"I think she lost too much blood." Teaspoon whispered loudly. Callie glanced up and frowned. She glared at Teaspoon and then went back to singing and loading her gun. When she had loaded her gun she got down on her knees and crawled to the window. Humming softly to herself she peeked out the window. A bullet ripped through the window frame just beside her head. She hit the floor hard. "Whew! That was close!" She scrambled back up and glanced out the window.
"Hey, Van Dahl!", She yelled, " I see that you have Jimmy Pickett out there with you!"
"Yeah. So what?" Van Dahl replied.
Callie thrust her gun out the window and fired. A young man hit the ground with a bullet in his brain. "Well, he ain't with you no more!" Callie yelled. Ike saw a large amount of men drop their weapons and take off running when they saw what had happened.
"Well I'll be. I've never seen so many men run after one shot." Teaspoon muttered.
Callie just laughed. "If I'm lucky, and Van Dahl is smart, that'll be the only shot anyone will have to fire."
"I hope you're right girl, I hope you're right." Teaspoon told her.
She nodded and peeked out the window again. She saw nothing. No movement. It looked as if everyone had left. There was dead silence all around. Callie frowned to herself. That had been too easy. If she knew Van Dahl as well as she thought she did, and she did know him that well, then he wouldn't have given up like this.
"Everyone stay down. I'm going to go and check it out." She whispered. Staying below the level of the windows, she crept into the kitchen. There, she saw Rachel sitting next to a window with a rifle in her hands. "Rachel, see if you can get in back with the others. If you hear shooting, don't get up. Don't try to fire, just stay down." Rachel nodded and started to move slowly and carefully towards the back. Callie watched her until she was sure she had made it back there with the others. She started to stand up, then got very dizzy and had to sit down on the floor. She knew she had lost a lot of blood. The gunshot wound was not as bad as it had first appeared, but it was still very painful. Wincing, she stood up and leaned against the wall to steady herself. She walked slowly to the door and opened it carefully.
She closed her eyes expecting a barrage of gunfire, but nothing happened. With both of her guns drawn and her eyes scanning everywhere she crept out the door. She was about to shut the door behind her when she heard a gun cock. She dove back through the door and onto the floor just as several rounds of gunfire ripped through the house. She felt glass raining down on her from broken windows and she heard yelling from outside. "I knew it!" She muttered. "I'm an idiot. I knew I shouldn't have done that. I'm an idiot." She was muttering that over and over again as she scuttled quickly back to the others. She poked her head around the door and grinned. "Well, they're still out there." She announced in a stage whisper. Everyone shot her dirty looks. "I think we knew that." Jimmy said dryly. Callie made a face and crawled over to the window. Hiding behind the curtains so that she couldn't be seen, she surveyed the scene. The house was surrounded and she and the others were running out of ammunition. It looked hopeless. Then, she spotted the end of a barrel poking out from one of the wagons. She looked at Teaspoon and grinned.
"What do you see?" He asked her.
"A way out." She told him.
She reloaded her guns and looked over her shoulder at everyone. "Hold on tight, 'cause if that barrel is full of what I think it's full of then things are going to get a little bit bumpy." Everyone got down on the ground. They could hear Rachel praying. Callie took aim and closed her eyes. "Here we go." She whispered. Then, she pulled the triggers. She was forced backwards away from the window as a huge rolling wave of heat hit her. The whole house shook. Then, all was silent. She looked out the window to see men picking themselves up off the ground and running. She smiled triumphantly at Teaspoon. He patted her on the back and laughed. "I'm sure glad you were right about that barrel. It saved our lives." Callie grinned sheepishly. "I actually didn't really know what it was, I was just hoping." She said. "Well, whether you were certain or not doesn't matter. You saved our lives." Rachel told her. Callie grinned and then went very pale. Then she hit the ground. She had passed out. Again. Cody looked at her and shook his head. "She likes doin' that don't she?"
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