    i’ve had a lot worse.    ❞

but there’s a flash in her eyes, something like horror at the sight of her own blood. miss katherine barlow lives and dies for a moment in her fearful stare--- and then it’s gone, seemingly for good.

❝    the bullet just nicked me. the blood’s the only problem. you got any bandages or do i gotta start tearin’ up shirts ??    ❞

❝    i spare one. or two, sometimes. lost count of how many. someone’s gotta run and tell about it.    ❞

her eyes are glassy, unfocused. she looks half-dead, uncommonly cold despite the heat. her left eyelid twitches, a sign of life despite all evidence to the contrary. church used to be a comfort, she went every sunday. if heaven exists it’s for sam’s sake. god can’t hear her. 

❝    i like to pretend they’re the good ones, outta all the bad. but i couldn’t say for sure, now.    ❞

he walks like killing him’s no easy business. kate looks a sight, wild-eyed on a stolen horse with her red lipstick smeared up the side of her mouth. in the moonlight, the tears on her cheeks nearly glow. her hands shake around the little pistol. 

❝    get down on the ground !!    ❞

she’s too far to shoot him dead but close enough to hurt. it’s like slaughtering animals. kate doesn’t even dismount. 

❝    give me everythin’ you got or i swear i will kill you.    ❞

she reaches into the pouch on helena’s saddle. the dead man has a friend, blue-eyed and strong-willed.  she removes the lid, applies a fresh coat of red lipstick over the blood spatters. hauling the dead man up by his shirt collar, she kisses his cheek and drops him back in the dust. she turns to the one still alive, for now. kate draws her pistol and points it at his head.

❝    how ‘bout you, boy ??  you want a kiss, too ??    ❞