4. Dark

4. Dark

The darkness of the night was slowly beginning to fade, the sun making its gradule rise over in the east. ... And yet, there was still a thick gloom about the whole area. Or so it seemed to Rose, as Clint mentioned that in just a little while longer they should be meeting up with 'Gail,' the one he'd named to be his girlfriend.

She was watching carefully any traffic that past on their same road, as Clint led the horse along. She'd seen a pretty young thing pass by at one point, on horseback, and was almost certain that this was she. Alas, Clint had kept on going without a glance (as far as she could tell), and had not stopped. She'd notice the woman glance them over, but, well, that's a another story... Suddenly, Clint stopped the horse, dropped the reins and rushed forward. Rose blinked at the sudden action and looked up to see just what the devil the matter was.

... There was a blond girl, kneeling on the ground by a cream-colored horse.

Aha, so this must be the famed 'Gail.' He'd rushed over to the woman, seeming to startle her, but then she came up with a smile and hugged him. Rose averted her gaze, but then quickly found herself looking back. The blond had been about to reach up and presumably kiss him, when she noticed Rose. Rose gave a small, tight smile. The blond's demeanor changed, and with eyes narrowed at Rose, she put Clint between herself and Rose, perhaps in efforts to not allow Rose to read her lips.

After about a minute of hushed voices and gestures, Clint turned and waved Rose to come in closer. Reaching forward to grab up the reins, Rose walked the horse forward. Still trying to be as corgil as possible, she nodded to Gail as they were being introduced. Gail returned a forced smile, and extended a hand to Rose.

"Pleasure to meet you," Gail said, doing remarkably well to keep her tone netural and not clipped.

"Likewise." Rose stated, firmly gripping her hand and giving it a shake. To her surprise, the other woman's grip was also pretty darn good. Not a weakling...hm.

"All right, well now that ever'body's got themselves all met 'n ..." There was a sudden whizzing sound in the air, followed by a dull thunk. Looking to his right, and just off over his shoulder, there was an arrow embedded into the tree that just happened to be unfortunate enough to be standing right there.

"...Uh-oh," Clint hissed through closed teeth, his eyes narrowing as his body suddenly tensed. So did Gail's, and she started looking around, moving towards her horse. Looking at the arrow, Rose wondered if this was some kind of sick joke, and looking around as well, she couldn't see anyone.

"We need t'move," Clint spoke up again, and just as he started to move, Rose let out a sudden and sharp intake of breath, pitching forward on the horse but somehow keeping her seat. Not wasting a moment, Clint hopped on behind her, in efforts to sheild her from further arrows. Gail mounted her cream horse as well, and they galloped on out of there.

Sure enough, reaching up, Rose dislodged an arrow that had struck her just above the shoulder, close to her neck. It was more of a glancing blow, but it still hurt quite a bit, and was bleeding. As soon as he noticed this, Clint tore off his black bandana and pressed it to Rose's wound. She didn't even let out a hiss of pain, and instead tried to glance up him, but it hurt a little too much to move her head like that.

Settling forward with a frown, she was only now noticing the arrows that were whizzing around them from time to time. Her eyes growing in size as she watched one glance off Clint's boot(apparently someone had very poor aim), and she simply had to say something.

"Mr. Allen, do you know why are we being chased?!" She yelled above the noise, and Clint looked down at her. He then looked over at Gail, who gave a quick shake of her head, having apparently also heard Rose. Clint frowned as well, then turned his attention forward once more.

"...I don't know," Clint said finally, but from the shift she could feel in his body language, she knew he wasn't saying something. "They prob'ly think we have somethin' they want, I...reckon." Rose was not satisfied with this explaination, but for the moment, she kept silent.