Limping after Nathan, Mark called out to him before he reached the shack door. "Hey. Stop right there." Nathan obeyed, turning his head with annoyance. Making his way to the door, Mark put his back to the wall and eased the door open to peek inside. Nathan took a step closer, prompting Mark to lift his pistol at eye level to him. Noticing how dark the inside was, Mark stepped away from the door and gestured him to go in with his gun. Rolling his eyes, Nathan grumbled out. "Are you going to do this every time? Cause we are burning daylight." Practically kicking the door open, Nathan stormed inside and began opening wooden shutters to let in the light. The place was dusty and deeper than Mark had expected. Pointing to the fireplace, Nathan told him gruffly. "You'll want to get that going if you wanna eat." Nathan then moved to a little wooden bed along the wall and told Wade coolly. "Lay the kid there." Wade carefully lowered Jack onto the shabby mattress, then gave Mark one last look before heading out to help Bob. Pulling a wooden chair up beside the cold fireplace, Mark winced as he sat down.

His leg protested being bent. So, he stretched it out and angled his good arm to rest on his good leg as he kept his gun trained on Nate. Nathan kneeled beside the bed, looking over Jack's leg, but muttered over his shoulder. "You fear me that much, Sheriff? What is one man against three?" Snorting, Mark leaned back in the chair, stating out darkly. "I don't trust you. I've read about you. What you've done. I won't be another lawman on your list." Shaking his head, Nathan grumbled out. "You shouldn't believe what they write in the papers. It's not all true." Mark's voice remained as hard as stone when he retorted bluntly. "But you have killed people. Lawmen." Nathan shifted slightly to look at him when he answered without pause. "Yes." Mark took a silent deep breath, his pistol aiming on him a bit more defensively now. Nathan eyed the pistol, then turned back to Jack as he added carelessly. "They deserved it. The bits about me gunning down men in a Saloon in Westford wasn't me. The Bounty Hunters chasing me did that. Easier to blame it on me though."

Mark kept his voice hard as he said seriously. "You don't get to decide who lives or dies. Who deserves it and who doesn't." Nathan whirled around, snapping out. "No. Only the law gets that privilege, right? Look at yourself! The law has turned on you too. He who controls the wealth of the world, makes the rules. And you, Lawman, are now gonna have to get used to fighting for scraps like the rest of us. Now put that fucking gun down, before I kick your ass!" Mark leaned forward slowly, challenging out from under the brim of his hat. "Just try and take it from me, Asshole." Nathan rose slowly to his feet, his eyes locked on him. Mark aimed the pistol on him, stating out icily. "I'll sleep better with you dead." Nathan nodded, mumbling out under his breath calmly. "Ya. Me too." Mark started to tell him to sit down, when Nathan jerked his hand up to reveal a small pistol of his own. With a light 'BANG' the end of the barrel sparked as Nathan pulled the trigger without hesitated. Mark flinched, then extended out his hand to fire in return. Before he pulled the trigger, Nathan stomped his foot on a floorboard, and it sprang up to smack Mark's wrist.

Mark yelped, firing a bullet into the rocky ceiling just as the pistol went flying into the air. Flawlessly, Nathan caught the pistol and adjusted it in his hand to aim it directly at Mark's face. Cocking Mark's pistol, Nathan stared down the sight of the gun, sneering out. "I missed on purpose. I didn't have to miss." Bob and Wade burst into the shack, gasping and gawking at them. Nathan didn't look away from Mark as he told him seriously. "I kill people for a living, Lawman. I've gotten real good at it. I don't like guns being pointed at me. It makes me anxious. Got it?" Mark nodded, then watched Nathan uncock the hammer of the pistol. Sliding the safety back on the pistol, Nathan let the pistol spin on his finger to hang from the trigger guard and handed it out to him. Accepting the pistol back by the grip, Mark asked him curiously. "Where did you get the gun?" Nathan lifted the little one-shot pistol, chuckling out smugly. "Under the bed." Tossing the pistol onto the bed by Jack's feet, Nathan turned to tell the others so casually. "Fetch me the sewing kit in that cabinet there, would ya?"

Removing his hat, Bob wiped his sweaty brow and growled out in agitation. "Jesus Christ! What the fuck was that all about? I thought..." Mark glanced over his shoulder to see the small bullet hole in the wall. Nathan had missed but if he'd been a few inches to the left, he would have shot him between the eyes. Ignoring Bob's outburst, Mark asked Nathan in a lighter tone. "You're a pretty good shot. Self-taught?" Nathan accepted the sewing box that Wade retrieved for him, answering curtly. "Ya. My gang called me Deadeye. I was their sharpshooter. If it's a handheld gun. I never miss." Bob blinked, glancing between them before blurting out in shock. "Don't admire the man who almost shot you! Mark?! We should tie him up and search the whole place for more weapons that he can use against us!" Nathan huffed, pointing to the fireplace as he told Bob just as bluntly. "What we need is someone to get that fireplace going. It gets fucking cold up here and if you wanna eat, I suggest you get started." Bob looked to Mark, who shrugged as his only response. Bob then looked to Wade for support, but Wade merely shrugged out. "Boys will be boys, I guess."

Tossing his hands up with a groan, Bob stomped out the door, muttering loudly to himself. "Am I the only one with any sense around here? If someone shot at me, I'd be pissed off! Damn it! Bunch of children!" Wade slowly stepped back out the door, asking in a low cautious voice. "Well... I'm glad you two worked out your immediate issues. We're all good now, right?" Mark said 'Yes' but at the same time, Nathan said 'No.' Giving them a thumbs up, Wade coolly added. "Good. Glad we're on the same page. I'm gonna get the horses now." Mark holstered his pistol under his jacket, then watched Nathan pull down Jack's pants to exam the wound. Cleaning it was a bottle of alcohol from the sewing box, Nathan carefully stitched up the wound. As a long silence fell between them, Nathan told Mark softly. "With a wound like this, he'll have to stay put awhile. We should be safe here if we lay low. We'll let him get his strength back. Then we should move on." Wiping fresh blood from the stitches, Nathan added as he looked at Jack's sleeping face. "Kid, looks young. Maybe twenty-three winters at most. Is he one of yours?"

Mark shook his head when Nathan glanced at him, replying honestly. "No. He's just someone I've seen around town. Mostly a potato farmer, but over the years he got himself a few sheep and some cattle from a few auctions. He's a hardworking, kid." Nathan reached out to check Jack's pulse at his neck, asking curiously. "His farm still standing?" Mark lowered his head and shook it, answering in almost a whisper. "No. Some boys rode in and herded the livestock out. The rest... set fires. I barely got out. Killed one that saw me. Stole his horse... I figured something went wrong. So, I rode out to find him." Nathan turned his head to look at him with narrowed eyes, asking a little teasingly. "You got worried about him?" Mark shrugged, stating out dryly. "I'm the sheriff. That's my job." Nathan kept his eyes on Mark but trailed his fingers down the vein along Jack's neck slowly. Mark's eyes darted from his eyes to his fingers, then growled out. "What are you doing?" Nathan let his fingers curl around the collar of Jack's shirt, peeling it away slowly as he asked Mark devilishly. "What were you doing at his farm, Sheriff?"

Mark shifted in the chair, tensing a bit as he saw how Nathan's fingers began exposing the pale skin of Jack's smooth collarbone. Locking his jaw, Mark growled out honestly. "I was shot and left for dead. He found me and patched me up. Now stop!" Nathan removed his hand off Jack, asking in a casual tone of voice. "You think he's a good cook?" Mark narrowed heated eyes on Nathan, his voice dropping to a deeper growl when he asked. "Why do you wanna know?" Nathan gathered up the sewing kit, moving closer to Mark with a shrug that was anything except innocent. Setting the box down next to Mark, Nathan kneeled to look at Mark's outstretched leg as he answered so suspiciously. "I'm just curious. I can't cook for shit. And if he's going to be hanging around us for a while... might as well be useful to us." Mark swatted Nathan's hand away from his wounded leg, then pointed a finger at him upon ordering him sternly. "You leave the kid alone. He's not part of this." Nathan ignored his commanding tone, grabbing Mark's leg to look at it. Prying at the bloodstained bandage off, Nathan calmly replied without concern. "You may think that, but he was seen leaving with us. That makes him part of this now. Whether you like it or not."

Mark hissed through his teeth as the bandage pulled at his raw wound. Gritting his teeth and clutching his thigh to keep himself from kicking Nathan away, he hissed out to him. "Just stay away from him. Got it?" Nathan tossed the bandage aside to look at the broken skin where the stitches had torn through, asking him casually without looking at him. "Why does that bother you? You think I'll corrupt him into becoming an outlaw? You know, I hear farmers are good with their hands." Mark glanced at Jack's sleeping form, before leaning down to growl into Nathan's ear. "I've heard who you hang around in brothels and Saloons. What you do to them..." Nathan raised an eyebrow, looking up now to meet Mark's eyes. Smirking, Nathan purred out innocently. "You'll have to be more specific. I meet at lot of people in those places. But I can assure you... I didn't do anything to them that they didn't want." Mark's knuckles popped when he curled them into tight fists, uttering out darkly. "That's not what the papers say." Rolling his eyes, Nathan huffed out with a small smile. "You think those places would stay open if they 'willingly' aided and bedded an outlaw like myself?"

Wade trudged into the shack with one of the horses, interjecting nicely. "What are you boys talking about?" Without hesitation Mark blurted out 'Laws', while Nathan blurted out 'Sex.' Stopping short in the center of the shack, Wade blinked, then started moving again as he said casually. "Alright then." Mark shot Nate a dissatisfied look, prompting Nathan to tell him flatly. "What? Did you expect me to lie? Besides... what do you care if I take an interest in him. You have no ties with him." Straightening up, Mark muttered out bitterly. "He deserves better than you. You'll just... use him." Mark jerked with a sharp yelp as Nathan jabbed him with the needle. Pretending like he didn't notice Mark's discomfort, Nathan started to make tighter stitches. Focusing only on his work, Nathan spoke coolly under his breath. "You should watch what you say to me. I can always make this wound worse." Mark groaned, shifting under the pain but kept his leg still. Glaring down at him, he asked him through clenched teeth. "Why are you doing it? I didn't ask you too."

Nathan exhaled slowly, answering without looking at him. "You saved my life. This is me repaying that debt. Nothing more." Relaxing back in the chair, Mark watched Wade bring the horses into the far back of the cave, tying them to a hitch back there. Bob brought in the bits of broken wood in. Putting some in the fireplace and stacking more in the cave for later. Nathan finished stitching Mark's arm, and Mark found himself asking him curiously. "Does this place have fresh water? Food?" Nathan started packing up the sewing supplies, answering openly. "There are a few cans in the cabinets from one of my last raids. A jug or two of water. Hunting up here isn't great... unless you have a taste for lizards and snakes." Bob turned over a can of beans in his hand, grimly telling Mark. "None of this is going to be enough to feed four guys. Let alone our horses." Mark kept his eyes on Nathan as he put the sewing box away but told Bob confidently. "We'll ration and make it work. It just has to be for a few days." Nathan hopped up to sit on a wooden counter, peering out the open window as he informed them coolly. "We could ride out to hit this supply wagon trail. It usually has a few things."

Mark pointed at him, snapping out firmly. "No! We are not robbing anyone and that is final!" Exhaling heavily, Nathan looked back to Mark and snapped back. "Fine. Then we could ride out to the kid's farm. Scavenge whatever is left. It's a risk though." Bob turned to rest an arm on the fireplace mantle but whispered to Mark discreetly. "Wade and I could ride out at night to wrangle a cow or sheep. Make it look like a coyote got it... If we turn the meat into jerky stripes, it could last us a while. Your call, Boss." Mark rubbed his temples, trying of think it over carefully. Lowering his hand, he told Bob in a low whisper. "We have that extra horse, don't we?" Bob nodded. Mark stared at him until Bob nodded again and said coolly. "Got it." Nathan shook his head, telling them bluntly. "I wouldn't do that. You can get a hundred dollars for a horse like that. You should hang on to it until we can sell him. We'll need the money." Mark shot a glare at Nathan, but Nathan shrugged out to him confidently. "You wanna make some friends? We can trade the horse to the Natives for supplies. Maybe they'll escort us through the badlands to the next town." Tilting his head back, Mark grumbled out darkly. "You've done that before?"

Nathan nodded proudly, teasing out flatly. "But it's your call...Boss." Nathan snickered to himself a little, adding under his breath. "You're gonna be eaten alive out here." Reluctantly, Mark called out to Bob and told him in a tired tone. "Keep the horse. I need to sleep on this." Bob nodded, then all of them jumped as Jack sat bolt upright with a startled scream. Nathan bolted off the wooden counter with a curse, rushing over to cover Jack's mouth as he shoved him down to the bed. Mark started to rise weakly from his chair, only to swallow hard. Nathan's free hand was removing a long snake carefully off Jack's lap. The snake coiled around Nathan's arm, its long-forked tongue flicking out at Nathan's face. Smirking, Nathan told them all calmly. "It's just a harmless little milk snake. Relax, guys." To Be Continued...