"Billy! Billy!" Daisy called, her voice echoing through the canyons below.
He had been right behind her only a moment ago, and now suddenly he was gone.
It had to have been one of Apocalypta's goons; she must have had one being a lookout for intruders, and he must have found Billy and captured him.
He had probably been taken straight into the mountain to the psycho witch's lair. The only way in for the rest of them was to continue to the top.
Jack held a hand out to Daisy from the crumbling ledge he stood upon. "Here," he said gently.
She reached out and grabbed his entire arm with both her hands as she pushed herself off of the lower ground, as Jack's other arm reached around her waist and pulled her in.
"Thanks." she nodded.
It was eerily quiet, not a single noise except for their footsteps atop the graveled surface of the peak. An arrangement of rocks and stones were spread out across a plot of the cliff, presumably some sort of burial site.
Standing above all this was the giant monument of the lady of the mountains. The towering figure loomed over the entire mountainside, its blank eyes keeping watch over the earth stretched out below and beyond.
Daisy was overwhelmed by the awesome sight. "I've never seen her this close."
"Few have." uttered Sirene.
"Where's Apocolypta and the rest of her men?" Daisy looked around, trying to find any hints to where Billy might have been taken.
"They live in the mines below." Sirene informed her. "We must find a way in."
"Let's go find my brother." Jack said firmly, and they spread out to begin their search for a way in.
The far side of the mountaintop went into a downwards slope, surrounded by boulders and jagged rocks. An old shack stood near the edge of the continuing forest that was spread off down the other side of the peak.
With Jack and Sirene still making their way down the slope, Daisy pulled out her gun and slowly stepped inside the shack; this seemed like the only way they'd be able to get into the mines.
A rickety old staircase led her down into a secret basement, eerily too quiet. She gripped the pistol a little bit tighter in her hands as she slowly walked further into the hidden underground space.
Daisy felt a shift in her belly, as if her baby knew that she was probably leading them straight into trouble. She blocked out the thought of the possibility as she walked into the next room.
It appeared to be some sort of laboratory at first glance, but soon she saw some familiarities that reminded her of a slaughterhouse. Dark stains were encrusted on almost every surface, and a pile of internal organs was splayed out on a filthy table slab.
Her stomach quaked and she backed away, putting her hand over her mouth trying hard not to gag.
She turned to move on to the next room, and in an instant a copperhead was inches away from her face. The creature growled, held back with a forest of chains.
"Daisy!" Billy's voice rang out from the side of the room, where he stood locked up in a storage cage.
"Billy!" She kissed him through the grating of his makeshift prison cell, their fingers intertwining through the bracketed fence.
Suddenly and unexpectedly Johnny Vermilion appeared out of the shadows and grabbed her. A pack of copperheads was right behind him, held back by dozens of chains dangling from the ceiling. Daisy rammed her elbow into him and broke free, pulling out her knife. In a split second he lunged for her wrist and pulled her back into his clutches. Her weapon fell from her fingers, and Vermilion caught it and brought the blade up to her throat.
"Let her go, Johnny!" Billy seethed.
Vermilion pressed himself up against Daisy's back. "I'm kinda surprised to see her," he hissed. His filthy scruff of a beard brushed against her cheek as he expelled his hot rancid breath into her ear. "I guess that last stand didn't quite work out."
"Hang on, baby!" Billy tried to comfort her. His eyes went to his woman's expectant form, groped and smothered by the henchman's grimy tattooed forearm. "If you hurt her...our child...!" he threatened.
Vermilion retrieved a hand held radio from his pocket. "Tell Apocalypta I'm just cleaning up here," he called in. "Go ahead, give 'em all a head start."
He chuckled deviously as he held the edge of the knife closer to Daisy's neck.
"Billy..." she trembled, tears brimming in the corners of her eyes.
"You made a deal with the devil, boy." Vermilion sneered. "They both will make a nice specimen to my army..."
He raised the dagger against the jugular vein, ready to finish the girl off.
A gunshot rang out from the other end of the room. Vermilion howled in pain, releasing Daisy from his grasp. He dropped her knife and was clutching his hand as a stream of blood ran down his wrist.
Billy turned and saw Jack standing on the opposite side, pistol in hand and Sirene by his side.
Vermilion fled through a set of swinging doors as Jack shot open the lock to the cage. Billy rushed out, wrapping his arms around a shaken Daisy crumpled on the floor.
"You're okay...you're okay, baby. You're okay," he comforted her, running his fingers through her blonde curls.
"We must follow him," Sirene said, looking ahead to the metal saloon doors. "This looks to be the mine's entrance."
Jack stood over his brother, looking down on him as he continued to console the shaken mother of his child.
"Come on," he said firmly. "We'll get that son of a bitch."
Billy draped Daisy's arm around his neck and shoulders and brought her back onto her feet. "I'm gonna kill that bastard," he seethed heatedly, holding her close to him. "I swear to God!"
The four of them ventured through the doors and found themselves inside the mines. An all too familiar cackle was echoing through the caverns as together they trekked deeper into the darkened quarry.
Vermilion's laughter seemed to grow and fade as it echoed through the mine tunnel.
"Jack!" Billy exclaimed, drawing his gun. Jack turned to see a copperhead standing right behind him, but then collapsed to the ground as his brother's bullet shattered its skull.
Further behind the now fallen creature, a dozen more copperheads were approaching from another passageway.
"Move!" Jack called out. He started to run ahead with Sirene, but paused when he saw Billy trying to coax a weary Daisy along.
Without another thought, he dashed over to the woman's other side and wrapped his arm around her. He glanced over at Billy, who quickly looked away from him and back to his lover.
"Come on baby, we gotta go now!" he said urgently.
They charged deeper into the mines, stumbling through passages with little or no light to guide them. The copperheads remained on their tail, closing in on them further as they continued to run.
"How is this happening?" Daisy called out disconcertingly.
"Son of a bitch let us right into his trap!" Jack determined as they fled through the tunnels.
On and on they went, navigating their way through the mine. Vermilion's incessant laughter returned, vibrating through the passageway as a second set of his mistress' pets joined the pursuit.
Soon Sirene led them up into an elongated tunnel, with sunlight streaming through the cracks of a set of enormous metal doors. Jack and Billy brought Daisy beside her and ran ahead to swing open their exit. They all rushed outside just as the copperheads were about to reach them, and quickly blockaded the doors with a wooden plank.
Billy went back to Daisy, looking around at the familiar forest setting. "Nice shortcut," He scorned at Sirene.
"Not quite Desert Springs," the female warrior noted. "Follow me." She headed across towards the new cliff side, and the others followed right behind.
