SMARMSLUT QUEEN: Good day, everyone, and welcome to this week's installment of our story!

SMARMSLUT ADEPT: We hope you're all well!

QUEEN: Yes, we-uh-where's our Smarmslut Master?

ADEPT: Oh-uh-she can't make it this week. She's seriously ill.

QUEEN: What is it, the flu?

ADEPT: No-four full trick-or-treat bags of Halloween candy.

QUEEN: What?! How in the world did she get so much candy?

ADEPT: Well, she couldn't decide which of the 7 to go as, so she went as 'em all.

QUEEN: All of them? You mean-

ADEPT: Yep. She changed costumes and hit each house 7 times.

QUEEN: Well, we'd better go see how she's doing, and if she has any Kit Kats left. Enjoy the fic everyone!

******************

Ashes of the Mind, pt 9
by the Smarm Sluts

Chris and Vin met in the hotel restaurant early the next morning, the others were meeting them there to compare notes and await the Judges arrival. The morning had dawned grey and cloudy, looked like rain was going to come in later. Soon Josiah and Nathan joined them, and Buck right after that. All could tell Buck had something, his eyes were bright with anticipation.

"We got 'im, Chris." Buck whispered.

"What do you know, Buck?" Chris wasn't in the mood to draw this out, he wanted this man, and soon.

"Woman I met last night. She was real nice, had a scar across her cheek. " Buck frowned a little. "Seems the other girls don't like her much, call her ugly to her face. Well, she was sittin' by herself last night and I overheard her tell the others she had a steady who was paying her for full days until he left."

"So." Josiah asked, wondering whet the point of all this was and how it was going to help them.

"So I followed her." Buck repeated , exasperated at the interruption. " She was carrying bandages and paying cash for some supplies just before the general Store closed. I followed her and she went straight to an abandoned building right outside of town. She was there for awhile, then I followed her to the boarding house, to her room."

"You think he's in the abandoned house?" Nathan wondered if this was a trap.

"Well, it wasn't a woman I heard talkin' to her. And I'm willin' to bet he's been shot." Buck sipped the coffee set before him with a smile for the pretty waitress who was serving them. She smiled back and nodded, then took their orders for breakfast.

When she had left , Chris leaned forward. "Lets go now, before the town is fully up. Vin, check around the place, see if anyone other than the girl has been around it."

Vin nodded and left, not having ordered anything. By the time the others had eaten, Vin would be back with the report and they could plan while he ate.

The four men waited and ate in silence.


The morning sun had just crept over the horizon as JD continued to struggle towards the town. Funny, it looked a lot closer when he started out...
He stubbed his foot on a sharp rock and stumbled, but kept going; he had to reach the outskirts soon. Every muscle ached to rest, and he was covered with dust and sweat which stung his wounds. The dangling handcuffs felt like lead weights now, and his throat seemed to be scraped raw with thirst. Hunger was making him dizzy. But he couldn't stop now, even though the flickering lights he'd been following had been extinguished long ago.
Ezra needed him.
JD fought back the heavy feeling which had threatened to overwhelm him ever since he'd left the asylum. If only he could've gone back in and rescued Ezra. The gambler was obviously in very deep trouble. He might even be dead now-JD pushed that thought angrily away. Ezra just couldn't be dead, he wouldn't allow himself to even think that. He was alive, and he'd survive that hellhole, and JD would personally see to it that the men responsible for this would be punished. Any other outcome was unthinkable; otherwise, JD would be too tempted to shoot Maxwell and Branford himself.
Images floated before his eyes as he pushed forward, Ezra's pale, bruised face, the sneering expression of Maxwell eying him like a greedy spider. And the other inmates, all lonely and scared and lost. JD's stomach tightened; how could someone do that to those poor people? Something felt different inside JD, and he wondered at the odd sensation. The world seemed colder now, and despite the warm air he shivered.
He wiped the sweat from his forehead and was frightened to see how much his hand shook; was he really that weak? But he had to keep going, noone else knew what was going on. He knew Branford and the others would tell anyone looking that he and Ezra never arrived, and they could make sure Ezra would never be found. Chris could be very persistent but JD had a horrible feeling that the asylum had hiding places even the gunslinger couldn't find.
JD came to a small rise, and he clambered up it, cutting his hands on the sharp rocks. Peering over its jagged rim, he could see the town much more plainly; there were even a few lights now lit. He breathed with relief; almost there!
Renewed energy flowed into him as he pushed forward, hope mixed with apprehension; they would soon realize that he had escaped. What would happen then? He shuddered, thinking they might punish Ezra for it. They might also send someone out to look for him, and if they caught him...JD hurried on despite his exhaustion. He had to find help.


The streets of the town lay quietly beneath the pearl-gray morning sky. A few fires still smoldered in the street, but nobody was yet stirring behind the shuttered windows. There was no sound save the dusty rustling of the wind as it swept down the street, or the occasional dog barking in the distance.
A sharp noise finally disturbed the eerie silence; a door opening, then closing quickly. A slim, ragged figure stepped into the street from the shelter of a battered boarding house, desperately clutching something in its hand as it prepared to make its way. It was a young woman, thin and clad in the remnants of a pretty dress. She glanced furtively up the street before wrapping her tattered shawl around her head and hurrying up the street towards her home.
She eyed the coming day with dread; she hated the light now, and once she had loved it. She always tried not to remember those days, when she was unafraid to display her beauty to all admirers.
There were no admirers now. Only those who laughed at her, abused her, told her she was good for nothing now but a quick roll in bed. No woman was too ugly for that, they laughed, even her.
She gripped the money in her hand as she drew the shawl tighter around her face and hurried on, amazed at the tears which stung her eyes. She thought for sure she had no tears left.
The sky was brighter now. Her blue eyes scanned the streets; she dreaded the thought of encountering anybody. With quick steps she went between the buildings and began walking along the outer edges of the town, skirting the perimeter. It would take longer to reach the house this way, but it was safer for her. She would meet noone out here.
Her eyes darted out to the desert, sweeping its vast rocky landscape with her gaze as she picked her way along the backyards of the buildings. How often had she yearned to just leave this place, to run out into that wonderfully empty wilderness and escape the townspeople's jeers? But she had no money to travel, and even if she had, where could she go? People were alike all over; they would all shrink from her ugliness. It felt odd, to be so surrounded by openness, yet feel so incredibly trapped.
A movement among the rocks in the distance caught her eye. Maggie stopped and squinted; was the early morning light playing tricks on her eyes? She peered closer-there! Someone was out there, walking slowly towards town.
Maggie bit her lip; her heart told her this person had to be lost and in trouble if he was walking on foot across the desert. But she was already caring for one wounded man she'd found near to dying, she hardly needed the burden of another.
Just ignore him, the cold practical voice in her head hissed. You've got enough to do, and besides when was anybody ever kind to you? Leave him alone, like they left you.
She shivered, remembering exactly what it felt like to be ignored and alone when she most needed help.
The figure stumbled and fell, stood back up, then fell again.
And she decided.

JD gasped as he hit the hard ground for a second time, the sharp rocks digging into his sore hands. Dang, he thought as the world tilted and swirled around him, I sure wish they'd built the asylum closer to town!
He swallowed, or tried to, but by now his throat was excruciatingly dry, and his head swam from hunger and exhaustion. He knew he had to keep going, that the town was very close now, but every fiber of his being screamed for rest.
He lay motionless and gasping for a moment, every bruise and scrape on his body forcefully announcing its presence. It would hurt so much to move, he thought; but it would hurt even more to stay here and die. Ezra needed him; the others needed him, to stop what Branford was doing. He had to get up and continue.
"Oooooh, shit," JD moaned through cracked lips as he prepared to haul himself to his feet. Suddenly being a stable boy didn't seem so bad...
The sound of footsteps reached his ears; someone was running towards him! JD's head jerked up as one hand fumbled awkwardly for his gun; he'd forgotten that he'd been stripped of it back at the asylum. He looked wildly around, expecting to see Branford's men coming after him. To his surprise all he saw was a slim figure in a tattered dress running towards him from the town.
"Are you all right?" he heard her call; for some reason everything sounded fuzzy. Blinking the dust from his eyes, JD coughed and tried to respond but found himself unable to talk.
"God damn, boy," he heard the lady say when she reached him and quickly knelt by his side, her slender hands gently patting his arms, "you're exhausted!" He felt her gently take his chin and lift his face to hers. His blurred vision could only make out a kind face half-wrapped in a ragged scarf. "You're bleeding too. Can you stand?"
JD nodded firmly; now that help was here, he wasn't going to let a pair of wobbly legs stand in the way. He coughed again and managed to croak, "Water?"
"I have water back at my place," was the reply as she pulled one of his arms around her shoulder. She saw the handcuff dangling from his wrist. "Hey-are you runnin' from the law?"
JD shook his head firmly, trying to choke out an explanation. "We were *cough!* trying to help..."
"Looks like whoever you was helpin' weren't too grateful," the woman noted. "Well, c'mon-you can stay at my place. I could put you in with this other gent I'm helping, but I don't think he's up for company right now."
After some struggling JD managed to stand, and they began a slow trip back towards town.