After finishing their rationed meal, everyone started to bunker down for the long night. Bob took the first shift. Propping himself up next to the door with his rifle set snug between his knees. Wade laid out a tattered blanket that he'd found and slept on the floor by the fireplace. While Nathan eventually made his way toward the back of the cave to sleep against one of the sleeping horses. From the bed, Jack watched Nathan sleep before turning his eyes to Mark. Mark still stubbornly sat in the chair by the fireplace, his eyes threatening to close but he kept himself awake. His gaze always jerking to check on Nathan. Sighing, Jack asked Mark quietly. "You really don't trust him? After what he did to help us escape?" Mark snorted, grumbling out softly. "He was saving his own ass. It had nothing to do with us." Propping his head up with his hand, Jack shrugged out in a lighthearted whisper. "You know... He doesn't seem all that bad..." Mark's brown eyes locked on him, before he told him seriously. "That's what he wants you to think. I know his type. My father was gunned down by men like him. You can't trust him. You let your guard down... and that's when men like him strike. He said it himself..."

Jack lowered his eyes to the floor, replying gently. "He didn't have to stop my wound from bleeding..." Mark leaned forward on his good leg, discreetly warning him. "It's an act. He's not the victim that he's pretending to be. Don't let him fool you." Reaching down to rest his hand carefully around his leg wound, Jack mumbled out. "I don't know what to believe... I just know that he saved me. I owe him that much." Mark rolled his eyes, before snapping back quietly. "Jack, trust me. He did it to get you on his side." Swallowing past the lump forming in his tightening throat, he reluctantly asked without looking at Mark. "Is my farm still standing...?" Mark exhaled, then answered grimly. "No." Tears brimmed Jack's eyes, but he looked up to meet Mark's when he said seriously. "I bet we're not welcome in Iron Hills anymore... Guess that makes us outlaws now. Funny old world, isn't it?" Laying his head down on the pillow, Jack let his tears fall in silence. Everything he had was gone and it was soul crushing to worry about what his future held for him now. Closing his eyes, he tried to sleep, but his dreams were haunted.

He watched his barn burn before being captured and dragged off to the gallows. He felt the rope around his neck and heard the jeering of the crowd. It didn't matter what he said to them. They wanted to see him hang. Turning to look at the lever, he gasped when it wasn't the Marshal... but Mark who dropped the trapdoor on him. As he felt the rush of air when he fell, Jack let out a startled cry that woke himself up. His cry was muffled by a strong hand over his mouth, prompting him to reach out to grab the man's leather vest. Nathan leaned over him, putting a finger to his mouth in warning. Jack's whole body trembled as he watched Nathan remove a knife from a loose board on the floor. The fireplace was reduced to smoking embers that barely lit up the floor. The horses were snorting and shifting uneasily in the darkness. Outside crickets chippered and as Jack glanced over at Mark's sleeping form, he saw a light pass over the shut shutter of the window. Bob had fallen asleep against the wall by the front door, his rifle laying across the floor. Nathan moved his hand off Jack's mouth, pressing a firm hand to his chest as a gesture for him to stay down.

Creeping silently over to stand behind the door, Nathan tapped the knife against his leg silently in agitation. Jack's breath caught in his throat as the door slowly opened just a crack to let a pistoled hand in to aim at Bob. Jack thought about crying out, but Nathan acted fast. Shoving all his weight into the door to pin the person's hand in place. The man behind the door yelped loudly, his hand releasing the gun. Nathan then stabbed the knife into the person's hand to impale it to the doorframe. The man's scream of agony roused the others awake, but Nathan didn't stop to tell them what was happening. Instead, he opened the door and kicked the pinned man in the gut. Then as the man was bent over, Nathan removed the knife from the wall with the man's hand still on it and tackled the man to the dirt. Shoving the knife down into the man's neck, Nathan twisted the blade without looking away from the man's face. The others stared at him with horror on their faces as he removed the knife and stood up to face them. Bob eased down to pick up his rifle and Nathan watched him do it with guarded eyes.

Nathan's attention then drifted to something else outside, before telling them seriously. "More are coming. Get yourselves ready." Nathan walked casually back into the shack, closing the door behind him as he told them coolly. "I thought the Marshal forgot about this place. Guess not..." Wade reached for the gun bag, quickly removing another rifle that he cocked and rushed to the window. Mark stiffly got to his feet, locking eyes with Nathan. Nathan glared back at him but said nothing to him. Walking by him, Nathan moved to the back of the cave and out of his way. Mark snatched his rifle off the wall next to his chair with his good arm. Bracing the barrel on the floor and pinning it to his leg, he cocked it one handed before lifting it. Jack started to sit up, but Nathan told him seriously. "Stay down, kid. They're not getting in here." Wade peered out a crack in the shutter, telling the others. "They're coming up the path!" Bob braced his rifle on the window, then as Wade opened it, they opened fire on the people approaching. Jack covered his ears as the loud bangs of the guns reverberated off the cave walls.

While Bob and Wade reloaded, a few men rushed the shack. Two tried to reach into the window to grab the rifles from them, but Bob knocked out one with a swift punch to the face and Wade hit another with the butt of his rifle before opening fire on more. A man kicked open the shack door, firing a shot blindly into the room. Jack screamed, his body jumping uncontrollably. The shot missed Mark, but Mark's one handed shot hit the man square in the chest, knocking him clear off his feet. Mark then limped over to kick the door shut and called out to Nathan sternly. "Are you going to help?!" Nathan crossed his arms, snapping back dryly. "I am." Mark scoffed at him and rested his gun down to save the strength of his arm. Jack turned to look at Nathan with worried eyes, before his eyes widened. Nathan wasn't just standing back. He was guarding something. Nathan winked at him, then reached into a hole in the wall to remove a milk snake. The snake hissed in protest, but Nathan uncoiled it to his full length. Then from under a blanket laid out in the back by Nathan's feet, a small trapdoor opened.

Smirking, Nathan tossed the snake into the trapdoor and from inside someone screamed and fell. Nathan then jumped away from the trapdoor as someone fired bullet holes up through it. The horses reared and bucked, and Mark jerked his head in Nate's direction. Nathan crouched, waiting as the trapdoor opened again. This time, someone put a hand down on the ground and tried to shoot with a pistol in his other hand. Nathan struck like a snake, impaling the man's hand and swinging his leg out to kick the man in the face. The person fell with a yelp, but another man quickly climbed up the tunnel and around his fallen comrade to burst up through the trapdoor. Nathan fell back as the man rushed him, tackling him to the ground. Nathan grunted and scrambled to get out from under the large man, but he was unable too. Sitting up, Jack yelled out in a panic. "MARK!" Mark quickly moved away from the door, raising his rifle to fire into the side of the man pinning down Nathan and then into two more people trying to rush up the trapdoor. Nathan shoved the larger man off and stabbed him while he had the chance, then yelled out to Mark. "Give me your gun!"

Mark ignored him, shooting another man before resting his gun down. He was struggling to reload it with one hand. Nathan growled at him, before seizing a chance to slam the trapdoor down. Bob and Wade took turns firing and reloading, when another man managed to slip into the shack through the front door. Jack screamed at the sight of him, and he leapt onto the bed toward him. Getting his hands around his throat as he tried to lift him up to use him as a shield against the others. Mark shouted his name, lifting his gun to hit the guy with it, but froze when the man put Jack in front of it. Nathan started to move away from the trapdoor, but when it started to lift back up, he jumped back onto it. Jack gasped as the man squeezed his throat, then took a risk and reached out for a hole in the wall as he saw something moving within it. The man held Jack firm, snapping out. "Put your guns down! Or I'll snap his neck!" Mark reluctantly dropped his gun, when Jack snatched the snake from the wall and lashed it across the man's neck. The snake hissed aggressively and coiled around the man's neck before biting his throat!

The man shoved Jack away, causing him to fall across the floor, before he clawed at his throat. The little snake chewed at the vein in his neck angrily and as the man pried the snake off, the snakes two little fangs tore at his throat. With the snake off of him, he threw it at Mark who jumped to the side before quickly taking up his rifle to slam it down on the creature, before it could slither toward Jack. From the trapdoor, Nathan threw his knife and the man grunted before falling backward off the bed. Wade fired a few more shots before telling Bob, I got the last of them. Help them." Bob launched from his spot, rushing to the trapdoor. Although, as he opened it, whoever was left was fleeing now. Nathan dropped to his ass panting heavily, before telling Jack breathlessly. "You crazy son of a bitch... Don't you ever reach into a hole like that." Jack rubbed his sore throat, coughing out. "You did it." Nathan gestured to the hole, telling him seriously. "I knew what I was fucking grabbing! Did you?!" Jack turned his eyes to Mark, who looked just as unsettled as he slowly eased his gun off the dead snake.

Jack couldn't see the colors of it, until Wade brought over a lantern. Mark and Wade gawked at the snake as the light shimmered off its brightly colored scales. Jack bit his lip hard as he observed the red, black, and yellow scales. His hand shook as he curled his fingers into a fist. He'd grabbed a venomous snake without thinking. After a minute, Nathan chuckled and told him. "You're lucky." Mark nudged the dead snake with gun, telling Wade seriously. "Take this out of here." Wade took a step back, muttering out nervously. "I'm not touching it. Snakes are still lethal hours after death." Mark was going to snap at him, until Nathan crawled over and grabbed the snake by the tail. The snake curled and the head's mouth opened aggressively. Carefully picking it up, Nathan told Jack with a smirk. "I know what to do with him. Shouldn't waste him." Bob shifted uncomfortably, asking Mark with deep concern. "What do we do now? The ones that got away will report this. They'll be back..." Mark sighed heavily, rubbing his bandaged leg as he mumbled out grimly. "We've got to move. Head to the next town..."

Nathan got to his feet slowly, his attention on the snake, until Mark reluctantly asked him. "You said we might be able to cross the badlands... Did you mean it?" Nathan glanced at the extra horse, before answering bluntly. "I don't guarantee anything. But we can try." Mark nodded, telling him with a guarded expression. "Alright. You follow my lead. You have a problem with that. You can join them in hell." Nathan snorted, stroking the coiling tail of the snake as he told him calmly. "We are in hell, Sheriff. Why else would everyone be looking for redemption in one form or another." Mark pointed at Nate, snapping out darkly. "That's not an answer, Outlaw! You run with me. You obey MY orders. Got it?!" Nathan stiffened, opening his mouth to snap something back, until Jack snapped out from the floor. "GUYS! Can we argue about this later?" Nathan turned on his heel, heading back to the horses but not before stating aloud. "When's the last time you lazy hounds pulled an all nighter?" Mark groaned, then turned to tell the others to ready the horses.

Wade helped Jack up and helped him dress. Every movement made his leg protest, but he forced himself to help. They didn't have much to pack, allowing them to get ready pretty fast. Mark swung up onto his horse without help, wincing but hiding the pain as best he could. Wade and Bob mounted up and discussed who would lead the extra horse. While Jack stared at his horse with a hesitate look. He knew climbing up was going to hurt. Nathan moved up beside him, lowering his hand as he told him coolly. "I've got the horse. Give me your good leg and swing your wounded one over her." Jack swallowed, then did as he wanted. Relying on his upper body to pull himself up and Nathan hefting his good leg up. His hurt leg protested being raised, but he took his time to inch it over as straight as he could. Nathan helped him put his foot in the stirrup. Then once they were mounted up, Mark led them out and down the mountain. Bob lingered in the back, his rifle laid across his lap, his eyes on Nathan. Nathan rode behind Jack's horse, giving him smug winks whenever he looked back at him.

Wade led the extra horse behind Mark, asking a little worried. "Won't they look for us in the next town?" Mark glanced back but said nothing. Jack could tell that he was trying to focus on one thing at a time. Turning his attention back to Nathan, Jack asked him softly. "You could have left us. You could have... Why didn't you?" Nathan smirked, pulling the brim of his hat down over his eyes to shade them from the rising sun as he told him casually. "Because bastards run in packs. I can only do so much on my own. I'm a deadeye. I watch peoples' backs. I'm not used to needing someone to watch mine." Jack smiled a little, before telling Nathan warmly. "Thank you. We'd be dead if not for you." Nathan tapped the brim of his hat, his smirk half hidden when he told him casually. "Don't mention it, kid." To Be Continued...