Relax.

You could do something that could get your mind off of the whole situation. So after you get cleaned up you head downstairs and reunite yourself with Delilah, who seems to be bored out of her wits now. Her soft teal eyes wash over to you just as your feet hit the floor.

Her expression lightens and she strolls over the counter to meet you half-way. Her mouth opens to greet you, but she stops herself when she notices that you seem to have a cloud over your head.

Instead of smiling, her lips bend and pucker. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” you lie. “Can I get a drink?”

She stammers and then steps backwards. “Yes. Wh-what is it you want?”

“Something strong, I guess.” You find a stool and sit down on it. Delilah whips around the counter again and plucks a bottle from the shelf, as well as a glass.

Delilah fishes out a shot glass and places it on the counter where you are sitting. She starts talking to you, not prying for you to tell her what happened, but she is curious of what’s got you down so far under.

You’re not gonna tell Delilah that you had directly **** a mutant, no matter her view of them. So you just sigh and tell her that you had an unfortunate run in with one of the mutants during one of your contracts. Delilah’s eyes drop.

“Oh, my God. I am so sorry to hear that.” She pours you a drink and slides towards you. “What did it do to you?”

No, actually it’s what I DID. I **** her, Delilah.

“Nothing really,” you explain. “I just had...did something stupid with it and I can’t really get it out of my mind. It was a real spur of the moment-”

“Oh, Shit! Did you shoot it?”

“Might’ve been better if I did…”

Delilah groans, watching you drink the shot. “Another?”

“Just one more.” She does as you ask and pour another. “Have you done anything you really regret doing?”

She sighs. “Yeah. It’s why I’m here currently.”

Delilah stops herself, looking around the room. You offer your hand and close it around hers. “You don’t need to talk about it if you don’t want to. Might be best if we keep the super personal things to us until we know each other a bit better.”

She slumps forward. “You’re the only person I've spoken to at a personal level in almost a year... I’ll tell you everything about me if it’d make you feel comfortable enough to talk to me on a more intimate level too.”

“I haven’t spoken to a lot of people either Delilah, but there’s just some things I need to keep to myself. Especially the recent stuff.”

Delilah glares slightly, disappointed with your answer. “Well, whatever then. Just remember I am here to help out you, no matter what you do I’ll try to be there for you. Despite what you just said, I know I could come to you and spill my guts out to you.”

You lean back. “I don’t mean any bad by it Delilah, I just want you to think any less of me is all.”

“Warren, you have told me enough about your background that I don’t think there isn’t a single terrible thing you would NOT do.” She steps closer, sliding her elbows across the counter to lean closer. “I treasure what we have here. I...I just want you to feel the same.”

She stares at you. You look down. This kind of regret is going to eat you alive until you tell someone about it. You look at her again. She nods and smiles, tilting her head slightly to the side, reminding you that she’ll be on your side one more time. “Delilah. I..ra-”

The doors push open behind you, a rowdy group of people come in shouting and laughing. You snap your head around and see the same 4 men that were here a few nights before. Delilah exhales loudly. “These guys again… Bounty hunters out of California. Showed up not long ago. They are causing a little bit of a stir among the town.”

They storm around the lobby, looking for a table to sit around on. “They’ve been harassing Maple during her closing shifts...Even bothered me a few times during my mid-shifts…”

Perhaps you should have dealt with them before…? Eventually, they come over to the bar and begin ordering drinks there. They almost immediately start harassing Delilah with whistles and obnoxious orders. The regret solidifies into trained hate. Bounty hunters working in groups wasn’t all that uncommon, the further North you went, the bigger the groups. You had done some work in pairs before, but whenever the final payment came through; arguments went through on how it was cut among each other. The fact that these guys seem to be so chummy with each other however, tells you that perhaps they’ve been doing enough work to be satisfied.

As Delilah dishes out their drinks, they get louder, eventually bumping into you. The man who does it, looks over. “Oi, sorry about that bud.”

You shake your head, telling them it doesn’t matter that much. “No, it’s on me. Barkeep, give my friend here a drink.”

Friend?

While his friends chat, he switches seats next to you. You can feel his wash go over your uniform and boots. He clears his throat and leans into the counter. “You look better armed than the town's militia. What outfit ‘you work for?”

“I’m independent. A Contractor.”

“Contractor?” He shuffles. “Haven’t seen too many of yous around here. Everyone here is either a bandit or guard. Contractors? All south with them civil-civilized folk.”

“I came out of the South. Worked my way through Cody Wyoming and then Sheridan before landing a few contracts in Montana. Bozeman mostly, ehh had my fair share in Billings too.”

“Um yeah that’s real interesting,” he lies. “We’re trying to make it to Sidney. Looks like winter is gonna keep us from leaving though.”

Being one of the one few contractors around locally has allowed you to get a monopoly on almost everything. With these idiots here you’re likely to get cut off from your income. “Staying long then?”

“Shoot. Yeah nothing else on the map where we could leave. All the lodges are closed too. Fuckin’ SUCKS.” The man whines and then looks at you. “The name’s Ashely.”

“Visser,” you reply. “Haven’t heard of your name before. You’ pretty new in these parts?”

“Ye-up. Only been here since the beginning of this month. Unlike, we worked right straight out Laurel from Crook...That’s from Wyoming.”

“I know where Crook is. I avoided it. Heard it was lawless.”

“Compared to California? You got that right.” He shoves his hand into his breast pocket and pulls out a pack of cigarettes. He doesn’t offer any, but he sticks one between his dried lips. It was just then you realized how terrible he smiled. “Hey, Visser. You see, my crew and I are actually hunting a specific person. Or rather a full pack of persons.”

“How many are in the group?” Now you can smell money in the air.

“Ya, about a dozen, or so we’re told. It’s a whole group of them subbies.”

Your heart skips a beat. “NSH?”

He nods. “We’ve got some bounties from the caravans that failed to leave the area-”

“Nah that’s wrong. The new breeds don’t-”

“No, no!” Ashley cuts you off. “Bandits hit the caravans, but the aftermath is PICKED CLEAN afterwards. Bandits tend to be short-handed on wits. We got a professional group of subbies going through the wreckage. Caravans coming out of the area losing money left AND right, my friend. We’re looking for any information about the whereabouts of the local subs.”

“I might know a thing or two.”

“I knew the contractor would know about it. What can you tell me? I can give you a good ol’ sum rights here if you can give me any info.”

There’s no doubt this man or his group of goons would do something horrible to the mutant you ran across. And if there is more, they’d probably slaughter them. What of it though? Maybe you’re sensitive because of the recent events, but money suddenly doesn’t smell all that great either.

As you watch his pals behind pestering Delilah, you realize you do have to get rid of these guys. They’ll be causing more trouble than they already are. But how?